Do you believe in the Divinity of Nature?
Do you believe in the Duality of the Divinity?
Do you believe in Harming None?
Do you believe in Magick?
Do you believe in Spirits?
Do you believe in a Law of Reciprocity?
Do you believe in an Afterlife and Reincarnation?
If you answered yes to these simple questions, You could be Wicca!
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Wicca is a RELIGION that believes that the Earth is Divine – Mother Earth, the Goddess.
oOther religions believe the Divine created the Earth, Wicca believe the Divine IS the Earth. And all of Nature – the sky, the ocean, the stars, the universe.
-We also believe that the Divine resides within ALL things on the Earth – animals, plants, people – everything living has come from the Divine, and upon its death will return to the Divine.
oWicca believe in the Oneness of Spirit of ALL things. We believe that we share Spirit between each other, between us and the plants and animals of Nature, even between us and the very stones we walk on. That is one of the reasons we revere Nature – for we revere the Divine both within and without. We strive to take care of Nature, and to take care of each other. It is in our own self-interest as well as the interest of everything around us.
-Wicca believe that when we die, we return to life to learn more from living.
o“We all come from the Goddess, and to Her we shall return like a drop of rain, flowing to the ocean.”
oOur Soul descends from the Divine to inhabit a living being, we live-experience-die, and then our Soul returns to the Divine, and we repeat the cycle over and over. When we have experienced all we are meant to, we pass on to the Eternal dwelling of the Divine in the Summerlands.
-Wicca believe that all things of the Earth – rocks, water, fire, air – have Spirits, that come from and are of the Divine.
oNot everything has a Soul, only the living – but all things have Spirit. Their energy is derived from the Spirit of the Divine, which is why we can connect to and utilize the energy of material things like crystals, wood, water, fire, and even air.
-Wicca believe that our Will can be sent forth, carried by Magick, to create change in the World.
-Wicca believe in the Duality of the Divine. We believe in both a Goddess and a God. Female and Male, equal.
oWe also believe in the different aspects of the God and Goddess as Mother, Maiden, Crone; Father, Warrior, Sage.
-Wicca celebrate the changing of the Seasons through the Wheel of the Year.
oSamhain, Yule, Imbolc, Ostara, Beltane, Litha, Lammas, and Mabon are the Holy Days of Wicca. 4 of these celebrate the changing of the Seasons – Yule is the first day of Winter, Ostara is the first day of Spring, Litha is the first day of Summer, and Mabon is the first day of Fall. These days fall on the Solar Solstices (when the Sun is at its highest and lowest points) and the Equinoxes (when day and night are equal.) The Cross-Quarter holidays fall on days of power in-between these Solstices and Equinoxes, and celebrate the cycle that the God and Goddess go through their different aspects, Mother-Maiden-Crone and Father-Warrior (or Son)-and Sage. It celebrates the changing of the tomb to a womb.
-Wicca celebrate the Phases of the Moon.
-Wicca believe in the Law of Reciprocity, that both actions and energy sent forth will return.
o“What Ye send forth comes back to Thee, so ever mind the Law of Three. Follow this with mind and heart, Merry Meet and Merry Part.”
-Wicca believe in the Power of the Element, in Elementals, and in the Power of the Cardinal Directions.
oWe cast Circles of Power, and then we call upon the Four Directions and the Elemental Powers that reside there to protect us within that Circle. The Circle is a space between the Material and Spiritual Planes, between time and space. It is where we practice the Art of Magick, and we open ourselves up, becoming vulnerable, and we ask these powers to protect us in this space from all harm, material, magickal, and spiritual.
-Wicca believe in Divination.
oWe believe that we can see beyond space and time, as well as receive guidance from the Divine
-Wicca Meditate.
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And we believe these things through faith and observation. It is our belief that makes
These are fundamental beliefs and practices common throughout the majority of Wicca. Ours is as a diverse religion as any other, and there are many beliefs, practices, liturgies, and traditions as any other – but these are most of the core aspects of our religion that bind us to one another as a religion.
Common beliefs and practices. And as in most religions, beliefs and practices vary even greater on a personal level.
Not everyone believes in reincarnation. Not all Wicca are polytheistic – some believe in a single Divine with both Male and Female aspects, some worship only the Goddess, some believe in complete Pantheons like the Norse, Greek, Egyptian, or Celtic Gods.
Some Wicca worship Gods from multiple Pantheons, while others worship the nameless Goddess and God. What is common is that most Wicca believe in the Divine, and most Wicca believe in the dual nature of the Divine – both Feminine and Masculine, and that is what this work is concerned with – the Common beliefs of Most Wicca.
So, now that you know what the Wicca commonly believe – ask yourself…..
are you Wiccan?
If yes, or you want to be, then it is time for the first step in the path, one which is foundational in pretty much every religion – Dedication. You need to dedicate yourself to the Path of the Wicca, to the beliefs of the Wicca, and to the practices of the Wicca. Dedication can be elaborate, or simple – it is up to the individual. If you are beginning this journey with a Coven, Tradition, or other group, they will probably have a set Dedication ceremony. If you are going to start this path alone, then you can make up your own ceremony – below is an example:
“I dedicate myself to the Goddess and God, Mother-Maiden-Crone, Father-Warrior-Sage. I devote myself to following the Wheel of the Year and celebrating the cycles of the Seasons, and the Phases of the Moon. I open myself up to the study and practice of Magick. I dedicate myself to the path of Harming None; I believe in the Divinity of Earth and the Spirit that resides in All of Nature, and will strive to find balance within and out. I dedicate myself to learning the Craft, and to living it in my daily life. May my path as Wicca begin now.”
You are not perfect – you will miss days, Moon Phases, Holy Days. You won’t finish every book you pick up, you won’t open every book you buy. You won’t write everything down. You will forget things. You will overlook things. You will do things backwards. And that is ok. Everyone stumbles when walking down a path they have never been down before, especially one that has so many facets and is often dimly lit, if not dark.
It is easier to sometimes take a hand and have help down the path, but not necessary. Please – do not beat yourself up. Don’t think that you are doing it wrong and give up. Don’t let Wicca become a source of anxiety or frustration.
Wicca is a path of balance and peace, of reverence for life, and devotion.
Now that you have dedicated yourself, you have begun what we call your Year-and-a-Day, a year or reflection, study, learning, and experimentation. You will need something to write in, whether a book, a notebook, a binder, or your computer – but somewhere you can record your daily experiences and everything that you learn….this is your Book of Shadows. It is called that because there was a time when Witches were hunted, and magick was illegal, and the journal had to be kept in the shadows and secret. This book will be re-written many times over the years, but you will always go back to your Year-and-a-Day BoS to remind yourself of your first experiences and understandings of things, as well as rekindle your spark that shines so bright your first year.
Instead of stopping here and being told what so many others tell you – go read, read, read (which you do need to do, but what to do NOW?) I will get you started practicing Wicca today. It’ll be simple at first, basic foundations for you to build on later, but let’s actually get started:
First, you need an Altar…..an inner altar. It is time to begin meditation and visualization. Find a quiet, comfortable place to sit. This part is going to take practice – but you need to quiet your mind, let go of everything outside of you – enter a void. In your center, around your navel, visualize a light, that grows until it surrounds you encircling you like a forcefield.
-Then visualize yourself growing roots, reaching beyond the floor – however many there are, deep down into the earth. Reach out the tendrils into the dark dirt stretching out in every direction. Now pull in the power of Nature, the energy of the Mother, into yourself. Fill yourself with this energy, and put some of that energy into your forcefield.
-Next, visualize yourself growing like a tree, with branches reaching up into the sky, past your ceiling and roof up into the blue – through the clouds and into the stars. Stretch the branches in every direction, each twig pushing out and reaching the energy of the Father Sky, and pull in this energy. Pull it into your center light.
-Next, push out your fears, anxieties, stress, frustrations, and all of your negative feelings into the earth and sky. Push them out of your navel, through the tendrils of roots and branches and out of you – into the universe to soak them up.
oYou have just grounded and centered. It is that simple, and you are ready to meditate and work on your inner temple.
-Visualize yourself somewhere you really, really want to be – what your dream inner landscape is, a place where if you had every resource in the world would build your own personal temple. A hill, a desert, a deep wood – it is different for everyone. And then visualize an altar before you, before the tree you have become.
oThis is your inner altar, where you can visualize your devotions, spellwork, and return over and over. Practice grounding and centering over and over, until you can do it in the center of a crowd.
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Now it is time to build a simple altar where you can
-The most simple for of your Altar will need the four Elements, Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. So on it place a bowl of Salt, Incense, a Candle, and a bowl of Water. You will also need a representation of the Goddess and God, a white and gold candle work well. You can get all of these things at a dollar store.
oDaily, light the candle, the incense, and dip a finger in the water and salt, a daily active connection with the four elements. Light the Goddess and God candle, some people choose to visualize them, others say a daily devotion, others pray.
oDaily, before your altar whether inner or outer, ground and center.
oWrite down your experiences every day.
