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To: Sherry Michael 
From: Sherry Michael 
Subject: Wicca 101 - class 1
Date: Tue, 17 Jan 1995 00:22:41 -0500 (EST)

**"Wicca 101" Class 1 -intro, from the teaching coven of the Three Crescents**
  **Please send all e-mail to this account. moonowl@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu**
***** Please do not distribute in full or in part without this header*****
 
                        INTRO TO WICCA
 
I. What is Wicca?
 
Wicca is a "Earth" religion, or a religion that celebrates nature as a
divine image. Wicca is often called a Neopagan religion, because many
dieties and celebrations borrow from pre-Christian faiths. Through the next
few pages and series of articles, we will solidify and expand this 
definition.
 
Wiccans may call themselves "witches". In this course I consider a witch
and a Wiccan to be two different things. A witch, by definition is a
practitioner of Earth and nature magic and a herbal and general healer
(witchcraft). Therefore, "witch" is not descriptive of religion. There
are witches in every culture and of every religion.  Many (most)
Wiccans are witches in the true sense, but so are many Catholics. I also
do not refer to Wicca as witchcraft in this course. If you choose to call
your religion witchcraft, and yourself a witch because you follow Wicca,
(as many do) of course this is fine.
 
II. GENERAL CONCEPTS
 
An easier way to understand what Wicca is about is to understand some basic
themes. The enclosed article is a good summary. These items are only
generalizations and have different interpretations.  My comments to
this article, and all future articles can be found in brackets [].
 
***
 
Not every Wiccan will subscribe to all of these points, but in
general they are representative.
 
1.  The divine Spirit is present in all creatures and things:
    people, animals, plants, stones...
 
2.  The ultimate creative force manifests in both feminine and
    masculine modes; therefore it is often symbolized as the
    Goddess and The God.
 
3.  In some covens, both are celebrated equally.  In others, The
    Goddess is given precedence or even celebrated without
    reference to the God.
 
4.  All Goddesses and Gods are aspects of The Goddess and The God.
    The aspects most popular in Wicca are the Triple Goddess of
    the Moon (Maiden, Mother and Crone) and the Horned God of
    death and rebirth.
 
[Example: Popular God/desses such Isis, Brigit, Thor and Pan are seen to
be "personalities" or different aspects two a single God and Goddess.
We will speak about dieties in the next class.]
 
5.  Reincarnation and karma are valid concepts.  Upon death one
    goes to a state of rest and reflection, and eventually chooses
    where and when s/he will be reborn.
 
[Most Wiccans adopt SOME reincarnational belief, not necessarily this one.
More on this in this class.]
 
6.  Magic is practiced for positive (helping) purposes: spiritual
    development, healing, guidance, safety, etc.
 
7.  Rituals are generally performed outdoors when possible, at the
    New and Full Moons, and at eight Sabbat festivals which mark
    the progression of the seasons.
 
8.  Magic and celebration are performed in small groups, usually
    three to thirteen, called covens.  These are basically
    autonomous. There is no central church authority or hierarchy.
 
[Of course many are Solitaries, Wiccans who practice without a Coven.
They are not "lower class citizens" because they are not members of an
established Coven.]
 
 9.  There is no holy book, or prophet, no equivalent of the Bible
    or Jesus or Mohammed.  Individuals have access to the divine,
    and do not require an intermediary.  Every initiate is
    regarded as a priest/ess.
 
[Some traditions have multiple levels of initiation; much like earning
"belts" in Karate]
 
10. The central ethic is "And ye harm none, do as ye will."
    Whatever energy you send out returns threefold, so it is wise
    to be kind to others.
 
[More on this in this class]
 
11. We should live in harmony with the Earth and Nature, and not
    exploit them.
 
12. Though Wicca is a valid spiritual path, it is not the only
    one.  There is no recruiting, and people should be free to
    choose the path that best fits their needs.
 
[VERY important concept. This why many Wiccans have a hard time with
Christians who try to "convert" and believe theirs is the only One Right
Way (tm) to the divine]
 
 13. The concepts of original sin, sacrifice, redemption,
    confession, the divinity of Jesus, sinfulness of sex,
    Judgment, Heaven and Hell , denigration of women, bodily
    resurrection, and the Bible as divine revelation are not part
    of Wicca.  Neither are Satanism, the Black Mass, desecration
    of cemeteries, the sacrifice of animals, etc.
 
-----------------------------------------------------------------
EARTH-RITE / Mission San Jose, CA / 415-651-9496
Copyright (c) 1983 Amber K., Our Lady of the Woods.
 
***
I have a few additions to this list:
 
1) There is no such thing as pure good or pure evil. Thus, the concept of the
Christian Devil is not accepted in Wicca. Everything is a blending of
traits, like Yin and Yang. There is also no predefined standards of
good and bad, and are left for each individual to judge.
 
2) Ask 20 Wiccans for an opinion, you'll get 25 answers. Wicca is a
"build your own" religion. Because Wicca lacks a central structure and does
not have a bible or Koran, there are few, if any set rules. Thus, my
standard disclaimer: nothing I state is the One and True Way (tm). I try to
generalize the best I can and state what is only my opinion. Any articles
and readings are up to debate and possibly inaccurate, as many Wiccan and
Pagan readings are. If you don't like it and think you have a better
philosophy for you, please, go with it.
 
(However, there is a point were if you change too much, your belief is hard
to classify as "Wiccan". For instance, I would find it hard to think an
atheist as a Wiccan because it goes against the most general of Wiccan
concepts.)
 
3) Wiccans believe in magic, or the ability to change and effect an
outcome. Magic, psi, and other "supernatural" forces are not seen as
supernatural, but just another force of nature, like gravity.
 
4) Once, a Wiccan was bound to secrecy. This meant you could not tell
anyone you were Wiccan, expose coven members, give out ritual books, etc.
Wicca is much more open now due to tolerance of our religion and secrecy
and rules vary from person to person and coven to coven.
 
Two items that trouble many Seekers and new Wiccans are reincarnation and
"harm none".
 
III) REINCARNATION
 
"Death is Nature's way of recycling human beings." -unknown
 
Reincarnation is not something to force yourself to swallow. Because
Wiccans see life as cyclic, reincarnation seems logical. If you have
trouble with reincarnation (or any other concepts) research it. Look at
other points of view, and then you may be able to adopt one of them into
your own. Wiccans have a bunch of different reincarnation concepts.
The common view is:
        a) That each life is seen as a learning experience
        b) We reincarnate into people each time and usually the same sex
        c) reincarnation is not a state of levels as seen in Eastern thought,
           but each lifetime is just another lesson.
 
Some also believe the soul is put to rest to life with the God/dess after
all the lessons are learned, and others that the soul never learns all.
 
IV. THE WICCAN REDE
 
"Eight words the Wiccan Rede fulfill: an it harm none, do as ye will".
 
If there was a Ten Commandments of Wicca, This would be #1. The rede
generally states 'don't hurt anyone'. This applies to yourself, too. It
also can be applied to Nature and animals (why many Wiccans are vegetarians).
Hurt can be physical or psychological.
 
But what is "harm"? Like right and wrong, this is left for you to feel out
for yourself. Sometimes you may have to hurt someone for their own good or
safety (like surgery). Or, you may have to defend yourself or kill for food.
Look inside yourself for each situation, and see what is right for you.
 
This Rede also covers the threefold law: "whatever you do, good or bane,
will return to you threefold". It's actually very logical. If you are
always giving people a hard time, for example, people won't be friendly to
you! Why three times? The number three is sacred in Wicca, for reasons
we'll get into later in this course.
 
V. TRADITIONS
 
Many Wiccans and covens enjoy following a specific cultural tradition.
Instead of borrowing from a number of culture's myths and dieties, they 
try to incorporate the traditions and myths of one culture into Wiccan 
practice. Common traditions are Celtic, Norse and Egyptian.

Eclecticism is also common. This is the practice of blending in other 
culture's (past and present) beliefs, myths and deities into a Wiccan 
framework. Eclectics base this on the idea that knowledge and wisdom come 
from many different cultural sources, and taking only from one would limit 
their practice.
 
There are also Wiccans who practice sect-like traditions of Wicca. These
and are systems created by a High Priest or High Priestess and their
systems have become widespread. Some of these are:
 
Gardnerian Wicca: Developed by Gerald Gardner, (and Doreen Valiente) this is
the "first" denomination of Wicca, and almost all Wiccan practices contain
some Gardnerian ways. Characteristics are a Goddess slightly revered over the
God, skyclad (nude) rituals, and coveners joining and working in m/f
couples is almost required.
 
Alexandrian Wicca: Founded by Alex Sanders. This tradition is a mix of
Gardnerian with some Christian and Cerimonal Magic symbolism.
 
Dianic Wicca: This is a general tradition that encourages feminism and 
female leadership and spirtiual development. Many Dianics have female 
only covens and worship only a Goddess. Other Dianics have both sex 
covens and worship a God and Goddess and encourages involvement in 
women's issues.

There are many more then I can list here. You can research into traditions
if you wish, or you may develop one of your own (Some traditional
sects however, do not allow solitaries to self initiate). You can develop
a one culture tradition, or borrow from many cultures. The choice is up to
you!
 
(BTW, groups like The Golden Dawn and O.T.O. are not Wiccan groups but
magical orders. It would take me an entire class to give you a basic
definition of these complex groups, so I'm not getting into them in any of
my classes. If you are not afraid of flames try alt. magick or FTP 
sites for readings.)
 
 VI. HISTORY
 
This is a touchy subject. Many Wiccans believe that Wicca is a
pre-Christian religion that went underground because of persecution, and
had reemerged is century.  This theory, however, is not correct. What we
know of Wicca is a modern concept. Below is an article that is acceptably
accurate and true, with a few minor embellishment and omissions:
 
***
[This article submitted by Paul Cass, casspa@atlantis.cs.orst.edu]
I recently ran across the following article in a local pagan
newsletter.  I am a reluctant user of vi so I hereby take full
credit for all typos and misspellings made during my transcription
of the article.
 
_What is Wicca_ By SunBear and Salmon writing in OPeN Ways
 
                A Brief History of the Craft
 
WitchCraft covens seem to have existed during the burning times
(the catholic witch hunts from 1300-1600), but whether all those
burned, hanged, stoned, drowned and etc. (varying from 100,000
documented cases to 9 million estimated cases), were witches [Wiccans]
is a debatable point.  The Witchcraft mythos say that we are descended
from the ancient Goddess worshippping peoples whose religion got
pushed underground by the Christians circa 500 ce.  This may be
true, but it is impossible to prove If the Goddess's priestess did
indeed survive in the form of goody-wives and herb-women, their
religion must have been carefully concealed and cautiously passed
on in an oral form.
 
We personally think that though there were indeed pagan traces
left all over and incorporated into christainity, this doesn't
necessarily mean that they were Goddess worshippping pagan traces.
Patristic paganity had taken over the Goddess worshippping people
for more than 1500 years by the start of christainity.
 
[This happened in SOME cultures. Many remined goddess based.]
 
Modernly, somewhere in 1940 an English civil servant with a
penchant for whipping and bondage, Gerald Gardener, got himself
"initiated" into a "New Forest" coven in England.  A long-time
witch Sybil Leek, from the New Forest who didn't particularly
appreciate Gerald, confirms it.  Once Gardner had his hands on the
rituals Old Dorothy taught him, he decided that they were
fragmentary and needed to be reconstructed.  And here we have an
odd little problem.  Gardner had worked in a Ritual Magician's
lodge with Aleister Crowley, a long-time family acquaintance of
Sybil Leek's.  Crowley was a consumate showman bent on shocking
the public.  Sybil was always sad about him, feeling that he had
strayed from the true path of the Craft, but he was apparently
born to one of the hereditary witch families of England.  In spite
of this, his Ritual Lodge was based on his interpretations of the
Magical Lodge of the Golden Dawn, a tradition started in 1890.
 
Old Dorothy handed to her neophyte, Gardener, the treasured and
cared for rituals that she and her coven had preserved for ages
past. Gardener decided that the rituals were fragmentary and hired
Crowley to "reconstruct" them.  A very public Witchcraft movement
was started by this.  Gardener published and got onto TV a lot in
the fifties and sixties.  Alex Saunders who managed to steal one
of his books of shadows and start his own Craft current, was known
to the TV media in England as "The King of Witches."
 
These Craft currents were very hierarchical, male dominated
(though token bows were given to the women), secretive, and until
very recently totally heterosexual.
 
***
 
Although we do not belong to an ancient religion, we belong to an evolved
religion. Wicca does have ties to pre-Christian Goddess and Earth
worshipping pagans and burning times witches, just as modern humans have
ties to Neanderthal man. Two different things, but related by association,
if not direct decent.
 
 
_Malleus Malleficarum_; The Witch Hammer
 
"Destroy them all...the Lord will know his own!"
 
In the late 1400's there was a crusade to wipe out all witches that lasted
for 300 years. This time is referred to the Burning Times. (or The women's
holocaust by some feminists) This was a time of social upheaval, plague
and famine. The Church, looking for a scapegoat for these problems their
God couldn't seem to solve, placed blame on witches.  These herbal
healers, spirtiual councilors and midwives were accused of devil worship and
hexes which brought the wrath on the people. Midwives and healers were
banned from practice, (the death rate from birth and stillbirth increased
without them. This is were we get the idea that only "doctors" can
be healthcare providers) fertility rituals were seen as curses to make 
animals and land barren. Of course this was a nice excuse to get rid
of pagan rituals, and enemies of the state. The Devil, before only
a tester of faith, became evil and almost equal to God himself in th Church.
 
People were convicted of witchcraft with no proof, and a confession of a
neighbor (usually tortured to give names) would start the process. The
witch would be sent to an Inquisition, 3 levels of torture (where the common
phrase "the third degree" comes from) and jailed until she "confessed". The
methods of torture used were too horrid for me to describe. A handbook for
torture and coaching "confessions" was written by two Dominican Monks, _The
Witch Hammer_ which helped to spread this practice.  After torture, it was
common the witch would be shaved of all body hair (so magic knots couldn't
be tied) and stripped naked (clothes could hide cursed objects) and put in
the public square before trial. After the "trail" by professional (rich)
witch prosecutors from the cities, the witch was sentenced to death,
usually by hanging or burning alive. Whole towns were wiped out and
targets were usually women, aged, handicapped and children - most of them
not witches at all, and Christian. The highest number of dead is about nine
million.
 
**********
 
EXERCISES:
 
(these are personal and optional, but I encourage you to write and keep
a Wiccan journal to look back on later. If you can't or don't want to
write, do it anyway, because some of the exercises in future classes are 
based on past ones. If the exercise is a meditation, write down your 
experiences in the journal.)

 1) Below is "Thirteen goals of a witch" (taken from Scott Cunningham).
Examine each of the thirteen points. What is your interpretaions of each,
and how do they relate to Wiccan belief? Do you have any deletions or
additions to this list?
 
                THIRTEEN GOALS OF A WITCH
        1) Know yourself
        2) Know your craft
        3) Learn
        4) Apply knowledge with wisdom
        5) Achieve balance
        6) Keep your words in good order
        7) Keep your thoughts in good order
        8) Celebrate life
        9) Attune with the cycles of the earth
        10) Breathe and eat correctly
        11) Exercise the body
	12) Meditate
        13) Honor the Goddess and God
 
2) Draw a line down a sheet of paper. On one side list all the things you
like about Wicca, on the other, things that make you uneasy or things you
dislike. Out of the things you dislike or feel unconfortable with, why do
you feel these things? Will additional information or talking with others
help? Keep this list, because we will use it later.
 
3) What do you think about reincarnation? Do you find it comforting? Is it
something you need to explore? How does the idea of not having a "heaven"
make you feel? Please share with your discussion group if you wish.

***************
END
***************