Читать книгу Wicca Teachings - An Introduction and Practical Guide - Tony Bell - Страница 4

You do not need an altar to be Wiccan. You do not need a cauldron, a broomstick or a wand. In fact, you do not need anything whatsoever to be Wiccan. These items do not have anything to do with the spiritual aspect of Wicca; they are simply material props that help us with our magical workings. You do not need to be a part of a coven and you do not need to be initiated into Wicca, even though many covens or groups follow that procedure. If you believe and hold the God and Goddess in your heart, if you are at one with nature and the elements and if you believe there is magic in everything, then you are Wiccan. It really is as simple as that.

It is true that some branches of Wicca insist upon initiation into a coven to learn their secrets; examples of these are Gardnerian Wicca, named after Gerald Gardner, and Alexandrian Wicca, named after Alexander Sanders. This is all fine if you wish to join one of the many Gardnerian or Alexandrian covens around the world, but in modern Wicca the majority of Wiccans don’t belong to a coven and instead practice their Wiccan faith in their own way. Wicca has many different branches to its tree and it’s up to you to choose what feels most right for you.

Wicca is a nature based religion, a peaceful and empowering religion with a proud history. We worship nature, the seasons, the elements and the universe. Our deities are ancient Gods and Goddesses that predate other religions by thousands of years. Most modern things in today’s society were built and invented by Pagan civilizations, including architecture, roads, lavatories, the wheel, wine making, language, writing and even religion. In fact the concept that there is a God or Gods was also a Pagan notion. Wiccans today still live by numerous Pagan ideals such as using a calendar. Pagan civilizations invested a lot of their time sky watching and season watching and built their lives around the cycles they observed. It helped them survive and prosper. It helped them turn into us, a modern society that, with the help of newer and more oppressive religions, now believes humans are more important than the rest of mother earth. It’s time to turn the clock back. Wiccans believe earlier people on earth had a closer relationship with the divine. We want to learn all we can from ancient civilizations and their peoples as well as their Gods and Goddesses.

Every day ‘ordinary’ people live by Pagan ways without even knowing it. Many people call themselves ‘spiritual’ but would not admit to being Pagan because of negative connotations fostered by an oppressive Church and an ignorant media looking for an easy stereotype or cutting cliché. And yet, look around and you will see Paganism everywhere. The days of the week are named after our Gods and Goddesses. The twelve months of the year are named after Pagan Gods too, and that’s not all. The planets of our solar system are all named after Pagan Gods, as are many stars, galaxies and constellations.

Many holidays that modern religions observe were once Pagan, such as Christmas, which is Yule when the Sun is born in the Winter Solstice. These holidays predate Christianity by thousands of years. Easter used to be known as Ostara which was celebrated in Spring when the Sun had risen again after a long Winter. It is the time of the earth being fertile, which is why it is represented by rabbits and eggs - fertility symbols. Samhain (Halloween) became All Saints Day. When the Christians were trying to convert Pagans to Christianity they kept many of the holidays Pagans celebrated to ease them into being Christian, but they changed the name and meaning to represent Christianity instead. Pope Gregory understood that the Britons and Angles in these lands were steeped in a Pagan way of life and that conversion by force and the destruction of Pagan festivals and holidays would be foolhardy and only cause resentment. His letter to St Augustine, dated 12 July AD 594, tells him “not to destroy the pagan temples, but rather to replace the idols with the relics of saints; to sprinkle the old precincts with holy water and rededicate them, because people come more readily to the places where they have been accustomed to pray. At festivals the people shall be allowed to build their booths of green leaves and to slay their bulls.”

Of course, this holistic, non-judgemental approach didn’t continue; it was simply a way of enticing the people in a slow and careful way. Before long the Christian church was demanding the destruction of sacred groves and insisting the worship of trees and stones was in fact demonic. Next came the persecution of the wise or cunning women, those who understood the healing power of plants, yet were killed for being ‘evil witches.’

Many rituals performed by other religions are steeped in Pagan history too. Catholics use incense to bless an altar before mass. This is a pagan custom of clearing energy from an altar and setting shields of protective energy before ritual. Candles are lit upon church altars to beckon the presence of Jesus. Again, this is a Pagan custom, going back thousands of years, honouring and calling upon the God and Goddess. Holidays are named after the Holy Days of Pagan descent. Weddings, funerals, baptisms and circumcisions all are of pagan origin, and so the list goes on.

There are many Pagan monuments too, such as the Washington Monument in Washington DC, an ancient Egyptian worship temple called an Obelisk, erected to worship the Sun Gods in ancient Egypt. There’s another one in the centre of the Vatican City. The Statue of Liberty is a statue of the Roman Goddess Libertas, who is the Goddess of Liberty, Truth and Justice. There are Pagan monuments all over the world and there are still many being built to this day. See if you can find some near you; you might be surprised.

Contrary to popular belief, Wiccans are not evil or bad, and nor do we worship the devil or Satan. The devil is a Christian concept and so you must first be Christian to believe in him. Wiccans do not believe in the devil; he was a fallen angel of the Christian God. And Wiccans do not worship any other evil or bad demons whatsoever. We understand that we all have dark and light inside us and we work on keeping the two in balance. We do not blame any outside source for bad behaviour; instead we blame ourselves if we do something wrong and we understand it will come back to us in a karmic way as is the laws of nature and the universe.

Throughout modern history, witches have been portrayed as evil, or as old hags or whores of the devil, mainly because of ignorance capitalised on and fuelled by religious dogma, media, books and fairy tales. In reality, witches were the wise elders of country villages, healers, midwives, philosophers and spell casters. If you had a problem you would go the Wicca or Witch as the name is now better known. Early Christian stance on this practice was to simply dismiss it all as superstition, but in the early medieval period the church recognised the power these women had and that their previous more passive stance had not been successful. And so consequently, they set out to destroy them. Throughout Europe and the European colonies of North America mass hysteria was created, alleging that witches were worshippers of the devil. Prosecutions peaked in the 16^th and 17^th centuries but also continued afterwards. In three centuries it’s reckoned that between 40,000 and 100,000 people, mainly women, were killed, usually by drowning, torture, hanging or being burned alive at the stake. Thankfully, although negative stereotypes of paganism and witches continue today, we don’t have to suffer such terrible consequences. In fact, nowadays the axis is turning, with many people realising there is a void in their life that can only be filled by the beauty and power of nature and spirituality.

Now is the time! Embrace the change and come back to the old ways. You don’t have to give up everything that is modern. The internet and smartphones are wonderful tools that can help us connect with each other. All I ask is that you learn, understand and respect the beauty and power of nature and use it wisely and without harm.

Some consider Wicca to be a new age religion started in the 1950s by a man named Gerald Gardner. This is not true. Even though Gardner had a massive influence on Wicca and helped make the religion as well-known as it is today, he did not invent Wicca. The word Wicca comes from an ancient Old English word meaning Witch. Wicca and Witchcraft have been intertwined since ancient times and it is not a new age religion of the 20th century. If anything, Christianity, Judaism and Islam are new age religions as Paganism and Wicca outdate them by thousands of years.

Wiccan religion today is based on ancient witchcraft, but also lends ideas from many other ancient civilizations and cultures. To put it simply a Wiccan is a Witch who is also a Pagan. Not all witches are Pagans though; some go by their own rules, good or bad. Witches come from all walks of life and follow many different religions. A Wiccan is a certain type of witch that lives by the law of the land and in conjunction with nature, hence making them Pagan.

Some people can find all this a little confusing, so below is a brief description of the difference between a Pagan, a Witch and a Wiccan.

Paganism

Paganism is an umbrella term to mean a person who follows any nature-based religion. A pagan therefore, is someone who worships nature. They follow a set of religious guidelines drawn out by natural occurrences including the seasons and the phases of the moon and sun. Nature, it could be said, is a pagan’s church in which to worship in. A pagan usually believes in both a God and a Goddess, with an emphasis on balance, much like nature itself. In several beliefs of Paganism there are numerous Gods and Goddesses that represent a planet, a celestial body or some other form of nature. Such religions that fall under this umbrella are Wicca, Shintoism, Asatru, Shamanism, Druidry and, to some, even Hinduism. Additionally, a pagan may be atheist or heathen and not have any Gods, but simply follow the laws of nature.

Witchcraft

Witchcraft is a craft, a skill that involves making things. A witch is someone who practices witchcraft by means of chants, incantations, spells, potions, herbalism, aromatherapy, stones, crystals and natural healing. Some witches use divination to see into the future, either through being psychic themselves or by using tools such as Tarot Cards, Rune Stones, Crystal Balls and Palmistry. A witch can follow many paths. They may not be religious at all and may not believe in any Gods. They may be Christian, in that they practice witchcraft but follow the Christian religion. Alternatively, they may practice or follow Black Magic or Voodoo. A witch can be many different things and sometimes they are simply just a witch.

Wicca

A Wiccan is someone who is pagan and also a witch that practices witchcraft as part of their religion. Wiccans follow the moon phases, performing different rituals and magic on certain times of the moon phases. In Wicca the moon is the Goddess and the sun is the God. In some branches of Wicca, such as Gardnerian, there is only one God and one Goddess (the moon and the sun) but many Wiccans, calling themselves Eclectic Wicca, believe in multiple Gods and Goddesses.

Wiccans use nature as part of their magical rituals and workings. For example, when the moon is waxing (coming into being full) a Wiccan will do spell work that brings things to them and will ask for positives to be brought into their lives. When the moon is waning (going away after a full moon) they will ask bad things to leave their lives and work to expel negativity. Full moons are called Esbats and much ritual and magical work is done on these nights. To a Wiccan a spell, chant or meditation is like a prayer. The sun, our God who seeds and fertilizes the earth, is celebrated on eight holidays we call Sabbats which fall throughout the year on seasonal changes to the earth. Wicca takes from many ancient pagan civilizations and cultures including Native Americans, ancient Rome, ancient Greece, ancient Egypt, Norse Vikings, Aztecs, Incas, Celts, Druids and Anglo-Saxons. It is said that not all Witches are Wiccan but all Wiccan are Witches.

Wicca is a non-restrictive religion that leaves you to choose your own path, and there are many different paths of Wicca so you must choose the one that feels right for you. We all have the same fundamental belief, but we choose to practice in different ways, similar to many faiths, including Christianity, with its Catholic, Presbyterian, Protestant, Amish and other branches.

Wicca encourages you to empower yourself, to stay positive and keep negativity at bay. We embrace our dark side as well as our light and seek to balance the two. Our actions are our own and are not blamed on an outside force such as evil, demons or the devil.

Wicca, unlike many new age religions such as Christianity, Islam and Judaism, does not follow the word of man or a monotheistic God; instead Wicca follows the divine and awesome power of nature; the stars, the sun and moon, the universe. Wicca follows stories of ancient Gods passed down from ancestors from the beginning of time.

In Wicca we do not have churches or buildings to pray in. We use nature as our church and our place to worship. Wicca does not ask for money to keep the religion alive, while the leaders get rich and live in palaces and castles and the worshippers live in poverty. Wicca does not ask anything from you. It does not ask us to ostracise or hate certain people, because of where they were born or because of their sexuality. Instead Wicca encourages people’s individuality and asks that they find their own spiritual path. It goes against everything Wiccans stand for to judge others; we are all emotional and perceptive beings and should be allowed to be ourselves and live our lives free from pain or harassment.

Balance is essential within Wicca. Balance means to be free of drama and neurotic behaviour, to not allow your past or guilt take over your life, but also to not let the future and what is still to come take over your life either. Live in the present and take each thing as it comes. We learn from our past and move on, we prepare in the here and now to create our own future. We accept our light and our dark, our feminine and our masculine as one cannot be without the other.

“I have been told by witches in England: ‘Write and tell people we are not perverts. We are decent people, we only want to be left alone, but there are certain secrets that you mustn’t give away.’ So after some arguments as to exactly what I must not reveal, I am permitted to tell much that has never before been made public concerning their beliefs, their rituals and their reasons for what they do; also to emphasize that neither their present beliefs, rituals nor practices are harmful.”

Gerald Gardner