World religions; Neopagan religions
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The Wiccan | Current phase of the moon | Copyright © Isaac Bonewits2 | Moon & sun rise & set |
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Quotations:
 | "It seems to be necessary to preface every discussion of Witchcraft with an explanation that, no, Neo-Pagan Witches aren't Satanists."Otter and Morning Glory Zell 6 |
| "We are not evil. We don't harm or seduce people. We are not dangerous.We are ordinary people like you. We have families, jobs, hopes, and dreams. We are not a cult. This religion is not a joke. We are not what you think we are from looking at T.V. We are real. We laugh, we cry. We are serious. We have a sense of humor. You don't have tobe afraid of us. We don't want to convert you. And please don't try to convert us. Justgive us the same right we give you--to live in peace. We are much more similar to you thanyou think." Margot Adler 4 |
| "If you take [a copy of] the Christian Bible and put it out in the wind and the rain, soon the paper on which the words are printed will disintegrate and the words will be gone. Our bible IS the wind and the rain." Herbalist Carol McGrath as told to her by an unidentified Native-American woman. 5 |
| "I don't think witchcraft is a religion. I would hope the military officials would take a second look at the decision they made." G.W. Bush (R), as Governor of Texas. Interviewed on ABC's Good Morning America, 1999-JUN-24. He disapproved of Wiccan servicemembers being given the same religious rights as members of other religions in the military. |
| "We should educate people that 'Witch' is not evil but ancient and positive. The first time I called myself a 'Witch' was the most magical moment of my life." Margot Adler. 4 |
| "When one defines oneself as Pagan, it means she or he follows an earth or nature religion, one that sees the divine manifest in all creation. The cycles of nature are our holy days, the earth is our temple, its plants and creatures our partners and teachers. We worship a deity that is both male and female, a mother Goddess and father God, who together created all that is, was, or will be. We respect life, cherish the free will of sentient beings, and accept the sacredness of all creation." Edain McCoy |
About this section:
Wicca is the largest of the Neopagan religions. Wiccans have great reverence for the Earth and for their Goddess and her consort, the horned God. Their main rule of behavior is the Wiccan Rede which forbids them from harming people, including themselves, except in some cases of self-defense.
Many, perhaps most, are solitary practitioners. Others form small groups of believers, called covens, groves, etc. Because of centuries of religious propaganda and misinformation, many conservative Christians, and others, associate Wiccans with Satanists even though the two belief systems are as different as Christianity andAtheism.
Wicca is a very different religion from Christianity.
Topics covered in this section:
| Introduction << Please read this essay first | ||||||||||
| Some Wiccan introductory videos | ||||||||||
| Religious words with multiple, quite different meanings: | ||||||||||
| Questions about Wicca: | ||||||||||
| Background material: | ||||||||||
| Modern-day Wicca: | ||||||||||
| Hatred of, misunderstanding of, and discrimination against Wiccans: | ||||||||||
| Christian-Wiccan relationships: | ||||||||||
| U.S. Government and political leaders' views toward Wicca: | ||||||||||
| Terminology | ||||||||||
| Wiccan resources:
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| Misc. items: |
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References:
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Thanks to WiseGorilla at:http://www.wisegorilla.com/ for their elegant pentagram image. They are no longer online.
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Thanks also to Isaac Bonewits (ibonewits@neopagan.net) for permitting us to copy his "family values" graphic. His web site is at http://www.neopagan.net He died on 2012-AUG-12 but his web site remains online and is occasionally updated by his widow: Phaedra Bonewits.
Courtesy the Weather Underground. See:http://www.wunderground.com Click image to obtain weather report for Salem, MA.
Margot Adler, "Drawing Down The Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America Today," Penguin Books, (1997), Page. 461. Readreviews or order this book safely from Amazon.com online book store
Some interpret this saying as stating that the Native American Bible is stronger than the Christian Bible, and would destroy the latter. i.e. it is a type of "my God is bigger than your God" saying that has caused so much loss of life and destruction, and that threatens the existence of the human race. It isn't. It is merely saying that Earth-centered religions obtain their spiritual guidance from the forces of nature, whereas Christians obtain their guidance from the Bible as written by humans.
Otter and Morning Glory Zell Editors, GREEN EGG magazine, "Satanism vs. Neo-Pagan Witchcraft: Confusions and Distinctions." (1995) Online at: http://www.holysmoke.org/wicca/satvnp.htm
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