Helmii wrote:Hypoxic wrote:
What does Wicca mean?
Pendant and bracelet with
pentacle, a circled
pentagram. Pentagrams are used by many adherents of Wicca.
Wicca (English:
/ˈwɪkə/), also termed
Pagan Witchcraft, is a
contemporary Pagan new religious movement. It was developed in
England during the first half of the 20th century and was
introduced to the public in 1954 by
Gerald Gardner, a retired
British civil servant. Wicca draws upon a diverse set of
ancient pagan and
20th-century hermetic motifs for its
theological structure and
ritual practices.
Wicca has no central authority. Its traditional core beliefs, principles and practices were originally outlined in the 1940s and 1950s by Gardner and
Doreen Valiente, both in published books as well as in secret written and oral teachings passed along to their initiates. There are many variations on the core structure, and the religion grows and evolves over time. It is divided into a number of diverse lineages,
sects and
denominations, referred to as
traditions, each with its own
organisational structure and level of
centralisation. Due to its decentralized nature, there is some disagreement over what actually constitutes Wicca. Some traditions, collectively referred to as
British Traditional Wicca, strictly follow the initiatory lineage of Gardner and consider the term
Wicca to apply only to similar traditions, but not to newer,
eclectic traditions.
Wicca is typically
duotheistic, worshipping a Goddess and a God. These are traditionally viewed as the
Moon Goddess and the
Horned God, respectively. These deities may be regarded in a
henotheistic way, as having many different divine aspects which can in turn be identified with many diverse pagan deities from different historical pantheons. For this reason, they are sometimes referred to as the "Great Goddess" and the "Great Horned God", with the adjective "great" connoting a deity that contains many other deities within their own nature. These two deities are sometimes viewed as facets of a greater
pantheistic divinity, which is regarded as an impersonal force or process rather than a personal deity. While
duotheism or bitheism is traditional in Wicca, broader Wiccan beliefs range from
polytheism to
pantheism or
monism, even to
Goddess monotheism.
Wiccan celebrations encompass both the
cycles of the Moon, known as
Esbats and commonly associated with the Goddess (female deity), and the cycles of the Sun, seasonally based festivals known as
Sabbats and commonly associated with the Horned God (male deity). An unattributed statement known as the
Wiccan Rede is a popular expression of Wiccan morality, although it is not universally accepted by Wiccans. Wicca often involves the ritual practice of
magic, though it is not always necessary.
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