Wicca 5l3518

Wicca: The Power Within People and nature can have one of three relationships. Nature can work against humans, as seen in natural disasters like tornadoes, hurricanes, and blizzards. When Hurricane Sandy devastated the East Coast in 2012, New Yorkers from all walks of life felt powerless against it. People can be against nature, taking all of the resources that the Earth has to offer, and not giving it back. If this corruption and greed continues, humanity will find itself without the very elements it needs to survive: food, water, and atmosphere. The third relationship is humans and nature working together. These people take not more than they need because they acknowledge the limitations of humanity. They try to make use of the natural world in order to work with what life have given them on their own . A balance is attained in this relationship since the people make sure to give back anything that the natural world has bestowed upon them, whether it be earth, fire, water, air, energy. Practicing Wicca allows humans to become one with the natural world in order to achieve a sense of self-empowerment. There is suffering in the world due to an imbalance in the relationship with nature. This can be ameliorated by practicing Wicca. Wicca as we know it can be attributed to Gerald Gardner when he went public with his coven (Wigington, "Gardnerian Wicca"). A coven is a group of people who practice Wicca, but their methods are kept secret by an oath. Gardner’s revealing of the coven’s practices caused a rift between him and his mentor, Dorothy Clutterback, and he started his own covens. In the 1960s, Gardner initiated Raymond Buckland, who then came back to his home country of America and started the first Gardnerian coven in the United States (Wigington, "Gardnerian Wicca"). At that time, the closest thing in America to Wicca was the nature-based religion of Native Americans. Since the Gardnerian tradition is shrouded in secrecy, many people have no idea what truly happens in them. Wicca, for the

solitary practitioner, however, has thrived due to books, television shows, and especially the Internet. With access to these resources, many people can discover the beliefs of Wicca without the need to be initiated into a coven. This paper will cover the importance of nature, magick, and the Wiccan Rede. These three components teach a person to become responsible for their own actions. Taking responsibility allows the person to take more control in their practice. To a Wiccan, nature is divine. According to the “13 Principles of Wiccan Beliefs” agreed upon by the Council of American Witches in 1973, Wiccans believe that “our intelligence gives us a unique responsibility toward our environment” (Robinson). Since we have inhibited the Earth, we have been provided with the resources necessary to thrive. We have many instances where we have used our intelligence to harness nature. The difference between us and Wiccans is the reverence they have for the Earth. This reverence inspires Wiccans to take responsibility to do what they can to preserve it. Wicca holds that nature is comprised of a “Goddess and God [who] are both within ourselves and manifest in all nature” (Cunningham 4). They are present in everyone who inhabits and makes up the natural world. Wiccans revere them and use the energy of the world around them to perform magick, which is the core of Wicca. Since a Wiccan believes the Earth is full of energy, the deities are omnipresent in the Earth, a Wiccan can believe there is divine energy throughout the Earth. According to Cunningham, magick is the “projection of natural energies to produce needed effects” (19). By combining their own personal energy with natural energy, and through the divine energy present in all living things, the practitioner directs all of that energy to a goal. That, in essence, is magick. Magick “allows us to improve our lives and return energy to our ravaged planet … and creates a bond between Deity and human” (Cunningham 19). Practicing magick enables us to

take control of the energies that influence happenings in our everyday life. Taking control allows one to be empowered by their actions. Magick does have one caveat: do not use it in a negative way. Doing so will violate the Wiccan Rede. The Wiccan Rede is one of the guidelines that is the closest thing to a ethical teaching. Found in Gardner’s writings, it states, “An' it harm none, do what ye will” (Wigington, “The Wiccan Rede”). As long as whatever is part of a person’s practice does not hurt the practitioner themselves or anything else, it is acceptable. Abiding by the Wiccan Rede allows the practitioner to deliberate over their actions in order to make sure that they are beneficial. Since WIccans were persecuted in England and Salem, they are tolerant of other religions. They do not wish that upon anyone else and “as long as those faiths do not persecute others or violate the tenant of ‘Harm None’” (Herne), there is no reason for Wiccans to find fault with them. Even though Wiccans are accepting of other spiritual paths, these groups have misgivings about Wiccans. There are those who would say that Wicca is a cult who worships the devil, and uses magick to cast hexes and cause misfortune to those who cross them. After all, those beliefs are why Wiccans were persecuted in the first place. But those conceptions are unfounded. To begin, the simple definition of cult found in Merriam-Webster Dictionary is a “small religious group that is not part of a larger and more accepted religion and that has beliefs regarded by many people as extreme or dangerous” (“Definition of CULT”). Using this definition, Wicca would be considered a cult; however, the beliefs are not dangerous at all. There is no higher authority other than the practitioner because the power of the divine is within them. Wiccans answer to no one but themselves. The deities in exist in all things, but they do not desire to change anything. The change comes from the actions of the Wiccan.

Turning to the deities that they worship, they are good, but they are not all good. Wiccans “acknowledge the dark aspects of the Goddess and the God as well as the bright” (Cunningham 17). Unlike Abrahamic traditions such as Christianity, there is no being that is entirely good and entirely evil – God is good and Satan is evil. The main deities in Wicca contain a duality of yin and yang, just like the natural world and the human condition. They are present in everything that exists, including magick. Contrary to popular belief, the magick that Wiccans perform is not “destructive, manipulative, or exploitative” (Cunningham 23). Performing any magick that harms a person, place, or thing is an insult to the God and Goddess. Casting a hex violates the Wiccan Rede of “Harm None” because it intends to cause misfortune. Even though the deities have darker aspects, it is up to the practitioner to channel the negative energies within thems and turn them into positive thoughts and actions. Wicca is a spiritual path that places emphasis on the practitioner and how their thoughts and actions contribute to preserving the divine in the natural world. Wiccans have respect for the inhabitants of nature because they recognize that there is a God and Goddess within every living thing. The deities have light and dark aspects, just as humans do. It is up to the practitioner to rise above the darkness and reach towards the light. To do what they can, and to harm none. In a world where there are disasters and wars, that there is beauty in this world. There are sunsets, flowers, and the shining sun that fills each and every one of us with light and warmth. We cannot let this light go out. We need to embrace the light, not abuse it. Wicca is one to take what you need and leave the rest behind. After all, the power and magick is within you.

Works Cited Robinson, B.A. "Wiccan Beliefs." Religious Tolerance. Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance, 10 Jan. 2010. Web. 10 Dec. 2015 . Cunningham, Scott. Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner. St. Paul, Minn., U.S.A.: Llewellyn Publications, 1989. Print. "Definition of CULT." Merriam-Webster Beta. Merriam-Webster, Inc. Web. 10 Dec. 2015. Herne. "What Is Wicca, Witchcraft and Paganism?" The Celtic Connection. The Celtic Connection. Web. 10 Dec. 2015. . Wigington, Patti. "Gardnerian Wicca." About.com Religion & Spirituality. About.com, Web. 10 Dec. 2015. . ---. "The Wiccan Rede." About.com Religion & Spirituality. About.com. Web. 10 Dec. 2015.