Wicca Questions

[allycat175]

I am thinking about starting to practice Wicca, but I am new and I only know a little bit about it. So I have a few questions,
1.) Do you need to join a coven
2.) How do you join a coven
3.) Is there a ritual that you have to do to practce wicca?
Thank you very much!

[N.R. Naiacinaed]

1) No, you do not need to be in a coven to practice Wicca. A lot of Wiccans are solitary practitioners.

2) Find a coven that matches your beliefs. Some even have websites or networking pages, I think. After you find one, you have to follow whatever enterance requirements that particular coven has, if that coven happens to be accepting new members.

3) Not that I know of. The only ritual I know of is possibly to join a specific sect or a dedication to your chosen God/dess. Working from memory here...I have been neglecting this part of me for a long time, I am ashamed to say.

[allycat175]

Do I need a wicca name? Anc can I be Christian and still practice Wicca? I know the church really wouldn't aprrove but I just don't think God would actually condem people to hell for eternity or be so mean about homosexuals or condem me for trying to find my own spirituality. I love god in all, but what some of what is written in the bible doesn't sound like god to me.

[N.R. Naiacinaed]

It's not necessary, but many people choose one for spiritual reasons.

And yes, it is possible to be a Christian and still practice Wicca. In fact, there is a whole forum on this board devoted to the subject. Feel free to browse it.

[allycat175]

Thank you!!!!

[N.R. Naiacinaed]

You're quite welcome. If you ever want to chat, feel free to look me up. One can never have too many friends.

[allycat175]

Thank you!
I have another question sorry! Do you pray? How do you if you do? If you dont what are some ways to be close to the Triple Godess?

[shadowx]

And yes, it is possible to be a Christian and still practice Wicca. In fact, there is a whole forum on this board devoted to the subject. Feel free to browse it.

WRONG!

You CANNOT be christian and Wiccan, Wicca is a religion, Christianity is a religion. It is like being a Muslim-Christian. You cant do it. Pick one or the other!

You can be a christian witch (although according to your bible, your leaders, your fellow christians you are worshipping satan and will indeed go to hell for all eternity) but you CANNOT be a Christian wiccan.

It doesnt work like that. You can either be Christian, a Wiccan or someone who follows neither religion, in which case you are not Christian, and you are not Wiccan, you are just pagan.

I am sure someone will bring up religious tolerance but this isnt a case for tolerance. My views on christianity are dim, it is true, however this is a case of fact. You cannot follow two religions. To be wiccan you MUST believe in a god and goddess, yet to be christian you MUST *NOT* believe in any god or goddess except THE god. End of. No middle ground, no choices. Religion is a set of rules, if you cant follow all of them then you cannot call yourself a member of that religion. This rant is purely a continuation of a previous rant, dont take it personally but know that a time has come for you to choose. You can practise witchcraft, but you cannot be a Wiccan while you are christian and vice versa.

I am not wiccan, i am merely a pagan, i dont believe in any gods or goddesses and a witch does not need to be wiccan either. Wicca is just one of many faces that all too often represent witchcraft. Know that Witchcraft is an action, like prayer. Wicca is just a religion that uses Witchcraft much the same way Christianity is a religion that uses prayer.

[Y0m]

Sorry shadowx... i must say...

I'm honestly every religion.
& None at the same time.
I've studied most of the main ones extensivly
Drawing on the things which have and continue to help
me grow.

Hell I pray to Lord Ganesha and chant Om Hreem Shivaya with my mala (Hindu), I then turn around and read psalms from the bible, and then I will perform some Wiccan ritual magic. All after doing some buddhist meditation on the causes of suffering of course

So which one am I?

Religion is like a ladder. All of them leading to the same place.
You drop it down though when you get to the top...
but at first you need something to hold onto.

No religion has it perfect. None has all the answers.
But they are simply different aproaches to the same problem.
Pick one that suits your personality,
but there is no need for religious intolerance.

My love,
Y0m

[Y0m]

Edit: pick one (or four ) which suit your personality.

[Abida-Sahara]

It doesnt work like that. You can either be Christian, a Wiccan or someone who follows neither religion, in which case you are not Christian, and you are not Wiccan, you are just pagan.

I wouldn't say that is entirely accurate. Granted you could not be a "Christian" because being a "Christian" has various connotations and requirements, you could however follow the Abrahamic Divinity and be even considered righteous, though you would have to go back to Judaism and even older Semitic practices to do so. Me and a friend compiled ideas on how it would be done, though both of us are sort of novices in Wicca overall. We both have a background in the big three religions, or at least have studied them in depth. here is a copy and paste of what we sort of drummed up...

For those wishing to follow the God of Abraham but see something in the path Wicca and it's practices and rituals and ideas, there is an odd and out of the box way of doing it.

There are according to Jewish sages, and the Hebrew bible, only Seven actual rules asked of any non-Jewish persons. So if your like me and my friend and part of the 99% of the population that is not an Israelites then this is very applicable.

Now to cover the basic bases of what we have discovered and crafted so far I will answer the most problematic questions of "What about the bible?", "What about Monotheism?", and finally "What are the Seven Laws?".

So the first thing is, what of the Seven Laws? Well according to Jewish sages there are Seven fairly simple laws ascribed to the rest of the human race to follow. We, unlike them, are not burdoned with being Chosen (Which is in fact more a burden and a task then some blessing). These laws are called the "Noahide Laws" or "The Seven laws of Noah". Now first your probably wondering "Hey what about all those commandments in Leviticus and elsewhere?". I'll stop you and inform you that the Book along with the other first five books were given to the Jews, not necessarily to the rest of us. Hence why this comprehensive text doesn't mention the vast majority of the world and is geared towards the tribe of people receiving it. In principle the elaborate laws of the Torah are held to the Jews, not to the rest of us. Hence why most Christians eat bacon and meat and dairy, even though they thump that bible with the best of them.

Here are the Seven Laws:
Prohibition of Idolatry or not having idols before the Abrahamic God.
As in no other Divinity but the God of Abraham.
Prohibition of Murder.
Self explanatory.
Prohibition of Theft.
Self explanatory.
Prohibition of sexual crimes.
Sort of open ended, but it would entail prohibitions against pedophilia, rampant "lust", rape, incest... ect...
Prohibition of Blasphemy.
In Judaism this means refraining from saying the actual name of the Abrahamic God just to be safe.
Do not eat flesh taken from an animal while it is still alive.
Fairly self explanatory. Though me and my friend expanded upon that one a bit.
Requirement to have just Laws/act in a Just manner.
On the personal level this could just be akin to saying be just on a personal level, but as a group be just or have just laws.

For the most part the Rede already covers most of it. Except for the dietary restrictions, certain interpretations on what is a "sex crime" and of course the call to monotheism, There is not a major conflict. Now sex crime is open to interpretation, most of us agree things like rape ect are bad... which we could all agree is what is prohibited, after all is there anything that perverts the sacredness of sex then that? As for dietary restrictions, well if you want to follow this deity then your going to have to change your eating habits.

Now for the next point. What of Monotheism? How can you worship one divinity when a big part of Wicca is a duality of a sacred male and female? That is trickier but one must think beyond the box. The God of Abraham is called HaShem, which is a Hebrew word meaning The (Ha) Name (Shem). This is said in place of the actual name because the name is deemed holy. But how do you call upon the God or the Goddess when you only have one divinity? Well for this you need to think of them in a way that the Male and Female are just part of one divinity, which from what I have read is not that much of a stretch. The Male would be ShaloShem (Shalo = His, Shem = Name) and the Female LahShem (Lah = Her, Shem = Name). So how do you address the feminine and masculine? One way would be to say something like HaShem LahShem, "The Name, Her Name", and the male HaShem ShaloShem "The Name, His Name". In truth you are speaking of the same divinity. Monotheism? Accomplished and satisfied.

So now of course there is the bible. But when we say Bible, which do we speak of? The Tanakh (Hebrew/Jewish or Old Testament?) The Christian texts (New Testament) The Koran (Islamic Bible)? Or simply just the Torah (First five books of Moses?). Well consider that these books somewhat contradict, Two of them were compiled for a specific tribe of people, One is only the official version that a council dictated was "True" and the other is the just the first three with the thoughts of cleric from Madina added on. Are they all universal or absolutely authoritative? No. While they can offer insights for rituals and ceremonies it isn't the end all be all. Also in spite of all the calls of "Being by the book", I have heard of no Abrahamic religion that is purely by the book, even when they write and "reinterpret" the book to suite them.

So in conclusion, one can in effect follow the path of Wicca and also be in line with the God of Abraham. As for fitting Jesus in there, I don't know. It would maybe require a fundamental shift in your understanding of whom or what Jesus is or was, something with Muhammad.

Okay that is the entirety of what we gathered. Me and him might be totally off base, and totally wrong but this is what we have gathered and thought up on the subject.

[Kaimira]

hi,

everyone has their version of reiligon and this is my view, your the one who picks the reiligon based apon your heart, and that's fine. what i dislike is your right i'm wrong clause, this is why i don't change to some reiligons because they are to bias. reiligon should be about freedom of choice not in chains in someone's higher status. my reiligon is wicca I believe in the power of the elements and the earth's beauty it holds.

[N.R. Naiacinaed]

I am sorry if I stepped on anyone's toes. I truly did not mean to. I was just speaking from my own understandings and beliefs. I just go by the 'whatever feels right to you' philosophy when it comes to religion.

[Kaimira]

des,

i know you wanted just to help people, like me. don't be sorry you have a good heart.

[N.R. Naiacinaed]

Thanks Kaimira. That means a lot.