Core Beliefs of Wicca

It might indeed be Hermetic of you; although some Wiccans also follow that belief.

But remember that Wicca is an "experiential" religion. So how one experiences of perceives the nature of Deity will differ from one Wiccan to another based on their personal interactions with the Divine.

You will indeed encounter Wiccans who believe that all Gods are one God and all Goddesses one Goddess...and that they are simply reflections of a single Divine being. This is known as soft polytheism.

Others, myself included, feel that each Deity is a seperate and independent being in its own right. For me this is based on how I have experienced the Gods and particularly the Goddesses over my 30 years of practice. This is referred to as hard polytheism.

Other Wiccans view the God and Goddess as Jungian archetypes, parts of our subconscious minds that lead us to our Higher Selves.

There is no right or wrong answer to what the nature of the Gods might be as we have no absolute way of knowing. We must base our approach to them upon our personal experience of their natures.

This is very helpful to me! I just recently became a Wiccan so it is nice to know what the core beliefs are. I also agree with you that there can be wiggle room because I am sure that over time I will find other things that I will add to my core set of beliefs that will help me become more connected with the God and Goddess.

I just wanted to say Lark, that thank you. All your extremelyw helpful posts on here have made my journey a great one so far and shall continue to for a while I hope. And just to put this out there, my views off the gods and goddesses are that, all of forces in which they represent (Nyx: moon, ect) are pretty much the power and life force of those things manifested into names and images, of course they have power of their own. That is my view.

Priests Lark, I am not only new to the site,but to the study of the Craft as well.I am in my third month of study and have read a couple of books on the subject,i am a seeker and can not yet call my self wicca in good conscience .My question is two fold if i were to walk to study the British Traditional teachings what authors would you suggest?And could you tell me the major difference between the Gardanian view verse the Alexandrian viewpoint.Thank you in advance.

Hi RedDireWolf, The first thing to remember is that all of the British Traditional Wicca Traditions are oathbound and do not reveal their actual teachings until on has been properly initiated into a BTW coven. So one cannot actually be considered to follow a BTW path through reading books or surfing the internet. That being said, one can get a feeling for what BTW is like by reading those authors who have written about it and who are themselves actually initiates of British Traditional Wicca. Here's some authors that I'd suggest:

Gerald Gardner - after all, he brought British Traditional Wicca to the world.

Fred Lamond

Patricia Crowther

Ellen Bourne

Vivienne Crowley

Phillip Heselton

Janet and Stewart Farrar

I cannot comment too much on the differences between Gardnerian Wicca and Alexandrian Wicca. While I am an initiate of Gardnerian Wicca I am not an initiate of Alexandrian Wicca so I am not party to their specific practices. Furthermore, my oaths do not permit me to talk in any depth even about Gardnerian practices. However, in talking with my Alexandrian friends, there is a bit more of Ceremonial Magic in Alexandrian practices.

Is it weird to be asking a question to such an old forum thread?

1. What is a mystery religion?

3. What exactly is Sacred Marriage?If I don't agree with this, could I still consider myself a Wiccan?

9. When would the Great Rite of ritual sex be performed? Is it only during a specific time of the year? Wikipedia suggests that it is performed in every single coven ritual.

A mystery religion or tradition are those based on the secrets or mysteries, usually aside from the standard state religions, or not of the masses. Examples would be the ancient Greco-Roman mystery cults, such as the Eleusinian mysteries, or modern occult orders that require initiation.

The sacred marriage is the centre of a lot of fertility based traditions. Enactments of union between deities, or marriage to the land, the Hiero Gamos. Irish kings had the ban-fheis rite. Technically you could not agree with it, but it would call into question why you'd want to identify with Traditional Wicca, as it's present during the rituals.

It depends on coven, but The Great Rite could be performed at every circle(depending on the degree). Note, it's not always, or even usually, the "actual" form of the ritual that's enacted, because it's done symbolically as well.

Thanks so much!

I'm not interested in traditional Wicca, but I am interested in "Neo-Wicca" or solitary Wicca. I'm confused about what the criteria are to be able to self-identify as a Wiccan.

No worries!

And you wouldn't be alone, that question has been asked many times, over a long period of time, and has been the subject of a lot of debates and discussions. I think the criteria posted at the beginning of this thread is a great guideline from that, and gives good example of what makes a witchcraft practice "wiccanesque" compared to others.

If you're struggling to get your head around what the sacred marriage and Great Rite is, and what it'd mean to you, I'd recommend reading the rituals and seeing what kind of impression it leaves on you. Janet and Stewart Farrar's "A Witches'Bible" is just one example and source where you can find it, as well as other info that might help answer your questions additionally.

Your solitary practice is important, because even when Traditional Wiccans aren't in circle, we have our individual personal practices as well, and the Gods can call to us all.

Thank you so much!