Community Info
Community InformationBelow is information about the "Wicca" community on LiveJournal. To join this community, click here. You may leave the community at any time.
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| User: | wiccan (15608) Wicca
LiveJournal's Largest Wiccan Community |
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| About: | Welcome to the Livejournal Wicca community. Livejournal's Wicca community is open to all paths, traditions and faiths of the Wicca and Pagan community where ever they may be in the world. Within the confines of this community we recognize specific definitions for the terms Wicca, neo-Wicca and witch. The definitions have been designed and agreed upon by long standing members, and we use them here to minimize confusion when posting. You may personally disagree with these definitions. That is fine, you don't have to agree. You don't have to use these definitions outside this community. However, you're expected to use them when posting here. We highly recommend you scroll down and familiarize yourself with the definitions of these terms for use inside this community. This community is for the discussion and general chit chat about Wiccan, pagan and religious based topics, we welcome all religions, pagans both the experienced and the beginner to come and discuss, exchange ideas, share opinions and educate each other. Please take a look at our guidelines before posting, these are not rigid but a simple guide for posting on this community and what to expect while here, we can't force you to sit through reading our guidelines thoroughly and don't really expect you to, however do be aware that you will be held responsible for any breaches in community conduct. We welcome Traditional and Contemporary Wicca, as well as Seekers, Hereditary Wiccans and Neo-wicca, all traditions welcomed as well as all faiths. Community guidelines are not here to stifle anyone's 'freedom of speech', however to insure the community stays a friendly safe place to discuss and post upon we must give some guidelines on what we see as appropriate on this community. • Abuse of any person or group will not be tolerated. • Misinformation is not welcomed here from anyone. • Off topic posts are allowed as long as they are justified. • Please do not remove the comment feature from your posts, screen or delete comments. • Please do not post survey or quiz results. • Be precise when using terms, make distinction between Wicca, Neo-Wicca & witch. • No spell requests. Help with spell construction, discussion of spells, spell work and outcomes of spell work welcome. • Use the LJ cut feature when needed. Information on the LJ cut feature check out the LJ FAQ. Criticize. Question theories, beliefs and experiences posted here. Grill us about our personal religious philosophies, or that strange ghostly encounter we had. Valid criticism does you a favor. If the above 'rules' are broken action will be taken, depending on the content of the post/comment community moderators will act accordingly. Community moderators have last say, you are responsible for breaking rules and the resulting action taken towards you - decisions can be questioned if they are unjust by e-mailing the moderators, not posting in the community. If you don't like the community rules feel free not to join, or to leave whenever you wish.  You have also heard right, we like smart trolls here, if not for entertainment then for good discussion. If you believe someone is an obvious troll, particularly a stupid or offensive troll, please report to the moderators who will deal with said pest accordingly. Thank you. FAQ Please feel free to take a look at our memories, it will be added to as often as possible with frequently asked questions and useful information, it is hoped that this will make up a collection of useful information for all members. Posts will be added to the community memories that may be of some use, if you find your entry on our memories list and would like it removed please contact the moderators. Moderators. As with all members the moderators have opinions that will be voiced here, opinions of moderators are not reflective of the community on the whole. If anyone has concerns about moderators actions or attitude feel free to voice those concerns to them at the addresses given below, please do not bring up issues within this community or via moderators personal journals, as we do not take kindly to this. Contact. If you think something needs to be brought to our attention or if you have any comments to make about this community please email the moderators here or here. Knowledge without practice is but half a person - English Proverb What is Wicca? The Wicca follow a henotheistic religion, which recognises its own specific gods, while not denying the existence of gods and goddesses from other pantheons. Wicca itself is a 'hard polytheistic' religion, meaning that Wicca see their deities as specific individual beings. The gods of Wicca are known as the Horned God and Great Mother, these are outer court references meant to be used as place holders for the real names of their gods until the Seeker is initiated and taught those names. The Wicca were brought to public attention by Gerald Gardner around the 1930's, although the exact date is open for discussion, also open for discussion is whether Gardner founded the Wicca entirely or whether it was an already existing group which he merely re-introduced and re-invented, either way he is considered the founding father of the Wicca. Gardner brought together paganism with influences from many sources including the rituals and teachings of Freemasonry and Golden Dawn resulting in a unique orthopraxic religion. The Wicca embrace their early pagan roots in history, the history of pagan faiths and the gods who they followed and worshipped, the religion of the Wicca also introduces eastern philosophy into it's primarily western path, along with this possibly one of the Wicca's best known features, that of religious witchcraft. The Wicca are gaining much attention due to a change in peoples approach to religion and the increase in public awareness of the religion through media attention and with this attention there has come much change to the face of the Wicca with many forms: Wicca is an initiate only mystery tradition, or more precisely a priesthood, where one can trace their lineage back to the New Forest lines. Initiation is the only way into the Wicca, and is carried out by a Wicca coven, initiation into a coven requires formal training after which initiation and a system of degrees is followed. Wicca follows a strong set of doctrines, one who takes on the name 'Wicca' is also taking on these doctrines as well as practices of the Wicca, the title of 'Wicca' implies more than that you are a member of the Wicca, but also that you have worked long and hard to earn that title. Seekers are those who wish to become members of the Wicca, but have yet to find a Wicca coven. Wicca covens can be hard to find let alone become a member of, often those who are without a coven continue to study Wicca and surrounding subjects while seeking a Wicca coven to join. Often Wicca is described as 'Traditional Wicca' or 'BTW: British Traditional Wicca'. Neo-wicca is a newer phenomenon, which is usually wholly eclectic, however like Wicca there are various different traditions. Neo-wicca often learn on their own terms, from books and other sources, but have little or no formal training and no initiation into Wicca. The beliefs of Neo-wicca are generally similar to that of outer court teachings of the Wicca, however the details can often vary greatly as it follows the new age idea of personal belief/spirituality over formal religious doctrine. Neo-Wicca have varied views of the divine, either following soft-polytheism seeing all gods and goddesses as one god/goddess, polytheism working with gods and goddesses from various pantheons or pantheism working with a single divine present in all. The 'Neo' in Neo-wicca refers to the New Age approach taken by Neo-wicca that puts emphasis on personal spirituality or belief over the organized religion of the Wicca. It also refers to a new take on Wicca, this has less to do with the age of the religion but the idea that this is a belief system which may have come naturally from Wicca if it was allowed to evolve in it’s own time, media influences have brought about Neo-wicca, it develops paralleled to Wicca, but is not part of Wicca. Often Neo-wicca describe themselves as 'Eclectic Wicca' or 'Solitary Wicca', although not actually Wicca. Within this community members are expected to know and understand these terms, respect should be shown to all Wicca. Although Wicca is heavily influenced or based upon witchcraft it is not the main belief behind Wicca, the terms 'Wicca' and 'witch' are not interchangeable. The practice of witchcraft fits well with the Wicca way of prayer and ritual, which often involves a highly personal relationship with the divine, the witchcraft of Wicca also works well with how Wicca views the universe as working, however it should be noted that witchcraft can be practiced by many religions as well as by Atheists and Agnostics. Wicca is not dogmatic, much of the morality and ethics of Wicca are in fact determined by the individuals take on a given situation. Often followers of Wicca will incorporate utilitarianism, which means that an act is carried out for the greater good or elements of their own morality rather then seek to find suitable behavior based on Wicca doctrine. The rede plays a large part in the morality and ethics of Wicca, there are many takes and much documentation on the rede that can be found in many places, the rede however in itself can be clearly understood by the quote below given by Gardner himself. "[Witches] are inclined to the morality of the legendary Good King Pausol, "Do what you like so long as you harm no one". But they believe a certain law to be important, "You must not use magic for anything which will cause harm to anyone, and if, to prevent a greater wrong being done, you must discommode someone, you must do it only in a way which will abate the harm." Gerald Gardner, The Meaning of Witchcraft, p 127 in the 1982 and 1999 printings Another aspect of the Wiccan ethical philosophy is that of the 'law of return' often known as the 'three fold law' which is similar to that of Western karmic philosophy, that anything you do either good or bad will come back to you. Law of return is often more closely associated with magic ethics rather than the everyday ethics covered by the rede or other Wiccan ethical beliefs, however is often thought of as cause and effect. This is also often referred to as the 'rule of three' or 'law of three'. Wicca has faced changes with it's growing popularity, many feel that Neo-Wicca is appropriate for the way in which we are living now, some feel that it is important to keep the mystery and tradition of Wicca, either way Wicca and it’s many traditions and paths has become one of the better known of the pagan faiths. Some may not agree with this definition of the religion of Wicca, it's fair enough to say very few will find this short and simple explanation enough to satisfy their curiosity. If you think anything of this should be changed or anything added please contact me, or if you can give a better description please post your description on the community and it will be added to the memories page. If you are new to Wicca or have never heard of this religion before I suggest that you search online for sites about Wicca (such as those listed below), but take into consideration not everyone knows the whole story and not everyone will agree, take everything with a pinch of salt and know that not everything you read is totally true. ~ Description written by moderators, with help of community members.
 Witchvox: A Global Pagan organization offering networking, information and support for pagans. Beliefnet: An independent multi-faith e-community designed to help you meet your own religious and spiritual needs. Amber and Jet: British Traditional Wicca E-Mail List. The Obsidian mirror: "A collection of advanced theological, sociological, political and magical concepts from one pissed off pagan's point of view." Wicca: For the Rest of Us: Wiccan site with information for the Wiccan community, a countermovement against modern Wiccan 'fluffies' (for lack of a better word). The Janus Gate: Doorways to Wiccan Resources, links full of information on Wicca. College Wicca: Community that strives to provide information with changing needs of the Wiccan community. Myriad of Enchantments: A site dedicated to traditional witchcraft, pagan spirituality, Wicca, and magic. Covenant of the Goddess: An international organization of cooperating, autonomous Wiccan congregations and solitary practitioners. The Children of Artemis: The largest UK based contemporary Wiccan organization. Earth Religions Legal Assistance Network: Supporting the religious freedom of Earth Religionists in legal situations around North America. Military Pagan Network, inc.: Serving Neopagans and the military since 1992. Gardnerian ... or not: Page on how to determine if someone is Gardnerian or not. The Wica: Site with historical information on Gardnerian Wicca.    | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Memories:: | 494 entries | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Interests: | 150: alexandrian, astral travel, astrology, belief, beltane, besoms, blue star, book of shadows, books, british traditional witchcraft, broom, candle magic, cauldron, charms, coven, crone, crystals, dianic, divination, doreen valiente, dualism, earth, earth based religion, ecclectic paganism, eclectic, elementals, elements, esbat, ethics, faith, familiars, folklore, freemasons, gardner, gerald gardner, god, goddess, goddess worship, goddesses, gods, golden dawn, great goddess, green man, green witchcraft, healing, health, herb craft, herb lore, herbal magic, herbalism, herbs, horned god, humanity, imbolc, kabbala, karma, kitchen witchery, knowledge, lady, learning, lineage, lord, magic, magick, maiden, meditation, monotheism, moon, moon phases, morality, mother nature, mythology, natural healing, nature, nature spirits, neo-pagan, neo-paganism, neo-wicca, neo-wiccan, neopaganism, new age, oathbound, occult, occultism, old ways, open-minds, oral traditions, ostara, other realms, pagan, paganism, pagans, panthiesm, panthiest, pentacle, pentagram, philosophy, polytheism, polythiest, prayer, quabalah, reading, reincarnation, religion, religions, religious debate, rituals, runes, sabbats, sacred, samhain, seasons, solitary witches, solstice, spell casting, spell work, spells, spirit, spirit guides, spirits, spiritual, spirituality, stars, summerland, sun, sympathetic magic, tarot, teaching, the earth, the green man, the moon, the seasons, tolerance, totem animals, traditions, trees, triple goddess, watchers, watchtowers, wicca, wicca countermovement, wiccan, wiccan witchcraft, wiccans, wicce, witch, witch craft, witchcraft, witches, yule | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Maintainers: | 2: chaos_current, jadea_faith | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Members: | 2503: View Members. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Account type: | Basic Account | ||||||||||||||||||||
