This is a review that I wanted to do for a very long time . I waited until this moment to be sure that I collected all the needed information to do a accurate review. In order to understand what Wicca is we must understand what paganism and neopaganism are.
Paganism is a term that christians usually used to describe people who didan't embraced the teachings of their religion and still practiced polytheistic faiths This term was extended in many some contexts and was applied even to muslims or jews , in a few words to all individuals of nonchristian faith. Paganism is commonly associated with the worship of more then one god , in some cases we can see a duality between a male god and a female god or hermaphrodite god which symbolizes the union between the two sexes .
The term paganism has a very broad sense so we can use it to describe the prechristian faiths of Europe and the present day religions that we find in the indigenous communities of Africa , South America , Central America , Australia and the Pacific islands.
Even though from a sociological , cultural and theological point of view the religious practices of this communities can be labeled as "pagan" , this term can have a derogatory connotation suggesting the idea that nonchristians are heretic , primitive , uncivilized beings.With that being said , "pagan" wold be better used to describe prechristian faith that are no longer present today , those the term should be used only in a historical context.
As for neopaganism everything is very defining , "neo" - the greek word for new - and "paganism" - which we previously discussed = "the new paganism" .
This term is used to describe the religious currents that derived from the Pagan Revival of the XX century. The religious groups that emerged from this movement are : Wicca (which has several branches) , Kemetism (the revival of acient egyptian religious practices), Slavic neopaganism , Germanic neopaganism , Taaraism (common to Estonia) , etc.
The focus of this will be Wicca and its characteristics , rules and practices. To make things easier we will list the most distinctive characteristics of the Wicca faith :
2. The usage of different pantheons - By pantheon we refer to all the gods common to a certain culture (ex: The Greek Pantheon , Egyptian Pantheon , Celtic Pantheon , Nordic Pantheon , etc). A wiccan can chose to use in his religious practices the gods of a certain pantheon or even mixed them which is referred to as Eclectic Wicca. The possibility of choosing the gods that you want to worship is motivated by the idea that all gods and goddesses are different "forms" of the primary God and Goddess .
3. The relationship with nature - Wicca encourages its followers to respect nature , many rituals take place outside , some god and goddesses control certain natural phenomena , ceremonial tools and ingredients are acquired from forests , fields and other natural acquirements.
4. The usage of witchcraft - Witchcraft can be described as a collection of spells , rituals and ceremonies that are meant to make certain changes - in a situation or a environment - which would not appear otherwise . Magickal practices are intended to correct the disorders that appear in a individuals environment and shall not be used for obtaining personal good or advantages or to harm others . There's a rule that says that "all that you put out there will come back to you 3 times stronger " , if you use magick for the good of other you will get back positive energies if you use it to do harm to others will come back 3 times stronger on you. In Wicca the term "magick" is used to distinguish witchcraft from the so called magic that we see on TV.
5. The absence from the wiccan faith of concepts like : heaven and hell , sin , devil , saints or angels - The devil (Satan) is a concept common to Judaism , Christianity and Islam . He is the image of all that is evil , ugly , unholy and sinful , in Wicca there is no supreme evil being or good and evil gods and goddesses . Every god and goddess can have both a good and evil side , this is motivated by the yng and yang concept. There is no heaven or hell in the wiccan faith , that dosen't mean that wiccans don't belive that life dosen't continue after death , they just see it differently .
6.Both man and women can be priests - The priest function can be assigned to both man and women , followers can conduct the majority of ceremonies alone only group practices have to be supervised by a priest.
7. Wicca is not a group based religion - The majority of practices can be made at home and a individual dosen't have to be part of a group . As a result there is not a very well defined hierarchy within Wicca.
8. There is no Bible alike book - Wicca has its sources in many writings but there is not single writing from which its doctrines derive , but there is a book called "The Book of Shadows" which is viewed as highly important for wiccans.
9. The usage of ceremonial objects : statues , candles , etc.
As a conclusion we can say that Wicca is truly a nature bases religion which tries to correct the unbalances between the human and natural world through its practices .
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