Wiccan Confusion...

First I would like to say that I support any ones religion that makes them happy and whole. I think that is a wonderful thing. I myself am pagan/a witch and not necessarily wiccan, but I call myself wiccan because that is a lot easier for people to swallow as news gets out there about this wonderful earth based religion. Wicca is actually relatively new compared to witchcraft or druids which have been around hundreds and hundreds of years. I do believe that the church AT THE TIME spread the word that we were worshiping devils in order to spread fear and cause us to go into hiding or be tortured/hunted until we no longer existed. Now this was back in the day when they were trying to change all the earth celebrating pagans into Christians. They even renamed a lot of our goddesses/gods into saints in order to ease the transition. Yule was changed into Christmas even though Jesus wasn't even born in the winter. They recognized the resemblance and felt it would help the pagans acclimate into the christian world. Ostra was turned into Easter etc etc. And in the mean time rumors were spread that any one still following the "old ways" were actually under the influence of Satan which caused fear and panic. So we hid. And eventually wicca came about and we no longer felt the need to hide any more. I personally have never been accused of devil worship. Any one that knows me wouldn't even think that. I don't hide my faith but I don't flaunt it either. I wear a pentacle ring so if I get asked questions I will tell them and most people are very open minded. They know I celebrate different holidays(Sabbats) then they do. They only thing they can't get there head around is spells but I tell them it is a lot like prayer. Just not to the Christian God. I guess I have been lucky. Even when I did live in the bible belt I was never treated badly. Hopefully people will become more educated about it so that tolerance is more prevalent. Ignorance creates fear. Education is the key! Even if you don't believe in it, at least you won't be under the wrong impression!

I am pagan myself. I do not broadcast the fact, but will say it if asked. I have the tendency to use the word Goddess instead of God in common phrases such as Goddess bless, thank the Goddess (or gods) etc. which sometimes leads to questions. Yes, I have been accused of worshipping Satan. My response is simply that I cannot worship him since I don't believe in him beyond as a fallen Christian angel. I do not argue with the person, beyond saying this; I do not respond at all to further arguement. Christians are led to believe there are only two paths for everything, right and wrong, good and bad, Christian and Devil. Most believe that if you worship anything other than their Jehovah God then it must be the Devil. I tired long ago of trying to talk to those who do not hear ("cast not thy pearls before swine" ya know). Your aunt and mom are never going to hear you, save your breath. Most Christians fear any religion other than their own to the point of paranoia, perhaps they fear that they might change their own faith. Why do they not see the words of their own God? The First Commandment says, "Thou shalt have no other god before me". How can their be another held before Jehovah if no other gods exist? Christians seem not to hear the words of their own God, how can they hear ours? Also, the Wiccan path is more a system where the forces of nature are worshipped, not any particular God or Goddess anyway. Many have a spiritual female diety force, but even that is raarely identified as a particular Goddess. Send you cousin my hope and well wishes, her path is difficult, but she must go where her soul leads her. She may never have the understanding of her family. Even after 30 years, only my mother has come to accept my faith in any way. Tell her I pray that she forever dances skyclad in the light of the Goddess (use those words, she will understand what I mean).

It is very frustrating how people confuse Wicca or any kind of Paganism with devil worship. I'm not Wiccan myself, but I am a Celtic Reconstructionist Pagan, which fits under the same umbrella of religions (paganism). It's frustrating to be told that I worship a being that doesn't even exist in my religion. *sighs* When people accuse me of being a devil worshiper, I simply explain to them that the devil is a Judeo-Christian belief, and therefore does not exist within my religion. If they then say "Your Gods are the devil in disguise", I say "Think about how insulting that statement is. Think about how much you love your God, and how you would feel if someone insulted him. I consider my Gods to be loved ones to me, and so when you insult them in such a way, it is very hurtful." This usually actually makes an impact, I've found. Eventually, if someone just isn't listening to me, I just avoid them. I get tired of dealing with people who have a bad idea about my religion without knowing anything about it. Usually, if it's someone I have to be around (like because of work) their attitude will change when they see what a good person I am. So I let it go until that time. I've actually had coworkers and such that have learned respect from my religion after learning respect for me, and then saying "Well, if she is pagan, paganism can't be that bad". =)

The reason there is the confusion is that the Church of Satan turned the pentacle upside down. When the pentacle has one point pointing up that represents spirit going upward from humans and down from above. That's the way all who are spiritual do it, right? It is the exact same 5 pointed star that is on the US flag 50 times. So if you see it and it matches the 50 stars on the flag, that's the Pagan symbol and it's really ancient. The Satanists turned it upside down so it has two horns pointing upwards. In this configuration it is NOT the pentacle and isn't Pagan at all, but is a modern symbol of the Devil and his horns. I'm a Strega and don't use the pentacle. In fact I avoid its use due to the association of it with the burning times, so it scares me and I won't have it around. It is easy to find information about Wicca online; the fact that Wicca is not Satanic in any way whatsoever is easy to find for anyone who would take the time to look. Accepting things blindly without looking into it yourself is a very bad idea no matter what the topic is.

I've been called that just for the way I dress. I don't even wear all black. I wear as much color as I can. It's just because I wear baggy pants sometimes or because I'm a little different with my hair. Basically, in high school, I wasn't a 'prep', so I was automatically assumed to 'goth'. I am far from goth. I don't judge people based on clothes or religion. People should never be called 'devil-worshippers' just because of their beliefs or lifestyle, or even over something as simple and petty as an article of clothing. I had a friend that was Wiccan in high school and I respected her all the same. She educated me on her beliefs and it was interesting. People need to learn a little tolerence.

I have a friend that is Wiccan, I will have to direct her to your discussion, she just joined here. I think my friend is a great person, and she doesnt worship the devil! I dont want to even try to explain it, Im sure I will not relay it right. lol Too many misconceptions of all religions really, and I think we all should have the freedom to choose which one we believe without any concern from anyone else. Bay Lay Gray xx

I am a christian, I understand what both sides are getting worked up about. The Wiccans, don't believe the bible or the satan that is spoken of in the bible so no, they don't classify themselves as being satan worshipers. However, as a chrstian, any religion that doesn't glorify God as a christian would it is crafted from Satan. Maybe it isn't the devil that they belive they are glorifying in thier religion,but it takes away from The Almighty God. This is simply an explaination on the confusion. My moto is God doesn't want religious nuts but spiritual fruits.

I am not wiccan either but I do have a dear friend on here that is and she has been very forth right about it all and we have similar beleifs. I think the idea came for the movies and it gets twisted up in some peoples minds . TO know a wiccan dosent hurt anyone and matter of fact can help out alot

I am not a Wiccan but I have a similar story to tell. I was brought up Catholic and I spoke to this Baptist guy online and he told me that all Catholics are going to hell because they rewrote the Bible. I was so insulted. I told him that it was not a nice thing to say and he said "but it's true". I wanted to reach into my computer and smack him!

I have no idea what I would call my self, but I can tell you this I have held certain beliefs for most of my life , and can not call my self a Christian in the Christian definition of one, I have looked at many religions and most if not all do have a creator, and that creator has many names, and the rest is in my opinion pretty much speculation and unprovable, I like and admire many people and in my book would consider them GOOD, I can not and will not be bound by rules that say who is acceptable and live by those words. If you do not believe as I do it is because you have seen and experienced life in a different way, I am unique and so is every person in this world, I only wish we could respect the person for their good works and not have beliefs involved.

I know nothing about the wiccan movement so i would not be a very good judge of anything that has to do with wiccan...Im not wiccan and as far as i know ,i do not have any friends or family that are wiccan.I have no idea at all in what they believe...I was raised in a christian home and all i do is read my Bible and go by my innner feelings when it comes to anything to do with my soul or salvation...I think we have an inner voice that guide us in the right direction if we will be honest with ourselves..If i did believ wiccan however,and in my heart really felt i was right then I would be very bold in following my beliefs regardless of what other think...

i beleive in the wiccan philosphy its not an organized religion like cathicism and christanity. its very simple and alot more spiritual i think then the other religions. people that don't understand it would say it was worshipping the devil or it was a cult but if they understood it they would be singing a different tune. its the same thing with cathicism and christianity if you don't understand it you might think it was a cult

Well twoey68, there are 2 forces of power. G♥d and the devil. If you are not worshiping G♥d, even though you don't outright say it, who are you worshiping? Here is a good site on wicca http://www.carm.org/wicca/witness.htm

well i'm a wiccan/christian and it's hard because alot of my friends think i'm weird so they say. it doesn't bother me thoguh because at teh end of the night i sleep with myself. i've been called devil worshiper, blasphemer, a witch, and other misunderstanding things.. then theres the part of me believing in christian things too so people just say im confused and i don't know what im messing with. i think every 1 has teh right to believe in what the want too. thank god that hubby supports me because he also gets called names for his religion which is muslim. when people feel uncomfortable of other people i think thats when the name calling starts.

I don't personally adhere to any particular religion but I do know that there are people who genuinely believe that anything other than a belief in their God is devil worship. As far as I know, Wiccans don't believe in any devil so I don't know how anyone can worship something they don't believe in. I think the problem is partly down to those religious people who believe that anyone who doesn't think the same way as they do must be under the influence of the devil and also partly to do with ignorance of a lot of people although that happens with moat religions I think. It is just worse for anyone who is any kind of Pagan because for some reason they are associated with devil worship.

Unfortunately the church has a lot to do with the misconceptions people have about anyone who is a "witch" per se...that and good ole Hollywood that when it does focus on "witchcraft" type movies, dwells on the negative or Satanic worship type of witchcraft or as we Wiccans say the "left hand" path---Now here's a true story about me...Frankly I couldn't care less if anyone knows I'm a wiccan or witch..though I'm not exactly shouting it off on the rooftops. Now there are actually two neighbors now who are scared out of their minds cause they found out I was Wiccan..Both have known me for YEARS, but now all of a sudden because they know I'm a witch they are literally terrified of me,thinking I'm casting spells all the time, probably think I'm sacrificing animals (Wiccans by the way don't --it's against our principles to harm anything or anyone) In fact,...here's a laugh. Another friend of mine who now lives in CA, was talking to the one neighbor, Pat, on the phone one time....All three of us know each other. And Pat mentions to Cherie (my CA friend) about my being a witch and oh, my she must be casting evil spells against us all...So Cherie said to Pat, "Well, why don't you throw water on her and see if she melts." When Cherie told me this I must have busted her eardrum with laughing so hard and loud ... So much of it is pure ignorance about who we are who follow the Wiccan/Pagan path---it is the whole stereotype thing...That all witches worship the Devil..NOPE..there is no Devil in the craft..The Devil by the way as far as the image one has of a being with horns comes from the pagan thing actually...the church was busy transforming all pagan labels into "evil" ones...the pagans did worship gods whose image was a being with horns...usually Pan or Cenunnos both fertility gods..but the church twisted it around to mean evil How do I handle it?? Well I do try to enlighten someone about our beliefs...that we recognize both a male and female entity, how we have respect for all life and living things, never to harm or "cast" spells against someone...but unfortunately some just don't "get" it, and still believe in the "evil" definition of witchcraft..Like my two neighbors--how sad...like all of a sudden after knowing me for about twenty years (both of them) now that they know I'm a witch, I'm evil..pathetic...no?

It's because in the medieval times, wicca is equated with witchcraft, sorcery and devil worship. I know that today, wicca themes center on feminist movement and ecological conservation...gone are the days of devil worship, black magic and sorcery...but the stigma stays, that's why wiccans keep their identities hidden so as not to be ostracized by people...

I guess the simplistic response to this question is...people are ill-informed and base their judgments either on what someone else told them...usually those within extreme fundamentalism. For all of who claim to live by the Golden Rule I am constantly amazed at how unloving their opinions of others not walking the same path actually are. The Devil is a relatively new incarnation as is the Rapture. The more organized religions feel the need to control the masses...the more they turn up the volume on fear-based teachings. It I were in a discussion about Wicca with your Mom I would quietly and calmly ask her where she developed that opinion. Then I would inquire what else she knows about Wicca...and I feel confident that it will be very little. After that I would explain how loving and honoring it is...and how much respect for each other, the seasons, the elements and all the other wonderful aspects to it. There is no 'boogey-man' in most metaphysical teachings be it Wicca, Paganism, metaphysics, Buddhism, Native Spirituality, Sufism...they are all a way of pursing a different form of spiritual development. I have combined teachings form all of the above to arrive at a place where the basic premise is...strive to grow your soul, be accountable, do course corrections, learn from mistakes and try not to repeat them, honor and respect differences and the right of free will given to each of us. So do I tell others what I believe...sure if they ask. Otherwise I let other people think what they want about who I am and how I live. It took awhile to get here but my self-worth is stronger than the rejection of my ideas by others. Good discussion...thanks again! Raia

I have no clue to what the religion is about however I thought the same thing but now I don't know. I do know this, my brother's step son's wife is a wiccan. They had a wiccan wedding. But the details of what they believe in and how the worship is something that I really do not know anything about. If someone would like to elaborate on it for me, it'd be much appreciated.

well im NOT Wiccen but i do share in the to each his own thinking im intreiged with it tho its very interesting! and i DO NOT feel its evil or demon worshipping! i think it has to be respected by the person practicing int just as anyother path someone decides to take as well as NOT *going down that road* ( turning it bad) I dont believe there are demons anyway - so... BUT i think ( and this is just MY opinion now) that alot of the *fear* people feel is due to the SALEM WITCHES and all that went on back then - no matter how much we know what we know now - some are still stuck on the *OLD WAYS OF THINKING* sadly! Its strange how NONE of this would have ever been an issue IF the VERY EARLY settlers didnt slaughter all the indians before learning from them FIRST! - herbs, herbalists everything we are learning now on what plants can do what for us medicaly COULD ALL have been OUR KNOWLEDGE WAY BACK THEN! there might not have been any need for the *witches* to be burned - because its all they were doign after all - healing/eatting/backing with herbs!! :) XX LOL LOL