Former Wiccan Here
Hello all. I’m new to the board. I’ve been browsing the board for a few days and when I came across this article, I just had to comment on a few things.
I came across Wicca in 1988. I was 15 years old at the time and was very much searching the world via books for something whereby I could flesh out my identity as separate from parents, home, school, society, etc. Between 1988 and 1991 there was NOTHING you could tell me about Wicca that I didn’t already know (or so I thought). I was a self-professed witch in high-school. Of course in the ‘80s that was synonymous with “Satanist.” And I’ll admit, I had read some Aliester Crowley and Anton Levey just to get an understanding of where these diabolical cult leaders came from. But all in all, I delved deeply into the feminine spirit of the religion. Though I am no longer Wiccan, I will always treasure my time in that practice because it taught me the importance of being a woman.
Being raised in an urban, Christian home, I always had a sense of guilt – duh – about just about everything I did as a child. As a teenage girl developing her sexuality, I REALLY had problems and I think Wicca helped me to understand my body, my sexuality, my importance as a female on this planet. Goddess worship attracted me greatly and that’s when I noticed many similarities between Wicca and Christianity. I began to question my parents about the Virgin Mary (and her ties to the Ephesians’ goddess Diana), Easter (Ostara), All Saints Day (Halloween) and Christmas (Yule Tide). By time I was 18, I had developed a strong sense of church angst, but I felt that even though I had “found flaws” with the religion – practices, superstitions, etc. – I knew that at least the foundation, the very core of Christ’s teachings, had to be pure.
I had concluded that Christianity, as well as many other world religions, had fallen prey to corrupt leaders such as King James who had an obvious agenda against women and non-Christians. In researching the Bible and exterior Hebrew texts, I had come to revere Lilith, Adam’s first wife, as a heroine, not a demon. I found verses that actually alluded to God being feminine in the Old Testament, but I found verses in the New Testament that really degraded women and put them at what I call an “Islamic level” (interpret as you will). But then I had to sit back and start looking at the Bible not from a religious standpoint but from an anthropological standpoint. It was at that moment that a lot of things were beginning to make sense. Concurrently, it was also making my blood boil to know that people of today are still trying to impose laws that made sense back in 100 A.D. but really have no place in the 21st century. The ideals of woman being second to man, that God views his “second” creation as inferior and something to be held as property are still prevalent in the Church. In fact, there is a Catholic conference being held (either this week or next week) in Toledo, OH where they will be focusing on the use of altar girls. The article highlighting this conference leaned toward “well, to avert the attention on priests and altar boys, we’ll begin bringing girls to pulpit, but let us remind them that they ARE females and they have a “special” place in the Church.”
In other words, women should be seen, not heard.
I’m not even Christian, but I would stand shoulder to shoulder with a woman desiring to become an ordained priest in two seconds. This is more than an issue of equal rights; it’s an issue of faith in oneself as well as the Divine. It is an issue of bridging humankind with its maker, if you believe such a thing. Women have just as much potential as their counterparts for “holiness”, “sanctity” or “divinity” even, yet religions world wide continue to undermine this truth every chance they get. This is why I think I clung to Wicca for so long. I was hungering for something that acknowledged me, the female, as equal.
Now I’m not slamming Christianity or its brothers Judaism and Islam because there are Buddhist, Hindu and perhaps even Wiccan teachings in which women are inferior. Needless to say, I follow a school of teaching were all life is equal, where all of humanity is to be treasured and celebrated. And though I still get heated when I hear about non-Christians wrongfully persecuted or state/local laws being Christian-based (i.e. anti-gay marriage laws, “morality” laws, b.s. and more b.s.), I have to just take a deep breath and pray that one day humanity will rise above this 2000 year divide and realize that every human being, no matter his class, culture, belief, sex or sexual preference, has a right to peace and happiness.
No one…no one can deny the impact that culture and social standards have on a religion. I think as advanced human beings in the 21st century, we need to reevaluate ideas and concepts that have roots in ancient traditions (superstitions, myths, ceremonies and whatnot) and give ourselves a religious over-haul by objectively asking ourselves, “now, is that God’s word or man’s?” After all, money and power set aside, religion (imo) is one of the top causes of war. It has been since the beginning of the civilized world. Isn’t about time we said, “enough’s enough?”
And if I haven’t already damaged my credibility in my first post here today, I will do so now by asking, “Can’t we all just get along?”
Final note: The Etymology of “religion” gets me every time.
Merriam Webster DictionaryMain Entry: re•li•gion
Pronunciation: ri-'li-j&n
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English religioun, from Latin religion-, religio supernatural constraint, sanction, religious practice, perhaps from religare to restrain, tie back -- more at RELYDate: 13th century
1 a : the state of a religious <a nun in her 20th year of religion> b (1) : the service and worship of God or the supernatural (2) : commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance
2 : a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices
3 archaic : scrupulous conformity : CONSCIENTIOUSNESS
4 : a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith
- re•li•gion•less adjective
Haven
A tension exists between witchcraft and our society's dominant religion, Christianity. The problem: Wicca may welcome Christianity but Christianity rejects Wicca. Three Christians _ two clergy and a retired history professor _ offer a spectrum of views on the subject of witchcraft. The Rev. Robert Wickizer, rector of St. Philip's Episcopal Church, takes a relatively generous view, with the caution that Wicca is a religion he knows little about. "I'm always concerned when we're quick to dismiss Wiccanism ... without understanding it," he said, pointing out that this led to a rash of witches being burned at the stake in the 16th and 17th centuries. "As long as a believer's practice is not causing harm, I'd like to get to know that person," he said, rather than become "hysterical." "Unless I see harm being done, I leave the judgment to God," he added. "Christ clearly says we are not to judge. ... My criteria are much looser than some of my clergy colleagues in other denominations."Wiccans attended the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass., with him, and would come to chapel, but not take communion, he said. "They were good and decent human beings," he said. 
View: Full Article | Source: Laurel leader
He's a fairly intelligent person, and he helps many people all the time, but then he shocks me a says something like that.
.I heard that this witchcraft is divided by holy and black magick,anyway do all this of this magick really work??
www.wicca.com www.witchvox.com two sites with great information about wicca and witchcraft ( TWO DIFFERENT THINGS ) 
i'm so tired of this confusion .. Gerald Gardner is the founder of wicca ... he wrote a novel " high magic's aid " and then he wrote two books " witchcraft today " and " the meaning of witchcraft " wicca has influences from ceremonial magic (Gardner and Aleister Crowley were close friends ) from mansonory , form hinduism and from traditional withcraft ( he claims he was initiated by Dorothy clutterbuck) and this is why many wiccans call themselfs witches. In the 80's new age writers changed wicca specially scott cunningham who wrote ( a guide to the solitary witch, living wicca among others ) this new wicca has almost nothing to do with the system reinvented by gardner, was more connected to ecletic paganism ! Today you'll find enormous differences between tradicionalists and ecletic wiccans ... to know more about wiccan's beliefs check the sites... by the way this is just my point of view...
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