Morrigan:

MERRY MEET AND WELCOME TO WICCA 101! Tonight's class is hosted by Rebelle Rose. Her topic is: What is Wicca?

As a courtesy to our host, please keep all greetings, farewells and side conversations in IM until class is over.

Likewise, please hold all questions and comments until discussion is called for by our host.

Disrupters will be warned once by the Chat Host. If disruptive behavior persists their exclusion will be called for.

When an exclusion is called, all are asked to do so WITHOUT comment either to or about the excludee.

In case of disaster {g} could one or two of you who plan on attending the entire class please log as back up?

Reb, you have the floor my dear! {G}

REBBELLEROSE:

Thank you Chatty ::curtseys::

Merry Meet & Welcome to "What is Wicca" the beginners class.. This class is for those who have only the vaguest idea what Wicca is, but keep hearing about this cool religion about nature & dancing around bonfires.

Keep in mind one thing as we go through this, All Wiccans are Pagan, not all Pagans are Wiccan. There are many out there who follow the Old Ways, but are not Wiccan.. Do not ever assume! :)

First to answer the most basic question, "What is Wicca?" Wicca is the descendent of every Old World Pagan religion that ever existed. In the early 20th century Gerald Gardner took the beliefs that had survived the centuries of persecution, forming it into what is today "Wicca." Some would say that Wicca has been around for thousands of years. They're wrong. However, the basic beliefs on which Wicca is founded, ARE as old as mankind. Wicca believes in a Goddess and a God, who work together to create the light/dark, life/death, male/female balance that is present throughout nature.

The Goddess is viewed in triplicate, as Maiden, Mother & Crone. The maiden who is the woman growing/the Virgin Huntress (Diana), the Mother who brings life to the earth and it's inhabitants (Demeter) and the Crone, who has lived her full life and holds great knowledge, but is also the Dark Goddess of the Death, who takes life away even as she gave it as the Mother. (Hera)

The Goddess is personified in the Moon, which goes through it's Waxing (Maiden) Full (Mother) and Waning (Crone) phases, in the same cycle as women's menstrual flow. {it's true, if a woman spends more time outside, (and they're not on anything like "the pill")a woman's menstrual flow will begin to follow the moon.. well.

The God follows more of a cycle of the Earth, following the 8 major Sabbats or Holidays of the Wiccan/Pagan Calendar.. (2 lessons in one here guys, pay attention!) {G}

As I go through theses holidays- watch the dates, and think of what corresponds to these dates from your childhood years at church...

Quandary:

{s}

REBBELLEROSE:

The God is born of the Goddess (his Mother/Lover) at Yule (Dec. 22). The youth grows, coming to young adolescence at Imbolc (Feb 2). He reaches Manhood, as the Goddess reaches full fertility at Ostara (March 21). He impregnates his Mother/Lover with himself at Beltane (April 30). The God reaches the peak of his powers at Midsummer (June 21st) {also 3 days before my b-day! :) } and begins to weaken as Lughnasadh brings the harvest season (August 1). The God & Goddess prepare to depart form each other at Mabon (Sept 21). And they bid farewell as he dies at Samhain (Oct. 31).

Dkside:

{S}

REBBELLEROSE:

Admittedly that is a very short version of the God's cycle, but again, this class is for Beginners!! Each of the holidays have beliefs/myths/rituals that go along with it but that is a class in itself! As a side note here, a very good book for holidays & Traditions is "Wheel of the Year" by the Campanelli's

The next thing to look at in asking, "What is Wicca?" becomes the "laws" that Wiccans try REALLY REALLY hard to follow. {G} The most basic Wiccan law is the Rede, "An it HARM NONE, do as ye will." The Rede applies to magic (yes, I said magic all you newbies... I'll get to it in a minute! Stop slobbering!) What you say, what you do... EVERYTHING

As to "what qualifies as harm?" Well anything that controls / misguides / hurts / forces another to do something they don't want to do / could hurt them / cause them damage in anyway (mental, physical, emotional)

As a back-up to the Rede, you find the law of three, or karmic law.. Whatever you DO do, will come back and either wallop you over the head, or pat you on the back, 3 times harder then it went out.

There are other "laws" you will find in various texts (Scott Cunningham's "Guide for the Solitary Practitioner" has 3 pages of good ones) But when it comes down to it, these are what they all boil down too.

Okay, now then, the topic that all you lil' newbies have been drooling over: Magic..

You know what? IT'S NOT IMPORTANT!

Quandary:

Right!

REBBELLEROSE:

Magic is a secondary thing in Wicca. Wicca is first and foremost a religion, a way of life, a belief system. And although it does believe in the use of magic, it is not an integral part of it. As for black magic, magic is only as black / white / grey / purple / green / yellow as the person who casts it's intent is.

{editor's note: I must disagree with REB... she is correct that Wicca first and foremost IS a religion; however, magick is to Wiccans what prayer is to Christians, Hebrews and Muslims - a way of seeking intercession in the "natural" course of events from "higher" power.]

LoneDruid:

it is a way of life, not religion dear niece.

REBBELLEROSE:

Ritual is very different from magic. (Here's that bonfire you keep hearing about) Ritual is bringing your mind into the right place to communicate/give worship to the God & Goddess. Not everyone can afford beautiful ritual equipment, a huge back yard to hold raging bonfires. l, myself for example.. And yet I consider myself a Child of the Gods, as much so as anyone who ever held a

LoneDruid:

Will of mind, will of being, will of the all, go on Reb.

REBBELLEROSE: