The obligatory Wicca FAQ, which certainly isn't a comprehensive description of the rich tapestry that is Wicca, but is a good start. If I haven't got something here you'd like to know, ask me.
What is Wicca? Is it the same as Witchcraft?
What form does the Wiccan Supreme Being take?
Are there rituals like marriage and baptism in Wicca?
Can one be both a Wiccan and a Christian?
Why spell 'magick' with a 'k'?
What is Wicca? Is it the same as Witchcraft?
Answer:
This is a big question. Wicca is a modern revival (not direct continuation) of an ancient nature-based 'Old Religion' that is thought to have existed in pre-Christian Europe - we don't know a great deal about this ancient system, as it was basically wiped out with the Christianisation of Europe. Wicca itself, as we know it today, doesn't date back to these ancient times, but a lot of the basic principles do. There are two of these basic principles that 99.99% of Wiccans agree on - belief in an immanent deity and the interconnection of every thing on Earth.
So, is Wicca the same as Witchcraft? The short answer is no, Wicca and Witchcraft are not the same. Witchcraft is practical in its essence (it's literally a craft) - healing with herbs and plants, doing magick, divination and all those practical things. Wicca is a different system - there is magick and knowledge of the properties of herbs and those things, but with a strong emphasis on the spiritual, religious aspects. Witchcraft is not recognised as a religion - it's more of a 'trade', if you like; its practitioners are physically doing practical things. Wicca is, however, a recognised religion - the God and Goddess are central to it, and any magick done is a secondary pursuit.
Yeah, I know, that was a relatively simple answer - I haven't gone into much detail on what Wicca is. This is partly because there are so many different practices out there, and partly because Shadows of Oz itself is an explanation of what Wiccans do - I can't fit 120-odd pages of info into this one answer!
So, if Wicca isn't Witchcraft, can followers of Wicca call themselves Witches? If you read on through Shadows of Oz you'll probably find I use the term 'Witch' to describe those of us that practice what I'm writing about in this website, mainly because that's what I prefer to be 'called'. I think of it this way - among practitioners of Wicca, the descriptions 'Wiccan' and 'Witch' can be used; but as for the practitioners of Witchcraft, they can really only use 'Witch'. Not all Witches are Wiccan, and not all Wiccans consider themselves Witches. I prefer to be called a Witch - it 'fits' better for me than 'Wiccan', even though I'm very sure that what I practice is Wicca, not Witchcraft. While I don't mind in the least being called a Witch, some magickal people take exception to it.
Wicca (to a certain extent) is what you want to make it - you may or may not
want to do magick, you may or may not want to join a coven, and so on and so
forth. This doesn't mean that you can pick and choose what you want from the
basics - there are some things that are integral to Wicca, but so much of the
Old Religion has been lost that we have to add some touches of our own.
Stick to the basics and honour the God and Goddess and the Earth and you'll be
fine :).
Do Witches worship Satan?
Answer:
As far as Witches are concerned, there is no Satan to worship - there is no Devil in Wicca. Witches believe that to give evil a name is to give it power - besides which, THE DEVIL IS A CHRISTIAN FIGURE!! Witchcraft first became associated with Satan through the medieval Inquisition - the Church got the idea that Witches were in league with the Devil and perpetuated this incredible lie (and continues to do so today), with no evidence of any sort. The image of the Devil (horns, goat's hooves, etc.) comes from the Greek God of Forests, Pan - a God worshipped by the pagans the Church was converting (or trying to convert) early in their history. They figured that the best way to discourage pagans from worshipping their God was to make him the evil of Christianity - and so Satan was born. Christians and Muslims are almost the only ones who believe in the Devil - Witches absolutely DO NOT.
What form does the Wiccan Supreme Being take?
Answer:
Wicca, like every other religion on Earth, has its own take on the Supreme Being. Ours is Spirit - an entity made of a female half (the Goddess) and a male half (the God). The God and Goddess are completely equal - neither is more powerful or important than the other, and together they are two halves of the whole Spirit. Unlike the Christian archetype of the old man with the beard (who, incidentally, bears a startling resemblance to the pagan king-Gods such as Zeus), sitting in Heaven and looking down on the Universe, the God and Goddess are immanent: they are present in every thing on Earth. For more info, check out the God and Goddess section of this site.
Does Wicca have a Bible?
Answer:
There is a central set of beliefs in Wicca, but these have not been written down in a single Bible-type book in the way the Bible was written (i.e. with the inclusion of each section being decided on by committee, and the controversial bits being voted out). Wiccans instead have a Book of Shadows that contains their knowledge of Wiccan lore, correspondences, rituals - basically, all the procedures involved in practising Wicca. Each Wiccan has their own Book of Shadows - either a compilation of what they have taught themselves or been taught (in the case of a solitary Witch), or a variation of their coven Book that they have written out (if they have been initiated into a coven). There are some principles and practices common throughout Wicca, and some tradition- or individual-specific practices.
Are there Wiccan clergy?
Answer:
There are no clergy as we know them from Christianity - Wicca is a participatory thing, in which everyone can perform any role. There is no Wiccan hierarchy like you find in the Catholic Church, for example - we have no bishops/cardinals/Pope, etc. with graduating levels of authority and responsibility. There are actions usually left to the High Priest and High Priestess within a coven (such as Drawing Down the Sun/Moon), but they don't do these things because they are the only ones 'qualified', it's just because it makes sense for the people running the ritual to do that stuff - there's nothing to stop any Wiccan from performing any action/ritual.
What is a coven?
Answer:
A coven (pronounced like 'oven'), is a group of Witches that get together to celebrate esbats and sabbats and to do ritual and magick. A coven can be a group of three or more, although there are usually around 10-13 or so because that's a practical number of people to organise in a group activity. Contrary to the myth, covens do not have to have 13 members.
A coven is usually (but not always) 'led' by a High Priest and High Priestess, who get everyone organised and usually lead the ritual activities. They are not 'superior' to the members of their coven, and are only in the position of leaders because they have experience, knowledge and leadership skills that make them suitable to guide their fellow coveners - an excellent description of the status of High Priest and Priestess is "first among equals". If a coven grows too large (perhaps numbering in the mid-high teens), with a few strong High Priests/High Priestesses-in-the-making, some members will "hive off" and create a new coven of their own with the new High Priest & Priestess.
Are there rituals like marriage and Christening in Wicca?
Answer:
The Wiccan version of marriage is handfasting, and Wiccaning (generally called that) is the Wiccan version of Christening. A handfasting ceremony is similar to a wedding - performed by a High Priest/Priestess, within a sacred space and involving the exchange of rings (generally) and vows. There are some differences in the process, like wrapping the hand of the man and woman together with a cord and them jumping over a broomstick, but the idea is the same - joining a man and a woman (or woman and woman, man and man, even) in the sight of the God and Goddess. A Wiccaning is the the process of presenting a child to the God and Goddess, naming the child, establishing the God- and Goddess-parents, anointing the child with representations of the four elements and blessing the child - a very similar process to Christening.
Can one be both a Wiccan and a Christian?
Answer:
Ah - not really. Christianity in general is quite intolerant of Wicca (and Witchcraft) - and basically anything religious that isn't Christian. The Bible intensely condemns the practice of any kind of magic/k or worship of any Supreme Being other than the Christian God Himself - this doesn't just go for Wiccans and Witches, but other religions like Hinduism and Buddhism and so on. To be fair, we should note that when the Bible was first being put together, what was forbidden was the use of black magic and evil spells and bad things like that - since Wiccans and Witches don't do this, it could be said that the Bible isn't as harsh on us Witches as it appears on the surface.
In the end, you have to reconcile this question yourself - can you mix Wicca and Christianity and still feel like you're practicing both properly? Personally, I don't think you can mix Wicca and Christianity in their entirety - in the spirit of their teachings they are fundamentally mutually exclusive, in my opinion. You can mix parts of Wicca in with Christianity - you could still care for the Earth and the environment and practice meditation (to name a few things) within your Christianity, but any mention of the Horned God and the Goddess is basically unworkable.
There are people that have mixed the two, and are very happy on their path - do a little research of your own and learn a bit more about how they have mixed Wicca and Christianity, as it's quite enlightening and good for learning some deeper detail of both paths. Some useful sites to get you started are: Wicca Forums (they have a special forum for Christian Wicca among other things) and a Witches' Voice article written by a Christian Wiccan.
Are there 'white' Witches?
Answer:
There are no 'black' or 'white' Witches - Wicca as a whole can be thought of as 'grey'. There are no stark good-and-bad contrasts in the world - nobody is absolutely good and nobody is absolutely bad, so we can't use the terms 'black' and 'white' magick. Everything in life is shades of grey, including Witches. But, if it makes your life easier, you can define magick done with good intentions/goals (i.e. not to harm anything/anyone) as white, and things like hexes as black.
Why spell 'magick' with a 'k'?
Answer:
We (a lot of us, anyway) spell magick with a 'k' to distinguish it from the illusions of rabbit-out-of-a-hat magicians (and, more recently, from the 'magic' done on shows like Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Charmed). This practice was begun by Aleister Crowley, as far as we know, possibly for a couple of reasons - either it really is the archaic spelling of 'magic', or he wanted to set it apart from the rabbit-out-of-a-hat stuff (we can't ask him now, because he died in 1947). Some people will call you a fluffy bunny for adding the 'k', but don't let that bother you. :)
