The History and Lore of Wicca
By
Diana Tierney
Forget Scientology and Kabalah, Wicca seems to be the new “it” thing. Wicca has become a religion popularized by movies like The Craft and television shows like Charmed . Whenever Hollywood puts its fingers to something it becomes distorted for the purposes of sensationalism. Reality is boring therefore we need to doctor it up with some fantasy. Unfortunately this newly doctored version is mistaken for reality. So let us take some time to unravel the shroud of mystery that surrounds this religion.
The first thing that we need to understand is this; every Wiccan is a witch but not every witch is a Wiccan. Both witchcraft and Wicca are based off of pre-Christian pagan religions of Europe. They both believe that there is a duality in nature, meaning that there is a God and a Goddess, which are manifestations of the force (not to be confused with star wars but similar) that is all around us. Dr. Margaret Murray was able to trace the origins of Witchcraft back to the Paleolithic era. For those of you who aren't familiar with your basic Anthropology terms that means a really, really long time ago, 25,000 years to be exact, though it is not believed to be a direct line to what is practiced today. It is agreed upon however that Paganism and Witchcraft were practiced throughout Europe far before Christianity.
The term Wicca is believed to derive from the Saxon word wiglaer. “Wig” meaning idol and “Laer” meaning learning. Later this was shortened to Wicca. It is also believed that the word Wicca comes from the Indo-European word “weik” which has to do with things that are connected to magic and religion.
It is believed that a Wiccan (and of course a witch) can commune with these higher powers on a personal basis. This is done through the practices of spells and rituals that are preformed in a holy place called a circle. The circle is formed by the witch and acts as an intermediary between the two worlds.
There are two major aspects that separate Wicca from Witchcraft. They are found in the Wiccan Rede, which, is followed by Wiccans. In the Rede there are two key principles. 1) Do what you will lest it harm none 2) the threefold law. These two principles are what distinguish Wicca from other forms of witchcraft and paganism.
Do what you will lest it harm none” basically means that a Wiccan can do what ever they like just as long as they do not interfere with someone's free will. To a Wiccan free will is of utmost importance. It is a sacred rule that cannot be broken for any reason at all. Because of this rule many Wiccans do not do love spells. They feel that forcing someone to love someone, even if it means that the person in question will love them, is
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