Wicca has become a more discussed topic in recent years, as its numbers have been greatly expanding. You might know someone who is Wiccan, whether they have told you or not. To be clear to anyone who may not already know, Wicca is one of many pagan religions that practice what is commonly known as witchcraft or spellcasting.
When most people hear this, they think one of two things, that’s fantasy or that’s satanic. Neither of these misconceptions are true. Modern media greatly overexaggerates the power of magic in order to build a more compelling story and also pulls many of its tropes from stereotypes and fear-mongering dating back to medieval times.
This is also where the satanic connection comes in. Witch hunts and stories were an attempt to drive people towards the Christian faith via persecution of all pagan practitioners, witches or otherwise. As such, they used the equivalent of verbal propaganda to frighten people.
Many of those stories and concepts have continued into the present day as a result. With regards to the satanic or devil-worshiping connection, there is none in reality. While Wicca itself is a fairly young religion, the principles, and the religions it stemmed from date far beyond the birth of Christianity, and Judaism. Also, Wiccans do not actually believe in demons or the devil, let alone worship them.
So, now that I’ve established what Wicca is not, let me tell you what it is. Wiccans are primarily peaceful people that love nature and feel a deep connection with the world around them. We believe that through this connection we can enact change upon the world and act long referred to as magic.
In Wicca, spellcasting is simply a method in which a practitioner calls upon two deities (the god and the goddess) as well as the good spirits around them (often referred to as angels) to make a change in their life. In many ways, a spell to a Wiccan is the same as a prayer is to a Christian. It is a way for us to petition change from a higher power which may or may not happen based on that deity’s choice.
One common misconception is that all witches are evil. I have had moments in my life where someone who already knows me will discover that I’m a Wiccan and say ‘So, you’re evil then?’ I never know how to respond in these situations because it seems so ludicrous. Wicca is like any other religion, there are good and bad people within it. Religions like Islam, Buddhism and Christianity, all contain some good and some bad people, only stereotypes contain all of one or the other. That’s not how the real-world works.
Another important aspect of Wicca is The Rule of Three. Most people know this as Karma, and it is a driving factor in the Wiccan belief system. The essential concept is that if you do something and release an energy (either positive or negative) into the world, it will come back to you three times. As such, if I support a friend through a hard time, that good energy will come back to me three times in other ways through other people and events, making my life better and more fulfilling.
The same concept is true in our spellcasting. So, if we were to, for example, try to curse someone, that negative energy would hit us three times harder than the person we were trying to inflict pain on. This is just one of the reasons that you rarely see a true Wiccan that is the stereotypical cruel and evil witch.
One final aspect of Wicca that is constantly misunderstood is one of our common symbols, the pentagram (a star with a circle around it). The pentagram is often used, especially in modern media, as shorthand for summoning demons or even the devil.
It is commonly seen in horror movies, which I, and many other Wiccans, find laughable. The reason for this is that the pentagram is a protection symbol, just like the Christian cross. The pentagram is used in spell-castings to keep bad energy away from the ritual. They sometimes are worn by the practitioner on jewelry just as some Christians do.
In short, Wicca is just like Hinduism, Christianity or any other religion. It’s people connecting with the world around them in the way they prefer and believe, while also trying to live their best life.
