One of the greatest myths precipitated about Wicca is that it is an ancient religion. Wicca is not an ancient religion. It has no ties to medieval or even pre--‐Christian religious beliefs. Wicca was inspired by a theory of Margaret Murray, who proposed that there was one organized Cult of Diana. This idea is largely dismissed as inaccurate and Murray’s work is considered by scholars to be full of factual errors.
Where Wicca began, is with Gerald Gardner in the early 1950’s. Gardner was stationed in India for several years and while he was there, he studied the Hindu religion. He also had an interest in magick and the “occult”. Once he returned to England and retired, he was initiated into a coven of witches in 1939. This coven was practicing magick and rituals from fragments of undetermined origin. Gardner took these fragments and fleshed them out, adding and changing them until he had something that was workable and more spiritually fulfilling than just the fragments. His work was heavily influenced by Murray’s work as well as Leland’s “Aradia: Gospel of the Witches” and his studies into high ceremonial magick, Hinduism, and the work of Alastair Crowley. Crowley’s work features fairly prominently in Gardner’s work and there is debate about whether or not Gardner hired Crowley, just conversed with him, or possibly stole his work to use. These filled in rituals received another re--‐write in the mid to late 50’s when Gardner initiated Doreen Valiente into his coven.
When comparing Wicca to Christianity there can be found a few similarities and many differences. To give a better understanding into the comparison of Wicca and Christianity this paper will focus on how the practitioners of each religion create order and meaning within their belief systems; their central beliefs and deities; their ritual practices and ethical views; and other differences and/or similarities between the two.
A good deal of herbal lore has been forgotten, but as luck would have it the popularity and rising interest in Wicca and Paganism has meant more people have increased their knowledge on this intriguing topic and are concentrating on the gifts that nature has to present us.
The following paper will talk about Wicca and Paganism as a religion within the United States. Wicca is a diverse community as a religion, but is not yet considered by any Supreme court case but some aspects such as traditions are recognized by the federal and state courts. This will be further touched upon further later on.
Raymond Buckland is one of the most prominent figures in the Wiccan community. He is the first person in the United States to openly admit that he is a practitioner of Wicca in 1964. Still practicing today, Buckland holds the title of a High Priest and is with the same coven that he joined after immigrating to the United States from England. Being able to practice religious freely and being able to choose a religion is something that U.S. citizens take for granted. For Buckland, this is a journey that started at the age of twelve.
“Rede” means “counsel” or “advice”, it has Germanic roots, from “Raten” and the Dutch “Rede”, both with comparable meanings. Notable redes are The Norse Rede of Honor and The Wiccan Rede. Since the word “Rede” is easily looked up in any dictionary I will focus instead on the Wiccan Rede, which I guess is the real focus of this assignment. It is important, when practicing any religion to understand the rules of the religion and the history of those rules, following anything on blind faith is foolish, even if those words are sound advice such as “an it harm none do what ye will.” So I will begin with a brief history of the Wiccan Rede.
This article is about witchcraft and its different varieties of practices in different cultures. This article explains how witchcraft exists and plays an essential part in structural and functional aspects of a society. It also sheds the light on the journey of witchcraft from being profane and wicked to acceptable part of a culture.
It seems that the United States is approaching a crucial moment both for the real economy and for the financial crisis that caused this severe recession. Of course, this is good news that comes after many months of bad news, but we must continue to take into account how extremely difficult it is to forecast the behavior of the economy and financial markets during the crisis. The general predictions have been wrong again and again, and unexpected and even unprecedented events have followed one another closely. A cautious optimism should be the order of the day. We fear that the recent reactions of financial markets and some analysts reflect too much optimism without paying sufficient attention to uncertainty. Public policies should continue
The Wiccan religion is one of the fastest growing religions in the United States as well one of the most misunderstood due to the controversies surrounding its history and mystery shrouding its beliefs and doctrines. Due to a series of popular TV series that have shown Witchcraft in a positive light, such as Sabrina, the Teen-aged Witch and Charmed, the popularity of Wicca has grown, especially amongst teenagers; but sadly this popularity has not been partnered with a growth in understanding and respect (Kaminer). Although Wicca offers a nature-oriented, egalitarian belief system with a rich collection of customs and rituals, ignorance and historically-rooted misconceptions still dominate public opinion.
When people hear about the Wiccan religion they think of potions, magic spells, and pointy hats. Wiccans have suffered through many tortures of non-pagan religions for thousands of years. Yet they never gave up on their rituals and beliefs. Wiccans are often depicted as atrocious beings who only wish to harm people. It is important for people with such prejudice beliefs to know about all of the common misconceptions, the origin, and the beliefs of Wiccans.
Witchcraft has been around since the B.C. era, but erupted in the late 1600s. It began in Europe and eventually made its way to the New World. Witchcraft is believing in and the use of practical magic, such as casting spells, calling on spirits, or predicting the future. Witchcraft is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word, “wicce,” meaning wise. Therefore, it translates into “craft of the wise.” Wise people were those who were familiar with natures’ forces and were educated when it came to the herbs and plants. Witches relied greatly on the four elements: air, fire, water, and earth. They were known to have supernatural powers and used them for the good of society, unlike the negative stereotype the modern day witches hold, mainly because of the Christian churches. (witchcraft.com)
An adoptee is not the only party who benefits from an open adoption. The adoptee, the birthparents, and the adoptive parents all have something to gain from an open adoption.
When most western people think about Native American or African religions there is a certain stigma that comes with the topic. This is in part because there is a lot of misinformation in the world about Native American and African religions. When most westerners think of African religions they think of voodoo and black magic. Likewise, the view of Native American religions is still looked at through the lens of the pilgrims who wrote about Native Americans as being savages and less than human. These stereotypes were all formed from a lack of accurate information. African and Native American religions are very similar. It is difficult to find a lot of accurate information on African and Native American indigenous religions because of the lack of written history but there is a lot of oral history that has been passed down from generation to generation. From this information, it is clear that Native American and African religions have many more similarities than they do differences. Three of these similarities will be discussed in this paper. The first topic of discussion is the similarity between African and Native American people when it comes to their perception of the spirit world. Following this topic are the similarities between Native American and African views on the afterlife and finally, the diversity of beliefs within African and Native American religions.
I don’t know about you, but for me so far, all of our author’s attempts to get an explanation about what witchcraft is has failed. We know that witchcraft is the cause of misfortunes and personal injury sustained by the Azande people through what they believe to be no fault of their own, but I think we have yet to have any understanding of what causes witchcraft itself. Where does it come from, who causes it, and is it in any way like a sort of karma believed to be punishment for bad deeds like in eastern philosophies? I think we need to take a deeper look into witchcraft and what the Azande people are actually talking about, because from what I’ve gathered so far, the Azande believe that witchcraft is an unexplained phenomena of independent events that in no way should have had any reason to take place simultaneously
A constituent of cells and its role as both a solvent and a raw material in metabolism
The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine Institute (NCCAM) works synergistically with the Holistic philosophy. It studies the traditional, or ethnocultural, care systems founded from the African, Catholic, and Christian beliefs and cultures found in India, Spain, Mexico, Africa, Japan, and China (Spector, 2013). Throughout time people have used herbs for healing. In fact, according to Lucas (1987), Chinese herbal research documents reach as far back as 2697 B.C. Unfortunately, throughout history, people who utilized herbs were not always accepted. Sadly, many of those people were either wrongly accused or people referred to today as Wiccans. Consequently, the people convicted of witchcraft were burned at the stake. According