Hello everyone! First things first: disclaimer. I am NOT an expert on Wicca
and Paganism, and if I've made a mistake with the information that I put forward
in this video then please feel free to politely correct me.
I am also not trying to preach or to convert you. I'm making this video in
response to a question that I'm asked fairly frequently, and I wanted to put
forward some of the basic information of Wicca for those that want to know it. If
you don't want to be a Wiccan but you just wanted some more information then I
respect that, and I ask that you respect that I don't want to change my faith
either. Okay, on to the fun bit! I am a Wiccan and I have been since I was 13
years old, and often when I tell people that, they have quite a lot of questions
because it's not a faith that we learn a lot about in school unless we research
it on our own independently. The most common question I'm asked in relation to
Wicca and Paganism is: "So what do you actually believe?" and that is a rather
difficult question to answer, because Wicca is rooted in individuality and
free will, and as a result, there are hundreds - if not thousands - of different
interpretations of Wicca, and I don't want to pass off my own personal beliefs
and opinions as those of every single Wiccan out there. Many other faiths have
a holy book. For example, Christianity has the Bible; Islam has the Quran; and
Judaism has the Torah, and this means that those religions' core beliefs are
relatively easy to find out. There is no Holy Book in Wicca. This is a
reflection of the Wiccan ideal of free will, because we aren't given any strict
rules to follow and we're not told anything about God and the creation of
the universe that we are expected to believe without question. There are no
Commandments, there's no stories we're told that are presented as factual, but
we do have the Wiccan Rede, which is a sort of poem (that's actually quite
beautiful) erm and that sort of sets out the guidelines for how Wiccans should
want to live their lives. The main major thing that people take
away from the Wiccan Rede is in the final few lines which says
"These Eight Words The Rede Fulfill; An Ye Harm None Do What You Will" and what
that means is that you can pretty much do whatever you want, so long as you are
not hurting anyone. You're not allowed to murder, torture, bully, or abuse people (but
if you're a decent human being you don't need a spiritual text to tell you that...)
and you should also take care of yourself as well. As long as your actions
aren't directly causing harm and suffering to people - yourself included -
you are allowed to exercise free will, and make your own choices about how to
live your life. The majority of the rest of the Wiccan Rede can be related to
nature with references to plants, to the moon, and all other sorts of natural
things. This reflects on the more ancient roots of Wicca which comes from
Anglo-Saxon and Celtic Paganism. This pre-dated Christianity and the reliance
on natural things probably came from the way of living at the time. Food and water
came from the natural world, and so did materials for building shelters, and
tools, and weapons, and materials for creating clothes, and armour, and blankets.
Everything that people needed to survive was right there in nature, so it's no
surprise that people are so reverent towards it. The remainder of the Wiccan
Rede references gods and goddesses, and this is where it can get ever so
slightly complicated, because there are lots and lots of different opinions
about gods and goddesses in Wicca. Some of us are monotheistic, which means
that we believe in one Divine being; some of us are duotheistic, which means that
we believe in two Divine beings; and some of us are polytheistic, which means that
we believe in lots and lots and lots of different Divine beings. The one that
most of us can agree on is the goddess. In Wicca, she is typically represented as
a triple goddess and has the faces of Maiden, Mother, and Crone. This reflects
the waxing, full and waning moon, and is celebratory of women and feminity
in all life stages. The connection between women and the moon
most likely comes from the lunar cycle which takes 28 days to complete and the
menstrual cycle which on average takes 28 [loud noise from the corridor outside] days to complete as well. In Wicca,
the goddess is representative of fertility and nurturing and caring.
Wiccans who believe in more than one Divine being most likely believe in the
Horned God who is believed to be the consort to the Triple Goddess and is
connected to the Sun. In imagery, this God is presented with horns or antlers, and
the two horns or antlers are representative of a dual nature - the god
is representative of two different aspects: the night and day,
light and dark, summer and winter, and so on. In common beliefs, the god is
representative of nature, wildness, and the life cycle. Polytheistic Wiccans
believe in lots of different gods and goddesses. This is similar to Roman and
Greek faiths, as well as Hinduism, and some branches of Buddhism and countless
other polytheistic faiths. Some examples of Wiccan gods and goddesses include:
Brighid, the Celtic goddess of fertility and healing; Rhiannon, Celtic goddess of
hunting and strength; Thoth, an Egyptian god of magic and wisdom; and Odin, a Norse
God who is connected to poetry and inspiration, as well as battle and
prophecy. There are countless other gods and goddesses that Wiccans worship and
call on, and I'd really encourage you to do some googling if you want to find out
more. Several polytheistic Wiccans believe that all of these gods and
goddesses are different individuals, and other polytheistic Wiccans believe that
these gods and goddesses are all different aspects of the same Divine
being. And some Wiccans don't believe in any specific gods and goddesses at all,
which is why the question of "What do Wiccans believe?" can be so hard to answer
concisely! One thing Wiccans do not believe in is the Devil or Satan. Wicca
and Paganism are often mistaken for Satanism and devil
worshipping, and in fact they are not the same thing (and if you do your research
you'll find out that even Satanism and devil worshipping are completely
different). So. Most Wiccans do not believe in Hell,
but many do believe in a version of Heaven that is often called the
Summerland. As in most religions with a concept of Heaven, the Summerland is just
portrayed as an idealistic place, although of course every individual has a
different opinion about the afterlife. So the answer to the question "What do
Wiccans believe?" is both simple and complicated: it varies! Wicca places a
lot of emphasis on free will and free thought, and as a result every Wiccan
seems to have a different opinion about something. Because of this, it can be
fascinating to research and learn about, so if you are interested in finding out
more, then I'll leave some links in the description for places you can go to get
some more information. Other than that, I hope you found this video interesting,
and if you did then please be sure to leave the video a like, and if you have
anything to say then please feel free to leave a comment (keeping it as respectful
as possible), and if you would like to see some more of my content, then please
press the subscribe button and click the little bell icon so that you receive
notifications every single time that I upload a video. I think that's everything
that I wanted to say in this video so thank you so much for watching and
goodbye!
[loud noises in the corridor outside my room]
[full of sarcasm] Please, be louder right outside my door.
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