I'm Coming Out...

[lestatdark]

lostintheodyssey said:

lestatdark said:

I had to tell my parents, who are mildly Christian based, that I had converted to the Wicca religion. It wasn't nice and pretty at the start, and I had to deal with a load of bad stuff coming from them in the first days.

Eventually they grew to accept it, because that's who I am and what I believe, and they (as I) found that there is no reason why the two beliefs couldn't co-exist.

My grandparents (from my father side) were another whole story. They are fervent religious people, they have a gigantic cross on their backyard and have had priest do mass on their house. I was called child of the devil, witch, Satan himself and threatened by them. 

Since then I haven't talked to them, if they chose not to accept me for what I believe then it's their loss, not mine. I will always respect them and accept them for their choices, even though their attitudes really go against what the Christian religion supposedly represents.

What exactly is this Wicca religion what do you guys do and believe in?  I have heard so many conflicting stories about what it actually means to be a Wiccan.

Wicca is a religion based on various pagan beliefs that existed on the Britain islands during pre-roman times. There are various paths to Wicca beliefs, like Gardenian Wicca, British Traditional Wicca, Dianic Tradition and many more.

Typically, almost all roots of Wicca believe in the duothestic faith, between the Triple Goddess (the maiden, the mother and the crone) which represents the feminine side of the faith or the more philosophical side , and the Horned God, representing the male side or the more humane/earth based side of the faith.

Although this is the primary belief system, there are also some atheistic beliefs within the Wicca branches. We follow a liberal moral code, known as the Wicca Rede, which has a few basic principles that every Wiccan must follow close to his/her earth. 
Some of the most important ones are "Do what you will as long as it harms no one"; "Whatever energy you give unto the world, be it positive or negative, will be returned to you thrice-fold" and some other more complex codes.

We also uphold some seasonly festivals, known to us as Sabbats (like Yule, which is celebrated at the winter solstice, December 21st, the winter celebration of the resurrection of the Horned God. This was originally a Pagan celebration in various regions, like germany and the old norse regions. This was also later adopted as the celebration of Christmas by the christians).

Also, what is commonly denominated as "Witchcraft" is also a term vaguely used by the majority of Wiccans. We uphold some traditional ritual practices that were commonly used in the pagan days, especially in Celtic communities. There are quite a number of misconceptions about these practices (like dancing naked in a wildfire on the middle of a forest - this misconception was formed due to a wrongfully representation of "Witches" in Charles Leland's Aradia: The Gospel of Witches) which are mostly untrue and degrading.