The "Whats" on Wicca! : Some common questions and responses on the Wiccan Faith.

Light and Love.

So, you have decided that you might be interested in becoming a Wiccan. But if you come from a country like myself, where Wicca isn't exactly an established religion, you might be left wondering: what IS Wicca all about in the first place? If you are anything like the run-of-the-mill Malaysian, your first introduction to Wicca (more likely the concept of Wicca) would be from television shows such as Charmed, or Sabrina the Teenage Witch, or True Blood (a friend of mine remarked, quite funnily, that she thought that my life must be like those witches in True Blood) and while I would not invalidate the experience of Wiccans who do identify with those programs in one way or another, I must say that my own personal experience with Wicca has taught me the average Wiccan's experience is probably anything but like what is portrayed on popular television shows. The following are a list of very common questions I often get in relation to my Wiccan faith and these are some of my typical responses.

• Are you a white witch, or a dark witch? 
  I personally believe that the distinction between a "white" and "dark" practitioner is not so easily drawn. Like every human being on the planet, a Wiccan or a witch, is first a human being with faults and vices of their own. This does not necessarily impact on their craft, however, as despite possessing any number of skeletons in her closet, a witch can always make the conscious decision to only do good, and invoke only positive energies in her rituals and castings. Many Wiccans, including myself, avoiding bad magic because we observe various tenets of our religion that prohibit us from doing so. The Wiccan Rede (which is roughly interpreted as a universal code of conduct for all Wiccans) states that by the will of our Goddess, Wiccans should not cause harm by their actions or spellwork alike. Most, if not all Wiccans believe that any energy that we bring into this world, either by our thoughts, intentions, or spellcraft has a way of coming back to us via some form of Karmic retribution, three times more potent that it was when we sent it out into the world. This is known as the Law of Threefold, or the Rule of Three.
  
  
• In those television programs, witches are able to do amazing things like summon balls of fire, or combat demons with blasts of energy. Are you telling me this is what you can do?
  I often get asked this question with just a tinge of sarcasm or skepticism behind it, and while many, if not all Wiccans believe in the existence of spiritual beings and some form of contact with the spirit world, as well as the presence of magic, the reality of what we do is quite different from that. The existence and the practice of magic, or witchcraft, is an integral part of Wiccan beliefs and you will find that though our rituals, spellwork, and instruments may differ from coven to coven or sect to sect, that some form of it will be present nonetheless. Magic for most Wiccans, however, is not so much about summoning balls of fire from the sky but rather, about harnessing the inherent energies of Nature and of the Universe to affect change in the world around us. You must understand also that the common person often approaches magic as something that is beyond-nature (unnatural/supernatural) but for the average Wiccan, magic is something that is completely natural and a part of the world around us.  Of course, different Wiccans might lay claim to different abilities (such as the ability to teleport, or conjure fire etc.), but without invalidating their experiences, the reality of the situation is that this is quite simply not the case for most of us.
  
  
• So how would a Wiccan or a witch go about working magic?
  There is power in intention and words and with practice, Wiccans can draw upon the energies of the world around them to amplify this to various effect. Many Wiccans also love using various tools and instruments to help us harness or focus that energy. Some of the more common of tools include wands, athames (ceremonial daggers), various plants and herbs (both fresh and dried contain latent energy), crystals, candles, and the like. Magic can also be harnessed by invoking our deities (The Goddess and God) to lend us their strength or to manifest our intentions. Invoking or calling upon the Goddess is something that is very common in Wiccan spellcraft and is often done for anything as simple as a basic protection spell, to something more complicated like a complex healing ritual. In some ways, spellcraft to a Wiccan is not unlike what prayer is to a Christian.
  
  

  

  Candles, sigils, and crystals are some common tools for spellcraft.

  
  
• And... does it work?
  With some practice and devotion, Wiccans believe that we can do some pretty miraculous things through magic.
  
  
• So why haven't more people joined the Wiccan religion?
  Wicca is not for everyone. Often, most of the people I personally know who joined the religion and left cited reasons for leaving such as their spells were not working for them.  What they may have failed to realize is that Wicca is not just about spell casting and potion making, but a way of life. It is a religion and requires the same amount of dedication and faith as any other religion. A large part of what Wicca is is the veneration of the Goddess and her energies that is manifest in the Natural world. As such I would say that for me to be Wiccan is therefore essentially to be in one way or another an environmentally conscious individual. Some people are just not able to attain the sort of connection to their environment and their surroundings that is required to effectively fuel their spellwork and may therefore leave the religion when they realized it could not give them what they wanted. Often, the explanation is a lot more simple than that: some people are just not ready to accept magic into their lives (perhaps they would feel silly being part of a coven, or waving a wand around to channel the energies of the earth). For whatever their reasons may be, Wicca is just not for everyone.
  
  I would also like to add as an important side note, that Wiccans do not proselytize. We do not preach and we do not recruit. People find us by various means (often, after they have gotten hooked on to witch related shows) and join us on their own free will. I do not like to think of Wicca as an "exclusive" religion (although there are some sects that are) so I believe that interest in the faith is generally met with goodwill. If they leave in a similar manner and with no ill feelings, their departure will be similarly regarded.
  
  
• You mentioned earlier a Goddess and a God in Wicca. Who are they? Do they have names?
  Well, the Goddess and God are the principal deities in Wicca. We do not necessarily name our deities, often referring to them simply as Goddess, or God, but there are some sects that do. Some individual practitioners may also choose to stylize their interpretation of the Goddess or the God after deities from other faiths and mythologies that appeal to them particularly. For instance, I have chosen to venerate the Goddess through the image of Hecate which is how I imagine her. Some Covens may have their own names for the Goddess and the God and may choose to keep them secret from all but those who are initiated.  

The Goddess Hecate

• So let me get this straight, is Wicca something strict with hundreds of  rules you have to follow and all that? 
  I wouldn't say that there aren't any rules in Wicca (although personally I would love to call them guidelines instead) because though we do not have a Bible or any such religious text to govern our actions (Wicca as an official religion is a relatively new one), we do have a basic set of tenets laid down in the Wiccan Rede, that all practitioners of the religion are encouraged strongly to follow. Some of the main rules or guidelines that apply to all Wiccans are:...
  
  "An it harm none, do what thou wilt" - harm none with one's actions
  "Mind the threefold law ye should, three times bad and three times good" - be responsible for one's actions.
  Nature must be honored and respected as the Divine is manifest in everything from plants and animals to rocks and rivers.
  Divinity is present in all of us. Every Wiccan is capable of calling on the Goddess and performing rituals and ceremonies. Exclusivity is not limited to our priest[ess]hood...
  
  ...among others. The full rede, or variants of it, can be easily found online.
  
  Depending on which sect of Wicca one is practicing, or whether or not one belongs to a coven, some Wiccans also love to borrow aspects of other religions (typically the nature based faiths) that they may find are compatible or harmonious with their own way of living and worshiping the Divine. Generally speaking (and this is not the rule) Covens have more restrictions than individual practitioners.
  
  

The list is by no means a complete compilation of every single question I get about my faith (well meaning, or otherwise) but consists of some of the more common and easily answered ones. If you came upon this post because you are interested in Wicca, merry meet! If you need clarification don't be afraid to ask. I don't pretend to be an expert on the faith despite having practiced in for over 10 years now but I have collected, along the way, many resources that I would be glad to share. If you are a fellow Wiccan, or practitioner of one of the pagan faiths, did you think I missed anything out? What are some of the questions you have been asked in relation to your religion, as well as your response, that you would love to share? As always I would love to hear from all of you.

Blessed be.
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