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Wicca is a neo-pagan religion that was created by the New Forest Coven, Gerald Gardner, and to a lesser extent Doreen Valiente.

In its original form in the New Forest Coven, the word "wica" was a plural term that applied to the members of the coven, and was not a term used to denote the religion or practices. It wasn't until 1959, with the publication of Gerald Gardner's book The Meaning of Witchcraft, that the term "wicca" became popularized, and shortly thereafter it started to be used as the name of the religion, rather than its practitioners. Practitioners of Wicca are now called "wiccans".

Initiations

As a mystery tradition practice, initiation is a key value of Wicca. Someone becomes wiccan through experiencing an initiation, and later elevations promote a practitioner within the priesthood.

The fertility-cult nature of wiccan practice is evident in many aspects of their rituals, and combines with the mystery tradition aspect of their practice in initiation being performed upon men by women and upon women by men. An exception to this rule is that a man may initiate his son and a woman may initiate her daughter, which clearly reflects fertility in a different way (by reflecting that fact of procreation rather, in initiating their own offspring, rather than reflecting the means of procreation in being cross-gender).

Most wiccan groups claim an initiatory lineage to the New Forest Coven in southern England.

Beliefs

Goddess and God

Wiccans believe in a moon goddess and a horned male god. In the original Gardnerian Wicca, the goddess is Aradia (a character from the 1899 book Aradia) and the horned male god is Cernunnos (a celtic pagan deity). In Alexandrian Wicca, Aradia is replaced with Cerridwen (a mythological witch, who was never considered a deity prior to Wicca). The Gardnerian and Alexandrian books of shadows (the original books that describe the religion of Wicca) state that wiccans should worship the gods. However, some wiccans do not worship the gods, but rather describe their relationship with the gods as "working with" him/her.

Reincarnation

Wiccans believe in reincarnation. The recitations in various wiccan rituals state that after death, people become reborn into new bodies.

Rules

The Wiccan Laws

The wiccan laws are various rules (they are not actual laws, as they are not enforced by a government) that are written in the Gardnerian and Alexandrian books of shadows, and in Ye Bok of ye Art Magical which preceded them. Wiccans are expected to follow these rules to some extent, but some of the rules are anachronistic, applying to the time when witches were hunted, interrogated, tortured, and killed, or at least considered criminal, so some of such rules are disregarded by most wiccans. The vast majority of the wiccan laws were written by Gerald Gardner, and some of them were written by Alex Sanders. The wiccan laws written by Gerald Gardner contain the precursor to the wiccan rede.

The Wiccan Rede

The central ethical principle of Wicca is the wiccan rede. The wiccan rede is: "if it harms none, do what you will".
For more information, see the article wiccan rede.

Diet

Wicca does not have any explicit dietary restrictions, but many wiccans are vegetarians as a result of applying the wiccan rede to animals.

Practices

Rituals

Rituals play a very important role in the beliefs of wiccans, as it is closely tied to the mystery aspects of the religion.
The wiccan rituals include the initiation and elevation rituals, the sabbat rituals, and the esbat rituals.

Ritual Tools

Ritual tools are a major aspect of wiccan rituals.
Information on this subject is at the article ritual tools.

Magic

Although some self-identified wiccans claim not to practice magic, those of a more traditional background and training will argue against this as it has traditionally been seen as a fundamental aspect of practice and necessary for development.

Sabbats

Wiccans celebrate 8 holy festivals, called sabbats, throughout the year. Different sects may emphasize certain aspects of these celebrations depending upon which pantheon of gods and goddesses they work with.

Esbats

In addition to the sabbats, there are group rituals called esbats, which may be done on any day, but are preferentially done during a full moon, in which case they are called 'full moon esbats'.

Dress

Wiccans are permitted to wear any form of clothing, but for ritual practice it is important to have robes worn only for this occasion as part of the shift into a magical state. It is also more traditional for rituals to be performed without clothing, known as being skyclad, which has an important symbolic meaning and other spiritual benefits when working within a coven.

Sects

There are several different sects of Wicca.
The original and oldest sect of Wicca is Gardnerian Wicca, which was created by Gerald Gardner in or around 1946,
and underwent modifications during the 1950s, in large part due to Doreen Valiente.
The second-oldest sect of Wicca is Alexandrian Wicca, which was created by Alex Sanders starting in the mid 1960s,
and does not deviate much from the original Gardnerian Wicca.
Various new wiccan sects were created during the 1970s, including Dianic Wicca in 1971, Algard Wicca in 1972,
Seax-Wica in 1973, Blue Star Wicca in 1975, and Odyssean Wicca in 1979.

Elements taken from other sources

Wicca is a highly syncretic religion that combines elements from several different sources.
Those sources are: the two witch-related books by Margaret Murray (The Witch Cult in Western Europe and The God of the Witches),
the book Aradia by Charles Leland, The Druid Order, a poem by Rudyard Kipling, the fiction books of H.P. Lovecraft, the Key of Solomon,
Freemasonry, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Aleister Crowley, and BDSM practices.

Elements taken from Margaret Murray's books and Aradia

The goddess name Aradia was taken from the aforementioned book of the same name.
The usage of the male god name Cernunnos was taken from chapter 1 of the book The God of the Witches.
Gerald Gardner's book High Magic's Aid states that the witches worshipped the horned male god Janicot (which is an alleged basque deity).
The god name Janicot was likewise taken from chapter 1 of The God of the Witches.

The words 'sabbat' and 'esbat' were taken from The Witch Cult in Western Europe.
'Sabbat' is the french spelling of 'sabbath'.

The wiccan practice of having thirteen people in a coven, consisting of one leader and twelve subordinates,
was taken from chapter 7 part 2 of The Witch Cult in Western Europe.
That is in turn an imitation of the arrangement of Jesus and his twelve disciples.

The wiccan practice of 'cakes and wine' is loosely based upon the book Aradia, which states that the witches drank wine,
and ate cakes made of meal, honey, and salt that were shaped like crescent moons.

Elements taken from The Druid Order and Rudyard Kipling

One of the four original wiccan sabbat rituals, May Eve, incorporates the recitation of part of one of Rudyard Kipling's poems, A Tree Song.

Four of the eight wiccan sabbats are the two solstice sabbats and the two equinox sabbats. Those four sabbats are taken from The Druid Order.
Gardner added those four sabbats to the four other sabbats in the 1950s, after members of his coven asked him to add more sabbat rituals,
so that there is less time between them. The use of a cauldron in 3 of the 4 solstice and equinox sabbats was likewise taken from The Druid Order.

Elements taken from H.P. Lovecraft

In the wiccan ritual recitations, there is an unusual phrase that appears multiple times, which clashes with the other aspects of wiccan belief.
That phrase is "the dread lords of the outer spaces" and variants of that phrase.
That phrase is based upon the fiction books of H.P. Lovecraft, wherein there is a realm called 'the outer spaces',
wherein dwell fearsome god-like beings.

Elements taken from the Key of Solomon

The black-handled knife, the word 'athame', and the white-handled knife were taken from chapter 8 of book 2 of the Key of Solomon.
The word 'bolline' (which came to refer to the white-handled knife) was taken from part of a book by A.E. Waite that was about the Key of Solomon.
Most of the other eight Gardnerian ritual tools, all except the scourge, were likewise taken from the Key of Solomon.
The sword and the wand were taken from the same chapter as the two knives- chapter 8 of book 2.
The Key of Solomon has a large section that is devoted exclusively to depicting and describing specific pentacles.
The typical wiccan pentacle, which has a pentagram on it, is based upon the 'second pentacle of Venus' and
the 'first pentacle of Mercury' from that section.
Similarly, the older occult group called the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn based their own pentacle, which has a hexagram on it,
upon the 'the second pentacle of Mars' from that same section.

The wiccan practice of consecrating water, consecrating salt, and then putting the salt into the water,
was taken from chapter 5 of book 2 of the Key of Solomon.
The wiccan consecration recitations for the water and the salt are almost identical to those in the Key of Solomon.
The wiccan practice of consecrating candles was taken from chapter 12 of book 2 of the Key of Solomon.
The wiccan consecration recitation for the candles is almost identical to the consecration recitation for incense
in chapter 10 of book 2 of the Key of Solomon.

The wiccan circle, with its three concentric rings, and casting by a sword or black-handled knife, was taken from chapter 9 of book 2 of the Key of Solomon.
The wiccan practice of showing the pentacle to the four cardinal directions was taken from chapter 13 of book 2 of the Key of Solomon.

Elements taken from Freemasonry, the Golden Dawn, and Crowley

The three-degree system of advancement and initiation was taken from Freemasonry.
The use of eight objects that are called 'tools' is taken from english Freemasonry,
though Freemasonry uses actual tools, whereas in Wicca the word 'tools' is a misnomer.
The phrase 'the craft', which is used many times in the wiccan laws, was also taken from Freemasonry.
The wiccan practice of tying a rope around an initiate's neck, with rope hanging down the front called a 'cable tow',
and tying that cable tow to a ring on the altar so as to force the initiate to kneel and bend over forward,
was taken from the initiations of Freemasonry.

The wiccan initiation practice of having a blindfold (aka hoodwink) on the postulant throughout much of the initiation ritual
was taken from either Crowley's book Liber 671, or from the initiation ritual of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn,
from which Crowley took the idea, or from the initiation ritual of Freemasonry, from which the Golden Dawn took the idea.

The wiccan initiation practice of poking a sword into the postulant, and telling the postulant to have no fear in one's heart,
is taken from the initiation ritual of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.

The wiccan ritual practice of calling upon the "lords of the watchtowers" of the four cardinal directions is taken from
the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which has a ritual of calling upon the "angels of the watchtower" of the four cardinal directions.

The use of the word 'magus' was taken from the writings of Aleister Crowley.
The use of a scourge was also taken from the writings of Aleister Crowley.
Crowley in turn got the general idea of using a scourge from the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, to which he belonged.
The scourging of the butt in the wiccan initiation and elevation rituals was taken from Crowley's book Liber 671.
The use of knells on a bell in the 1st-degree initiation ritual and the 2nd-degree elevation ritual was likewise taken from Liber 671.

Various elements of the wiccan initiation rituals are also present in BDSM (bondage / dominance / sadism / masochism) practices.
Gerald Gardner cherry-picked elements from other sources, and added his own additional elements, to satisfy his BDSM desires.
Those BDSM elements in the initiation rituals are: having the postulant strip naked, blindfolding the postulant,
binding the postulant's wrists behind their back, tying a cord around the postulant's neck and pulling them around by that cord,
tying the neck cord down so as to force the postulant to kneel and bend over forward, and whipping (aka scourging) the postulant
on their bare butt.

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