What is Wicca and Who do Wiccans Worship?
by Maryam Povey
On the occasion of Samhain, 1994

Paganism is a broad descriptor for those religions or modes of spirituality that are not patriarchal monotheisms, such as Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Examples of paganism would be Buddhism, Native American Spirituality, Hinduism, Shinto, and Wicca. Wicca is the most prevalent form of reconstructionist neo-paganism in the United States and is the pre-christian spirituality of the Celtic peoples who resided in the British Isles and Brittany, on the western coast of France. Wicca includes in its boundaries many different sects whose founding principles have been subject to much revisionism and non-historic, modern "reinterpretations" of the little shreds of Craft material that do still exist. Therefore, to quantify what 'all Wiccans' believe would be difficult to say the least.

Broadly speaking however, Wicca is a religion based upon deep personal understanding of oneself and the multiverse in which one resides. For the ancient Celts, as for us today, the main component of the multiverse was the land on which they stood, which nourished their bodies, with which they worked in harmony with the natural cycles. Also for now, we will leave to one side the contingent who strenuously insist that Wicca as a religion started anywhere from the late 1800's with the Crowley crew to the "1940's & Gerald Gardner." There are those who rigidly adhere to the belief that Wicca as such is a "modern thang" - so be it. We have information and prior experience however, to the contrary. That said, let's proceed onward!

The Divinity of Nature

The Christian Bible says that one has only to look to nature to see evidence of God. The Celts having figured this out much before Christ took this literally and found Spirit in every rock, tree, clod of earth, in every living beast of the field or wood and in themselves. They noticed the holy duality of the sexes in nature and in themselves and worshipped the Divine as both the God and the Goddess. Most modern Wiccans (and again, it is difficult to generalize) feel that while the God and the Goddess are separate and equal, they are also two separate sides of the same coin: all in one. And all that we see, touch, feel, hear or sense is Holy. (Ergo, Wiccans have a very strong sense of wonder and reverence for everything on the planet as the one and only law of Wicca is: "And it harm none, do as you will".) Just as the Christians have their trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Wiccans have dual Trinities of Youth, Father and Sage & Maiden, Mother and Crone. Again broadly speaking, the God is seen as "The Horned Father- Lord of the Forest" and the Goddess as "The Powerful Lady Mother" - each of whom could appear in many, many guises depending on the personal needs of the individual invoking them.

Origins

The following is my personal view of how the religion got started, based on experience and extensive research: Celtic native shamanism (spiritual healers and holy people) lay at the root beginning of religious thought among the Celts. Shamans came into synch with one or more "power animals" who aided them in their healing efforts, in finding lost souls and in casting out evil wights. To deeper facilitate this connection, the shaman would wear the skin of his or her power animal when healing etc. and maintain it while in the trance-like state needed to do the job. In a trance situation, truths often make themselves evident and the shaman, while doing his work, ended up prophesying a good deal. Perhaps there was only one, extremely charismatic shaman, perhaps a cult. But whomever he was, he had a roe deer as his totem. That horned-headdress that the shaman wore in honour of his patron power animal became connected with good works of healing and prophecy...and thus a God-form was born.

Or here's another scenario: the worshippers of the God for some reason decided that the Roe Buck was the definitive good father (he is: watches over his herd assiduously, seeks out the best of pasturage, will fight to the death with predators) and took the deer as their totem and the horned figure again, became synonymous with the God. The Goddess, whether Gentle Lady-Mother or Thundering and Powerful Seductress (remember, as a nature religion, it is fertility and sensuality/sexuality based. The Goddess says: "All acts of Love and Pleasure are my rituals") has never really been broadly attached specifically to an animal form as much as the God was. There are individual sects who worship Her as a Sow, an Otter, a Cow etc. a Deer etc. but the Horned Lord is more pan-pagan than this.

The Coming of the Christians

Back to the established facts: When Christian knights invaded Britain, sacking the Druidic monasteries and committing Holocaustic atrocities over most of Gaul, Mercia, Wales, Cornwall and Eire, etc., the first thing they did to sway the common people to their religion was to appropriate the form of the Wiccan's most blessed Lord and attach it to the most reviled Christian demon, Luciferos. Hence the modern day perversion of Satan with horns.

Wiccans had never heard of such a repugnant devil-monster. Surely, they could not mean that The Comforter, The Solace of All was evil! This thought shocked the people from commoner to king. The Church offered "salvation" from the One whom the people once sought for comfort and solace and in time, the people were duped into joining - either by cunning or by fire and sword. Penda, the last Pagan King of Mercia preferred death to denying the steadfast Lord who had sustained him throughout his life, and readily gave himself to martyrdom. The Goddess was incorporated into the worship by castrating Her pagan form and relegating her to the (subordinate in Christian terms) position of the Christian Lord's mother. The people could not understand this, but accepted any sop that would allow them to continue veneration of their Lady. Thus ended the gentle earth-based spirituality of the Celts for all intents and purposes. It took some seventy years, but the Church finally was firmly established in the Celtic lands. Not without conflict, to be sure, but established nonetheless. This whole process is much the same as the Europeanization of North America via Columbus, the Pilgrims et. cetera. The natives were simply overwhelmed and not as technologically advanced as their aggressors.

The Burning

Wiccans continued in secret to worship and if and when found, were often put to death. The European Inquisition and Witch Burnings of the Dark Ages went on longer, & murdered in cold blood more men, women and children than three Holocausts combined. And for what? For the power that pagan herbwives had to regulate their monthly cycles, for daring to aid a laboring mother in childbirth, for knowing the right plants to pick to ease a fever, soothe a colicky baby, to ease the suffering of the dying. For practicing the ecstatic trances that allowed Worshipper and the Divine to come into direct contact. For praying in the manner of their forefathers and mothers. For such "forbidden knowledge" almost three entire generations of humanity were wiped out. The Church considered it wrong for a woman to be self-determinate and the budding male medical establishment would have had no custom at all if it were not for the disposal of the midwives and herbal healers. Combined in power, the Church and it's medical members managed to expunge most European pagans from the earth.

A thin thread however, remained. Some families risked their lives to keep the High Holy Days. To worship in secret and to pass on to their children the herbal lore, the prayers, the charms and spells that could help and heal. Tales of witches souring the milk and causing livestock deaths are the most baseless of fabrications. In such a milieu, why would one want to call attention to one's beliefs in such a manner? For all that, to what purpose? Anthrax and brucellosis were common in those times along with a vile host of other now-extinct diseases which routinely wiped out all the cattle in a village or larger geographic area. This was more to do with the fact that modern vaccination, medicine and sanitary precautions were then unknown than the rare public curse of a senile old woman (the mentally ill were the first to be consigned to the flames during the Burning Times). The ones with knowledge, the witches, were consulted as to herbal preparations to heal the sick. On seeing that only when the witch "did laye her hande upon it" or deliver some herbal potion, did the cattle etc. heal, why then the poor herbwife was branded as evil, a "vile temptress and consort of the devil," and accused of causing the illness to the livestock in the first place. Most witch trials of the period cite "financial gain" or "evil spite" as the reason for "layeing evile spells." Don't know about you, but I wouldn't risk my life for any amount of silver or gold OR a grudge! Again, baseless fabrication with perhaps a grain, if that, of any real truth.

Contemporary Paganism

What about Wicca today? As a Priestess of the Old Religion of Northern Europe (*NOT* Wicca and *NOT* Asatru but something which has no real name...) I have met what I consider to be a representative cross-section of Wiccans in many different states and on different continents and yes, there are a few loonies among them like any religion will have. Most of their numbers however are gentle, peace loving, "green" politically and committed to family, earth conservancy, their own Higher Spiritual evolution, peaceful relations and healing and helping wherever possible. Most actively pray for peace, for the world and with their neighbors (whether pagan or not) and not to be the subject of witch-hunts. Most just want to be left alone. Most welcome inter-faith discussion and friendship if it does not include persistent attempts to proselytize. Wicca itself is not a proselytizing religion and most Wiccans feel that if you are called to it, you will come.

There has been way too much propagandizing and misinformation from the mainstream religious political machinery in America. The patriarchal monotheistic churches have much more money, power and reach a much wider audience than do pagans. One of the cardinal feature of paganry and Wicca in particular is lack of a highly organized religious structure. It is one of our greatest strengths and some say, one of our greatest weaknesses. It is more a strength however for each person that enters this religion is a priest or priestess unto theirownself and subject to none but the other members of their coven and that coven's leadership at most. Some witches choose not to work in covenant (the origin of the word "coven" is "covenant" for the solemn promises of familial loyalty the member makes towards the rest of the covenant - a coven is a family, first and foremostly) and are called "solitaires." Either path is valid, depending on what your particular talent for dealing with a 'team approach' is or is not.

One of the fears of Mr. & Mrs. Middle America is that the "witche covens will rise against us." Witches can't organize an afternoon tea; (I personally have been trying and trying to with some other priestess friends and it's been since July, for heaven's sake and we still haven't gotten together. Thank the goddess for conference calls!) most of the time we are too busy with our community commitments or healing practices/workshops/ministrations et. al. Certainly we would all not attend such an "uprising" on time; we have a cavalier attitude towards that as well (chronic lateness isn't called "Pagan Standard Time" for nothing). Fear more an uprising of disgruntled postal workers, or hot dog vendors before one with Wiccans at the helm!

Samhain

One of the most holy of Wiccan festivals is coming up: Samhain. On or about October 31st, Wiccans will be in Holy communion with the Gods, with their ancestors, paying their respects and asking wise counsel. Would you not go to your grandfather or grandmother with a deeply-felt question? Does the soul not last forever? Then why the big "criminal" thing about speaking with the Dead in mainstream religion? Yet another legacy from the Church that has caused the death of many a good woman and man. My grandmother is dead, but I speak to her all the time. She has taken away my fear of death and given me much wise counsel. If this is a fabrication of my own mind, then so be it. I am not hurting anyone. Remember the Law: "And it Harm None, do as Thou Will." My mother is almost within sight of the SummerLands and will cross over presently. I will not cease my relationship with her because a thing of clay that she no longer has use for has been put under the earth. She will sing and laugh and play without pain, with her mother and father and with all her relations. She will be happy again for the first time in many years and I will not weep for that. I will rejoice! And I will tell her that I love her and never cease being her loving daughter. If this is a crime to the organized patriarchies, then so be it. If I weep at all, it is because I lack the absolute clarity of mind and spirit to see her as fully as I do in this reality. But as with other things, that is being worked on. Most Wiccans I have met believe in reincarnation, and if it is so then my mother and I will meet again, in a different place to work out what we didn't get to in this lifetime. And I will have the precious chance to know that beautiful, radiant Spirit once again. What joy!

The dead are nothing to fear, and the Multiverse can be as loving and supporting as some see it to be evil and damning. I choose the former and I am happy and well-adjusted. I choose to see Heaven as being on the Earth, as well as something/place to go after the body ceases to function. Wiccans call this place variably: The SummerLand, Avalon, The Isle of Apples, Broceliande, and simply, "Home." It exists in time and space along with the physical world but several steps removed, on a higher vibrational plane.

In Closing

Ack. Well, I didn't intend to go on this long but this is a subject close to my heart and one that is unfortunately subject to a lot of abuse around this time of year. So the next time you see a "wacko" in the park waving incense around and chanting, give them a break, they're probably only praying. And maybe voice a silent "Blessed Be" or whatever benediction you use in honor of the connection with the Divine. The next time a group takes inadequate precautions against discovery and is "caught" dancing and chanting naked in a circle and pilloried by the community, reflect on how ugly it is that people are forced to carry out what is essentially harmless worship in secret. And maybe speak to that publicly if you are so inclined.

Basically the message is: Tolerance, Love and Acceptance of Diversity. In this conference as well as in life. My favorite quote from the Jewish Master says: "...and the Greatest of these is Love."

Blessed Be, and a Happy Samhain/All Saints/Halloween to you all.

- Auntie "the breathless" M.

© 1994 by Maryam Povey. All rights reserved.