Wiccan morality?

[Tirisilex]

Is there a morality that wiccans follow?

[Jenny Crow]

There never used to be; however, in the last decade, or couple of decades, people have gone overboard with the 3 Fold Law and those words of Aleister Crowley of "do what you will, an it harm none". The 3 Fold Law is not a universal law although it's often touted as such. And I might add, that it has been misinterpreted. This so-called 3 Fold Law came from a book by Gerald Gardner (the founding father of Wicca) in which he stated that whenever someone does you a kindness it should be reciprocated three times. It does NOT say that whatever you do will return to you threefold (which is what uneducated wiccans are saying today).

To make it confusing not ALL Wiccans or even neo-wiccans follow these two rules, so in the end you're on your own, lol

[Tirisilex]

Interesting.. Do wiccans believe in a Divine of some sort?

[Jenny Crow]

Yes, Wicca is a religion that honours both a goddess and a god. I should say that most covens honour the god and goddess but some Solitaries honour only the goddess, I believe.

[Tirisilex]

Again curious.. Does the God and Goddess have certain traits? I'm really trying to understand what wicca is.

[Jenny Crow]

Wicca is a pagan religion. Gerald Brousseau Gardner is the founding father of Wicca. He was a member of the Brickett Wood coven in the 1940's. Up until that time covens met in secret and oaths were taken to not reveal any of its secrets. However, Gardner wanted to bring it to the public and eventually, after putting together his own Book of Shadows (the book that contains the rituals, rites and spells), taking some material from his coven, some other material from Aleister Crowley and other material from old Traditional Witchcraft and some say from Old George Pickingill (a very famous Witch) and some rites that he wrote himself, he made his own tradition which was called Gardnerian Witchcraft and to become a member one had to be initiated into a coven. Gardnerian Witchcraft wasn't called Wicca until decades later when someone decided to call it Wicca because it didn't sound so threatening to the public.

These days people have decided to say that Wicca is a religion and Witchcraft is simply a craft; but remember that Gardnerian Withcraft, or Gardnerian Wicca, is a religion.

From Gardner's covens sprang other traditions, such Alexandrian, Dianic, Georgian and Faery Wicca, just like there are different kinds of Christianity, such as Protestant or Baptist etc.

Most of Gardner's covens worshipped/honoured the same deities. Other covens might have honoured different gods and goddesses. There are many pantheons of deities - there is the Norse pantheon, the Celtic pantheon, the Egyptian pantheon and so on. These days there are many solitary practitioners who practice Wicca because there are not enough covens or they are too far away and spread out for people to reach, so people either choose a deity to honour or what often happens is a person will be "called" by a particular goddess or god and so that person will honour that deity. Other people have two or three deities they work with.

There are some people who believe that each god or goddes is simply an aspect of the one god. I think there are more people, though, who see each god or goddess as a separate being, each with their own personality and traits. There are gods and goddesses of war - the Morrigan is the Celtic Goddess of war and shapeshifting; and there are gods and goddesses of healing, such as the Celtic Goddess Brighid. There are fertility deities, and deities of death and the Underworld. Hekate is the Goddess of the crossroads and the Underworld.

Different Gods and Goddesses are honoured at the different Sabbats (there are eight Sabbats throughout the year celebrating the diffeent seasons and phases of Nature. At Imbolc, which is held on or near February 2nd, the Goddess Brighid is honoured, for example. Gaia is considered to be the Goddess of the Earth.

Hope this helps, ask away if you need to know more!

[Tirisilex]

Wow that covers my question completely. Thanks.

[Jenny Crow]

Glad to help!

[curiosity]

Clearly not. Based on what I've been experiencing. It's funny because I have found a couple of so called witches to be quite the hypocrites and pretend to have morals. Apparently, according to them, children and death wishes/spells should be off-limits. That's going "too far." Not to me. If you can dish it out as a witch, you should be able to take it. This is how I've been handling the ones who've been messing with me. I can see why people hate witches. So no, there's no morality. Most witches lack morals. Which is why you have to fight fire with fire with witches since karma isn't real. I've seen criminals with more morals.