Colette’s Halloween Happenings: Wicca 101
Other than “BOO!” and “What are you going as this year?”, the most notable expression pertaining to Halloween is, of course, “Trick or Treat!”.
And that has what to do with the subject of Wicca?
Well, Halloween is the time for witches (practicing and pretend) and most people associate witches with Wicca.
Now, here’s the trick…they’re wrong.
And the treat?
Real information which leads to knowledge.
Candy runs a close second though and if I could figure out a way to get some to you through my computer screen I would!
All Wiccans are witches but not all witches are Wiccan. Wicca is a Spiritual Tradition whereas being a witch is not.
To further explain Wicca…
Because I, still, can NOT get this scene out of my head and, because I made a renewed and strengthened commitment to do all I can to help bring about harmony and balance between us and the natural world I must share this story with you.
Not too long ago, I had occasion to be on a pier. There were about a hundred other people there yet it was incredibly quiet. Everyone seemed to be involved in their own manner of reverie
It was beautiful.
Right up until a teenager ran at…not toward but at…a pelican. Screaming like his head was fire, arms flailing like the Tasmanian Devil and his family cheering him on like he was an Olympic contender, the teen deliberately scared the bejeebers out of that poor pelican.
He did a fine job of making a bunch of us humans jump out of our own skin as well.
Why?
What possible pleasure could anyone get out of that action?
As with all negativity, a chain reaction…a domino effect…was set off.
You should have seen all the heads whip around as everyone glowered at this family with expressions ranging from mild annoyance to real anger. I didn’t see one person who thought the family’s behavior was acceptable or funny.
The unity was really something special to behold.
So, that’s a good thing. In terms of people who saw the family’s action as destructive, the good outnumbered the bad…so to speak.
Take a minute and send that family (and the pelican) all the love and light you can. Total forgiveness and love are the only things that will heal a situation like that.
In fact, send the love and light to all who were on that pier. We want to heal all negativity which may have stemmed from that incident.
Now…what does this have to do with Wicca?
As I wrote about in “Colette’s Halloween Happenings: Shamanism 101” and “Colette’s Halloween Happenings: Paganism 101“, Wicca is a nature based dogma which is grossly misunderstood and discounted and I made the pledge to make available accurate information about it.
What led me to tie the Screaming Tasmanian Boy story in with Wicca is, clearly, the imbalance between us and the animal kingdom created by his/his family’s actions.
But the bigger picture is really centered around the Wiccan Rede (pronounced “reed”).
A “Rede” is a manifesto of the moral beliefs and practices held up by any religion (I prefer the word “tradition” over “religion”). The word “Rede”, itself, is a Middle English word meaning “advice” or “counsel”.
The most commonly known stanza from the Wiccan Rede is;
“An’ it harm none, do what thou wilt”.
There have been quite a few variations of exact wording through the centuries but the meaning is the same with each; do whatever you want as long as harm comes to none.
Because Wicca is a nature based tradition, “harming none” means precisely that…harm none. Bring no harm to ourselves, others, plants, animals, the atmosphere, our earth…all.
I’ve often wondered why that line is the most recognizable and most commonly repeated in reference to Wicca when there are other verses in the Rede which are equally powerful.
It’s always been funny to me that the term “New Age” ever came to be when the first verse of the Wiccan Rede is;
“Bide within the Law you must, in perfect Love and perfect Trust.
Live you must and let to live, fairly take and fairly give”
Sounds pretty “New Age” to me and yet it’s been around since the beginning of earth time.
Just for accuracy’s sake, it’s important to note Wicca is considered the largest sector of the Neopagan tradition. Neopaganism is an “offshoot” of the Pagan tradition much the same way as the term “Eastern religions” encompasses Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, etc.
Paganism, and, therefore, the Wiccan tradition grew out of Shamanism which is regarded by many as the oldest religion (tradition) in the world.
Global Warming, war, global economics, world hunger, world peace…these are the things people want to “figure out”. I’m always being asked “why” and “how” these things have occurred, why they’re occurring in the present and what’s going to occur in the future.
I have to ask myself the same questions…especially when so much of the global negativity we’re dealing with today could have been avoided all together if everyone would’ve have governed themselves by the straight forward simplicity of just the three sentences I write about in this post:
“An’ it harm none, do what thou wilt”.
and
“Bide within the Law you must, in perfect Love and perfect Trust.
Live you must and let to live, fairly take and fairly give”.
I’m not a practicing Wiccan. I’m not a “practicing” anything in terms of “religion” (tradition) but you may find the Wiccan way is the right paradigm for you.
If it leads you further down a path of “harming none” or any of the many other fantastic “redes” Wiccan believe in and practice then I wish you;
Blessed Be.
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[...] “Colette’s Halloween Happenings: Shamanism 101” and “Colette’s Halloween Happenings: Wicca 101” I explain a bit about the two, earth/nature based traditions (I prefer the term [...]
Very interesting article. I like the relation between the pelican and Wicca. It is so important that we harm none and respect all. I’m also glad that the people agreed that the behavior of the child was not acceptable.
I liked reading The Wiccan Rede, very interesting. They had a segment about “witches” in the Valley (AZ) last week. They have been staying in the background because most people don’t understand Wicca. It will be interesting to see if more people “come out” and start practicing Wicca out in the open. I say go for it…it’s just nature based.
I Love the fact that you are educating everyone(including me) in little snippets, as not to overwhelm. I so much enjoyed this article and can’t wait to share it with my daughter. I’ve always respected others and their individual religions (traditions), whatever they may be, but it’s fun to learn a little bit more about each one. I hope you continue with this series beyond Halloween (: Thanks Again and I am sending you virtual candy…you’re just going to have to use your imagination…mmmm chocolate!
Not all Witches are Wiccans very interesting so much to learn and so little time. I do love the Wiccans respect for all things great and small because with out one the other can’t be. I believe in harm none although there has been those times when I wanted to do some seriously body harm lol. I know the right way to be or say but being human I don’t take my own REDE. Help
[...] Recently, it was unanimously agreed upon that all three dogmas are grossly misunderstood as well as discounted and that we, all, should make a concerted effort to make available accurate information on Shamanism, Paganism (Colette’s Halloween Happenings: Paganism 101) and Wicca (Colette’s Halloween Happenings: Wicca 101). [...]
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