Wicca: A comprehensive guide to the Old Religion in the modern world. Vivianne Crowley

or Wisecraft which is at the forefront of the Pagan revival. Wicca has many strands. It is a religion worshipping ancient Pagan deities. It is also a Mystery tradition to help us grow in understanding of ourselves and hence nearer to the Gods, a system for developing and using psychic and magical powers, and a body of natural lore which is often called natural magic.

      Wicca is called the Old Religion because it is based on the religious practices of our Pagan ancestors. Wicca worships Goddess and God using those symbols found deep within the psyche of humanity. Their antiquity and universality give them a power that more modern Gods will always lack. This is not the worship of devils, as sensationalist newspapers and those who should know better seek to claim, but the worship of two of the oldest forms of deity – the Great Goddess and her consort the Horned God.

      In Wicca, although the Divine is seen as ultimately One, within the Divine we see a duality. The Divine is energy; energy is movement and change. Where there is movement and change, there is active and receptive, ebb and flow. The Divine is therefore seen as male and female, Goddess and God. Within different covens and traditions the emphasis on the Goddess and God may vary, but all traditions believe that for wholeness our image of the Divine must comprise both male and female. To worship either aspect alone will produce imbalance.

      The Goddess is often depicted as triple and in her aspects as Virgin, Mother and Wise Woman or Crone is associated with the waxing, full and waning aspects of the Moon. She is known by many different names. She is honoured variously as Aradia, Arianrhod, Bride, Cerridwen, Diana, but beneath her many faces we find the enduring essence of the Divine Feminine; that which is mysterious and paradoxical, ever the same but ever-changing.

      Wicca and the other Pagan traditions are the only religions that worship the Goddess. The Gods we worship embody ideals to which we aspire. If we are to realize the fullness of our human potential we must worship both the male and female aspects of Deity. Many women today are hearing the spiritual summons within them and are seeking to enter the Christian priesthood; but what part can a woman play in a patriarchal religion that denies her the title of priestess? The Goddess orientation of Wicca is also important for men. If men are to find their own inner wholeness they must practise a religion which recognizes the inner feminine that leads a man to his spiritual destiny.

      This is not to diminish the importance of the Horned God, for in this image is a key to the understanding of human nature. This ancient Deity which is animal, human and God symbolizes that to which humans must aspire; the three aspects of our nature integrated in harmony. Like the Goddess, the God is worshipped by many names as Herne, Cernunnos, Karnayna; but all of his names have the same root – hornèd. His image contains the essence of human perfection. He is no remote dweller in some insubstantial heavenly realm. He is hooved and in touch with the world of Nature, but his horns are a sign of Divinity, for they reach to the stars.

      While Wicca provides signposts for those who wish to find it, it is not a religion that seeks to make converts. It does not offer a form of exoteric religion that is suitable for the many, but a spiritual discipline and path which is the way of a few, albeit an increasingly large few. This is because Wicca differs from other religions in the status of its adherents. Wicca offers not entry into a congregation of followers, but initiation into the priesthood of the Mysteries. But what is a Mystery religion? Carved above the doors of Mystery temples were the words: Know Thyself. This is also one of the aims of Wicca. The Pagan mystery religions were systems through which their initiates came to understand the true nature of reality and also their own inner nature: who and what we really are. Through exposure to teaching, ritual and symbol, the doors of perception were opened; the windows of the soul were cleansed; and unto the initiate were revealed the mysteries of the Gods and of their own inner psyche: all they were and all they had the potential to be.

      In offering entry to the priesthood, Wicca offers a spiritual training which develops our self-knowledge. We come to an understanding and awareness of our own spiritual needs, so that we can in turn facilitate the spiritual growth of others. In explaining this spiritual growth, I refer often to the theories of the Swiss psychologist Carl Gustav Jung. Jung sought all his life to come to an understanding of the Divine. The son of a Christian minister, at an early age he rejected orthodox Christianity and sought through the study of Western and Eastern mysticism, through Gnosticism, Alchemy, Taoism, Hinduism and Buddhism, to find the answers to the eternal questions of humanity: who and what am I and what is my place in the scheme of things? Jung’s psychological theories were strongly influenced by his study of occult, mystical and alchemical texts. They are therefore compatible with the esoteric view of humanity, and are indeed partly derived from it.

      As a religion, Wicca offers what all religions offer: a philosophy of life, a sense of the place of human beings in the cosmos, an understanding of our relationship with the plant and animal kingdoms of our planet and home, and a form of worship through which we can participate in the mysteries of the life force and fulfil our needs for shared human activity by doing this with others.

      As well as entering a priesthood, those who enter Wicca are also initiated as Witches. Witches practise what is known as the Craft, a tradition of wisdom and ancient lore. The word Witch is a difficult one, full of negative connotations. Recognizing the fear that the word conjures in the minds of many ordinary people and reading the excesses of some Christian fundamentalists and the tabloid press who persist in equating Witchcraft with black magic, it is a word which it might be thought tempting to discard. However, most Witches think this would be a mistake and an affront to those of our ancestors who died for their beliefs.

      People come to Wicca by many routes. Some come seeking the ancient faith of Goddess and God. The Gods may have spoken to them in dream or vision; or it may be that they have visited sacred sites, read of Pagan deities and come to feel and believe that the Way of the Wise is their way. They are seeking to enter a Pagan mystery tradition both to worship the Gods and to grow nearer the Gods through inner evolution and change.

      Some come to the Craft from Witch families, having been raised in one of the family traditions. Others come to the Craft having had psychic and mystical experiences. They may come from other religious backgrounds, or from no religion at all; but often they will have felt since early childhood that they were Witches. Yet others discover the Craft through chance contact with a Witch, from reading a book or article, or from a television programme. By whatever route people come, they tend to share a common feeling of having arrived home. They experience a sense of déjà vu when hearing the rituals. Learning the Craft is really a re-learning; a remembering of something ancient that is buried deep within their psyche.

      Traditionally, Witches are considered to have special powers, but most people who enter Wicca have no more ability in clairvoyance and magic than the average person; nor is this necessary. The average person’s capacity is more than ample once he or she learns to use it. Most of us do not use one tenth of the capacity of our minds and much of Wicca is about developing and training the mind and spirit.

      Wicca honours the Divine made manifest in Nature and many who have turned to Wicca have done so as the result of a deep commitment to green issues. Wicca considers that the focus of many religions on non-material reality has had unfortunate effects on what is seen by Witches as the representation of the Great Mother – this planet, our Earth. Wicca teaches us to value our planet because it is sacred soil. It is not ours. We do not own it. We inhabit it by the grace of the Gods and we must honour it, care for it and reverence the life force manifest within it. Wicca teaches us that we must respect our environment.

      In Wicca, the Gods are honoured at eight important seasonal festivals or sabbats throughout the year. At these we reverence the ever-changing life force through the changing cloak of the seasons. The Gods are also honoured at monthly Moon rites called esbats. The word esbat is thought by many to derive from a French word meaning frolic¹ and both esbats and sabbats are joyful occasions. Wicca honours its Gods but, like our Pagan ancestors, Witches believe that our religion should be a celebration of the life force. Wicca also teaches that we should not fear death; for Wicca teaches reincarnation. We will live not just once, but many times. Life is considered to be a journey of many stages, not just one. Death is not the end, but a new beginning.

      Like other religions, Wicca accepts that