What's a Wiccan

[Bayleaf]

Witches and witchcraft. www.wicca.com.

Now piss off to the off-topic forum before I put a spell on you.

[waffster]

The opposite of a wiccan't

[Bob Singleton]

I follow a Wiccan path.... it's a modern "religion" based on ancient Pagan belief systems. It's to do with witchcraft, magick, etc and we follow the natural calendar as set out by the moon and sun.

Many Christian festivals and ceremonies are based on pagan festivals and rituals. For example, 21st December (most years anyway... depends on the sun) is our festival of YULE. It is the winter solstice (shortest day/longest night) and we celebrate that as a form of new year... after that day the days get longer, so it is a festival of re-birth. Pagans believe in spirits, so it was traditional to bring a small tree or bush into the home so that the forest spirits would have somewhere warm (now known as a Christmas tree). It was often decorated with other plants that bear fruit in deep mid-winter (holly, mistletoe, etc) as a sign that even in this darkest of times, life continues.

On the whole northern-hemisphere Pagans of today have strong links with ancient celtic religions (this includes the various types of Wiccans, Druids etc), though the Christian church considers any non judeo-christian religion to be pagan (Taoism, Budhism etc)

Unlike the various Christian, Jewish and Islamic religions, Pagans don't try to convert others to their way of life, nor do we believe that ours is the one true religion and that non-believers will go to hell (for a start we don't believe in the concept of "heaven" and "hell" so there is no potential to "blackmail" believers and non-believers in the way some churches do)

[Pervert]

Proof that the Roman Catholic Church was more Roman than Catholic was the use of the system of acquiring local traditions, god and heroes. Many of the early churches in the British Isles were built on already sacred sites, and a lot were given the name of St Michael. "Pagan" festivals were stolen and became Christian festivals. The dates and traditions of Christmas and easter have more to do with their Wiccan origins than any aspect of the life of Christ.

And like the Romans, the Church could not tolerate opposition. Any perceived heresies were dealt with ruthlessly. Francis of Assisi, one of the most revered saints to our time, was perilously close to being declared a heretic.