IM A EARTH LOVING,
TREE HUGGING,
ANIMAL PETTING,
STONE COLLECTING,
WIND SINGING,
FIRE DANCING,
RIVER FLOWING,
MOUNTAIN GOING,
HIGH FLYING BEAUTIFUL
GODDESS!!Wicca is a religion which honors the Earth through worshipping the God and Goddess, as represented by the masculine and feminine aspects of the universe. There are many sects of Wicca including Gardenarian, Alexandrian, Blue Star and Dianic. The differences between them usually surround matters of practice, rather than belief. Structure of groups is another place of divergence (i.e. heirarchy). Dianic Wiccans, however, vary in that while they recognize the existence of the God, only actively worship the Goddess. Rather naturally, the majority of Dianic Wiccans are female.
Ive chose to identify myself with Dianic Wicca when I was first introduced to paganism because I felt it suited me as a woman.Being female is something I take very seriously and celebrate. Wicca, and especially Diannic Wicca, offered me the opportunity to re-define what being a woman means to me. And although I have since moved on from considering myself solely Wiccan, I still tend toward many of the Diannic beliefs and traditions.
Part of the Wiccan idea of a woman is that she undergoes three stages during her life: Maidenhood, Motherhood, and Cronehood. All are looked upon as equally sacred and powerful. The Maiden is a young woman growing and developing. She becomes the Mother when she conceives a child, or when her life goals acheive fruition. And finally she becomes Crone at menopause. As Crone she is older and wiser, the giver of wisdom and the bringer of death and closure. The Goddess comes into play in the Moon, who is seen as the embodyment of the Goddess herself, hence the connection to the moon-goddess Diana.The Moon is appropriate here in that the three phases of the Moon correspond directly to those of a woman's life. The Maiden is the Waxing Moon, the Mother the Full, and the Wanning and New the Crone. Also, the Moon is associated with women because its cycle corresponds to a woman's menstrual cycle: 28 days in length.
Although I have had less experience worshipping the God, I will discuss Him a bit here. In Wicca, the male principle is generally depicted as the God of the Wood, or the Horned God. He has antlers and hooves in many representations, thus the Judeo-Christian association of Him with Satan during the conversion of Europe and thereafter. He typifies strength, power, virility, and is connected with the Sun.
The Wiccan calender is thus divided into two general periods, that controlled by the Sun, namely spring and summer, and that by the Moon, namely fall and winter. There are several holidays celebrated throughout the year, including Yule (Dec.), Candlemas (Feb.), Spring Equinox (March), Beltaine (May 1), Summer Solstice (June), Lammas (August), and Samhain (Oct. 31). Further details on these holidays can be found in many of the books on my suggested reading list.
Wicca does not have a universal text, like the Bible, nor does it have a set of commandments like the 10 Commandments. However there are two basic Wiccan tenants:
"An it harm none, do what thou wilt"
The three-fold law
The first basically explains itself, and the second is very easy to understand: every deed you do will come back to you three-fold. Thus if you wish someone well, you will receive goodness, if you wish them ill, then you get illness, etc.
If these principles seem rather simple at first glance, that is because they are. Wicca holds such facination for its followers because it is so simple. It fits into one's daily life like few religions can without imposing therein.
"Merry meet, and merry part, and merry meet again."LIFE
Life....
It is the flash of a firefly in the night,
the breath of a the buffalo in the winter.
It is the little shadow, which runs across
the grass, and loses itself in the sunset...."
Each soul must meet the morning sun, the new sweet earth, and the Great Silence alone!
"You have noticed that everything an Indian does
is in a circle.
That is because the power of the world
always works in circles, and everything tries to be
round....
The sky is round, and I have heard that the
earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars.
The wind in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their
nests in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours.Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing
and always come back again, to where they were.
The life of a man is a circle, from childhood to death and back again to childhood.
And so it is in everything, where power moves....and everything goes again full circle"
Hold on to what is good even if it is a handful of earth.
Hold on to what you believe even if it is a tree which stands by itself.
Hold on to what you must do even if it is a long way from here.
Hold on to life even when it is easier letting go.
Hold on to my hand even when I have gone away from you."
Chief white cloud......Dad we love you.
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