Wicca and Witchcraft.

Thank you for clearing that up for me. It seams rumors can catch even an unwilling to listen ear. I must pick through fact and fiction more carefully next time. Thanks again. :)

But it can't be that simple; I mean, I read somewhere on this site that you can be a witch and a Christian but you can't be a wiccan and a Christian. If what you're saying is true, and the only thing that changes between the two practices is the ritualistic aspect, then why would it not be possible to be a Wiccan and a Christian?

Sorry, I meant can't; I read somewhere that you can't be a wiccan and a Christian.

Kind of a contradiction in terms in my opinion, but you can be a Christian Wiccan in theory. Where the issue lies is while Wicca can bend Christianity is very ridged in its belief, and two major reasons why you can't be is the passage against witchcraft and the first commandment stating you cannot have any gods before God.

There are a couple ways I have seen Christian Wiccans get around this, first praying to God, Jesus, and/or Mary instead of the Horned God and Triple Goddess of Wicca. Second, they are Christian by faith but follow some beliefs held by Wiccans like observing the seasons, or casting occasional healing spells.

The real difference is that Wicca is a religion; witchcraft isn't. You may follow any religion, and still practise witchcraft. But you cannot really be a Christian Wiccan, because they are two opposing religions. I am a witch, and practise witchcraft; but I am an Atheist!

But you cannot really be a Christian Wiccan, because they are two opposing religions.

Kind of. It is true that you cannot be a Christian and a Wiccan, practicing the two separate religions side by side like that, but that is not generally what Christo-Wiccans mean when they use that phrase . They are indicating that they are practicing a single, third religion which is a synergy of the two and it has internally consistent way of interpreting both sources so that the combination is not in conflict.

Thelema likewise is in part a synergy of both the Dharmic traditions of the East and the Abrahamic traditions, and the two very different systems are reconciled through an internally consistent way of understanding their origins and what they are talking about (in our case, this understanding is guided by our "prophet" Aleister Crowley and the holy texts he penned).

" Kind of. It is true that you cannot be a Christian and a Wiccan, practicing the two separate religions side by side like that, but that is not generally what Christo-Wiccans mean when they use that phrase . They are indicating that they are practicing a single, third religion which is a synergy of the two and it has internally consistent way of interpreting both sources so that the combination is not in conflict. "

I would contend then that the person is not really practicing either Wicca nor Christianity. Or that it more properly would be coined a form of Christian mysticism. But it would not, at least by the Wiccans I know, be considered a form of Wicca. There's nothing wrong with coming up with a mixed system that works for you, but continuing to call it by the name of a system that is now corrupted by the tenets of another faith is misleading.

As I said, it isn't a form of Wicca (or Christianity) so much as it is a third religion which can call both of them its ancestor.

And I wholeheartedly agree that Christo-Wicca / Trinitarian Wicca / whatever really needs to get its own, unique name, rather than misleadingly piggy-backing off of either Wicca or Christianity. My point was simply that it is a real and possible religious path to follow, however badly named it may be. If we take issue with it, it should be over the poor choice in name and not the fact that it is not proper Wicca since they don't try to claim that they are.

They are not merely a form of Christian mysticism though, and systems of mysticism already exist wholly within Christianity. There are a few different interpretations among Christo-Wiccans, but most honor both a God and a Goddess which look suspiciously like the Horned Lord and the Triple Goddess, viewing them as being halves of the unknowable (and genderless) Lord of Christianity. While they celebrate individual Christian holidays, most otherwise follow the Wiccan wheel of the year and its seasons rather than the liturgical seasons of the Church calendar. While not a form of Wicca, it has several major components which are overtly Wiccan in nature and origin, and it would be quite off-putting to many Christians open to mystical practices, so I don't feel like calling it some form of Christian mysticism does it justice either, and is just misleading in the opposite direction.

"The reals difference is Wiccia is a religion...you are practicing witchcraft"

So basically what you're saying is that Wicca is a belief system? So could it be said that those who are pagan and practice witchcraft are in effect wiccan?

No, not all Pagans are Wiccan. There are many different religions under the umbrella of Paganism, or which Wicca is just one. For instance there are Asatru, Druidry, Celtic Reconstructionism, Kemeticism, Hellenism, Religio Roma, Slavic Reconstrucitonism, etc. Many of these would not consider their magical practice as being Witchcraft, but some would.

Wicca is one particular form of Pagan religion with very specific beliefs and practices and those practices include the use of Witchcraft. You might want to look at the article "What Wicca Is and Isn't" in the Wicca Forums here on SOM.