Yeah Brysing, Wicca is a modern FORM of magic not modern magic. And magic is all about what you want so if you want magic to have color then let magic have color. Your magic, your rules.
Before the rest of this post goes on to rants of a personal view I think this website will help you understand the core beliefs of wicca which is classed as a modern religion based on the teachings of ancient witchcraft,Wicca is an earth based religion that focuses on all things to do nature and the male and female aspect of the divine(the lord and the Lady)
The original question was "what is Wicca"; not "what is magic?" nor was it "what is witchcraft?" The question was about Wicca, a word coined by Gerald Gardner. And,of course, there are many paths of witchcraft; many beliefs. Nevertheless, Wicca is the modern version of witchcraft as formulated by Gerald Gardner and Doreen Valiente in the early part of the last Century. And that is what I posted; and that is the truth. Wicca is Gardnerian; just one of the many paths of witchcraft.
Actually Brysing the original post asked four questions not one and what I posted is also the truth and I think the link I posted covers the other questions asked aswell and yes Gerald Gardner is the founder of the wiccan religion and there has never been any dispute on that matter.
Wicca is a religion founded by Gerald Gardner. Wicca is not magic it is a religion. As for what we believe in that could be defined from many points of view. Wicca does not necessarily have a complete set belief. It is not however a "anything you want it to be religion". It has core beliefs which include the belief in The lord and Lady (and possibly other gods and goddesses). We have a Wiccan Rede or creed that to sum it up states "An ye harm none do what ye will." Magic has no color but i do get that you are talking about harmful magic which most of us if not all do not do. Most of us believe in reincarnation and the Summerland(where the soul rests before beginning a new life. We believe in neutrality. We do not believe or worship an entity known as satan which is one of the misconceptions the general public sometimes associates us with. We are usually misunderstood however society is beginning to understand who we really are ,with some exceptions.
Oh, dear! Such argument. I think what is needed here is a short (very short!) lesson in the English language. In old English, witchcraft is written as wiccacraft. But this is very misleading as the word wicca means male, wicce. means female. Gardner (and even Crowley before him) thought it would be best to refer to males and females as priest and priestess; to save confusion. Wicca therefore is a very old English word. But it was Gardner and Valiente who really brought into being the name Wicca for the Gardnerian style of modern witchcraft; as opposed to the Alexandrian style taught by Alex Sanders. (From the city of Alexandria, not from the name Alex!)
The original Rede was by Crowley, "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law". It was Gardner (actually Doreen Valiente) who modified this to "An' harm none."
Just as a matter of history, in the handwritten Saxon Scrolls the word is written "uuiccacraft". Literally a double U. When printing was becoming widespread it was held that the letters joined was easier to print, hence the W. Geoffrey Chaucer also used the W in his book The Canterbury Tales. Ah, we learn something everyday, do we not?
We do learn something new each day Brysing. Quite ironic i learned half of what you just said when i started reading Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft earlier today. I found it very interesting to read about the origin of the name (before that i didn't know much besides the fact that the term Wicca meant "wise one" and came from Gardner) Quite much to learn but i still found it interesting either way~
Yes, magigirl, Wicca is a very old word; as far as I recall the origin is Germanic. I am pleased that you are studying the origins; I am not familiar with the book you are reading. As for the rest of this thread, I think I'll leave well alone! All I did was try to answer the first question (Not the first post,which was multiple questions.), and was told I was wrong.
Wicca is a modern Pagan religion which was introduced to the world by Gerald Gardner in the early 1950's following the repeal of the Anti-Witchcraft laws in Britain.
Two of the best sources of information on exactly what Wicca is can be found at
http://wcc.on.ca/faq/faq1.html
http://www.wiccaexplained.350.com/whatiswicca.htm
Do note that when you cut and paste the links you will need to make certain there are no gaps in them or they won't work.
