One may ask, what is Wicca? Is it a cult? Is it a religion? I am here to set the record straight; Wicca is the “religion that emphasizes growth through harmony in diversity, knowledge, wisdom and exploration” (wicca.org).
To start off my blog, I’d like to tell you a story: sliding the keys from his car, Jeremy quickly climbs out of his truck. He’s late but hopefully they already started without him. He traces the woods until he finds a worn path. It’s dark and slightly chilly, with nature chirping around him. When he starts to see a bright orange and red light, he knows he has found the clearing. As he approaches the others, he’s glad to see that they did start the ceremony without him. They have formed a circle around the fire and are chanting. Silently he approaches; they allow him to join in as well. Jeremy is a Wiccan and he is celebrating Beltane, the first day of summer. Jeremy’s ceremony with his coven is a peaceful one that involves worshipping the Horned God and the Moon Goddess. Although there are some that may believe that Wiccans worship the devil and cast dangerous spells, Wicca is actually a very peaceful religion that worships nature.
Founded by Gerald B. Gardner, Wicca is believed to be a part of Paganism. For followers, this can mean different things. They can see Wicca as “…a religion, a philosophy and a way of life” (Guiley 253-255). Under Gardner’s Wicca, he is believed to have combined many different practices such as the “…works of Margaret Murray, Charles Godfrey Leland, Rudyard Kipling, Aleister Crowley, the Key of Solomon and the rituals of Freemasonry” (Russell and Alexander 161). Today, witches follow their own path when celebrating Wicca and they believe that making their religion unique for each individual is one of their strengths. (History of Witchcraft).
For Jeremy, his coven wished to celebrate Beltane together but there are other witches who actually prefer to worship in their own ways. This may include “…a dash of Buddhism… or the feminist philosophy of Cixious or Irigaray” (167). But at the same time, these ways are not evil or destructive.
Reflect for a moment on the witches you may see in movies today. You may remember the witch in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, or Elphaba, her sister, maybe Glinda from the Wizard of Oz. You may also remember Sabrina, the Teenage Witch or Isabel Bigelow from Bewitched.
I’m afraid that these characters are horrible representations of what witches are really like. Hollywood glorifies witches and typically gives them very bad reputations. They’re often seen casting spells; curses or playing mean tricks on those who are not witches. They may be shown as having dark, cellar like homes with snakes and spiders. Some witches are shown with a large cauldron, a flying broomstick or a bright green face.
These fictional movies with their made-up characters don’t resemble what true witches really look like. Let’s focus throughout my blog on the witch from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. While this witch was a queen, she was known for her jealousy when her magical mirror did not name her as “the fairest of them all”. Her jealousy overcame her and she became an ugly, worted, crocked-nosed witch in a long black robe.
In reality, witches may decide to wear traditional black or possibly other colored robes. They may wear the Wiccan symbol: the pentacle, on a chain around their neck, and some may also wear traditional “witch” attire, a long black dress that is trimmed to look like a witch costume. But the majority are known to look like everyone we see day-to-day (What do Pagans Look Like).
While Jeremy, the peaceful witch, was following the Wiccan Rede (the laws of the Witches), the witch from Snow White was most certainly not. While Jeremy would consider “Eight words the Wiccan Rede fulfill; An’ it harm none, do what ye will” (Guiley 57) before he cast any spells, obviously the Queen did not follow the “An’ it harm none” part of the Rede since she was trying to poison Snow White. The Rede is supposed to influence witches’ spells, to make sure that they are always trying to do good, which the Queen wasn’t.
For Jeremy, since he is following the Wiccan Rede, there are many different ways to state it. On wicca.org there was a very long poem posted. The very end of the poem went like this: “True in Love ever be,/ Lest thy lover’s false to thee./ Eight words the Wiccan Rede fulfill: An ye harm none, do what ye will” (wicca.org). Jeremy could receive a lot of advice from this poem and parts may be easy to remember since it was written in rhyme.
Within the poem of the Wiccan Rede, the Threefold Law is also brought up. This Law states that witches should follow the Wiccan Rede because if they do, the spirits will grant them magic. But if Jeremy does not follow the Wiccan Rede, like the Queen, he is supposed to “…suffer a karmic boomerang effect and bring negativity or evil up themselves” (Guiley 359). The Threefold Law states that if a Witch does something wrong or against the Wiccan Rede, then their wrong deed will be brought back upon themselves three times. This may be the reason why the Queen is not able to first kill Snow White, and eventually ends up dying instead.
If the Queen were a true witch, she could have cast spells to instead help criminals be caught, find the true and perfect love, or for environmental concerns (Guiley 359). But, I guess we’ll leave that up to Jeremy.
While Jeremy worships the Horned God and the Moon Goddess, the Queen appeared to only worship her magic mirror. The Horned God and the Moon Goddess would have probably given the Queen from Snow White better advice than the mirror had. These figures mean special things. “The Horned God represents the male aspect of divinity: the Lord of Death, Winter, and the hunt, while the Moon Goddess represents the female aspect: the Mother Goddess, Summer, fertility and birth” (Russell and Alexander 188). Jeremy may have seen his High Priestess and High Priest possessed by these figures at his ceremonies. While they are not the typical figures that are worshipped in America, the Horned God and the Moon Goddess are not dangerous and they act as other religion’s godly figures when people pray or blame them in times of need and hope.
In America, the Queen from Snow White is widely known, but her practices as well as Jeremy’s are not acceptable. I challenge you to look up Wicca on a common website, say YouTube. After you watch a short flick about Wicca, browse through the comments underneath. The majority will either be hateful comments or comments speaking against the haters. If Jeremy lived in England, however, his practices may be slightly more accepted there. Jeremy’s coven could have celebrated Beltane with other Wiccans and non-Wiccans and their coven would be accepted into the local parade as well. (National Geographic).
While the evil Queen was eventually chased away by her neighbors, the seven dwarfs, she is not the only one facing discouragement by her neighbors. Jeremy often faces discrimination as well. He has seen burning crosses in his coven members’ yards and their outdoor circles. Their outdoor circles, the place where Wiccan ceremonies are celebrated, have been destroyed before as well (Shook). Jeremy has also faced opposition from people who want him to change his beliefs to an “acceptable religion.”
For those that do oppose Wicca and witchcraft practices, they typically believe that Wiccans are actually worshipping the devil and that Wiccans are just doing the devil’s work of spreading curses and evil deeds. While the Queen was the one actually spreading curses and evil deeds, not even she was worshipping the devil. Some may believe that Witchcraft is a ridiculous belief full of fantasy and lies and that witches deserve the bad reputation Hollywood gave them. But Jeremy has done nothing wrong. He does not worship the devil, he believes strongly in his witchcraft and the Horned God and Moon Goddess and he is not spreading curses or bad spells. Jeremy, along with the rest of the witches, worship nature, the Wiccan Rede and the Horned God and the Moon Goddess, not the devil. They are forbidden by the Wiccan Rede and the Threefold Law to cast evil deeds or curses on other people. Hollywood created the horrible reputations for these witches, as seen by the Queen from the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. As for the religious aspect, Wicca is no more ridiculous than any other religion’s beliefs are. This can be demonstrated by the belief that a person can “absolve” everyone’s “sins” by dying, or that a person should be buried with many expensive and special belongings and their organs should be separated and placed into jars, or believing that eating pork is a sin. Each religion has its own practices that every other religion declares as “ridiculous” or “silly.”
Wicca is the “religion that emphasizes growth through harmony in diversity, knowledge, wisdom, and exploration” (wicca.org). While the fictional characters throughout Hollywood may cast evil spells, curses and worship objects like their mirrors, Wiccans obviously do not. The Queen may become ugly, cranky and evil, but Jeremy-a true Wiccan- is very peaceful with his coven. They celebrate specific ceremonies together and worship the Horned God and the Moon Goddess. With the evidence I provided, it is obvious that the myths and ignorant beliefs against Wicca are wrong and that Hollywood is a main cause for Wiccans bad reputation. The majority of Wiccans practice peacefully and do not worship the devil or cast evil curses or spells. So be sure to keep in mind the next time you’d like to ridicule a Wiccan, what you do to others is supposed to come right back to you three times.
Works Cited
“Basic Tenets of Wicca Craft.” Wicca.org. Ed. Church and School of Wicca. Church and School
of Wicca, 26 Sept. 2006. Web. 9 Apr. 2010.
"Dianic Wicca Interview with Byron Ballard." Interview by Anna Shook. InterFaith Online.
Warren Wilson College. Web. 4 May 2010.
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Gibson, Marion. Witchcraft Myths in American Culture. New York: Routledge, 2007. Print.
Guiley, Rosemary E. “Church and School or Wicca.” The Encyclopedia of Witches and
Witchcraft. Second ed. New York: Facts of File, 1999. 57-58. Print.
Guiley, Rosemary E. “Council of American Witches.” The Encyclopedia of Witches and
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Guiley, Rosemary E. “Paganism.” The Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft. Second ed.
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Guiley, Rosemary E. “Wiccan Rede.” The Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft. Second ed.
New York: Facts of File, 1999. 359-360. Print.
National Geographic, prod. “Wicca.” National Geographic. National Geographic. NGC,
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Russell, Jeffrey B., and Brooks Alexander. A History of Witchcraft: Sorcerers, Heretics and
Pagans. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2007. Print.
What Do Pagans Look like. YouTube, LLC, 9 Aug. 2008. Web. 4 May 2010.
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