Everything Under the Moon

I'm guessing many are standing in front of this path of magick not knowing how to enter, what to do, and how to become a witch. Upon research there is no clear answer either which makes it even more difficult. Perhaps I am a radical but for me in this path there is no authority which claims you to be a wiccan/witch after a certain amount of time or practice. It's only you in your heart who can say. A poet can still be a poet even if his poem has not been published, it's about the courage to say this. We must not forget that in this path we do not wait for someone to give us permission. The nature has already given us this permission to love this world and to use all it has to offer with humility and joy.

I believe strongly in fate and that all that happens happens for a reason. So for whatever reason you find yourself reading about wicca and feeling curious, happy and excited then this may very well be your path. What fills you with a sense of purpose and joy is the best road to take.

So go ahead and dance under the moon, make spells and potions, whisper to the trees and sing with the birds. This is the world our God(s) and Goddess(es) has given us and we are as much part of it as anything else, no more no less.

-ikaba

But dont forget that wicca is not witchcraft

Wicca is a small religion and many of us are not wiccans but still practise witchcraft.

You dont need to be a wiccan to be a pagan or a witch however.... Wicca is founded around the 101 days of study and initiation period so i would say that to become a true wiccan you do indeed need to wait 101 days, since that is one of the founding blocks of the religion

To be a pagan, or to be a witch however is completely different and you can do that tomorrow.

I know wicca is separate from witchcraft, but what I am talking about is a more eclectic kind of wicca, which is in many ways still accepted as wicca as major sabbaths are celebrated, and the same textbooks are used and the same main ideology, which I think is of most importance. I am myself a solitary practitioner solemnly because I cannot have someone letting me or not letting me define myself and I take my spiritual lessons straight from nature and spirits.

Wicca in itself is a rather new religion and quite versatile as I have been reading about it for quite some time now. And I am quite surprised I have not once heard of this 101 day rule. Even so I could consider myself a wiccan by now but it does sound strange to me.

I always thought it was a year and day, which is a lot longer than 101 days.

Either way, I will argue that there's a difference between a witch and those who get excited by witchcraft and want to preform spellwork. A witch is a witch throughout everything they do. In their cooking their cleaning, their walking down the street and the thoughts they think. They don't need books to show them how to cast or anything else, as it all comes naturally. One who just preforms spells here and there and shuts out witchcraft the rest of the time is just a dabbler playing hocus pocus.

I always thought it was a year and day, which is a lot longer than 101 days.

Yup, youre right. Not 101 days but a year and a day!

（´-`&#6528 wrote:I always thought it was a year and day, which is a lot longer than 101 days.

Either way, I will argue that there's a difference between a witch and those who get excited by witchcraft and want to preform spellwork. A witch is a witch throughout everything they do. In their cooking their cleaning, their walking down the street and the thoughts they think. They don't need books to show them how to cast or anything else, as it all comes naturally. One who just preforms spells here and there and shuts out witchcraft the rest of the time is just a dabbler playing hocus pocus.

I do agree. But what I don't understand is how lately people are wanting separate definitions for a wiccan and a witch. Is this just a case of vanity? Or the idea that one cannot be a wiccan if not part of a coven, or not initiated by one?

None of this as far as I remember was as accepted as 'rules' a few years ago. And I feel it's an insult for almost all solitary practitioner and even the idea of Wicca itself.


-ikaba

But what I don't understand is how lately people are wanting separate definitions for a wiccan and a witch

Because the two are COMPLETELY different. Witches arent wiccan and i despise being called wiccan becuase i agree with nothing it says.

Are you saying you believe that all witches are wiccan?

I am somewhat confused as to what you mean but it seems that way.

Not at all. I believe you can be a witch without being a wiccan. But that a wiccan can call herself/himself a witch. There are many traditions of witches without it being wiccan.

I hope I have not insulted anyone. All I wanted was to perhaps bring some inspiration and courage to our little witches and wiccans.

You havent insulted anyone, one of my pet peeves is the wiccan/witch distinction and the fact that too many people think that all witches MUST be wiccan and that there are no other pagan paths. Im glad to see you arent one of the uneducated masses

There needs to be a difference between wiccan and witch since they are so different. I can be a witch that curses for money, or even curses just because i like to see others suffer where as a wiccan is bound by "laws" and rules. A witch is simply someone that uses magick. A wiccan is someone who follows the structured path "Wicca" and adheres to many little rules within wicca that witches do not even acknowledge since they do not apply to non wiccans.

Yeah, this is true. As there are witches within many cultures as well. And they do use hexes and curses tho of course they can do 'good' things as well. So I understand this distinction. Witches have been around longer than wiccans.

Yup, i have made it my personal task to make sure that all new "wiccans" know that wicca isnt witchcraft that it is a religion and one of many.

ikaba wrote:I do agree. But what I don't understand is how lately people are wanting separate definitions for a wiccan and a witch. Is this just a case of vanity? Or the idea that one cannot be a wiccan if not part of a coven, or not initiated by one?

None of this as far as I remember was as accepted as 'rules' a few years ago. And I feel it's an insult for almost all solitary practitioner and even the idea of Wicca itself.


-ikaba

There are those of us who practice magic, or work witchcraft if you prefer to say it that way with no connection to religion at all. That isn’t vanity it is just who we are. I personally am an atheist witch.

Remember, Wicca is first and foremost a religion, obviously that doesn’t work for me. But yes you are correct the vast majority of Wiccans are also witches, or if you prefer, magical practitioners.

I have however met one Wiccan who didn’t practice magic. *shrugs, if that make’s her happy then more power to her*

Wicca is a religion that was started in the 1950's by Gerald Gardener and yes in recent years it has become accepted as a valid religious group. Which is why you now hear of Wiccan's in the Service.
As part of that religion, you must practice in a coven for a year and a day, before you can be initiated.
Scott Cunningham a good author, was Wiccan and wrote a book called The Solitary Practictioner, telling how to become Wiccan if you did not belong to a coven.

Witchcraft as we know it now adays, is NOT the old religion, no one knows for sure what Witchcraft used to be, but mose likely it was the women who helped with childbirth, the person who helped with healing, the person who had knowledge of herbs, the shaman who understood the seasons, moon phases and so on....just touching on a few, so don't scream at me for not listing everything.

Most of us do not conform to organized religious groups, being LED by another person is not what calls to our inner spirit.
Working with nature, working with herbs, with the seasons and phases of the moon speaks to us and therefore has been incoorporated into our lives.

Some of us do spells, some don't
Some of us practice magic, some don't

No matter what you call yourself, we are all part of a greater Pagan life style, then an organized religious life style.

So Yes a Wiccan can/does call themself a Witch
but Withces don't have to be Wiccan and al lot of people get confused by that...I was just explaining that to a co-worker about a week ago.

For me, it's s spiritual journey to find myself...my path to knowledge.
sometimes I call myself a Witch, sometimes I call myself a Wise Woman ( a term I borrowed from a friend), but for me I am not Wiccan.

Wicca is a good place to start, because you will find more and more books about it at stores and on line, it's a good place to learn about the basics.....but where you end up is entirely up to the individual.

MOST happy I am a witch (thanks Hekate for your loving guidance, and helping me escape all that religion crap)