The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

This was the post:



"Many people are drawn to Wicca for the same reasons but don't know where to start learning, who to talk to or even if they should follow this path.



Therefore, I have listed some questions below which are based on the many emails I receive - do any of these sentiments feel familiar to you?



Has the magic you believed in as a child gone from your adult life?

Are you on a journey; are you searching for more peace, enrichment, balance or serenity? Do you desire knowledge, true happiness and a feeling of security?

Are you are a Catholic who has always been interested in Wicca and would love to find out more? Do Wiccan beliefs and values coincide with your own?

Do you believe there more to life than science can prove - a hidden world?

Do you feel drawn or called to Wicca? Does the idea of Wicca click, feel right or seem very familiar?

Do you want more meaning to your life, or wonder who you are, do you need your questions answered?

Is there a lack of hope and faith; are you disillusioned or disappointed with organised religion - your religion?

Do you want a greater communion with nature and the Divine? Do you have the joy of understanding natural forces, in knowing Mother Earth and moving with the tides?"



This was my response:



(I loved writing this post so much I had to add it in my journals. I actually said it exactly the way I wanted to.)



In science, all living things start with a single classification and are sub-classified.



Kingdom

Phylum

Class

Order

Family

Genus

Species



(Example for the Canada Goose. heh.)

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Aves

Order: Anseriformes

Family: Anatidae

Genus: Branta

Species: Branta canadensis



I'm not sure where Paganism would stand, but I think just for example purposes it would look like this:



Kingdom=Religion, and Paganism would be close to "Family" and Wicca, Druidism, Buddaism (sp?), etc... would be either "Genus" or "Species" considering there are even sub-classes to Wicca in Reiki where Healing is the biggest magick used in Wicca.



So an example would be:



Kingdom=Religion

Phylum

Class=Paganism

Order

Family=Wicca

Species=Reiki



This is based solely on my own opinion, and many opinions may differ depending on how you were taught."



(I then also added in the same thread:)



Also...Wicca is a modern-day recontructionist faith that is based on Indo-European mythology. Also known as "White Witchcraft", it is heavily influenced by nature spirituality, and has seen a rise in popularity in recent years.

There are several different forms of Wicca, mostly based on cultral backgrounds and personal philosophy.

(In the previous post I mentioned these to be the "Species" of the Wiccan "Family".



Wiccans traditionally worship two dieities in the form of the Goddess and God. The Goddess is representative of the feminine aspect of life. The God (often portrayed as a Horned God), sometimes referred to as the Goddess' consort, is the male aspect.

Various traditions depict them in various forms, except for Feminist Wicca, which worships only a Goddess.



Note also that male wiccans are not called "warlocks" for this is the Old English term for "traitor".



Wiccans believe in a three-fold law of retribution. That is, what you "send out", good or ill, returns to you three times as much.



(This has caused me great grief at times, especially since I've questioned the idea of what "God/Godess" is worshiped here. I am a believer in Gaia - The Earth's Spirit, for it is the earth that is the provider, and I've witnessed alot of things lately that can prove "Powder" to be a very true idea to life-all is spiritual energy.)



Wiccans have the life-affirming faith, so Wicca, and Satanism/Vampirism does not get along in tradition.



Wicca is Old English for "wise"."Pagan" comes from the Latin word "Paganus", the equivilent of "hick" or "rube" (Redneck? hehe). It literally meant one who was not subject to the civilizing aspects of a city. The term "Pagan" has been used to describe the followers of pre-Christian religions.



Among Wicca's major motifs are: reverence of the Goddess and the God; reincarnation; magick; ritual observance of the Full Moon; astronomical and agricultural phenomena; spheroid temples, created with personal power, in which rituals occur.



Not all witches are Wiccan, and not all Wiccans are witches, as witchcraft by itself is not a religion, and not all Wiccans practice magick.



So all in all, Wicca is a contemporary Pagan religion with spiritual roots in Shamanism and the earliest expressions of reverence of nature.



Sorry for the novel.



*grins mischieviously*

I stare up at the sky...looking for the moon and it's not there. I feel a sense of lonliness and abandonment. So much of my life has been so much like the moon. Phases that seem forever in the dark, as you anticipate the full moon. The brightness in the dark that lights the way. The friendly "star" that is always there in some shape. But not today.



Moon come back for me.



[I'm such a Lunatic..] Ha.