From: Raven <JSINGLE@MUSIC.LIB.MATC.EDU>
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Subject: Wicca Flyer Text
Date: 29 AUG 94 20:52:42 EST
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This may help answer some of the questions people ask about Wicca.
It is only ONE possible rendition; opinions are GUARANTEED to vary.
About three years ago, I did this little PR flyer to hand out when
Wiccans were doing public events (for instance, Beltane Maypole
dancing in the local park) and curious passersby would ask just what
the heck was going on. If you like the idea, use it -- and feel free
to adapt it as needed, for your own group.
Written 1991 by Raven. NO COPYRIGHT. This is put into public domain.
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What You Wanted to Know about Witches *
* (but were afraid to ask)
Q. Do you worship the Devil (Satan)?
A. No, for three reasons.
First, we don't venerate evil in any form: our chosen religion is
a celebration and affirmation of life and living things, as opposed
to their destruction or harm. As we believe that good or evil done
will return upon the doer, this does not encourage doing evil.
Second, Satan is a figure in Judeo-Christian beliefs -- originally
not even an opponent of Yahweh, but more like his prosecuting
attorney (as in the Book of Job). Those who do worship Satan
actually accept the later Christian theology, with Satan as
Yahweh's opponent, but choose to support Satan's side of the
battle. We are not Christians or Satanists, and do not accept
their theology or worldview, so we would no more worship Satan
than, for instance, Christians would worship the Aztec God
Quetzalcoatl; he simply has no place in our beliefs. (We prefer
the figure of Pan, who does have horns but is a much nicer fellow.)
Third, we think history shows that, if you invest belief and
emotion in any idea or thought-form, you give it strength and power
in your own life -- it becomes more real TO YOU. We have no wish
to invite hostile entities into our lives and give them such power
over us, which is why we don't venerate any form we consider evil.
That's also why we're shocked to see how much energy some
Christians invest in Satan.
Q. Then why do I hear those things about you?
A. "Devil-worship", baby-killing, cannibalism and all that? These
are typical accusations made by one religion against another.
The Syrians accused the Jews of ritual murders long before Christ;
then the Romans accused the Christians (who at least claimed to be
eating someone's body and blood every week); then the Christians
accused the Jews and Muslims and every other religion; today
different Christian denominations even accuse each other. Making
wild accusations not only sells newspapers, and books, and movies;
it helps drum up support for the Religion Of Your Choice. This is
a cynical use of hate, fear, and ignorance, but as long as it works,
it will be used. (And there will always be psychotics willing to
live up to the image -- then claim "the Devil made me do it.")
Q. If not Christian theology, what do you believe in?
A. Life. We see the entire Universe, all matter and energy, as
bursting with life, loving its own living parts -- including us --
and gathered in one eternal dance. We try to catch the tune and
dance to the beat.
Sometimes we call the leading dancers Light and Dark, or Sun and
Moon, or the Lord and the Lady, Cernunnos and Ceridwen, Pan and
Diana, or by other names. These represent the duality in all
things -- male and female, yang and yin -- neither side of which
can be denied or ignored, even within ourselves.
(We hope this helps us avoid the error that some worshippers of a
single deity have made, such as thinking that "since God is all
good and God is male, therefore anything female or feminine is
evil.")
Our feeling about the Gods is that they are teachers, family
members, and fellow dancers: not some untouchable abstraction
infinitely distant, but an intimate part of our own lives. Our
feeling about other religions is that they, too, are part of the
universal dance: not enemies, but fellow strugglers seeking as we
do, to live and learn to keep time with the music.
Q. What is this ceremony you're doing?
A. It depends on the moment. You may be watching a circle dance, or a
Maypole dance, or a feast of "cakes and ale", or just a group hug.
(We like to have fun.) Possibly, since you were handed this,
you're watching us "cast a circle". That's one of our basic
religious ceremonies.
When we "cast a circle", we mark off a space as dedicated and
protected for our use, rather like Christians consecrating a church.
(The difference is, we don't need a building, and we let the space go
back to normal after we've used it.) Within this circle, we ask for
the protection of guardians -- call them the four elements of Air,
Earth, Fire, and Water, or the four archangels Gabriel, Michael,
Raphael, and Uriel -- again, the names may vary. Then we invite the
Lord and the Lady to be with us for a time. We have a nice visit, a
little snack of cookies and wine (or fruit juice), and then everyone
goes home. It's very friendly.
Along the way, sometimes we ask for help with our problems, such
as healing an injury or illness; if you believe in the power of
prayer, it's the same sort of thing -- but we try to put our own
energies into the task, rather than asking someone else to do all
the work.
Q. How will what you are doing affect me?
A. If you're not participating, then probably no more than any other
religious service you watch from outside. If you're shocked by
other religions, you might choose to be shocked by ours. (Ours is
just out where you can see it, instead of hidden by walls.) Or you
might choose to accept our part of the universal dance as valid if
different from your own. You might even choose to participate --
and people of good will are generally welcome among us.
Even if you do participate, there's no reason to take any effect
from our services that you don't choose to accept. Since -- for
our own sakes -- we ask for nice things to happen, the biggest
possible results involve no danger. If we ask for more harmony in
the world, and your life becomes more harmonious, then you benefit
from the same general effect as if a church's prayer for world peace
had worked. (After that, if you don't like harmony, you could always
work to make your own life more discordant; whatever suits you.)
Q. Do all Witches practice the same way you do?
A. There are about as many "denominations" of Witches as there are of
Christians, and since no-one is forced to keep One True Orthodox
Way, even a single group may do things differently from time to
time. The two mottoes that apply here are "If it works, use it" --
and "AN IT HARM NONE, do as you will."
Q. How can I find out more about you?
A. Ask one of us. We're easy to talk with. Or read some books.
Good books include Vivianne Crowley's WICCA: the Old Religion in
the New Age, Margot Adler's Drawing Down the Moon, Starhawk's The
Spiral Dance, and Raymond Buckland's Complete Guide to Witchcraft.
There's also a lot of shocking nonsense and pulp fiction out there
-- notably in movies, paperback thrillers, and the sort of
newspapers sold at supermarket cash registers; we can only ask you
to take anything you find there with a skeptical pinch of salt.
(This was written in May 1991 as a general information handout for
the use of the CUUPS group of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Please feel free to copy and adapt this for use by your own group.)
-- Raven (JSingle@Music.Lib.MATC.Edu). [All standard disclaimers apply]