What Wicca Is & Isn't

What is Wicca?

With so many different paths, beliefs and practices in Wicca, that can be a very difficult question to answer. There are more than a dozen Wiccan groups and even more eclectic and and solitary Wiccans around who practice different variations on a the theme of Wiccan beliefs. The reality is that Wicca can be many things because there is no one set of guidelines to follow. Specifics vary from tradition to tradition. But there are few things that just about every Wicca can agree on.
Wicca is not ancient belief system, but it is based heavily on pre-Christian beliefs from Europe. Although much of the actual history of that time has been lost, we can try to reconstruct how they lived and believed from the little information that has been recovered.

Wiccans deeply love and revere nature because we see the Divine in all of nature. All life is precious; people, animals, tress, the grass, flowers, insects, etc. Because of this, it is easy to understand why many Wiccans are also environmentalists. For this reason, Wiccans do not build structures to be used as churchs. Our holy places are nature. Forests, fields, beaches, mountains and all of the outside world are Wiccan scared places.

Wiccan services are called Ritual. We sing, dance, chant and celebrate life as we call upon the Divine. Rituals are personal and private for Wiccans and they are all different depending on the person or people performing them. Most rituals include the burning of candles and incense, calling upon our gods and goddess, and self-reflection as well. Truthfully, a ritual can be anything you want it to be. From a bath to a dance in the forest at midnight, it is up to you.


The Divine can be both male and female. Most Wiccan paths honor both a god and goddess and both are equal. One is no more important than the other. Many Deities can be honored at once, but there is usually a divine female called "The Goddess" and divine male called "The God". In general, The Goddess is the mother, the giver of life, the wise woman, and sharper of the world. The God is the giver of energy and life. He is the Horned One, the `God of the forest, the grain and the hunt. It is an individual choice of what gods and goddess to worship.

Wiccans celebrate holidays, called Sabbats, based on the cycle of the seasons and the turning of the Earth. There also monthly Esbats.

The concept of karma and afterlife is important to most Wiccans. Many of us hold with the Law of Threefold Return, with states that what we do in this life will come back to us in the next.
Each person is responsible for their own actions. Personal responsibility is a key concept of Wicca. You must be willing to accept the consequences of our actions, whether in everyday behavior or in magick. The one rule that governs Wiccans ethics is "An it harm none, do as ye will" from the Wiccan Rede. Most people interrupt this to mean that you should never intentionally do harm to another.

Wiccans do not actively recruit. We do not preach to you or try to recruit you into our faith. Wiccans believe that it is important for the individual to find their own path. Respect for other faiths should be an important part of any Wiccan belief system.

Wiccans do not engage animal sacrifice! We do make offerings of food and wine from time to time, but nothing more that we would eat for dinner. There are no ritual killings of animals at all.
Wiccans are not worship Satan. That is Satanism and a completely different sort of religion.
Being Wiccan is not about the clothes you wear either. Almost all Wiccans dress the same way as everyone else. We do often wear ritual robes for our rites, but many other faiths do as well. Even that is not written in stone.There is no way that you must dress in order to be a Wiccan.

What Wicca is, is a peaceful, nature-revering faith that all life to be scared. They are many variables and there is no right or wrong. Each person must search themselves and decide what is best for them on their own terms.