What is Wicca?

A blog called CA Psychics wrote about Wicca.  The opening line of their blog says, “In 1990, the American Religious Survey found 8,000 people who identified themselves as Wiccans. In 2001, that number was 134,000, an incredible growth!” http://blog.californiapsychics.com/blog/2011/01/the-growth-of-wicca.html/

I first met a Wiccan when I was in high school.  I forget how it came about, but I met him sitting around a campfire.  I knew nothing of the religion, besides what was mentioned about Wicca in the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  The guy referred to himself as a warlock and said that he did practice magic.  He also was a palm-reader.  He explained to me that he believed everything in the world was connected through a divine energy, and that it was the harnessing and directing of this energy that was the practice of magic.  I asked him if it was like the Force in Star Wars.  He said that was a good description.  So I asked him if I and the fire were connected if I could magically extinguish it, or if I wanted another drink, I could just open the cooler and have one float to me like Luke Skywalker.  He laughed and told me no.

At the Christian university I went to, I met two Wiccans living on campus.  I had some very interesting conversations with them.  Maybe they knew more about Wicca than the guy I spoke with in high school, or maybe I just knew more because I had studied it a little bit and knew better questions to ask.  The one shared that she did practice magic, and that the black magic comes back on you three-fold, so she doesn’t practice that anymore.  She only does white magic, and she claims it works.

Basically, Wicca seems to be a lot like Hinduism.  They believe in reincarnation.  There is a divine essence in all things.  They believe in a moral law of cause and effect that is similar to Karma.  Rituals can be practiced as the individual practitioner desires and sees most beneficial.

And I do believe there are connections with the growth of Wicca, the New Age Movement, and the many Psychic shops I see popping up around America.  It’s disheartening!

Here’s a video that shares a lot more of the Wicca religion that some students of mine created: