OneoftheLost said:
WHAT I BELIEVE WICCA IS:
1. A religion that focuses on the worship of the Goddess and God through rituals and some time spell-casting.
2. Practioners usually operate as Solitaries or within a Coven.
Yeah, that's a good general idea of what it is. I'm sure the actual Wiccans on RF could enhance your knowledge on it more, though.
WHAT I BELIEVE WICCA IS NOT:
1. Witchcraft. From my rudimentary understanding of the ideology and religion behind wicca I believe that while the two are similair, they are also quite different. The biggest differences seems to be in the methods/morals. While Witches seem to use their witchcraft for power and personal gain, Wiccans seem to use it more for worship or other reasons. Also Wiccans to me seem a bit more organized, a bit more structured when it comes to their practices. While Witches, being mostly solitary or in very small groups all seem to be doing their own things, and as a result vary greatly.
To really define the two as seperates, keep this in mind:
Not all Witches are Wiccan, but all Wiccans who practice Magick are Witches. (However, one doesn't need to practice Magick, to be Wiccan... though some choose to debate that fact).
2. Mediazed. ( yeah, the english language doesn't control us anymore! Dont let actual words hold you back! make your own!) by this I am referring to mainly the few practioners that I know. These individuals seemingly know nothing of the established practices set down by.. (er..I ferget her name, but she wrote down a bunch of rules...
) and Mr. Gardner (although this can be argued, as most of his stuff is seen as old...) and more or less go by what they have seen on tv or movies. (Blairwitch 2 anybody? HORRIBLE MOVIE. Redhead was a Wiccan though...) So basically I don't believe that young, troubled teenagers who dabble in charms and such to be 'different' are wiccans. (I know numerous...) So basically these are what I consider NON-Wiccan.
Ok, just so's you know, We (Wiccans and Non-Wiccans alike) call these kids "Fluffs". Just thought I'd point that out incase you run across one of our threads and have no idea what we're talking about when we say "Fluffs". It's how we distinguish the "True Wiccans" from the "Not true Wiccans"
Also Circle, you and Zayle seem to have conflicting views on magic/magik. I was wondering several things that may have lead to this.
I'll try to answer as best I can
1. Is magic/Magik universal? I mean lets say we have necromancers and.....Voodooists. Are they practicing sects of the same thing? Or is it the same thing that they have given different names? Or is it a different force entirely?
Well, this is probably to be debated, depending on the beliefs of the person you ask.
In my personal opinion, all Magick is derived from the same, universal source. It's how the practioner uses it personally, that causes the outcome of the spell, or the power of the source, to vary.
For instance: You'll notice (not really around here, but elsewhere), that some people tend to throw around the terms "Black" and "White" Magick, in reference to good/evil Magick.
However, Magick doesn't have color. It all comes from the same source. It's the desire and heart of the Witch that ultimately decides whether the outcome of the spell will be good or bad, not the Power itself.
2.Since you both (I assume.) have very different backgrounds and religions involving spell-casting maybe you were taught in a way taht emphasized the danger/non-danger of the art.
I'm really, honestly not sure. I've never been taught anything, I've learned everything I know, on my own.
All I can say, from my personal knowledge, and experience, is that Magick (and the source thereof), is extremely powerful, and anything that powerful, in the hands of the inexperienced, is potentially extremely dangerous.
3.Maybe Zayle's practices are generally safer then yours? I mean maybe your 'stuff'
for lack of a better term is more dangerous due to the nature of it? Or maybe you try more dangerous stuff , and have been taught that it is extremly dangerous, where as Zayle generally does small things, and has been told that it is not dangerous......
Again, I can only speak from my experience, not Zayl's, however I definitely wouldn't consider my casting dangerous.
It just basically stands to reason though, that harnessing anything that powerful, is potentially harmful. I don't know many who would disagree.
Hope that helps
PS. Just a quick tip: When you're trying to post something, and it starts to take a while to go through, just highlight your whole post and hit Ctrl + C, to copy your post. And if it ends up not going through, all you have to do then, is hit the back button to get back to the thread and paste your already copied post into the box thingy. That way you don't have to try and remember what you typed
