There exists a popular Wiccan saying that goes, “If it harms none, do what you will.” Most likely founded by Gerald Gardner in the 1950s, the beliefs of Wicca encourage freedom of thought and action, so long those actions do not cause hurt to the living and to nature. (Melton, John., 2014, brittanica.com) This neo-pagan religion boasts theological simplicity and a strong stance for environmental protection. While every Wiccan has his or her own personal set of beliefs regarding just about everything, there are a few common principles and traditions. These include worshiping the Goddess, the Horned God, and performing ceremonial and ritual magic to celebrate new and full moon, the summer solstice, and Samhain, or Halloween. Some of these rituals …show more content…
True to Wicca’s top concern and faithfulness to preserving nature, a Wiccan’s preferred method of burial is wrapping the deceased body with clean, white cotton cloth and placed directly into the ground. This is preferred so the decomposition of the body goes back directly into the earth, where nutrients are believed to be delivered back into the Earth. (No author, no date, ulc.org) However, because directly laying a body into the ground is illegal in most states, cremation is the next preferred method, where the body’s ashes can still be given back to the Earth in a healthy …show more content…
Because little hard fact is actually known about the beginning of time, not too much emphasis is placed on having a sound creation story. Therefore, creation beliefs vary greatly between not just Wiccans, but Pagans in general. Many Wiccans have a combination belief of accepting what science has shown of evolution, and ancient creation myths. Believing pieces of the creation stories by the ancients allows for Wiccans to compliment their spiritual beliefs. (Wigington, P., No date, paganwiccan.about.com) One version of a commonly believed creation story tells of how the stars, planets, and Earth were created by the Goddess through moves of her beautiful dancing. The Goddess, wanting to share these things, created the male god, Lord, and together they made all living animals, sea life, and humans from their love of each other. (Rayne, E., 2010, momsawitch.blogspot) As one Wiccan author states, “From the Goddess we all proceed, to the Goddess we must return.” (Bowen, A., No date, www.beliefnet.com) Even though creation truths have minimal importance and focus in the Wiccan religion, these general beliefs tie in with the notions of the Goddess being present in the beginning and in the end. The beginning of creation was made in love and beauty, and the continuing of life after the body also occurs in love, betterment, and beauty. Unlike much of ancient Greek
Yardley, Meg. "Social Work Practice With Pagans, Witches, And Wiccans: Guidelines For Practice With Children And Youths." Social Work 53.4 (2008): 329-336. SocINDEX with Full Text. Web. 24 Nov. 2013.
The term “Widdershins” (deriving from the Old High German words widar meaning “back/against” and sinnen, “to travel”) means “counterclockwise”, “anticlockwise”, “left-handed direction” or even “coursing in the opposite direction of the sun, in the Northern Hemisphere”. The earliest use of the word, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, shows up in 1513 in the form of the phrase ‘widdersyns start my hair,’, in other words, ‘my hair stood on end,’. ‘Hair standing on end’ or ‘wild/disorderly hair’, was the meaning of the term until the late 16th century, when its current meaning became particularly popular in the Lowland Scots and Scottish Gaelic.
From the medieval times to these modern ages, the Wicca religion is still confused with the unmoral religion of Satanism. The Wicca religion has been around for many centuries. The Christian religion has harmed Wicca’s reputation by spreading fear that Wicca is an evil religion; no better than the worshipping of Lucifer. From the witch burnings in the medieval period till now, Wicca has been classified as part of Satanism. Common witch lore and costumes around the time of All Hallows Eve depict witches as evil beings, doing unspeakable things with malicious intent. This is a very common occurrence and is unfair to all that practice the ancient religion. Granted, uneducated people could easily place Wicca in the same category as Satanism; however, these two religions are completely different from each other and Wicca is obviously the better of the two.
Defined by Margot Adler, writer for Reader’s Companion to U.S. Women’s History, “Wicca is the term commonly used to describe several different traditions of contemporary Paganism—an earth-centered religion that reveres nature; celebrates seasonal and lunar cycles; and worships a goddess, or many goddesses, or sometimes a goddess and a god” (637-638). It is a religion that focuses on worshipping an earth god or goddess, using their power and the earth’s elements for good. For a misunderstood religion it has much history behind it and a deep core belief system.
Wicca is a spiritual path, a way of seeing the world and Divinity, and our relationship to it. They believe that Goddess is imminent in the world around us. Goddess permeates every living thing, and most of them define rocks, soil, water, air, fire, and the plant herself as living things. "The God of Wicca is the Horned God, the ancient God of Fertility: the God of the forest, flock, and field and also of the hunt." He is Lord of Life, and the Giver of Life, yet he is also Lord of Death and Resurrection. http://www.interlog.com/~spawn/gods.html
When someone dies their bones are burned and crushed into ash and consumed by the relatives. It puts a persons soul at peace to find a resting place within their family, it would be an abomination to bury them in the ground. Once this ceremony is finished the person is gone. Their name or person is never to be mentioned again.
Wicca is a religion and not just a religion with one God but the belief of many Gods. Wicca is an earth-based religion. I believe Wicca’s beliefs are similar to that of the Hindu religion. There are three topics in Wicca that stood out to me the most. The first topic that stood out to me was the Wicca’s belief in how creation came to be, the second topic is the many Gods and deities that the Wiccan religion believes in, and the last topic that was the most interesting to read about is the reincarnation beliefs of a Wiccan.
The controversies that surround Wicca start with its exact origin. There are some who believe that it has its origins in Witchcraft due to the similarities between the two. Witchcraft itself is a Pagan practice [polytheistic and non-Christian, Muslim and Jewish in origin] that began with the Celts around 700 B.C. As the movie The Burning Times depicts, the region during this time period was primarily a rural culture so the Celtic traditions were based completely on Nature. Their months were even named after trees and their festivals revolved around the solstices and equinoxes (Steiger). A polytheistic religion, they worshiped a host of female and male deities and are most notably associated with the concept of Goddess worship, a strong belief in the divinity of the female (Burning Times). These paganistic beliefs and rituals gradually over the centuries combined with other European religious practices, such as magic, potions, and ointments for healing, to form what we call in modern times Witchcraft. Groups who did not hav...
‘…the characters’ strength was a direct result of their necessary stoicism in the face of so much hostility.’ Discuss the role of women in Burial Rites.
Without advanced medicine, Americans were familiar with death, as the common cold could easily turn fatal. After the death of a loved one, the family members would give the body a bath and store it in the coldest room of the house to prevent immediate decomposing. The body would only stay in the house until people had time to visit and say their goodbyes. The smell was unpleasant, so flowers would be brought in. This initiated the tradition of having flowers at a funeral. After that, the body would be buried next to other deceased family members in a simple, wooden coffin. For those that could afford it, an undertaker was hired to take away the body and hold a formal funeral. The undertaker would store bodies on blocks of
Buried Alive. The Fiction of Premature Burial Why are there claims that people are being buried alive? I will tell you why; it is an old wives tale so there is no credit to it. People were never buried alive, it is all fiction. There were patents put out there, but the patents were never supported.
Holland, Eileen, and Raymond Buckland. The Wicca Handbook. San Francisco, CA: Red Wheel/Weiser, LCC, 2008.
Funerals are very important ceremonies in Hindu tradition. Hindus see cremation as an act of sacrifice to God and...
The Maori myth is a Polynesian story about the creation of the universe which according to Rosenberg was different from other creation myths because it begins with nothing and then progresses through a process of “nonbeing to thought to the creation of the universe and human beings” (351). Even though it may be different because it goes from “nonbeing to thought” instead of nothingness to a spoken word or action, it has many similarities to other creation myths in how it explains the origins of the Gods and how each one represents a natural event or aspect of nature and humanity. The myth begins with an “idea” that “was remembered” and then “became conscious” and then “a wish to create”, all of which created a “power to live and to grow, even in emptiness” (352). At this point there was still no being, only thought and desire which gives the idea that what is being addressed are the human attributes of feeling, sensing, desire and thought, this is where this story is different from other creation myths.
If there is one constant in this world, it would surely be death. Dying is an unavoidable part of life. Indeed, everything that lives will at sometime die. The fear of death is held by everyone. Perhaps it is the correlation of death with pain or the unknown state of the human consciousness after death, maybe a combination of both, that creates this fear. The fear felt is undoubtedly universal, however, the ways in which it is dealt with are varied and diverse.