iXHS - information express by helter skelter issue 16 about the ancient art, religion known as wicca by shockwave *** I'll warn in advance that I'm highly schitzophrenic, so anything you read in braces ( { or } ) is still written by myself. Sort of. Visualize it as a voice in the back of your head when you read it. If you find this article offensive in any way, stop reading and do NOT send me messages about it. If you want to argue about any points in this article, stop reading and do NOT send me messages about it. If you want to have an open-minded discussion about any points in this article, or the whole, feel free to send me messages about it. I can be found on boards like Helter Skelter, Home by the Sea, ... bah, just about any anime/hpavc board. And of course, my own board, Ground Zero. (Not releasing the number here... ask me on abovementioned boards if you want it) Anyway, on with the article. Finally. Wicca is an ancient pagan religion which covered most of europe before christianity ever existed. It is the worship of nature, the earth, and life in general. Wicca is an individual's religion, and is extremely flexible. There are dieties for each aspect and element of life and the earth. Wether or not a wiccan worships these dieties or even believes in them is up to the wiccan. There are no churches to trudge to, and no one to ask money of you. Wiccans worship how they choose, give to what charities they choose, if any. This freedom of choice is fundamental, as wiccans believe that we live a cycle. Each lifetime is a learning experience in which we must make our own choices and learn from what happens to us as a result. The cycle is ongoing and continues until we have achieved perfect knowledge. This takes incalculable amounts of time as one cycles to learn as every creature that walks, flies, cralws, slithers, or swims on the earth. Maybe even those of other planets for all I know. Once again, just how one believes how this cycle works is for the wiccan to choose. The information of the cycles typed above are for a general guideline only. Just for those who don't know any better because of their ignorance, wicca is the religion in which Witchcraft is performed. It is NOT satanic (once again for those ignorant). Satan is a christian figure, and doesn't exist at all in the wiccan religion. Satan is, in fact a charicature of a goat-legged wiccan god. Created by the early church to further the defacing of the wiccan religion to gain followers and destroy wicca. {don't forget the witch burnings} Ah yes. And they burned followers of wicca at the stake, (as well as many others who didn't even follow wicca) because of the church's greed and it's followers' superstitious fear. I may appear paranoid or brainwashed, but I researched the facts. The early church had wiccans burned at the stake because they refused to convert and give the church their land and money. The church made wiccans out to be evil, twisted throwers of curses and hexes, sacrificers of children, and worhsippers of satan. {idiots, morons, sheep...} ... Another fact is that the bible was translated during this time of witch-burnings, and so most likely contains a few "bendings of the truth", names of groups to be hated exchanged for those in opposition to the church at the time, maybe even a few completely false inserted passages. {he/we hate the christian religion, as you can see... Research, open ears, and an open mind turned up gruesome facts and atrocities the average christian doesn't know, and the more-informed christian would rather not let get out} ... What he/I/we said. :> All wiccans have a rede, a saying from which a code of conduct can be built by each wiccan for themselves. A motto, if you will: "An it harm none, do as you will." Some wiccans keep a Book of Shadows, in which they keep information, rules to live by, sayings, maybe even spells (laugh if you feel like it) {jynxes, curses...} ... The first entry is almost always the rede. I have yet to find a true wiccan who doesn't use this rede. So, the curse stuff most people have been told is completely false. To put it in words most people will understand, it's essentially a sin to curse someone unless it obviously needs to be done, and the wiccan truly believes that it needs to be done. At times, whole groups of wiccans must agree before it is attempted. So, if you get cursed by a wiccan or a group of wiccans, you REALLY deserved it. May whatever god(s) someone cursed believes in have mercy on them, for MANY curses are designed to make the victim's life a living hell. {nah... if the bastard deserved it, let 'im rot} ehh... Oh, and all this cursing, blessing, spinning of spells, etc... is called magick. The 'K' is to distinguish it from common stage magic, and illusions. Magick is based on the belief that there is energy all around and within us. Constantly generated by living things, radiating out. {one mention of "The Force", and I come for you in your sleep} Yes, it sounds something like the force... Maybe the makers of those movies studied wiccan belief when they came up with it, or maybe it was pure coincidence. In any case, it isn't the same thing. This radiating energy is what gives people their "Aura". The energy surrounding every living thing before it gets farther away from it's source and diffuses into it's surroundings. Curses, blessings, and other types of spells and rituals are forms of magick based on the belief that this energy can be used to manipulate intangible things like luck. I could get into the specifics of spells and magick, as well as what the commonly seen pentacle/pentagram stands for, the uses and powers of crystals, herbs, inscences, etc..., the importance of solstices/equinoxes, and so on, but it would all be WAY too long. If I ever bother to write another article like this, maybe I'll get into the other topics. Each one is large enough to take up it's own article. Until then... end file.