Comments on: What Is Wicca All About, and Why Does It Scare Us?

By: waldo

waldo — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 22:48:22 +0000

No one here knows satanism. satanist don’t believe in the devil. devil worship does not satanism. wicca teaches there are more than one god I’m sorry but that’s just as silly as one.
how about wiccans who feel a need to say hey christians see we’re good it’s white magic and we believe in gods!satanist don’t care what others think. wicca is just one more religion with death in it’s past.

By: Malachi

Malachi — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 07:32:56 +0000

No “Mothrae” you have a serious misunderstanding of biblical miracles, biblical miracles are NOT magic they are where God exercises his power over his creation. Prayer is also NOT magic it is simply a conversation with God!

By: Wickels

Wickels — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 04:18:24 +0000

Decent article. Most points I had have already been pointed out. @Gunky: Satanists no not worship the devil. They honor themselves as being gods. That about 90% of what I know about Sataism. http://www.churchofsatan.com/

By: Gunky Frog

Gunky Frog — Thu, 24 May 2007 20:57:21 +0000

To be a satanist, you must first be a jew, christian or muslim and then rebel - and worship the fallen favorite son of god. To be a wiccan or other pagan it is not necessary or beneficial to believe in the judeo-christian god story. Therefore you do not believe in their devil or his minions. Therefore you do not worship them or call upon them for help. There is NO relationship between satanism and wicca or the other pagan forms of worship. Simple isn’t it.

By: Journey

Journey — Thu, 24 May 2007 17:07:20 +0000

I have a theory, a gut hunch about how the upside down pentacle became paired with Satan. Satan is an anti-Abrahamic faith. One of its symbols is an upside down cross, meaning that they were making a statement about the Christian cross.

Once upon a time some Christians used the pentacle to symbolize the five wounds of Christ; feet, hands, and crown of thorns. I’m sure it got flipped like the cross.

Just a guess I’ve never studied Satanism.

By: Duane

Duane — Thu, 24 May 2007 16:19:40 +0000

A nice article, although there are a few misconceptions. The pentacle point-up/point-down bit isn’t accurate. Some Satanists use it point down, as do some Wiccans (as a previous comment mentioned), as do Freemasons. The real difference is how we interpret what the symbol means. The pentacle, both point up and down, can be found in many Christian cathedrals, both carved and worked into stained glass, and can be found in Hinduism, Islam, some Native American traditions, and a few far-eastern religions. It is a symbol that has been used by lots of people for a long time, and the fact that one group (the Satanists) use it now doesn’t indicate any ties or similarities - it is a simple coincidence, much like the fact that both the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and the flag of Morocco both have them.

Second, we don’t have a ‘clear set of rules and beliefs’ that we all (or even a majority of us) agree to. The things you listed are ideas most of us agree with, but it isn’t ‘dictated’ anywhere. Why? For the same reason that, as you say, “they are vague about what their religion is based on.” There is no central authority for Wiccans. The largest cohesive body is the ‘tradition’ which is simply a sect, and the world’s Wiccans are divided up amongst hundreds of traditions, with tens of thousands more practicing alone. No definitive statement that anyone could ever make would really apply to anything more that the members of one’s own tradition. The reason that ‘what do Wiccans believe’ is often met with a vague answer is that there really are many hundreds of answers, depending on which group of Wiccans you ask. We’re too diverse to apply any universal answers to. The only real real generalizations you could make is that we’re all ecologically minded and have a strong respect for people - including not harming them or interfering with their free will. Although the ethics (or their interpretations) may vary from one group to the next, we’re generally a very ethical, moral bunch of folks, who generally believe that we’re only completely free to act as we see fit if our actions are completely free of harm, and are very, very restrained, acting in a harmful manner only in the most extreme and obvious cases of self defense. In other words, I’ll never punch you in the nose, but if you punch me, I’ll punch back.

By: Mothrae

Mothrae — Thu, 24 May 2007 15:38:11 +0000

Please stop comparing Wicca to Satanism. We are not Satanists, for the 157th time. The “similarity” of the pentacle (five-pointed star) is about the only such similarity I can find. The concept of Satan is a Abrahamic concept (Jewish/Christian/Muslim) and Satan is THEIR fallen angel, not ours. As fas a Magick (the correct spelling if what we do) every belief system employs it…some call it prayer or meditation or other terms. Biblical miracles are Magick, wouldn’t you agree?

As an Army veteran of Desert Storm, I appreciate the Dept of Veteran Affairs finally getting it together to recognize us as a bona fide belief system and allows us to have a pentacle engraved on our grave markers. BTW, the pentacle already exists on grave markers, and “upside down” at that, the accepted symbol of the Masonic Order Of The Eastern Star, and the Fraternal Order Of Police. Evil, huh?

Otherwise, a good article.

93, in LVX, Slan agus beannacht leat.

Moth

By: Seshen

Seshen — Thu, 24 May 2007 13:54:36 +0000

Overall, a nice article. Thanks! Two minor points from my perspective. Many “newbie” Wiccans are unaware that the point-down pentacle popularly associated with Satanism since the 1960s was first (and still is) the symbol of a 2nd-Degree initiate in Gardnerian Wicca, the original Wiccan Tradition. Also, you will find a good percentage of Wiccans pro-death penalty.

For a good overview of the religion as a whole, I invite you to check out http://wicca.timerift.net