About our Goddess & Gods

Wiccans do have an extremely clear ethical and moral system with very distinct boundaries, despite certain Christian clergy claims to the contrary. 

We believe that the determination of what is right and wrong is made by the Goddess and the God and communicated clearly to us through personal contact with the divine.  Ethical responsibility is a very important part of our religion.

But you may wonder - since we don't have a formal written book of spiritual and religious laws, how can we be ethical and moral people? 

Well, since we are an oral tradition, we do have some very important laws that are followed.  They may seem simple and basic, but when you think about it, these rules cover all the arenas of ethical responsibility:

And it harm none, do what thou wilt.
At first glance, this seems pretty easy.  But it can be a little more complicated than just making sure that when you put your car in reverse, you check to make sure someone isn't standing there.  "And it harm none" refers not only to other people, but also to yourself, animals and the Earth Herself. 

We're connected to each other at a variety of levels - spiritually, ecologically and physically - and we must carefully weigh our actions with their consequences. 

This is not to mean that we never take action because we're too busy weighing out the consequence of stepping out the door in the morning, only that our actions should be guided by an awareness of the impact of our deeds.

Lest in thy self defense it be, ever mind the rule of three.
This one is a little easier - just think of karma, or of reaping what you sow. 

Wiccans believe that what you do comes back to you threefold, so if you send out bad energy in the form of a spell or action, not only does it backfire on you, you get three times the consequence! 

It's important to remember that just because those of us who may have been harmed by another person's deliberate actions may not instantly see the consequence in the other person's life, there will still be consequences.

Wiccans have often been accused of not being very moral because unlike most of the world's major religions, we don't believe that our bodies or the earth is evil or sinful. 

In a famous poem/chant called The Charge of the Goddess, there is a line that says "All acts of love and pleasure are My rituals."  Now, you may think that means we have orgies and have no self control and just generally give in to whatever urges we have, but that's not what it means. 

When preparing food, making music or love, dancing or painting become sacred acts, they are entered into with a deeper respect and awareness of our personal responsibility, not with looser morals.

About The Goddess

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One of the most obvious differences between Wicca and most current world religions is the presence of a divine female image who is not dependent upon a male deity. 

This image of the Goddess as a creative, strong force has attracted many women and men in modern society to Wicca, and encourages people fighting oppression in its many forms.  The Goddess is generally believed to have three major aspects:  Maiden, Mother and Crone, who correspond to the main cycles of life.

*A special note about the Crone:  In a time when the power of women as healers and wisewomen was feared by the Christian Church, and when the natural cycles of birth and death were denied, old women were particularly feared and vilified.  Many of the women who were accused of witchcraft, tortured, and murdered by church authorities were older women. 

The church has propagated the image of all witches as old hags with crooked noses, who do evil rather than good, to dehumanize and disempower the women in our communities who served as teachers and healers before the onset of Christianity. This image continues to abound in various media images today. 

In Wicca, the image of the Crone is of an old, wise woman who teaches us the lessons she has learned--not an ugly, evil eater of children. 

She can be difficult to work with from a magickal sense if you are shirking your responsibilities or refusing to let go of unhealthy people, relationships and habits, but Her role is to help us learn to cut away the old so that new can grow.

About The Gods

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If you conduct a search anywhere on the Internet or at a book store, you can find literally hundreds of books and articles about the Goddess and her many guises.  But what about the God?

Positive images of male deity are difficult to come by, and require a good bit of digging and research.  Most of the gods in the Greek and Roman pantheon have had negative human characteristics such as the rape of mortal women attributed to them, so it's sometimes hard to pick positive images from these cultures. 

And just as old women were vilified by the Christian Church hundreds of years ago, the main image of God in pre-Christian Western Europe, the Horned God, has been demonized by the Christian church.

What most people don't realize is that there was a horned god who was not evil or worshipped with animal sacrifice and who did not force women to have sex with him as the Christian clergy believed. 

Instead, the Horned God was the lord of the forest and the animals.

He is a gentle lover, a compassionate hunter, a loving father and a strong warrior who fights for justice.  He is the lord of wild things, the life force that runs through us all, men and women alike.

He has been called the; Green Man, Cerrunos, Osiris, Pan, Ra, Dionysus, Neptune, Jesus, and Buddha. 

Some animals associated with Him include the; stallion, the bull, the stag and the goat. 

He is a positive male force that we can all call upon, and reminds us of the beautiful balance between male and female that is positive in a world free from stereotypes of male behavior.