Lesson 4
Wiccan Beliefs
The Egyptians had many different practices, as did the Greeks and the Romans and the Celts. Wicca is one of the many that exist today and within Wicca there are many different traditions, all with slightly different practices and spiritual focus. All Wiccans do however share some common beliefs, although they may express and experience those beliefs in different ways.
Typically the shared spiritual beliefs include:
o Divinity is plural - expressed through both the masculine (God) and feminine (Goddess). Wiccans may be henotheistic, polytheistic or pantheistic - or a combination of these.
o That the Moon, Sun and Earth are important planetary bodies from which power can be drawn. That the Moon, Sun and Earth are all part of the sacred divine - usually expressed as the Moon Goddess, Sun God and Earth Goddess.
o That the changing seasons on Earth yields important symbolic changes in our personal lives too. The celebration of the "turning of the wheel" (ie. The Wheel of the Year Sabbats) play an important role in Wicca.
Exercise 4
a) Write down the names of each of the seasons on a clean page in your notebook: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Under each heading write down notes for yourself on what the season represents for you and what your local area looks like during that season, what the trees are doing, which animals you typically see during each season etc.
b) Create a page for "Goddess and God". Now make some notes on how you view divinity. Do you see the Goddess and God as being part of a greater whole, do you see them as individual, do believe that there are many Gods and Goddesses who all have individual names and individual personalities? Do you believe that the divine is inherent in all life - animal, mineral and plant?