Wicca

In honor of the season, I'd figured it might be a good time to have a discussion about Wicca!

My knowledge about Wicca is pretty basic (and largely comes from the show Charmed! ) but from what I understand it's all about energy which is why I am posting it here in the LoA section.

We had some interesting discussions about Wicca over at the other place and if I remember correctly a few of the members from there who made it over here have some interest and knowledge about the topic so I hope they'll share!

It's something that has interested me but I haven't quite made out how to apply it to my life so any and all thoughts would be really welcome!

Kazoo i know nothing on Wicca myself, but i do hope this thread gets some good replies as i would be interested in hearing about it x

I studied Wicca many years ago, but found it wasn't for me, the rede still doesn't sit right with me lol, if you have any questions about it am happy to try and answer.

First of all I'm so happy you are with us Willow


I've never really followed wicca much, is it like paganism or magic? What's a rede?

Thank you luminous Lunar for inviting me, much nicer energy you have here <3 awesome topics too

Thanks Willow, and welcome! Good to see you here!

I really don't follow any one thing in particular, I just kind of take what I like from the things I come across and leave the rest.

What I like about the little I do know about Wicca is the connection to nature. I find spending time in nature to be so healing and restorative so if I could incorporate more of that into my life I think that would be great! Any ideas of simple ways that Wicca would do that? Especially for days I'm kind of dragging?

Lol I just edited my post and lost what I originally posted so take two-
Wiccan rede is basically guidelines for following the Wiccan path, the gist is that what you send out comes back to you threefold (some say tenfold)
There are two major trads, the Gardnerian Wicca ( Gerald Gardner and Doreen Valientes version) which is the main one most people follow and then the Alexandrian Wicca which is more based on the Egyptian Pantheon. There are other trads as well, more so since the Internet many trads, like fae and dragon etc sprang up.
All wiccans are pagan, but not all pagans are Wiccan.
It's basically an earth based religion, a lot call themselves eclectic now because they pick and choose from many different traditions/religions.
Magick is part of Wicca yes.
When you break it down though, regardless of which pantheon you choose (or are chosen by) magick is loa, or the principals are basically the same-intent, focus, desired outcome. Just in Wicca you get to play with a lot more cool props lol and waste too much money on candles

Hey there Kazoo x
Well the best way to connect with nature is gardening, you can also look into herbal magick.
Everything has a spirit/energy, through herb magick or kitchen witchery/hedgecraft, you can really connect with the spirit of the plants.
http://kitchenwitchuk.blogspot.com.au/2011/04/what-is-kitchen-witch.html
Is a good place to start.
You can also try to connect with the loci (spirit of the land) a simple intention to connect is usually enough
Hedgecraft is probably one of my fave things of all
http://walkingthehedge.net/hedge/what-is-a-hedgewitch/
You would probably like hedge witchery Lunar

Thank you for explaining Willow
When I first saw that Hedgecraft I thought, sounds good- at home hedge trimming was always my favorite yard work lol
But yes, looks interesting, reminds me a bit of Neopaganism that is gaining more popularity in Estonia now. Actually that bit -
The basic modern definition of Hedgewitch is comparable to older definitions of wisewoman, cunning man, medicine man, shaman and seer, seid workers and völur, herb healer or folk healer.
völur is a wizard in Estonian, so they must be a part of the same group.

When I was a teenager I had a book called Magic, oh i was my favorite. It wasn't like 100 spells for love or that type of book. It literally explained all the old beliefs of all sorts of plants, objects and rituals people in different areas have believed in.
So I had a magic box full of all sorts of "treasures", it could've been anything, like a special rock I found or a stick of a certain tree, all containing some memory or assignment for me, so I used to go through it once in a while. Then when I moved to Italy, my mom found it and thought it was some random box full of trash and threw it in the dumpster.

I think one of the wide old shamanic beliefs was that if you drink the juice of a root of this specific type of fern (which coincidentally has my name, like Lunar Fern except with my real name) then you would acquire eternal beauty and youth.
I actually went and did my own mini ritual and dug up some Luney fern and shoved some leaves and roots to a glass jar, that I then left on my window sill with water to mull for 30 days and 30 nights to gather up all the moon and sun energy. I had no idea how to actually make fern root juice, so that's just something   I made up. By the time the 30 days were over, the water had turned to dark brown and had a nice blue layer of film on top. .. and then I drank some of that goo ...
I could only take 1 sip at a time so I hid it in my closet and drank a sip now and then. I swear it was the absolute most disgusting thing I have ever tasted, I think toilet water would be tastier (not that I want to find out). It absolutely burned my insides when it went down, I'm sure it was poisonous, I'm sure if I had just guzzled it down I would've died.

Anyway, I am 33 now and don't have a single gray hair or a wrinkle, so maybe it worked

Hahaha! Looney herb aww you are beautiful no matter what goo you drink. Good genetics I bet helped
I was the same always making "concoctions" of this and that when I was little, I never dared drink any.
I still have a lot of stones, feathers, dried four leaf clovers ( have close to a hundred of those now) I seem to just find them wherever I go.

I hope that photo works, I used to make these when I was young, not really knowing why. A lady years later told me they are Native American Prayer sticks.

Aww thank you Willow, you're too kind
That stick does look pretty cool. I don't remember if I told you at PLOA but in Texas we were at a huge state park when my son was playing at some random sand pit near the big rocks and he handed me a tooth, on a closer look I found an old Native American arrowhead and a whole bunch of teeth that after some research turned out to be shark teeth which were often used on weapons apparently.

Thanks so much Willow!

I guess I was thinking about it and from what I remember there was some emphasis on the various elements?

These days I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by my schedule and if there are ways to increase my energy by say, placing certain things that are energizing around my apartment that would help. I dunno if that even falls under Wicca for sure but that's kind of what I had in mind.

I unfortunately don't have a yard/garden. Wish I did. And I tend to kill all of my plants. I have 2 that have managed to keep alive for a while so maybe my luck is changing.

You are very welcome Kazoo
The pentagram is what you are probably referring to

The elements are used in ritual and incorporated into your altar ( dedication space) each element having a corresponding direction for where to place them.
Usually we have two dedication candles set for the God and goddess. Not everyone does though, it just depends on what you are trying to achieve with your working as to what you want to place on the altar. I'm guided by intuition as to what to use, but it could be anything from a herb to a particular type of incense or candle colour specific to what I'm trying to achieve or celebrate.
Samhain is probably the next thing that we celebrate, but it depends on what hemisphere you live in and how you choose to work as to what to work with.
The moon phases are generally taken into account as well.
Just a simple placement could be, a bowl of salt for earth, incense for air, a bowl of water for water, and a candle for fire.
For Samhain, it's a time of connecting with those that have passed to the next world as the "veil" between the two worlds is meant to be thinnest at this time and easier to connect.
It just depends on what outcome you are trying to achieve.
Think the more important thing is to make sure your dedication space is free of clutter and clean.
Wicca is a very personal journey, which not only connects you with nature and spirit but with yourself.
So when you place elements on your altar, you are also connecting with those elements within yourself.

Kazoo, you might want to look into Fengshui in regards to placement of objects.
If you are feeling lethargic you are probably out of balance with the fire element.
Crystals can be placed to rebalance this, good ones for fire element are the red and orange stones.
Red Jasper, is great for grounding and fairly inexpensive it works slowly but steadily and is very gentle to work with. Orange carnelian is another good one for fire element, also inexpensive. Even wearing these colours can uplift your energy.

i definitely need some fire element stones, i have red garnet...

Thanks so much for that Willow, I never really thought about the "balance".

I am a water sign (not sure if Wicca and astrology are related at all.) and I attribute that fact as the reason I am naturally drawn to water. I even keep a little plug in fountain in my room because I like the sound of the flowing water.

In fact, orange is my least favorite color, and I don't really favor red much either. So both colors are completely absent from my decor. But a nice garnet color (a garnet candle is easy enough to find) will fit in with what I have going on so I'll try to incorporate some of that to balance things out a bit.

Not a problem Kazoo
Water is yin energy, and fire is yang energy, in Fengshui too much water yin in the bedroom is not so good. I have a little fountain but place it in the wealth corner of the house to keep money flowing in. This may be why you are a little fatigued.
Bed facing out the door is the worst placement (known as the coffin position)
Mirrors facing your bed are not good either as they draw energy away from you as your sleeping, and for married couples introduce a third party into the marriage.
A lot of Wiccans are eclectic now and take a lot from other sources and incorporate it into their workings.
There's an old debate wether you can actually call yourself Wiccan if you are not of lineage. Sadly there are some with big egos in many of the covens.

The red candles are a good idea I had an aversion to the colour orange as well. I went to a spirit festival a few years ago and had an aura photo taken and a reading done, my orange (sacral chakra) was a bit messed up from an event in my life and caused me a lot of digestive disorders. I use orange a bit more now, still not a huge fan of it. I don't go much for orange foods, but force myself to eat them. You can try to incorporate more fire colours in your diet as well.
Aromatherapy of orange or lemon oil can also balance your energy and bring in a little yang energy.

@night eyes, red garnet is lovely one of my favourites a little bit faster working than the Jasper.

That's all really helpful Willow!

It's funny I recently started a new job and at the same time I had a sudden urge to rearrange my furniture. I didn't make the connection between the two until later but it makes sense with energy shifts that they'd be connected. It looks like I have a little tweaking to do to get some of the placement right.

With my fengshui, candles rituals, moon phases manifesting I think I am unconsciously into Wicca ;-) But I actually don't know much about Wicca other than like Kazoo mentioned the basic stuff. Have some friends who used to do Wicca rituals but I never asked what or why. Pretty interesting stuff. Thank you for sharing all these things willow! Since I feng shui-ed my house it cleared a lot of energy. I am very sensitive when it comes to energy. Some places can really make me feel uncomfortable, so I try I avoid those. Fengshui really helped me to feel better in my own home, and besides it's fun to do!

Sunshine, I'm really glad to hear that the feng-shui worked for you! I am excited to make a few changes and see what happens! I think you actually shared a feng-shui chart/graph over at the other place that I did use before but failed to consult when I moved some furniture around. (I have a big mirror I have to find a new place for!)

Could you share more about your candle rituals and moon phase manifesting?

Haha, I was thinking about starting a Feng Shui thread just 2 days ago. I was gonna say my husband has a broken boat engine in the house that he ordered parts for, but currently it doesn't work. The engine is located in the Work/job zone of the bagua and ever since it's been there I seriously feel like I have no drive at all to work. Even if I do work, I procrastinate and am not enjoying it at all.

Kazoo that's right, I've posted a bagua on the other site. It's the one I used to redecorate/ fengshui my house. Actually around that time I also started the candle rituals. Before my vacation I actually promised lotus to make a separate thread about it, but then I couldn't get on the forum during that time. While I was thinking about writing it I honestly also thought at the same time that I might not know enough about it, the moon and the candles, to share. It's mostly based on my intuition and I started it because in fengshui you also use candles to activate the energy in a certain area, as well as using colors. I have heard about the energy of the moon and that it's good for manifesting so I combined these two things. I set a new intention when it's full moon using candles that I burn the whole month after that moon. The colors of the candles are based on the colors of the fengshui bagua that represent areas in our lives. I use pink for love, green for health, blue for my career etc. I also use stones that I place in the area of my home that needs that energy.

I want to upload the bagua but for some reason it's not working sorry!

So I use the full moon for new intentions and I sometimes I use the new moon to get rid off the old. You can also use the new moon for new intentions. I usually write my intention on a piece of paper and burn it with the candle (I often burn three at the same time) that matches the intention knowing it's a done deal. I have also a post it board of things that I want in my life, but moon manifesting is way faster. My bf had some problem in the career area. I let him burn a blue candle a couple of full moons ago. He had no idea what he was doing but I just said make a wish and believe in it. He wished a job at the end of the month and got it. Maybe we can use this thread for you guys to try it out and ask questions if you have any. I can also share my fengshui knowledge although I think Willow knows way more of this stuff than I do :-)

Aww I'm no expert Sunshine just picked up some info on my travels.
The Fengshui is great, the best thing to use is your intuition imo, if it feels right it probably is.
The candle colours are similar meanings in Wicca and the moon phases that are most commonly used is.
Waxing moon- coming into full moon a good time for new beginnings, new projects anything to do with bringing new energy into your life.
Waning- moving away from full a good time to banish or remove anything from your life.
Full moon- best time for spells because more energy is available.
Dark of the moon- not a good time for spells really, best to wait.
Thing is though you don't really have to wait for moon phases you just flip your spells around a bit. Eg you want a new job, but it's a waning moon, so you do a spell to remove any obstacles to getting a new job etc.
Candle Magick is very basic, but effective magick, if you don't have a corresponding colour candle you can substitute any colour for a simple white candle. Except for black, black candles are most often used in banishing rituals.
I use Ceromancy (divination) when doing my spells, a bit like tea leaf readings. You can gain a lot of insight using this form of divination.

I practiced kitchen witchery for a while, and still do use some of the practices. I'm still very much attracted to nature and the way you breathe easier when in tune with the living things around you. Never much cared for the Wiccan rede since it seemed to be too close to fear-mongering and shaming when it came to having negative thoughts (because, real talk, I'm not always going to be 100 with my positivity, sometimes I am human). I mostly valued the homestead-y-ness of kitchen witch/hedge witchery and how you put your emotions and intentions into the things you made. It's very DIY in a pagan way. plus, it was always about revering and seeking balance. also, who DOESN'T enjoy having seasonal holidays with historical connects? Kinda miss my witchy days!