The Lord and Lady are a LOT more than a representation of an ideal. They are as real as the Earth you stand on and the Sun that warms your face

It's Rede, not Reed.

Personally, I dont think you learned a thing about the Craft. At. All. We dont worship a metaphor. We worship the gods. They may not control every aspect of our life, but they do control some. We know that they exist, that the God and Goddess exist and that they were created by the One - the original being of the universe. they are real, and there is a point in worshiping them - thanking them for the creation they made in their love for each other. We as humans have a peice of the God and Goddess living within ourselves, and in all technicallity, yes. We do believe that we are filled with deity, and can acheive oneness with the gods, but we do not believe that we are the most superior or wisest being of all. We are actually attuning ourself to the creators by attuning ourselves with nature and the cycles of the Earth, though, because we beleive that the god and goddess are of the cycles of the earth, and that is where they are found and observed. In worshiping the beauty of what they created and attuning ourselves to those things, we are attuning ourselves to the creators themselves...

First of all, like many others it seems, I'd like to thank you for not outright bashing the Wicca religion. I'm not saying all Christians do this but there are some who do and I'm just glad to see more and more people are becomeing accepting of other religions. I lived in the bible belt as a child so I experienced a lot of criticism first hand for my choice of religion.

Now to adress some of the things you've said in your essay the notion that we hold ourselves above our Lord and Lady (God and Goddess) is entirely untrue, well at least for me I can't say there isn't some stupid idiot out there who doesn't but moving on, we worship them day in and out just as the Christian religion tells you to do for the god you believe in. Remember that the list you seem to base this idea off of was written by one person so you cannot say that this is how all people of our religion are. Not to mention Cunningham is sometimes considered to be somewhat of a fluffy bunny to those that practice meaning he isn't always taken seriously cause he can be somewhat of a 'poser' (this also holds true for Silver Ravenwolf as she tends to unobtrusively bash the Christian religion which I believe is wrong just as we hate to be discriminated against we should not discriminate against others).

Another thing when you talked about "The focus of religion should not be about "attuning oneself withthe cycles of the earth"(creation) as much as attuning oneself with the Creator." Many in the Wiccan religion see the Lady as the earth or it as a part of her so when we 'attune with nature' in a way for us it is attuning with the creator.

To address your question of why two deities may I in return ask why one? What makes one god so definitive over our two. We worship two divinties the lord and the lady because to us they represent to halves of a whole they encompass the full circle of life from birth to life to death and start over again in the neverending cycle. The deities are not a metaphor we simply look at our Lord and Lady in a different manner then you would your God and I find it truly offensive when you say "There is no point worshiping a deity who is not real but simply a representation of a concept." To us they are just as real as the god you believe in and worship. I could say about your god that he is make believe simply because most Christian holidays fall around the days that the religions of hold had their holidays. Also we can take into account that I sincerely doubt that the bible you read today is even the true one after all it has been translated many times and many of it's books have been lost over time and because the Romans changed it greatly by purposely taking out some of those books. But I won't say that your religion is false simply for the fact that while I was raised in it I never truly understood it and therefore can't pass judgement on it. But you'll understand the point I'm making is that it probably hurts you when I call your religion pointless just as you did mine.

Thanks for reading my review if you got all the way through it(it is rather lengthy) and I'd be happy to answer any other question you have just send an e-mail my way.

Hi. you make some good points but might i suggest by honoring and caring for yourself you are caring for the gift of life that the god and goddess gave us. is not by being happy and caring for yourself and the world a act of gratitude to them. an meditation for us is like prayer in a way we do it to find peace and calm and to become more in tune with the world and our feelings and with the divine mother and father. Knowledge is vitally important to us you can never know enough an by learning about all things is that not a way of honoring the divine mother and father for they gave us life and we should cherish every aspect of it. by learning we are honoring them. an by attuning our selves with the cycles of the earth we are attuning our selves with the goddess and god. they are the earth by becoming closer to the earth we are getting closer to them. and An harm ye non, do as ye will so mote it be does not just mean physical harm it is all aspects of harm. by being kind and taking in to consideration other you are honoring the god and goddess. just because we are allowed to do as we wish as long as it does not bring ill to others. others does not just mean humans it is the birds and plants it is everything that lives breaths and dies. another guiding law of our religion is the three fold law. do something kind for someone it will come back to you three fold. do something harmful and it will come back to you three fold.

I do hope you don't take this the wrong way. i mean no disrespect to your beliefs i was raised a Christan but it never felt right to me. to each there owns. and blessed be( take care) please if you wish to continue this discussion feel free to email me-Kali

"As one of the reviewers said, I find Wicca to be an artificial religion.First of all, if it's all about you It's hardly religion.Secondly, all these Gods and Goddesses are, well, made up. I could make up my own pantheon and start my own pagan religion.Thirdly, I've met some Wiccas. They gave constant threats to cast spells on me if I learned their secrets. Cast Spells?"

I would like to both comment on this essay and on the review quoted above, but I will start with the essay, as that is the purpose of this box. First, I appreciate the work you put into this, doing your research instead of bashing the religion automatically. I believe that is the point of having your own religion - knowing that there are others, but yet not attempting to rip them down in any way.

That brings me to the above quote. The first thing I want to bring into light is this: If a person tells you that he or she is a Wiccan, then threatens you with magick, they are not truly Wiccan. That is that. Do not assume that you know the entire religion just because some idiot pretender said that's how it works. I myself am studying the religion, both as a personal interest and a desire to know more about the world.

Oh, as an after thought I realized... the Gods and Goddesses are not just "made up". People thousands of years ago truly believed in these higher entities, just like the early Christians. There is also a Wiccan tale about how the world was created, and if there is anyone interested, e-mail me, please. Wiccans believe that the abilities all humans have were entrusted to them by these entities, and the purpose of Wicca is to look within yourself, connect with the God and Goddess, and in doing so, discover your potential and realize the beauty of the world. Think about this: In ANY religion, do your beliefs tell you that the Creator gave us such beauty JUST to live and destroy it? I recall in the Holy Bible, that Eden was a beautiful Garden full of colors and textures. No one appreciates what our Creator has given us, and as such, cannot truly begin to understand Him or Her. I hope this clarified a few things, and I'm sorry for the length of this review.

I must agree with those who have come before me. :-) Thank you for doing the research that you did.

However, I'd like to point out (and I'm surprised that I'm the first to do this) that Cunningham wrote this for *witches*, as he implies in the title. This is not a guide for the religion. Not all Wiccans are witches and certainly not all witches are Wiccans. This is meant to be a guide for using magick, even if it is *also* good advice for Wiccans.

First of all, I'd like to say thanks for putting it up. It's not every day I meet a Christian that they don't mean to be rude.

Secondly, I disagree with you on some points (as expected, of course), though I beleive if I get started, I may not stop. xD I enjoyed reading it though I think you should dig a bit deeper on the topic. Don't mean to be rude, of course.

First off, I've gotta admit that there's little here I can point out here that hasn't already been said in one review or another. I do appreciate the fact that you haven't immediately written off Wiccans as being evil, and that you did do some research and choose to draw your own conclusions rather than base everything you wrote off of stereotypes. Thank you for that. :)

After reading your essay, though, I do feel a tiny bit obligated to make a few minor notes. It's perfectly okay if you don't agree with what Wiccans believe; it's our differences as human beings that make us special. However, I must point out a few things that you wrote that I can't quite agree with.

Firstly, your assumption that Wiccans try to put themselves above Divinity is not on the level. Wiccans believe that all things are deeply interconnected; we are a great web of energy, all flowing from a central source (the Divine). We don't try to make ourselves equal with or above Diety; we are the same; our worth is just the same as the Divine's, mine the same as yours, yours the same as the spider crawling on your wall right now. We're all alive, we all exist, we all are just as 'important' as any other creature, large or small.

The only other thing I really have any objection to is your sort-of assumption that Wiccans 'worship' the same god as Christians do. Well, we can't exactly know for sure whether it's the same god or not, but we don't worship in the same way. The Wiccan Rede isn't meant to give us free reign; we are held to that only by ourselves. We don't believe in any sort of ultimate retribution; there's no hell waiting for us after we die. But we do believe in karma, and it's just good old fashioned responsibility and self-restraint that keeps us behaving. We don't have some big guy upstairs breathing down our necks, watching our every move. We believe that humans were given free choice for a very good reason; we should be able to act as we please, but not at the cost of others' happiness and well-being.

Well... That was certainly the longest review I've ever written. :) Sorry if there's anything I was unclear about; I can try to clear it up if you'd like. Anyway, thanks for reading (if you actually did read that entire thing... in which case, kudos to you!)

~ CJ

PS: In response to the reviewer that had said they had met Wiccans who had threatened them, please, PLEASE, everyone, just remember that no true Wiccan will ever threaten anyone in any way, especially not with magic. These people are just irresponsible idiots who have no morals.

PPS: I read your profile.. You're really only 14 years old? I realize it might be out of date, but if so, congrats. :) You're about the same age as myself, and I must say that I've NEVER met a fourteen-year-old boy who could be perceptive enough to write this. Nice job. ^^

Being a human, I understand that you may have different views from me.
Being a Wicca, I think that you have some things wrong.

For example, our God and Goddess are not just metaphors. They are real, as real to you as your god. Our Goddess does not just represent the feminine, but is the feminine and also the earth itself.

First and foremost, I'd like to point out that I am Wiccan and I respect and commend the fact that you took the time to read and try to gain knowledge about Wicca as opposed to just writing us off as "evil." I sincerely thank you for that.

Now on to the critisicm of your research (sorry!!) The Wiccan Rede is NOT meant to put us on a pedistal or above God/Deity... although I can see how it could be interprited that way; yes, it does basically say, "If no harm is done do as you will" which just means if you know something causes no harm and you can find nothing morally "wrong" (any random person's idea of "morality" is a topic for debate as different people have different ideals) with what you are doing, go ahead; just be ready to accept whatever conciquences may or may not arise if the things you do DO cause "harm."

Secondly, the idea that Wicca in GENERAL is about putting oneself above God is untrue. I am sorry if that is what that particular list of "goals" had you believe. The way I've always understood it, the whole point of Wicca (and and other religion for that matter) IS building and maintaining that relationship with the Devine and honest Worship (and by the way, I agree the God aspect SHOULD be the top of the list, but some people have to work within themselves before they can open themselves up to God as odd as that sounds... it is true none the less).

And as for the dual/poly aspect of Wicca... I have to say that I completely disagree with you on this subject. Myself (and many others) find it odd that a God could exist without companionship an a mother to His children... after all, women are the birth givers, the wombs and the nerturers to us all so why WOULDN'T the Great Devine mirror the reality of humanity? After all, we were created in the image of God(s) by the Holy Bible's own admission.

I understand your disagreement with Wicca in general and your future disagreement with any/all of my personal views and respect your write to it, just trying to possibly shed some light on your quest for knowledge. I hope you can gain some idea as to Wiccan views and continue to respect and understand our differences.

Thank you and Godspeed on your travels
Blessed be,
~Misty

This was really good, I think I agree with everything you put in here. Although I put magic etc. into my stories, I am a Christian.Ps. Thanks for reviewing my now complete story Innocent, about the child vampires, werewolves and merpeople.

First of all, I'm a Hedge Witch, which is a very similar path to Wicca (which is traditinally coven based, not solitary, FYI.)

The reason there isn't much about the gods is the goals are how to practise, the Charge Of The Goddess/Charge Of The God are how to worship. You also said something about The God and The Goddess - these are metaphores for the female and male aspects of nature, but we also have pantheons of gods who are more "literal" (I don't think I explained that well, sorry). They are our guides and teachers, not our servants.

A lot of your argument is that we don't worship "God" enough. We don't believe in him, except as a middle-eastern fire deity (who stole his look from Zeus, by the way.) We believe (generally, I can't speak for all pagans, of course) that the gods are wise, but we can't rely on them for everything, like your god, they give us free will -"An it harm none" is a challenge, just as the commandments are for Christians.

By the way, the gods aren't there to "make a point" - they'd be there if we chose to worship them or not.

And Cunningham is infamously fluffy. Gerald B Gardner and Doreen Valiente (the founders of Wicca) are the people to read if you want to know the real Wiccan religion, not the corrupted American version (which is often quite strange and a bit chose the bits that fit, chuck out the rest.) In Britian we're far more grounded...really...

Thanks for writing this without it turning into mindless "my god is better than your god" **.

Interesting. Although people may or may not agree to it, I do like that you outlined why, and not just said 'it isn't right' ect. That was good.I personally don't like the fact that people do that, and not have a reason.Good job!

~Rachel

It's good that you are taking that step to bridge the knowledge gap between your religion and another, but I think that your disagreements focus more on the fact that the Wicca religion doesn't have the seem beliefs as Christianity. One of your agreements focus on the fact that their religion doesn't focus on God, but if it did wouldn't that just make a another sect of Christianity, Islam, or Judism. How they believe and what they believe is what separates their religion from ours. They don't believe in one god, nor do they focus on one god. That would change the religion entirely. One thing that I noticed was that you truly didn't go into this with an open mind with the statement, 'God is real'this revealed that no matter what you learned about this religion, you would still believe that it is wrong or not 'right'. This may not have been your intention, but it was what I noticed. In my opinion to be religiously open-minded you have to understand that your religion may not be 'right', but another religion might be. The reason that we have so many religions in the world is because we truly don't know for sure. Everyone is shouting at the top of their voices saying that they are right. Who knows your one God may not be the real one. Are you willing to except that? I think we all have to remain faithful to our beliefs, but understand that we are not all knowing, only our Creator is.Sorry if I seemed a bit mean, that wasn't my intention, honestly. If you think I'm an idiot be assured in the fact that there are a lot of people out there who think the same. And Congratulaions! Your essay owns the first review I have ever written. Yeah!