What is Wicca: Religion Explained

Twitter: Tony4YouYT
#religion #theology #witchcraft

0:00 Intro
0:51 What is Wicca
2:46 History of Wicca
5:30 Wicca Beliefs
12:46 Outro

Behold the lasting belief of the witches of old! For how popular the religion of Wicca is from the mid 20th century to now, I never knew much about it. It's about time that changes though in this episode of Religion Explained. Usualy ancient religion explained, but this time we look at something a little more modern. This will serve as a history lesson as well as a beginners guide to learning about and practicing witchcraft in your very own home. Existing in the modern times, you would be forgiven for thinking all religions are pretty boring. The popular ones all boil down to very similar teachings and practices at the end of the day, barring some unique rituals and dietary restrictions. There is a subset of people however, that cling back to the old style of religion, the belief in sorcery and magic, modern day witches if you will. These people follow the religion known as Wicca. Having been established recently and with no overarching authority, this religion is a mystery to most people, but let’s try to learn what we can about them so we don’t get hexed. Without any further ado, let’s talk about the religion of Wicca.

[Boobusmcscoobus]

Finally I can know how to cause a terrible blight to befall my most wretched foes, thank you tony4wicca

[merkabah]

I’ve been a fan of the channel for a while now and I love how you switched from an Smt-exclusive channel to discussing more than just what appears in Smt games.And on the topic of this video specifically, while I’ve never heard of this religion before, I gotta say it’s very interesting and I might do some research in it

[justinmcnally]

Been a Wiccan since 1999. Wicca is an extraordinarily complex set of beliefs and practices. I think this video did a good job of covering it at a very very high level. If you're a non-Wiccan reading this and wondering "can someone simplify this for me?" I would say the easiest way to think of Wicca is that it's the religion (or religions of) witchcraft. Every Wiccan is a witch but not every witch is a Wiccan. Wicca at its core really has three fundamental attributes that 95% of practitioners in some way shape or form adhere to. The single most important aspect I would say is a reverence for nature. Wiccans do not worship nature as a deity itself rather Wiccans have a high degree of respect for nature. Secondly, would be an adherence to polytheism in some way shape or form. Generally that manifests as duo theism or the worship of two deities but in my experience most practitioners worship many more than two deities. The third core attribute of Wicca is the practice of magick. You may notice that Wiccans often spell the word magick with a K on the end. This is to differentiate what we practice with the more commonly understood magic of Stagecraft and entertainment. Now let me be clear I could go randomly select 100 Wiccans off the street and ask them what are the core fundamentals of Wicca and you would probably get 100 different answers. In my experience after twenty five years of practicing the Craft these three themes are pretty consistent. You of course might find someone who doesn't practice magick at all and that's perfectly fine within Wicca however, I would argue that is an outlier or a more rare example.

Structurally Wicca is, as this video mentioned, a non-centralized religion. Meaning that there is no empowered authority to dictate the rituals, practices, "theology" of it. Wicca is pretty much structurally divided amongst two groups. The first group would be the coven-based sects that are organized into groups of practitioners that do have hierarchal structures & processes/rituals which are typically led by a high priestess and high priest. Those groups are what you would think of as the church groups of Wicca. Each coven has its own history, traditions, culture and practices which vary widely from one coven to the next. The second group would be the solitary eclectic practitioners who are not in a coven and who kind of just sort of do their own thing. They tend to blend traditions that they've read about or studied and kind of just make it their own. Again, there tend to be similarities amongst eclectic practitioners such as following the Wiccan Rede, The practice of magick, etc. but there's a LOT of personalization to their practice.

Also, for those of you who are wondering do Wiccan witches cast harmful spells such as curses... The Wicked Rede tells us not to do that because of the threefold principle that anything we put out into the universe will come back to us threefold including harmful things such as curses, hexes or jinxes. So, in principle generally speaking no we don't do curses - or at least we're not supposed to. However, there has been a growing movement over the last 20 years in which many practitioners feel that this restriction on their practice is not justified or warranted and that they should be allowed to use curses as they see fit. I would argue that that is a minority group of practitioners at least in my experience. Those practitioners that I know who do use curses do them exceedingly rarely and only in quite dire situations. They're not out there just throwing around a curse like they're getting a Starbucks drink. A curse is the atomic bomb of magick in our community. A more common practice might be a jinx or hex which have shorter term consequences and results.

The last thing I will say is more of a cultural attribute of Wicca that is less commonly spoken about in public. And that is most Wiccans harbor some sort or level of resentment toward the Abrahamic religions. This is because of the history of persecution and ostracizing that the Abrahamic religions have visited upon us. Wicca is not hostile toward the Abrahamic religions although there might be some practitioners who are, Wicca itself simply aims to distance itself from the Abrahamic religions and as a result a lot of our practices are shrouded in secrecy because we wish to avoid persecution.

[omikrondraconis]

As a Wiccan myself, I think that this is generally really good and respectfully presented information for people looking to understand "us weirdos".

There are just two things I would like to note: (8:41) it is neither calls Gardenian Wicca (as in the spoken part) nor Gardernian Wicca (as in the text on screen), but Gardnerian Wicca. We appreciate the effort, though :)

So long and blessed be!

[bagu]

I loved this more general type of content. As a casual SMT player, there's a limit to how much SMT content I'm interested in watching. This more general form of content is great to contextualize the overall faiths and religions SMT takes inspiration from.

[SydneySininen]

Pagan friend has had me interested in witchcraft for some time now. I decide to take the plunge by looking up Wicca and you're the first person to pop up, hell yeah.

Idk how I didn't find this video sooner, I love binging your videos

[PraisetheFluffyTail]

Used to be Wiccan, but im now leaning more towards Celtic Paganism, and yes its a pretty difficult subject to explain since it has many offshoots, some consider Dianism not part of Wicca, there is also the Strega Witches which are compossed of only female members, also other Wicca types such Seax Wicca, and Faerie Wicca; regarding book of shadows your caution about being wary of the ocassional odd witch is a valid one, but at least in the one current I had studied, the B.o.S. was more of certain spells, rituals, amulets and so, passed by your coven master/teacher and spells you developed yourself. Regarding other notable authors about the craft or used by practicioners are Scott Cunningham and Raymond Buckland; good job with this video, as always it is content of quality.

[MrStinky]

What kind of spells do you use to keep making these high-quality, well researched videos? But really TFY these videos have been incredibly educational and as someone who finds theology extremely interesting I’m always excited whenever you upload. Keep up the great work.

[Mikedc]

Just found your channel yesterday and watched the angel vid, 5 disturbing demons and now this. I am really looking forward to watching more videos. I love all the lore and research you put into these videos. Great work!!!

[trashgoon]

this is something i’ve always wanted to know but i’ve never felt like looking into. so thank you for this

[AdamTheHedgehog]

You should check out Jediism. It's a fascinating example of how what starts with a joke can actually become a very real practice, and perhaps the most interesting example of a religion being born from an intellectual property.

[limbersauce]

Can't wait to show this to my Wiccan coworker

[DR_REDACTED]

2:08 Also just that everybody knows there is Theistic (those who believe in a real Satan) and atheistic (those who dont think he is real) Satanism. I myself am i atheistic Satanist😊

[johnjett]

I've been a Wiccan since 2007. I first saw a flier in a Coffee shop for an open circle for a Samhain Sabbat Ritual. So I went. It was an interesting ritual and I had a great time, so I joined the Coven.
I had to take a year and a day long training period. A few months into the training, we were to cast our first spell. I had a friend that lost his job, he was a terrible mooch. So, my spell was for him to get his job back. I didn't think it would work but I hoped it would work. A few days later, he was offered his old job back. I had tried to stop smoking for over a decade, nothing worked. So I did a spell to become a nonsmoker, it worked. I haven't had a cigarette since. There's something to Wiccan Magic. I don't know what it is but it works.

[dschumann]

Excellent explanation! Thank you & God Bless You - Forevermore. AMEN.

[bahamutxero]

Another great video Tony! I have point out a non religious item though. I'm not sure when you started using them, but as a hearing impaired person, I love the subtitles. They're very easy to read and very much appreciated.

I didn't realize that Wicca itself wasn't centralized, but that might just be another way they try to keep it secret. It's kind of sad really that they had to keep what seems to be a harmless practice with good intentions (to the earth anyway) for fear of persecution. It seems "men fear the unknown" is a dangerous then as it is now. I was also genuinely surprised that Crowley had some sort of connection to it.

[MindyoDam-buzinez]

In my history undergraduate program we were shown Margret Murray as an example and a warning of what not to do.

[arthurvinicius]

Great video as always. Love your content and the addition of subtitles is very welcome and I hope it will continue in your next videos.

[mukhumor]

Believe what you like, but harm none. Someone asked me about magic once. I said 'try to make someone happy, lord knows we all know how to make someone unhappy. Thats a little bit of magic.' 🍄

[Mozart]

"A hex upon you!"😅
That caught me off guard. Always nice to see when you upload a new video.