Questions to Fully Understand Wicca - Part 2

Can you demonstrate that you clearly understand the divide between Wicca and Eclectic Paganism, and of Wicca and Witchcraft?

Wicca has a set structure. There are aspects of the religion that are required in order to maintain that one is practicing Wicca. To remove one of these key aspects is to basically destroy what Wicca is, and turns it into Eclectic Paganism. For example, one of the common misconceptions about Wicca is that you are free to remove either deity (or both) from the religion and still maintain that one is practicing Wicca. To remove one or both Gods from Wicca effectively destroys what Wicca is, as its MAIN FOCUS is the worship of Gods (plural). To assume that you can be Wiccan while being atheist is a contradiction in terms. One cannot understand the fertile relationship between the God and Goddess and celebrate their relationship and union if you don't believe in them, much less incorporate them into your beliefs and practices. What makes one Wiccan if they flat out remove the Gods, period??

The problem here being that people quite frequently confuse Wicca with Witchcraft. It doesn't help that authors purporting to be some sort of authority on Wicca can't even get the terms right themselves, interchanging Wicca with Witchcraft or misusing the word "Wicca" to describe a Witchcraft practice. What hope is there to anyone fresh to Wicca to understand that Wicca is not Witchcraft when these so-called "authoritarian" authors cannot get the terms right themselves? (Very little, unless traditional Wiccans themselves begin writing informational books on traditional aspects of Wicca without divulging oathbound/privileged information).

A very simple understanding of Wicca is that it's a religion. A religion focuses on the veneration and worship of a deity figure (in Wicca's case, multiple deity figures). Witchcraft is a practice. Practice being that it has nothing to do with Gods or other religious affiliations.

For one to move from Wicca into Eclectic Paganism would mean that they have removed key aspects of the religion of Wicca AND/OR added aspects from OTHER religions/spiritualities that have nothing to do with Wicca. For example, Karma is not a Wiccan concept. It originated with Eastern philosophies centuries ago, and was adopted by many an Eclectic Pagan who perpetuated they were Wiccan. Most people will assume the "Threefold Law" (implemented in roughly the late 1960's) is in some way a re-write of the Karmic law, as the Threefold Law states "what you put out is returned times three". There is much debate as to what this Threefold Law means or if it is even Wiccan to begin with, as it is not an official law.

Karma on the other hand has nothing to do with punishing someone in this life (or necessarily at all). It affects subsequent lives (as the philosophies from which Karma originated believed in reincarnation). Most people who view the Threefold Law as somehow a serious regulation believe that anything someone does will be effected on them in this current life: squish a bug and you will be crushed by a bookcase in a week. Not only does Karma not affect this life, it does not return with greater force in the same manner that your actions did.

Regardless of the meanings and implementations of Karma, it is not a Wiccan concept and thus leads one into Eclectic Paganism.

Next Week:
Part 3

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Part 1