The devil is a concept that evoled from old Persian, and Hebrew ledgends and was integrated into Christianity over time. Misunderstanding of the Pagan way of life made our Nature Gods (for instance: Pan) into a caricature called "Satan".
Some of this misinformation was perpetuated by 19th and 20th century dabblers who invented a new kind of Witchcraft, not so much based on the Old Religion, as on alchemy and high magick. This gave us Aleister Crowley, Gerald Gardner, Anton LaVey,and even Helena Blavatsky.
Black magicians or devil worshippers are not true Witches, whatever they call themselves. They invert the Christian Mass and ridicule it. Since Witches do not believe Christianity, what possible purpose could it serve us to use a perversion of its rituals as a tool?
This can be seen through a simple examination of Nature: can you think of one creature that is all good or all evil? Of course not, because one does not exist. We view our Gods as having both good and evil sides, just as we all do.
You may be asking, "So why do you refer to your God in rituals as being horned?". One aspect of the God is that he is the God of the hunt, and of the animals of the forest. He has antlers actually, not really horns like a bull. These horns are the way that he has traditionally been portryed (even before the time of Christ), probably because it makes him seem more one with the animals of the forest. In actuality, the Christian devil was never portrayed with horns until after the Crusades, when the knights of the Templar came across a Pagan village where the people were worshipping a God with horns. They gave these horns to "Satans" image because they thought it would make Pagans who worship horned Gods look evil. This lie persists even today.
Wicca is non-prejudice against other people or religions, and as a general rule, we just wish to co-exist peacefully with everyone else.
Each group, called a Coven or Circle, makes its own rules and cares for its own members. Often those who are most public are considered too opportunistic and commerical by many other Witches.
Witchcraft is a personal faith. Witches by and large, believe that one should follow faith and not a leader.
You will be given the opportunity to EARN the money that you NEED. I said NEED, not necessarily WANT, and I said EARN, not BE GIVEN.
Others feel that clothing interfers with their power. If a couple of ounces of fabric interfers with your power, you don't have any.
Whether or not to go Skyclad should be a decision between you, your coven, and the weather, and the rules of good taste and public sensibilities.
Can you be a Witch without it? Certainly. By the time you are to be accepted into membership in a Coven the hard lessons have been learned and the process of Initiation should be a time of joy and fellowship, not physical fear and apprehension. Solitary Witches can self-initiate or dedicate.
Degrees are elements introduced into the Craft very recently, 19th and 20th century additions, generally stuck in by the dabblers previously mentioned. The Old Religion had no degrees, they are more pretentious nonsense.
Pagans back in the old days believed that if they held a broom under them almost like they were flying them, and if they ran around their corn fields jumping, the higher they jumped the higher the corn plants would grow. When Christians saw this going on they thought that they were actually trying to fly the Broom and thats how this myth was started.
The word warlock comes from the burning times and means "oath breaker" or "traitor". (It is a Scottish term.) Therefore it is an insult to call a Witch a warlock.
The television shows that kids watch have green faced Witches (like in the "Wizard of Oz") only because thats how they made Witches out to be evil, nothing factual, they just tried to make the Witches look evil like the Christians tried to make them out as.
Conversely if you genuinely do good, without thought of benefit to yourself, then goodness will come into your life in like measure.
For really meanspirited folks who seem to breeze through life selfishly and seem never to hit a bump, their bumps may not show on the outside, or they may truly not hit them in this lifetime, but make no mistake, they will pay in this lifetime or another.
A penticale is generally accepted as the Wiccan symbol, much like the Christians wear crosses to represent their religion. The symbolism behind the penticale is as follows:
The five points represent the five elements - Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Spirit (Spirit = the Gods). The circle binding them represents protection, and infinity, or the Wheel of the Year and the Spiral of Life.
A spell is a form of prayer. The edge Witches have is that we are taught how to cast spells (or prayers) in ways that are more likely to be effective. We learn how to invest ENERGY (there's that basic element again) into our spells. We have learned over the centuries how best to use that ENERGY to carry out our wishes. We learn how to plan spells during astrologically beneficial times and to use herbs, oils, resins, candles, and colors that are sympathetic to our aims... harmony you see.
We learn how to concentrate our own ENERGY and that of the universe, and focus it to do our bidding. We also have learned responsibility so that we do not do spells frivolously or manipulatively, but with harm to none.
All creatures have a destiny which can be forged and made into what they want it to be. One method of doing this is through magick (the extra K is to differentiate between real magick and the tricks that stage magcians do).
However, do to the beliefs and rules of the Wiccan community, there are somethings we WON'T do. No true Witch would ever intenionally harm another via magick or try to control them. This should eliminate the fear of a Witch putting a curse on you. As a whole, we practice magick as a way of bettering the lives of ourselves and those of others.
