A lot of information about Wicca is available on-line, and printed in books. Some of it is good. Much of it is bad, very bad, or just nonsense. One of the most common, and perhaps most destructive false myths is that Wicca is anything you want it to be. That goes together with the false myth that anyone can read a book or two, invent their own “spirituality,” and become a Wiccan. Not so.

Wicca is an Initiatory Mystery religion. Wicca is a coven based religion with specific teachings, specific rituals, specific morals, specific ways of interacting with Gods, and fundamental understandings of matters concerning life, death, and rebirth.

Wicca is a form of Witchcraft that has roots in England back a thousand years, with Norman French influence after the Norman conquest. The Wiccan structure of equal men and women is from the Norman French influence. British witchcraft was predominantly men led. For hundreds of years English witchcraft was taught in secret groups or covens, and always taught from master to neophyte.

Sometime around 1990 books began to appear claiming to teach Wicca for solitary individuals who didn't want to take the time or effort to learn from a coven. One of them most widely circulated was called, “Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner” by Scott Cunningham. Since then there have been many more as uncaring or unknowing publishers sought to cash in on a growing book market. Impressionable young seekers found these books rather than finding a coven and doing the work to become an Initiated witch.

Web sites such as Reddit/Wicca teach wannabes that a Wiccan can be an atheist, a christian, or whatever anyone wants to believe, and still call herself Wiccan. That just isn't true. It harms genuine seekers to get all that bad information. Other web sites charge money to teach false Wicca.

The fairly recent book The Tangled Web of Wicca, by Rain Dove (a.k.a Suzy Smith) is something of a rant against the mishmash of false narratives now being told. We need to review from time to time.

We are Initiatory. To be Wiccan you have to do the work, learn from experienced Wiccans, and be initiated in an initiatory Wiccan tradition. We are a religion of group practice.

We are a Mystery. To be Wiccan you have to experience the mysteries of Gods, spirits, astral planes, and know thyself. Religious mysteries have to be experienced because they cannot be taught or explained in words.

We are a religion. You can't be Wiccan and be some other religion too. You can't be a Christian Wiccan. Too many contradictions. A Christian may practice some form of magic, but can't also be Wiccan. Neither can a Wiccan also be Atheist, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, or any other religion.

There really is no solitary Wiccans, nor so-celled eclectic Wiccans. Wicca is a group practice. Wiccans celebrate together in groups called covens. Eclectic means a mishmash of whatever you want, much of it non-Wiccan. Eclectic usually means someone who has not done the work to become Wiccan.

We are a magic using religion. You can't be Wiccan and not do magic. Even casting a circle is magic.

We celebrate the divine duality of God and Goddess with male and female leadership and energy. This principle has had numerous detractors, even in some covens, over the past couple of decades.

We are polytheistic. We call upon various Gods or Goddesses as need arises.

We follow the Wiccan Rede, the 3 fold law, and harmonize with cycles of earth and sky. We have no sin or shame of our bodies. Our bodies are divine, not obscene or sinful. Our bodies are sacred. All acts of love and bodily pleasure honor our Goddess.

We generally keep the Old Laws or Ardanes,, or as much of it as apply in our century.

We do not charge for the teaching. It was a gift from the Goddess, and must be given as a gift to others.

When our time on this earth ends, our spirits rests in the Summerland, and then we reincarnate into a new life. We have no eternal hell or heaven.

You who would be Wiccan, you have devoted yourself to this coven and to earning an initiation. One of your oaths is to keep the Mysteries sacred, and to pass them on to to others who come to your circle seeking to learn Wicca.

Finally, Wicca includes a traditional sacred blessing.

Blessed Be to all of you.