Christian Wicca

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Christian Wicca is a combination of Christianity and Wiccan, Pagan and/or other occult beliefs. This combination may also include Jewish, Islamic, and other beliefs. Common elements transplanted from Wicca include reincarnation and fertility; however, the key points of the divinity of Jehovah, Christ, and the Holy Spirit are retained from Christianity, often with a renewed emphasis on the latter two.^[1][2] The combination of two religions, each traditionally considered at odds with the other, is frequently criticized by those who are members of only one.^[3][4][5]

Contents 1 Principal tenets 1.1 Interpretation of Biblical injunctions 2 Symbolism 3 Prayer and Witchcraft 4 Celtic Influences 5 Worship and Holidays 6 Concepts drawn from Wicca 7 See also 8 References

[edit] Principal tenets

A significant set of issues within Christian Wicca, and between Christian Wiccans and other Christians, are the details of Christology, interpretation of the Bible, and the nature of the Trinity. According to historic Christian Doctrine, held by the majority of Christian movements and Churches, God is personified in a Trinity, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Mother Earth was commonly viewed as the Goddess of common Wicca in past eras, however this is changing as more Christian Wiccans become aware that Christ himself called the Church to be his Bride, and therefore Goddess. The earth is seen as the temporary home which Christ has given his Bride and Goddess to care for the spiritual children that are born into the family of Christ, which is cared for by his Bride.

In Christian Wicca, the Holy Spirit is Feminine, and is thus may be regarded as the Great Mother Goddess, as spoken of in Traditional Christian thought. Many even take it farther, saying the Holy Spirit was embodied in the person of the Virgin Mary. Other Biblical passages believed to refer to the Holy Spirit as Feminine Goddess include the "Wisdom" character of the Book of Proverbs (see also the Gnostic concept of "Sophia"), the Bride of the Song of Solomon, and the female figures depicted in the Book of Revelation.

Other Christian Wiccans dispense with complex Trinitarian arguments, and simply believe that Mother Earth and God are one and the same. This is a controversial concept in Christianity. (Leonardo Boff is a Roman Catholic theologian who has argued for the divine nature of the Earth, and was summarily dismissed from the priesthood.) Some worship the holy Goddess as Shekinah, or the radiance of God, an originally Jewish concept. A related concept used as a name for the Goddess is Matronit. Another of her names is the Greek goddess-name Sophia (literally meaning 'wisdom') or the Latin equivalent Sapienta. These beliefs depend on how closely the individual reads, studies and interprets the Biblical Scriptures, and what they gain from studying the original languages from which modern translations are derived.

Another Christian Wiccan position is to embrace Mary as a goddess-figure, and Jesus Christ as their god-figure. Sometimes this 'Mary' is not the Virgin Mary of the Bible, and mother of Jesus, but Mary Magdalene or Mary of Bethany. According to traditions recounted in the book Holy Blood, Holy Grail, one of these women was said to be the wife of Jesus. Many also see evidence of a romantic link between Mary Magdalene and Jesus in the Nag Hammâdi Gnostic Scriptures. This is, however, not obvious. (There is no direct reference to her being his wife, for instance.) Another common practice of not only Christian Wiccans but simply Christian mystics is to embrace the idea of a Holy Quaternity. Most of the time this will include the God-the-Father and feminine Holy Spirit, but also will include Jesus as their Son God and Mary Magdalene or the Gnostic Sophia as their Daughter Goddess, or a worship of both a male and female trinity (Holy Trinity and Trinosophia).

[edit] Interpretation of Biblical injunctions

The most common objection to Christian Wicca are the direct objections to witchcraft found in the Old Testament, particularly in Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. A common counter argument is that the term 'witch' is a loose translation of the terminology used in the original Hebrew, which was more specific in its implications. As with other aspects of Christian Wicca, wide disparities exist in the arguments used to reconcile these injunctions with Wiccan practice^[6][7]. However, common elements generally agreed upon include:

• The ancient Hebrew and modern definitions of witch do not coincide
• Some elements of modern Witchcraft, such as divination and meditation, are clearly endorsed by the Bible
• The prohibitions in the Bible forbid particular practices of witchcraft, including:
  • necromancy, or raising and commanding ghosts and spirits (see Witch of Endor)
  • poisoning
  • compulsion or deception through magical means
  • use of polytheistic rites to deny God
  • use of magic in rebellion against God, or for selfish purposes

More controversial arguments used against the anti-witch provisions include:

• The prohibitions against witchcraft are part of the Jewish Law, and are inapplicable to Christians, who are freed from the Law (Romans)
• The legislations against witchcraft were primarily intended to prevent conversion to foreign polytheisms, and are now obsolete
• These portions of the Scriptures have only limited relevance

[edit] Symbolism

One symbol used in Christian Wicca is the Crucifix with the word God across the horizontal 'beam' and the word goddess down the vertical. Another common motif is a Celtic cross, with the pentagram of Wicca inscribed in the circle about the cross.

A common practice in Christian Wicca is to associate archangels with the elements and/or the called quarters. Four, five, or seven archangels are used; the names they are given vary, but include the names mentioned in the Scriptures and the Apocrypha: Gabriel, Michael, and Raphael. Many of these association can be traced to Christian ceremonial magic, such as how the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn associated Gabriel with water, Michael with fire, Raphael with air, and Auriel with earth.

[edit] Prayer and Witchcraft

Many Christian Wiccans consider prayer and witchcraft to be two similar or identical practices because prayer may be a form of sympathetic magic, where a request is made after a physical model is designed in the physical form in order to display to the divine what is wanted by the asker. Others believe that priests are actually performing witchcraft when they are in service, but that their actions are called by another term. There have been comparisons made between the Christian method of prayer and the Wiccan tradition of magick (prayer being defined as "passive magic" and spells as "active magic").

[edit] Celtic Influences

When one looks at the Carmina Gadelica (collected by Alexander Carmmichael), this is rooted in a Christian background, but mixes prayers, blessings and invocations and charms together - more than likely from European and Celtic influences - and includes, for example, a Beltane blessing. This is because as the faith of Christianity spread through Europe, it absorbed the other ideas of other communities that were similar to itself. These things are not necessarily in conflict with Traditional Christianity or to Christian Wicca.

[edit] Worship and Holidays

Christian Wiccans may celebrate the faith based on a combination of both Christianity and Wicca, or emphasize one more heavily than the other. Most will consider their own home as a place where their own spiritual sacred space is recognized, and will perform worship of God by any number of formal or informal rituals, depending on the background from which they came, as well as what appeals to them, and also through application of what they have learned and read. Christian Wiccans see no problem forming a spiritual circle of protection around their worship space, and believe that it represents the endlessness of God, who has no beginning and not ending.^[8]

[edit] Concepts drawn from Wicca

Many Christian Wiccans hold beliefs remarkably similar to other Wiccans or Pagans. They may embrace reincarnation, an uncommon topic in mainstream Christian thought. This belief usually includes a stop at the Summerlands, associated either with Purgatory or occasionally Heaven. It may also include a belief in such magical and spiritual beings as fairies, elves, dragons, Elementals, or others.

[edit] See also

• Cunning folk

[edit] References