Wicca is generally acknowledged to have been founded by Gerald Gardiner. However, Wicca as a religion has its roots in many different things including pagan worship, witchcraft, alchemy, and 19th century mysticism. All of these things came together to make Wicca a 20th century religion that is one of the fastest growing, especially in the Western world.
Paganism
Pagan worship is the worship of nature. Our ancestors worshipped deities that came to them from their beliefs in the land, the water, the sky, the heavens, and the seasons. Their days were controlled by the sun and the moon and their survival depended upon the seasons. People did not have science so they explained creation, birth, death, love, and other human experiences through their
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However, it was more than the conversion of one metal into another. Alchemy was the science of man's quest to obtain the ultimate spiritual enlightenment. Alchemists believed that if they could make the philosopher's stone, it would bring them to a higher state of being. Alchemists were the forefathers of modern chemistry. They believed that many things impacted upon their formulas. For example, they used astronomy and astrology. They also developed symbolic notation to represent the various elements, metals, and planets and their interactions.
From the alchemists, Wiccans get their focus upon the elements of Earth, Air, Fire, Water and Spirit. Even the notation of these elements is originally from alchemy. The alchemists’ beliefs in the impact of the planets upon our actions was not new but they gave it strength by combining it with the scientific facts of astronomy. The Alchemists understood man's need to combine our curiosity and logic with our need for spirituality.
19th Century
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Somewhere around 1936, he claimed to have inducted into the New Forest Coven by someone named Dorothy Clutterbuck. He claimed to be involved with the coven for many years. In 1948, he apparently started his own coven. This would become the first real Wiccan coven although it was not called such at that time. In fact, he only ever used the word “Wica” rather than “Wicca”. Gerald Gardiner is credited with being the founding father of the first Wica coven. In 1953, he met Doreen Valiente and she eventually became a High Priestess in his Coven. Doreen helped Gerald to rewrite his Book of Shadows which would become the backbone of many of current Wiccan practices. A lot of the previous material was thought to have been heavily influenced by such people as Aleister Crowley, a ceremonial magician. It is uncertain how much was still retained in the revised version. In 1954, Gerald wrote Witchcraft Today and it was very popular. It was used to create covens, now referred to as Gardnerian covens all across England.
Subsequently, Alex Sanders founded the Alexandrian tradition in the 1960’s. Wicca spread into the United States and
As you can see, this perfectly explains what alchemists are like. People perceive them as normal human beings, but they
Wiccans have no leader, or any central figure to follow nor do they have a Bible. A lot of Wiccans are very independent while others form small groups, perhaps, in their communities called Covens. The reason due to the lack of or limited knowledge they’ve obtained from their ancestors was because many Christian churches tried to vanish this religion since they associate witchcraft with the devil and the worshipping of it. However, a group of 73 representatives or so from many different Wiccan practices and traditions met in Minneapolis in 1973 to develop a form of temporary "Council of American Witches" headed by Carl Llewellyn Weschcke, a very well-known writer that specializes in books that focus on alternative health and healing, astrology, earth-based religions, Gnostic Christianity, and more. The group victoriously came up with a set of 13 beliefs that successfully met the beliefs and the definition of the
The following paper will talk about Wicca and Paganism as a religion within the United States. Wicca is a diverse community as a religion, but is not yet considered by any Supreme court case but some aspects such as traditions are recognized by the federal and state courts. This will be further touched upon further later on.
Contrary to where Kachowism is practiced, the religion originated from Italy. The story goes that a man named Giovanni was stuck in a freak thunderstorm in Central Italy. The storm lasted four days for five nights. Giovanni blunders about in the storm for these days, and before dawn on the fifth day a figure appeared to him. The figure was tall and broad, and wore a coat of pure white. He introduced himself as The Divine God. He spoke to Giovanni telling him that he shall be the founder of a new religion. One that would be the most pure and sacred on Earth. He asked Giovanni that in twelve day’s time he was to take a boat and head south at sunset, and he will guide them to the place they are meant to be. The next morning the storm ended. Giovanni went into the city of Venice to spread the good news. His followers were mostly poor and middle aged. but twelve days he set out south just as he was instructed. Then Giovanni and his followers spent twenty days and twenty nights following the thunder clouds that was sent by The Divine God. On the twenty-first day they landed in a cloudy tundra at dawn. As the days went by Giovanni had been getting visions on how to start his new religion. The rules and duties of the community were carved into a
Wicca is actually a modern pagan religion, and is concentrated on a more peaceful, harmonious and balanced way of life. It is actually a belief system that is of pre-Christian that is mostly how our ancestors lived
Eleven respectable middle-aged housewives dance around a bonfire butt naked in the middle of the night; their boisterous chants echo through the surrounding forest. A film student traveling abroad finds security in his unfamiliar surroundings by casting a protection spell at his portable altar, his Goddess statuette staring up reassuringly. On the Oregon coast, a small group of environmentalists fume their rage during a ceremony to rid the Earth of its state of man-made dilapidation from pollution and deforestation. Their experiences differ, their practices deviate, and their devotions vary, but all of these people belong to the same religious movement. In this one way, they are united. They are all Wiccan.
Lastly, Wicca does not follow any particular book like Christianity and the Bible, or Islam and the Koran. One book does exist (The Book of Shadows) but it is just a collection of spells which has been updated and extended over
The Wiccan religion is one of the fastest growing religions in the United States as well one of the most misunderstood due to the controversies surrounding its history and mystery shrouding its beliefs and doctrines. Due to a series of popular TV series that have shown Witchcraft in a positive light, such as Sabrina, the Teen-aged Witch and Charmed, the popularity of Wicca has grown, especially amongst teenagers; but sadly this popularity has not been partnered with a growth in understanding and respect (Kaminer). Although Wicca offers a nature-oriented, egalitarian belief system with a rich collection of customs and rituals, ignorance and historically-rooted misconceptions still dominate public opinion.
Alchemy is not only changing the metals into gold as many people think and although that one of the goal that people try to do it through alchemy. Alchemy is start from astrology because both of them try to make people to understand mans has the relationship to the universe and exploit it. When astrology is focus on the star, alchemy is focus on the elements of nature. In additional, alchemy starts partly from metallurgy, a science that deals with extracting of metals to form ore. It is also a science that combining of metals to make alloys. Alchemist of many religions believed that they will understand the will of god through the world in which they lived. Today modern chemistry develop from alchemy using the extend knowledge of substances
Owing to this elemental characteristic, alchemist will place great importance in controlling the fire element, which demands willpower coupled with attention to detail. For this reason, the basic tenet for the alchemist should be: no success without fire. The highest aspects concealed within the fire element are the creator’s all-might and omnipotence. God created the fire element by utilizing the quabbalistic formula “SCH” (Engl.
In the early days of alchemy, many scholars doubted the authenticity and credibility of alchemy as a scholarly field of study. They labeled it as “mystical” and challenged greatly the possibilities of alchemical transmutations and any practitioner’s credibility. However, alchemy was still practiced and discussed in all levels of society. Alchemy has been discovered in recent times to have been central to the development of early modern science and medicine. The practice of alchemy has made many contributions to the development of modern chemical medicines.
1) What is alchemy? What processes were involved? Who performed it and why? Who were the famous alchemists of the medieval period?
" The Secrets of Alchemy" Introduction- While reading "The Secrets of Alchemy" , I realized that alchemy is a very raw version of chemistry. The text mentions at the beginning that many people have heard of the philosophers stone due to modern interest in novels such as, "Harry Potter". I have not read any Harry Potter books and have never heard of the philosophers stone, so it was interesting to read about. I wonder why the alchemist were so secretive? The mystical secretive stigma that surrounds alchemy, I feel was regressive and a key factor in its success.
Originating in ancient Egypt, Alchemy is one of the two oldest sciences that are known in the world, besides astrology. It can be described as a process in which we shift from our essential state of unconsciousness, go through plenty alchemical stages portrayed by our most elemental experiences, to the understanding of full awakening, or enlightenment. Alchemy is a an operation that goes around from cycle to cycle, repeating over and over again to transform and alter us through the experiences of our body, soul,and spirit. In alchemical terminology, this is called the Opus, or Great Work. The larger state of consciousness and our self-understanding that results includes recognition of our connection to the spirit world and consciousness of the relativity
The earliest form of natural science was alchemy. The most common first thought when alchemy is mentioned is turning elementary metals into gold. However, there is much more to it than that. Near the time of 100 AD is when alchemy first began in the western hemisphere, specifically Alexandria, Egypt, the joint of Greek and eastern cultures (Encyclopedia Americana Vol. 1: 510). One of the most popular theories that lay the foundation for alchemy was that of Aristotle, written about the 4th century BC (510). That is the theory that heat, cold, moisture, and dryness are the base characteristics of all matter, and they combine to create the four elements: fire, water, earth, and air (510). Frankenstein more than certainly incorporated these ideas in his chemistry experiments. Although at first he left the medieval books alone and followed the new ideas of the modern scientists of the time, after professor M. Waldman presented him with an open mind, he reverted to the primitive ideas of chemistry (Shelley Web).