The New Wiccan

Many people have conceptions about Wicca, or witchcraft, from which they have obtained from biased sources, and not from their own research. This is a particularly human attribute, which has got everyone in trouble, at some stage of their life. Worse still people utilise resources such as "Bewitched", "Charmed" and "Sabrina" etc, as a reference point, and subsequently call themselves knowledgeable, and even use them in debates! Although those programs, above, have depicted witches as generally good people, they are still nothing like the real thing. 

To truly understand Wicca one requires an open mind, and the ability to make decisions by oneself. An open mind can't be stressed enough since there could be strong contradictions between what you have been taught about witchcraft and what is, in fact, the truth. 

A person starting out in the world of witchcraft is one of the hardest things one can do. People, firstly, have to overcome the initial, and understandable, fear of witchcraft as being an evil religion. Secondly one needs to be careful who one tells when one starts on the craft for the first time, since many rational people will become irrational when you tell them that you are a witch so a slow, and careful, beginning is required.

This is not the case with main stream religions. The wiccan community, does not 'convert' people, it is the individual who converts themselves. You will not find preachers, spreading the word, frightening people or otherwise "encouraging" into joining. 

Wicca obviously has literature, in which the seeker can obtain information, but this is entirely dependent on the person wanting to read it.

Recently some wiccans have become media pagans, normally called in for debates, documentaries, and other media interest on witchcraft or the esoteric, but this is only small compared to the entire channels and literature devoted to the mainstream religions. 

This is not to say that these religions do not have their tolerant aspects, it is just an unfortunate fact that those who are antagonistic know exactly how to pull the strings on those which are susceptible to it. Tolerance, is the catchphrase of Wicca.

There are a lot of 'types' of people, different cultures, different sex, different religions etc. Wicca recognises them all, as a equally valid way to the divine. If one does a simple search for witchcraft, one will come up with a plethora of pages, some of which you might consider being nicey, nicey! Understandable from a witches point of view, but as far as this author is concerned giving information on witchcraft, warts and all, will give people the information required to formed a more informed decision.