Wicca History, Lesson 1
Lesson One
Welcome to the course, we will start looking at the basis of Wicca and try to found origins from facts that we know. The main reason why it is so hard to find the true origins of Wicca is that very little was ever written down or have been lost to us.
So let’s look at what we know:
The term Wicca as a Celtic origin wicce, “wise” the Celtics are a very important part of Wicca, which has somewhat been overlook. The Celtics social order was one that women could hold power in their own right such Boudicca, Wicca being a strong feminine base belief is important to remember.
The Celtic people were artisans who believed in many gods and goddess, most importantly the Great Mother, from 500 BC they came the major force in Europe and found the many festivals that Wiccans and pagans still honour today Imbolc, Beltane, Lammas and Samhain which we will look at in a later lesson.
Celtic mysticism understood that all of existence has a repeated nature, and that there is a direct connection between the material world and the otherworld. Everything exists on several synchronized levels. Human beings can understand things as having three levels: the physical, the spiritual, and the symbolic. Therefore Celtic culture was integrated with nature, and expressed itself through the various possibilities of life itself. Celtic religion taught the reincarnation of all individual souls, and the appearance of divine beings on Earth. Making very much the bases of the Wicca belief, will the modern founders of Wicca have carried forth in there writing such as Gerald Gardiner .
Before I g on about history that lead on from the Celtics I want us to look at main steams that we have today in Wicca?
The Alexandrian tradition founded by Alexander Saunders
The Celtic tradition
The cymri tradition
The Druidic tradition
The Gardnerian tradition
All these traditions are base in Wicca, and will be looking at them in a later lesson.
Homework.
What I would like you to do is write me a short essay with the title Why Wicca is important to you and we will have a group discussing on your essays in the forum.