Another Look at the Wiccan Core Beliefs


and they are manifest in all of Nature. This is why Wiccans can create sacred space anywhere by the act of "casting a circle". We don't need special temples and consecrated holy ground because ALL ground is holy to us. Special buildings are nice, but unnecessary as all the Earth is our temple.

Moving on to point five, we hit the first place where I disagree with the compiled list. Point five discusses how we set the days for our religious celebrations, stating that they "are determined by the changing phases of the moon and the turning of the seasons". I feel this is right to a certain extent. The celebrations are governed by the Wheel of the Year, but I don't feel it's important to celebrate on a certain specific date. For example, Ostara celebrates the beginning of spring on the Vernal Equinox. If on that day there's snow on the ground where you live, you may not feel like spring has come to you. Why not wait until it does? Our seasons are rather fluid things. Just because a calendar dates says "summer starts now" doesn't mean it feels like summer to you.

Then, of course, there's the issue of scheduling. What do you do if the seasonal day of the holiday occurs in the middle of the workweek? Do you take a day or two off work? Do you celebrate in the evening in the middle of the week? Do you wait until the closest weekend day? I truly believe that religion must dovetail into all aspects of your life. If you have a big project at work, or your child has a soccer game, the Gods will understand if you can't celebrate Ostara on the actual Equinox date.

Point 6 talks about moon rituals. Many books refer to these rituals as "esbats" and the 8 major holidays on the Wheel of the Year as "sabbats". In Doreen Valiente's "Charge of the Goddess", the Goddess asks us to come to her during the full moon to ask for her aid. I've yet to run across a Wiccan who didn't honor the full moon in some way, even if it's just standing outside and silently worshipping for a few minutes.

In my coven, we use moon rituals as a time to work group magic and to explore our various interests. We've had Norse moon rituals and Fairy moon rituals. We've done a lot of

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