Wiccans worship the devil." You probably know by now that's not true, especially if you're a practicing Pagan of any sort. "The Devil" is a Christian concept. I'm not sure if Christians began to believe Witches and Wiccans worshipped Satan because the representations of Pagan Gods are often shown with horns . . . or if the Christians of the day decided to make their concept of evil so similar-looking specifically so that people would believe that and convert, much the way the Pagan holidays were given new names and attached to saints to encourage conversion. I really don't know, since I wasn't there. The fact remains that the consort of the Lady does indeed have horns in most of the mythology. He is not by any stretch of the imagination any Christian fallen angel or anything like it . . . Satan is "evil," and the Great Horned God is NOT. There is no concept of evil in most Pagan religions, really . . . there is acceptance of the dark sides of all life as well as the bright, but there is no "God of Evil," nor would we worship anything that we thought to be so. Some "Satanists" do exist as far as I know, but Satanism is not another term for Wicca or Witchcraft.

"Wicca/Witchcraft and Christianity are opposites." Slightly different, but not opposite in the least. We hold a lot of the same beliefs, and you'll find when poking your nose into Christian mythology that about twenty BILLION things are the same. And I have heard plenty about Christians being "against" Wicca and Witchcraft because of their interpretation of a verse or two in the Bible, but there is no doctrine in our beliefs that outlaws Christianity. (Remember, we have no Bible, only somewhat individualized "Books of Shadows" which are not gospel but just informational.) Some people actually are practicing Wiccans or Witches that trust Jesus Christ as their Savior. They are obviously people who can pick what feels "right" out of any religion, and that is highly respected in the Pagan community. There is no renouncing of Christ at initiation into Wicca; there is no crusade against Christianity; at the most there is a bit of bad feeling. Since hostile Christians were responsible for Witches being persecuted in the "Burning Times" and because some hostile Christians still insist on picking on Wiccans, Witches and Pagans, many of us dislike Christians in general. I prefer to see people individually. I understand that Christians usually feel that they need to spread their word and feel there is only one "truth," but most of us believe all paths lead to Summerland and/or reincarnation and should not be "attacking" Christians, either in response or of their own initiative. Just as it is not basic Christian practice to burn Witches, it is not our basic practice to harass Christians or do anything else to them but let them be.

"The pentagram, a symbol Witches use, is symbolic of Satan." No it's not! Some Satanists DO use it, but to understand why, you have to know what it stands for. Each point of the star stands for an element, the fifth element being spirit. Satanists adopted it in order to show that the spiritual life is less important than the earthly life; they put the four points of the elements above the top point to show the earthly life's mastery over spirit. Wiccans in general and most Witches and Pagans like to use it right-side-up in order to show that the spirit is most important, though in some types of traditional Wicca the upside-down pentagram is used as a second-degree initiation symbol, to show the elements still have mastery over the mind until third degree initiation. The pentagram is a very inspiring symbol because it is a shape that shows the interlocking nature of all five elements (the spirit includes the God and Goddess). It is NOT evil.

I have heard these misconceptions many times and now carry a miny pagan dictionary in my purse so that people can read the meanings of Witch, Wicca, and many other misunderstood terms. I find it always comes in handy when having a debate about any type of religion.

Pagan,Wicca or any earth base relion are tru as time it self mostly a way of live tho.

Hi Michael, Michelle and group. Just joined yesterday so I thought I would share my thoughts in your discussion. I am a hereditary celtic witch/Druid who practices eclectic magic. The craft as I like to refer to it is a way of life for me more than a simple set of believes. It is a way of understanding things in the world both physical and spiritual. So in a manner of speaking witchcraft is a religion from the standpoint that we worship a different pantheon of what we consider to be devine beings. It is of course also a practice because some witches use our believes purely for their magical purposes and don't necessarily pledge themselves in any respect to any single or pair of devine beings. I have been a Theologian for over 27 years and you would be surprised how many similarities there are in the religions of the world. Primarily because at some point and time long before beliefs became written down there was one religion that tied all of mankind together. When mankind became spread all over the globe the ancient beliefs were forgotten and new ones were created to suffice their environment and situation. There is no such aspect of a devil in the craft and like Michael pointed out the believes were feared and dreaded by the Christian church because they could not control the followers of the Old Religion so the best they could do was to call it evil and to hate those that practiced it as being devil worshippers. Again you are right Michael in that Satanists worship the material reality and are not concerned with the spiritual side of things. They are not evil per se just go at things from a reversed perspective as you pointed out. The main difference between the craft and wicca is the craft has no creed such as, "And it harm none do what thou wilt", which is also very similar to a quote by Aleister Crowley. Yes there is a dark side to things as the world is made up of positive and negative the key being to live in balance understanding and utilizing both. The world is full of diverse individuals and no one should be judged simply on their believes as that is only one aspect of the given individual who should be accepted and appreciated for all that they have come to be.

i have definitly heard many of these misconceptions about wicca and witch craft, having come from a catholic family and having a older brother who is a minister its basicly the general disscusion at family dinner events. They love trying to scare me into being a part of what they believe by telling me im going to hell.

hi all yes i think there is a lot of misconception out there regarding wiccan , i am not a wiccan but i find it really intersting so u might say its nothing to do with me but i am willing to learn xxxx dawn

yes there is a lot of misconceptions about paganism,witchcraft and wicca.the most prevelant one is that wiccans/pagans worship satan.i get that a lot.i live in ireland which is very backwards when it comes to outside religions other that catholicism.All my family(those who know i am pagan) assume i worship the devil and when i get married i will be invoking satan to look over the ceremony and to bless us.Also that "its just a phase and you'll go back to normal soon". do you know how frustrated it makes m feel when they come out with this? and trying to explain to them that their views are totally wrong doesn't work.