Once I realized that Christianity was a failed attempt at a way to worship God in the way that Jesus taught, and once the religion had hurt me so much, I started looking to other spiritual practices to help me feel the connection to my higher powers that Christianity could not fulfill for me. The first practice I looked into, after being suggested a few books from my therapist at the time, was Buddhism. When I got more into it, I bought my first crystal- a citrine pendant I learned would help with my self-esteem.
After this citrine worked so well, I talked with friends of mine who practiced Wicca, and one of these friends took me to a metaphysical store to buy more crystals. This was just the start, for five years later, I now have an entire cabinet devoted to dozens of herbs, scores of crystals, and several candles, tools, and instruments for the practice of witchcraft.
I would like to stop here and define witchcraft, for it has been shrouded in an air of persecution for centuries. Even, I myself, haven been raised in a Christian household, held very strong feelings about those who practiced, despite being friends with them. However, bit by bit, I redefined and relearned what Wicca and witchcraft actually were- and it was not what I had been taught. Witchcraft, in terms most understandable, is simply praying with props. So when Catholics use rosary, or when Protestants hold a clinging cross, or any of the several other religious tools are used (communion, altars, incense, e.g.), it is a form of witchcraft.
But what is Wicca? It is a modern form of Earth-based spirituality. We do not worship the Earth; we use it to worship our higher powers- which can be any deity or deities you choose, including the Christian trinity. Even the Pagan Goddess can be easily worshiped as the Holy Spirit. This, as a matter of fact, is what I do.
Wicca means believing that the Divine is embodies in the Universe and that all life forms are sacred. It means to become one with nature and commune with the Divine through nature. It has guidelines, not dogma. It is a system of techniques. It deals with spiritual insight that is gained through harmony with nature. It means having respect for and attunement with the natural energies of the Earth and the Universe. And none of these things mean that you cannot use these methods to worship the Christian Trinity or and any other deity with which you are familiar.
The Wiccan Rede states, "An' ye harm none, do what ye will." This is practically the Christian golden rule of doing unto others as you would have them do unto you. The basis of this spiritual practice is nearly the same as one of the most important rules of Christianity. And there are already so many similarities between the two faith systems, it is almost baffling that the two seem almost irreconcilable.
Wicca is eclectic, meaning that it is selecting and composing of spiritual knowledge from various sources- which can include Christian texts. Wicca is esoteric, meaning spiritual ideas, literature, and doctrines intended for and only understood by a small group. And Wicca means practicing Magick.
Magick is not pulling a rabbit out of a hat or summoning demons to do your bidding. It is simply techniques to change your consciousness at will to commune with the Divine. Why would one not want to commune with God or the Holy Spirit if the option is just to throw a few herbs and crystals into a bowl? Magick means answered prayers and miracles, not from your own doing as most assume, but from communing with the Divine. It means spellcasting, which is not a means of power over others, but of drawing out the Spirit within for guidance rather than seeking it from outside interaction. You have the power to get answers from your prayers. If God can more mountains, can He not also move a pendulum to tell you what you want to know? Seek and ye shall find, after all.
Trinitarian Wicca (that is, Wicca used to worship the Christian Trinity) is just communing with the Divine (in this case, God and the Holy Spirit), via the personal spiritual methods of Wicca. It is born not of a Pagan bastardization of Christianity, but of Coptic origins cemented by the Catholic Church stealing Pagan ideas- Christianity and Paganism have been intertwined since the very beginning. Even the two most celebrated Christian holidays, Christmas and Easter, are filled to the brim with Pagan practices; such as the tree, the egg, the rabbit, the wreath.
If Methodism and Catholicism are not opposing religious views, why must Wicca and Christian be so? Wicca is not even a religion per se, but, similar to Buddhism, it is a set of practices that brings one to another religion. In most cases, this is Paganism; however, it can be seen as a denomination- a path to come to the Trinity. Wicca is a system in which a practitioner has a mode of tools to worship whichever deity or deities they wish, and is thus perfectly applicable to Christianity.
