W I C C A

Wicca is a new contemporary Pagan Earth centered religion and is typically duo theistic where people believe in a god or goddess. These are traditionally viewed as the Moon Goddess and the Horned God. Not all Wiccans would consider themselves as Pagan and in the same way many pagans would not identify themselves as Wiccans.

Wiccans honour the life sustaining and life-giving powers of nature through ritual worship and living life focused on the Earths balance. I would not identify myself as Wiccan, Pagan or from any Religious or non-religious tradition, but I am always interested in and inspired by exploring other people’s beliefs and ways of life.

Wicca is seen as a very dynamic and ever evolving tradition and Wiccans have different views on certain elements of their religion, but they have the same basic principles - to honour the Earth and their Goddess & God.

The Goddess & God are believed to be responsible for all creation including the cycles of life & death on Earth. They hold many ritual celebrations during their ‘Wheel of the Year’ as they mark the natural cycles of plating, growth, harvesting and dying. In this view, Wiccans see Death as a vital part of life and ongoing creation.

Its Wiccans view of Death that interests me the most. The most widely accepted concepts of an afterlife held by Wiccans is that of reincarnation. Reincarnation is a view accepted by many other religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism and is the idea that we will eventually be born again in a new life. Wiccans also tend to view nature as cyclical; from the scientific elements of electrons revolving around its nucleus and the changing seasons to the planets revolving around the Sun within our Solar System. Regarding this, the idea of Reincarnation is common-sense. To believe in one singular life would be such a small drop in the whole of eternity and it would not be in keeping with their view that everything works in a cyclic sense.

Some Wiccans view life and Death slightly different to other Wiccans, for example some see our journey through life as spiritually progressive and they can believe that we have the choice to choose what life we move on to. Others believe that our next life would be fully dependent on our Karma from our previous life (much alike the Buddhist view) and some Wiccans also believe that wherever we move on to in our next life, it is completely out of our control; It is completely random, and our fate is beyond our understanding.

The symbols used within my collection ‘Wicca’ were inspired by this contemporary religion but also echo Traditional Witchcraft and Pagan beliefs.