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Principles of Wiccan Belief
The Council of American Witches finds it necessary to define modern WitchCraft in terms of the American experience and needs.
We are not bound by traditions from other times and other cultures, and owe no allegiance to any person or power greater than the Divinity manifest through our own being.
As American Witches we welcome and respect all Life Affirming teachings and traditions, and seek to learn from all and to share our learning within our Council.
It is in this spirit of welcome and cooperation that we adopt these few principles of Wiccan belief. In seeking to be inclusive, we do not wish to open ourselves to the destruction of our group by those on self-serving power trips, or to philosophies and practices contradictory to ours, we do not want to deny participation with us to any who are sincerely interested in our knowledge and beliefs, regardless of race, color, sex, nationality, cultural origins, or sexual preference.
We therefore ask only those who seek to identify with us to accept these few basic principles.
1. We practice Rites to attune ourselves with the natural rhythm of life forces marked by the Phases of the Moon, the Seasonal Quarters and the Cross Quarters.
2. We recognize that our intelligence gives us a unique responsibility toward our environment. We seek to live in harmony with Nature, in ecological balance offering fulfillment to life and consciousness within an evolutionary concept.
3. We acknowledge a depth of power far greater than that apparent to the average person. Because it is far greater than ordinary, it is sometimes called "supernatural" but we see it as lying within all which is naturally potential to all.
4. We conceive of the Creative Power in the Universe as manifesting through polarity - as masculine and feminine - and that this same Creative Power lives in all people, and functions through the interaction of the masculine and the feminine. We value neither above the other, knowing each to be supportive of the other. We value Sex as pleasure, as the symbol and embodiment of life, and as one of the sources of energies used in magical practice and religious worship.
5. We recognize both outer worlds and inner, or psychological, worlds - sometimes known as the Spiritual World, the Collective Unconscious, the Inner Planes, etc. - and we see in the interaction of these two dimensions the basis for paranormal phenomena and magical exercises. We neglect neither dimension for the other seeing both as necessary for our fulfillment.
6. We do not recognize any authoritarian hierarchy, but do honor those who teach, respect those who have courageously given of themselves in leadership.
7. We see religion, magick, and wisdom in living as being united in the way one views the world and lives within it - a world view and philosophy of life which we identify as WitchCraft, the Wiccan Way.
8. Calling oneself "Witch" does not make a witch - but neither does heredity itself, nor the collecting of titles, degrees, and initiations. A Witch seeks to control the forces within him/herself that make life possible in order to live wisely and well, without harm to others, and in harmony with Nature.
9. We acknowledge that it is the affirmation and fulfillment of life, in a continuation of evolution and development of consciousness, that gives meaning to the Universe we know, and to our personal role within it.
10. Our only animosity toward Christianity, or toward any other religion or philosophy of life, is to the extent that its institutions have claimed to be "the only way" and have sought to deny freedom to others and to suppress other ways of religious practice and belief.
11. As American Witches, we are not threatened by debates on the history of the craft, the origins of various aspects of different traditions. We are concerned with our present and future.
12. We do not accept the concept of "absolute evil" nor do we worship any entity known as "Satan" or the "Devil" as defined by the Christian tradition. We do not seek power through the suffering of others, nor do we accept the concept that personal benefit can only be derived by denial to another.
13. We acknowledge that we seek within Nature for that which is contributory to our health and well being.
RESOLUTIONS
Adopted by the American Council of Witches
April 14, 19741. That members of this Council will refer sincere applicants to other Traditions if they are not suitable to the one first approached.
2. That no member of this Council will ever refer in print or in speech to his or her Tradition as being "the one true, right, and only way" of WitchCraft, or state that all other Witches are "not real Witches."
3. That members of this Council maintain a standard of vigorous statement and defense of their own positions as opposed to the destructive criticism of the beliefs and traditions of others.
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This page last updated March 10, 2004