No you do not. Plenty of people worship deities from various religions they do not identify as, the Wiccan Lord and Lady are the same way. If you feel drawn to them, then you can try working with them. You do not have to identify as Wiccan.
Many people take the Wiccan concepts and add them into their own religion and worship the gods and goddesses they choose, such as a "Christian Wiccan". You can do this if you wish, but you do not have to become a Wiccan to worship anyone. There are many systems and religions out there, and you can go with whichever one that fits your needs and what you want. No religion is the one true way.
who are the Lord and Lady? are they Jesus and Mary Magdalene, Satan and his wife, or something else entirely? Does Wicca bear anything in common with Christianity?
Re: Do you have to be wiccan By: Lark Moderator / Adept
Post # 8 Aug 23, 2016
The Lord and Lady of the Wica are a particular God and a particular Goddess whose names are divulged only to the properly initiated. In general the Goddess is associated with the Moon, while the God is often portrayed with antlers and rules over the fields and forests.
The Deities of Wicca are neither Jesus/Mary Magdalene, nor Satan/Lilith. The beliefs and practices of Wicca have no relationship with Christianity nor Christian views of the Divine. Check out the thread "What Wicca Is and Isn't" for more information.
Re: Do you have to be wiccan By: Lark Moderator / Adept
Post # 10 Aug 24, 2016
Whitesoul, I am going to disagree with part of your statement here.
It is very true that one does not have to become Wiccan unless one wants to. It is also very true that not all Witches are Wiccan. Witchcraft is a form of magical practice while Wicca is a religion.
However, I will disagree with your statement that not all Wiccans are Witches, because they are. Gerald Gardner, the founder of modern Wicca, clearly stated that Wiccans practiced Witchcraft and should be considered Witches. While some Wiccans choose to rarely if ever cast spells, they certainly know how to go about doing so at need. Furthermore, all Wiccans do practice magic such as charging their tools, raising a circle, banishing negative energies, healing work, etc. In doing so they are practicing Witchcraft and are, therefore, Witches. The difference is that Wiccans practice their magical skills within a religious context, nothing more.
Wiccans believe that the world was created and is maintained by the joining together of the God and the Goddess in the Sacred Marriage (also called The Great Rite).
The Golden Dawn, and Masonic rituals. Newer versions of Wicca accomodate those who practice as solitaries.
• Wicca views the spiritual and material worlds as overlapping: the Gods are not distant beings but entities whose presence we can experience. Wiccans believe that Divinity is immanent within the world, and therefore all that is is in some part Divine.
• Wicca stresses personal experience with divinity and developing greater harmony with the larger world.
• Wiccans believe that each person is able to experience direct contact with the Divine without a need for an intermediary.
• Wicca teaches that we all are ultimately responsible for our own actions.
• Wiccans tend to believe in reincarnation, the soul is reborn into this world many times.
I copied/pasted the parts of the article which make strong sense about Wicca and appeal to me personally. Not all of it makes sense to me (I don't mean 'sense' as in understanding).
What does really make sense to me about Wicca, is the twin deity concept. I personally believe that either Jesus/Mary Magdalene or Satan/Lilith are twin deities (I don't know for sure yet if I prefer Jesus or Satan). And then you have what I call 'God the Force', which is universal and permeates anything. It's a kind of trinity. It just doesn't sound to me like I'd be a Wiccan, given it doesn't relate to Christianity or Satan at all.
