by Jammie Prickett

Created on: April 20, 2009

Today as more and more witches find themselves coming "out of the broom closet" there has been more information released to the general public on the beliefs and practices of wiccans. In the early years practitioners of the craft had to do so privately, secretly, in fear of their lives should they be caught. Being maliciously tortured at the mere accusation of using the craft, wiccans dare not keep any written word pertaining to their practices. You can find countless cases of such threats on Wiccan practice throughout many history books across the globe, including the Salem Witch Trials of Massachusetts. With secrecy such a big issue, it was a shock to the world when Gerald Gardner released the first book pertaining to the craft in 1954 titling his book Witchcraft Today. After much controversy and several years, other self proclaimed witches and wiccans alike came forward providing more details and more information of wiccan practices. However, the validity of these early authors are still in debate. It is uncertain weather these authors wrote from actual wiccan proceedings or from their own imagining of what the craft is like. In truth, many wiccans today acknowledge wicca as a New Age religion as it's roots are truly unknown because of the required secrecy due to the years of persecution. In fact, all of todays wiccan "Laws" and creeds were written in the late 1900's. None the less, all Wiccans abide by these laws.

Just as Christianity has many branches such as Baptist, Catholic, Methodist, Lutheran and many more, Wicca also has many branches. Some of these branches include Gardnerian. Alexandrian, Celtic, and Correllian wicca. Each branch has its own interpretation of the rules and laws. The Three Fold Law, in particular, states that what ever a person does comes back on them three fold. Hindu's and Buddist's know this law as Karma. Christians know this law as the Golden Rule "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" Mathew 7:12. However you phrase it, this law is known around the world in one aspect or another. Does this mean that every good or bad thing a person does comes back on them EXACTLY three times more? Perhaps... but then again perhaps not.

Let us look at Newton's third law. "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." Newton's Third Law is pertaining specifically to motion, however, it still pertains to our understanding of the Three Fold Law. Wiccans believe in the use of magic, otherwise known as the conscious shifting

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>