Post by Angaridatha on Nov 28, 2004 1:49:09 GMT -5
I would think this would be of intense interest to most of us, being initiated or planning to initiate into the trad! I took this from Witchvox, if anyone's curious, they can search a bit more there, but the post is long and extensive enough as it is, I think!
"Universal Eclectic Wicca is a Tradition of Wicca that embraces a personal exploration into one's own religious paradigm, yet provides structure through the "Five Points of Wiccan Belief." "Eclectic" because we make room for growth, flexibility, and change by allowing members to utilize any source they find useful. Wicca must be eclectic, taking from all of its members, in order to prevent stagnation. We welcome new ideas while maintaining the old ones, because eclecticism and evolution are unavoidable. "Universal" because our beliefs encompass everything, and everything is encompassed by our beliefs. Wicca is universal because it can be used by all, and anything can be used in Wicca. The only limits to our religious universality are the Five Points of Wiccan Belief. All of these things make us Universal Eclectic Wiccans."
In UEW, a knowledge of the Five Points of Wiccan Belief is required before entry into the First Circle of UEW. This prevents the teachers of UEW from having to return to a discussion of these five basic points every time they teach beginners.
1. The Wiccan Rede
The Central Ethic is the Wiccan Rede, the most common phrasing of which is "An' it harm none, do as you will." In UEW there is an expanded reading of the Rede: "If an action will cause harm, physically, emotionally, or mentally, to another person or one's Self, refrain from doing it. Strive to always be helpful and never willingly cause strife or harm to befall someone. Weigh your actions against each other, would you wish your actions taken against you? Take no action you would not wish to receive."
2. The Law of Return
The Second of the Five Points is the Law of Return, similar to the Karmic law, The Threefold law, or the Rule of Three. Basically it means that any energy you send out will come back to you, and that your actions will affect what happens to you. If you send out good energy and do good things, you will receive lots of good energy in return, and good things will happen to you. If you choose to send out negative energy or do evil things, then you will receive lots of negative energy in return, and bad things will happen to you.
3. The Ethic of Self-Responsibility
The Ethic of Self-Responsibility is quite simple, when you mess up, it's your fault. You are the only one responsible for your actions. If you make a mistake, you must take responsibility for it, not blame it on someone or something else. This relates to the Law of Return, as this third ethic has you accept the karma you give yourself, whether good or bad.
4. The Ethic of Constant Improvement
This Ethic also relates to The Law of Return and the Ethic of Self-Responsibility, together those two ethics expect us to change positively, and make it necessary to have the fourth, The Ethic of Constant Improvement. This means that as a Wiccan, you should always be learning, growing, and changing, making the world a better place. While the Ethic of Self-responsibility tells you to be responsible for yourself, this Ethic tells you to be responsible for the world around you. There are many ways to do this; becoming involved in ecology, conservation and recycling, teaching religious tolerance, and promoting racial harmony are just a few examples.
5. The Ethic of Attunement
The Last of the Five Points of Wiccan belief is the Ethic of Attunement. The purpose of many Wiccan rituals is to attune yourself with the Divine, to work towards being in harmony with the Divine. We believe in three groupings of divinity, as explained in UEW:
"The Divine Self (thou art god) is expressed within The Ethic of Self- Responsibility. No one is in control of the Self except for the creator of the Self, the person that "owns" the body. Our rites of Attunement to the divine self include the practice of Ritual, and occasionally, High Magick, but also includes meditation, dance, drumming and anything else that makes us feel "in touch" with our Selves."
"The Divinity of the Gods, or the "Other Powers" defies immediate explanation as do the gods themselves. In Wicca, our gods are more like parents, the Divine Father and the Great Mother, and less like the jealous God of Christianity. Our rites of Attunement to the Gods are nearly all celebratory in nature, with the more intensive rituals combining the divinity of the gods with the divinity of the Universe in worship of the lunar and harvest cycles."
"The Divinity of the Universe is subdivided into three groups. In Gaeism, the Planet Earth is a creature and each individual being, plant, animal or mineral is a part of that being, which is usually, but not always, named for the Goddess Gaea or Gaia. In Animism, each thing be it a windstorm or a rock, has a spirit of its own. In Cyclic Totality, or Cyclicism, it is the laws of the Universe which are divine, be they the cycles of celestial decay, or the harvests, or the birth-death-rebirth of the nitrogen cycle."
In UEW, we have something called "The Affirmation of Acknowledgment." It affirms our belief that any one member of a Faith cannot be held responsible for the actions of that entire faith. It would be ill-advised, for example, to hold all Christians accountable for the Spanish Inquisition or the Burning times.
The Affirmation of Acknowledgment:
I acknowledge the presence of other faiths on my planet, indeed, right here in my city/town/village. I acknowledge that the followers of these faiths feel as strongly, maybe more so, than I do about mine.
I forgive the other faiths and wipe clean the slate between us. I cannot hold a person responsible for the acts of their faith, I cannot hold a faith at fault for individual practitioners. It is not my place to convert, or otherwise alter a person's religion. I invite discussion of beliefs without judgment of those holding them.
I acknowledge that I may be wrong, and I have found comfort in the fact that I may be right.
Organization of Groups
Rather than divide our members into Solitary and Coven Practitioners, in UEW we have what are called "Circles." These circles represent two things: how much you know about Wicca and how much time and effort you put into your religion, the community, and your "learning quest." Entry into the First Circle corresponds to the "First Degree" of other forms of Wicca, entry into the Second Circle indicates the equivalent of a "Second Degree," completion of the Second Circle material indicates a "Third Degree," not entry into the Third Circle. The Third Circle does not have an exact equivalent in other forms of Wicca. A "Student" of a particular Circle is someone who is currently working on the lessons of that Circle, while a "Member" of a particular Circle is someone who has completed the lessons of that Circle, but has not yet entered into the next Circle.
Pre-First Circle: Anyone who hasn't proven their knowledge of the Affirmation of Acknowledgment and the Five Points of Wiccan Belief is a member of this "pseudo-circle." May be referred to as a "Beginner."
First Circle: After you've proven that you know the Five Points and have at least agreed to attempt to uphold the Affirmation of Acknowledgment, you're a member of the First Circle. In the First Circle, we discuss the details of the Wiccan "faith" (The reasons why we UEWiccans do what we do.) We discuss the concepts of divinity, and afterlife, and the reasons behind the components of ritual.
Second Circle: In the second circle we get deeper into the practices of Wicca, the wheel of the year, etc. Most of the UEWiccans out there remain within the Second Circle. Unlike several traditions in which becoming a priest(ess) is considered the inevitable conclusion of any length of study, and those who have studied years without achieving the title are considered less for it, in UEW we actually realize that not every Wiccan student can drop his/her real life and begin a contemplative life! No member of UEW will ever consider you less of a person for being a member of the Second Circle instead of the Third.
Third Circle: The Third Circle is a life dedication to Wicca. This means that your career, life and meaning centers around your religion. There are "paths" within the Third Circle, different ways that you can express your dedication to your chosen way of life, but the Third Circle is not for most people. It is a contemplative lifestyle, a calling that not everyone hears. Entry into the Third Circle is based on making a unique contribution to Wicca as a whole. This contribution should take no less than one year to complete and must be reviewed by a Third Circle member of your chosen path or an ordained Priest(ess) of UEW.
"Universal Eclectic Wicca is a Tradition of Wicca that embraces a personal exploration into one's own religious paradigm, yet provides structure through the "Five Points of Wiccan Belief." "Eclectic" because we make room for growth, flexibility, and change by allowing members to utilize any source they find useful. Wicca must be eclectic, taking from all of its members, in order to prevent stagnation. We welcome new ideas while maintaining the old ones, because eclecticism and evolution are unavoidable. "Universal" because our beliefs encompass everything, and everything is encompassed by our beliefs. Wicca is universal because it can be used by all, and anything can be used in Wicca. The only limits to our religious universality are the Five Points of Wiccan Belief. All of these things make us Universal Eclectic Wiccans."
In UEW, a knowledge of the Five Points of Wiccan Belief is required before entry into the First Circle of UEW. This prevents the teachers of UEW from having to return to a discussion of these five basic points every time they teach beginners.
1. The Wiccan Rede
The Central Ethic is the Wiccan Rede, the most common phrasing of which is "An' it harm none, do as you will." In UEW there is an expanded reading of the Rede: "If an action will cause harm, physically, emotionally, or mentally, to another person or one's Self, refrain from doing it. Strive to always be helpful and never willingly cause strife or harm to befall someone. Weigh your actions against each other, would you wish your actions taken against you? Take no action you would not wish to receive."
2. The Law of Return
The Second of the Five Points is the Law of Return, similar to the Karmic law, The Threefold law, or the Rule of Three. Basically it means that any energy you send out will come back to you, and that your actions will affect what happens to you. If you send out good energy and do good things, you will receive lots of good energy in return, and good things will happen to you. If you choose to send out negative energy or do evil things, then you will receive lots of negative energy in return, and bad things will happen to you.
3. The Ethic of Self-Responsibility
The Ethic of Self-Responsibility is quite simple, when you mess up, it's your fault. You are the only one responsible for your actions. If you make a mistake, you must take responsibility for it, not blame it on someone or something else. This relates to the Law of Return, as this third ethic has you accept the karma you give yourself, whether good or bad.
4. The Ethic of Constant Improvement
This Ethic also relates to The Law of Return and the Ethic of Self-Responsibility, together those two ethics expect us to change positively, and make it necessary to have the fourth, The Ethic of Constant Improvement. This means that as a Wiccan, you should always be learning, growing, and changing, making the world a better place. While the Ethic of Self-responsibility tells you to be responsible for yourself, this Ethic tells you to be responsible for the world around you. There are many ways to do this; becoming involved in ecology, conservation and recycling, teaching religious tolerance, and promoting racial harmony are just a few examples.
5. The Ethic of Attunement
The Last of the Five Points of Wiccan belief is the Ethic of Attunement. The purpose of many Wiccan rituals is to attune yourself with the Divine, to work towards being in harmony with the Divine. We believe in three groupings of divinity, as explained in UEW:
"The Divine Self (thou art god) is expressed within The Ethic of Self- Responsibility. No one is in control of the Self except for the creator of the Self, the person that "owns" the body. Our rites of Attunement to the divine self include the practice of Ritual, and occasionally, High Magick, but also includes meditation, dance, drumming and anything else that makes us feel "in touch" with our Selves."
"The Divinity of the Gods, or the "Other Powers" defies immediate explanation as do the gods themselves. In Wicca, our gods are more like parents, the Divine Father and the Great Mother, and less like the jealous God of Christianity. Our rites of Attunement to the Gods are nearly all celebratory in nature, with the more intensive rituals combining the divinity of the gods with the divinity of the Universe in worship of the lunar and harvest cycles."
"The Divinity of the Universe is subdivided into three groups. In Gaeism, the Planet Earth is a creature and each individual being, plant, animal or mineral is a part of that being, which is usually, but not always, named for the Goddess Gaea or Gaia. In Animism, each thing be it a windstorm or a rock, has a spirit of its own. In Cyclic Totality, or Cyclicism, it is the laws of the Universe which are divine, be they the cycles of celestial decay, or the harvests, or the birth-death-rebirth of the nitrogen cycle."
In UEW, we have something called "The Affirmation of Acknowledgment." It affirms our belief that any one member of a Faith cannot be held responsible for the actions of that entire faith. It would be ill-advised, for example, to hold all Christians accountable for the Spanish Inquisition or the Burning times.
The Affirmation of Acknowledgment:
I acknowledge the presence of other faiths on my planet, indeed, right here in my city/town/village. I acknowledge that the followers of these faiths feel as strongly, maybe more so, than I do about mine.
I forgive the other faiths and wipe clean the slate between us. I cannot hold a person responsible for the acts of their faith, I cannot hold a faith at fault for individual practitioners. It is not my place to convert, or otherwise alter a person's religion. I invite discussion of beliefs without judgment of those holding them.
I acknowledge that I may be wrong, and I have found comfort in the fact that I may be right.
Organization of Groups
Rather than divide our members into Solitary and Coven Practitioners, in UEW we have what are called "Circles." These circles represent two things: how much you know about Wicca and how much time and effort you put into your religion, the community, and your "learning quest." Entry into the First Circle corresponds to the "First Degree" of other forms of Wicca, entry into the Second Circle indicates the equivalent of a "Second Degree," completion of the Second Circle material indicates a "Third Degree," not entry into the Third Circle. The Third Circle does not have an exact equivalent in other forms of Wicca. A "Student" of a particular Circle is someone who is currently working on the lessons of that Circle, while a "Member" of a particular Circle is someone who has completed the lessons of that Circle, but has not yet entered into the next Circle.
Pre-First Circle: Anyone who hasn't proven their knowledge of the Affirmation of Acknowledgment and the Five Points of Wiccan Belief is a member of this "pseudo-circle." May be referred to as a "Beginner."
First Circle: After you've proven that you know the Five Points and have at least agreed to attempt to uphold the Affirmation of Acknowledgment, you're a member of the First Circle. In the First Circle, we discuss the details of the Wiccan "faith" (The reasons why we UEWiccans do what we do.) We discuss the concepts of divinity, and afterlife, and the reasons behind the components of ritual.
Second Circle: In the second circle we get deeper into the practices of Wicca, the wheel of the year, etc. Most of the UEWiccans out there remain within the Second Circle. Unlike several traditions in which becoming a priest(ess) is considered the inevitable conclusion of any length of study, and those who have studied years without achieving the title are considered less for it, in UEW we actually realize that not every Wiccan student can drop his/her real life and begin a contemplative life! No member of UEW will ever consider you less of a person for being a member of the Second Circle instead of the Third.
Third Circle: The Third Circle is a life dedication to Wicca. This means that your career, life and meaning centers around your religion. There are "paths" within the Third Circle, different ways that you can express your dedication to your chosen way of life, but the Third Circle is not for most people. It is a contemplative lifestyle, a calling that not everyone hears. Entry into the Third Circle is based on making a unique contribution to Wicca as a whole. This contribution should take no less than one year to complete and must be reviewed by a Third Circle member of your chosen path or an ordained Priest(ess) of UEW.