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What is UEW?
UEW stands for Universal Eclectic Wicca. Universalism is a religious belief that allows for the existance of
truth in a multitude of places. Eclectism is the practice of taking from many places. In UEW, we have a habit of saying "Whatever Works!"
What we encourage is experimentation and exploration towards those things in your religious life that work and letting go of those things that don't.
UEW defines Wicca as any religion that calls itself Wicca, AND believes in a god/force/power/whatever that is either genderless, both genders or manifests as a male/female polarity
that we agree to call "the Lord and Lady." AND upholds the Five Points of Wiccan Belief.
Is UEW the work of Scott Cunningham??
Sadly, no. UEW was founded by a lot of people, but is mostly based on the work of Jayne Tomas and Kaatryn MacMorgan. Jayne created the tradition, Kat expanded it. We do find that it
gels well with Scott Cunningham's works, though. Jayne was a Gardnerian, Kat was a generic witchy-family eclectic.
What are the Five points of Wiccan belief?
THE FIVE POINTS OF WICCAN BELIEF are the moral/ethical code of UEW and most other trads. These points are:
1. The Wiccan Rede
2. The Law of Return
3. The Ethic of Self-Responsibility
4. The Ethic of Constant Improvement
5. The Ethic of Attunement
What is The Wiccan Rede?
The Central belief in Wicca, the Wiccan Rede is the oldest of known ethics although it hasn't always been called anything more than common sense.
The most
common phrasing of The Rede is "An' it harm none, do as you will," Which is often
reduced to "Harm none." In Universal Eclectic Wicca we also have an expanded reading
of the Rede which is especially helpful when describing it to people who believe in
commandments and long lists of rules. It states: "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."
There are several poems also called "The Wiccan Rede" but it is still only the eight little word "An it harm none, do as ye will."
What is the Law of Return?
The Second of the Five Points, the Law of Return (also known as the
karmic law, law of three, law of ten,etc.) means, quite simply, that what you do affects what happens to you. If you
do good, good is going to happen to you; if you do evil, that'll happen too. Metaphors for
the Law of Return exist in every religion, there are ancient ones and modern ones.
In some traditions, the Law of Return is given a multiplier, good and bad
are said to come back upon you three- or tenfold, but even those traditions admit that an
exact retribution ratio is impossible to come up with.
What is The Ethic of Self-Responsibility?
More than any of the other points, The Ethic of Self-Responsibility turns people
(especially those with damaged Wills or reduced sense of Self,) away from Wicca. It
can be a scary thing for anyone not raised with it. It means, quite simply, when you mess
up, it's your fault. In Wicca, there is no "The devil made me do it." We don't believe in
devils, and even if we did, we don't believe any extraplanar creatures could control us,
not even the gods.
The Ethic of Self-Responsibility also relates to The Law of Return. With this
ethic you are accepting the karma or "stuff" you give yourself, good or bad. Put together,
The Law of Return and the Ethic of Self-responsibility expect us to change positively,
thus necessitating the fourth of our points, The Ethic of Constant Improvement.
Okay...So, what's the Ethic of Constant improvement, then?
In Wicca, we seek be ever growing, the basest of these improvements are taken
care of by the Ethic of Self-Responsibility, but extending that responsibility beyond the
self is what this is about. Scott Cunningham talks of Earth Stewardship in Living Wicca,
an important facet of Constant Improvement. Ecology is vital in a religion that reveres
nature as divine, and even the simplest of chores can be turned into an act of holiness
when done ecologically. Teaching and preaching tolerance, racial harmony and reverence
for art and history are also a part of this ethic, and living one's life toward peace is vital.
Only by being constant in our learning, and eclecticism, do we prevent intolerance.
Okay. That makes Four points! What's the last? What is UEW's relationship with other religions? Okay. That begs this question. What is the Affirmation of Acknowledgement? Is UEW those CUUPS people? Where does the word Wicca come from, anyway? A Lot of Wiccan groups disagree with that. What exactly do you mean by "Modern Wicca"? Okay, I agree with all the concepts of UEW. I'm a Universal Eclectic Wiccan, then, right? So, UEW has degrees? Patron and Matron deities? Okay, What comes after the First Circle? Aren't there three Circles? Oh, the Third Circle must be really hard, then, if so few achieve it. Does UEW have clergy? Are all Third Circle people Priests? Okay? Who are UEW "High Priests?" This sounds complicated. What does UEW and Religion:Other have in common? What questions should be added here?
The Last of the Five Points of Wiccan belief is the Ethic of Attunement.
Attunement, the act of becoming in-tune with divinity is the purpose behind the majority
of ritual. In Wicca, we believe in three groupings of divinity:
1. The Self is divine.
2. The Gods/other powers are divine.
3. The Universe itself is divine.
1. 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.
2. 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 fury-fueled 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.
Because it is likely that people with similar beliefs to ours were killed as Witches by Christians
during The Burning Times many Wiccans have animosity toward Christians. However, our persecution has
led to a kind of uneasy alliance with other oft-defamed groups. Like those groups, we must learn to never
forget what has happened to us, but not blame those that are not responsible for it.
In UEW, we have something called The Affirmation of Acknowledgement. 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. This does not mean that
the Faith as a whole is off the hook. Christianity caused The Burning Times and cannot ignore that. What it
does mean is that Modern Christians are responsible for Christianity now. Likewise, we can't look at one or
two people who were Christians and condemn them all. Hitler, Koresh and Jones were all Christians, but not
all Christians are them. I chose to mention Christianity because that is the chief persecuting force in modern
Wicca, but we would react to any similar histories the same way.
The Affirmation of Acknowledgment:
I: 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.
II: 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.
III: I acknowledge that I may be wrong, and I have found
comfort in the fact that I may be right.
*The word "faith" is used here as opposed to Religion. A Faith is a non-specific religion or religious
Philosophy, like Christianity. Religions within the Christian Faith include Catholicism, Fundamentalism,
Protestantism, Vineyard Christianity and more.
Of Course, UEW charges all religions to uphold the
AofA and often refuses to hold discourse with those who
will not.
NOPE. CUUPS is a part of the Unitarian Universalist church. We are not Unitarians.
Well, let me break it down like this...
Wicca is a Latinized Scottish word. It comes from the same Latin root as Violence, Vice,
Victory and Victim and means a {bad kind of} Witch, specifically male.
It has no relation to the Indo-European word "Weiq" to bend, from which we get Wicker,
The Germanic word Witta comes from the same place as Wit, but never meant "Witch"
Witch is pronounced "Wich" just like Wicce, the feminine form of the word Wicca.
A Wicca or Wicce is one who practices Witchcraft, get it?
"Wicca" refers to practices which, during the burning times would've gotten one killed as a
Witch but do not fit the Christian definition of Witchcraft, {which we call Satanism today.}
While the word Witta would probably be more appropriate {despite its abuse by one author}
we use the word "Wicca" to link ourselves to our history.
Well, there was a time when we needed to defend a trad by saying how old it was. The Wicca practised now, called "Modern Wicca" doesn't have that need.
That's where the silly versions of the word "wicca" came from. Some of them have scholarship, but others...oy!
Well. We established a timeline to define where some trads fell, a sort of Abbreviated History of Wicca:
Wicca is a religion that is said to have descended from the beliefs of the pre-Christian world.
There is little or no scientific proof that this is so, For this Reason, UEWiccans do not claim to
have some link to prehistory. What we do know is that research conducted by Kat MacMorgan
while researching ALL ONE WICCA, shows religious belief very similar to modern Wicca as
early as the 1850's, and that those records claim that these practices occurred as early as the
1790's. Those records, however, were far from public, and because Kat cannot convince the
family to allow authentication of the record, UEW officially states that the Religion today known
as "Wicca" evolved from the Writings of Gerald Gardner in the Fifties.
For simplification, UEW divides Wicca into "Ages"
PRE-MODERN WICCA
Anything before Gerald Gardner. Things from this huge time period often point to SIMILAR
beliefs, but don't call it "Wicca" or even "Witchcraft"
EARLY MODERN WICCA
Gerald Gardner: Most of this is stuff written in the Fifties and early Sixties. Common indicators
of this period is the exclusive use of the word "Witchcraft" and the use of Wicca as a noun, as in
"The Wicca." God and Goddess are both prevalent, but Goddess is mentioned more, usually
because the concept of Male deity wasn't considered odd enough to be written about.
Around the mid-sixties, Modern Wicca split into two paths:
MIDDLE MODERN "Revisionist" WICCA
-Characterized by the revision of Gardner-age -
Materials. This generation of Wicca was
cha racterized by "My way is correct and yours
isn't books. Most of this stuff is best left as
messy history and ignored.
FEMINIST PAGANISM
Characterized by a female voice that
spoke exclusively of Goddess Worship
or gave mere lip-service to a "God"
force. At it's worse, it claimed the God
of Wicca was the Christian God.
Feminist Paganism evolved into Modern Feminist Paganism and spawned the "Real Man"
movement in response. Men were actually encouraged to explore their {non-Christian} God-
self. All non-Dualistic but non-Judeo-Christian religions are generally referred to as "Paganism"
MODERN WICCA
Modern Wicca evolved with the knowledge of Multi-culturalism. It encompassed the idea that
rituals and beliefs could be drawn from many sources as long as certain beliefs were shared. The
late Scott Cunningham is considered by many the "Father" of Modern Wicca. Chief amongst
the ideas of Modern Wicca are the beliefs that no one tradition is "Better" than the other and
that petty squabbling between Trads does nothing but harm and is therefore "UnWiccan"
UEW was founded to draw Modern Wiccans together with a set of Firm beliefs.
Well, kinda. Not really. UEW IS a tradition. People learn within the tradition to learn about themselves.
Well, sort of. They are called Circles. Right now, with no knowledge of the Five points, you're pre-first circle. When you've demonstrated a
knowledge of the Five Points, you're first circle. You can demonstrate that knowledge to anyone, but you do need to "prove" you know it.Once you are First Circle,
you learn stuff like discovering your Patron and Matron deities and your basic "classic Wicca" you know, elements and the like. but the focus is on PERSONAL growth with spirituality.
The Aspects of the Gods you related to the most, a sort of spritual role model in a divine sense. In a group circle, we say "Lord and Lady" in a private circle, we use our own names for the Gods.
Well, in the First Circle people focus on their own rituals, in the second circle we focus on community rituals and the celebration of holidays.Second Circle is the stopping point for most in their studies, at least in UEW.
I mean, people are always moving forward. The second Circle represents a holistic life within Wicca.
Yes, but few are in the Third.
Not really. The Third Circle is a monastic life. I mean, not everybody's sole reason for being is to further their religion, and it shouldn't be. No one in the Third Circle thinks that those in the Second Circle are "less" Wiccan. It's the differance between being a
catholic and being the pope. No sane Catholic would claim they all need to be popes, no sane Wiccan would say we all need to be High falutin Priests and Priestesses.
Yes, Lay ministers in the second Circle. Elected coven heads of the Second or Third circle are called "Priests" and those who've been "ordained" as a Third Circle Priest.
No, but they are all leaders. Ordained priests have to take several college classes and write a dissertation. They call themselves "Ministers" or Priest(esse)s.
Ordained Priests with 10 years of experience.
Not really, most UEW people are Second Circle. If you're in it for a title, this is the WRONG trad.
Religion:Other An Alliance of Alternative Religion was founded by UEWiccans, and the website's the same. http://www2.netcom.com/~ladykat/RO/UEW.html
That's for y'all to decide. email LadyKat with suggestions!
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