only, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of all Wiccans or all members of the
tradition in which I study! Any material that is not my express opinion will be given
credit, so the reader may judge it for her/himself. If there is more information here
than you either need or want, please forgive me! I would prefer to be thorough and
err on the side of caution when explaining such things.
extent that one can. Despite what you might hear to the contrary, Wicca is a religion, or faith, just as
Judaeism, Christianity, Islam, and any other belief systems are religions or faiths. In general,
Wiccans worship the Divine as both a male and female principle, one no higher than the other,
although often it seems that the Goddess gets a larger portion of our attention. (To which parent do
you turn when you are in need?) Not all Wiccans view deity this way, and in light of a fellow
Second Circle student's recent lesson I intend to speak more on this matter elsewhere at some point.
Wiccans have no single sacred text, but seek knowledge wherever it is available.
In order to be called Wicca, the faith being practiced must, in some fashion, encompass the
following tenets: (1) An it harm none, do as you Will (2) The Law of Return (Karma), (3) Self
Responsibility, (4)Constant self improvement, and (5) Attunement with divinity. We are given no
Savior, we have no divine salvation. We alone are responsible for every action we take in this life,
there is no outside force that can controll our Wills. All the energies we put forth into this world will
come back to us, in one way or another. Always, we are seeking to improve ourselves as human
beings through learning and service. We seek attunement with the Divine, which is inside each of us
as well as present all around.
So, Universal Eclectic Wicca is a Tradition within Wicca. Just as Christians can be grouped into
certain religious sects, like Catholic, Baptist, or Lutheran, so too are members of the Wiccan faith.
UEW is, to me, Wicca that says, "do, within the tenets, what works best for you." We may chose
our own dieties (or not), write our own rituals, and practice as Solitaries or in groups often called
Covens. When we meet in large groups, the titles Lord and Lady are used in place of the names of
specific gods and goddesses. Wicca is a diverse religion, and we seek to embrace it to its fullest.
Many practitioners of UEW include elements of other faiths within their Wiccan practice. Whatever
works! UEW is also a "rational" tradition. We neither teach nor accept unhistorical claims about the
antiquity of Wicca. We believe that we do more to honor our chosen path by acknowledging Wicca
as a modern religion that draws on some ancient beliefs than claiming that Wicca is either a
recreation of an ancient religion or that religion handed down whole-cloth through thousands of
generations unchanged. UEW does not require a suspension of disbelief, in this or any aspect of our
religion, to be successfully practiced.
For a VERY indepth study of UEW, you may wish to visit the tradition's online text, "All One
Wicca." UEW also has a homepage of it's own, so for a more definitive look, click HERE.
