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Bingo! However many wiccans generally accept the dualism of male/female in nature and therefore in divinity. So the male God is accepted as much as the Goddess. I may be wiccan, but I don't do much in the way of spellcraft myself, you don't have to work spells to be wiccan.

Very true. I myself worship Goddess as well as Consort. I know one doesn't need to practice spellcraft to be wiccan, but I just don't consider myself wiccan. Many of my beliefs come from other pagan religions, so it's easier just to use the term pagan. I do follow the Wiccan rede though.

That's cool. As the saying goes, all wiccans are pagan but not all pagans are wiccan.

3nodding Precisely.

That's cool. It's really interesting to see how some people pull on other religions to make one that fits them, and it's just as valid a religion as a mainstream one.

I wish I could answer you, but the most that I know is that religion started with primitive peoples and were mostly based on the worship for the success of hunting, farming, and fertility. You can even see evidence of religion in the paintings of cave people, also little statues have been found.

Yes, I know what you mean. Until two years ago I didn't really have a religion. I suppose I was mostly Christian, but I didn't really believe. The more I learned of other religions, the less I believed until I found a path that suited me, wicca. Even now, I know that this is not the only... Everyone has their own religion that is true and good for them, but religion itself remains a big mystery.

I'm a Kemetic Reconstructionist- that is a modern revival of the ancient Egyptian religion. There are quite a few reconstructionist religions out there, far more than there were when I first entered the Pagan community. I am interested to see this particular branch of our family tree growing.

As for the Wicca/witch/spellcrafting thing... I used to be Wiccan, and although I was always interested in magical theory I didn't actually practice it all that much. There are two aspects to Wicca in my opinion. That's a gross generalization, but I think that most practitioners will agree that there is the theological side, and the magical side- some are more into one, some the other, and some ride the fence between. *shrugs* We all have our different focuses.

I'd also like to point out that not all witches are Wiccan. A witch is simply someone who practices magic- if you want to get picky, it's generally a term applied to someone who practices some form of European folk magic or a school of magic which is at least rooted in Western occultism. There are quite a few members of the modern Pagan community who identify as witches, but aren't Wiccan.

As for me, however, I don't really consider myself a witch- even though I practice magic on a much more regular basis now than I ever did as a Wiccan. The Kemetic idea of "magic" (which we call "heka") is a little different from Western conceptions of that term- and admitedly, that can sometimes cloud my perceptions of other schools of magical thinking despite my best intentions. I find that, as with many subjects within Kemetic reconstructionism- the concept of heka clicks a great deal more with my worldview than what I've read elsewhere (although I still find other schools of thought fascinating!). Religion and magic are far more intimately intertwined in Kemetic life, for example; I tend to think of heka as simply the science of applied religion. I use what I have come to understand about the world and its workings- both physical and spiritual, since Kemetic culture does not value one above the other- and apply that in an intelligent and conscientious fashion. Ergo, heka is as natural a part of my life as my spiritual experiences and practical personality.

Eh, not a big deal. Jews only make up... what was it, either 2% of the world's population, or 0.2%, I forget. We're well known, but we're not major in terms of numbers, not by a long shot.

That's pretty awesome. I've never met another Gnostic and most of the time, professors and friends think I'm just spelling Agnostic wrong. Haha.