 Hello people, I'm Ginny Metherill and I am a fourth generation witch. I am often asked by many people what exactly is wicker and so I thought I'd better give you a beginner's guide to the ancient yet modern practices of wicker. So I'm going to give you an overview of what I find wicker to be. I'm not a wicker myself but I have researched this fairly extensively and to do understand its principles but if I'm wrong I want you to let me know in the comments below because you know however this is a beginner's guide to it so I'm just going to cover the basics. So the first thing to ask ourselves is what is wicker? Well essentially wicker is a nature-based religion that focuses on the changing seasons and being in balance and harmony with the earth. It is not about devil worship and it is not about casting spells on people. That is not what wicker is. It is a peaceful religion that focuses on the masculine and the feminine deities that twin godhead or whatever god or goddess that you should choose and looks at living with them in balance in peace and in harmony. It is a religion with many many diverse traditions. Practitioners of the religion can worship in covens or they can be individual practitioners. It's very much up to the person doing the practioning. It is one of those very inclusive religions so if you are more attracted to the male masculine deity then you can base your craft around the male godhead. However that male godhead appeals to you. Likewise if you like the feminine side of things you can go to the feminine deity and worship the goddess. This begs the question who are the god and the goddess? The god represents the masculine energies of the universe and the goddess represents the feminine energies of the universe quite simply put. They can be pretty much any deity that you feel drawn to whether it be the pagan deities of synonymous or the triple goddess Hakate. It is up to the practitioner to decide who they like to worship and there is a huge pantheon of deities to choose from. Wicker emerged in the mid 20th century and it was really brought together by the very forward thinking Gerald Gardner. He was the one who put the dogma of the religion into practice dogma being its core beliefs and rituals and he was also helped in this matter by the great Doreen Valiente. It is based on ancient pagan practices and the writing of many occultists not least that very strange mystic Alastair Crowley. So there is an awful lot of previous history that has gone into forming this religion. The general framework that Wicker falls under is based upon three principles. The first is the wiccan read and if it causes no harm do as you will. It's very similar to the doctor's creed isn't it do no harm and they're essentially saying get on with it whatever you want to do as long as it doesn't hurt another then well go for it. The second sort of core belief is that whatever energy that you expound out into the universe be it good or be it bad you'll receive that back threefold. So should you go around casting a spell on someone to stop them interfering in your life then you'll find that you will have major influences preventing you from interfering in anybody's life and the final belief is of course the masculine god often represented by the horn's dirty and the feminine goddess often represented by a moon goddess. So those are the three core beliefs of the wiccan religion. But what are the main practices of wicca? Well I think the most important is probably the following of the wheel of the year. As I said wicca is a nature based practice and the wheel of the year is a set of eight festivals or saboteurs that celebrate the changing cycle of nature. Some of them you will have heard of such as halloween, mid-summer, yule and others you might not be so familiar with such as mabum or belting. However these are essentially the framework within which a wiccan celebrates their practice. The second thing that wiccans do is to cast a circle. Now this is not just a wiccan tradition, this is a tradition that goes through most religions casting a circle. It's banishing negative energy and creating a sacred space within which to practice. And finally wiccans use spell work and magic and this is in order to manifest their intentions and often they'll incorporate the use of crystals and natural elements such as wands into this in order to do so. Wiccans tend to use tools to help them in their practice such as the ethame, the chalice, the pentacle, wand, cauldron. Very much depends on the practitioner. These are not magical objects in themselves however what they actually do is help the practitioner focus their energy through these objects to bring about their intent. They are often kept sacred and special and cleansed and only used for the purposes of magic. Well how would you become a wiccan? Well this is very simple you just choose to be a wiccan and say I'm going to be a wiccan. Some people do like to have an indoctrination ceremony for themselves or if you're going to join a coven. Now I really recommend joining a coven. I'm part of a coven myself and it really does help my abilities, my magic and my outlook on how magic works. It really increases my experience with magic. If you don't know where to start I suggest going on Facebook and looking up Facebook covens in your local area. I guarantee you'll find a few. It is a huge deal. Wicca is one of those up and coming religions. It is much more popular and much more accepted. People also ask me what's the difference between a wiccan and a witch. Well I am a witch but I'm not a wiccan myself because I don't practice religion and that is just the way I like to live my life. It doesn't mean that I don't believe that there are gods and goddesses out there. I absolutely do. I just don't choose to incorporate them into my practice. So I mean wicca has grown in a huge popularity through the world with many practitioners embracing its nature-based spirituality and people are drawn to its focus on personal and spiritual growth. It is very much about you and how you would like to go out and live your life while celebrating the cycles of the earth. Wicca is a charming religion. I love its creeds and its philosophy of personal growth and do no harm. However I myself am not a wiccan. I am a traditional witch and in fact I don't follow any religion. Having been brought up I think I'm I think I'm slightly scarred from having been you know forced into religion throughout my childhood years. Possibly. Who knows. If you would like to join a coven and don't want to be in a wiccan one particularly come and join mine. It is unpatriot at the moment and we are having a blast. I promise you you will learn so much and meet lots of like-minded people. What do you think? Are you a wiccan practitioner? Do you agree with what I've said? I would love to hear your comments and thoughts. Otherwise please don't forget to like and subscribe because it really helps my channel and means I can carry on making these videos about wicca and all sorts of other interesting topics for you. In the meantime I will see you in a few days.