what separates them?
By pbrockington
@pbrockington (500)
United States
July 8, 2009 6:51pm CST
wicca, pagainisim, witchcraft, hoo doo, voo doo; dose anyone know the difference.
if so please share.
1 response
@TheMetallion (1834)
• United States
12 Feb 10
Wicca is a modern Neopagan revival of primarily Western European pagan worship.
Paganism refers to any religion that is not monotheist worship of Yhvh, the God whose myths are partially contained in the Bible, the New Testament, and the Apocrypha.
Witchcraft is a term used to generically refer to folk magic. The term is commonly used by Europeans and Americans to describe the folk magicians of any culture, without regard to whether they would use the term themselves. This is similar to the tendency to call anyone who interacts with spirits a "shaman," ignoring that shamanism is a specific form of spirit magic with its origin Siberia.
Voodoo, or Voudoun, is a syncretization of West African religions and the Catholicism that was forced upon Africans during their period of enslavement in what were then French colonies.
Hoodoo is a predominantly West African form of folk magic.
3 people like this
This is a very well written answer.
@BalthasarTheRat (656)
• United States
26 May 11
No kidding, Monkeyrose. This answer stole all my thunder. I will add a few things, though.
The newer monotheistic religions used "pagan" and "witchcraft" as words of evil. New Age religions have been rehabilitating the word "pagan" but there is still a negative connotation to it and "witchcraft".
Wiccans "worship" nature, for want of a better word, and celebrate the natural seasonal cycles of the planet.
Voodoo also carries a negative image, though most Voudoun ceremonies are celebrations of life and positivity. By imprinting long worshipped minor gods onto the Catholic Saints, early Voudoun priests were able to keep their ancient traditions alive.
