Soul Friends:
A Wiccan/Jesus-
based Spirituality
By Erin Dragonsong
Perhaps it seems paradoxical that many Witches may honour or even venerate Jesus. But it’s not so far-fetched. Wicca spirituality actually has much in common with the teachings of Jesus.
Jesus the Nazarene was one of the world’s great spiritual leaders. He exposed as fraudulent the established religion’s hypocrisy and ignorance. He daringly broke the stranglehold of orthodoxy and advocated the individual’s search for reunion with the Divine. He exemplified this search with his own life and shared the path with those who chose to follow.
The profound value of his teachings are timeless—as relevant and revolutionary now as they were two thousand years ago.
In this piece, we will look at Jesus’s core teachings and how Wicca fulfills them.
Before we can look at the similarities between Wicca and Jesus’s teachings, however, we must define our parameters: what sources are we drawing upon?
You will not find much Wiccan philosophy in sacred texts. Wicca is not a dogmatic religion and has no designated “gospels.” It is an experiential spirituality, a way of living—just as Jesus lived and demonstrated his truth, rather than writing treatises on the matter. So here we will be looking at what is commonly taught and practiced in Wicca.
Also, we will examine the spiritual essence of Wicca—that which transcends the superficial variations in practices—rather than any particular Wiccan sects or rites.
Similarly, we will bypass the popularized revisions of Jesus’s teachings and go to what Christian scholars have identified as most likely to have actually been said by Jesus. These are based primarily on The Jesus Sayings: The Quest for His Authentic Message,which quotes the most noted authorities on Jesus’s original teachings.167 (The footnotes identify the biblical sources of these teachings. Please note that biblical references in footnotes may not be comprehensive.)
The Written Teachings
There are two bodies of teaching Jesus left us. One is written by his followers, presumably spoken by him. The other is demonstrated through his actions, though not put into writing (or if it was, it did not survive later editing).
This first section refers to the written works passed on by Jesus’s followers in the church-sanctioned version of the Bible as well as the Gnostic Gospels.168
In the headlines below, I’ve paraphrased the teachings in modern English. The footnotes will lead you to the actual quotations.
The kingdom of Heaven is right here, right now,169 but it is subtle and most people don’t notice it.170
Heaven is not a place. Heaven is a quality.
Jesus likened it to the nourishing grain that falls unheeded from a crack in a jar or leaven spread throughout masses of flour.171 It is a subtle thing that goes unnoticed as we hurry from task to task. But it’s right here, all around us, sustaining and nourishing the world.
One of the primary characteristics of Wicca is that it celebrates the Earth and all material existence as “Heaven” … that is, beautiful, balanced, loving, sacred—the body of the Divine.
That means the Divine is all around us. Not waiting somewhere far away in space and time, but here within us and within everything and everyone else—right here, right now.
It is our practical experience in Wicca that the magickal, spiritual realm coexists with the mundane realm … in fact, it underlies the everyday world we know. With a shift in awareness we can enter this realm at any time. We need only choose it and practice it to live in the kingdom of Heaven every day we’re on Earth.
That is what we do with every ritual, every magick act, every prayer, and every moment of awareness.
Seek the Divine,172 and you will find it where it has always been: within you.173
Another fundamental of Wicca is that we humans embody the Goddess and the God. The Divine lives within each of us; it is our duty to seek that, and incarnate the Divine in the world through our actions.
The Charge of the Star Goddess174—one of Wicca’s few “gospels”—states it explicitly: “I call upon your soul to arise and come unto Me … And if you find Me not within you, you will never find Me without. For behold, I have been with you from the beginning … ”
Commit fully, now, to the Divine.175
Traditional initiations are optional in Wicca spirituality, but there is still the tradition of a year and a day’s study and practice before one is ready to take one’s place as a Wiccan. This ensures that we are committed to spiritual development, through all phases of the Moon and seasons of the Sun.
Commitment to the spiritual life is vital. Otherwise we are merely practicing dogma—the letter that killeth. And Wicca is not a dogmatic religion: it is real, experiential, and personal.
Wicca spirituality teaches that the spiritual life must be lived in every moment … not just during religious celebrations or when in need. Commitment to the Divine permeates every aspect of a Wiccan’s life.
Share what you know about the Divine and how to find it.
Speak out; show others.176
I have never met a Wiccan who wasn’t happy to share information, ideas, and tips on how to be more successful in the practice of the Craft. In this tradition, we often learn from each other more than from a few designated authorities.
I think it’s true of any spiritual path that once we’ve experienced the joy of connecting with the Divine, it multiplies the joy when we share it with others.
Moreover, we know that since we are all united in one energy system, until we are all free none of us are free.177 We do what we can, to help others along spiritually. In what is the essence of this rule, we let our actions and way of life shine as an example of living in connection with the Divine.
Act on your knowledge. Your actions, not your words or rituals or even your beliefs, show you for what you are and what you’ve committed to: the Divine or Error.178
Although Wicca spirituality and Witchcraft are not entirely the same, Wicca is a Craft. It is not sufficient to simply think and talk about it. It must be practiced and experienced. And the necessary skills must be developed.
Action is one of the four Powers of the Witch. Belief is necessary, but not sufficient in itself.
Whatever we act on is what we really believe.
And how we act becomes what is true.
Action arises from power, and generates empowerment in turn. Wicca spirituality teaches that action is what counts … and that action includes our thoughts, emotions, and speech.
The only test for whether a religion is true and good is how close it takes us to the Divine. Even two thousand years ago people knew that talk is cheap. It is our actions that prove our beliefs. In Biblical terms, we are known by our fruit.179
All these miracles that Jesus does, you can do … and more! 180
In Jesus’s time, miracle workers were not so rare. There were many spiritual seekers who did miraculous deeds which we today would call magick. Working miracles—or magick—is an integral part of Wicca, though not every Wiccan casts spells.181 Through making magick, we come to perceive a deeper level of reality and understand who we really are—a core purpose of Jesus’s and every enlightened teacher’s message.182
All Jesus’s disciples were expected to work miracles, especially in healing the sick. The early church itself practiced magick—practices only thinly disguised as today’s orthodox rites and rituals.183 It was only later that the Christian orthodoxy, determined to keep control of the religion, began judging what was an approved miracle; whatever they didn’t approve was labeled “demonic” and “Witchcraft.” The distinction lay in whether the miracle served the religious hierarchy or challenged it.
It’s important to realise that the language itself has altered much through the centuries, as the perception of miracles changed. Words that originally were free of stigma became used to suggest evil. For instance, an archaic word for magick is gramarye184—the same root word that gives us “grammar,” “glamour” (as in enchantment), and the Witch’s “grimoire.”185 Writing itself was considered an act of magick.
So too the word daemon (demon) meant a god, goddess, divine power, genius, or guardian spirit, rather than an evil creature.186
In other words, although public perception of magick and miracles has changed, there is nothing inherently evil about them. And as Jesus taught, magick can and should be used to help people.
Be merciful. Take care of people. If someone is sick, offer what healing you can.187
I have yet to be at a ritual where healing wasn’t offered, either to the Earth and the soul of humanity, or to someone who is in need. I have never met a Wiccan who didn’t routinely offer spells and prayers for the well-being and healing of others, and offer herbs, hands, and ideas to those who were ill.
Wiccan philosophy states that we are all children of the Divine, and even moreso that we are all part of the Divine, inseparable. So of course we should care for each other. But there is more to it.
When we can feel another’s pain as if it were our own, and when we know that we are not really separate at all, it follows logically that we will do whatever we can to alleviate another’s suffering. The sensitivity one develops in spiritual practice (or the natural sensitivity that leads people to Wicca) automatically creates this desire to care for others.
Love everybody, not just family and friends, whom it is easy to love. Love your enemies too.188
The Charge of the Star Goddess states what I consider to be the only Wiccan Law: “For My law is love unto all beings. By naught but love may [the Divine] be known.”
In the Wiccan point of view, all people—indeed, all beings, animate and inanimate—are children of the Goddess and God. We are all equal in Their eyes. Therefore everyone is our sibling, deserving of our love, loyalty, and protection.
And more than this: We are each a literal Temple of the Divine.
If this is so, how can we think of anyone as an enemy? We’d be rejecting an aspect of the Divine. Therefore we must find a way to honour the Divine even in the form of those who seem on the surface to be antagonists.
Wiccans believe, as Jesus did, in a Divine Force as the creator of the universe, and that this force is not merely loving, but is Love.
In Wicca spirituality, we know that hate is going the wrong direction.189 The way to the Divine is through love. The Three-Fold Law and the Wiccan Rede both make that clear.190
As Wiccans have always declared, we come to the Divine through Perfect Love and Perfect Trust.
Forgive those who harm you.191
The Three-Fold Law states that whatever we give out returns to us. If we judge and resent others, we will incur judgement and resentment. Same with anger, blame, hatred … forgiveness, compassion, love, etc. Thus it is necessary to rise above harmful emotions and practice compassion and forgiveness.
Of course, that’s a simplistic version. Seldom is the return so obvious. Even so, there is truth in this, because when we feel anger and hatred we are the first to suffer from feeling it.
And if our “enemy” is in truth the Divine in another role, it suggests that even the hard things in life are meant to be gifts. Our enemies are those who give us the gifts we least want to receive. These are, however, the gifts that hold the most power. Wiccans know the power of energy and that emotion is energy. There’s a Wiccan saying: Where there’s fear, there’s power. That is true of every strong emotion.
Any strong emotion binds us to the object of that emotion. When we send energy to another in this way, we bind them even closer to us. Doing so leaves us two choices: hold our enemies near and in our minds, continually enduring their presence, or forgive them and let them go. Aside from “earning” forgiveness by being forgiving, Wiccans recognise that forgiveness is the only way to be free of the harm done to us … to avoid continuing to perpetrate harm upon ourselves.
Deal with your own shortcomings rather than worrying about other people’s flaws.192
Because Wicca isn’t a religion of rules but of personal spiritual experience, there is very little room to judge others. Everyone’s experience of life and spirituality is absolutely unique. So how can we compare and find fault? Without rules, one can’t point fingers at rule-breakers. The only thing we can really concern ourselves with is our own experience and how well we live up to our own values, and how well we love and serve as the Divine asks us. It is necessary in Witchcraft to know ourselves and to polish our rough edges … to hone ourselves to be a clearer vessel for the Divine. It is this practice that makes Wiccan ritual and magick powerful.
Remain humble.193
Humility is a natural consequence of Wicca. When we honour all of nature and every being—animate and inanimate—as our sibling, teacher, and the Divine, we don’t foster superiority complexes. When we dismiss judgement and self-righteousness—when we love even our enemies—there is no room for arrogance. When we love ourselves as a Temple and Aspect of the Divine, the pure self-esteem we generate does not require anyone else’s inferiority. I believe this is what Jesus meant when he admonished his followers to be like little children.194 Children epitomize humility. This humility gives them three characteristics that are vital to spiritual pursuit:
1. They accept the limitations of their knowledge and are thus highly receptive.
2.They look on the world as the magical, wondrous, Divine place it is.
3. They have an innate belief in the Universe as a loving, supportive deity.
Wiccans, as mystics, share these childlike traits. We cultivate awe in the wonder of life, death, and rebirth. We believe in—and experience—the loving care of the Goddess and God. And we know that what we know is only a tiny fragment of the whole Truth. We are always open and receptive to new wisdom.
Don’t worry about your comfort, your clothes, or what you have to eat.195 Be generous; give what you have to everyone who asks.196 The Divine provides for your needs.197
There is a generosity of spirit that comes from Wicca, especially among those who practice magick and manifestation. The Divine does provide in abundance, as we become more adept at asking for what we really want and allowing ourselves to receive. As we learn to trust this abundance, sharing occurs naturally. When we have plenty, it increases our joy to share it with others. Even when we have little, sharing increases the abundance of the whole community.
The Feasting that Wiccans do at the end of every ritual is in token of this abundance and generosity. Taking care of each other is a way to express our thanks to the Divine for all our blessings.
Which, as the Three-Fold Law tells us, increases our own blessings!198 There is physical as well as intellectual humility, and this is what Jesus preached when he reminded us to give away what we have. Don’t pay attention to the trappings of the world; focus on your inner journey.
The truly radical part of this message is that Jesus was speaking to the poor, not the wealthy. He was saying that it doesn’t matter that you have little, but that you share what you have, and trust the Divine to take care of you. The Wiccan Three-Fold Law and now-popular Law of Attraction agree:
Put aside dogma and rules of conduct. Don’t make rules for other people and beware those who seek to force their rules on you.199
Personal authority is the essence of Wicca. It is so crucial, it is one half of the only “law” in Wicca: “Do as ye will.” The Way to the Divine is through our devotion to our deepest truth, rather than established rites and doctrines. In other words, it’s not about acting as if you’re pious, but about being pure in your heart.
Wiccans perceive that the Divine lives in each person’s heart. So only your heart can guide you along the path right for you. The same is true for everyone else. Therefore everyone’s path is unique, and equally valid. No one else can say what’s right for us, just as we can’t say what’s right for anyone else. In Wicca, it goes against our fundamental principles even to try.
Beware religious authorities who take the keys to the spirit but don’t enter and won’t let you enter. 200
Binding others with rules is especially destructive in matters of spirituality. By definition, religious authority usurps an individual’s divinity. It claims that an ordinary human can’t know the will of God. But if that is so, who can? Who among us is not human? Who among us isn’t ordinary and extraordinary at the same time?
Religious authority claims that only certain superior people have the franchise on speaking for God and determining good and evil, and thus can insist on obedience to their rules. This separates the rest of us from the Divine, as if Divine will wasn’t our own heart’s deepest desire. Thus it is inevitable that religious authority “takes away the key” to personal experience of the Divine, substituting rules and rituals in its place. In their desire to keep hold of the key, they become easily diverted from spirit themselves. Many religious leaders so fondly hoard the key to Heaven and in doing so, mistake it for the door! This is what Jesus was warning us about.
But rules are not what liberates us.
According to Wicca, Jesus, and other great spiritual traditions, it is our responsibility to attain to the Divine personally.201 In Wicca everyone is her or his own priestess and priest. We are each our own spiritual authority. That means that every human being has the keys to the state of Heaven Consciousness, and the responsibility to enter. Let those who have eyes see, and those who have ears hear.202 We all have the ability to perceive truth and discern wisdom, and are born with minds capable of understanding the world around us. Wicca insists that we use them. We can’t take other people’s word as gospel; we must find the truth for ourselves.203 Others can only speak their truth. If we don’t find it ourselves, it will never be our truth, merely a belief we hold. This concept is fundamental to Wicca and all Mystery religions, as the original Christianity was.
Wake up. Pay attention. Notice what is around you and discern what is real. Get out of your preconceived notions and beliefs, and perceive what is really being shown to you. Jesus repeatedly urged this. Wicca also insists on it.
Be wise as the serpent and gentle as the dove.204
This is one of Jesus’s most intriguing and provocative teachings, deliberately overturning millennia of religious bigotry. Along the way, it has served to align him with Pagans all over the world. Even in his own time, the dove was an ancient symbol of peace. Being as gentle as the dove means to not hurt anyone or anything, including ourselves. The Wiccan Rede, primary and only “commandment” of Wicca, agrees: Harm none.
The dove was a common symbol in Judaism. It could be expected that Jesus would use it. But the serpent was maligned and condemned most vehemently by Yahweh, according to Biblical stories. Why would Jesus overturn that doctrine? What was he telling his followers?
The serpent is an ancient symbol of wisdom. It is the wisest of all creatures. It knows the mysteries that the Gods themselves know: having eaten of the Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Life, the serpent owns the nine-fold wisdom. It knows right and wrong, and the truth behind this duality. It knows the secrets of life, death, and rebirth: the ever-evolving transformation of soul. It knows all the worlds, travelling into the underworld, across the Earth, and up into the branches of the World Tree in the heavens.
In other words, the serpent knows the truth of its Self, which is the truth of the Divine and all the universe. Accordingly, the serpent follows the path of its own wisdom and will not be deceived by any other’s beliefs, choices, or demands. It is no wonder the serpent is reviled by the dictator-God Yahweh.205
According to Pagels in The Gnostic Gospels, Jesus and early Christians recognised knowledge and self-knowledge as the key to returning to the Divine.206 Wicca also values self-knowledge and knowledge of all worlds. The Charge of the Star Goddess likewise encourages us to recognise the Source of life and Its existence within each of us. Only within ourselves can we find the Divine for which we yearn.
Wicca advocates the wisdom of the serpent. It requires knowledge of the manifold worlds and the ability to enter each with ease, as the serpent does. It requires eating the fruit of Knowledge for ourselves to make informed free choice and take responsibility for our actions. It requires an understanding of deeper reality, the Wheel of life—a fundamental philosophy of Wiccan religion.
Christ in Action
The following principles were not recorded in Jesus’s words, per se. It could be that he spoke of them and no one wrote it down, or it was excised at a later date. Nevertheless, these teachings are what he showed by example and demanded of his disciples. I am indebted to Pagels’s The Gnostic Gospels for these teachings.207
Men and Women are Equals in the Pursuit of God.208
In Wicca, women hold positions of leadership. In Wiccan Circles, priestesses are honoured as conduits for the Goddess—the feminine aspect of Divinity.209
Women are revered in Wicca—as in ancient religions—as representatives of the awe-inspiring Creative Power of the Goddess. The menstrual cycle shows women’s innate connection to the cycles of life and the Powers of Creation. Childbirth and lactation, for all that we take them for granted as commonplace, are profound mysteries that science has not yet begun to comprehend. Women are by nature open to the subtle realms and deep wisdom (not that all women cultivate or even notice this gift).
It is through women that humanity begins to access divinity: as creator, as nurturance, as compassion and loving kindness, as Mystery, as sexual transcendence. The early Christians, following Jesus, also honoured women as spiritual disciples and leaders. In fact, it was common for early Christians to follow the teachings of Jesus’s female disciples, including Mary Magdalene, and for women to act as priests and even bishops.210
As all beings are aspects of the Divine, it is ludicrous to imagine that one half of humanity is incapable or undeserving of spiritual evolution, let alone leadership, as patriarchal religions insist.
Jesus made clear his position when he taught in Bethany, for instance. Mary (most likely Mary Magdalene) sat attentive at his feet among his disciples. Her sister, Martha, asked if she shouldn’t help care for the guests, and Jesus replied that Mary has chosen the one important thing—spiritual devotion.211 Thus he put aside for all time, one would hope, patriarchy’s convenient belief that only man can aspire to God, while woman exists merely to assist him.
Death is meaningless, when you transcend separation from
the divine.212
For Wiccans, death isn’t the big drama it is for many people. We know that death is just a doorway we pass through many times, in both directions. The door is not solid, more like a veil than a wall; there is actually much communication that flows back and forth between the two realms. It is only when we think of ourselves as solidly in the ego and body that we fear death, clinging to this life.
Wiccans travel between the worlds frequently, and thus experience personally that we are not the body nor the mind we think of as ours. We experience transformation with every ritual.
Death loses its power over us. We know it is not the end; it is not even a complete severing from this world. It is not actually death at all, but a rebirth to a more natural and wonderful state of existence than we have here on this tumultuous, limited, yet thrilling plane. When we are aligned with the truth of the Wheel of life, death can actually be a graceful and beautiful transformation.
Personal experience of the Divine is the goal. Don’t worship;
BE the Divine.213
The crucial thing to realise about Jesus is that he never advocated being a Christian nor following dogma; quite the opposite. Jesus insisted that his followers be as he was, rather than worship him as an idol.214
Wicca likewise requires more than a statement of belief; it requires living in accordance with fundamental spiritual truths … in essence, following in Christ’s own footsteps.
Like early Christianity, Wicca is a mystery religion of personal enlightenment. In such a religion, it’s our evolving experience of God that matters. We don’t show devotion through obedience to religious authority or worshipping a deity as far beyond us. We don’t prove our faith or love of God through merely “believing” in things. The original apostles received secret teachings from Jesus, initiating them into higher levels of understanding and God-realisation—teachings they could not share with those who were not ready for them.215
Belief is another word whose meaning has changed dramatically; originally it referred to much more than clinging to a pre-chosen mindset. It meant being committed to something you dearly cherish. When told to believe in Jesus, it meant to cherish him and commit to being as he was … in other words, to experience Christ Consciousness, i.e., Divinity, personally.
The practice of Wicca is a personal experience of the Divine. Every Wiccan ritual is designed to facilitate this direct communion. We invoke within ourselves aspects of the All: gods and goddesses; qualities and energies. We intentionally submerge the ego-identity that stands between Self and Divinity, and merge for a time with our Source. We become channels through which the Divine enters the world.
A Difference of Semantics
Reading between the lines in Jesus’s teachings and Wiccan philosophy, the underlying framework of both becomes clear:
We are all One, and that One is the Divine.
Our purpose is to remember, experience, and embody this truth.
I believe the major differences between Jesus’s teachings and those of Wicca are merely semantic. The limitations of verbal language, translation, and cultural perspective make it seem as though Jesus’s teachings and the Wiccan path are worlds apart.
Going beyond those limitations, however, the teachings show their unity. Though the methods may be somewhat different, the goals and the purpose are something Wiccans share with Jesus and his original apostles. Why is this so? We might say it’s because modern Wicca arises out of a Christian context and has adopted its best values. Or we might say, as The Pagan Christ documents most convincingly, that it’s because Jesus’s teachings arise out of Pagan traditions.216
I believe the truth lies deeper than either of those theories. As individual as human cultures and religions are, there is only one Source, understood as divine. And regardless of the way we interpret the Divine, there exist certain core qualities which every sincere spiritual seeker discovers, no matter in what religion they are trained.
When we embody these qualities to the best of our abilities, we find the Divine hidden behind all the rules and dogma. We are worshipping the Divine in the footsteps of all the greatest spiritual teachers, including Jesus.
This is all they ask us to do, and is exactly what Wicca spirituality excels at.
About the Author
Erin Dragonsong is a modern mystic and a leader in the field of evolutionary spirituality. Her award-winning website, www.Wicca-Spirituality.com, serves over half a million visitors a year from more than 140 countries. Her writings and workshops highlight the connection between our individual experiences and the planetary transformation now underway. Erin inspires people to awaken to the beauty and power of the Divine within ourselves and the Earth. Her publications include the Personal Mandala Starter Kit, the Spiritual Mandala Templates Kit, online ’zine The Silver Chalice, and two previous magazines, *Sparks and Navel Gazing: Bellydance Spirituality. She is currently finishing her latest books: The Natural Connection: Discover Your Animal Spirit Guides and How They Can Help You and Energy-Field Survival Guide For Highly Sensitive People, among other works-in-progress. Her online spirituality school launched in late 2011. You can find her on Facebook (WiccaSpirituality) and Twitter (WiccaSpirit).