Over the centuries, Norse, Teutonic and Celtic traditions met the pagan traditions of the Romans and Greeks and gradually formed into eight festivals. The various celebrations observed in Wicca are called sabbats. Scott Cunningham, who authored over 50 books on Wicca and New Age religion, wrote the following about the goddess and the god honored in Wiccan practices: “The Goddess chose the Moon as her living symbol, and the God the Sun as his living symbol, to remind the inhabitants of Earth of their fashioners” (Scott Cunningham, Cunningham’s Book of Shadows: The Path of an American Traditionalist, 2009, p. The people thanked the gods of nature for providing for their needs each year, and they supplicated their deities to remember them as the cold winter season descended on their villages. Would the sun’s warmth return to enable crops to grow? Observing the return of the sun led some ancient farmers to tie their worship into the seasonal cycles. The word Wicca is an Anglo-Saxon word meaning “wise one.” The word pagan is derived from the Latin paganus and means “people of the earth.” The blend of worship that is called by these names seems to have developed among people who were superstitious about the cycle of the year. But a closer look at the underlying basis for these practices reveals a troubling history. Many look at Wiccan celebrations this way. That is especially true of religious practices that point out our need to respect the natural order of things, such as planting crops, harvesting them, and then honoring our God-given bounty.
On the surface, many religious practices seem harmless.
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