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It is believed that the Native American witchcraft was connected with the religious beliefs of the people that were living in the region. Actually, you will be surprised to learn that the witchcraft and the religion if this region were similar to each other in several ways. Both of them honored and respected nature and they believed that nature was holy. The ideas and symbols used in the Native American witchcraft had been influenced by nature.

There are many different systems of belief floating around our complex world. There is no right or wrong as long as we are true to our heart’s beliefs. Today, many of you might be celebrating Christmas, and we wish you and everyone else a very happy holiday, regardless of your religious stance. As mentioned in the previous newsletter about Yule, many of the traditions of Christmas had come from the Pagan midwinter holiday. Today, we will particularize this notion by tracing the origins of the jolly gift giver we know as Santa Claus.

We have previously discussed some of the larger sects within the Wiccan Faith. Two of the largest sects are Gardnerian Wicca, that was which was founded by Gerald Gardner containing relatively strict Coven conventions, Dianic Wicca, stressing feminism and monotheism. However, there is a wide-range of other sects with distinct Wiccan beliefs, including, but not limited to the Algard Tradition, Cochrane’s Craft (and 1734 Tradition), Northern Tradition, Albion Tradition, Ladywood Tradition, Aridian and Arician Traditions, Blue Star Wicca, Church and School of Wicca, Crystal Moon Wicca, New Forest Coven, Temple of the Pagan Way, Ardantane, Green Witchcraft, Cellarius Tradition, Teutonic Wicca, Radical Faery (Feri) Tradition, Georgian Tradition, Heartland Spiritual Alliance, Seax-Wicca, Red Path, Artus Wicca, Wiccan Mysticism, and New Age Wicca. Some of these we have previously discussed, but if you are otherwise interested in a particular sect, please feel free to ask and we can provide you with more information.

I recently received a question that I would like to clarify. Two well-informed individuals were very interested in joining a Coven, or otherwise partaking in group Ritual, but were concerned that they would need to expose themselves in order to do so. They asked me if it was mandatory for all Wiccans to practice while in the nude. The brief answer to this question is by and large ‘no’ as the Faith is not one which coerces somebody to do something that they do not want to do. Instead, Wicca gives general guidelines for practice and finding a path to spirituality. However, there are certain sects and individual Covens with more stringent standards which do require participants to be in the nude, or Skyclad, during Rituals. I would like to elucidate the reasoning behind this.