The below text is taken directly from the CUEW website (link at right):
THE FIVE POINTS OF WICCAN BELIEF Note:Although few Wiccan groups beyond UEW refer to these points as "The Five Points of Wiccan Belief," almost every Wiccan group and individual practioner believes them. The enumeration is just for simplicity's sake. In UEW, a knowledge of the Five points is required before entry into the First Circle of UEW. This prevents the teachers of UEW from having to return to a discussion of these five basic points every time they teach beginners.
1. The Wiccan Rede
2. The Law of Return
3. The Ethic of Self-Responsibility
4. The Ethic of Constant Improvement
5. The Ethic of Attunement
The Wiccan Rede
The Central belief in Wicca is the Wiccan Rede. The most common phrasing of The Rede is "An' it harm none, do as you will," Which is often reduced to "Harm none.1" In Universal Eclectic Wicca we also have an expanded reading of the Rede which is especially helpful when describing it to people who believe in commandments and long lists of rules. It states: "If an action will cause harm, physically, emotionally, or mentally, to another person or one's Self, refrain from doing it. Strive to always be helpful and never willingly cause strife or harm to befall someone. Weigh your actions against each other, would you wish your actions taken against you? Take no action you would not wish to receive."
The Law of Return
The Second of the Five Points, the Law of Return (also known as the karmic law2) means, quite simply, that what you do affects what happens to you. If you do good, good is going to happen to you; if you do evil, that'll happen too. Metaphors for the Law of Return exist in every religion, there are ancient ones and modern ones. In some traditions, the Law of Return is given a multiplier, good and bad are said to come back upon you three- or tenfold, but even those traditions admit that an exact retribution ratio is impossible to come up with.
The Ethic of Self-responsibility
More than any other aspect, The Ethic of Self-Responsibility turns people (especially those with damaged Wills or reduced sense of Self,) away from Wicca. It can be a scary thing for anyone not raised with it. It means, quite simply, when you mess up, it's your fault. In Wicca, there is no "The devil made me do it." We don't believe in devils, and even if we did, we don't believe any extraplanar creatures could control us, not even the gods.
The Ethic of Constant Improvement
The Ethic of Self-Responsibility also relates to The Law of Return. With this ethic you are accepting the karma or "stuff" you give yourself, good or bad. Put together, The Law of Return and the Ethic of Self-responsibility expect us to change positively, thus necessitating the fourth of our points, The Ethic of Constant Improvement.
In Wicca, we seek be ever growing, the basest of these improvements are taken care of by the Ethic of Self-Responsibility, but extending that responsibility beyond the self is what this is about. Ecology, for example, is vital in a religion that reveres nature as divine, and even the simplest of chores can be turned into an act of holiness when done ecologically. Teaching and preaching tolerance, racial harmony and reverence for art and history are also a part of this ethic, and living one's life toward peace is vital. Only by being constant in our learning, and eclecticism, do we prevent intolerance.
The Ethic of Attunement
The Last of the Five Points of Wiccan belief is the Ethic of Attunement. Attunement, the act of becoming in-tune with divinity is the purpose behind the majority of ritual. In Wicca, we believe in three groupings of divinity:
1. The Self is divine.
2. The Gods/other powers are divine.
3. The Universe itself is divine.
1. The Divine Self (thou art god) is expressed within The Ethic of Self- Responsibility. No one is in control of the Self except for the creator of the Self, the person that "owns" the body Our rites of Attunement to the divine self include the practice of Ritual, and occasionally, High Magick, but also includes meditation, dance, drumming and anything else that makes us feel "in touch" with our Selves.
2. The Divinity of the Gods, or the "Other Powers" defies immediate explanation as do the gods themselves. In Wicca, our gods are more like parents, the Divine Father and the Great Mother, and less like the fury-fueled jealous God of Christianity. Our rites of Attunement to the Gods are nearly all celebratory in nature, with the more intensive rituals combining the divinity of the gods with the divinity of the Universe in worship of the lunar and harvest cycles.
3. The Divinity of the Universe is subdivided into three groups. In Gaeism, the Planet Earth is a creature and each individual being, plant, animal or mineral is a part of that being, which is usually, but not always, named for the Goddess Gaea or Gaia. In Animism, each thing be it a windstorm or a rock, has a spirit of its own. In Cyclic Totality, or Cyclicism, it is the laws of the Universe which are divine, be they the cycles of celestial decay, or the harvests, or the birth-death-rebirth of the nitrogen cycle.
The combination of these three forms of Universal divinity are used in Wicca in varying degrees with lipservice, if not full ritual given to every subgrouping.
1. In UEW, as with most groups of Wicca, we find the shortening of the Rede to "harm none" to be a critical error in thought that changes the meaning of the phrase completely. While we acknowledge in this paragraph that it is often shortened to harm none, that must not be misconstrued as acceptance of the practice of doing so. 2. While some call the Law of Return the Karmic law, it actually has NOTHING to do with Karma
The Principles of Wiccan Belief
The Principles of Wiccan Belief were set down in 1974 by a group called "The Council of American Witches" at a meeting in Minneapolis,
Minnesota. The statement, which has far outlived the group, has been reprinted in almost every major book on Wicca.
"The Council of American Witches finds it necessary to define modern Witchcraft in terms of American experience and needs.
We are not bound by traditions from other times and other cultures, and owe no allegiance to any person or power greater than the Divinity manifest through our own being.
As American Witches, we welcome and respect all life-affirming teachings and traditions, and seek to learn from all and to share our learning within our Council.
It is in this spirit of welcome and cooperation that we adopt these few principles of Wiccan belief. In seeking to be inclusive, we do not wish to open ourselves to the destruction of our group by those on self-serving power trips, or to philosophies and practices contradictory to these principles. In seeking to exclude those whose ways are contradictory to ours, we do not want to deny participation with us to any who are sincerely interested in our knowledge and beliefs, regardless of race, color, sex, age, national or cultural origins, or sexual preference.
We therefore ask only that those who seek to identify with us accept these few basic principles:
1. We practice rites to attune ourselves with the natural rhythm of life forces marked by the phases of the Moon and the seasonal quarters and cross- quarters.
2. We recognize that our intelligence gives us a unique responsibility toward our environment. We seek to live in harmony with Nature, in ecological balance offering fulfillment to life and consciousness within an evolutionary concept.
3. We acknowledge a depth of power far greater than is apparent to the average person. Because it is far greater than ordinary, it is sometimes called "supernatural," but we see it as lying within that which is naturally potential to all.
4. We conceive of the Creative Power in the Universe as manifesting through polarity - as masculine and feminine - and that this same creative Power lives in all people, and functions through the interaction of the masculine and feminine. We value neither above the other, knowing each to be supportive of the other. We value sexuality as pleasure, as the symbol and embodiment of Life, and as one of the sources of energies used in Magickal practice and religious worship.
5. We recognize both outer worlds and inner, or psychological worlds - sometimes known as the Spiritual World, the Collective Unconscious, the Inner Planes, etc. - and we see in the interaction of these two dimensions the basis for paranormal phenomenon and Magickal exercises. We neglect neither dimension for the other, seeing both as necessary for our fulfillment.
6. We do not recognize any authoritarian hierarchy, but do honor those who teach, respect those who share their greater knowledge and wisdom, and acknowledge those who have courageously given of themselves in leadership.
7. We see religion, Magick, and wisdom-in-living as being united in the way one views the world and live within it - a world view and a philosophy of life, which we identify as Witchcraft or the Wiccan Way.
8. Calling oneself "Witch" does not make a Witch - but neither does heredity itself, or the collecting of titles, degrees, and initiations. A Witch seeks to control the forces within him/herself that make life possible in order to live wisely and well, without harm to others, and in harmony with Nature.
9. We acknowledge that it is the affirmation and fulfillment of life, in a continuation of evolution and development of consciousness, that gives meaning to the Universe we know, and to our personal role within it.
10. Our only animosity toward Christianity, or toward any other religion or philosophy-of-life, is to the extent that its institutions have claimed to be "the one true right and only way" and have sought to deny freedom to others and to suppress other ways of religious practices and belief.
11. As American Witches, we are not threatened by debates on the history of the Craft, the origins of various terms, the legitimacy of various aspects of different traditions. We are concerned with our present, and our future.
12. We do not accept the concept of "absolute evil," nor do we worship any entity known as "Satan" or "the Devil" as defined by Christian tradition. We do not seek power through the suffering of others, nor do we accept the concept that personal benefits can only be derived by denial to another.
13. We work within Nature for that which is contributory to our health and well-being.
