Wiccans, who have been so for a number of years....am I "doing it" wrong? Did I miss something?

That person just seems to be making it up as he or she goes along. We certainly don't all worship the Celtic goddess Brigid either! (Why the heck would we?)

I'm trying to come up with a name for this phenomena. The closest I've gotten is "approximated Wicca," where people take some basic facts about Wicca and then smash them altogether into a simpler, more easy to digest system. Things like "well, Wiccans work with elements, and Wiccans work with gods, so really they're all kind of the same thing, right?" This is the same logic, incidentally, that leads people to claim that magic and prayer are the same thing, because the expected outcome is kind of the same.

No, you have not missed anything.

Ok..First , I'm Not Sure How or Where I would fit in the "Wicca" religion .

I "Believe" and "Feel" a lot of the "Wiccan" ways,

But I Do not necessarily "Practice".

That is, I do not attend any groups, know or use any "Spells" or such things.

(other than Prayer and asking to be blessed and for guidance)

I Have read up on a lot of the Wicca ways over the Years,

and I have a Very Close and Dear friend that is an Ordained Priestess

that has Shared much information with me and has told me that

I could/would be a great Priest if i was to Indulge myself more.

Only because of How i Already felt and Believed about (all)"Life" and others,

in Our world and existence.

That being said,..I do not believe the "Elements" are Gods,

(more of a Energy)

but something of an extension of the Gods/Goddess's.

Since a Godly being is the source and power of the elements,

(the energy and/or creation of All life in any form)

and therefore part of the life force that IS the Gods/Goddess's.

For Me personally, The entities that I/we/Wiccans/Humans pray to

Isn't Just of our "Mother Earth", but All of Creation in general.

I Don't know If you "Got it wrong" or not, because I don't know If I have it right myself.

Does Anyone or Can Anyone say or Prove what is Right ?

I'm Sure that "We All" have "Missed Something" (probably a Lot)

Being Wiccan, you my Dear "Crystal Clear" know as well as I, that

We "All" are "One"

with "One Another" as well as Life and the "Universe" as We comprehend it.

We All are Magic, and the Magic is in Us.

What We give of ourselves to life or others is all we will get back.

You've been single for years? You're ONLY 24! What in the world? How much experience do you really expect to have at you age? I think it depends on your motives, whether or not you were wrong. And based on your comments about how long you've been single and how hard it is to find the kind of guy you like, I think you're hoping for something more than just to "keep in touch." Therefore, I think you were wrong and way too forward. And if his girlfriend finds out, please believe that there will be a problem. So I really hope he never calls you. And you shouldn't ever expect him to either. In fact, you should probably put yourself in the girlfriend's shoes and decide how YOU would feel if some random temp chick at work left your boyfriend a note and her phone number to "keep in touch." I highly doubt you would be okay with that.

I was always under the impression that certain things are aspects of the elements, and that the elements are only aspects of the Gods. For instance, I believe this woman mentioned Brigid. She is a fire Goddess, but that does not make her one and the same with fire; fire is only an aspect of her, as she is also a Goddess of rebirth and of other personal attributes like the matron Goddess of smithcraft.

Thus, the elements are of importance, but are nowhere near the level of being deities, simply aspects that can be called in ritual.

I agree with PrairieCrow, the elements are NOT Gods. I have heard someone refer to the elements as Gods before, and I thought "That doesn't sound right".

The elements are aides, (something like Angels or Saints for Catholics, as an analogy) They lend energy to aid you in your work. They don't need any worship

ETA: Ok, we're talking about the same person, and this person has a record of giving misinformation and passing off as an experienced Wiccan.

@Keltillos - That site no longer works. I have read it and it actually is a good site, dispite a poor title decision.

The elements are different from the god. Sure, the elements relate to the gods, but they are not the god themselves. I'd say each element from the pentacle lives within the god it self. For example there is this "horned god", i honestly don't know that much it, but it seems to me that it would made of fire. Thus, having gods and elements relating, but elements not being gods themselves.

Well, I may be speaking out of school here, as I've only been Wiccan for (counts on fingers) something like 25 years, but *my gods* are gods, not elements.

If you look at Gardner's early liturgy, especially the pre-Valiente stuff, you hear mention of the goddess and her consort, and of fire and water, but he seems to leave out earth and air altogether. For something so important as our alleged gods to lack mention in the core, seminal liturgy speaks volumes.

I mean, come on, the elements aren't even that important to ritual, just used in variations on one out of a multiplicity of circles.

But, eh, what do I know?

I was always taught that the gods are separate from the elements. But, you can see that most gods favor one element or another based upon some of their qualities. Ares - Fire, Neptune - water obviously etc.

the elements are not gods sure there gods of those elements but the elements are not gods. they most likely were misinformed. either they just saying they're Wiccan or they don't know any better.

The elements are not Gods -- they have their own power and, depending on who you talk to, some form of sentience as a collective, but they are not themselves the Gods of Wicca.

I was trained Gardenerian, and my elder was very clear on that point: the elements are not the Gods, although they are part of the living body of the Gods.

Perhaps the poster you're referring to had teachers who taught him or her differently, but the vast majority of experienced Wiccans would probably disagree.