Vegetarian Diet
   "Since you believe everything is sacred, are all Wiccans vegetarian?"

Not by any means. Wicca, as a religion, has no dietary rules, laws, or restrictions. Diet is a matter left up to each individual and is a matter of conscience. Wiccans who choose a vegetarian diet may do so for a variety of reasons. Some choose this for the health benefits of a meat-free diet. Some, because of the inhumane treatment and slaughter of mass-produced animals on large, commercial farms. Some people simply have a deep, inner abhorrence to eating animal flesh, and the very idea of killing an animal for food is repulsive to them.

There certainly seem to be more vegetarians among Wiccans than among the general population, but most of us are still omnivorous. This is usually because although we believe in the sacredness of life, we acknowledge that death is a part of life. We believe in reincarnation, since we witness the seasonal role of life, death, and rebirth played out each spring. "What Lives, Dies... and what Dies, is Reborn..." When we eat anything that was once alive, including plants, we acknowledge the life that feeds our life. This idea of death being necessary for new life is seen in our seasonal harvest celebrations, where we honor the life of the harvest that is sacrificed for our own lives. We become aware of our part in the Wheel of Life as we give thanks for our food. We recognize that someday we, too, shall die, and return to nourish the earth. Life and death are simply stages in the great spiral of time.

~Flame RavenHawk