My spirituality: the official kind-of FAQ.
03/06 -- Note:: This questionnaire is just a little out of date. There hasn't been a big shift in beliefs since it was written, but there has been a shift in semantics. The term I use most often nowadays is simply 'Pagan.' 'Neo-Pagan' works, too.
I've had a lot of questions regarding my spirituality lately, most copied here verbatim, and so I figured instead of answering the same questions multiple times, I'd answer them here.
Big Honking Disclaimer:: The ideas herein are solely my own and only pertain to my views and how I practice. Wiccans and Pagans are so diverse that no one FAQ could ever hope to ever cover even half of us. There's a saying --" ask three Pagans the same question and you'll get five answers." It's so true.
1. What lures you to Wicca? How did you get involved in it and what personal meaning do you find in it?
I guess you'd call me an eclectic Wiccan, but I've never done any formal work with any other groups, so definitions may vary. I was raised Southern Baptist, and while I never doubted that there was a god, I never really believed that a fire-and-brimstone god was right for me. But boy, did I try. I went to Christian camp. I prayed to god every single night to make himself real to me. I never heard or felt anything in return. But I would see the ways that my Christian friends interacted with god, how the light shone through them, and I wanted it. I wanted it badly.
I read about lots of religions when I was about thirteen-- just about every book on Eastern religion and philosophy from the public library that I could get my hands on, plus tons of books on mythology. And when I was fourteen, they started getting a few books on Wicca and Paganism, and it just struck the right chord. Man, the real thought that god could also be goddess really threw me through a loop. But it was that feminine Divine that really started to respond to those prayers, to resonate inside, and so I kept reading (it did take me awhile to adapt to a more loving male Deity, and the light/dark polarities of Nature, though. I was a tad lopsided at first). I love the imagery the most-- the nature symbolism, the sensual imagery, the wheel of the year, the vivid pictures of the various pantheons that can be adapted or studied. I enjoy the balance of traditionally masculine and feminine energies, and the opportunities to blur those boundaries and become a well-balanced individual.
I started out reading 'Wicca 101' type books-- Scott Cunningham and Yasmine Galenorn and Starhawk and Phyllis Curott (thank god my library didn't get in SRW first!). And eventually, about three years ago, I decided to move forward and actually start practicing my new beliefs. And here I am, much more widely read, but I have a long way to go. Some of those books still have a place on my bookshelf. Some I have practical/ethical differences with, and have since moved beyond. My advice to newcomers: read everything. Read the Margot Adler and the Janet & Stewart Farrar, the Ronald Hutton... but also read the Silver Ravenwolf and the Fiona Horne. It's only by reading the utter extremes that you'll be able to better gauge the validity of books you're going to pick up. You need to read the obvious crapola with the erroneous history and lopsided, contradictory philosophy so you can better pick out the better-cloaked crapola. :)
I'm a subscriber to the view that every god/goddess that ever was is just another facet of Divinity because Divinity exists, and all the different panthenons and stories are just man's way of trying to connect to the Divine. We make up stories to access different facets if the Divine, to focus our energy on a specific facet that we relate to. So while I take no myth literally, they're all wonderful and fascinating learning tools. However, I have been reading Janet Farrar & Gavin Bone's Progressive Witchcraft, which states that each Diety is independent and self-actualized. It's really quite fascinating, and I find myself nodding my head a lot, so who knows when I might revise my overall concept of Diety-dom. Honestly, I don't think the Divine *cares* how I see them, but it is of interest to me.
2. Is there any part of Wicca you find disagreeable or difficult?
I have issues with "harm none," because quite often it leads to claims of "you can only do positive things!" There's a saying that a witch who cannot hex can neither heal. I think it's true-- you can't only look at one side of the coin and call yourself proficient or even balanced. I don't advocate causing others harm for no reason, or even seeking to influence free will, but there are times when "fluffy bunny light and crystals!" magic will not work because there's nothing else to anchor it. Also, the rule of three is outdated and based on patriarchical concepts of sin and punishment. I do believe that you will eventually get back the energy you put out, but the rule of three is too often used as a scare tactic. A person should want to be ethical (by their own standards) to better themselves, not because otherwise they fear punishment.
And oh yeah, some of the practitioners of my faith I find highly disagreeable-- paranoid and otherwise off in lalaland. But then again, for a religion that has recently taken on a face of blanket-acceptance, you will always attract loonies.
3. Do you find yourself misjudged or mistreated for your faith?
Well, it depends. Sometimes. But that's just lack of information, and I've never experienced outright hostility. Many Christians misjudge me at first, but that's because most of them have been taught that Wicca is Satanism and all that crap-- I've been asked about my religion by many Christians, and once I started talking about what Wicca *actually* is, they're actually more interested than anything else. So maybe on the surface, people misjudge, but those who actually ask have always been sincere and polite.
On the opposite end, I've known a select few Wiccans & Pagans who are active Christian-haters because they lump all Christians into the "bigoted oppressors" category that really only the fundies fall into. It's really quite scary that people who expect such unconditional acceptance would not recognize this hypocracy. But still, they're in a minority, and I think fundies of *any religion* are terrifying and mislead.
Mostly it's my roommates, though... *shakes head sadly* "Witch! Shouldn't you be eating babies or something?!?" To which I reply: "Jew! Shouldn't you be killing Christ or something?!?" My apartment would be so offensive to people who don't actually know us.
4. How much of the spellcasting do you believe in/participate in? Is it central to the faith?
Spellcasting is not central to the faith. In fact, Wicca is evolving so that one can be Wiccan and not actually practice witchcraft-- that is, some will only adhere to the spiritual beliefs. And that's okay. Not all witches are Wiccan or Pagan. Not all Pagans and Wiccans are witches.
That said, I do practice spellcasting, but generally of the kitchen-witch variety. I do prosperity pancakes. I try to learn herbs and use them in meals served for a particular purpose. I love candle spells because they're simple, and very easily adapted. Very rarely do I do bigger things. There's a larger, more complicated working that I "renew" every year, but other than that, I only tend to work spells when I need to augment a process that I've begun through more mundane processes. I think of them as a spiritual aid and the magical component of a change I am trying to initiate.
Also? As a personal nitpick, please slap every single person who uses the terms "white magic" and "black magic." Tell them that I said for you to smack them. Those terms are so absolutely racist that they make me want to wretch.
Also x 2? It is spelled magic. Not "majik" or "magique" or "majjikque"... Yes. I could go on.
5. Is it possible to practice Wicca alone or is it necessary to have multiple participants?
I'm currently a solitary eclectic Wiccan, book-taught. Necessity chose this path for me, essentially. I have not had much chance to work with different groups and different paths due to lack of transportation, and so I've basically read everything I could get my hands on for the past four years. I don't have any draw to any one particular cultural-variant of Paganism (Celtic reconstructionist/Druid/Norse Paganism etc.), and so I'm still looking and reading and practicing as my fancy is struck. Other people are much more group-oriented, and if a group crosses my path that I might want to work with, I probably will. The way one practices is completely up to each participant's natural inclinations and the resources available to him or her. Nothing is "necessary" but a will to practice.
I would like to note that especially in Alexandrian and Gardnerian covens, there is the idea that Wicca can only be practiced in its true form by covens with the correct hierarchy, because it's an initiatory tradition and therefore all adherents are priesthood. They believe that anyone else should call themselves "Neo-Wiccans."
I think it's a load of shit, because Wicca is evolving far beyond what its creators ever envisioned it to be.
My ideas: If you're Wiccan, you just are. Nevermind the people who say you have to be in a coven or whatnot or call yourself something else. This is about practicing your belief system, not semantics. If you keep the sabbats, honor the Goddess and God, and generally follow all of the practices of Wicca, you're Wiccan.
Let me put this another way. Someone who believes that Jesus is their savior is Christian wether or not they go to church or study and worship at home. If two people both believe that Christ is their savior, but their practice of worship is different-- well, they may be different denominations, but the one who's less traditional isn't a "Neo-Christian."
And as far as the priesthood bit: The decision to join clergy is something else entirely, imho. Even within covens, not everyone is suited to be or even wants to be part of a priesthood. There are many specializations within the Pagan/Wiccan arena, only one of which is Priest/Priestess. So to say the nature of Wicca has to do with training all initiates into an eventual clergy would be false to me.
The only bit of this semantic jumble I agree with is the use of the word "initiation." An initiation is bestowed upon one by another. As a solitary, I did a "dedication." However, in my sight, there is not a whole lot of difference between one who has just been initiated and one who has just been dedicated. Both are practicing their belief, and both have teachers, wether they be humans, books, or even intuitional guidance by the Gods themselves.
Got more questions? Ask away, and I'll keep answering.
I've had a lot of questions regarding my spirituality lately, most copied here verbatim, and so I figured instead of answering the same questions multiple times, I'd answer them here.
Willow: Talk. All talk. 'Blah, blah, Gaia. Blah, blah, moon. Menstrual life-force power thingy.'
Buffy: No actual witches in your witch group?
Willow: No. Bunch of wanna blessed be's. Nowadays every girl with a henna tattoo and a spice rack thinks she's a sister to the dark ones.
-- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Big Honking Disclaimer:: The ideas herein are solely my own and only pertain to my views and how I practice. Wiccans and Pagans are so diverse that no one FAQ could ever hope to ever cover even half of us. There's a saying --" ask three Pagans the same question and you'll get five answers." It's so true.
1. What lures you to Wicca? How did you get involved in it and what personal meaning do you find in it?
I guess you'd call me an eclectic Wiccan, but I've never done any formal work with any other groups, so definitions may vary. I was raised Southern Baptist, and while I never doubted that there was a god, I never really believed that a fire-and-brimstone god was right for me. But boy, did I try. I went to Christian camp. I prayed to god every single night to make himself real to me. I never heard or felt anything in return. But I would see the ways that my Christian friends interacted with god, how the light shone through them, and I wanted it. I wanted it badly.
I read about lots of religions when I was about thirteen-- just about every book on Eastern religion and philosophy from the public library that I could get my hands on, plus tons of books on mythology. And when I was fourteen, they started getting a few books on Wicca and Paganism, and it just struck the right chord. Man, the real thought that god could also be goddess really threw me through a loop. But it was that feminine Divine that really started to respond to those prayers, to resonate inside, and so I kept reading (it did take me awhile to adapt to a more loving male Deity, and the light/dark polarities of Nature, though. I was a tad lopsided at first). I love the imagery the most-- the nature symbolism, the sensual imagery, the wheel of the year, the vivid pictures of the various pantheons that can be adapted or studied. I enjoy the balance of traditionally masculine and feminine energies, and the opportunities to blur those boundaries and become a well-balanced individual.
I started out reading 'Wicca 101' type books-- Scott Cunningham and Yasmine Galenorn and Starhawk and Phyllis Curott (thank god my library didn't get in SRW first!). And eventually, about three years ago, I decided to move forward and actually start practicing my new beliefs. And here I am, much more widely read, but I have a long way to go. Some of those books still have a place on my bookshelf. Some I have practical/ethical differences with, and have since moved beyond. My advice to newcomers: read everything. Read the Margot Adler and the Janet & Stewart Farrar, the Ronald Hutton... but also read the Silver Ravenwolf and the Fiona Horne. It's only by reading the utter extremes that you'll be able to better gauge the validity of books you're going to pick up. You need to read the obvious crapola with the erroneous history and lopsided, contradictory philosophy so you can better pick out the better-cloaked crapola. :)
I'm a subscriber to the view that every god/goddess that ever was is just another facet of Divinity because Divinity exists, and all the different panthenons and stories are just man's way of trying to connect to the Divine. We make up stories to access different facets if the Divine, to focus our energy on a specific facet that we relate to. So while I take no myth literally, they're all wonderful and fascinating learning tools. However, I have been reading Janet Farrar & Gavin Bone's Progressive Witchcraft, which states that each Diety is independent and self-actualized. It's really quite fascinating, and I find myself nodding my head a lot, so who knows when I might revise my overall concept of Diety-dom. Honestly, I don't think the Divine *cares* how I see them, but it is of interest to me.
2. Is there any part of Wicca you find disagreeable or difficult?
I have issues with "harm none," because quite often it leads to claims of "you can only do positive things!" There's a saying that a witch who cannot hex can neither heal. I think it's true-- you can't only look at one side of the coin and call yourself proficient or even balanced. I don't advocate causing others harm for no reason, or even seeking to influence free will, but there are times when "fluffy bunny light and crystals!" magic will not work because there's nothing else to anchor it. Also, the rule of three is outdated and based on patriarchical concepts of sin and punishment. I do believe that you will eventually get back the energy you put out, but the rule of three is too often used as a scare tactic. A person should want to be ethical (by their own standards) to better themselves, not because otherwise they fear punishment.
And oh yeah, some of the practitioners of my faith I find highly disagreeable-- paranoid and otherwise off in lalaland. But then again, for a religion that has recently taken on a face of blanket-acceptance, you will always attract loonies.
3. Do you find yourself misjudged or mistreated for your faith?
Well, it depends. Sometimes. But that's just lack of information, and I've never experienced outright hostility. Many Christians misjudge me at first, but that's because most of them have been taught that Wicca is Satanism and all that crap-- I've been asked about my religion by many Christians, and once I started talking about what Wicca *actually* is, they're actually more interested than anything else. So maybe on the surface, people misjudge, but those who actually ask have always been sincere and polite.
On the opposite end, I've known a select few Wiccans & Pagans who are active Christian-haters because they lump all Christians into the "bigoted oppressors" category that really only the fundies fall into. It's really quite scary that people who expect such unconditional acceptance would not recognize this hypocracy. But still, they're in a minority, and I think fundies of *any religion* are terrifying and mislead.
Mostly it's my roommates, though... *shakes head sadly* "Witch! Shouldn't you be eating babies or something?!?" To which I reply: "Jew! Shouldn't you be killing Christ or something?!?" My apartment would be so offensive to people who don't actually know us.
4. How much of the spellcasting do you believe in/participate in? Is it central to the faith?
Spellcasting is not central to the faith. In fact, Wicca is evolving so that one can be Wiccan and not actually practice witchcraft-- that is, some will only adhere to the spiritual beliefs. And that's okay. Not all witches are Wiccan or Pagan. Not all Pagans and Wiccans are witches.
That said, I do practice spellcasting, but generally of the kitchen-witch variety. I do prosperity pancakes. I try to learn herbs and use them in meals served for a particular purpose. I love candle spells because they're simple, and very easily adapted. Very rarely do I do bigger things. There's a larger, more complicated working that I "renew" every year, but other than that, I only tend to work spells when I need to augment a process that I've begun through more mundane processes. I think of them as a spiritual aid and the magical component of a change I am trying to initiate.
Also? As a personal nitpick, please slap every single person who uses the terms "white magic" and "black magic." Tell them that I said for you to smack them. Those terms are so absolutely racist that they make me want to wretch.
Also x 2? It is spelled magic. Not "majik" or "magique" or "majjikque"... Yes. I could go on.
5. Is it possible to practice Wicca alone or is it necessary to have multiple participants?
I'm currently a solitary eclectic Wiccan, book-taught. Necessity chose this path for me, essentially. I have not had much chance to work with different groups and different paths due to lack of transportation, and so I've basically read everything I could get my hands on for the past four years. I don't have any draw to any one particular cultural-variant of Paganism (Celtic reconstructionist/Druid/Norse Paganism etc.), and so I'm still looking and reading and practicing as my fancy is struck. Other people are much more group-oriented, and if a group crosses my path that I might want to work with, I probably will. The way one practices is completely up to each participant's natural inclinations and the resources available to him or her. Nothing is "necessary" but a will to practice.
I would like to note that especially in Alexandrian and Gardnerian covens, there is the idea that Wicca can only be practiced in its true form by covens with the correct hierarchy, because it's an initiatory tradition and therefore all adherents are priesthood. They believe that anyone else should call themselves "Neo-Wiccans."
I think it's a load of shit, because Wicca is evolving far beyond what its creators ever envisioned it to be.
My ideas: If you're Wiccan, you just are. Nevermind the people who say you have to be in a coven or whatnot or call yourself something else. This is about practicing your belief system, not semantics. If you keep the sabbats, honor the Goddess and God, and generally follow all of the practices of Wicca, you're Wiccan.
Let me put this another way. Someone who believes that Jesus is their savior is Christian wether or not they go to church or study and worship at home. If two people both believe that Christ is their savior, but their practice of worship is different-- well, they may be different denominations, but the one who's less traditional isn't a "Neo-Christian."
And as far as the priesthood bit: The decision to join clergy is something else entirely, imho. Even within covens, not everyone is suited to be or even wants to be part of a priesthood. There are many specializations within the Pagan/Wiccan arena, only one of which is Priest/Priestess. So to say the nature of Wicca has to do with training all initiates into an eventual clergy would be false to me.
The only bit of this semantic jumble I agree with is the use of the word "initiation." An initiation is bestowed upon one by another. As a solitary, I did a "dedication." However, in my sight, there is not a whole lot of difference between one who has just been initiated and one who has just been dedicated. Both are practicing their belief, and both have teachers, wether they be humans, books, or even intuitional guidance by the Gods themselves.
Got more questions? Ask away, and I'll keep answering.