Re: Ask A Wiccan
It depends on what one considers witchcraft and what one considers Wicca. I think that Gardner, the person that established Wicca would very much disagree with the idea of a (what we would call) Wiccan not being a witch. And personally I agree with him. I think the idea the idea that Wicca is not a form of witchcraft is false. In fact, for much of its history, Wicca was called The Craft by its practitioners and its practitioners were called Witches and not Wiccans.
Once upon a time, I would have been quite open minded on this and have said "sure, whatever"..but I've steadily gotten more objective over the years and found myself being more critical of how people use terminology. For a long time we had a "You're not a Wiccan" thread over the great "what is or is not Wiccan debate" (a debate that has been going on for years), and while I take a pretty "big tent" stance on what Wicca is, at some point in the divergence of one's beliefs and practices they become something else. I am now something else other than Wiccan because my beliefs and practices diverged from both the tradition I was initiated in to and the eclectic path I began before that.
A minimum requirement to be Wiccan in my estimation includes three things--a devotional duotheism (whether it might be a literal duotheism, a figureative duotheism as part of a larger pantheism, a duotheism based in soft polytheism, etc), an reconciliation of the Rede and the Law of Three as a statement on ethics and behavior, and a more-or-less traditional ritual cycle centered around the mythology of the Wheel of the Year. And it is here, in #3 that we have the witchcraft problem--the traditional Wiccan ritual format is a practice of witchcraft.
Witchcraft is a systematic set of magical practices and magic is the art and science of using one's will to bring about change, then I can't even imagine why this is up for debate (except that people have issues with the word "witch"). And, as a system of practices using will to create change, if Wicca isn't a form of witchcraft, then I don't know what it is. Certainly Wicca isn't all of witchcraft any more than witchcraft is all of Wicca. But. The very basics of Wiccan ritual are magic, are witchcraft--casting a circle, calling quarters, invoking gods, raising and releasing energy for a specific goal...
Can you be Wiccan and not practice witchcraft? People claim to do so all the time...but it seems to me that it misses the point of why Wicca was developed and how Wicca works as a method of personal transformation.
...so, in a round about way, (IMO) you can celebrate the esbats and Sabbats in ritual without the magic, without it being witchcraft--but then its not Wicca, its just Wiccan-flavored devotional eclectic Paganism.
Originally posted by Autumn_Phoenix
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It depends on what one considers witchcraft and what one considers Wicca. I think that Gardner, the person that established Wicca would very much disagree with the idea of a (what we would call) Wiccan not being a witch. And personally I agree with him. I think the idea the idea that Wicca is not a form of witchcraft is false. In fact, for much of its history, Wicca was called The Craft by its practitioners and its practitioners were called Witches and not Wiccans.
Once upon a time, I would have been quite open minded on this and have said "sure, whatever"..but I've steadily gotten more objective over the years and found myself being more critical of how people use terminology. For a long time we had a "You're not a Wiccan" thread over the great "what is or is not Wiccan debate" (a debate that has been going on for years), and while I take a pretty "big tent" stance on what Wicca is, at some point in the divergence of one's beliefs and practices they become something else. I am now something else other than Wiccan because my beliefs and practices diverged from both the tradition I was initiated in to and the eclectic path I began before that.
A minimum requirement to be Wiccan in my estimation includes three things--a devotional duotheism (whether it might be a literal duotheism, a figureative duotheism as part of a larger pantheism, a duotheism based in soft polytheism, etc), an reconciliation of the Rede and the Law of Three as a statement on ethics and behavior, and a more-or-less traditional ritual cycle centered around the mythology of the Wheel of the Year. And it is here, in #3 that we have the witchcraft problem--the traditional Wiccan ritual format is a practice of witchcraft.
Witchcraft is a systematic set of magical practices and magic is the art and science of using one's will to bring about change, then I can't even imagine why this is up for debate (except that people have issues with the word "witch"). And, as a system of practices using will to create change, if Wicca isn't a form of witchcraft, then I don't know what it is. Certainly Wicca isn't all of witchcraft any more than witchcraft is all of Wicca. But. The very basics of Wiccan ritual are magic, are witchcraft--casting a circle, calling quarters, invoking gods, raising and releasing energy for a specific goal...
Can you be Wiccan and not practice witchcraft? People claim to do so all the time...but it seems to me that it misses the point of why Wicca was developed and how Wicca works as a method of personal transformation.
...so, in a round about way, (IMO) you can celebrate the esbats and Sabbats in ritual without the magic, without it being witchcraft--but then its not Wicca, its just Wiccan-flavored devotional eclectic Paganism.
I need help, i have lost ALL inspiration, i don't seem to get happiness from my job i really need a great big shift. Althought i know i should make changes i m not sure what changes i should make. if i know what the right direction is i can ask for help or work towards that direction but (to make a long story short) who should i ask for inspiration? (deity or other) i have tried meditation but nothing comes to mind.. has anyone done/asked for something similar? thank you in advance!!
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