Ask A Wiccan

[Rhythm]

Re: Ask A Wiccan

Some wiccans certainly do feel that way, and others - notably ritualists, see that dissatisfaction as misplaced and pointless. Its the same in any religion - and even with authors..whether they write books about wicca or glittery teenage vampires or the famous people you meet in heaven. Fans and haters, fans and haters.

[DHR]

Re: Ask A Wiccan

Having read a few books and talked with a few Wiccans in person, I have one question...

Do some Wiccans (you) feel that items/tools and other things such as a robe or books you must own have taken center stage of the faith and practice ? I have read many talking about a person named Silver Ravenwolf, author of a lot of Wiccan books...and what a scam she is or has been.

[thalassa]

Re: Ask A Wiccan

An excellent look at the Wiccan REde

[Azvanna]

Re: Ask A Wiccan

hello people! i m not sure this is the right thread i hope someone will guide me if i m not in the right place 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!!

Hi evangelia. Have you ever tried the Celtic Cross tarot spread? I have tried this twice now and both times have received great results. It took a bit of patience to learn how to read the cards, but it was well worth it. I just used a deck of inspiration cards I had at home that had single words on them. http://www.biddytarot.com/how-to-rea...-tarot-spread/

It's my belief that tarot unlocks your subconscious fears and desires. If you trust that the right cards will come up, your subconscious will be able to apply meaning to each of the cards and you will gain better understanding of what your true self is trying to achieve.

[gelman66]

Re: Ask A Wiccan

Wow interesting, Thalassa. I'm learning a lot just hanging out on this forum and reading

[evangelia]

Re: Ask A Wiccan

hello people! i m not sure this is the right thread i hope someone will guide me if i m not in the right place 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!!

[Autumn_Phoenix]

Re: Ask A Wiccan

...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.

Hence the "I think" part of my question...lol. I'm finding that the more I *think* I know, the more I realize how much I have to learn. And when you put it that way, it makes perfect sense. Without the magic, then why Wicca at all? I'm barely starting to scratch this surface.

[thalassa]

Re: Ask A Wiccan

I've been reading Scott Cunningham's "Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner". I *think* I understand that one can be Wiccan and not practice what witchcraft, in much the same way that not all who practice witchcraft are Wiccan. Are the rites and rituals observed during Esbats and Sabbats considered witchcraft?

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.

[Autumn_Phoenix]

Re: Ask A Wiccan

I've been reading Scott Cunningham's "Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner". I *think* I understand that one can be Wiccan and not practice what witchcraft, in much the same way that not all who practice witchcraft are Wiccan. Are the rites and rituals observed during Esbats and Sabbats considered witchcraft?

[thalassa]

Re: Ask A Wiccan

You ask a good question. In the kind of Wicca that focuses on just the goddess then, no, you don't have to believe in the god.

Usually this is called Dianic Wicca...I only say "usually" because there are always exceptions

I know there's Atheist Wiccans, though I don't know how that's possible. But, no, I don't think that you need to believe in a god and goddess to be Wiccan.

I know of some Wiccans that don't believe in gods as literal beings with independent agency, but worship as if they do (with that in mind, I also know a number of different types of Pagans that take this, or similar, approaches).



Personally, I think what makes one a Pagan of any tradition (including Wiccan) is praxis, rather than doxa. Worship the Lord and Lady, follow the 8 Sabbat Wheel of the Year, incorporate the Rede and the Threefold Law into your personal ethics (regardless of how literally you take it), and follow a basic Gardnerian/Alexandrian ritual framework for most ritual, and I'm prepared to acknowledge your claim to be Wiccan (British Traditional Witchcraft, though, is a whole 'nother can of worms)... But I also think that, having mostly come from Christian traditions (and often strict ones), many people forget that (or never learn there is a difference between the two).

[IsisSekhemetRa]

Re: Ask A Wiccan

Is the worship of gods/godesses necessary in Wicca, or is one able to practice without such beliefs?

You ask a good question. In the kind of Wicca that focuses on just the goddess then, no, you don't have to believe in the god. I know there's Atheist Wiccans, though I don't know how that's possible. But, no, I don't think that you need to believe in a god and goddess to be Wiccan.

[MaskedOne]

Re: Ask A Wiccan

I've removed a post as grossly off-topic. There is leeway for thread drift but try to stay somewhere within a hundred miles of the topic especially in q&a threads.

[paneides]

Re: Ask A Wiccan

Oh this thread is pure gold. As someone looking into Wicca there are so many great questions here I am sure to find some help here. Thank you for starting this thread (and thanks to those who has asked the questions and contributed so far). I have bookmarked this thread to keep coming back to. :O)

[nbdy]

Re: Ask A Wiccan

Well, she was quite old, and condescendingly certain. I was somewhat taken aback to be honest since people usually correct a mispronunciation with a little grace and humor. Maybe pronunciation was an issue decades ago that has since been left to do what it will. *shrug*

[Ophidia]

Re: Ask A Wiccan

I am semi-famous for mispronouncing words. I think it is because I am far more likely to have read them than hear them said; however, I have said the word "Wiccan" many times and never been corrected. I have heard the word said many times and it has been the same pronunciation. Last Saturday when I said the word "Wiccan" a woman who is at or near age 90 corrected my pronunciation. For the record, she is not a Wiccan, inclining more toward Native American traditions. Anyway, I pronounced it much the same way as the word "chicken." She quickly told me that it is pronounced we-KAWN, where the 'e' is short as in the word "ten." So is this the original and correct pronunciation? I have never heard it before, but perhaps I, all those around me, have mispronounced the word Wiccan for nearly 20 years.

It's probably a tomayto/tomahto kind of thing. I've heard it pronounced 'witchen' before, but never where it rhymes with 'lawn'.