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| Wicca, a History |
| 03.10.05 (7:12 am) [edit] |
a Reconstructionist - takes Traditional folk-practices and customs with religious elements from a specific culture and fits them into modern parameters, creating something new from fragments of old. The following are excepts from Catherine Nobles Website http://wicca.timerift.net/ind..., about the history of witchcraft, Wicca, whatever the heck you want to call it. The above is a type of Wicca, which most witches are, whether they chose to use this term or not. © Catherine Noble, 2002 - 2003 Wicca is approximately 60 years old. We have adopted certain aspects of older religions - we even invoke some of their gods - but we are not followers of those religions. Judaism and Christianity share an entire Old Testament, not to mention a supreme being, but they're not the same religion either. THE OLD RELIGION Wiccan’s use this term a lot to denote the faith that they follow, referring to the religion of Europe before the advent of Christianity. The problem is there wasn't an organized European religion before Christianity. Each of the cultures dotting that continent possessed their own pantheons, their own stories, their own creation myths and afterlife’s. Pick up any book on European mythologies or pre-Christian religions and see for yourself. There are some similarities, the result of occasional interactions between the cultures, but each religion and mythology is its own independent entity. For that matter, you can find similarities between those religions and Christianity too. The idea of the Old Religion generally centers around the idea of there being a single God and Goddess which everyone just attributed different names too. It is your right to hold this as theological belief, but there is no historical evidence indicating as such. Moreover, the idea that we are following ANY pre-Christian religion is in error. We sometimes recognize the old deities, and some of us try to incorporate the flavour of the old rites, but the simple fact is our knowledge of those rites is generally sketchy at best, especially for those following Celtic pantheons. Contrary to popular belief, even Gerald Gardner acknowledged: the rituals he received from Old Dorothy's coven were very fragmentary, and in order to make them workable, he had to supplement them with other material.(1) That supplemental material came mostly from ceremonial magic sources: The Order of the Golden Dawn, Thelema, Freemasonry, and other occult entities of the 19th and early 20th century. This fact does not make our beliefs invalid. It simply makes them not ancient. 1 Julia Phillips, "HISTORY OF WICCA IN ENGLAND: 1939 - present day." Lecture at the Wiccan Conference in Canberra, 1991 HISTORY OF WICCA Wicca began with a man named Gerald Gardner in the mid 20th century. Many people give the year 1954 as its inception, because this is when Gardner published Witchcraft Today. Gardner had, however, already published High Magic's Aid in 1949 under the pseudonym Scire, and it was not until 1959, in The Meaning of Witchcraft, that he mentions the word "Wica". Gardner claimed that in 1939 he was initiated into the New Forest Coven by one Dorothy Clutterbuck. Whether this coven ever existed is still in question today, and if it did, how old it actually was. Gardner claimed it to be part of the Old Religion - he even had Margaret Murray write the forward of Witchcraft Today. The simple fact is that much of what Gardner taught in his books were derived from ceremonial magic. Gardner was a brief friend of occultist Alistair Crowley (they met only a year before Crowley's death) and a member of the OTO (Ordo Templi Orientis). But Gardner's views of magic and religion did vary from that of ceremonial magic. Among other things, Crowley taught that magic was the power of will, while Wicca puts the origins of magic in the God and Goddess. Gardner's Wicca was much more male-oriented than modern Wiccan’s associate with the religion. The increased female-orientation stated with his student, Doreen Valiente. Gardner's Wicca was initiatory, and Gardnerian Wicca continues to be so to this day - if you're not a member, you can't participate. You can't even learn a great deal about them. The problem with initiatory religions, however, is that if no one can talk about it, it doesn't grow very fast. Since then, however, there have been several developments, including the Eclectic movement. Eclectics generally don't believe in secrecy or initiation. They also don't hold as much value to specific traditions. This made Wicca more publicly available. It also, however, opened the floodgates for all manner of ideas. Twenty years ago, Wiccan was seen as largely Celtic oriented. At the very least, it was European. Today people acknowledging everything from Amerindian spirits to Hindu gods are calling themselves Wiccan. When asked what "Wicca" means, they might even tell you "there is no one definition of Wicca." That is NOT a good sign. We all have much to learn from people of other faiths, and we should respect those faiths. But that doesn't mean we should embrace all of them as our own. Honestly, on our present course, I expect Wicca to die out within 20 years - the serious practitioners will have given up and moved on to other groups, and the Bunnies will no longer find it cool. I don't want to adhere to the letter of Gardner. I'm not a Gardnerian, and have no interest in being one. I believe religion can and should evolve. But there are good and bad directions to go. I think being an Eclectic is a good thing. Eclectic does not, however, equal fluff, or at least it shouldn't. In the interest in saving some time, I have midterms next week, I chose to post this rather than rewriting basically the same thing. If you’re interested in reading more of her essays, which are very good, though I don’t agree with all of what she says, visit her site, http://wicca.timerift.net/ind... I personally do not agree with her final statement about Wicca dieing out. I believe that as people become more aware of the true nature of this earth based faith, it will change, alter, and grow into something new and different. We live in a global society today and I believe that is why people are drawing on elements of world faiths. We now have access to these different paths, which we never had before, not in this way. To draw on different faiths not only increases our knowledge of world religions but also teaches us respect. It shows us that we’re not so different after all and in the end, we have more commonalities than differences. All bold face, italics, and spelling corrections, etc added by me, Fairmoon. |
posted by: angiekruger (reply)
post date: 03.10.05 (7:18 am)
is this a rebuttal perhaps lol
posted by: Fairmoon (reply)
post date: 03.10.05 (7:21 am)
not so much a rebuttle, cuz both say the same thing. just from different angles.
so i'm not sure what it is? *shrug* it's what i felt I wanted to do. :-)
posted by: Fairmoon (reply)
post date: 03.10.05 (7:30 am)
yeah i know it was long, but it's worth the read. could have been longer, but if you choose to read more you can visit her sight. this is just the jist.
FM
posted by: Longshot (reply)
post date: 03.10.05 (8:10 am)
Interesting stuff! Thanks for taking the time to do this.
posted by: Fairmoon (reply)
post date: 03.10.05 (10:46 am)
Reply to: Longshot
you are welcome.
FM
posted by: jerneedog (reply)
post date: 03.10.05 (12:40 pm)
Mmmm...interesting indeed!
posted by: Fairmoon (reply)
post date: 03.10.05 (1:03 pm)
Reply to: jerneedog
yes i think so too
posted by: AuroraLee21 (reply)
post date: 03.10.05 (8:32 pm)
Very interesting and neat, I feel more edamacated, lol. Its good seriously, I liked reading it.
posted by: Fairmoon (reply)
post date: 03.11.05 (6:23 am)
Reply to: AuroraLee21
lol. it's important to be edamacated! :-)
Demystifying Misconceptions
This Blog chronicles the journey of one woman as she attempts to define her faith and place in the universe.
I'm a geeky sort of Fae most of the time
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*A brief History of Wicca
*Wicca 101 part 1
*Wicca 101 part 2
*Spells and the Modern Witch
*Do Witches Worship Satan?
*Religious View
*Interview with a Witch
*A Witch's Story of Creation
*One Definition of the Divine
*I am a Witch
* Original Sin, from a Witches point of View
*Why a Witch Could care less about Harry Potter
*Satan is not my Sidekick
*The other people: Or how I learned to stop worrying and love the Bible