Friday, January 20, 2006
Witch, Not Wiccan
I'm not meaning this blog to be a tutorial on Paganism in its many forms, although I hope to write and link to some articles -- and other blogs -- that will help an honest seeker to differentiate among the (how many, now?) various forms of Pagan traditions.
And if you wish to help out by writing me, or sending me links, I'd be delighted to have your input! My e-mail address is behind the "View my complete profile" link at the top left of the page. If you have an article you'd like published, and you don't yet have your own blog, I could be persuaded to have you as a guest blogger (a suitable bribe of, say, a solid dark chocolate bar would not go amiss, I promise...).
And now for the thought behind the title of this post:
I am a Witch. Capitalized, please. This is my religion, as well as my culture.
I am not a Wiccan. Wiccans are Pagans of the specifically British traditions -- mostly Gardnerian, Alexandrian, and Georgian, in that chronological order. I suspect that there are other Brit trad offshoots, but these three comprise most of the Wiccan population that I know about. And where I now live, I am quite literally surrounded by Wiccans -- from the Georgian trad.
Wiccans have particular ways of doing things, and within Wicca, each trad is slightly different from the others. I'm not going to speak of specifics (that is considered to be oath-bound information, and I am not out to "out" what does not belong to me), but suffice it to say that if you are a travelling Gardnerian, and you are invited to circle with a Gardnerian coven not your own, you will not get lost in the ritual. You will feel right at home, because Gardnerians, for the most part, follow the same ritual patterns no matter where they live.
I spent a little more than a year as a sort-of resident-guest to an Alexandrian coven, several years ago. I took a lot of training with them, to the point where I can circle with any Wiccan group without looking like the village idiot. I have the ettiquette and the "feel" for Wiccan ritual. I wouldn't be tripping over traditional taboos, or mistaking the Maiden for the High Priestess.
The Witchy equivalent to being paper-trained, I guess.
Still, I am not Wiccan. I am a Witch.
And what is a Witch? Damn good question. Glad you asked. Next?
*sigh* The truth is, it is far easier to say what a Witch is not than what a Witch is. It may be true, as someone once suggested to me, that a Witch is someone who has not yet codified all the laws regarding ritual and ethical behaviour. Such as The Rede: "An it harm none, do as ye will."
On the other hand, I know of some Wiccans who do not follow The Rede (it is said, snidely, that the reason is because Uncle Gerald didn't write it).
I've heard some people say that Witchcraft is not a religion -- it is only a skillset.
And to those people, I say: "Up yer bloody kilt with a caber!" How dare someone else define my religion and culture for me! Keep that attitude in front of me, and I will be opening the Janus Gates...
I am a solitary practitioner of Witchcraft who is also well enough trained in various traditions that I will not embarrass either myself or my hosts whenever I am invited to celebrate festivals with them.
I am eclectic, in that I do not hold with only one pantheon or one way of doing things. I am free to borrow and mingle whatever seems to fit at the moment, without having to worry about whether or not a High Priestess would approve.
My gods are my partners in my life -- not objects of worship. I do not pray to them. I form partnerships, and we work together. I am the Goddess of whatever name! I am the God of whatever name!
I use whatever magick works best for me, and I care not whether the moon is waxing, waning, or spending the afternoon in a hot tub.
I am, alas, hopelessly untalented at divination. I also think that divination is a neat toy, but I don't take it seriously. On the other hand, my sun, moon, and rising signs are all fire signs.
I'm not looking for carbon copies of myself. I welcome discussion, objection, refutation, addition, and all kinds of interaction. Feel free to use the comments section or my e-mail address. If you use the comments, and you have no blog identity, please identify yourself in some kind of systematic way -- three different commenters called "anonymous" get extremely tiring after awhile (I've seen it happen on other blogs) -- a set of initials or a made-up name would help.
And please be polite. No flames. Remember, I'm the one with three fire signs...
And if you wish to help out by writing me, or sending me links, I'd be delighted to have your input! My e-mail address is behind the "View my complete profile" link at the top left of the page. If you have an article you'd like published, and you don't yet have your own blog, I could be persuaded to have you as a guest blogger (a suitable bribe of, say, a solid dark chocolate bar would not go amiss, I promise...).
And now for the thought behind the title of this post:
I am a Witch. Capitalized, please. This is my religion, as well as my culture.
I am not a Wiccan. Wiccans are Pagans of the specifically British traditions -- mostly Gardnerian, Alexandrian, and Georgian, in that chronological order. I suspect that there are other Brit trad offshoots, but these three comprise most of the Wiccan population that I know about. And where I now live, I am quite literally surrounded by Wiccans -- from the Georgian trad.
Wiccans have particular ways of doing things, and within Wicca, each trad is slightly different from the others. I'm not going to speak of specifics (that is considered to be oath-bound information, and I am not out to "out" what does not belong to me), but suffice it to say that if you are a travelling Gardnerian, and you are invited to circle with a Gardnerian coven not your own, you will not get lost in the ritual. You will feel right at home, because Gardnerians, for the most part, follow the same ritual patterns no matter where they live.
I spent a little more than a year as a sort-of resident-guest to an Alexandrian coven, several years ago. I took a lot of training with them, to the point where I can circle with any Wiccan group without looking like the village idiot. I have the ettiquette and the "feel" for Wiccan ritual. I wouldn't be tripping over traditional taboos, or mistaking the Maiden for the High Priestess.
The Witchy equivalent to being paper-trained, I guess.
Still, I am not Wiccan. I am a Witch.
And what is a Witch? Damn good question. Glad you asked. Next?
*sigh* The truth is, it is far easier to say what a Witch is not than what a Witch is. It may be true, as someone once suggested to me, that a Witch is someone who has not yet codified all the laws regarding ritual and ethical behaviour. Such as The Rede: "An it harm none, do as ye will."
On the other hand, I know of some Wiccans who do not follow The Rede (it is said, snidely, that the reason is because Uncle Gerald didn't write it).
I've heard some people say that Witchcraft is not a religion -- it is only a skillset.
And to those people, I say: "Up yer bloody kilt with a caber!" How dare someone else define my religion and culture for me! Keep that attitude in front of me, and I will be opening the Janus Gates...
I am a solitary practitioner of Witchcraft who is also well enough trained in various traditions that I will not embarrass either myself or my hosts whenever I am invited to celebrate festivals with them.
I am eclectic, in that I do not hold with only one pantheon or one way of doing things. I am free to borrow and mingle whatever seems to fit at the moment, without having to worry about whether or not a High Priestess would approve.
My gods are my partners in my life -- not objects of worship. I do not pray to them. I form partnerships, and we work together. I am the Goddess of whatever name! I am the God of whatever name!
I use whatever magick works best for me, and I care not whether the moon is waxing, waning, or spending the afternoon in a hot tub.
I am, alas, hopelessly untalented at divination. I also think that divination is a neat toy, but I don't take it seriously. On the other hand, my sun, moon, and rising signs are all fire signs.
I'm not looking for carbon copies of myself. I welcome discussion, objection, refutation, addition, and all kinds of interaction. Feel free to use the comments section or my e-mail address. If you use the comments, and you have no blog identity, please identify yourself in some kind of systematic way -- three different commenters called "anonymous" get extremely tiring after awhile (I've seen it happen on other blogs) -- a set of initials or a made-up name would help.
And please be polite. No flames. Remember, I'm the one with three fire signs...
Merry Meet!
# posted by Red Witch @ 1/20/2006 10:49:00 AM 
Comments:
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I also consider myself a Witch and not a wiccan. A green witch to be exact.
As for divination... I am into tarot... but its the *psychology* of it that I find fascinating. I also don't do the typical readings one thinks of when thinking of tarot. I like to use a method I learned from Amber K, called "Gestalt" tarot reading (again, the psychology of it). Can you tell I was a psych major?
Looking forward to reading your blog!
As for divination... I am into tarot... but its the *psychology* of it that I find fascinating. I also don't do the typical readings one thinks of when thinking of tarot. I like to use a method I learned from Amber K, called "Gestalt" tarot reading (again, the psychology of it). Can you tell I was a psych major?
Looking forward to reading your blog!
-Catholic Man
Both the author of this blog and the above commenter prove a point that I made in conversation the other day. America will tear down the structural walls of every religion that does not come from God. And America will attack God’s true Bride with a fierce passion.
So in a few year, let’s say 5-10, take a look at every religion in the United States. You will see all but one of them caving in to this “Dictatorship of Relativism.” A wiccan won’t be a wiccan, she’ll be a window shopping wiccan. Her traditions and teachings will change with the wind. The wiccan will conform to what’s popular or fassionable because that’s the “American way.”
“am eclectic, in that I do not hold with only one pantheon or one way of doing things. I am free to borrow and mingle whatever seems to fit at the moment, without having to worry about whether or not a High Priestess would approve.” -Quoted from this Post
I’ll be straight up with you. I believe Witches, or Wiccans, or Transcendental meditationists to be wrong in their teaching and practices. But in your comment I see that you will find yourself starving for truth! You can’t allow yourself to be lead around your passions. You need to exercise your intellect for goodness sake. Look hun, my point is that a real witch who wants to call herself a witch lives according to the code of witches. They live according to a creed so that they can say with intellectual certainty “ I am a witch because I give my person to these DEFINING and Necessary Principles for being a witch. An “eclectic” witch is really just a watered down witch, an uncertain witch who lives her life afraid that she’s missing out on something better if she puts her rots down in the soil at a given place. You do not know Truth, or else you would plant your roots in it!
I’m glad you haven’t planted your roots yet, because witchcraft is a lie babe. Anything that attacks an individuals conscience the way witchcraft does is a heinous lie and should be exposed as such. I’m not trying to take away your freedom to call yourself a witch, because that is the same freedom I use to call myself Catholic, but I am challenging you to give a defense of your philosophy and theology.
Both the author of this blog and the above commenter prove a point that I made in conversation the other day. America will tear down the structural walls of every religion that does not come from God. And America will attack God’s true Bride with a fierce passion.
So in a few year, let’s say 5-10, take a look at every religion in the United States. You will see all but one of them caving in to this “Dictatorship of Relativism.” A wiccan won’t be a wiccan, she’ll be a window shopping wiccan. Her traditions and teachings will change with the wind. The wiccan will conform to what’s popular or fassionable because that’s the “American way.”
“am eclectic, in that I do not hold with only one pantheon or one way of doing things. I am free to borrow and mingle whatever seems to fit at the moment, without having to worry about whether or not a High Priestess would approve.” -Quoted from this Post
I’ll be straight up with you. I believe Witches, or Wiccans, or Transcendental meditationists to be wrong in their teaching and practices. But in your comment I see that you will find yourself starving for truth! You can’t allow yourself to be lead around your passions. You need to exercise your intellect for goodness sake. Look hun, my point is that a real witch who wants to call herself a witch lives according to the code of witches. They live according to a creed so that they can say with intellectual certainty “ I am a witch because I give my person to these DEFINING and Necessary Principles for being a witch. An “eclectic” witch is really just a watered down witch, an uncertain witch who lives her life afraid that she’s missing out on something better if she puts her rots down in the soil at a given place. You do not know Truth, or else you would plant your roots in it!
I’m glad you haven’t planted your roots yet, because witchcraft is a lie babe. Anything that attacks an individuals conscience the way witchcraft does is a heinous lie and should be exposed as such. I’m not trying to take away your freedom to call yourself a witch, because that is the same freedom I use to call myself Catholic, but I am challenging you to give a defense of your philosophy and theology.
# posted by 
: Tuesday, February 28, 2006 12:52:00 PM
: Tuesday, February 28, 2006 12:52:00 PM
Catholic Man: Why should I defend what needs no defense? My philosophy and theology are my own, and only my own. They are no part of you, nor should they be. I am not trying to convert you from your chosen path -- no Witch ever would.
And you keep refering to me as she. Read the colophon again before you call me "hon" or "babe." Unless you're gay.
And you keep refering to me as she. Read the colophon again before you call me "hon" or "babe." Unless you're gay.
It doesn't matte what label you put on yourself. As in the John Melacamp song says--It's what you do not what you say, If you are not part of the future, get out of the way.
I am a spiritual being currently assigned to earth in human form. I call myself Wiccan because that its the closest to what I believe. I don't lie, cheat or steal, if I make a mess I clean it up, I don't deliberately hurt others and I know how to tend my own garden. These are the tenats of most religions--It's too bad the anonymous person above can't say the same.
if yo don't want to be called Wiccan--cool by me. Honor yourself with love, truth and wisdom and nothing else matters.
I am a spiritual being currently assigned to earth in human form. I call myself Wiccan because that its the closest to what I believe. I don't lie, cheat or steal, if I make a mess I clean it up, I don't deliberately hurt others and I know how to tend my own garden. These are the tenats of most religions--It's too bad the anonymous person above can't say the same.
if yo don't want to be called Wiccan--cool by me. Honor yourself with love, truth and wisdom and nothing else matters.
great post. I would love to follow you on twitter. By the way, did you guys hear that some chinese hacker had busted twitter yesterday again.
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# posted by : Monday, February 08, 2010 11:34:00 AM
: Monday, February 08, 2010 11:34:00 AM << Home
