Wicca: Difference between revisions
Rescuing 1 sources and tagging 0 as dead.) #IABot (v2.0.9.3
(Rescuing 0 sources and tagging 1 as dead. #IABot (v2.0beta9)) |
(Rescuing 1 sources and tagging 0 as dead.) #IABot (v2.0.9.3) |
||
| (4 intermediate revisions by 2 users not shown) | |||
Line 5:
|'''An excerpt from''' [http://doreenvaliente.com/?page_id{{=}}625 The Charge of The Goddess] }}
{{quote|''"An' it harm none, do what ye will."'''
|'''The Wiccan Rede.''' }}
[[Wicca]] is a fertility-based religion founded in the 1950s by Gerald Gardner, supposedly based as much as possible on pre-Christian British traditions and ceremonial magic societies/orders. Exactly what defines a Wiccan depends on who you ask, but at least one rule is consistent: "Wiccan" is ''not'' a fancy word for "witch," and "Wicca" is not a catch-all term for any neo-pagan religion. Neither is it term for someone who practices "whatever feels right," even if they take some of their practices and beliefs from Wicca. (That's called eclectic paganism - not that there's anything wrong with it; it's just not Wicca.) Note that the number of people who term themselves Wiccan but do not meet this definition (often because they do not belong to an initiatory tradition or do not follow all these beliefs) is much greater than those who do.
Line 25 ⟶ 26:
Males who practice magic are simply called witches. The term "warlock" is said to refer to those who break the sacred oaths taken during initiation and divulge the Mysteries to non-Wiccans, though the etymology of the term 'warlock' leads in a different direction. It is also quite offensive to call one such. The terms "wizard" and sorcerer/sorceress (and similar) are almost never used.
Wicca became "mainstream" to an extent during [[The Nineties]]. The polemic writings of the Silver Ravenwolf became popular, movies such as ''[[The Craft]]'' were released during this period, TV shows such as ''[[Charmed]]'' and ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' featured Wiccan characters, and the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' books, while not about real-life witchcraft
[https://web.archive.org/web/20140126051005/http://www.dynionmwyn.net/wicca.html This page] has some more in-depth information on the beliefs and origins of Wicca. Also, there are many, ''many'' myths and misconceptions about Wicca that would take forever to put up here, but are dealt with [https://web.archive.org/web/20120427071812/http://www.mdpagans.com/wiccaisnot.html here], [https://web.archive.org/web/20131020101355/http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/wiccaandpaganismbasics/a/MythsMisconcept.htm here], [https://web.archive.org/web/20101103025347/http://www.virtualavalon.com/wakingdragon/Wdispell.htm here], [https://web.archive.org/web/20050207222346/http://www.faqs.org/faqs/religions/wicca/faq/index.html here], and [https://web.archive.org/web/20140111220114/http://www.witchvox.com/va/list_articles.html?a=cabc&id=230739 here].
{{tropelist|Tropes associated with Wicca include:}}
* [[Above Good and Evil]]: Related below, the God and Goddess embody ''all'' of nature which includes disease, pain, and sorrow. Acknowledging their "dark" aspects is crucial in understanding the Divine.
* [[A Form You Are Comfortable With]]: A school of thought on the nature of the Divine says that the forms humanity has given it, such as the various deities (including the Triple Goddess), are merely attempts to understand a being [[You Cannot Grasp the True Form|ultimately beyond human comprehension]] if viewed in its entirety.▼
* [[Anthropomorphic Personification]]: The God and Goddess represent various aspects of nature and life.
* [[Anti-Magic]]: Salt is commonly used for ritual purification. However, if you leave it around your ritual space it may simply stop magic from working.
* [[Author Appeal]]: Anthropologists who've studied the origins of the Gardnerian tradition have noted that its rituals and practices seem to have quite a number of elements -- such as [[Nudism|skyclad ceremonies]] and [[BDSM|symbolic bondage]] -- which correspond with some of Gardner's pre-existing interests.
* [[Brand Name Takeover]]: Some people mistakenly refer to ''any'' neo-pagan or witch as a Wiccan, or use the word "Wicca" to refer to any generic brand of neo-paganism. Actually, many religions practice witchcraft, including [[Voudoun]]. It gets ''especially'' frustrating when it's a person insisting on calling their personal brand of neo-paganism "Wicca" when, at best, their path bears only a superficial resemblance to Wicca.
* [[Broken Base]]: Over the issue of whether or not those who aren't in lineaged covens (and therefore, do not know the Mysteries) have the right to [[Call a Smeerp a Rabbit|apply the name]] "Wiccan" to what they practice.
Line 50 ⟶ 51:
** Also, any teenage Wiccan who says that they're going to curse you or make that cute boy they see everyday in the cafeteria fall in love with them is full of shit. See [[Fan Dumb]] below.
* [[Esoteric Motifs]]
* [[Everyone Is Satan in Hell]]: Wicca gets a ''lot'' of this, mainly from people who [[Did Not Do the Research]]. (Or in some cases, sucked it out of their thumbs so they'd have ''something'' to put in their anti-pagan tracts.) One common belief is that Wiccans must be Satanists because they use the "Satanic" pentagram. In reality, the pentagram is an ancient symbol that has been used by many religions to represent many different things, including the five knightly virtues, the five wounds of Christ, and the five books of the Pentateuch. More on its different uses [https://web.archive.org/web/20211110210003/http://www.religioustolerance.org/wic_pent.htm here].
* [[Fan Dumb]]: [https://web.archive.org/web/20090819120051/http://wicca.timerift.net/fluffy.shtml Fluffy bunnies], or people who are attracted to Wicca because it looks shiny, makes them feel Speshul, or gives them something to rebel against their parents with. Symptoms include going on about the [[You Fail History Forever|nine million witches burned to death in the "Burning Times"]] and refusing to accept criticism and correction from people who actually did the research. Their type is called out and deservedly mocked [https://web.archive.org/web/20140101024142/http://somethingpositive.net/sp04242002.shtml here.]
** Even other Wiccans poke gentle fun at those cute, misguided kids.
** Let's not forget the Anti-Fluff Wiccans who look down on any Wiccans who do not practice their branch of Wicca or practice in a coven.
Line 57 ⟶ 58:
** Being a relatively new religion with a lot of disagreement over what it's supposed to be like, Wicca often takes on the traits of a fandom, which includes the [[Fan Dumb]].
* [[Fan Hater]]: Some evangelicals get pretty obnoxious about it.
▲* [[A Form You Are Comfortable With]]: A school of thought on the nature of the Divine says that the forms humanity has given it, such as the various deities (including the Triple Goddess), are merely attempts to understand a being [[You Cannot Grasp the True Form|ultimately beyond human comprehension]] if viewed in its entirety.
* [[Great Big Book of Everything]]: The ''Book of Shadows''. The Wiccan/neo-pagan [[Great Big Book of Everything]] tends to be a bit more like a journal or personal archive of spells, rituals, notes, and other things. Three-ring binders are commonly used, but some Book of Shadows might be a folder on the computer.
* [[Guide Dang It]]: Traditionally, coven-based Gardnerian/Alexandrian Wicca's core practices are kept secret from non-initiates, which makes it difficult to actually practice Wicca without being initiated. In the digital age, most Gardnerian-based practices have been available to non-initiates via the Internet and various books that have published the rituals. The real issue is whether or not a person can learn the core practices purely through books and experimentation versus through training by an initiated Wiccan. But, given that the religion was constructed in the 1950s and has had constant and frequent innovations since the 1950s, the matter of what is a core practice, what isn't, and what any particular initiate may or may not know, practice, or believe is quite a can of worms.
Line 74 ⟶ 76:
* [[Robe and Wizard Hat]]: Some Wiccans like to dress in medieval style, especially for special occasions, but it's not a requirement.
* [[Running the Asylum]]: Many Wiccans study the religion by reading the works of other Wiccan writers. The equivalent would be fans getting their [[Canon]] from fanfiction.
* [[Science Marches On]]: Some of the anthropological data relied upon by early Wiccan writers -- such as the universality of Mother Goddess worship in prehistoric times and the estimate of some eight million killed during the European crusade against witches -- have as of the early 21st century either been brought into doubt or disproved entirely.
* [[Simple Staff]]: May be used by some in place of a wand.
* [[Spirited Young Lady]]: There are many variations to the Maiden aspect of the Triple Goddess, ranging from [[The Ingenue|sweet and innocent flower]] to [[The Ladette|independent and fearsome lioness.]]
| |||