maenad nuri
Illiezeulette
Ainwyn
Apparently I look androgynous enough today to have someone taking a survey on our campus ask me if I identify as male or female, while she didn't ask anyone else in our group (which included two trans people, one who has just started HRT). I'm not even wearing any kind of masculine clothing today. It's kind of exciting!
Also, just about to watch a "Wiccan documentary" in my class with a Neo-Gaianist professor. This should be interesting.
ETA: It's a documentary by the Farrars, good fun. I suppose better than some other things he could have shown, though we're on "THE BURNING TIMES!!!!!" right now. Any good, scholarly sources I can find on the internet on how eclectic neo-paganism isn't Wica? I don't have time to read books for this paper, but I'd like to counter some of the ideas of Wica my prof writes in his book.
Also, just about to watch a "Wiccan documentary" in my class with a Neo-Gaianist professor. This should be interesting.
ETA: It's a documentary by the Farrars, good fun. I suppose better than some other things he could have shown, though we're on "THE BURNING TIMES!!!!!" right now. Any good, scholarly sources I can find on the internet on how eclectic neo-paganism isn't Wica? I don't have time to read books for this paper, but I'd like to counter some of the ideas of Wica my prof writes in his book.
Probably not, seeing as only a certain demographic within the larger BTW community holds this opinion. I mean, I could probably coax my Gardnerian High Priestess and her newly elevated High Priest partner to write about how eclectic neopagans can sometimes legitimately call themselves Wiccan (two-c's).
However, writing a paper about how eclectic neopaganism isn't once-c Wica is like writing a paper on how blue isn't red. It's just fact. There's no issue there.
Can we get bullet points at least on the first. Would love to see it. Cause I like that idea.
I mean, I am not sure if I can actually get them to write a paper on it, but I am familiar with the line of logic (but won't speak for them):
1. Societies create words
2. As societies change, so do the meanings of words as the new societies create new meanings for words.
3. As such, Wicca with two Cs no longer pertaining to only BTW "Wica"--the definition has changed to include so-called "solitaries" and whatnot.
I mean, this smells a bit of ad populum, but a lot of BTWs feel perfectly content just separating themselves from the watered-down masses by relabeling themselves. Others are a bit more...hostile...to the idea of relinquishing the original definition.
For comparison:
Gardnerian Third Degree and author Deborah Lipp definitely uses two-C Wicca to describe a variety of paths. In her book The Study of Witchcraft, Lipp explains that some BTWs don't consider non-BTWs as deserving of the title "Wicca." She disagrees with this stance and goes to explain what criteria earns the use of double-C Wicca. They are (and I will quote excerpts from each, but not the whole paragraphs):
1. Polarity. "Whatever they believe, however, they work with polarity--ritually and spiritually. However many deities a Wiccan may worship, there is always only one goddess and one god on the altar during ritual."
2. Immanence: "Not everyone will embrace every description, but a Wiccan will always have some creed that includes the idea that the gods/goddesses within us are our truest guides."
3. Nature: "They worship nature deities, almost always including Mother Earth in some form, and they recognize the sacredness of the physical, including the human body and sexuality."
4. Magic: "Not all Wiccans practice magic, but Wicca as a religion accepts that magic is real, something that people can do, and something that people are allowed or encouraged to do."
5. Circles and Quarters: "The ritual structure of Wicca can vary enormously, but a cast circle with four quarters, representing or corresponding to the four elements, is the fundamental format of Wiccan ritual."
(all from page 12).
Her book is definitely worth reading if you are interested in the Wicca definition debate. I effing love it.
