'nother question answered

[beetiger]

tygermoonfoxx asks:
What do you think of Wicca wannabes and how do you define them?

I try not to make fun of anyone's sincere spiritual quest, even if I find their ideas or approach simplistic. If you want to worship the Queen of Bunnies and run around in heavy robes twitching your nose, go right ahead. And I definitely have a lot of respect for any sincere seeker, even if they are asking questions about really basic stuff. Every Witch was a Seeker once, and in some ways, we still are. I know *I* don't have all of the answers. Anyone who truly wants to be Wiccan, and has done the work to be a proper person, is welcome as far as I'm concerned.

Honestly, although I know we've lost the use of the word and I should let it fly on its merry way, I still think of Wicca as a specific type of British-derived neopaganism, which includes group practice, lineage, and oathbound material as core to its style. Many years back, when I helped run the CUUPS chapter in Ithaca, I got the phone call from the newspaper for the dreaded Halloween article. They'd gotten PC, so instead of looking for Witches, they were looking for Wiccans. I declined and connected them with a Blue Star priestess who gave them a fine interview.

I think what you probably mean by "wannabes", though, are the people who want to be "experts" with a limited amount of experience and information, the IRAB pagans, the ones who use their pagan affiliation to shock or to prove they've grown up or to have fun Christian-bashing or something. I have limited tolerance for that. I also have little tolerance for manipulative people, the kind of folks who use knowledge or spellwork to seek power-over instead of power-with, to use Starhawk's terms.

I personally think that the more people who are around thinking about how to be kind to each other and the Earth, honor the feminine, seek balance, act in alignment with their Will, find the world's magic, and show respect for the Old Gods, the better.

But I still don't give out love spells.

Comments

[cloverr.livejournal.com]

Worshiping the Queen of Bunnies sounds good to me.... :)

you said:I personally think that the more people who are around thinking about how to be kind to each other and the Earth, honor the feminine, seek balance, act in alignment with their Will, find the world's magic, and show respect for the Old Gods, the better.

And THAT's why I like the wiccan/pagan mindset; even if I'm not a current practioner.

[bunnygoth.livejournal.com]

"Wicca wannabe"

I never heard that phrase before, and I hope I never have to hear it again! There's enough interesting pagan tradition to borrow from without having to adhere to Wicca if you don't want to. (I, too, consider it a particular subset of neopaganism.)

I liked your answer :)

[eetmewithtoast.livejournal.com]

But I still don't give out love spells.

Bwahahahahahaha!

Me neither.