A Brief (A Very Brief) History Of Wicca

[poliphilo]

Religious movements swiftly go out of date. They begin by challenging the status quo, then, once society has caught up with them, slip into conservatism as they defend their aging insights against the onrush of the new.

Wicca began as a challenge to the mores of the 1950s. It was always a little old-fashioned- with a whiff of geriatric naughtiness- and was soon overtaken by the sexual revolution of the 1960s. It was reinvented in the 70s, by Starhawk and others, as a vehicle for left-wing protest and feminist assertion. Now, unless I'm missing something, there's nothing much left in it except a nostalgia for ye olden dayes.

Charmed is the monument erected over its grave. If the US entertainment industry thinks something is safe for the mainstream, you can be pretty certain it's no longer prancing and kicking.

Comments

[catvalente.livejournal.com]

That's a very cynical view--I wouldn't say it's at all true. Nor do I require a religion to constantly surprise me, as though it were a cliffhanger television show. But in any event, I don't see why you seem to view it as such a dead and stagnant thing. Unless you mean Wicca alone, and not polytheism as a whole, in which case I might agree, as Wiccans in general have gone over to the dark side of organized religion little different than Methodists.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Polytheism is ancient and deep and is never going to go out of fashion.

I remain a polytheist.

Wicca is what I know of neo-paganism. It's the group I belonged to for ten years. I think it has lost the plot (though I'd be happy to be proved wrong.)

[catvalente.livejournal.com]

Since I'm not Wiccan, I'm not in a place to help you with that. ;)