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Religious movements swiftly go out of date.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

[barbarakitten-t.livejournal.com]

damn and blast...this is a wonderful conversation and i want to spend more time here (unfortunately i am at work and need to quit screwing around

jackiejj says Sadly, most miracles take us by surprise.

i have to disagree with that. it's true that miracles often take us by surprise, but i don't think it's sad.

when i was a senior in high school i had to come up with a motto for my yearbook entry...it was "expect a miracle."

miracles happen all around us every day...and if we are lucky we can have a hand in helping a miracle happen.

i too am a zen pagan. i lit candles for brigid this morning before work...i have a go with the flow life (although occasionally the river gets dammed...)

poliphilo i think you are maybe a little cynical...charmed is a more sophisticated version of bewitched...

bright blessings and i will try to come back to this discussion later when i have time to think...

[halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com]

[info]poliphilo i think you are maybe a little cynical...charmed is a more sophisticated version of bewitched...

no, it is not. Or, I respectfully choose to disagree with that statement.

I have read this discussion with great interest, but I find there are words I want to add and can't quite come up with them. I think that one thing demonstrated here is that religion is a personal thing, and we need to be comfortable with the way we believe.

I'm still unable to breathe, perhaps my thoughts show that.

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

Sorry you can't breathe yet! (Neither can the Pope, this morning.)

Okay, you've given me something here: "religion is a personal thing."

Yes. Absolutely.

When people go into bars, there are usually no windows. It's usually dark inside.

The world is shut out so that the mind can loosen itself from the everyday.

Same for going into church: regular glass that looks out onto a parking lot is exchanged for stained glass with pictures of saints. The world is shut out.

There's a difference in bars and churches--there's no ritual in a bar--but, still, we're trying in both to be liberated from everyday thinking. In bars we do this chemically to the brain, and smooth the way to freedom with darkness and atmosphere.

When we go to church, surely we must take some hope for a surprise, for a miracle, in the door with us ("Lord, it is good to be here.")

In short, it's easier to be taken by a miracle in a place that is charged with energy and hope, perhaps, than, say, in the shower at home.

And there is group energy. I have felt it. It is extemely potent. It's partly emotion. It's partly expectation.

Expectation: that's the word. That's what the structure and the words provide. You can go to the Faith Promise Freeway Primitive Baptist Church and experience a miracle. Your life can be changed.

Not because they all handle snakes with reverence, but because YOU "expect a miracle."

Which makes me wonder, all over again: what is a miracle?

[halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com]

In short, it's easier to be taken by a miracle in a place that is charged with energy and hope, perhaps, than, say, in the shower at home.

YOu see, I don't agree with you about the inside of a church being charged with energy and hope. I find energy and hope when I stand in a forest surrounded by trees and growing things. I find energy and hope when I stand on the shore of Lake Ontario and watch the water - especially in the surging waves of a windstorm. I found energy and hope when I stood ankle deep in the water, the red sands of Prince Edward Island beneath my feet, and watched the sun come up. I found energy and hope in the pounding waters of Niagara Falls.

Conversely, I found energy and hope when I stood on the farthest up level of the CN Tower, in the dark, and looked out on the city of Toronto below me, the lights scattered like handsful of glitter tossed across the wrinkles of a child's blanket.

See what I mean?

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

Conversely, I found energy and hope when I stood on the farthest up level of the CN Tower, in the dark, and looked out on the city of Toronto below me, the lights scattered like handsful of glitter tossed across the wrinkles of a child's blanket.

See what I mean?

Yes. I do see. Lovely imagery, too.

I was following a train of thought about why we set up places apart. For some people, those places aren't necessary.

[barbarakitten-t.livejournal.com]

like i said, i was talking out my ass, so disagree away and i will bow to someone with superior knowledge ;)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I'll admit I haven't watched much of Charmed. I see it as a cheaper version of Buffy (which I loved.)

[barbarakitten-t.livejournal.com]

as i don't watch charmed and didn't watch buffy, i am talking out my ass regarding tv shows...

however, i think that you should know that, whatever you are doing faithwise now, as an activist you have done great good for the "pagan community," whatever you perceive that to be ;)

i have trouble codifying my rituals, because i am not wiccan and i don't really follow a particular path...my goddesses are as varied as brigid, kwan yin, spider woman and eris.... (i still think eris gets shafted) and while i don't have the discipline to be a solitary anything, i don't want to really share my feelings and beliefs with anyone who might make fun....

at least when i was a methodist, nobody made fun of me....

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Do you have a shrine?

Here's a picture of me and Ailz at work in our temple

[barbarakitten-t.livejournal.com]

sort of...we have a small altar to bast in our living room...and a cat buddah on the mantle. i have small bits and pieces...

...we used to practice religiously (if you'll pardon the pun) but tc lost heart when his eyes began to go bad. he gave up his membership in the lodge (a small group of kabbalists...) and we don't do regular circles the way we did when it was just me, tc, and sean...

...cheron is more faithful, but she is solitary and marcey isn't particularly comfortable with our rituals...

here is a quote that i serendipitously found while i was eating lunch...

Work and house and errands and physical fitness and activities and things. The expediencies of every day. This cannot be all there is.

Something more is calling. It is of the past, it embodies tradition, yet tradition is only the vehicle. It is of the heart, but it is more than diffuse sentiment. Some of it is dimly remembered, yet remembered for a reason.

It is a coherent way of life and the taste of home. It is a way to teach the children right and wrong, consciousness, history, and an appreciation of all we have. It connects them to their garndparents and mine.

It is an ancient religion. It beckons, and half the time I am not even sure why. Its rituals tantalize and will not be denied.

What is the lure of ritual when passionate believe is hardly ever to be found, when fulfillment of ritual is a matter of choice? It is more than the preservation of an empty vessel. It is the conviction, deep and unspoken, that ritual, the vessel, contains a precious substance, though I cannot name it. My ignorance is the problem, not that of the vessel.

Why do I, having long ignored the rituals, yearn in their direction? Some of its caretakers ave been those I loved best and respected most. I cannot forget them. I start from there. Miriam's Kitchen-a memoir Elizabeth Ehrlich, ISBN 0-670-86908-2

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

We gave up ritual when it came to seem like we were repeating ourselves.

But for several years ritual was a great delight.

Some of the best times I've ever had were in that temple.

[dirtynumbangel.livejournal.com]

I had no idea TC studied Kabbalah... hmm.

[barbarakitten-t.livejournal.com]

several years ago...he has studied LOTS of difference topics...he's a bit of a renaissance man.

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

I realized after I hit the "submit" button that my sentence came out wrong. What I meant was, it's too bad ("sadly...") that we can't simply arrange for miracles--miracles are surprises.

[eva-d-struction.livejournal.com]

"miracles happen all around us every day...and if we are lucky we can have a hand in helping a miracle happen."
---------
Kitten, this will crack you up...I read the above as "if we are lucky we can have a hard-on helping a miracle happen."

Oh, God, maybe I *am* getting better after all.

And BTW thanks for the signpost to this most interesting discussion!

Eva

[barbarakitten-t.livejournal.com]

Kitten, this will crack you up...I read the above as "if we are lucky we can have a hard-on helping a miracle happen."

okay, eva...now i have to clean tc's monitor!!!! just kittened diet coke all over it.

poliphilo is pretty cool...jackiejj introduced us....