blah blah blah
Sep. 6th, 2004 01:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hyuriI finally found some Caffeine Free Coca‑Cola that isn’t diet, so now I can get my cola hit without fucking myself over with caffeine. very happy Hyuri for that.
my bank accounts are also very happy right now, but after the insurance check clears and since I probably owe my mom $60... eh. I might actually make it out of the month with more money than I came in with, though. maybe. depends on how much, and what, I can get my parents to subsidize. ^^
need to update my checkbook, I guess. I should play a bit on Seraph, since my brother doesn’t seem to be online at all.
managed to minorly piss off my dad by showing him this shirt design. amused my mom, though. I can’t believe I had to fucking explain to my dad that no, not all Wiccans (and pagans in general) genuinely believe in it, and know what the hell they’re talking about. it’s a pretty popular “piss off the parents” move to claim pagan beliefs, y’know?
my bank accounts are also very happy right now, but after the insurance check clears and since I probably owe my mom $60... eh. I might actually make it out of the month with more money than I came in with, though. maybe. depends on how much, and what, I can get my parents to subsidize. ^^
need to update my checkbook, I guess. I should play a bit on Seraph, since my brother doesn’t seem to be online at all.
managed to minorly piss off my dad by showing him this shirt design. amused my mom, though. I can’t believe I had to fucking explain to my dad that no, not all Wiccans (and pagans in general) genuinely believe in it, and know what the hell they’re talking about. it’s a pretty popular “piss off the parents” move to claim pagan beliefs, y’know?
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no subject
Date: 2004-09-06 08:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-06 11:15 am (UTC)What ever happened to the rest?
SV
(Wiccan at large)
no subject
Date: 2004-09-06 03:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-07 04:12 pm (UTC)Wicca comes in a lot of shapes and sizes. Just from the top of my head I can name:
- Reclaiming tradition (www.reclaiming.org) (sometimes called Starhawkian)
- Gardnerian
- Eclectic
- Dianic
- Animistic
- The Italian Benedanti (which actually do have their roots in the late middle ages)
- Various Old Norse religious groups. (some of which are regrettably rather Right Wing, but consider themselves part of Wicca nonetheless. As far as I know they do abide by the Wiccan rede and even the threefold law.)
The Benedanti are truly separate in this aspect, but apparently there has some overlap/assimilation over the last few decades, or their tradition has been revived under a 'Wiccan mantle'.
What all these groups have in common is is the Wiccan Rede: "Do as thou wilt, but harm none" ,
the Threefold Law "Anything you do will return to you in threefold"
and the dual Aspect of the God and the Goddess .
This Aspect then acts as a placeholder for one or more gods/Goddess es.
There are groups who stick to the Lord and the Lady, Sun & Moon etc.
Others will call upon A specific god and Goddess , For instance Ishtar and Tamuz, Frey and Freya, Athena and Ares, Hera and Zeus.
There are many forms, some will Loki to the Horned god and his mate, Others just to their specific forms of Herne and Brigid.
Others are less wild and look to Ceres or Persephone.
Many embrace the idea of a trickster and thus Loki and Llew Long-hand are certainly respected. Some will even mix the Native-American Coyote or the Japanese Kitsune in the mix.
It is not unknown for Wiccans to use only a subset of a certain pantheon, or even to do a bit of mix-and-matching, After all the if the Romans can do it, so can we.
As a result it's not unknown for a ritual that calls upon the Norns (Skuld Verdhandi & Urd) of the Norse Pantheon to include prayer to Athena, as Goddess of Wisdom
The Male god can be Odin in this Example, not unjust, as He can forsee the future, But Apollo is just as normal.
Here is where it gets tricky.
- Dianic Wiccans for instance only pay much attention to the Female side of things. Most I know belief the the male side has more than enough attention if our current day and Age.
- Gardnerian Wiccans are very ritualised, and as far as I know do rather restrict themselves to the Dual aspect of Sun & Moon, Male & Female.
- Animistic Wiccans don't do much with Gods at all, instaed believing in the divinity of everything. Thus every rock has a spirit, None of these are all powerful, but some Are powerful and intelligent enough within their own region of influence.
(This form of Wicca gets tends to look towards African and Siberian Shamanism and Japanese (pre-Meiji) Shinto for Examples and even guidance.)
- Eclectic Wiccans tend to pick and choose their deities from one, or sometimes even several pantheons.
In all this the Dual aspect remains. Just as many are male and many are female, So the Horned God is used to represent a lot of Gods, and the Goddess is used to represent a lot of Goddess es.
Of course there are exceptions. I know Covens where the Horned god and The Lady are worshiped as separate entities besides the other gods.
P.S. Nice references are:
The Golden Bough
by Sir James George Frazer
[1922] (http://www.sacred-texts.com/pag/frazer/index.htm)
and
The Truth About Witchcraft Today by Scott Cunningham [1988] (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/087542127X/qid=1094565534/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/002-4329687-8675259?v=glance&s=books&n=507846)
The last is not perfect, but does give a good overview.
P.S. as far as the bumpersticker goes. There are many bumperstickers referring to God, another one would not really stand out, though I used to have one saying "My God has antlers". (Unfortunately I misplaced it before I got a car). And a friend off mine had "My God has a healthy sex-life".
As a result the Goddess stickers are definitely in the majority.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-07 04:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-07 04:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-07 04:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-07 10:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-07 11:32 pm (UTC)Also:
Witchcraft = wisecraft = Wicca
from Dictionary.com (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=wicca)
no subject
Date: 2004-09-07 11:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-07 03:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-07 04:14 pm (UTC)Thanks ^_^
no subject
Date: 2004-09-07 11:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-07 11:46 pm (UTC)I would advise you to check your facts and make sure you aren't looking at this from the viewpoint of a single tradition.
As I have stated in the other thread, there are many traditions in Wicca. All of them with as much right to the title as the others. However much it may gall some of them.
This is not to say there aren't Witches who have no idea what Wicca means, and the obvious groups of Neo-pagans who aren't wiccan at all, or even Wiccans who skirt the line so much that they are hardly worthy the of the name.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-08 12:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-08 06:38 am (UTC)Probably the last comment from me on this subject, because I get this feeling we'll be stuck on this ad infinitum.
All traditions I know use the Dual aspect.
A bit like the catholic church where 1 god has 2 aspects (father, son, holy ghost) but in reverse.
Here each of the two aspects can be represented by one, or many gods.
Something which may differ is the fact that I know Wicca as it is practiced in Europe, Especially the way it was practised in the late 80's, early 90's. (when I was more actively in contact with several covens over here) While in the US it's apparently rather farmalised, in order to be recognised as a religious group. Here in Europe this formalisation into a state-recognised church never happened, so as a result it tends to be more chaotic and diversified.
I should Add that Here Wicca is mostly a solitary practice, as the netherlands never had enough wiccans to get a majority to agree on anything.
This might Change as Reclaiming is apparently taking root over here.
Having said that, I don't know reclaiming from any first-hand knowledge. I do know some of Starhawk's writings, but not good enough to quote anything from it, or recent enough to say what her view on duality is.
On the other hand I seem to recall that Reclaiming's spiral dance does include reciting the names of an awefull lot of goddesses (though my memory may be faulty on that).
Again I see duality as most important. That is the core of it. I just don't recognise your limitation to 2 gods, as to my experience, it's not the same.
Having said that I can see how people might reverse the aspect thing as well, 1 god, 1 goddess, and all the different pantheons are just filled with different aspects of the two.
I don't think it really matters.
As I've said earlier, Wicca has a lot of personal perspective on everything.
I can agree to disagree.
Blessed Be.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-09 01:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-09 05:01 pm (UTC)