What Wicca REALLY is... (~Info Dump, Please Read~)

[Irish Fea]

I have to say that this is quite a bit to take in. I understand what you are saying about the secrecy of the religion and how that affected the spread of the ENP being called Wicca. I get that books are made to make money as well and not everything you read is true, it is just quite a shock to have someone pop up and say 'hey, that isn't Wicca, that is something completely opposite of what our religion is.'

I am horribly curious about everything in general so which books would you recommend I read if I were to go looking for something about what Wicca actually is?

Thanks for explaining all this. smile  

[Renkon Root]

nikki_is_me

I am horribly curious about everything in general so which books would you recommend I read if I were to go looking for something about what Wicca actually is?

Baby, have I got a reading list for you! biggrin

WICCA ORIENTED AND BY REAL WICCAN AUTHORS
The Alex Sanders Lectures – Alex Sanders
Witchcraft Today – Gerald Gardner
The Meaning of Witchcraft – Gerald Gardner
A Witches Bible (or ‘What Witches Do and Eight Sabbat’s for Witches) – Stewart Farrar
Wicca- The Old in the New Age – Vivienne Crowley
Charge of the Goddess - Doreen Valiente
Circle of Fire – Sorita d'Este and David Rankine
Towards the Wiccan Circle – Sorita d'Este
Wicca Magickal Beginnings – Sorita d'Este and David Rankine
The Divine Struggle – Fred Lamond
Lid off the Cauldron – Patricia Crowther
Rebirth of Witchcraft – Doreen Valiente
Dancing with Witches – Lois Bourne
Religion Without Beliefs – Fred Lammond

ACADEMIC HISTORIES OF WICCA AND WITCHCRAFT
Triumph of The Moon – Ronald Hutton
Wiccan Roots: Gerald Gardner and the Modern Witchcraft Revival (also as: Gerald Gardner and the Cauldron of Inspiration: An Investigation into the Sources of Gardnerian Witchcraft)– Philip Heselton
Her Hidden Children: The Rise of Wicca And Paganism in America - Chas S. Clifton
The Pickengill Papers-The Origin of the Gardnerian Craft - W.E. Liddell
WITCHCRAFT AND MAGIC IN EUROPE: (a 6 Volume series), edited by Bengt Ankarloo and Stuart Clark
Vol 1 Biblical and Pagan Societies
Vol 2 Ancient Greece and Rome
Vol 3 The Middle Ages
Vol 4 The Period of the Witch Trials
Vol 5 The 18th & 19th Centuries
Vol 6 The 20th Century
Early Modern Witches: Witchcraft Cases in Contemporary Writing Edited by Marion Gibson

 

[Sanguina Cruenta]

nikki_is_me

I have to say that this is quite a bit to take in. I understand what you are saying about the secrecy of the religion and how that affected the spread of the ENP being called Wicca. I get that books are made to make money as well and not everything you read is true, it is just quite a shock to have someone pop up and say 'hey, that isn't Wicca, that is something completely opposite of what our religion is.'

I am horribly curious about everything in general so which books would you recommend I read if I were to go looking for something about what Wicca actually is?

Thanks for explaining all this. smile

One way to look at it is it sort of step back and look at all the books you may have read with the word "Wicca" in the title, and compare what they're teaching. Are the beliefs and practices therein consistent enough to comprise one religion?

Most books are talking about something completely valid (it's not so much that it's untrue as that it's incorrectly labelled), but what they consider Wicca can differ really widely. Two gods, a circle and a rede doesn't seem much to tie them all together.... and then when you start getting down to it, many people who think of themselves as Wiccan don't hold ritual in a ritual circle (or don't hold ritual at all, for whatever reason) and different people actually worship different gods in place of that god and that goddess, and the rede is just advice anyway.

"The Witches' Bible" by Janet and Stewart Farrar is great, because while it doesn't include any actual Wiccan rituals it gives you a good taste of what Wicca is. Gerald Gardner's good, as is Vivanne Crowley's "Wicca: the Old Religion in the New Millennium". Patricia Crowther too, I think.  

[Ren LehCrow]

Very informative.
And thank you for the book recommendations! biggrin

 

[Little Batwing]

Sorry if this has been asked before, but what about Seax-Wica, Raymond Buckland's denomination?
Buckland was a High Priest in British Traditional Wicca, so is Seax-Wica considered by Traditional Wiccans to be a legitimate branch?  

[Cunning Witch Angus]

Little Batwing

Sorry if this has been asked before, but what about Seax-Wica, Raymond Buckland's denomination?
Buckland was a High Priest in British Traditional Wicca, so is Seax-Wica considered by Traditional Wiccans to be a legitimate branch?

No, it was republished in 2005 as Saxon Witchcraft. It has nothing to do with Wicca.  

[Sanguina Cruenta]

Little Batwing

Sorry if this has been asked before, but what about Seax-Wica, Raymond Buckland's denomination?
Buckland was a High Priest in British Traditional Wicca, so is Seax-Wica considered by Traditional Wiccans to be a legitimate branch?

No. It was constructed mostly by Buckland, as a different religion. Different gods, different rituals, diffeent tools. Totally different beast.  

[Little Batwing]

Ah, okay. Thanks guys.  

[Renkon Root]

I'm just gonna give this thread another little bump, because some people still need to read it.

 

[Sanguina Cruenta]

Mistress Moxy

I'm sorry,but the bullshit on the first page at the very begining..I believe it to be false.Never in my life,out of all of the videos I've watched,the Books I've read,and the people I've talked to,have I heard this.

That's because most people don't know Wicca is, or know and deliberately mis-apply the title. So more and more people get told Wicca is "whatever you want it to be" or whatever instead of the initiatory mystery religion it is and always has been.  

[rmcdra]

Mistress Moxy

I presented this information to my fellow Wiccan friends,and this is what they had to say:

"Initiary, Oathbound, Lineage, Mystery religion, Witchcult, and Priesthood are all bullshit and are untrue. Certain covens may enforce these, but there's a good chance they won't. However there are some things you keep private, such as direct communication from the God and Goddess [or your gods, depending on your particular path] and your Book of Shadows. Not ever Wiccan is a Witch. Not every Witch is Wiccan. I don't know what "." is supposed to be, but sometimes a specific god and goddess or a group of certain gods and goddesses will contact you or "call to you". I know I've had the Egyptians calling to me and I'm quite comfortable with them being my deities. Where did you hear all of this rubbish anyway? "

"Yeah, where? =/ That's rediculous. If you had to be initaiated, there wouldn't be solitary practitioners. Like Chandra said, some things are meant to be kept private. Only exeption with my BOS outside of this cult is with my fiance and my close Wiccan friends because we share information all the time. We don't nib s**t, we always ask or offer before looking. But yeah, the first six are all a load of crap. I've never read about them being law; just how they were garbage."

Please stop feeding Gaians your trash.

All the covens founded by Gardner, the founder of Wicca say otherwise. Please present something from someone that can trace initiation back to Gardner that says otherwise or, even better, produce something from Gardner that says otherwise then we might take you seriously. You could also refute Ronald Hutton's thesis that Gerald Gardner is the founder of Wicca. This topic has been debated to death and this is the conclusion concerning Wicca we have come to. If you wish to bring some new information to the table then be my guest. But until then this is the definition of Wicca as it stands.

There's nothing wrong with being a Neo-Pagan, or any other kind of Pagan. There's nothing wrong with being dedicated to different Gods other than the Lord and Lady of the Isle. There are plenty of Gods to choose from or to not choose any at all. There are many other witchcraft traditions other than Wicca to choose from that are actually open to the public. Wicca is not a synonym for all witchcraft. Wicca is not a synonym for Pagan or Neo-Pagan.

Until you bring new information to the table that actually refutes our claims and not just a bunch of whiny responses, "But I iz totally wiccanz", please stop feeding Gaians your trash.  

[Renkon Root]

Mistress Ravenwing

You realize that Gardner also wrote a book called Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner.

No, that book was written by Cunningham whom is not Wiccan at all.