{"id":6884,"date":"2016-01-21T13:53:22","date_gmt":"2016-01-21T20:53:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/panmankey\/?p=6884"},"modified":"2016-01-21T14:36:16","modified_gmt":"2016-01-21T21:36:16","slug":"wicca-is-not-missing-anything","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/panmankey\/2016\/01\/wicca-is-not-missing-anything\/","title":{"rendered":"Wicca Is Not Missing Anything"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Last year during a panel discussion at a large Pagan festival I heard a fairly prominent Pagan-person comment that \u201cWicca was missing the ____.\u201d I\u2019m not going to tell you who said it, or what that person thought Wicca was missing since I like to think it was a simply a comment that came out wrong. However, it\u2019s something that has stuck with me over the last 12 months and I can\u2019t let it go, because my Wicca is missing exactly nothing<\/em>. <\/p>\n

My Craft is continually evolving and being refined, but it doesn\u2019t need an injection of outside elements. I\u2019ve certainly never thought of it as missing something. I\u2019ve tweaked my ritual over the last few years and given certain rites more thought, but I\u2019ve never really added<\/em> anything to it, nor do I plan to. The Wiccan-framework has worked extremely well for me the last twenty years, there are no missing parts. <\/p>\n

\"One<\/a>
One of about fifteen Jason altars in our home.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Wicca has always provided me with:<\/em><\/p>\n

A ritual system that simply works.<\/strong> Four quarters, a circle, deity, honoring of the Earth, it\u2019s all there in Wiccan ritual and always has been. I\u2019ve tried other types of rituals over the years but nothing works for like a Wiccan circle. It has all the magic, mystery, and power that I need. <\/p>\n

A rich history equal to any other religious tradition.<\/strong> Wicca is most likely not a 3000 year old ancient-pagan tradition linked to antiquity, but it didn\u2019t emerge in a vacuum either. As a part of the Western Magical Tradition Wicca\u2019s history spans millennia. Pick up a medieval grimoire or one of the Greek Magical Papyri and you\u2019ll find things that look similar to Wicca within them. Those things are in Wicca\u2019s DNA and are a part of our heritage (and the heritage of magickal folk in general). <\/p>\n

Wicca\u2019s more immediate history is also worth celebrating. Gerald Gardner, Doreen Valiente, Maxine Sanders, Vivianne Crowley, and my own beloved Lady N., we\u2019ve had outstanding teachers and innovators over the last seventy years. Seriously, all I need to make a ritual great is a smattering of Doreen Valiente poetry. Gerald and Doreen sit on my Temple Room shrine for a reason, and that\u2019s because they kicked ass, broke down barriers, and gave Wicca to the world. <\/p>\n

\"\u201cThe<\/a>
\u201cThe Judgement of Paris\u201d by Peter Paul Rubens, from WikiMedia.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A way to touch the divine.<\/strong> Wicca does not have a creed, so one can be Wiccan and not believe in deity, but for me, Wicca has always been a direct channel to the divine. There\u2019s a little rite within a lot of Wiccan ritual called Drawing Down the Moon<\/a><\/em>, and during that rite The Goddess (and often \u201ca goddess\u201d) speaks with the lips of her Priestess, touches with the hands of her Priestess, and loves with the heart of her Priestess. When I hear ridiculous talk that Wiccans don\u2019t believe in deity all I can do is scoff. Drawing down the moon is central to my practice and one of the most important rites in Wicca. <\/p>\n

Even when my coven doesn\u2019t draw down<\/em> I can still feel the power of the divine in the circle. Sometimes it manifests as an energy that affects consciousness or mood, and at other times it\u2019s like being in the middle of the warmest, most intimate embrace you can imagine. When we talk about \u201cwalking between the worlds\u201d I think we really mean it. <\/p>\n

An ethical system that\u2019s as good as any other.<\/strong> There are several different interpretations of The Wiccan Rede<\/a>, you know that old chestnut, \u201cAn it harm none, do what you will.\u201d I\u2019ll admit that it\u2019s imperfect, but it also works for me. Nearly every religious tradition sets a ridiculously high standard when it comes to how we interact with others, why should Wicca be any different? (And that \u201cridiculously high standard\u201d is one of the reasons so many of us are ever striding forward in our attempt to be better human beings.)<\/p>\n

\""All<\/a>
\u201cAll Souls\u2019 Day\u201d by Jakub_Schikaneder. From WikiMedia.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Comfort in the face of death, and hope for what lies beyond.<\/strong> Wicca takes many of its cues from the natural world and one thing I\u2019ve noticed in the natural world is the continual triumph of life over death. Things don\u2019t always return just as before, but they do return. There is a cycle and I can see it play out on a day to day basis from the window in my office (and better yet, when I\u2019m simply outside). <\/p>\n

I\u2019ve also felt the spirits of the dead join my circle at Samhain and on a few other occasions. I realize that such proclamations will sound ridiculous to some, but I won\u2019t apologize for what I was able to experience. Can I rationally explain it? Not necessarily but maybe that\u2019s besides the point. Religion exists to comfort us in times of tragedy or need, feeling those I\u2019ve lost with me at Samhain is more than comforting. <\/p>\n

A strong \u201csecond-level,\u201d when I\u2019ve chosen to explore it.<\/strong> One of the things that most bothers about Paganism online is how some people love belittling the beliefs and practices of others. There\u2019s a new love of labels out there that I\u2019m uncomfortable with, not to mention the usual refrains of fluffy<\/em>, not-serious<\/em>, and Wicca-lite<\/em>. There are practices under the Wiccan-umbrella that I sometimes think are a little simplistic, but as long as those practices work for the people doing them, why should it matter? <\/p>\n

Wicca is as serious as each practitioner wants it to be, and while I whole-heartedly believe that there\u2019s a \u201cnext-level\u201d within it, it\u2019s probably not for everyone. I\u2019m a very happy initiate and my training in that tradition has made my practice more solid and concrete, but I can see all sorts of people not wanting to be an initiate for a variety of reasons. And I\u2019m not sure that initiatory traditions are necessary for people looking towards that next level. Just taking the work more seriously is good enough for some, or perhaps focusing more on the truly mysterious aspects of the Craft like the Great Rite or Drawing Down the Moon. <\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A Maypole in Michigan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Beliefs that celebrate what I find sacred in this world.<\/strong> The Great Rite teaches that sex is sacred, sex is holy, and that the human body in all of its forms is worth celebrating. The Wheel of the Year puts me in touch with the natural world and speaks to the ongoing wonder of nature. Wicca values people, places, and things. I too value people, places, and things; it\u2019s a very natural fit. I don\u2019t want to be a part of a tradition that believes in original sin or looks to other faith traditions to figure out what is worth celebrating. I know what\u2019s worth celebrating, and I celebrate those things in my Wiccan circle.<\/p>\n

Wicca is also the home of my chosen family. There are few things more intimate than a true coven situation. Rituals aren\u2019t just about celebrating deity, the seasons, and magic, it\u2019s also about celebrating the bonds between all of us. <\/p>\n

Room for growth and creativity inside the circle.<\/strong> I have never felt like I was denied the joy of innovation while in a Wiccan circle. Wicca has always provided me with this great skeleton for rituals that\u2019s very bendable. There are rooms to add some things and tweak others. My creativity is allowed to be a part of the process, and that applies to every coven I\u2019m a part of. Certainly there are things that make Wicca Wicca<\/em> and they shouldn\u2019t be trifled with or removed from the circle, but within that context there\u2019s always been room for lots of \u201cnew.\u201d I write rituals for the people I circle with and Wicca allows me to do that. <\/p>\n

So while someone else\u2019s Wiccan practice might be missing something, mine is most certainly not, and please don\u2019t tell me that it is. <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A year ago someone told me that Wicca was missing something. I completely disagree. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":493,"featured_media":6886,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[788,792,22,93],"class_list":["post-6884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-pagan","tag-paganism","tag-wicca","tag-witchcraft"],"yoast_head":"\nWicca Is Not Missing Anything<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A year ago someone told me that Wicca was missing something. 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