PITY THE POOR WICCANS

Let us now shed a tear for the poor, mistreated Wiccans.  For all their growth in numbers they have hit a brick wall in cultural influence and are now caught in a dreadful pincers between the Xtians and the Magicians.  It serves them right!

Twenty years ago the Wiccans had everything their way.  They controlled the occult publishing business and could effectively censor anything that did not toe their party line.  They had the media, the talk shows, everything that communicated.  But then things changed.

The Internet happened!

By the mid 90s they were faced with a reality.  There was new form of media that they could not control, they could not censor and there were lots of folks who frankly thought they were full of shit.  They were not used to parroting their ridiculous rede thing and then being told to go to hell.  It was a shock to their system.

And they have never recovered from it.

On top of that the magickal thinking of the 1960s and 70s had a real serious unintended consequence--the rise of radical Xtianity.

Now this is going to take some explaining so bear with me.

During the bulk of the 19th and 20th century people did not expect miracles.   They were willing to believe that they happened in biblical times, maybe, but except for superstitious, rural Roman Catholics in parts of the world were literacy was notable by its absence (along with hygiene) no one really took such things seriously.  The paranormal boom of the 1960s changed all that.

Folks began to expect the unexplainable, the inexplicable to happen in their lives and happen in such a way as to benefit them.  And at the same Xtian belief underwent a radical transformation.

Traditional conservative Xtianism held that this world was a place of sin and torment and general unpleasantness and salvation was important to get out of it to a better, if somewhat boring, place.  That was turned on its head!

Xtianity, in its American Evangelical version, became totally world affirming.  God was no longer the heavenly madman, seeking to smite people for doing things that were fun.  Now he was the heavenly Santa Claus, distributing goodies as fast as he could make them.  And the goodies included miracles.

As a result of that people had a choice of their magicks and Wicca certainly was not the only game in town.  After all, going to church is socially acceptable in most parts of the US in ways that going to a coven is not.  And you get to keep your clothes on, a matter of serious concern to folks with middle-aged bodies and increasing waistlines.

Wicca found itself taking it on the chin.  Oh, it was gaining more social acceptance but it was losing the battle for control of the culture.  Men just do not like it.  

And men have learned to stop listening to the babble of women.

So the Wiccans, with their attempt to create a new authority in the world have fallen upon hard times.  No one respects their pretensions any more.  And no one grants them any authority.

The had it coming.