What does Dianic mean?
Like everything else in neopaganism and the Craft, the term Dianic is one that
has several meanings. A majority of those who call themselves Dianic are women
that choose not to work with male energy in their ritual, magic, or universe.
They feel that they need spiritual and psychic space filled with only women's
energy.
Some Dianics are feminist Witches, both lesbian and heterosexual, who often come
to the Craft through feminism. Although these women may be involved with men in
one way or another, they agree that religion has over-emphasized the male for
the last several thousand years, and therefore want to share their women's energy
in women's circles. They may or may not also be involved with the mainstream pagan
community, and they may or may not participate in magic and ritual with men.
The most visible groups of Dianics are those who are lesbian Dianics. They
are generally not interested in revering any sort of male deity or in working
with men in circle. They choose to limit their dependence on and acceptance
of the male-defined world as much as possible, and they do so not to exclude
men but rather to celebrate women and the feminine. For that reason many of
them do not interact much with the "mainstream" pagan community.
(There are also those who call themselves Dianic and who are not like those
described above, but who practice Witchcraft based on the traditions found books
like those of anthropologist Margaret Murray. However, the term is more often
meant to designate those practitioners described in the first two paragraphs.)