CULTURAL CONTEXT
This topic is where the subject of seriousness and authenticity gets the most strain. It is so common in Wiccan circles to hear
invocations to "Pan and Thor, and Lilith, and Ganesh" or any other assortment of Gods and goddesses that the coven feels like invoking.
With no respect to culture or heritage, and with no authenticity or historical context, Eclectic Wicca's belief in the Gods and Goddesses
all being "one" makes these wiccans feel as though they have the right to blithely call upon any combination of deities they wish.
This is unforgivably new-agey, and shows complete lack of seriousness, and cultural context.
Some traditions of Wicca do try to adhere to one culture's deities and religious concepts. This is an admirable step towards reality.
But most do not. In Traditional Craft, especially from the British Isles, the culture of the people of the land, and of the people a few generations back, determines the cultural context of the tradition. This is because Traditional Craft is part of the land and its people, and its
history. Wicca, as a modern invention, and a mix-and-match of eastern and western occult ideas, lacks such a basis. Many Traditional Craft
traditions in the Isles have an Anglo-Saxon or Germanic/Norse feel to them, and beneath this, a folk-memory of the Celtic culture. Scottish
and Irish Traditions tend to be (obviously) Celtic in strain.
GOODNESS AND LIGHT
Wicca, as an entity of the modern day, and with its modern style and mostly urban following, has lost most of its connection to Nature and the Land. Wicca comes off as a "feel good", "goodness and light" religion, usually venerating their Nature Goddess as a very loving,
motherly figure, and viewing the unseen world as a place of positive power, and full of helpful spirits. This completely unbalanced view,
with its fixation on how "wonderful and "beautiful" Nature and the otherworlds are, is utterly NOT how our ancestors saw the Gods and
the universe, and it is NOT how Traditional Witches view things. Nature is both kind and cruel, giving and taking. There is a great
darkness inherent in Nature, both the natural world, and in the personal nature of spirits and gods, and humans. Harmful, destructive
spirits are facts of life, both in the old times, and now, and the act that the "goddess" is just as likely to devour her children as give birth to them, is also obvious. Wicca tends to ignore this darkness, preferring the "goodness and light" approach. This makes sense, on a psychological level, for urban-dwelling modern people who have never experienced the hardships of living side-by-side with Nature.
WORKING "TOOLS"
Quite true to the Golden-Dawn based system of magic that Wicca espouses, The "tools" used by wiccans are the Cup, Pentacle, Knife,
and Wand, representing the four hermetic elements. The "magic circle" drawn is based on Hermetic circles from well-known high magical
grimoires, such as the Key of Solomon, also used extensively by the Golden Dawn. The "quarter calling" is based on the Enochian magic of John Dee, also resurrected and used by the Golden Dawn. Traditional Witches do not tend to use formal sets of tools, although they do have certain implements, depending on tradition. The four- element system is NOT common, though some Traditionals influenced by
eastern or hermetic thought may have traces of it. By far and by large, the tools used by traditional witches do not
resemble the wiccan "working tools". They tend to be things like Stangs, besoms, cauldrons, cords, skulls, (of people or animals),
hammers, mirrors, various stones, horns or bowls� some traditions use knives as well, but without the new-agey symbolism attached. Some Traditions may not use tools at all!
Circles are not cast and used to any major extent, at least, not like Wicca�The traditional term for a drawn circle is "Compass round" and often enough, certain natural places suffice for working areas, without a need to draw a "circle". When compasses must be drawn, they
are drawn by traditional ceremonies which bear almost no resemblance to Wiccan circle castings. The spirits of the Land are invoked to uphold compasses, and ritual fires are lit�.these are the necessary "elements" in most traditional workings. Sometimes spirits of the four kingdoms or "directions" are called, but this varies from place to place. The idea is, that Land is sacred already�you do not "consecrate" the ground. You simply dwell upon it.
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