| Labels and Names |
| When the word "Wicca" is used to mean so many different things, it can lead to misunderstanding both within the Neopagan community and outside it. Having a clear idea of the meanings of words does not "fog up the picture" as Cyprian put it, but, in my opinion, rather clarifies things. I think that in conveying ideas to people, it is useful to be able to express both the general and the specific, individual, or personal. Two brief examples: (1) While Wicca had a very clear and specific meaning beginning in the 1950's through the 1970's, it has unfortunately been applied to a nebulous array of beliefs since the mid-1980's and its meaning is often unclear. (2) People use Neopagan and Pagan synonymously, yet Pagan is the most generic term and includes many people who are neither Witches, Wiccans, nor Neopagans. I think it is important to know what these words mean and to know the real history of one's path. The meaning of these words gets debated with great frequency and there is no clear resolution. But that does not mean that there is no use in discussing them. For example, I've been on a number of lists in which people, who do not make distinctions among Pagan, Witch, and Wiccan, assume that all people using *any* of these labels adhere to "The Wiccan Rede". They are often quite shocked to find that not all Witches and Pagans agree with it or think it is even a vaguely useful ethical guide. After all, a number of Pagan traditions have no problem with "cursing" or working manipulative magic. The old pre-Christian Pagan traditions did this regularly, too, and there are lively traditions today that still think the occasional curse is a good and useful thing, such the Afro-Diasporic traditions. There are still some active Pagan traditions who still practice animal sacrifices to feed their deities. Yet I've noticed that some Neopagans assume that a "good" Neopagan is a vegetarian, in what I have to guess is some sort of literal interpretation of "The Wiccan Rede". But vegetarianism is not a part of British Traditional Wicca, the source of "The Wiccan Rede", and, frankly, most Neopagans I know are omnivores. I was vegetarian while I was practicing a mixture of Taoism, Hinduism and Buddhism, and while I still rarely eat meat, I don't see vegetarianism as having anything to do with Paganism, although it may be relevant to a specific path. It seems to me to be more a New Age-influenced Neopagan thing, or else a personal choice. Vegetarianism is not inherent in Paganism, Witchcraft, or Wicca. Further, some folks assume that anyone using one of the three labels worships "The Lord" and "The Lady". Pagan and Witch and Wiccan are not synonyms and we cannot make assumptions about the practices of anyone who applies any of these labels to themselves. Traditional Wicca tends to be duotheistic and largely dualistic. Many Wiccan-influenced Neopagans have also adopted this duotheistic and dualistic approach. Many Pagans are, however, quite polytheistic and, at least in ancient days and sometimes today, henotheistic. Duotheism and dualism are not part of my approach and are not really typical of many old European and non-European Pagan traditions. I tend to think that the typical Wiccan duotheism and dualism reflect the Christian upbringing of most contemporary Wiccans and Wiccan-influenced Neopagans, and I think this continues the pattern of sexual stereotyping that many of us would like to overcome (The Goddess is the Moon and the Earth and the Sea, dark and receptive, while the God is the Sun and the Fire, bright and active, Lord of the Wild Animals and the Wild Hunt-but in many old Pagan religions, the Sun is represented by a goddess and the Moon by a god, both in Europe and other places). I know that most Wiccans and Wiccan-influenced Neopagans say they aren't sexist, but to me it appears that they have not really analysed their religious practices or beliefs. It's easy to internalize attitudes, which are thus unconscious, while intellectually stating some other, sometimes even contradictory, belief. While Traditional Wicca and Wiccan-influenced Neopagan Witchcraft celebrates the Full Moon, my Pagan tradition and other Pagan and Neopagan traditions celebrate the New Moon as well, which is often considered the beginning of the month. I don't call my celebrations Esbats and for me Shabatim are the Full Moon celebrations. I've also noticed the assumption that people calling themselves Pagans, Witches, or Wiccans celebrate "The Wheel of the Year", i.e., "the 8 solar sabbats". Again, this is a Traditional Wiccan and Wiccan-influenced Neopagan thing. The holidays of many Pagan traditions fall at all sorts of different times. Many are triggered by actual changes in one's physical environment (the ripening of certain agricultural products, the blooming or dying of certain plants), rather than set by a civil calendar. In my practice, holidays do not actually fall on Solstices or Equinoces, but on the Full Moon just after a Solstice or Equinox and there are no "Cross Quarter Holidays" per se. In another case, a person I know assumed that the only Pagans in the world were "Western" Wiccans and Neopagans. It never dawned on him that Hindus were actually *polytheists*, since Hinduism is considered one of the world's "great religions". To him, the terms Pagan, and even polytheist, connotated someone involved in some fringey behaviour. He couldn't imagine that a Pagan could be a follower a "mainstream" religion. Yet, he has a Masters degree in Anthropology and was initiated in a Gardnerian group, but refused to acknowledge himself as a "Witch", which is normally part of the initiation. I've also heard some Neopagans criticize, sometimes rather violently, Pagans who do not follow a Wiccan-influenced Neopagan path, for example those with very different practices, as if somehow the aforementioned Neopagans are the "righteous" and the other Pagans are "bad". I've especially heard this about followers of Afro-Diasporic religions, since animal sacrifice and "manipulative magic" are ancient and integral parts of the path. This also happens a great deal in relation to Satanists. There are good and bad folk following any path, but so often Neopagans repeat the same things about Satanists that certain Christians say about both Satanists and Pagans. In other words, Neopagans often do what we don't want people of other non-Pagan religions doing to us. It is better to educate oneself first, as we often say to those making wild comments about "us", before making bald statements about something one knows little about. Then again, I hear too many Neopagans making dismissive remarks about "Christians". Yet that term is another that encompasses so many different systems of belief and practices, thus the kinds of generalizations being made are frequently grossly unfair. Not all Christians believe the same thing, and lack of knowledge, sensitivity, and specificity leads to bigotry and often to misplaced hatred on all sides. Finally, I will say that personally I think calling onself "Lady So-and-So" or "Lord So-and-So" sounds funny to me, so I agree with you, Cyprian Dragonfly, on these kinds of titles. They just seem pretentious to me, but what the heck, I'm just a Canaanite Priestess. My understanding is that this usage is most common in the US, and not so common in Canada or the UK. Anyone care to comment and correct my ignorance if I'm wrong? Lilinah |