 |
A common question of those who are new to learning about Pagan or Wiccan spirituality is the difference between the two. Then, they discover there are also different Wiccan traditions, and to the beginner, it may all soon become quite confusing. So let me explain, with a simple analogy I have come up with. There is a house. This house is called Paganism. You walk into the front door of the house and walk around and see many rooms. All the rooms have different names: Druidry, Astaru, Santeria, Voudou etc. ... then you happen upon a room labeled "Wicca." You walk into this room and find many closets within the room. There are also labels on the closets: Garderian, Alexandrian, Dianic, Gerogian, Seax, Correllian, etc. Wicca is a Neo-pagan religion with many traditions within it. Not all Pagans are Wiccan, but all Wiccans are Pagan. "Wait, Neo-pagan"?! Yes. There are two problems with defining Wicca as a "pagan" religion . 1. The word pagan is very broad. In actuality, and I mean apart from what we Wiccans have decided to change it to, the word actually means any religion that is non-Judeo-Christian. That means every religion outside of Christianity and Judaism is pagan, including Buddhists, Sikhs, et cetera. 2. Wicca is actually a Neo-pagan religion as it may be traced back to pre-historic spirituality, but is a modern revival and reconstruction of that. So you may become or already be confused by why I keep changing the word Pagan and pagan and Neo-pagan; the capitalization is different, right? So what am I really talking about, or do I even know what I'm talking about? When I capitalize the word "Pagan," I am speaking about the modern revival of old, prehistoric religion/spirituality that is practiced as religion today. Basically, it is an easy way of putting Neo-pagan, since most Pagans don't go around telling people, "I'm Neo-pagan," even if that is the fact. When I don't capitalize it, and use "pagan" I am talking about what existed before Christianity, before recorded history. |
 |
| Back |