Hey fellow classmates,
Some questions that we want you to think about while you are reading and posting are these:
What comes to your mind when you think of a witch?
What were your thoughts about Wicca before reading the article? Did they change?
Think about how our society views women, especially older women, versus how Wicca views them.
Well thinking of a which i always think of a women. Men i think if a male which i think of a warlock or something of that degree. So really i didn't know anything about this religion. So when looking at in relation to our course i saw a few differences from some other topics that we have covered in this course. First was that a which could be both male or female with equal authority. This relating to other topics we have always covered its been men made women this, but i don't think it escapes from the male domination. I think the stereotypes for people that practices Wicca make it suppressed and scary to most people. So what do people do, well they do what they do best when don't understand things: they make fun of it. So in essence i find nothing to be suppresive from a male domination, but only by societies views.
Before reading this article I was one of the many people that the article talks about who did not know the difference between Wiccan, Witch, and Pagan. I understand why it is so easy for people to mix the terms up and interchange them, and I think it is really confusing as well. I really thought it was interesting how the Wiccans portray their Divinity or Deity as being male or female, especially the fact that this Divinity does not judge events as right or wrong. This is very different from the typical male God that is portrayed in most religions, that judges our actions. Something that I learned from this article was that Wicca is a nature-based faith, and that the Deity or Divinity can basically be anything the person needs it to be. I believe that I would have a hard time following this religion because it is so abstract. Like the article says, many religions have put a face to the Deity and make it more approachable, and I believe that is one of the reasons why Wicca is misunderstood by so many. Overall, my thoughts about Wicca did change because I have a much better understanding of what it is all about.
I also didn't know the difference between Wiccan, Witch, and Pagan. I had never heard the terms separated really and it was interesting to find out that they are similar terms and are connected but they are an "umbrella" group of terms. I have to say I liked the comparison to musicians as an umbrella term. I found it interesting that Wicca is a nature based faith whose Deity can be anything that the person needs. In many religions, there is a face put with the Deity to make it seem more personable. Because Wiccans don't put a face with their Deity, they seem misunderstood at times. This reading gave me an interesting insight into Wicca as a whole. I had never really heard of it more than just the terms associated with it so it was good to learn more. I feel like if I hear the terms mentioned earlier, I will now have a better understanding of what is meant in the conversation. Another interesting idea to me was how their Goddess is split up into whatever the person needs at a specific time, whether it be young, motherly, or older. Are their "Gods" the same way?
when i think of witch i always think of a woman! and never a man , but generally she is wearing a robe and has long hair, usually older woman like grandma age lol i know it sounds like halloween but its true. Ive always herd about Wicca and i knew it had something to do with witches or witchcraft/magic but i guess i never look into it and figured why we dont call them witches. It's interesting to hear that they do believe in a sort of witchcraft but they look to worshipping the triple goddess. Its interesting to think of this deitie as three different female figures in one. In our society i think we see any kind of worship or witchcraft like this not normal so we try to shun these people out because we automatically think witchcraft= worshipping the devil which Wiccans do NOT! …. i liked thinking of the differences between our society and the Wiccans such as they praise the women as she gets older in age and in our society we look at is awful to age. Almost any woman could say she wants to look younger but men on the other hand dont really care about aging… i mean you dont see them spending hundreds of dollars on eye creams and botox. I liked how this "religion" almosts worships the womans age and thinks that is beautiful, i mean i hate to be hypocrit but i'm sure as i age i wont want to even though deep down we all try to tell each other it's okay to age because that is just what happenes.
I'm glad someone covered this topic because I really had no idea what it was all about before. I always viewed the Wiccan religion as being very negative. And altough it does seem like an odd religion to me, there is some very valied points to it. I feel the author made a good point about the Wiccans being more liberal about sexuality. It is after all a natural thing and through sex we were all put on this Earth. I can see how the rule of three tends to be true, no matter if it is good or bad. What you get/put into something or get out of something will come back to you tri-fold. It just makes sense to me. Treating males and females as equals is a very good aspect of this religion. Some things I found to be odd were what they called their God or deity; "great spirit," "the one," and "the order." I found it strange that this religion is so individualized in that they can basically make it into whatever they want it to be. It was odd to learn that selfishness is tolerated because everyone wants to win in the world. I couldn't believe how nature based this religion is and that mother Earth gave birth to our bodies. What? All in all this was a good read and feel it tied many topics together that were already presented in class; witchcraft, goddesses, and violence.
When I think of witch I think powerful, magical, and mysterious.
I think our society and the Wicaan society view older women in the same way; we appreciate their love and wisdom yet know age is going against them. They may honor the older women more through their croning ritual which I found extremely interesting.
when i think of witch, i usually think of women or men who have all these powerful magic to make things possible. my perception of with are usually bad people. i dont know why i think that way, probably because of movies and society. i never have heard of Wicca before so i cant really tell if my feelings change after reading the article. but now i know that wicca is a religion that worshiped both goddesses and god. it seems to be a very liberal religion overall. this religion treated men and women equally, which is interesting because most of other religions dont. so i wonder why they are not so popular as compare to other religion like christian ?
Before I read this article I never knew there was a difference between a Wiccan, Witch or a Pagan. I honestly thought they were the same thing. I have heard people refer to them as the same thing as well. Especially in movies, where I have heard a guy say he is a Wiccan which is a male witch. And I know a lot of people find some of the Pagan traditions a little odd, like eating the after-birth or placenta. But before this article I thought that Wiccans did the same thing as Pagan and that witch and Pagan were just different words for Wiccan.
im glad someone decided to choose the wiccan religion as a topic. it was very unfamiliar to me, and to be honest, i didnt know much about it. i found it interesting that wiccans believe in a dieity, not necessarly the devil (which was my preconceived notion) and that they actually think hatred is the absence of love, and they strive to have love throughought the world. also, their dieity is neither male or female. it just..is. i dont know how to explain it better than that, other than the dieity exists in everyone, and so you should love everyone because of this. i thought this was a different/neat idea. it seems to be reasonable and makes sense to me. i also thought it was interesting that a witch could be either male or female. i also think its interesting that wicca doesnt have a dogma. and they leave it up to the followers to decide their beliefs on each individual topic. i sometimes think this would make life much easier in general, and wonder how christianity would be different if they applied these same techniques.
I thought this was an intresting topic. Having an entire religion where each person kinda seems to choose their own god or goddess is a little weird be sort of cool. I also thought that their "Rule of Three" was a good principle to live by. Also i had to laugh at the part about sexuality and that witchs were in legaue with the devil and sleeping with him aswell. Some of that thought I think still exists in society today. Not that they're sleeping with demons, but than witchs are still looked at as, for lack of a better term, evil.
I found it very interesting that in the article the author explains that she is not going to refer to the Wiccan deity by the name “God” because that “conjures up an image of an old man who is sitting in the clouds looking down upon us” (16). After all of our discussions in class, it was surprising to find it black and white in one of the articles we are randomly reading for the class. So, it is safe to assume that the generalization for the Western God is an old man as it has been mentioned in several scholarly articles/texts. It’s interesting that Wicca is a nature-based religion that honors both male and female aspects of God so there is not just one God who is distinctly male or distinctly female. I have never thought of God as having aspects of both genders before. I also thought it fascinating that the Wicca Deity can be anything you need it to be like “a father, strong and protective.” In Christian religion, I think that this is also kind of true as well. There are so many different “images” of God in Christianity because God is who we want Him/Her to be. Now, what the Church deems as appropriate is different than Wicca since Wicca is much more accepting of its Deity’s features than what the Catholic Church is. In the Catholic Church, it probably would not go over well if people saw God as a female. One of the more shocking aspects of Wicca was the Rule of Three which pretty much states an individual is not forgiven until they suffer the consequences of their actions. Maybe I am just too use to Christianity and all of your sins will be forgiven, but this Rule of Three seems kind of harsh because as the article mentioned, people do make stupid mistakes without realizing it. Still, a person simply cannot be forgiven for some unintentional action, they must suffer the consequences of it. Finally, despite the author’s explanation of Pagan, Wiccan, and Witch, I still I am thoroughly confused by the differences of the three. I do not understand the association between Wiccan and witches.
Before reading this reading, I did not know the difference between Wiccan, witch, and pagan. After reading this though, I discovered that Wiccan is someone that practices a form of the Wiccan religion. A witch is someone that practices magick, which is different from stage magic. A question I have from this is how does one practice magick within religion? Pagan can refer to a variety of religious groups that have similar beliefs, but differences in practices, rituals, and ethics. The reading made this Wiccan religion make senses in that one cannot understand it until they live it. It is hard to explain what they believe because it is complex and personal, which I see in most religions. Everyone has similar points, but the beliefs do vary from person to person. Some of the beliefs that are discussed are that we are all one with the Earth. This means we should treat it with respect. The Deity is not labeled as God, nor is it given a label of male or female. Another big belief is to live by putting others first and developing empathy for them. I found it interesting the Rule of Three in which the energy that a person puts forth, for good or bad will be returned, multiplied by three. I liked how the reading tied to previous discussions that women are the root of all evil and for eating the forbidden fruit. It also talked about women being subordinate and if they show any power at all, they are labeled. A question I have after all of this is how many people practice Wicca?
So i knew the basic differences between witch, wiccan and pagan before reading this article, mainly cause i've seen far too many movies to still be normal (the craft is one you should check out, even talks about how they live by the rule of 3 and how they are wiccans until they invoke one of their gods and she then basically becomes a witch and does terrible magick on people). So wiccan religions are based in nature and the god can be whatever that person needs. It seems more personal than what we consider a personal god because this is personal for each group or individual. The idea of it as a religion is strange, but i've always been fascinated by this sort of stuff and i'm glad ya'll are covering it. Also, you really should check out the craft.
The first chapter I guess that we had to read mainly focused on the three words Wiccan, witch, and pagan. These words are often used interchangeably when they shouldn't be. Wiccan is specifically reserved to someone who practices the Wiccan religion. A witch is someone who practices magick- and this is the spelling for true magic I guess not stage magic. What's the difference between the two I'd like to know? Pagan can vary. I can simple someone who isn't a Christian such as someone who is Jewish or it can be someone who doesn't fallow and main world religions. The best definition, however; is someone fallows Greek or Roman religions. This chapter went on to talk about Wiccan values, witch spotings, and so on but if I explain all of those it could take up this whole page:) The second chapter in this article that we read explained the women as a Goddess in Wiccan. They worship a Goddess because they see the birth process as the ultimate connection between mother and child and this relates back to ancient religions where the Deity was an all caring mother. This reading was very interesting and there were alot of things I didn't realize about Wiccan. I really thought the part about Wicca's on abortion and homosexuality.
Stage magic, the magician doesn't believe it is real. He knows it's a trick. It is entertainment.
Magick magic, the caster believes it to be real. Greater forces are supposed to be involved. It is to accomplish something.
Usually when I think of a witch I think of a wizard of oz type wicked witch of the west, just at first though. After that the next thing that comes to my mind is harry potter and the witches that are in that school I guess. But basically I think of a more traditional type of witch. The only thing that I really thought about wiccans were that they believe in magic and things that are similar to that. After reading the article that changed for me a pretty good deal. Wiccans are a lot more connected with nature than I thought. They have more of a belief system than I ever thought they did before and I found it very interesting that the extent that they take this religion. Wiccans put more of an emphasis on importance of women and kind of hold them higher than men. So I guess I would have to say that wiccans think almost oppositely in general than the rest of society. I found this to be very insightful and I learned a lot of things that I didn't know. I would like to discuss the religion of wiccans a little more just to be a little more clear on their beliefs.
