My friend, thank you for your insightful questions!
Q: Is there stuff about WICCA that you won't find on the Internet—like are there secrets, spells, or rituals that have been passed down through generations that only certain high-level practitioners in certain covens are privy to? How do you know?
A: YES! There are oath-bond secrets. initiated Wiccans have sworn an oath of secrecy. What that means is that even if you can find Wiccan secrets in books or online, individual Wiccans are oathbound not to tell you themselves. As part of the oath, we also swear not to reveal the names of other Wiccans, so unless someone is very publicly Wiccan, has specifically given permission for their name to be passed to you or has introduced themselves to you as Wiccan. I am allowed to talk about in limited terms the walk of Priestess Anna, Debbie, and High Priestess Katlin. Numerous oath-bound secrets I passed down to her upon her assent. details of rites and rituals are not discussed because mysteries must be experienced. You will not understand them until you experience them, even if you have read about them or heard descriptions of them (and you are prepared to understand them). Each practitioner creates A Book of Shadows is a personal record of spells and beliefs, typical to Witchcraft and Wiccan traditions. Each one is individual, and most often very private. Your own Book of Shadows will become an invaluable resource in the study of magick: in it, you’ll record important spells and rituals you create or discover, as well as logs of your experience as you travel your unique spiritual path. Under NO circumstances are any contents shared with anyone! Other than my own book, I have never even seen anyone else's.
Q: How do you handle people who think anything WICCA is evil—besides avoid them? Like some people think that even having an amulet or crystal is dabbling in the dark arts. Personally, I think that's ridiculous, but once in a while I come across them. What do you say to them?
I talked about my encounter with Mormons a few posts ago. In response to genuinely ardent Christians, I offer additional biblical quotations. For example, Exodus 22:18 reads, Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. I respond with 1st john 4: 7-8 But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. I will say I have faced some judgement in my walk. Kate Debbie and Anna have as well. Debbie was most severely harmed by a man she trusted and loved. Finally, I say they get more judgment for their sexual orientations than their faiths.
Q: How do you handle the gender identity thing—llike if a guy who self-identifies as a woman wants to join an all-female coven? I know that sounds like a stupid question, but these days, with them using women's washrooms and all the rest, does WICCA have any blanket policy—oor is it up to whoever is running the coven?
A: If we look at the concepts of polarity, fertility, and gender as they are expressed in traditional magical texts (which are the source material for Wiccan ritual, as demonstrated in the excellent book
Wicca: Magickal Beginnings, by Sorita d’Este and David Rankine), we can see that they are separate and distinct concepts, which are not reducible to a simple and restrictive gender binary. If we look at ancient pagan traditions (which Wicca also claims to draw upon), then we can see that they were also inclusive of people with diverse gender and sexual identities. For me, Wicca is neither solely a path of self-development nor is it only a path of service to the deities. I was taught that we work in partnership with the deities. The deities are more powerful in their realm, but they need our physical, embodied presence and cooperation to get stuff done in the physical world. in other words, we accept them and embrace them love them.
Q; Historically, have different covens ever gotten into wars? Or have they always been in harmony with each other? I know there are the fictional
Coven Wars novels. But what about in real life?
A: We leave the wars and battles to fiction, Twilight and Game of Thrones. Are there disagreements? Yes! outright fighting NO!
i will say it like politics more than outright fighting!
I hope it helps!
Blessed be
Rikki
