I am a hereditary practitioner, but I didn’t know that until I was older. I didn’t realize what my family called “hippy shit” was magic.
So when I first was doing research into magic and paganism, I like many people found Wicca. I didn’t stay very long because their take on soft polytheism didn’t ever click with me. However I am very grateful for the jumping off point Wicca provided me. I was able to tell friends and family, oh! I’m Wiccan! And they’d know what that meant instead of like…say? Pagan. (Keep in mind I was a very young teenager)
As I grew older I was able to do more research. Now as an adult I believe that Wicca is built at an foundational level on appropriation. I mean I’m an Irish Polytheist and half-seriously half!-of the “wheel of the year” is our fire festivals!!
And it’s not like they’re closed practices, but it’s is STILL appropriation to take something and remove it from its cultural context. Even if it’s open. Not to even mention the various closed practices that have been appropriated by Wicca as well!! I mean why am I going to an Irish Fire Festival ritual, we’re calling on Greek goddesses, using welsh folklore, and burning white sage? I don’t even try and go to events marketed for my own religious holidays anymore because 9.5 times out of 10 it’ll be something like that.
( I’m not saying that celebrating at those points in the year is closed or exclusive either. However do not call something by the Irish name-for the Irish festival-and then be shocked when people are expecting an Irish celebration. Celebrate the seasons changing without yoinking the culture tied to those SPECIFIC holidays. Celebrate it without using endangered CLOSED herbal medicine. Easy. )
I also am a bit bias I will admit. I hate trying to live my life and a Wiccan will tell me that a practice that has been in my family for decades!! Is gonna come back at me. Then when they double down when I tell them I don’t believe in the three fold law, I get even more annoyed. The very same practice they’re stealing from, is the one they’re warning me against, they pick a choose.
I was also a devotee of An Mórrígan for a long time. I genuinely am so upset with how she has been turned into a bad ass boss bitch babe sex goddess by sooo many Wiccans. It was so draining repeating myself daily regarding that. Again these people would correct me on my practice that they were actively removing from the cultural context. I mean half the time they don’t even call her an Irish Goddess they call her a “Celtic” Goddess, which is FURTHER removing her from her specific culture.
With both An Mórrígan and Brigid you’ll also see them mother, maiden, crone-ing them. They are not “triple goddesses”. They’re so much more than that and those boxes. Irish divinity cannot be placed into neat rows of “goddess of love” or “god of war” like other deities. That’s just not how they work.
So yes, those interactions paired with the religion being built on appropriation, has left a sour taste on my tongue. If a Wiccan is willing to do research and genuinely wants to learn and ask me questions?? I am always always down.
Other than that I generally keep my distance. If you’re choosing to be willfully ignorant I am not the witch for you. <3
New #blog by @TheWandCarver ~Blessed Imbolc 2021 #firsttmaster #BBlogRT #WeekendUK
By Isabella @TheWandCarver
Instagram: @thewandcarver
Brigid by Emily Balivet, Etsy
Imbolc is a sabbat which is celebrated roundly by most Wiccan folk. As it happens, all the sabbats seem to be celebrated more so by those who identify as Wiccan than any other neo-Pagan group. Witches by and large do not necessarily celebrate sabbats unless they do identify as Wiccan. All that said, the most…
Merry meet! Today is Beltane (also spelled Beltaine or Bealtaine), the ancient Celtic festival marking the start of summer and a celebration of fertility. Beltane is also closely associated with both the Germanic festival Walpurgisnacht and English festival May Day (and, by association, International Workers’ Day), which also mark today. For your general enjoyment and spiritual purposes, we’ve gathered all our posts related to this very special day. We hope your summer is a pleasant one, full of joy.
--Aryós Héngwis
Beltane / Walpurgisnacht Posts:
Steven Posch. “Bavarian Beltane”
The Cunning Wife. “Beer, the Sacred Drink of Health”
Carl Neal. “Beltane Incense”
Molly. “Beltane Moon”
Joanna van der Hoeven. “Beltane Rites and Lore”
Cascade Grove. "A Druidic Beltane”
Christiana Gaudet. “Reveal, Deal, Heal”
Catharine Clarenbach. “The Sweet Beltaine of a Butterfly”
Steven Posch. “Turn Left at Aphrodite”
Fire Posts:
Diotima. “Steamroller”
Steven Posch. “What Do You Shout When Leaping a Bonfire?”
Life Posts:
Suzanne Tidewater. “No Permission Needed”
Lizann Bassham. “Pretty Purple Flowers and My Brain on Cancer”
Kate Delaney. “Something Like Rebirth”
Spring Posts:
Bee Smith. “Bring on the Blackthorn”
Steven Posch. “Dancing Away the Snow”
Molly. “Listening to the Infinite”
Sedna. “Rising with Springtime”
Mark Green. “Sifting for Gold”
Eileen Troemel. “Spring Moons and Old Wives Tales”
Steven Posch. “Two Points in Search of a Line”
Summer Posts:
Eileen Troemel. “Bring on the Light”
Steven Posch. “Bringing Home the May”
Diotima. “The Bull at the Carnival”
Sedna. “Honoring Our Great Mother”
Steven Posch. “Hurray Hurray”
Kate Laity. “May Observance”
Cool Stuff We Found:
8 Things To Do For Beltane As a Solitary Pagan
As a New Musical, Mean Girls Is More Relevant Than Ever, for Reasons Beyond What Tina Fey Says
Blessed Walpurgisnacht
California Needs To Stop Saying Everything Causes Cancer
Demeter Aesthetic
Discover Dubrovnik This Summer
Enjoying the Best Weather in Rio’s Mountain Range
Future Animism
Health-Enhancing Citrus Fruits
Hirosaki Castle
How Religion Is Coming To Terms with Modern Fertility Methods
How to Make Self-Care a Priority
A Maiden in an Emerald Field
Moody Light
Moroccan Americans in New York’ Celebrates Mimouna for the First Time
A New Book Looks at What Life Is Like for Moms across the Animal Kingdom
Pakistan's Most Wild and Beautiful Places
Spring Is Busy Time for Bees and Their Keepers
Summer Afternoon
Summer Pagan Festivals 2018
Tibetan Calligraphy Day
What To Expect From Monster Hunter: World's Spring Blossom Festival
I recently started reading a book, which takes the time to talk about cultures that view time as circular as opposed to linear time for its premise. Here are a few of the really interesting points I took from it.
People who follow circular time fear the disruption of time/end of time
Rituals held at the turning points of the year (Fire festivals or solar festivals) are of two fold purpose. They are intended to magically insure that time WILL change to the next season and to cleanse the community of past ill luck/imbue them with future good luck.
When unnatural interventions to time happen (drought, solar eclipse, etc.) ritual 'resetting' of time must occur to put event back on a natural couse
These facts feel obvious once stated, but by virtue of thinking in linear time while following the Cosmology of circular time I've never really thought about them through this framing
