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I have been thinking since I first saw this article:
http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=usmo&c=words&id=10563
What I have been thinking about is less the whole Wicca/Witch thing, and more about the common partyline about how Witchcraft is not a religion, but a skillset that can be incorperated into any faith. I was reading TT earlier today and a thread started by a misinfomed Christian, and there were numerous posts all repeating this same thing.
It got me to wondering ... is Witchcraft really just a craft? Can it really be compared to carpentry or to metalworking? And if it is a skillset and nothing more, can it be stripped from every Pagan religion that incorperates it (the claims of 'Wiccan but not Witch' are becoming more commone than in previous years)? Is it wise to do so?
Witchcraft has been illegal before, and in some places, accepting money for reading tarot cards is illegal still. Do you think it is possible, that the practise of Witchcraft could become illegal again if it is shown to not be an essential part of a Witch's religious expression?
Thoughts?
--Phae
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thicketeers
http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=usmo&c=words&id=10563
What I have been thinking about is less the whole Wicca/Witch thing, and more about the common partyline about how Witchcraft is not a religion, but a skillset that can be incorperated into any faith. I was reading TT earlier today and a thread started by a misinfomed Christian, and there were numerous posts all repeating this same thing.
It got me to wondering ... is Witchcraft really just a craft? Can it really be compared to carpentry or to metalworking? And if it is a skillset and nothing more, can it be stripped from every Pagan religion that incorperates it (the claims of 'Wiccan but not Witch' are becoming more commone than in previous years)? Is it wise to do so?
Witchcraft has been illegal before, and in some places, accepting money for reading tarot cards is illegal still. Do you think it is possible, that the practise of Witchcraft could become illegal again if it is shown to not be an essential part of a Witch's religious expression?
Thoughts?
--Phae
X-posted to my journal and
thicketeers
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-10 04:02 pm (UTC)His logic has some holes (he's not trying to claim "pagan" means "country dweller"), and he's apparently oblivious to the eclectic, do-whatever-you-like stuff that's calling itself "Wicca" in some places.
He seems to think that witchcraft--as I believe you're defining it--is universal in modern "Wicca," and doesn't seem to be aware that there are kids who don't believe in Gods & Goddesses, don't cast circles, don't have any tools and wouldn't know what to do with them if they did... but call themselves "Wiccan" because they love nature and believe in "karma."
While I agree with him that the practice of witchcraft is essential to Wicca, and it is equally accurate to refer to such a person as "a Wiccan" or "a witch," I disagree that all forms of witchcraft are religions. He seems to be saying that there is only one "witchcraft," and it is the kind Wicca practices--or it is the universal pre-Christian, goddess-worshipping, magical way of relating to the world. (Or maybe he's implying that all tribal religions are really pretty much the same. I dunno. But there's something vaguely insulting in his notions about how Wicca & witchcraft are "the same thing.")