Wiccans, has any other Wiccan ever told you that you aren't following the TRUE version of Wicca?

Question

Wiccans, has any other Wiccan ever told you that you aren't following the TRUE version of Wicca?

Answer 1

I get that all the time.

Answer 2

Yes I have several times, and the funnier part is that the person who tried to convince me I couldn't do things because she was trained that no one could, actually believed that Wicca was an ancient religion. Boy did she get her panties in a twist when I told her that Wicca was only a few decades old. But alas, Every group has their fundies, over zealous religious, and all in all bad seeds.

Answer 3

Yes.  Most of them have been strict Traditionalists who label my practices as "neo-Wicca," but a couple of people have just been loons whose claims of "true Wicca" didn't fit any logicial or historical definition (such as true Wiccans follow a single goddess and are militant feminists).

I agree to disagree with the Traditionalists.  I treat the idiots as they deserve.

Answer 4

I'm not Wiccan, but I have met "the Wiccan police". Those folks who have a very narrow definition of who's Wiccan and who isn't. As a matter of fact I had an argument with one last month. I said self initiation was permissible in many pagan faiths, she had a fit and screamed, "No, no, no!!!" So evidently some people have the idea that they are the only "True" Wiccan's (and Pagans evidently), too.

Kinda sad.

Answer 5

Wicca Please

Answer 6

Sadly enough, I have met a number of people who thought that their ideas about the faith and practice were correct, and that anyone else's were not.  Whether it's pantheist vs. polytheist, or that one must be initiated by a coven with a direct lineage from Gardner himself in order to call one's self a Wiccan, it's all the same.  There are even sites dedicated to what is sometimes referred to as "witch wars."  

I frankly find the Witch Police and all the fundamentalist, narrow and condemning sorts to be pathetic and annoying.  I've avoided covens for much the same reason, although I know of several in the not-too-distant area which are smart, accepting and which do not tollerate that sort of "witchier-than-thou" behavior.  Nowadays, I practice strictly within the confines of our own small family coven and every once in a while with the local Pagan Alliance bunch.  

Answer 7

There are a number of variations, or lineages.  To tell someone they aren't following the 'true' version is BS.  No one really knows what the true version is.

Never been told that.

Answer 8

You mean the MESSAGE bible?

As above so below.

Answer 9

What is the "TRUE" version, the ancient one or the one that has evolved over the centuries?

Answer 10

Yeppers, several times. I've gotten into verbal battles with plenty of Wiccans over such things. One memorable one who told me I wasn't Wiccan because I'm not Gardnerian (I still to this day doubt that this person was really Gardnerian as they claimed) also had the audacity to tell me I wasn't really a mother because I didn't give birth to my daughter (my child is adopted). So I'll let you guess how much I care what that person thought.

There are plenty of debates over what is real Wicca and what isn't. I have my own side I stand on. I've told people what they are practicing isn't Wicca before and I'm sure I'll do it again. Wicca isn't anything goes - there are definitive beliefs and practices that make it Wicca. Some people do have odd interpretations on both sides - those who are informed of the history of Wicca generally aren't the ones with odd interpretations.  

Answer 11

I'm going to prove your point for you.

Wicca is NOT a "make it up as you go along religion".

It DOES have core concepts and beliefs, and one of them is the DUALITY of divinity.

Dianics are not Wiccans.

They are pagans - but NOT Wiccans.

Just as you can't be a Christian and not believe in Jesus, you can't be a Wiccan and not believe that divinity is both male and female.

It is an inherent part of the religion.

And to correct the other gross generalizations - all Wiccans are bloody well NOT witches - there are plenty of us who are not.

Someone who wants to call themselves by the name of a religion should bloody well know what the beliefs of that religions are.

EDIT:

If you actually read it I said "All are NOT"  which is the converse of your "All ARE"

Wicca is NOT any surviving or revivalist pagan witchcraft.

The two are NOT synonymous, and the term "Dianic" itself comes from Dianus and Diana, God and Goddess of Stregheria - which is not part of Gardner, nor any *Wiccan* tradition.

Learn some history.

Female monotheism is just as imbalanced as male monotheism - and *neither* are Wicca.

Answer 12

Wiccans - Are you all as barking mad as each other? Who is crazier - you or the religious types..?

EDIT: oooh...and TOUCHY too!!! 8-)

Answer 13

Only once - and that one incident was purely a vindictive manipulative act by someone who only claimed to be Wiccan for about 6 months and left in a huff because "we" wouldn't immediately declare her "Queen of the Witches"

I do tend to look at people's motivation when making claims like this before passing judgement.

.

Answer 14

Usually when I mention that all Wiccans are most assuredly not Witches I get told I'm wrong by fundies.

By the way, I've known Phoenix for over 15 years, and she's been Wiccan and not a Witch the whole time, so the fundies saying she's not can bite me.

The big problem is that a lot of Wiccan newcomers can't separate Wiccans-with-standards from Wiccans who are fundies.

A Wiccan saying "Only members of my tradition are real Wiccans" is a fundie.

A Wiccan saying "Wicca is a polytheistic faith requiring, at the minimum, one male and one female god" is not a fundie.

A Wiccan saying "Only people who cast a circle the way I do are Wiccan" is a fundie.

A Wiccan saying "There is no appropriate way to use Christian imagery in a circle" is not a fundie.

A Wiccan saying "Wicca is practiced only one way," is a fundie.

A Wiccan saying "Wicca is not a 'whatever you want it to be' religion" is not.

Until newbies, usually children, can make those distinctions, we can't even talk about Wiccan fundies.

Answer 15

f

Answer 16

That's because modern day Wicca has degenerated over time with stupid propaganda, made up movies, and too much twisting it around.

If you want the original(which isn't "the true") try Gardnerian or Alexandrian Wicca. They are the Wica and they are the original ones. I suggest finding a Coven. Hope you are ok with scourging and nudity. But hey, that's a fertiltiy cult for you. It's nothing bad, as long as you're ok with it.

Good luck. Don't fall for fluffy books....go experience it.

Answer 17

Back when I was Wiccan, yes I ran into a couple of FundieWiccans.  Most of the time it was either the Hard Gards who tend to be convinced that theirs is the only true Wicca and everyone else are "NeoWiccans", or more commonly it was a kid who read a book by Silver Ravenwolf and pitched a fit because my way wasn't Mama $ilver's way.  Both are equally annoying.

Answer 18

they did but I turned them into a frog  

Answer 19

I don't know any Wiccans who would tell you that, there are many paths in Wicca that you can follow.  You choose the one that is right for you.

Answer 20

Oh my, I am sorry I missed this "hot topic" while it was still hot!  :-D

Phoenix try as you might I'm afraid you've got things skewed a bit..

here's why:

all wiccans _ARE_ witches by definition. those who don't like calling themselves witches, well that's their right but it doesn't change what wicca is; it is *spiritually based witchcraft*.

Isn't that mostly what the _Wiccan Rede_ is instructing us in?  The ethical use of magick and witchcraft??  

A small minority of wiccans may not do actual spells -- true, another personal preference --but that's really splitting hairs as they say. Wiccans refusing the title of witch is rare and a relatively new phenomenon.  In SOME instances,  It's fluff-bunny denial is what that is. But even then I would never claim gee, they aren't 'true' wiccans.

Second: technically speaking, if a Dianic or anyone is honoring multiple goddesses in multiple aspects, that is _not_ monotheism and should not be compared to or called similar to monotheism such as Christianity!  :-D

Third: It was made very clear the acknowledgment that there were "Dianic Witches who were not wiccan".  you merely restated that in your own curt words and implied someone said something different.

and lastly, look it up for yourself -- you are trying to argue against nearly 40 years of wiccan "history" _in the united states_.  

Are you in the united states??

Maybe things are different where you are but it was also made very clear strega was speaking of wicca and its traditions in the USA.

I don't for one second believe you have been wiccan for 20-something years. and if i'm wrong in that belief, well so be it.  you sure haven't demonstrated a very mature or rational understanding of things with your ultra-narrow definition of wicca and your fundie attitude toward others.

[edited out the term "fluff bunny" from a place or two.  I didn't mean to imply anyone HERE was a fluff bunny and it may have sounded like I did.  Apologies.]

And Labgrrl,  we will just have to agree to disagree on one or two of your What Is a Fundie-What Isn't points...

Answer 21

Wow, what a coinky-dink!  ;-)

Just yesterday,,, in this forum someone said (not to me directly, but in general) that no "real Wiccan" would EVER consider anything other than a complete balance of male/God(s) and female/Goddess(es).

To do otherwise is not REALLY Wicca..... (they said)

Of course they were wrong,  I follow the Dianic tradition of WICCA.

Dianic wicca has been around as long as wicca has (no, I don't think it's "ancient!") and even Gerald Gardner knew of and had experiences with "Dianic" witches some time before he blended and mixed several witchcraft traditions into what he is credited for "inventing"... namely Wicca.

  

I prefer to stick to the Original (1970's) definition of the word Wicca.

It meant a *Spiritual* path that incorporated the ways and means of witchcraft -- which we all know does not need to be affiliated with ANY religious or spiritual path at all. The word "wicca" was used --in the USA-- to merely distinguish  between witches who followed a "religion" and witches who did not.

THAT is why we still say today:  "all Wiccans are witches, but not all witches are Wiccan."

That is also why "Wicca" is an accepted, valid RELIGION by our government in America , (in ALL its many many traditions),  but "witchcraft" is not; nor should it be, because it's not a religion.  

Wicca is not simply ONE tradition, or two, or three, or even four...so, I reiterate: "Wicca" is ANY European / North American tradition that is based in a pagan spiritual path AND utilizes magic/witchcraft.



Goddess path witches or Goddess centered witches or "DIanic" witches are indeed "wiccans"... whether the newer wiccans of the '90's and after want to believe it or not.

I do not and never will subscribe to the Politically Correct BS that one MUST include a male god figure in all rituals and rites or run the risk of "offending" the male Gods.  :: rolls eyes:::

  

Now, there was, at one time, a Dianic Witchcraft tradition that was not wiccan, if I remember correctly, it actually predates Gardner's "wicca".  

The name "Dianic" originally comes from those witchcraft covens that revered the Roman Goddess Diana, but once "wicca" came about to - as I said- indicate ANY tradition that incorporated a religious basis for witchcraft ... there has been a "Dianic Wiccan" tradition.

If others wish to avoid using the label "wiccan" as I choose to use it, as it was used for many years way back when, that's fine.  I would never presume to tell others they must call themselves Wiccan --- or not.  

But please.... don't try to tell ME that I'm not a "true wiccan" or a "real wiccan" according to  *your*  narrow definition.  Thanks.

Added & Edited:

Wow Phoenix, you sure are one mighty angry PAGUNDY.

(Pagundy = a Pagan-Fundy)

LOL

You blew all your credibility right outa the water with that c**p about  "Wiccans are NOT witches"  

And you're right, it DOES have core beliefs... however those beliefs are the reverence for nature, Divinity, the Sabbats, the Rede, etc,  there are no hard and fast rules about WHICH GODS OR GODDESSES to honor at any particular time.

The "balance" you little pagundies are so fond of squealing about IS included in the honoring of all the DIFFERENT ASPECTS of the Goddess!  The light, the dark, the mother, the warrior, the maiden the crone... see?  All balanced out nice and neat.  

Male - Female is merely a HUMAN representation of ONE sort of balance.  There are other ways to achieve balance without the human gender roles defining it for us.

Open up your tiny box and jump out darlin'.

So keep on yelling bloody this and bloody that.  It isn't making you look any more "right", because you aren't.

Nightwind:  I hope you noticed that I am NOT saying my brand of Dianic Wicca is the Be-All-End-All  only One-Way-My-Way tradition of "real" wicca.  Quite the opposite, actually.  I don't want to be told my tradition is invalid as a "real wiccan" tradition.  Because it's simply not true.

There's a difference.

Answer 22

Lawl ive never met another wiccan, i used to do the stuff, but i dont do it anymore.