Here is my paper I wrote for my world religions class.

Humanities 130
Professor Bliss
March 29, 2009

Feminist Wicca:
Including a Comparison to Catholicism

The religion that I have chosen for this world religions project is paganism, and specifically feminist Wicca. Wicca is a term that is used for modern witchcraft. Wicca is a religion that has developed fairly recently but that is based in ancient beliefs and traditions. Wicca has truly only been around since about the mid-twentieth century but has grown rapidly in Europe and the United States since then. Wiccans hold a deep respect for nature, believe in the Goddess or multiple goddesses, and practice magic. Wiccans belong to groups called covens. Each coven may have its own rules and practices, but most stick to a certain set of rules. The most important of these rules is what is known as the Wiccan Rede, which says “If it harm none, do what you will.” (Joan Robinson-Blumit, personal communication, March 5, 2009) This means that no Wiccan is permitted to bring harm upon another person.

The person I interviewed is Joan Robinson-Blumit, who is the founder and head priestess of The Spiral Coven of Phoenix, Arizona. While most feminist Wicca covens are Dianic, meaning they follow only the goddesses, Joan’s coven believes that the God is the Goddess’s consort, and they hold him in high esteem. They follow green witchcraft, which means that nature is very important to their beliefs and traditions. Nature also plays a large part in the spells they perform. She informed me that her coven is a teaching coven and is open to new witches but they must complete a year and a day study before full initiation into the coven. Some covens are only open to experienced witches. The traditions of this coven are based on those of Celtic beliefs prior to the Christianity movement. For the interview, we met at a Wildflower restaurant in Phoenix, due to the fact that this coven does not have a building that they do their meetings in. They prefer to celebrate holidays and practice their rituals in nature, including parks and priestesses’ backyards. This particular restaurant is a location Joan has used to interview women who have been interested in joining her coven, so she said this would be an appropriate interview locale. The restaurant did actually make a nice location to do the interview. We were able to sit on opposite sides of the booth so we were facing each other and spaced a good distance apart, with the table giving a good source for writing on. We were also able to get drinks and the atmosphere was nice. I don’t know how well doing the interview in a park would have worked out.

The following is a summary of the questions I asked Joan during the interview and how she answered them. I did not take a tape recorder with me, and just took notes on her answers, so rather than provide direct quotes of her answers, I have paraphrased them.

Were you raised into this religion or was this something you own? If you found it, what led you to it and how did you find this particular faith?
Joan was not raised as a Wiccan; it is something that she found on her own over a long period. She has been a Catholic, a Methodist, and other Christian denominations. She has also studied Buddhism and Judaism. She raised her daughter as a Presbyterian. Through all these religions, she always felt that something was missing. What was missing was a feminine part of the divine being. Joan was raised during the sixties during the heyday of the feminist movement, and so has always been somewhat of a feminist. She told me the story of seeking out where she fit in by looking through books in a library and having a book fall off of a shelf in front of her. The book was titled God Was a Woman by Merlin Stone. After reading this book she finally realized that she had always been searching for the Goddess.

What sorts of holidays do you celebrate and are there certain rituals involved?
Joan’s coven follows the Celtic wheel of the year. This is the calendar that their holidays are based off of. They celebrate eight sabbats or days of power, and they also have a celebration for every full moon. The first sabbat is Yule, celebrated on the winter solstice and occurs when the God is born of the Goddess. The second sabbat is Imbolc, celebrated on February 2nd and occurs when the Goddess awakes from her recovery and God is a young boy. The third sabbat is Ostara, the spring equinox and this is where God has grown to maturity. The fourth sabbat is Beltane, April 30th, where God has grown into a man and impregnates the Goddess. This is a celebration of fertility. The fifth sabbat is Midsummer, the summer solstice, which is celebrated on the longest day of the year and is an exceptional time of magic. The sixth sabbat is Lughnasadh, August 1st and is the first harvest. During Lughnasadh, the God is growing old and is starting to become weak. The seventh sabbat is Mabon, celebrated on September 21st, the autumn equinox. The God is now an old man and is dying and preparing for the cycle to begin again. The eighth and final sabbat is Samhain, celebrated on October 31st, also known as Halloween to most people. This occurs when the God dies but is also a time for looking over the previous year and considering the Wiccan’s own mortality. There no set rituals for the sabbats, and they are celebrated in various ways. Joan’s coven plants seeds, has feasts, gives thanks to the Goddesses, and performs magic.

Do you weekly meetings like a contemporary church or just meet periodically?
Like most other Wiccan covens, Joan’s group does not have weekly meetings. They gather for the holidays and for every full moon. They try to meet on the evening of the full moon, but if it happens to fall on a night where most of the women have to work the next day, they meet on the closest night that is most convenient. They do this within three days of the full moon though while the moon is still nearly full.

Does this religion have a large impact on your life? How so?
This religion has a very large impact on Joan’s life because she must consider all actions before doing them. She believes that each action she commits will come back to her threefold. For any negative action that she might do, she risks her spiritual growth. Because of this, she believes she suffers less guilt than those of a traditional religion. She told me about the Wiccan Rede at this point, which states “Do what thou will, but harm thee none.” To her this means that Wiccans must take full responsibility for their actions.

Do you find practicing witchcraft to be challenging? How so?
Joan stated that she is very comfortable with her beliefs. Even though some people find it hard to accept Wiccans and believe that Paganism is evil or against God, she does not hide who she is. She often dresses up as a witch for fun on Halloween. She believes practicing witchcraft gives her a strong sense of personal integrity.

If someone was interested in following this faith, how would this person go about it? Is there an initiation ritual like baptism?
Joan’s coven only accepts female initiates, so a male would need to find a coven that is open to both men and women or is a male coven. Each new witch has to go through a year and a day study before being fully initiated into the coven. She also recommends reading the books she has listed as recommended reading on her website. There are women who participate in some of the celebrations with her coven who are not Wicca. They like the communing with nature and the fellowship between the women and the Goddesses, but prefer to follow their own religions. She is encouraging of these women and does not exclude them because of their beliefs.

Do you have a house of worship or do you just meet in nature?
Joan’s coven does not have a house of worship, although their most common meeting spots are in either her backyard or one of the other priestesses’ backyards. They also meet in public parks when it is feasible. For them, nature carries a very important role in their rituals, so meeting in a building would limit their ability to practice their beliefs.

How has this religion changed your life and do you think it has been an improvement for you?
Joan stated that becoming a Wiccan was a definite improvement on her life. She said that is much happier and comfortable with her self. She said that she has received emails from various people criticizing her beliefs but that she ignores them because she is confident and secure in what she believes.
What other important information could you give me that we haven’t already mentioned?
She would like for all women to be open to the idea that God is not only masculine but that there is a feminine aspect also. Her coven is open to any woman, even those who do not consider themselves Pagan or are even interested in Paganism but are seeking balance through equality and feminine divinity.

We also discussed a bit of information that I was just curious about. I asked her what she thought of how witches are portrayed in modern media and used the Harry Potter novels and movies as an example. She said that she thought the Harry Potter stuff was very whimsical but enjoyable. She also told me that she pays attention to when wiccans are mistreated by the media and does not hesitate to write letters when necessary. We also discussed that she is a published writer and does speeches at ASU and other venues. I mentioned to her that I was in the process of working on a youth novel. She ended up giving me some ideas for it that I had not considered. Overall, I thought the interview went very well, and I walked away from it believing I was much better informed about Wicca and modern Paganism. (Joan Robinson-Blumit, personal communication, April 11, 2009)

Wicca is a very modern religion while Catholicism is a very old religion. There are not many comparisons that can be made between these two, but there are many differences. Catholicism is a monotheistic religion that believes in God as the creator of all things. Many people would consider Wicca to be a polytheistic religion. They “acknowledge a supreme divine power, unknowable, ultimate, from which the entire universe sprang”, but to them, “the supreme power was personified into two basic beings: the Goddess and the God.” (Cunningham, 2004, p. 9) According to Kerr Cuhulain, “Modern Wicca is ditheistic—we recognize both male and female aspects of divinity.” (Cuhulain, 1954, p. 7) Kerr Cuhulain also states that “Wicca is a religion of monism. Wiccans believe that the divine and the mundane are inseparably linked.” (Cuhulain, 1954, p. 47) Catholics believe that Jesus was the Son of God and was born of Immaculate Conception. They also believe that God and Jesus are separate manifestations of the same entity. This could be interpreted as Jesus was really his own father. Catholics do believe that God is in everything at all times, but there is not as much focus on this as with Wicca. Wiccans believe in the cycle of the life of the God. Within this cycle, “He has no father; He is his own father.” (Starhawk, 1979, p. 123) “As he (the God) grows and passes through his changes on the Wheel, He remains in relationship to the prime nurturing force. His power is drawn directly from the Goddess.” (Starhawk, 1979, p. 123) Wiccans believe the God is born of the Goddess, and the God also impregnates the Goddess. Catholics believe that Mary was the mother of Jesus but she is not characterized as a Goddess. Catholicism and Wicca have holidays or celebrations that coincide with each other by date but are very different types of celebrations. December 21st is the winter solstice and the date that Wiccans celebrate Yule. Yule occurs when the Goddess gives birth to the God (Cunningham, 2004). Catholics celebrate Christmas on December 25th, which is very close to this date. Christmas, for Christians is also a time of celebrating the birth of God in the form of Jesus. Catholics celebrate this holiday with special masses and common rituals of gift giving and pageants. Wiccans light candles or fires just before sunrise and wait for the sun to come up as a celebration of the returning of the sun (Cunningham, 2004). Since there is no historical date for the actual birth of Jesus, it is believed that Christians chose this date in December to coincide with the Pagan holiday. October 31st is known to Wiccans as Samhain and is their celebration of the death of the God. He must die, so that he can be reborn on winter Solstice. They celebrate this day of power by reflecting on their lives and honoring their past ancestors. On November 1st, Catholics celebrate All Saints’ Day. This is a day used to celebrate the lives of all the saints. November 2nd is All Soul’s Day, where they pray for all those that have not yet reached heaven. These two holidays could be said to be holidays for honoring their past ancestors. The teaching of the Catholic Church is that all those who are deceased go to one of three places: Heaven, Hell, or Purgatory. Heaven would be for those who are completely free from sin, Hell would be for those who have been condemned, and Purgatory is a cleansing area for those who will eventually make it into Heaven. Wiccans believe in reincarnation. They believe that all life is made up of energy, and energy cannot be destroyed, but it can change forms. In this manner, our lives cannot be destroyed, but can be transformed into a new type of life. One thing about reincarnation within the Wiccan beliefs that is not common to other religions that believe in reincarnation is that they believe we do not come back as any other life form than human. They believe that the type of soul humans possess is unique and suited only for humans (Cunningham, 2004). Wiccans belong to covens which typically number between ten to fifteen people (Wicca, 2009), while Catholics are registered with and meet at their local or favorite church which could have thousands of members.

Feminist Wicca is a religion unlike most western religions. As we have seen, there are some comparisons that can be made to other religions, and other religions have borrowed aspects of paganism over time. People have looked at paganism as an evil religion or one worships Satan and false gods. I think that I have shown that Wicca is a religion that believes in a divine creator just as any Christian religion does, they just believe that this creator has both male and female aspects. Wiccans do not believe in Satan and they attempt to not bring harm to any form of life. I do not think that this is a religion that anyone would have reason to be afraid of. After doing the interview and all of the research for this essay, I have found a new respect for Wicca and am even considering practicing it after more exhaustive research into the rituals of the religion.



References

Cuhulain, K (1954). Full Contact Magick: A Book of Shadows for the Wiccan Warrior. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn Publications

Cunningham, S (2004). Wicca: a Guide for the Solitary Practitioner. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn Publications.

Starhawk, (1979). The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess. New York, NY: HarperCollins.

Wicca . (2009). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved March 21, 2009, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.search.eb.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/eb/article-214730