Before you cast a spell…
Before you seek a favor from the powers that be…
Before you wear a pentagram around your neck…
Before you call yourself Wiccan…
Check out WiccaDiscovery–and know!
We will go where we’re needed, offering unbiased-as-possible learning and teaching to folks who want and need it the most–or just for anyone!
Welcome to Wicca Discovery, a teaching and learning tradition emphasizing the basic principles of the Wiccan religion in a straightforward and accessible fashion. Wicca Discovery is for everyone regardless of interest, a place where Wicca is presented in general and universal terms that can be understood by anyone making the effort to learn.
It might seem like there are so many websites about Wicca and associated spiritual paths already that no one could read them all in a given lifetime, much less make sense of the content or come away with a practical understanding. But this is not one of those websites. This is Wicca Discovery, a blogsite written by a humble priestess with a desire to teach and the ability to explain what sometimes seems beyond explaining. This is taking Wicca in the context of global spirituality as a true religion with deep roots and joyful meaning. Most importantly, this is presenting Wicca in a simple fashion, in a way anyone with an interest could read these pages and somehow feel better educated. Many people are curious about the Wiccan path. Wicca Discovery explores the details.
I have been serving the community as a teacher and an itinerant speaker since 1994. In those earlier days, I was more focused on helping people live Wicca in a hostile society. When the population at large can’t or won’t accept something, humans will hide their fear behind rash behavior and alarmist speech. And so were Wiccans and many of our sisters and brothers on other paths called “devil worshippers”. It’s a misconception that still is alive and healthy today, and we still need to tread carefully in strange doorways. But closed minds don’t change. Closed minds were never ready to accept any of us. To my thinking there still has been a slow change. Many more people are interested in learning the truth, whether they plan to become Wiccan or just better informed. This is a great opportunity for us, a window in which our efforts against hatred can be seen by anyone. A world of acceptance begins with us.
Of course, we might wonder what circumstances have changed–and is it tolerance or apathy?
Wicca is a religion. It is no different from Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, or any other religious tradition in validity. There have been debates on this subject, such as the famous Helms Amendment threat of the mid-1980’s. Wicca may part ways with the mainstream. Over the last twenty years or so Wicca has undergone a series of changes, not the least of which is an improved popular opinion and attempts at understanding. We’ve come a long way, but there remains a long way ahead.
As we reach this crossroads,`I began to think about Wicca, its place in the world, and the thousands of people seeking to learn. I’ve been teaching Wicca–Wicca as I understand it, complete with exploring the depths of its origins as well as the spiritual practices of human beings from thousands of years ago. It’s a deeper, more inclusive kind of Wicca, the sort that some may say is not Wicca at all. I say these folks shouldn’t sell Wicca short. I may go in different paths, explaining the workings of Wicca from a universalist perspective, but the essentials of what Wicca is are intact.
Wicca Discovery is teaching without hubris, reaching out to the seekers with genuine interest and desire to learn. Wicca Discovery may lead to your decision to pursue the Wiccan path, or it may just provide some important information on what was once a “secret” religion. Stepping back and doing nothing will not help Wicca defeat the naysayers, those people who would shackle our religion to negativity, crime, violence, and worse. Action is what will attain acceptance and tolerance.
Wicca Discovery proposes to help interested people learn about the Wiccan religion. In doing so, Wicca Discovery will embrace five principles of operation and progress.
1) Wicca is a valid and established religion and spiritual path. We’re not so much interested in proving our validity to other people as we are in living the path and making its relevance and value clear.
2) No money will ever be exchanged for information or teachings. As it has been said, how can one charge for a spiritual existence which in itself cannot be bought?
3) Wicca Discovery stresses the importance of peaceful co-existence with other faiths and with the greater society as a whole. Each of us is an ambassador of the path and those who walk it.
4) Everyone is welcome here at Wicca Discovery. Whether you’re seeking like minds, starting your practice, or just curious as to what it’s all about, Wicca Discovery welcomes you.
5) Live the path, for the path is life!
Here’s to a great fulfilling and rewarding adventure!
--Emilie J. Conroy
No comments:
Post a Comment