An article on Wicca

[elaby]

I've been poking around various places looking up Wicca-related stuff, and I came across this awesome article. I read it recommended by someone for people who are new to Paganism, a warning against books by a particular author who many people think is misleading about Wicca. From what I read in the article, holy cow, is she ever O_o

Wicca: For the Rest of Us - Why We Despise Silver Ravenwolf

Silver Ravenwolf, from the quotes of hers in this article, is not only bigoted toward anyone who isn't Wiccan, but is also hypocritical and delusional.

Here's a small excerpt from the article, her quote in italics and then the author of the article's response.

"As someone who works with magick, sooner or later you're going to be found out, anyway. Let's face it. You will probably carry yourself differently (confidence does that to a person). You may become more articulate, more sensitive, more ethical; happier, richer, healthier. You will succeed in your dreams where others spend their lives wishing instead. Eventually, people will wonder what you are doing right! People may also fear you. Not because you have threatened them, but because you obviously are not enjoying the same tragedies they are. (Page 278)

Excuse me? What sort of cult propaganda is this? News flash #2: non-magical people succeed at their dreams too. And anyone who thinks that Wicca or any other religion or organization will protect them from the tragedies of the world needs a serious and immediate wake-up call. Wicca doesn't make you anything. You are what you make of yourself, and you can do that equally well as a Wiccan, Christian, atheist, or anything else."

HELL yes.

Comments

[coastal-spirit.livejournal.com]

This proves my theory that there are fanatics and just plain crazies in every religion and creed, no matter how good the philosophy itself might be. She seems to be using the same techniques of other fundamentalists, skewing the "facts" to make her point, and in some instances, just making things up. What ever happened to The Wiccan Rede which states "An it harm none, do what ye will"?

Also

"...did you know that Mary Magdalene was not a temple prostitute? That the word "Magdelene" is a title of leadership, not the woman's last name? And that Mary Magdelene of Bible fame ran a temple to the Goddess, designed to educate the rich girls of Jerusalem? True, true...and true. AND, the reason the men hated her was because she believe in the Goddess, and they wanted to get rid of the Goddess.

I had to comment on this one. I don't know where she came up with this, but it certainly wasn't the Christian Bible. Mary Magdalene was not a prostitute, true, and although the Church may have vilified her as such, she is only described in the Bible as being one of Jesus' followers who was "possessed by demons", which is largely interpreted today to mean that she probably either had epilepsy or a mental illness of some sort. "Magdalene" means "of Magdala"; Mary came from the town of Magdala, just as Jesus came from Nazareth and so was called a "Nazarene". There seems to be every indication that Mary was Jewish, just as all of them were, not a follower of the Goddess. This seems to be pure fantasy. (Of course, we also don't really know if Mary or any of the others existed, as there are no historical records proving that they did or didn't.)

[elaby.livejournal.com]

Mum FTW! I know I can always count on you to know stuff :)

I thought everything quoted in that article was utter crap, anyway. I can see why people wouldn't want new Wiccans to read her stuff.