It's ok to NOT be Wiccan
So, you discovered you don't agree with Christianity anymore. You heard of this religion called Wicca and
read up on it. It sounded great to you, right? It's anything &
everything you want it to be. You started reading books, gathering
information and looking for more Wiccans. You joined a few networking
sites (or maybe just this one) and now some meanie-head is telling
you you're not Wiccan? Now you're angry and confused. Maybe you ask
yourself, “if I'm not Wiccan, than what am I?
If you're like me you began searching for something else then, because I realized, when I found that Wicca
isn't actually like Burger King, I can't have it my way. I started
searching other paths, looking for something to call myself. Only to
find I didn't exactly fit anywhere specific. Sure, I found
similarities here and there, but no perfect fit.
Then I began to question myself. Why do I need a label? Isn't it ok that I don't fit in anywhere? Can't I
just be me? Of course I can. And you can too. It's ok not to be
Wiccan. It's ok not to have a name for your path or a title. It's ok
to even come up with your own name for what you do. Not everyone is
going to fit into a specific path, in fact a LOT of people don't.
Many Pagans have tread their own path for many , many years. There is
absolutely nothing wrong with that. Only when you incorrectly label
your path as something that it truly is not, do you run into trouble.
So what am I? I believe there is more than one deity, so I do know that I am a Polytheist. Other than that,
I am only a seeker of knowledge, a student of religion, a spiritual
wanderer. There is no label required for me to know who I am. No
label required for me to define what I am. I am simply Tasha.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Makoons on -
*Applause*
Thank you, thank you, thank you for this post! I agree!
I do think it's a hard realization to come to. We as humans like and honestly NEED to classify things, it helps in our understanding of them. But Spirituality is such a complex animal...it needs to be open to interpretation and a person's needs. I'm not saying that those who *do* fit under a label are missing out on something or lying to themselves...I'm just saying it isn't necessary.
I am an Anishinaabe spiritualist but the more I learn the more I realize there are other things I believe that don't fit underneath that umbrella. Is it hard? Yeah. Honestly, sometimes it downright sucks. But I can't help who I am and I can't help what just feels right. I won't deny myself anything because it doesn't fit what's typical of this religion or that. I can only do right by me. It's my beliefs, my deity, and my life for goodness sake!
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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Renee on -
I like your terms 'spiritual wanderer' 'student of religion'...I can so identify with this post...thanks for sharing Tasha:)
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Permalink Reply by Callisto on -
Unfortunately Wicca, or rather its influences, has become ubiquitous within Neo-Paganism and it's not a good thing. It appears to me one of the hardest realizations for newbies is coming to terms with not only does Wicca ≠ all of witchcraft but also Wicca ≠ all of Neo-paganism. But it's easy to see how it would seem that it does. So many use those terms interchangeably as though they're wholly synonymous. You have practices that claim to be Wiccan that really aren't and other practices that claim to be something else clearly showing a borrowing of Wicca-related practices. Not that this is anything new. Supposedly during the early days of traditional Wicca, others sometimes came along claiming they had some ancient and hoary witchcraft tradition that predated New Forest by a few millenia that were really just Gardner knock-offs.
I think people, even when they insist they prefer a solitary way, want to also feel like they belong to something. Being able to say "I'm a Wiccan" gives a sense of some connection or belonging, even though one is not actually a part of any specific collective.
It's also a hard realization for some because there can be a tendency to equate someone saying "that's not Wicca" with being a personal attack. Like if they're not Wiccan, then they're nothing, or a sham. "That's not Wicca" is not a value judgment, there are a lot of valid paths that are not Wicca. And yes, it's definitely ok not to be Wiccan.
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