Wicca is Hip?

I first heard about wicca when I was about ten and was instantly interested, but I couldn't research it properly until a few years ago dew to lack of access to proper information. Upon researching it properly, I decided it wasn't for me, though I've considered paganism a bit.
It's hard to tell that it's trendy, though all the idiots make it look that way.

It's not so much the ideas that are trendy, but rather the looks and thought of rebelling by name dropping.

For example, most goths are goths without really knowing what goth is, but wear the dark clothes, listen to the goth music, and hang out with their fellow goth kids, just to have a group to fit in with.

The trendies do the same, dressing, speaking, and doing wicca related things, with out really knowing the true meaning(or power) behind what they do.

And although one can look at a goth and be 'oh, ok', the trendies of wicca and the sort get looked apon and at differently, giving a false image to what wicca is really about, and therefore giving a lot of us a bad rap/image.

So when it comes time for us to tell people what we are/practice, we have to re-educate those that have been mislead by the trend instead of by truth.

The trendies don't dress and act wicca, they dress and act like goths. Saying they do wicca related things would insinuate that they know anything about it.

i learned about wicca for a religion project, and it really interested me. that's why i join, it's been five years and i'm still afraid of being roped in with those teens who think it's 'cool'

why they do it? i don't know. part rebellion, i suppose, they think 'witchcraft' 'black magic' and stuff and think 'dark' 'cool' or 'rebel' and then [what i love most about them] they know little to nothing about the religion and then lecture others and 'true witches' [not a fan of that wording but you get my point... i hope] that 'you don't get it' or 'i'll curse you if you upset me'

CURSES! sorry, i know a few 'fluffy bunnies' and they sneer at people, and think we're 'united by the cosmos' because we're both witches and 'persecuted by the Christians' [another thing, i don't care what your religion is, so long as you're not blindly following and cursing out good people who don't believe what you do] these people go out of their way to torment Christians, and claiming they should curse all the evil Christian followers. [irony, they WERE Christian]

i agree with you, sesa, completely. they're a headache and they only want to look cool and be different, by doing what everyone else is doing [hee-hee sorry, wanted to make a joke... no matter how bad] i wish there was some way to stop them, sadly there isn't, so i guess we're stuck with them until they graduate and grow out of the faze, or learn about Wicca.

The irony of the situation, is that most world religions, including wicca and christianity, are built on similar fundements. I have christian friends and relatives and none of them seem to mind my invovement with magick.
United by the cosmos? That's a new one. I'll have to look out for that. Luckily I don't know that many trendies.

I feel the need to reply to everything right now for some reason.

*shakes head* the things i've heard... just got to ignore it.

i don't get why people join religions out of trend, or because it sounds cool. i wish there was some way of showing them, it's a belief system and it's to be taken seriously [with levity, but you know] and not a hobby or something to do because your friends are. but hey, that's the teen years... most years...

Not all tendies are teens and not all teens are trendies. I'm a teen and I've been interested in magick since childhood and sctually did proper research, and I like to think that I'm not a trendy.

I believe that some teens think that telling their parents that they want to be wiccan is basically a slap in the face to their christian (or catholic) parents. That is not my reason for wanting to become wiccan, though. I love nature. I love reading about the gods and goddesses. I believe that if I dedicate myself enough to researching and practicing grounding, meditation, and the history of wicca, I could be a wiccan myself. Of course, my dad would not be happy about me doing all this research and learning, but I believe that it is the right path for me. Not because it's "hip, cool, dope, tight", but because I want to embrace my love for nature and mythology in a religious way.

It's interesting and somewhat ironic to see this here in this generation of witches. When Gardner first started writing and interviewing about Wicca, it was an Oathbound, Initiatory Mystery Religion. If you wanted to be a Wiccan, you had to find a lineaged, valid coven and work towards Initiation. And that would take a year and a day minimum. And you had to prove yourself to very well respected Elders to do so.

Then Scott Cunningham and his generation started writing about Do-It-Yourself Wicca - whatever folks wanted it to be, self-dedicate and start your own coven! They replaced the Gods of the Wica, threw in a bunch of New Age stuff that has nothing to do with the Craft and now everyone's a Lady and Lord, without any training, Initiation or lineage. And they demand respect they haven't earned.

Folks like myself who are Initiates find this all incredibly alarming. We don't initiate children, we don't let just anyone in. We call them Neo-Wiccans and hope that one day they will come looking for the real thing. Or lose interest and go onto something else. The only way to separate ourselves (Gardnerians, Alexandrians, Central Valley Wiccans, etc.) is to call ourselves British Traditional Wiccans and work hard to hold the core of the Wica as cherished as our ancestors did.

So yes, ironic to see the Neo-Wiccans so concerned about the next generation's abuse and misuse of Wicca.

So when you're concerned about Wicca becoming hip please understand that there's folks generations before you who've already gone through this dilution before.

What an interesting post....

Yes, there *are* self-initiated Wiccans who assume the titles 'Lord' and 'Lady' without having (apparently) undergone any training or study. However, there are also *many* self-initiates who are working hard to further the cause and the reputation of the Craft. Are you *really* going to denigrate and designate as worthless all of that work?

You might like to refer to 'Progressive Witchcraft' by Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone, who state that one of the shortcomings of the 'old' (for that is what it now is) insistence on lineage was a generation of Wiccans who were initiated *before* training (because this is what the oaths demanded, and continue to demand), resulting in a large number of 'first degree' Wiccans who had (and presumably have) no idea what to do, and who were then left to 'get on with it' and to learn by observation.

You refer to a generation as having read Scott Cunningham who, you say, advocated 'initiate yourself, start your own coven' Wicca. Could you please clarify how you come to this conclusion, given that his first and best selling book is titled 'Wicca, a Guide for the Solitary Practitioner'? And could you please at least have the academic courtesy to post at least one reference from Cunningham's work where you see him advocating this?

We notice that your recommended reading list includes 'The Witches' Bible' by Jane and Stewart Farrar, who themselves, as presumably among your 'very well respected elders', advocate those wishing to follow the craft to self initiate *and* to form their own covens if they are unable to find one (in 'The Witches' Way'). Could you please clarify how you square this with your comments here?

As regards your comments about lineage only being valid if it can be traced back to the 'very well respected elders' of Gardner's day (or soon after), presumably you mean either Gardner himself, who, it is now reported, initiated many people without any training at all in order to provide impetus to the early days of the Craft, or Alex Sanders, whom, it is said, would initiate anyone who came to him for the price of a pint in his local pub (bar).

Self-initiates who work and study hard to further their ability to properly represent the Craft they love and the Way they have chosen will rightly conclude that your post is without either academic or historical foundation, self-important, and, most of all, deeply insulting to those self-initiates. We freely admit that there are 'fluffy' people calling themselves initiates, and worse than that, a new generation drawing their ideas about the Craft from film and television rather than from solid authorities such as Gardner, the Farrars, Cunningham, Penczak etc. However, it doesn't help what is already a minority faith for you to discard the efforts of those who choose to walk a more solitary path, or who are genuinely unable to find a group to be part of.

Maybe you haven't before met a self-initiate who is able and willing to give a defence of their choices. You have now.

We look forward to your comments.

Myrddin and Rowan
Two self-initiates working hard to further the cause of the Craft in the South West of England.