Misogyny in Wicca?

I was reading the Old Laws of Wicca and it stated the following: as a man loveth a woman by mastering her, so shall they submit to the wiccan gods and be mastered by them.

Why? Can anyone explain? Some believe that women cannot be mastered, yet the old laws state otherwise. Unless I'm misinterpreting it.

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In other words, is the man still above the woman as stated in the vile cults of the abrahamic faiths, or are they their own. Some women have created woman only wiccan covens. Yet, here it states that men may master women, yet independent witches say otherwise.

This thread has been moved to Wicca from Misc Topics.

What do you mean by you were "reading the old laws?" Wicca is not a very old religion, so I'm just wondering about your source. Anyhow, Wicca is just about as far away from mysogynistic as it could be with a large focus being on duality.

wicca isn't an old religion? where on earth did you hear that?

Astaru, you have to remember that "the craft" of witchcraft and Wicca are two separate things.

The religion of Wicca was only created in the 1940's, making it one of the youngest religions that is found commonly.

The Old Laws this post is referring to come from Gardner who popularized Wicca, as most of us know it, in the 1950s (I could be off by ten years) in England.

There are 161 if them.
They can be found here:
http://wicca.cnbeyer.com/laws/161.shtml
http://www.sacred-texts.com/pag/gbos/gbos38.htm

You are misinterpreting what was written about "mastering a woman" as meaning that Wicca sees men as more important or ruling over women. Don't feel bad, in this case it is a common mistake.

First of all let me explain a bit about the "Old Laws of Wicca". They aren't actually old at all. They were written by Gerald Gardner during the 1950's when he was having a bit of a spat with his current High Priestess. Some of the laws were directed at her in particular. Gardner also purposely wrote these in the style of some older texts in an attempt to make them seem to be ancient, but trust me, they arent old at all. Wicca was started by Gerald Gardner in the 1940's.

Now, as to what the law you quoted actually means... We are not talking here about the man ruling over the woman. What this actually is interpreted as meaning could be summarized as saying; "As a man loveth a woman by becoming one with her, so shall they submit to the Wiccan gods and become one with them."

Remember, in Traditional Wicca all members of a coven are equals. However, within the circle the High Priestess' word is law. So power goes to the woman, not the man.

Ah, yes. Thank you. I apologize for not understanding. But! Hey. That's what this site is for.