Labelling Wiccans

[icymist]

Hello. I'm the academic that Khaled mentioned. sigh... I've
read the
thread on definitions and I can see the trouble you have gotten into:
prescriptive definition versus descriptive definition. Let me explain:
I am currently working in the Dept of Religious Studies of the Univer-
sity of Ottawa as a graduate student studying contemporary religious
movements in Canada, especially women centered or women defined. This,
by definition,includes Wicca/Witchcraft/Neo-Witchcraft/Neo-Pagan-
ism/Women's Spirituality/Women's Urban(Neo) Shamanism...etc... I'm not
the only one there involved in this research (we have an actual
"Centre for Research in Women and Religion"). We also have a number of
women (and one man) researching collateral aspects of the above
mentioned religious phenomena. We have had to come to some working
definitions so that we can talk to each other and to other religion-
ists.
<snip>

Ok. So here goes....Relative to any other faith system,Wic-
ca/Witchcraft (I won't seperate them yet) can be minimaly defined as
consisting of these five necessary components:
1) faith system is nature based
2) divinity is conceived as inherent
3) divinity is apprehended as gendered and as minimaly female
4) the locus of decision is the individual
5) the locus of action is the individual in the present


2333

What does this mean? Remember, this is to distinguish this
faith group relative to any other type of faith group. It does NOT
include variations, only COMMONALITIES.
1) nature based: as far as I can tell, all forms of Wicca/Witchcraft
(WW for short?) are based on humans being part of and in nature rather
than apart from. Also, seasonality and elements (air, earth, water,
fire) are central to the human apprehension and interaction with
nature.

Read the full essay