I know that smudging has become popular among American neo-Wiccans as a crossover from Native American rites. But I was wondering if the practice of smudging with herbs was also present in British Traditional rites. If so, is it a new addition or has it always been done?

well so i recently converted from catholic to wiccan and i was looking for a community of people who can help me to learn more. so if anyone has any wisdom they would like to share, i would love to hear it

I would like to formally give my sincerest apologies to everyone in this Community over some misunderstandings that were made in an earlier debate thread that I opened that I thought would be fun for the whole community, and since this community said that all were welcome.

I think that part of the issue stemmed from the fact that some people made the mistake that I was trying to follow the Wicca Religion.  I am not.  I work with the Occult and magic, but not for religious reasons.

Others may have thought I was just some outsider wanting to encourage people to break their oaths, again, I am not.

Some individuals are convinced that I am naive and ill informed.  That is a matter of opinion and a matter of the particular topics.  I do not profess any extensive knowledge of the Religious side of Wicca as a whole beyond some of the basics.

It was brought to my attention, from someone who had earned my respect, that some of my reactions have been seen as less than mature to what I felt were personal attacks on my character from various members of this community.  It was further pointed out that this was not the intent and was most certainly not the case by someone who made the effort to actually talk 'with' me and did not try... at least not too much... to talk 'down' to me.

For my own part, I will attempt to refrain from offering much in the way of any input and maybe just hang back and read what others in this community say.   Since my questions may seem offensive and invasive, I will also refrain from that as well in this community.

I have corrected some of my misconceptions in the original posting and have changed the verbiage of it as well, hopefully to remove any further confusion that may arise on the matter at hand.

Again, I deeply regret any and all misunderstandings and anything that I may have said that may have been seen as immature outbursts from my part in a previous thread.  Thank you for those that bother to hear me out on this.  I assure you that my only intent was to open up a debate that I thought would be interesting and fun for the group, and I genuinely regret that it was not.

I'm going to be making some rune sets in future, and the antlers I've collected are a mix of shed and hunted. None of the hunted ones are recent as of yet since they're old castoffs destined for the trash, and I can guarantee on all of them that the animal was eaten(I'll be stating this when I sell them/gift them).

Is there anything wrong with repurposing old trophies for runestones?

Thanks very much!

 

Hello! My name is Amy im 19 years old. I recently joined this group becuase i have been very curious about wiccan for a very long time,and finally decided to start understanding and becoming part of it. Ialso wanted to ask you guys if anyone can help me understand wiccan more as well as were to start, I would appreciate it! I have been reading books about it, but u still feel like i could use some guidance. Sorry if i am asking alot *laughs* Thanks again for whoever takes there time to read and respond!~

 

Current Location: Florida
I'm feeling : excited
Current Music: Serenia-Path to Decay

{Edit date 06-25-09:  I have replaced instances of the words 'tradition and traditional with the words convention and conventional and corrected some errors that was brought to my attention... these changes have been largely made due to the confusion that was caused by Tradition as a specific religious group that passes down its teachings to their initiates and the more general usage of the word tradition as just something that has generally been accepted and handed down generation after generation}

Typically, when Calling the Quarters when casting you circle, the following association is most commonly accepted:

East / Air
South / Fire
West / Water
North / Earth

But also, the power of magic is partly rooted in ritual convention and partly rooted in synergy (or sympathy) with one's environment.

So... I'd like to open a debate of Convention v. Synergy, and I'll start this off with my own observations while trying to remain as neutral as I can:

Observation:
the above association has its roots in Western England (if I'm not mistaken), and from this perspective, the elements have the best synergy to the environment.

{Edit: some individuals have pointed out that this may have ties several thousand years back and extending to Ancient Greece, but I will digress as I have stated that it was what I thought but was unsure of}

The Wind blows in from the East, the equator (and warmer weather) to to the south, the Atlantic Ocean is to the West and the Highlands of Scotland are to the North.

{Edit: Also pointed out to me was that from Ancient Greece, the same Synergies/Sympathies exist with the larger part of the mainland and mountains to the North, the Atlantic Ocean far to the West, the Hot Sahara Desert to the South, and the Wind blowing in from the East}

However, one may also argue that the more ritual and will is put behind an association, the stronger that association has a long term relationship and imprint and connection is forged through that association.


So... here is the conundrum:

If you are in a location where the environmental synergy is different that what has been conventionally accepted, such as:

If you are South of the Equator, it will be Warmer to the North instead of the South. - or -
If you are on the East Coast, a large body of water would be to your East instead of your West. - or -
What if the wind blew in from the North and the Mountains were in the West instead?

In your opinion, is it better to stay with the established convention or would it be better to recognize and adjust the cardinal directions of the elements in your ritual due to your immediate surroundings?  And please elaborate in some detail why you think so, I'm more interested in the why and discussion than just a quick answer to one way or the other.

Warning:  I'm an Aquarius, so I may be playing Devil's Advocate with you to try and get more out of you... even if I agree with your point of view.

{** Further edited note:  I would like to express my sincerest and humblest apologies to anyone that I may have offended throughout the course of this thread, I will endeavor to be more responsible and I acknowledge that some of my reactions have been less than mature ** This is further meant for a general discussion on occult matters as pertains to ceremony and not necessarily restricted to the Wicca Religion specifically}

I'm feeling : curious

This kind of persecution cannot be allowed to rise up again.

Thanks for all the comments on my previous entry, guys! You are awesome. There seem to be a couple issues I'd like to address.

1. It sounds like the overwhelming majority want a "no ads" rule of some kind, but with something to make it clear that we can recommend providers of goods or services if someone posts to specifically request info on them. The one thing that seems to be up in the air is: do we want to allow posts that advertise various Pagan/magical/etc. events like festivals or Pride Days, etc.? I've created a poll for this. Please vote!

Poll #1416145 Allow event postings?
Open to: Friends, detailed results viewable to: Friends

Should we allow event postings in this community?

2. The wording I'd suggested for the "we welcome" bit was: "We welcome Wiccans of all BTW traditions, as well as Seekers, Hereditary witches, neo-Wiccans, and people of any religious path or of none, who would like to discuss Wicca in accordance with the rules of this forum." Someone pointed out that this did not include trad witches of TIW-type paths. Good point. Someone else disagreed with the use of the term "neo-Wiccan;" however, that seems to have become a community standard term that we're all accustomed to using here, and I think that especially since we take the trouble of defining it specifically in the community info, we should probably use it here. I didn't hear anyone else speak up about that particular issue except to support the use of that term in that place, so I think I'll leave it in my suggested language.

New proposed wording: "We welcome Wiccans of all BTW traditions, as well as Seekers, neo-Wiccans, fam-trad and other initiatory trad witches, and people of any religious path or of none, who would like to discuss Wicca in accordance with the rules of this forum."

Yes? No? Maybe?

Are there other glaring things in the community info and/or rules that you feel need changing, keeping in mind that it is pretty much 100% certain we won't be changing the basic nature of the community or the general type of definitions it uses any time soon? Might as well see what else needs to be done in people's opinions.

Now that I'm done with school, I'm finally reading Philip Heselton's books (and enjoying them muchly). But one thing made me go "hmm."

He talks about (and quotes others talking about) a traditional full coven being 13 people -- six couples, and the High Priestess.

The "hmm" part: what about the High Priest?

I'm feeling : curious

OK, I thought I had posted this entry a while ago, but I was wondering why no one at all had commented. I have two questions for the community as a whole. I encourage all members to weigh in on these issues.

1. Should we have a distinct "no ads" rule? Something along the lines of, "posts linking to or acting as a flyer for any paid service will not be permitted?" I've been allowing posts unless they clearly have nothing to do with Wicca, magic, witchcraft, the occult, etc. But we can make that rule if we want to. I personally think it's a good idea. I just haven't wanted to delete commercial posts simply because they're commercial, because there is no rule in the community info stating that they aren't allowed.

2. Check out the following sentence from the community info:

"We welcome Traditional and Contemporary Wicca, as well as Seekers, Hereditary Wiccans and Neo-wicca, all traditions welcomed as well as all faiths."

Should we change this? How? I'm thinking of something like, "We welcome Wiccans of all BTW traditions, as well as Seekers, Hereditary witches, neo-Wiccans, and people of any religious path or of none, who would like to discuss Wicca in accordance with the rules of this forum." Would that work for people, or should we leave it alone or change it in some other way? Keep in mind we're talking about who's welcome as a member here, not just who's a Wiccan according to the community definition.