You Can't Join Our Club!
The Fluffy Bunnies vs. The Trads


     I was introduced to the Craft through books. I started out following the text word for word, getting headaches when I couldn't track down the right tools, breaking into a sweat when I flubbed a word or lit the incense at the wrong moment. Gradually, with time and practice, I loosened up, realized that the authors of the aforementioned books knew as much (or as little) about Wicca as I did, and didn't have to be taken so seriously. From then on, I gradually moved away from the written word until my methods and reasons for worshipping were as unique as I am.  
 

     I rarely read non-fiction books on Wicca anymore. They're just too similar now (especially since one or two publishing houses have a monopoly over what is and isn't distributed as far as Wiccan literature is concerned). But that's a subject for another day. So, with that preface out of the way, on to the meat of this discussion.  
 

     I really, really, really don't like it when other Wiccans claim that only they know the true ways to worship. I like it even less when those people suggest that Wicca should become more of a secretive, exclusive group. The argument here seems to be that Wicca has become too diverse, people's reasons for seeking it out and converting to it too varied.  
 

     So what? A fact of life seems to have somehow bypassed these people, namely, that not everyone thinks and acts in the exact same ways. One man's fluffy bunny is another man's Wicca Trad. It all depends on that unique blend of past experience, personal assumptions, and general disposition, which is usually referred to as "personality" and which varies greatly from person to person.  
 

     So someone began practicing the Craft because they thought the movie of the same name looked good. So what? If genuine respect for and dedication to the faith follows, who is anyone else to judge? Every Wiccan had to encounter the Path in some fashion. (And if the only attraction to the Craft is that it's "cool," the "Wiccan" in question will grow out of it soon enough and move on to the next pop culture trend, no harm done.) Now, I can understand why any Wiccan would be annoyed at someone who turned to what is at its best, a deeply profound set of beliefs, because it's the "it" thing to do. No one likes to think that their faith is being cheapened. But what we have all got to remember is that the fluffy bunnies are far outnumbered by those who have only the deepest respect for the Craft, Trad or not. Most people who call themselves "Wiccan" fall into the middle area between the two extremes. So why condemn the majority for a small minority who will most likely grow out of it soon enough.  
 

     Wanna know a little secret? For one reason or another, I'm often too tired to observe the traditional Wiccan holy days. But that's all right, because I worship every night. Yup, you heard me. An impressive claim, is it not? I doubt even very many Traditional Wiccans can keep up that kind of pace. But it's the truth - every night at approximately 11:00 I slip into my robe, pray to whatever deity is seasonally or personally relevant, and hop into bed where I spend the next half hour or so reading from the Mabinogi, the Tain Bo Cuiligne, or another book of Celtic God-stories. Sometimes I do this by candlelight, sometimes by electric light.  
 

     Want to tell me that it's not real worship? Want to tell me that Traditional (read: true) Wiccans don't act that way? Want to tell me that I don't understand what it is to be Wiccan? Fine. But just try to make me believe it. For me, that thirty minutes of time every night is more spiritually profound than any experience I could have while parading around my living room in ceremonial robes, intoning arcane invocations by moon and candlelight while my neighbors peep on me through their windows, then tell my employers I'm a satanist. The moral here: No one save myself knows best what I find spiritually fulfilling. 
 

     So, to the people who say that Wicca should be a more strictly regulated religion, my question is as follows: "Why aren't you a Buddhist?"

     Seems like a non sequitor, doesn't it? But it makes sense. You see, what the exclusionary Wiccans tend to forget is that they became Wiccans in the first place because other religious faiths weren't satisfying to them. Obviously, past experiences with other methods of worship didn't seem right, hence the desire to search for a faith that did. So if that's the case, it follows that not everyone else will view the exclusionary Wiccan Traditionalist path as the best option for themselves, either. It's nothing short of hypocritical for the exclusionaries to condemn these people for acting on the same impulses that they, as Wiccan Trads, acted on themselves.  
 

     No religion - not Christianity, not Buddhism, not Hinduism or anything else - has one set-in-stone, "correct" method of worship. Neither does the Craft. But that's okay, because the world is a big place, and there's room for everyone to worship in the ways best suited to them. Opinions are a fact of life, what's more, they're what keeps it interesting. So keep your opinions. Just don't insist that they're the only correct way of going about something. To each his own.

As always, let me know what you think.  
 


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