¤ Wiccan Club ¤

[Nectar]

@Grengirl: I would suggest perhaps welcoming the specific ideas that you associate with the season (example: I associate Winter with Hope and Rebirth so I might welcome them into my ritual spaces) or welcome the "benevolent spirits". Smudging (cleansing with sage smoke) is good, and a sprinkling of salt water or water that has been blessed in some way can help keep the barriers strong.

@Fassinga: You have your ideas switched. Pagan is an umbrella term for people whom follow a wide variety of faiths, commonly linked to magic, nature worship, witchcraft, and ancient religions. Wicca is a specific religion based on some of the pre-christian religious practices in the UK. Wicca is considered a pagan religion, but being pagan doesn't mean you practice Wicca.

There are a great many pagan faiths and most are very personalized faiths unless you join one of the more structured and organized branches. Druidic, Helenistic, Gardnerian, and some others have a more structured and unified theology. While others like Reclaiming, and those who simply label themselves Ecstatic or Eclectic, have very little centralized structure or theology between practitioners or groups.

Hail and welcome to any newcomers to the thread.

thanks a lot

[Grengirl]

Yes thank you for your feedback.

[Realtamoon]

You both are very welcome.

I wonder what happened to the rest of us who used to post frequently here.

For both everyones mutual benefit I'll reintroduce myself:
I am an Eclectic Pagan. I practice witchcraft, and I currently have no patron Gods or Goddesses. I have been a member of the Reclaiming path of witchcraft for several years. I helped run and organize public rituals and even co-taught basic Reclaiming classes. I believe that everyone's spiritual path is a very personal thing. I'm willing to share and help if I can.

[ceratosaurus]

Is Pantheism part of Wicca?

[willowkit17]

@phychotic; quite often I've seen that it is, but there are many sub-branches within the pagan branch that is wicca that really makes wicca hard to define in and of itself.

Also hello guys, it's been a while. Happy late samhain. I finally moved out of my (mentally and emotionally) abusive father's house. I have an alter set up and my mother (and her fiance) accept my beliefs and actually want to be part of m celebratings of the spokes of the wheel. Also, reallllly big news, my boyfriend proposed to me! My future is looking much clearer at the moment and even the fog outside cannot block my sight of a bright tomorrow.

[ceratosaurus]

Username: ρѕу¢нσтι¢
Form of wicca? : Pantheism
Comments of any sort?: If this is not a form, please add me anyways. Wicca has always interested me and I find it fascinating.

[Songa]

So a few weeks ago I was talking to my mom about me setting up an alter in my room.I was telling her a few things that I wanted to get for my alter such as candles and stuff like that.When I was telling her this she got the real upset look on her face.When I asked her what was wrong she said "It feels like what you believe is imposing on my believe and I just don't agree with yours." I thought this was a little odd because I thought she was ok with being Wiccan but I guess she really isn't.I'm not sure really what to do now.I mean I am old enough to live on my own but my mom has had so many medical problems here lately I don't feel right leaving her.I guess I try the shoe box alter but the problem with that is one my cats claim any and every box that come in the house and two my Niece often goes in to my room when she is over her and I'm worried she'll be playing with it.Any ideas guys?

[Realtamoon]

Is Pantheism part of Wicca?

Welcome, and from my experience it isn't. Now I'm not an expert on Wicca, but from what I've learned Wicca is commonly a duality based worship. They honor the Lord and Lady. Now some only practice Goddess worship. But Pantheism is the belief or worship of all deities yes?

While some may believe that all god are one God, and all goddesses are one Goddess, this is not necessarily true of all practitioners.

@Songa, is there anyplace where your niece and cat can't get to? Perhaps a plastic box with a snap down lid would work? And It might be simpler to just have candles and an incense holder in your room, somewhere out of the way, and then keep your tools tucked into a drawer or other place to keep them out of your niece's reach?

I haven't had an alter in a long time, mostly because I've been moving around a lot. When I find time to practice, I simply put out a couple of tea lights and perhaps something that I want as a focus before starting and that's it. I understand this may not work for everyone, but it might be a solution to your problem.

[Grengirl]

ok, I'll weigh in on the panthesim issue. If I recall corectly its defined as multiple deities as in the god and goddess though it could be expanded to include a whole pantheon like the norse gods or the Greek/roman pantheon. So unless your branch is strictly structured around the goddess it could be described as being a pantheism even without a full pantheon.

This is however, just my interpretation, I am not a scolar or strictly even wiccan but I can be defined as a solo eclectic practitioner and have been expanding my knowledge and understanding of different aspects of wicca, paganism, spiritualism (in general) I have taken a class on world religion (and paraphycology). World mythology has been my favorite topic since early childhood. Even knowing this defence of my opinion is compleetly unwarranted, I still felt the need and for that alone I apologize.

[Realtamoon]

@Grengirl I wasn't intending on offending you or trying to sound rude. I was working on a different definition of pantheism. I personally fall under the "All deities are One" umbrella. For me the divine is too expansive for me to comprehend all at once, and so I feel like it has revealed itself in a multitude of way and names to help us understand.