Drawing Down The Moon And Reading Thealogy

Deborah Oak picks up the conversation that Thorn started last week concerning what's lacking in modern-day witchcraft. She writes: Like Thorn, who recently had some great entries on this subject on her blog, I find myself frustrated with the emphasis on “raw power” in the Craft as opposed to in-depth discussions on how our spiritual practice informs and shapes our lives and gives it meaning. As a psychotherapist, it’s sad to me that when recommending books to clients who are in pain and seeking spiritual comfort, I find myself recommending books by Pema Chodron , the Buddhist writer, as opposed to anything written by a pagan. Where is her pagan equivalent or something pagan akin to Scott Peck’s (a Christian) The Road Less Traveled?

Her questions got me to thinking about how Wicca may be changing from what was, for a time at least, an experiential religion to a religion that's written down and written about in books. What I mean is that there was a time when becoming a witch and practicing witchcraft was something that you did, usually via initiation into a coven. To the extent there was anything to read, it was a book of shadows (generally cribbed together recently but made to look as ancient as possible) that might include some spells or a recipe for incense or a ritual or eight.

But the experience of being a witch had far less to do with reading thealogy and much more to do with living the life of a witch. Nowadays, that's changing. A witch is as likely to come to her religion via the internet or the bookshelf at Borders as by initiation into a coven.

There are interesting differences, too, between most mainstream Western religions and Wicca. Unlike, say, Xians and Jews with their Bible or Moslems with their Q'uran, Wiccans don't have a holy book, which is often the starting point for both theology or for books such as Scott Peck's. We also don't have, in general, established churches where people experience religious ritual from the time that they're a child, get exposed to the relevant holy book, and only later, perhaps, become interested in the theology behind the ritual and the holy book.

At least for me, Wicca is much more about reaching states of ecstasy, doing trance, feeling connected to the Earth, understanding and using the power of our minds and our bodies, about learning all that we learn when we dance the spiral dance. Few of those experiences require or can be reduced to words in a book.

It seems to me that the experiential nature of Wicca may account for some of the "lack" that Thorn and Deborah Oak are discussing. Wicca is much more a religion that you do than a religion that you contemplate. Wicca is somewhat akin to the practices of ancient shamans in this way. A shaman might help you to go on a spirit quest, but couldn't really write a book that would do the same thing for you.

That doesn't mean that there isn't a need for the sorts of books, teachers, and discussions that Thorn and Deborah Oak describe. Obviously, a witch who's in pain and seeking spiritual comfort shouldn't have to turn to a xian book. I guess the question is whether she should turn to a book, at all, as opposed to, for example, a ritual, a trance, or a spell. However, I think that there's little doubt that Wicca IS changing, becoming more "normal," even, in some cases, becoming a religion that happens in churches. And as Wicca changes, it's likely that the deficiencies that Thorn and Deborah Oak identify will begin to be addressed.

Artwork found here.