Occasionally I will see a post about "Wicca bashing": that non-Wiccans view Wicca with contempt and see it as a less-than-genuine practice not to be taken seriously. Usually cited are things such as the "Wiccan Rede," the "Three-Fold Law," and Gerald B. Gardner making the whole thing up.
This is not new.
I have been studying and practicing Wicca since the early '80s, getting interested when I was only 13 years old. Driven by a fascination with Irish mythology and Druids, I wanted to learn what I could about these mysterious Celtic priests. Sadly, about three quarters of what I read was not factual, and it took time to sift through the material and find what little was actually known about them - which is really very little, and everything we do know about them is from secondhand sources.
I was determined to find some way of reconnecting with a romantic idea I had of the Irish gods. I wanted an "authentic" way to connect in our modern world. Sadly, I just did not know enough about Druidism or Celtic priests to satisfy this curiosity.
Enter Wicca.
I soon found myself looking into esoteric topics such as Witchcraft, Ceremonial Magic, and neo-Paganism, knowing nothing about these topics. I remember picking up Arthur Edward Waite's book Black Magic and looking through the various seals and symbols and being completely lost - this was like looking at a foreign language; it made no sense to me.
Then another book caught my eye, Drawing Down the Moon by Margot Adler. It was an anthropological study of modern Witchcraft, Paganism, and Ceremonial Magic, with interviews of various figures in Paganism, Witchcraft, and Ceremonial Magic. I devoured it. I was fascinated to learn there were other people like myself looking into esoteric topics and wanting to revitalize pre-Christian European practices and beliefs. I read about Wicca and Gerald Gardner and Alex Sanders.
I started getting into the Bay Area punk scene in San Francisco, later meeting people interested in the Occult as much as I was and seeing on their shelf a black-spined book with a white pentagram on it: it was The Witches' Bible Compleat, written by Janet and Stewart Farrar. These friends and I would go on to form a coven - later this would become Coven Scathach.
One of the things I would do during the week was go book hunting in the various bookstores that lined Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley, California, and there it was, sitting on a shelf: The Witches' Bible Compleat, its black cover with a white pentagram, a chalice, and a sword. I bought it, took it home, and to say I devoured this book too would be an understatement - I read it over and over and over again, fascinated by Gerald Gardner and Doreen Valiente, figures I would learn more and more about as my journey continued.
Since I lived near the University of California, Berkeley campus, there were many cafés that locals and students hung out in - I often struck up conversations with people prompted by what book either they or I was reading.
Sure, I talked with people interested in esoteric topics who had low opinions of Wicca and Gerald Gardner, often citing the very same criticisms I see today: the "Wiccan Rede," the "Three-Fold Law," and that Gerald Gardner made it all up.
Later, in the late '90s, when the internet was in its infancy, I would go into Witchcraft chat rooms, and there too were critics of Wicca, citing the "Wiccan Rede," the "Three-Fold Law," and that Gardner made it all up.
Now, I would not consider myself an academic or an expert on Wicca or the occult, although I have read, studied, and practiced magic and Witchcraft for nearly 38 years now. I try to approach things from a skeptical and historical point of view.
I felt a real connection with Gerald Gardner, empathizing that he too was looking for a way to reconnect with the Old Gods. Frustrated with the lack of historical evidence of how our pre-Christian ancestors may have practiced magic and ritual, he had a real desire to seek out and look into what we did know, leading him to meet others sympathetic to his view. He was well aware of British folk customs, magical traditions of Europe from the 15th century, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and the various Druid orders of Wales and England.
He did not one day wake up and decide to write High Magic's Aid; it was a developing process. Whether you want to claim his form of Witchcraft evolved, or it was taught to him by the New Forest Coven, or a combination of the two - one thing is for sure: it works!
Not only does it work, but it synthesizes ritual and magic perfectly, pulling elements from Druidism, ceremonial magic, and folk practices.
The "Wiccan Rede," which has had its own evolution, bears both caution and morality.
The "Three-Fold Law" too bears a certain morality and the process of exchange, energetically and otherwise.
You can read my own interpretations of these concepts on my website here.
These concepts are as important and relevant as anything else in Wicca. They get the brunt of ignorant criticism mostly because of several factors:
- The person being critical takes them literally.
- The critic is ignorant of the history of Wicca and Gerald Gardner, and/or
- They are insecure in their own development and knowledge and hope to raise themselves up by putting Wicca down.
In all my years of practice, talking with people at various points in their own journey, one thing many have in common is that those who have been on the journey for a while tend to either be silent on, or speak favorably of, both Wicca and Gerald Gardner. Those relatively new and looking around for status tend to be critical of Wicca and Gerald Gardner.
They usually aren't really critical of Gerald Gardner's Wicca that grew out of 1939; instead, they are referring to the countless "watered-down" Wicca books that flooded the market in the late '80s into the '90s - the same saturation that "Traditional Witchcraft" is currently experiencing.
History repeats itself.
Writers offering new spins and perspectives on "Traditional Witchcraft," hoping to gain eyeballs and wallets! Traditional Witchcraft, Hedge Witchcraft, Folk Witchcraft, Kitchen Witchcraft, Irish Witchcraft, Nordic Witchcraft, and so on. I'm holding out for that Green-Folk-Hedge-Herbal-Kitchen Witchcraft myself. Fingers crossed.
So, when I hear someone criticize Wicca, make fun of the "Wiccan Rede," poo-poo the "Three-Fold Law," and claim Gardner is just a hack, I smile. As new people come into "the community," you get the same talking points repeated over and over again.
Sure, it's old and tired, but it is nothing new.
