Apples and Orangutans: Traditional Witchcraft vs. Wicca

From Sable Aradia at Patheos.com. On comparing Wicca, or wicca, and witchcraft. Wiccan vs. witch. Witchery. Wiccery. All right, that last  is not a term.



But the diverseness and arguments continue with downright vehemence. Those of us doing our thing are accused by others, told we're doing it wrong, or don't get to, or …. you know.



I like what this author has to say about it all:

Apples and Orangutans: Traditional Witchcraft vs. Wicca: Traditional witchcraft is a folkloric magical practice (never magick with a K, that’s pretentious and would admit some kind of association with Aleister Crowley, who is icky like Gardner) based in European folk traditions and honouring European agricultural and seasonal cycles. It involves a certain degree of animism and respect for nature, but traditional witches can be of many different faiths. Often they regard themselves as shamans, animists, pantheists, panentheists, polytheists, and occasionally Christians or even Satanists, as the Horned God is equated frequently with the Devil in folklore. Those who descend from the work of the Clan of Tubal Cain often incorporate elements of The White Goddess into spiritual practice, as Robert Cochrane did. Some claim to be (and some are) witches as part of a family tradition. Its practices are similar to those of folk magic practitioners of other cultures, with a strong grounding in sympathetic magic.

And then there's this, which mirrors my own experience:

A valid argument of traditional witches that I do support is in saying that going to Sabbat circles eight times a year does not make you a witch; practicing magic does.  “Witch” is a calling and a job description.  Yes, I agree.  But practicing magic does not require you to have any faith in particular; or even to have a faith at all.
I was doing witchcraft before I even knew that it had a name.  I know some people claim they were taught in a hereditary tradition that goes back to the dawn of ancient history; I’m not claiming that, but I was changing the weather, seeing the future, and burning candles to influence Fate when I was ten.  I was doing kitchen witchery at twelve.  When I was fourteen, I was dealing with ghosts, spirits and the Otherworld in a manner that others would now recognize as hedgewitchery.  So I guess I’ve always been a “traditional witch.”

 I like her conclusion at the end of the article. You can be both, or one or the other. Solitary, or not.

Read more: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/betweentheshadows/2015/01/apples-and-orangutans-traditional-witchcraft-vs-wicca/#ixzz3P3ioHMTg