Wicca or Neo-Wicca
I think that it’s quite sad that so many people who are using the label of “Wiccan” are so far removed from the practices that are traditionally called Wicca. It annoys me that people who have lit a candle and chanted “cum-bay-yah” are wanting to claim to be Wiccan these days.
First of all the term Wicca & Wiccan were used by Gerald B. Gardner to describe the religion & practitioners of BTW specifically Gardnerian tradition. These people have earned the term “Wiccan” by having undergone a thorough and detailed initiation. Whereas some people read a book and want to lay claim to the title “Wiccan”. I am as thorough minded about accepting the title “Wiccan” as I would be of the title of “Doctor”. A real doctor studies for years and passes some quality checks before he can profess the title, a great deal more than reading a book on the subject for sure.
If a person wants to lay claim to Wicca and has not underwent initiation from British Traditional Witchcraft group then they should call themselves Neo-Wiccan and their practices Neo-Wicca.
Used to be when you said you were Wiccan people either didn’t know what it meant at all or they knew what your beliefs were and what you do. These days when you say your Wiccan the mass of people think oh yah what book did you read? And are totally ignorant of what you practice.
I don’t like the point that what I practice and the efforts that I underwent (and continue to undergo) along with my religious theology and practices being lumped in with people who are to my point of view “clueless”.
Wiccan is not a cover-all umbrella term of diverse and eclectic religious practioners. It is a term for followers of BTW.
