A paper on neopaganism

[Eibhlin]

Hi, everyone! I'm doing a school paper on either neopaganism or Wicca specificially. It would be awesome to have some sources that aren't bologna, like "wiccans are witches" :biglaugh: we all know how many crazy anti-neopaganists there are out there! (mostly because they don't know anything about it, would be my guess...)

Hope you can help, and I'll get to know you guys better! -Eibhlin

 

[angellous_evangellous]

Is this for high school?

 

[Circle_One]

Do you have any specific questions in mind, Eibhlin, or any particular aspect you'd like to know about.

I find it easier to answer specific questions than to sum something up in a few paragraphs

 

[Mike182]

Gerald Gardner was the founder of Wicca, so if wicca is what you want to look into, that would be a good start

also, an article written by Jez! Jez is a guy at Lancaster University Pagan Society, i respect his opinions and he has tought me a fair bit in the 14 weeks i have known him so far.

you might find that Jez's article is a bit hard to follow, he likes his tangents and he normally expects a basic understanding from his reader, so if you want anything from his article clarifying then please let me know!

 

[Eibhlin]

Is this for high school?

Yes. Language arts, so she doesn't care what the topic is, but she hated it when one of her students had gotten th O.K. from her mom, who, just before the paper was due and the student was done, said she had to do her paper on something else!:areyoucra

and my teacher was looking forward to that paper, too!

 

[Eibhlin]

Do you have any specific questions in mind, Eibhlin, or any particular aspect you'd like to know about.

I find it easier to answer specific questions than to sum something up in a few paragraphs

I should get a basic understanding first, but I'm sure I'll need some questions answered sooner or later!

 

[angellous_evangellous]

Yes. Language arts, so she doesn't care what the topic is, but she hated it when one of her students had gotten th O.K. from her mom, who, just before the paper was due and the student was done, said she had to do her paper on something else!:areyoucra

and my teacher was looking forward to that paper, too!

Is this a research paper then? You need about five sources or so?

 

[Feathers in Hair]

Hihihi! It's so great to see you again!

Because Pagan (some people capitalize the term 'pagan', others don't) beliefs are so varied, there's probably not much that you'd find that all the participants agree on. Like Christianity, there are a lot of 'sub-sects' or divisions. And even within those divisions, people don't always agree on everything!

Would it help if we gave brief summaries of our own traditions? Or are you looking for something more general? (As you can see, most of us love to try to help on things like this!)

 

[Eibhlin]

Because Pagan (some people capitalize the term 'pagan', others don't) beliefs are so varied, there's probably not much that you'd find that all the participants agree on. Like Christianity, there are a lot of 'sub-sects' or divisions. And even within those divisions, people don't always agree on everything!

I guess it would likely be better to do a paper on Wicca specificially, then? After all, my teacher said to make the topic narrow enough to explain within the paper.

Would it help if we gave brief summaries of our own traditions? Or are you looking for something more general? (As you can see, most of us love to try to help on things like this!)

That would be awesome!

 

[Circle_One]

I guess it would likely be better to do a paper on Wicca specificially, then? After all, my teacher said to make the topic narrow enough to explain within the paper.

The thing is, as has been explained by Feathers, "Pagan" is an extremely broad, umbrella term, encompassing more than 100 seperate religions. And each of these seperate religions have many of their own, seperate traditions. Like Wicca has Gardnerian, Alexandrian, Dianic, Discordianism, etc etc.

So it might even be easier (and narrower) for you to perhaps focus on one tradition, instead of Wicca as a whole.. maybe?

Regardless, there are many here that would be happy to help you, and each giving a description of their own tradition would probably be best, that was you can get a feel for the religion as a whole, and perhaps even choose one tradition to focus your paper on, if that's what you want to do.

 

[Eibhlin]

The thing is, as has been explained by Feathers, "Pagan" is an extremely broad, umbrella term, encompassing more than 100 seperate religions. And each of these seperate religions have many of their own, seperate traditions. Like Wicca has Gardnerian, Alexandrian, Dianic, Discordianism, etc etc.

So it might even be easier (and narrower) for you to perhaps focus on one tradition, instead of Wicca as a whole.. maybe?

Regardless, there are many here that would be happy to help you, and each giving a description of their own tradition would probably be best, that was you can get a feel for the religion as a whole, and perhaps even choose one tradition to focus your paper on, if that's what you want to do.

Wow, that's awesome! See? I'm already learning stuff I didn;t know! :biglaugh:

 

[Circle_One]

Hehehe!

Well, glad we could help

As for myself, I'm not Wiccan at all, I'm Kemetic, but I've studied Wicca and my mother is an Alexandrian Wiccan High Priestess, so I may be able to help a little, should the need arise

 

[Feathers in Hair]

I'm also not Wiccan, so you might want to rule me out of the paper, if you choose to focus on that. But I'll tell you some about my tradition, in hopes that it might be helpful!
(And also because I love to talk, hehee!)

I follow a blend of Dianic Paganism with Pictish witchcraft/shamanism. Dianic tradition is one that tends to focus on the sacred feminine. (The idea that we are all goddesses, as well as celebrating primarily female goddesses.) Some adherants of Dianic tradition are women who feel empowered by it and wish to follow a female-only spiritual path. For my own purposes, I recognize males as being of the same intrinsic worth and spiritual make-up as females. (That means I also celebrate a few gods whose personality or history I find appealling, and that, if I were ever in an organized group of witches, I would probably refuse to be a part of it unless men were also welcome.) A lot of my personal practise also has to do with 'Pictish' shamanism- that is, spiritual practises and approaches to life that the ancient Scottish tribes used. (Or might have used- there's naturally some guess-work when one is dealing with things that are attempting to replicate something historic that is not carefully documented.) I did some research into First Nations tradition, but I realized that, by not being able to be guided under a traditional teacher, I might be exploiting their beliefs. That's why I turned to a form of practise that was more likely to have been an ancestor of mine.

Did you want to know about gods, or anything like that? (Also, here's a good site that lists an overview of some of the traditions. I also recommend WitchVox.com for discussion and reading material!)

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Or another route you could take is the general since of Paganism, which would be Earth-based religions (Wicca, Druid, etc.)

 

[BFD_Zayl]

or i could give you a few tidbits on something quite a bit different....might scare your teacher though

 

[Eibhlin]

or i could give you a few tidbits on something quite a bit different....might scare your teacher though

hehehe! well, scaring her might be a bad idea though... she almost got sick reading one paper, and was rendered incapable of grading it...

 

[Eibhlin]

Basicially, I'll need 6-7 sources, only one of which can be an internet website.

I read over the Wikipedia entry, so I've got some basic foundation to work with, at least, but print sources are virtually invalueable, even if they have online versions.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Basicially, I'll need 6-7 sources, only one of which can be an internet website.

Ask away. I've been following my path for about 4 or 5 years now, and I am working on my own book about my particular path of Paganism.

 

[Eibhlin]

I went to the library, and I have some promising-looking sources, I was just hoping you guys would double-check these, if you happen to know them.

Book of shadows by Gonzalez Wippler
Wicca for Beginners by Thea Sabin
Magic and Witchcraft by Nevill Drury
A History of Pagan Europe by Prudence Jones & Nigel Pennick (for historical influences)

Also, I believe my paper's topic as it stands is something like "common misconceptions of Wicca", so I'd have to find some Christian and Satanistic sources to show that what Christians actually think is "witchcraft" is closer to Satanism.

 

[Mike182]

I went to the library, and I have some promising-looking sources, I was just hoping you guys would double-check these, if you happen to know them.

Book of shadows by Gonzalez Wippler
Wicca for Beginners by Thea Sabin
Magic and Witchcraft by Nevill Drury
A History of Pagan Europe by Prudence Jones & Nigel Pennick (for historical influences)

i've not read anything by those authors, but they sound like promising titles!

Also, I believe my paper's topic as it stands is something like "common misconceptions of Wicca", so I'd have to find some Christian and Satanistic sources to show that what Christians actually think is "witchcraft" is closer to Satanism.

just read Leviticus