Aloha,
Caroline Tully wrote:
> The "gods" of Witchcraft, apparently, were a way for women to love
> their periods, and for men to explore being gentle... Although in
> spells the gods might or might not be mentioned/incorporated in the
> text, my impression was, for those readers, that they didn't
> particularly believe in or care about deities - although these same
> people *would* also identify as "Pagans". (But without deities... what
> is a Pagan???)
A lot of modern Pagans are probably agnostic, if not atheistic. they
prefer,
or simply accept, a psychologies roster of archetypes and paying close
attention to or re-valuing behaviors, functions, and notions.
I don't find that especially Pagan, and I think that it is in many respects
a lot more normative and acceptable to the dominant culture than a Paganism
that holds to a pantheon of actual deities. While it may violate some
widely held
conventions, it neither assaults the body of convention nor rejects it.
Finding
a Moon goddess in menstruation or a gentle Stag god in kindly acts doesn't
leave behind the monotheism of the dominant culture.
It is, however, very New Agey.
> In British initiatory Wicca, well I'm sure I read it in Gardner or one
> of his students, the "magical power" comes from the Witch's body... so
> again... what do [modern witches] need deities for? To worship, to love?
>
I think that there was a major shift in occulture some time during the
50s or 60s
from the notion that power for magical activities came from the body to
power
came from a variety of sources outside the body, most notably the Earth
itself.
I don't know much more about the body as source notion, where it came from,
how it persisted in occulture. But I learned the outside the body
notion, and
got the idea from my teacher that it was somewhat an innovation in the
early 60s.
> But then again lots of Witches *are* very interactive with their
> deities. Are these Witches of a more (serious) Pagan bent?
As I said above, my own thinking is that deity minded Witches/Pagans are
(or may be) apart from the dominant culture more than others. It's
difficult
to assess how *serious* practitioners may be vis a vis their outlook.
Plenty
of psychological archetype practitioners are quite serious about what
they do
and believe. But I tend to prefer hanging out with the deity minded ones.
Musing OMG! The Deities Are REAL! And Sitting At The Bar Next To Me!!! Rose,
Pitch
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