Harry Potter Will Make Your Child A Witch!
Jason has an interesting post that I only half-read about the Harry Potter novels leading people (especially children and teens) to the religion of Wicca, and paganism in general:
http://www.wildhunt.org/blog.html
Remember that not all pagans are Wiccan, and not all Wiccans are pagans.
I, for example, practiced Wicca for years and was never much of a good pagan. I don't feel like explaining that right now but maybe I'll get to it later.
Anyway, I think there's a lot worse things that could happen to a kid than he or she gets into Wicca. There are tons of good resources out there for little Witches -- whereas when I was a small Endora there was literally nada.
Wicca is a great religion for girls, in particular. It introduces them to a concept of the Goddess, gives them a sense that they can shape their own reality, cautions them against manipulating others or Fate to selfish or harmful ends ("An thou harm none, do what thou will"), and gives them a sense that creation is holy. Plus, the clothes are really cool.
I left Wicca because too many of its adherents couldn't admit that they were incredibly power-hungry and hierarchical (while claiming not to be), that they were grossly mistaken about the history of Christendom (particularly the witch hunting hysteria of the late medieval era, a subject on which I snootily claim to be a serious amateur scholar, having lectured on it to undergrads at Harvard), that they were simplistically anti-Christian -- and quite ignorant of much that they were snottily criticizing.
Same stuff that Christians do. Can ya stand it?
P.S. Feeling relatively like a million bucks day 4 sans caffeine. Wow.
http://www.wildhunt.org/blog.html
Remember that not all pagans are Wiccan, and not all Wiccans are pagans.
I, for example, practiced Wicca for years and was never much of a good pagan. I don't feel like explaining that right now but maybe I'll get to it later.
Anyway, I think there's a lot worse things that could happen to a kid than he or she gets into Wicca. There are tons of good resources out there for little Witches -- whereas when I was a small Endora there was literally nada.
Wicca is a great religion for girls, in particular. It introduces them to a concept of the Goddess, gives them a sense that they can shape their own reality, cautions them against manipulating others or Fate to selfish or harmful ends ("An thou harm none, do what thou will"), and gives them a sense that creation is holy. Plus, the clothes are really cool.
I left Wicca because too many of its adherents couldn't admit that they were incredibly power-hungry and hierarchical (while claiming not to be), that they were grossly mistaken about the history of Christendom (particularly the witch hunting hysteria of the late medieval era, a subject on which I snootily claim to be a serious amateur scholar, having lectured on it to undergrads at Harvard), that they were simplistically anti-Christian -- and quite ignorant of much that they were snottily criticizing.
Same stuff that Christians do. Can ya stand it?
P.S. Feeling relatively like a million bucks day 4 sans caffeine. Wow.
posted by PeaceBang at 11:05 AM
1 Comments:
Thanks for the plug!
I share many of your criticisms of modern Paganism. I would like to think that there are more of us who have a better grip on our history and issues with power struggles than we used to.
Christian-bashing is despite some hold-outs becoming passe among a growing number of intelligent modern Pagans. Many of us instead want a space at the table instead of remaining sub-cultural outcasts.
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