And now for reason "I-Lost-Count" that I left Wicca and won't be going back into it...

[defixione]

I was just reading an ebook that I got from someone on OccultCorpus, and the following quote really hit home.

Comments

[ravensong]

To describe me as Wiccan is right and wrong. I agree with the sentiments you've stated here and in fact "don't do magic unless there's a really pressing need" is one of the very first things I learned. I believe I read it in a Ravingwolf book =-P The fact that I listened to it has really hindered my magickal practice. I haven't had much spell casting practice or anything of the like because of that stupid rule.

Really, almost no part of Wicca does apply to me anymore. "Witch" or "Pagan" is a more accurate title if you're going to label me. I have stepped up my magickal practice lately, I am working with tarot cards, I follow three deities (each from different pantheons!), etc. My main background in paganism comes from Wicca but I've slowly been on my way out of it for years now.

~Willow aka Kiva

[ardent_firesong]

"And of course, in Wicca (where groups of Wiccans should be called Arguments instead of Covens), some people speculate that you harm living things no matter where you are and no matter what you're doing

[defixione]

That's actually a pretty ancient concept that, in the example I can think of, goes back to the Jains in India. They practice ahimsa, or no harm, as part of their daily life. They don't kill animals for food. They don't eat fruit unless it has already fallen from the tree. Some of the more extreme Jains actually sweep the ground before they walk and wear veils over their noses and mouths to avoid harming insects. So for what that info is worth, there it is.

I remember hearing about them, at least in passing. It might have actually been from something related to Wicca, but I'm otherwise not sure where I heard about them.

Some of the Wiccans whom I've read literature from who argued that you harm things all the time were probably pulling from Jainist philosophy.

Maybe it's just because I was raised in an eclectic Wiccan group, but it's always seemed to me that Wicca is what you make of it. That's one of the things that makes it to attractive to me. You don't like doing ritual that way? Don't do it. You don't like that rule? Don't

[ardent_firesong]

What sorts of things were people telling you you had to have/do in order to be considered "Wiccan"?

Also, what I meant by "jack shit" was that the "harm none" aspect of Wicca is, to me, mostly common sense. I didn't need religion to come along and tell me that hurting people was bad. All I needed was a mom who cared enough about me to teach me how to put myself in others' shoes. So bad phrasing on my part - sorry : )

[defixione]

Hehe no prob. I totally got your point, though. ;)