Witchcraft or Wicca ?

[norseman]

"I am a candle burning eclectic."

I can match you on that one, Earthprowler. I have been called a Gaian Monk !

Originally Posted by Mothwing

Resurrecting the thread.

Personally, I call myself a "Witch," and I think the terminology of "Wicca" has been culturally distorted. Is there a difference now? Perhaps. But once upon a time (linguistically at least) I believe they were the same thing.

I wanted to share a great article on the subject: Mike Nichols's "A Witch by Any Other Name."

Just sharing information, make of it what you will.

I don't believe there is apparently to Dr.Hans Holzer parapsychologist that wrote witchcraft a 800 page book on the history.He says wicca is argued to be the oldest religion in the world.In witchcraft it discusses paganism as well as satanism.He groups it all as witchcraft but is non-judgemental in his writing.

Originally Posted by Mothwing

Resurrecting the thread.

Personally, I call myself a "Witch," and I think the terminology of "Wicca" has been culturally distorted. Is there a difference now? Perhaps. But once upon a time (linguistically at least) I believe they were the same thing.

I wanted to share a great article on the subject: Mike Nichols's "A Witch by Any Other Name."

Just sharing information, make of it what you will.

I hate to be nit-picky but that link is very iffy. They are correct in some aspects of the etymology, but then they make very bizarre connections and conclusions. There is no debate that Wicca is a modern religion. There really just isn't. Unless the author considers Margaret Murray's Witch-cult hypothesis to be a firm source of information. Interchanging the words wicce, Wiccan or Wicca with witch, in a more boarder context does a great disservice to Wiccans and witches in general. And creates a great deal of confusion. Regardless of whether witch comes from the word wicce, they mean two different things now. Wicca = a form of religious witchcraft with it's own set of beliefs and practices that make it Wiccan, and not Jewish, Asatru, or Buddhist instead.

Again, my problem is with the link you posted, not with you ^^

[norseman]

I have a "thing" about the word "witch". It is a christian word used to stigmatise and justify various cruelties.
Correctly, it should be The Wise or Cunning Folk, and witch craft [ two separate words, not one !] becomes The Craft of the Wise.

I don't consider myself Wiccan but I do follow a kind of pagan Witchcraft. My main influence is the Feri tradition, which is different from Wicca in that it is not a fertility tradition, and the gods are not defined in terms of "maleness" and "femaleness", as the gods are all believed to be both male and female. The Goddess is imagined as feminine in function because she is the creatrix and birth-giver, while the God is conceived of in masculine form because he is was is born and dies, however neither deity is limited by physical gender.

Feri does follow the eight sabbats and lunar esbats, although there is no single interpretation of what these represent. A lot of Feri does overlap with Wicca, but there are significant differences. As Feri lineage comes from Victor and Cora Anderson rather than Gerald Gardner, they are considered distinct traditions, not to mention that Feri is an ecstatic path rather than a fertility tradition like Wicca.

thank you so much stormdancer... it was a great read for me