Spyrit Dancers' Musings On All Things Wiccan

Are you in or out of the broom closet as far as your friends knowing you are a Wiccan?

I thought of this this morning, because my brother will be arriving this evening to visit me for a week. I still remember back in the early 1990s, when I “came out of the broom closet” to him.

He has been an organist for a church, and a regular church goer, for many, many years. To say he didn’t take it very well at first is putting it mildly. Back then, we had some very long letters going back and forth to each other as I explained my point of view, and he tried to grasp it. We didn’t even have email at the time, and I was living in Hawaii, he in Michigan, so it took days for each letter to make it back and forth.

Now though, he has a more accepting world view of religion. Although he is Christan, he feels more like I do…we are all just on different paths to the same universal truth. And he is looking forward to browsing my ritual oils and products when he gets here. (he did mention trying some of my fast money oil while we go gamble. )

How about you, are you “out of the broom closet?” I admit I am to some, to others I’m not. For instance, I have neighbors who are Mormon. They don’t know that on full moons I’m performing rituals. But they do know I’m a vegetarian who is pretty easy going, likes to garden, and a good neighbor.

Some people I tell I walk a Native American path, or I that I sell “metaphysical” products online. Others know I’m a Wiccan. I avoid the word witch for almost everyone, it still has so many negative connotations for many people.

I’ve gone back and forth on having a booth locally at craft fairs, under the name “The Pampered Goddess” and selling my ritual items locally. It would invite criticism, but we also have a new age store that has a booth usually at the events that is received warmly, so it is always hard to say.

My town is odd. Lots of Mormons who tend to be pretty straight laced, yet we have brothels that are legal on the edge of town. Go figure, you’d think the people that settled here, on the whole, would be more open minded.

If you do decide to “come out of the closet” know some facts to help back up your beliefs. Its always better to not just pop off to a friend or family member “I’m a witch” and when their jaw goes back up, and they ask a million questions about it, you don’t know how to answer it. Below is an excerpt from what the Council of American Witches came up with, and is a good fact sheet to print out to tell someone else what your beliefs are.

In 1974, the Council of American Witches in their Spring Witchmeet held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, adopted the “Principals of Wiccan Belief” in an effort to inform and educate the general public, and fledgling Witches. Although the Council disbanded in that same year, other groups and organizations have formed that have adopted these beliefs. Many Witches, including myself, try to practice these Principals in all our affairs – in our Spell Craft, and in our daily living.

The Council of American Witches finds it necessary to define modern Witchcraft in terms of the American experience and needs.We are not bound by traditions from other times and other cultures, and owe no allegiance to any person or power greater than the Divinity manifest through our own being. As American Witches, we welcome and respect all life-affirming teachings and traditions, and seek to learn from all and to share our learning within our Council. It is in the spirit of welcome and cooperation that we adopt these few principles of Wiccan belief. In seeking to be inclusive, we do not wish to open ourselves to the destruction of our group by those on self-serving power trips, or to philosophies and practices contradictory to these principles. In seeking to exclude those whose ways are contradictory to ours, we do not want to deny participation with us to any who are sincerely interested in our knowledge and beliefs, regardless of race, color, sex, age, national or cultural origins, or sexual preference. We therefore ask only that those who seek to identify with us accept these few basic principles:

1. We practice rites to attune ourselves with the natural rhythm of life forces marked by the phases of the Moon and the seasonal quarters and cross-quarters.We recognize that our intelligence gives us a unique responsibility toward our environment.
2. We seek to live in harmony with Nature, in ecological balance offering fulfillment to life and consciousness within an evolutionary concept.
3. We acknowledge a depth of power far greater than is apparent to the average person. Because it is far greater than ordinary, it is sometimes called “supernatural,” but we see it as lying within that which is naturally potential to all.
4. We conceive of the Creative Power of the Universe as manifesting through polarity–as masculine and feminine–and that this same creative Power lives in all people, and functions through the interaction of the masculine and feminine. We value neither above the other knowing each to be supportive of the other. We value sexuality as pleasure, as the symbol and embodiment of Life, and as one of the sources of energies used in magickal practice and religious worship.
5. We recognize both outer worlds and inner, or psychological worlds– sometimes known as the Spiritual World, the Collective Unconscious, the Inner Planes, etc.–and we see in the interaction of these two dimensions the basis for paranormal phenomena and magickal exercises. We neglect neither dimension for the other, seeing both as necessary for our fulfillment.
6. We do not recognize any authoritarian hierarchy, but do honor those who teach, respect those who share their greater knowledge and wisdom, and acknowledge those who have courageously given of themselves in leadership.
7. We see religion, magick, and wisdom-in-living as being united in the way one views the world and lives within it–a world view and philosophy of life, which we identify as Witchcraft or the Wiccan Way.
8. Calling oneself “Witch” does not make a Witch–but neither does heredity itself, or the
   collecting of titles, degrees, and initiations. A Witch seeks to control the forces within him/herself that make life possible in order to live wisely and well, without harm to others, and in harmony with Nature.
9. We acknowledge that it is the affirmation and fulfillment of life, in a continuation of evolution and development of consciousness, that gives meaning to the Universe we know, and to our personal role within it.
10. Our only animosity toward Christianity, or toward any other religion or philosophy-of-life is to the extent that its institutions have claimed to be “the one true right and only way” and have sought to deny freedom to others and to suppress other ways of religious practices and belief.
11. As American Witches, we are not threatened by debates on the history of the Craft, the origins of various terms, the legitimacy of various aspects of different traditions. We are concerned with our present, and our future.
12. We do not accept the concept of “absolute evil,” nor do we worship any entity known as
    “Satan” or “the Devil” as defined by Christian Tradition. We do not seek power through the suffering of others, nor do we accept the concept that personal benefits can only be derived by denial to another.
13. We work within Nature for that which is contributory to our health and well-being.