Path: shell.portal.com!svc.portal.com!sdd.hp.com!swrinde!newsfeed.internetmci.com!netnews.nwnet.net!news.u.washington.edu!phylo.genetics.washington.edu!mkkuhner From: mkkuhner@phylo.genetics.washington.edu (Mary K. Kuhner) Newsgroups: alt.pagan,alt.religion.wicca Subject: Re: Wicca = "Simple Sweetness and Light?" Date: 20 Nov 1995 23:39:01 GMT Organization: University of Washington, Seattle Lines: 75 Message-ID: <48r3il$l43@nntp4.u.washington.edu> References: NNTP-Posting-Host: phylo.genetics.washington.edu Xref: shell.portal.com alt.pagan:133167 alt.religion.wicca:16262 In article acelt@netcom.com (Felis Uncia) writes: >Yet the queston must be asked, nontheless: *Is* Wicca focusing upon the >creative/generative/daylight aspects of life and magic(k)al practice to >the detriment and/or exclusion of the destructive/nullifying/midnight >ones? Has it become a religion concerned more with the expressive >and intellectual 'positive' elements of fire and air, rather than the >quieter and more mysterious 'negative' elements of water and earth? Has >this happened in _spite_ of all the rhetoric spouted by Wiccans about >"harmony" and "balance"? If so, how? And what, if anything, should be >done about the situation? >---Ounce (Felis pondering) I think a couple of things are involved here: (a) The desire for good PR. Mainstream society is relatively accepting of the "light" elements of Wicca, and not nearly as accepting of the "dark" elements. I once had a long, earnest talk with an interested Christian which went exactly nowhere until I realized that the statement "I worship darkness" was being interpreted as "I worship evil." (He could see that this was not the case, and therefore found my statement simply inconsistent.) So our publications and public statements tend to emphasize the light and downplay the darkness. This may be getting worse precisely because the Craft is more public, and therefore PR issues are more pressing. (b) Uncritical acceptance of symbolism. The symbol system most of us were raised with makes very strong light==good equations, and those are right there in our minds ready to leap out when we are designing rituals or thinking about theology. It's an interesting exercise to rewrite many Wiccan seasonal or passage rituals in a non-light-centered idiom. Often the words are difficult to find. You can't just substitute "darkness" in something like "a ring of pure and endless light/guards this meeting place of souls". You need to find new metaphors and new ways of looking at the ritual if you want to preserve the same emotional impact. It's hard work, and we often don't do it. (c) Fear. It's much easier to stick to the daylit side if you are not sure of yourself, or if you are harboring things you can't deal with. I am not a traditionalist; but one of the things traditions are useful for is saying "Now it's time to look at this other stuff--you know, the part you've been avoiding because it makes you so uncomfortable." For many of us the dark aspects of Wicca are uncomfortable, and in the absence of strong internal or external pressure we can easily sidestep them altogether. As for what we could do about it, (a) is tied in with the whole issue of religious tolerance. Ideally we should not have to downplay parts of our tradition in order to be safe; but the situation is far from ideal. I don't think we'll succeed in balancing our public statements until we've succeeded in getting a little more balance in our place in society. However, we can try not to let PR influence what we say among ourselves. (b) just demands careful, thoughtful ritual design. I've been writing darkness-oriented rituals for my public ritual group, and there is no apparent barrier to doing them--it's just that few available rituals follow that pattern, and many ritual writers don't even think to try. I'd be really happy to see more general attention to this point--I've sat through one or two too many guided meditations at public rituals which did things like "Now the Light drives all shadow out of you" or "All those who are not Children of the Light, begone!" (c) is, of course, the kicker. This is not something we can do as a community; only support each other in doing as individuals. It's important, however, to get a grip on (a) and (b) so as not to make the work harder, and to give a clear message to all of us that a faith which is only daylight may well be incomplete. Mary Kuhner mkkuhner@genetics.washington.edu -- I do not receive posts from the following systems because they tolerate abuse of Usenet: interramp.com psi.com scruz.net If you wish me to see your message anyway please use email.