2019-05-22
                                Wicca I


I visited a Wiccan study group with my friend Kailey last Tuesday. We'd
originally planned to visit the Wiccan temple and then attend a study
group at the same time, but the timing didn't work out, so we decided to
attend just the study group. We still plan to go the temple on another
occasion. 

I had a touch more than a passing familiarity with Wicca before
attending the group: I could tell you that it's an Earth-based
religion that honours a god and a goddess (which are sometimes but not
always considered two aspects of the same deity), that it celebrates
various seasonal festivals, and has an emphasis on magickal practice. I
could also tell you what kind of things you'd find on a Wiccan altar.

The study session we were attending was Spellcraft Module 4. I was a
little concerned that I'd be lost, having not attended Modules 1 through
3. The session was held in a family home, around the dining table.
Carissa (the tutor) and Jeffrey (her partner) were very welcoming, as
were the other group members. There were three other members (plus one's
partner), some of whom I gather had attended for a while, while others
were coming in fresher (although not as fresh as us). Despite being a
formal study session and not just a talk-about-stuff get-together, it
was a much more relaxed environment than a university tutorial, which I
enjoyed.

The teaching was around how to construct spells, and presented a few
frameworks for building simple spells. We also explored reasons why a
given spell may not work (such as not really being clear about what you
want). There was an emphasis on doing what works for you, rather than
sticking to some kind of dogma, and I suspect this idea pervades Wicca,
at least as it is taught here. This is something I appreciated and also
an eminently sensible approach.

Spellcraft seemed pragmatic and not at all mysterious or spooky--I
wasn't actually surprised by this; I long felt that that was a
probably-not-true stereotype promoted by the mass media (although
actually as far back as Shakespeare).

There was some lively discussion in which everyone
participated--teaching certainly wasn't a one-way process. Based on my
previous knowledge of magick I didn't have much trouble following along
with the concepts discussed, even though this module was part-way
through the course. I plan to continue to attend the group not only to
learn more about Wicca, but because I find the material valuable and
interesting too.