Wiccan Weaving

12 Dec 2006: Crafting the Craft

It's a recurring theme I keep returning to, and its an important one: how are we crafting the craft?

The answer to that question, until very recently, has been a toss-up between "Haphazardly", and frankly, "Not very well." Generally speaking, the Craft of the Wise is being handled unwisely in most cases, with little regard for anything approaching consistency, no matter how you define that term. A religion is a method or system of relating to the Gods (by whatever name you call Them), and that method is ill-served by the "anything-goes" attitude brought to our religion by most of its practitioners.

There is certainly room for investigation and exploration by Wiccans. Although it sparked a mini-schism in the Gardnerian line back in the mid-80's, there has always been a place for serious exploration of variance in practice within Wicca, and many elements of our ritual and philosophy can be shown to have antecedents in other mystery cults as well as mainstream faiths. In an effort ot make a welcoming place for newcomers and visionaries, the attitude in the Craft community has been very laissez-faire, and from this, we have "Wiccan" sweatlodges, pipe ceremonies, pujas and so forth. I have written on this subject before, and I quote a piece from that earlier blog:

A religion's practices should support, explain and expand on the philosophies of that religion. Most Wiccan practitioners' practices are a hash of those of other faiths, chosen strictly for their "cool factor". For this reason, Dragon's Weave does not condone the pillaging of other faiths for their practices. There is nothing "Wiccan" about a sweatlodge, for example. If we Wiccans want to hold a sweat, we are free to do so, but we shouldn't be chanting Lakota prayers while we do it.

I have gathered by thoughts, and have decided to pursue them in a series of articles that will outline where I think the Craft should be going, and where I'm taking Dragon's Weave. There are other people out there working on similar creations... Dianne Sylvan's EarthDance tradition is a good example... But I see no reason to wait. Either this material will stand on its own, be absorbed into a different body of work, or fade to dust. No matter; I'll set the ball to rolling here.

A brief outline of what's to come:

• Wiccan Thealogy: The Foundation Blocks
  
• Wiccan Philosophy: The Edifice
  
• Wiccan Practice: The Structure of Our Temple
  
• Wiccan Rites: Holy Days in the Temple
  
• Wiccan Heresies: Temple Renewal