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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Sketchy, indeed! Likely some of the ritual comes
from older traditions, but Wicca as practiced today really began with Gardner.
It is not practiced exactly the same everywhere, and is an evolving religion
with many "offshoots". </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>To answer Chas, I chose it after trying on many
other religious traditions. I'm most comfortable with Wicca (at least as it is
practiced by most wiccans I know) because we treat the whole idea of Diety as
present in each of us. The ritual part is a metaphor, meant to focus attention
and lead one to Right Action... As practiced by me and mine, we utilize ideas,
meditations, and myths from many traditions to bring us to a "Sacred Space"
where we can do that focusing individually and together. Music, laughter,
readings from religious texts, poetry, dance, storytelling, and other ways of
celebrating life get incorporated into our Circles. No one is actually expecting
a literal God or Goddess to intervene or assist. Again, metaphors for the Divine
in everyone; we invent our gods and goddesses because we need some distance from
the Holy in us. People who truly live in a state of Holiness generally don't
function well or survive the real world! </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Rambling, here. That's it unless someone wants to
contact me off list, meet for coffee or a drink, and actually discuss
it....can't do it well by e-mail as I need to wave my hands around and take
thoughful pauses....</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Debi R-S</FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=ophite@gmail.com href="mailto:ophite@gmail.com">Andreas Schou</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=suehovey@moscow.com
href="mailto:suehovey@moscow.com">Sue Hovey</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Cc:</B> <A title=chasuk@gmail.com
href="mailto:chasuk@gmail.com">Chasuk</A> ; <A title=debismith@moscow.com
href="mailto:debismith@moscow.com">deb</A> ; <A title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">vision2020@moscow.com</A> ; <A
title=dave@ravencroftfarm.com
href="mailto:dave@ravencroftfarm.com">dave@ravencroftfarm.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, November 26, 2008 10:06
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Vision2020] The Persecution
of Quakers: Shame On OurPuritanForefathers</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>The "ancient origin" deal is... um, sketchy, at best. Or,
rather, it's an article of faith rather than an expression of historical fact.
Wicca traces its origin back to the 1950s, when an English
bureaucrat/occultist published an account of joining a coven in rural England.
The actual coven he joined seems to be of dubious authenticity.<BR><BR>--
ACS<BR><BR>
<DIV class=gmail_quote>On Wed, Nov 26, 2008 at 10:02 AM, Sue Hovey <SPAN
dir=ltr><<A
href="mailto:suehovey@moscow.com">suehovey@moscow.com</A>></SPAN>
wrote:<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=gmail_quote
style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: rgb(204,204,204) 1px solid">But
isn't Wicca ancient? I thought Wiccans traced their history
to<BR>Stonehenge and beyond?<BR><BR>Sue H.<BR>
<DIV class=Ih2E3d>----- Original Message -----<BR>From: "Chasuk" <<A
href="mailto:chasuk@gmail.com">chasuk@gmail.com</A>><BR>To: "deb" <<A
href="mailto:debismith@moscow.com">debismith@moscow.com</A>><BR>Cc:
<<A href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">vision2020@moscow.com</A>>;
<<A
href="mailto:dave@ravencroftfarm.com">dave@ravencroftfarm.com</A>><BR>Sent:
Wednesday, November 26, 2008 7:29 AM<BR>Subject: Re: [Vision2020] The
Persecution of Quakers: Shame On<BR>OurPuritanForefathers<BR><BR><BR></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV class=Wj3C7c>> On Tue, Nov 25, 2008 at 23:01, deb <<A
href="mailto:debismith@moscow.com">debismith@moscow.com</A>>
wrote:<BR>><BR>>> Surprise! For me, Witches are
Real!<BR>><BR>> I'm going to ask you a question, Debi. I can't
help myself; I've<BR>> always been curious. It is intended
respectfully, so I hope it comes<BR>> across that way.<BR>><BR>>
First, an instant of preamble: I believe that all religions are
human<BR>> inventions. Preamble finished.<BR>><BR>> Why
choose a religion invented so recently that its origins can't even<BR>>
be cloaked by antiquity? I often wonder this about Mormonism as
well,<BR>> invented by Joseph Smith. The overlap isn't that great:
Gerald<BR>> Gardner died only about 7 years before Brigham Young
(Smith's<BR>> successor) was born.<BR>><BR>> I mean, if you aren't
going to choose a faith hoary with age (which<BR>> enrobes it in at least
a little bit of plausibility), why not be a<BR>> humanist, or some flavor
of skeptic, or even invent your own?<BR>><BR>> for example, I'm a
confirmed non-theist, but I've always found<BR>> Hinduism attractive
mythologically. It is so joyously carnal and<BR>> colorful.
If I was going to pick a mythology, that would be my<BR>> choice.
Krisha and Ganesha and Hanuman rock. The Mahabharata is
an<BR>> amazing document.<BR>><BR>> So why Wicca?<BR>><BR>>
Chas<BR>><BR>>
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