On Mon, Mar 31, 2003 at 08:06:54PM -0800, Tim May wrote:
> On Monday, March 31, 2003, at 06:06 PM, Harmon Seaver wrote:
>
> >On Mon, Mar 31, 2003 at 07:44:43PM -0500, stuart wrote:
> >>Yes, wicca is a word with old roots.
> >>
> >>The inventor of wicca, Gerald Gardner, had a very good idea looking up
> >>the old english word for 'witch' when he concocted his story in the
> >>50's.
> >
> > I have no clue who Gerald Gardner is, but you seriously need to do
> >some
> >research on the subject if you think he "invented" anything.
>
> I learned a lot about Gardner when I was doing my research as the First
> Internet Witch Trial Judge. That you don't know who he is tells me you
> are _very_ lightly educated on this issue.
Yes, you're right, I have little interest in the latter day religious
movements, especially in Britain. And I'm only peripherally interested in
ceremonial magick and ritual anyway -- always thought it rather akin to
"praying" by reading a passage out of a psalter. If the spirit isn't powerful
enough to overcome the person by storm and give whatever utterance is needed,
what good is it?
And along that vein, why would any genuine spiritual movement have need of
dogma, rite, or ritual handed down from ages past. The spirits themselves are
capable of instructing the seeker. Or so you'd think -- although I know that
you, Tim, don't believe in such. At any rate, the concept that "modern
wicca" has no validity because the chain of teachings was somehow broken
somewhere along the line is laughable.
Those who think that Gardner was the creator of latterday wicca might ask
themselves what all those covens were doing who held regular ceremony doing
spiritual warfare against the Third Reich during WWII, for instance. I think
whatever Gardner was doing was more like coming out of the closet, eh?
--
Harmon Seaver
CyberShamanix
http://www.cybershamanix.com
