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From: hb@prime.acc.virginia.edu (Hank Bovis)
Newsgroups: soc.feminism
Subject: Feminism in the Craft
Message-ID: <891027.001438600@Prime>
Date: 27 Oct 89 04:12:32 GMT
Sender: ambar@ora.ora.com
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A couple of weeks ago the question of whether Wicca was a "feminist"
religion was raised in the soc.<gender> groups.  The following quotes
from Margot Adler's "Drawing Down the Moon" (Beacon Press, Boston,
1986) seem relevant.  The first two paragraphs are from the first
chapter; the rest are from Chapter 8, which discusses feminist
presence in the Craft.  Emphasis and punctuation are Adler's;
underscores indicate italics.

  Since many of the groups I interviewed for this book consider
  themselves to be Witchcraft covens of one description or another,
  it will be impossible to unserstand their nature if one is burdened
  by stereotyped notions about Witches.  The mere words _witch_ and
  _witchcraft_ unlock a set of explosive associations that inspire
  unease if not fear.

  Dictionaries define Witches as (primarily) women who are either
  seductive and charming (bewitching) or ugly and evil (wicked).  In
  either case, the women are supposed to possess a variety of
  "supernatural" powers.  The lexicographical definitions ot _witch_
  are rather confusing and bear little relation to the definitions
  given by Witches themselves.  Participants in the Witchcraft
  revival generally use _Witch_ to mean simply an initiate of the
  religion Wicca, also known as the Craft.

  ...

  Margo and Lee, in their _New Broom_ article, note that many in the
  Craft have been disturbed by the appearance of feminist Witches
  outside the "traditional" Craft, as well as the emergence of
  all-women covens.

           A Feminist calls herself Witch and claims, "Witchcraft is
       totally ours."  The Craft rustles uncomfortably.  She has never
       been initiated into a Coven.  She knows little of Coven Law and
       myth, but proudly states, "I worship the Mother, I am a follower
       of the Old Religion, I work for the restoration of matriarchy
       under the Goddess."  Wicca squirms.  _Witch_ is our name, our
       identity, our life.  How, we demand, can these political women
       drain our identity of its deepest emotional and religious
       significance?  Do they have any right to our name?

  _Yes_, say the writers.

           Feminist "witches" are seeking their own heritage as women.
       They are reaching back, beyond five thousand years of
       patriarchy.  Independent of _any_ help from the Craft, they have
       found the Goddess.  They have found Her in the past; they have
       witnessed Her rape in the man-ravaged earth; they have found Her
       within themselves.
           What the feminist Witches hold is a new, yet ancient,
       essence of pure worship.  They hold the future.
           And they come, as the North Wind: with the chill of change,
       and the freshness of rebirth.  [*]

  [*]  _The New Broom_, Vol. 1, No. 3 (Lammas 1973), 21, 28.


--
Hank Bovis (hb@Virginia.EDU, hb@Virginia.BITNET)

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