Why Wicca Matters by BlackThornWren

Why Wicca Matters

If you’ve seen me comment on any kind of witchblr discourse, you’ve likely seen me defend Initiatory Wicca, or you’ve seen me criticize others who tear down the tradition while not being a part of it, or examining their own practices and where they originated. There are specific reasons for my doing so, and I’m going to elaborate on those. First, let me preface by stating that I live in the United States and as a practitioner, I actually owe a lot to Wicca, as does anyone who considers themselves to be a witch or pagan or something adjacent while living in the United States.

So, Wicca began to truly gain ground in the 1950’s. Fear not, I know Gerald Gardner is no one’s cup of tea and I don’t intend to rehash the origin story of The Wica. However, let’s consider the time period.

The Witchcraft Act of 1735, passed by the Parliament of Great Britain, was not replaced until 1951 when the Fraudulent Mediums Act took its place. But until then, it was literally a crime for anyone to claim that they had magical powers or practiced witchcraft. From 1951 onward, the Fraudulent Mediums Act was instituted; making it no longer illegal to claim to be a magical practitioner, but illegal to claim it while attempting to make money from related services – with the provision that the buyer be informed that any services rendered by a magical practitioner were for entertainment purposes only.

Are you still with me? I love reading about old laws but they can be dry as hell for anyone who doesn’t have a special interest. And I’m not even going to touch on the 1950’s and what a fun time they were for anyone who was a little different, didn’t conform to the norms.

Now, let’s take this movement to the states. Wicca paved the way for the protection of paganism and witchcraft practices in the United States through the landmark case, Dettmer v. Landon. Not only did this case set the standard for officially recognizing Wicca as a religion in the United States, it also entitled pagans, witches, and others claiming under nature-based religions to the protections granted under the first amendment.

Because Dettmer v. Landon was centered around religious expression for a prison inmate, this trial also set a precedent for prisons acknowledging and ensuring that inmates were allowed to practice – not just for Wicca or witchcraft, but other non-mainstream religious traditions as well.

Furthermore, it wasn’t until 2007 that the pentacle was accepted as an emblem for US military headstones or grave markers. The groundwork for this all began with Patrick D. Stewart, a US service member who was also a Wiccan. Sgt. Stewart was killed in action in 2005, and the Department of Veteran’s Affairs initially refused to allow the pentacle to be marked on his headstone, despite his widow’s best efforts. It was a combination of the cases of Stewart v. Nicholson, and Circle Sanctuary v. Nicholson, that won Wiccan military members the right to have their headstones marked with a pentacle.

Sure, that’s great for Wiccans, but not all witches are Wiccans – yes, yes, I know. Except, because of these cases, the US Military later added Mjolnir and the Awen as options for service members to mark on their graves.

I know, you may be thinking, “that’s nothing” or “that really hasn’t accomplished much” and that’s fair enough. But let’s consider that Wicca is a religion still in its infancy, not even a hundred years old (despite what old Gerald might say). This is a lot of movement in the United States for a religion that a growing demographic of Christians see as a direct threat to their own beliefs. In fact, it’s momentous.

Now, that’s not to say that there are no issues with this religion. My personal gripe with this is that criticism aimed at Wicca tends not to be about the current issues, but snapshots of things from 20 or more years prior. As I said before, this religion is young but evolving quickly – filled with members who can appreciate the past for what it was, but also learn from it and work to make the changes so that it isn’t just an outdated fertility cult. Wiccans are actively putting in the work in real time to make their religion and their covens inclusive and strip away appropriative and abusive behaviors propagated by the past.

Finally, after spending a decade on this site, it’s almost become part of the witchblr wheel of the year to hate on Wicca while, in the same breath, recommending authors like Gemma Gary, Nigel Pearson, Michael Howard, Andrew Chumbley, Robin Artisson, and Roy Bowers (Robert Cochrane). Authors who are known for saying that they’re writing of the “old” tradition, while giving their audience an awful lot of material that looks like basic Wiccan rituals. And of course, in studying these rituals, we can see the immediate influence of Crowley and other occultists of the time, as well as the Freemasons, and how their practices laid some of the foundation for Wicca.