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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Where you lose me, OP, is when you start getting into being a witch. With all due respect, that's nutty.[/quote]

Why is it nuttier to call oneself a "witch" than it is to call oneself a "priest"?  (Some) Priests believe in demons, in exorcism, in bread and wine literally becoming flesh and blood, in a virgin birth and the resurrection of a dead body.  And the power of prayer.

Why is it any weirder to light a candle, draw an imaginary circle around yourself, and make your own "Prayer" (spell casting) for whatever it is you are seeking?

If you are going to judge wiccans as nutty, I hope you take the same stance with all religions.  [/quote]

PP who has been responding about comparative religion stuff who has a pagan family member here.

I think that the reason people find Wicca to be creepy or nutty or far fetched or whatever is that the popular portrayals are very sensationalized. Many Wiccans were really, really upset about the portrayal of magick and witches in American Horror Story: Coven. The Craft (from the 90s) furthered the mentally unstable teenager aspect of it. I'm sure that the OP or other Wiccans commenting on this thread could point to positive portrayals of their faith in some form of media, somewhere.

I would be interested to hear from the posters suggesting that Wicca is crazy, or that magical workings are weird, who are dismissive of her spiritual practice as not making any sense or who generally have a hard time understanding this particular spiritual practice - what is your faith tradition? How do you express those beliefs? How would you explain them to someone who had never heard of them before?

I think that what we have going on is a situation where people who are part of the majority (mainstream American culture, which largely adheres to some form of Christianity or Judaism) have not had to spend a lot of time examining their beliefs for things like confusing inconsistencies or considered the ways in which their rituals seem weird or gross to non-practitioners.

My own background: I was not raised with any religion. My mom is Episcopalian. Her husband is pagan. My dad is a literature professor who has a deep attachment to Thoreau and the other transcendentalists, so the connection with nature is there. I've also read a lot of history and mythology, so I don't find the OP's practice or beliefs to be outlandish. I don't find her rituals to be any stranger than the prayer circles that my Baptist friend organized when another friend delivered a premature baby who was not expected to survive. I think it's great that the OP has taken the time to spell out her beliefs, and I strongly suspect that those beliefs sound as basic to her (a practitioner) as would the explanations of a Catholic for the actions and symbolism behind taking communion, being baptized, etc. It's just that for most people, those rituals are more familiar than a lady sitting at a table, lighting candles and incense and saying unfamiliar words.[/quote]

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