Welcome to Gaia! ::

*I may add to this at any point in time. This is entirely informational, although anything involving initiation is usually considered an opinion.*

So, you're browsing through the forums on gaia and you see a hundred topics:
What is wicca?
This new thing called wicca.
the devil posessment!
So, what is this new wicca stuff?
Calling all wiccans, explain yourself?!

These are some examples of thread titles I see every time I browse any of the forums. From the LD to the GD there are tons of threads on this subject, mostly posted by outsiders asking questions and wondering "what is the deal with Wicca?"
I, of course, click on these threads and usually lurk or skim through them; usually with the same result.

One person argues that the OP is a troll, the next person gives a 3 page long explanation of all of the technical details, and the third person criticizes the first about how he/she is wrong.
And, of course, there is no educational value what-so-ever.

So in this post specifically, I am going to address the wonderful phrase I see the most of: "YOU'RE NOT A REAL WICCAN."

Have you ever been told this?
Just posting to help someone or even trying to talk to like minded people, and someone just has to call you out on being fake with your religion.
So I bet your wondering, "If I'm not a real Wiccan, what is?"


Being a Solitary

Solitaries have long been known to have their own path developed along with their own rules and regulations; borrowing from all of the Wiccan traditions, rather than settling with just one (although there are some exceptions).
"Hardcore" Wiccans usually call the solitaries out first as to being fake, however by doing so they are judging them based on their own tradition rather than taking into account that someone may not have the same beliefs as them.
A lot of these die-hard Wiccans usually have the idea stuck in their head that Wicca is a set of specifications that you MUST follow, however that is exactly what Wicca is not. A governed set of rules that you must follow to the letter? That is the exact opposite of Wicca.

Initiation

An argument brought up most is that solitaries can never be properly initiated into Wicca, because Wicca is based around covens and systems.
However, Wicca has nothing to do with that.
Religion in general is a spiritual journey you take by yourself.
A ceremony does not tell you how dedicated you are to the goddess, nor how real you are to yourself or your devotion.
It is a process that you go through to become closer to these things, although it is not necessary what so ever.

Initiation is a rite of passage ceremony marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society.
Wicca is not a society, nor a group. It is a set religion for a person, not a whole set of people. Some traditions are set up as a group of people, which is why covens exist, but this rule does not and should not apply to solitaries.
Solitaries may also go through their own initiation themselves, pledging themselves to the goddess and properly devoting themselves through ceremony, ritual, and celebration.
It does not take a high priestess to tell you that you are a good person and that you are devoted to your religion.

Not being properly initiated does not make you a fake Wiccan in anyway, it simply means you have not gone through a specific ceremony.

Well You Just Read a Book and Decided That You're Wiccan

This is my least favorite of all the criticism.
Tell me, how did you discover Wicca?
Oh let me guess... you read a book!
How do we learn or grow from anything without reading something or discovering it first? Even if someone had simply read a book and decided that it was the right religion for them, are they not allowed to become better immersed with it? Are they automatically fake because they do not have as much experience as you may have?

Also, this is a large accusation over the internet. How are you aware that someone has simply read a book and become Wiccan?
Do you know them personally and every part of their lives?
I think not.

MM & BB

I'm addressing this because I read that Zydrate Addicted GENtern had had some trouble with it.
Someone saying you are not a real Wiccan because you use the term blessed be?
I don't even know where they got that from.
Blessed Be and Merry Meet have been used by pagans for a VERY long time and Wiccans since the religion began. You're not a real Wiccan because you use polite greetings and blessings that were used at the beginning?
I really don't understand this one at all.

Oh and for a bit of understanding-
The fivefold kiss is an element of Wiccan ritual involving kissing five parts of the body. Each kiss given is accompanied by a blessing:

Blessed be thy feet, that have brought thee in these ways
Blessed be thy knees, that shall kneel at the sacred altar
Blessed be thy [womb/phallus], without which we would not be
Blessed be thy breasts, formed in beauty/breast formed in strength
Blessed be thy lips, that shall utter the Sacred Names.

This is the form of the blessing used by most Gardnerian and Alexandrian covens. The fivefold kiss is sometimes performed during Wiccan rites and ceremonies, such as handfasting. It may be the origin of the term blessed be, a well-known Neopagan greeting, also used as a general expression of blessing during ritual.

Thank you Usagi for posting this. :]

And Sanosuke, you know how awesome you are? Cause ya should. biggrin

It seems to me that the initiation part of it is kind of like the Christian Baptism. It isn't required to be a Christian but many people do it because it brings them closer with their God.

Somehow, gods only know how, we moved from the experiential ( what this means to me) to the formal ( what was done to me). Originally, Wicca was meant as a means of grasping the ancient Paths ( and so Gardner could indulge his kinky side. Sorry, research is a pain). But people, who have this nasty habit of taking everything good and pure and right and turning into platypus poo, came along and said, essentially, that it isn't the experience that matters, that one's relation to the Divine in All isn't important, it's do you know the secret handshake that is REALLY important.

I'll be kind, and not go into the whole "closed culture" debate (its full of lose. And something else). The point is, when a religion/culture/belief system starts to focus more on the formal aspects and forgets that there are people involved..time for a do-over, in my book.

Of course, the internet is full of Trolls, especially Gaia. And I've been hit with the whole Blessed Be" thing myself. It really, REALLY pisses them off that we won't do the secret handshake, I guess. i thought this was a belief system/religion, not the frickin' Loyal Order of the Water Buffaloes.

BLESSED BE

RM