This particular blog is dedicated to explaining why I am part of an alternative spirituality and not a more standard type of spiritual system, such as Christianity or Judaism. After all, there are many practitioners of the mystic arts, such as Ceremonial Magicians (who practice what they call High Magick) who call to the archangels rather than the faerie folk.
One of the critiques of standard organized religion is that it is often anti-science. Wicca, thankfully, has never pushed me on an anti-science slant. I believe in science, and most importantly to this subject, I believe in evolution. I believe that the life forms on this planet (and elsewhere in the universe) slowly evolved from less complex organisms that were spawned in the primal soup (i.e., the seas) of the planet's early days and eventually evolved into increasingly complex organisms until nature's most intellectually evolved creation, humanity, came into being about a million years ago. However, I do not believe that this happened all according to random chance, as I was told in sixth grade science class and as the atheists insist upon. But more on the concept of Intelligent Design in my next blog.
Another problem with organized religion that Wicca thankfully avoids is the insistence by many right-wing Christians that government unites with religion, establishes faith-based programs, and offers government funds to faith-based initiatives. I fully agree with the political concept of the separation of church and state, and I believe that government and laws should have a secular foundation to them and should never be based on religious precepts, even "good" religious precepts.
Of course, this is one of the weaknesses of Wicca, also. The fact that it's not organized, and has no official book of revelation (simply the Wiccan Rede, a single Commandment equivalent that bids us to do what you want as long as you aren't harming anyone). Because of this, Wiccans are not heavily united on the political front, and also because of this Christians and people of the Jewish faith systems have considerably more power and influence with government than we do. Some Wiccans believe we should create more organizations to influence the political system, whereas others believe that we should almost entirely stay outside of politics.
Most Wiccans are mainstream liberals, meaning they are supposed to be open-minded on topics of love, marriage/co-habitation, and lifestyle choices. Are they? In my opinion, mainstream liberals will currently only support lifestyle choices that are politically correct to choose, and are only open-minded up to a point where it's politically "safe" to be open-minded. However, Wiccans do tend to push the envelope a bit and allow me to feel less restrained by moralism and instead allows me to develop a moral and ethical system where I seek to harm no being but I am still allowed to seek pleasure (as long as it's not hurting anyone). There are many liberal Christians and Jews also, of course, but they tend to be less "loud" than their right-wing counterparts, who believe that sex should be for procreation only, that women shouldn't have the right to control their own bodies, and that Creationism should supplant evolution in the science class rooms (as I will argue in my next blog, contrary to the claims of the atheists, Intelligent Design is NOT Creationism).
Nevertheless, even liberal Roman Catholics frown at the thought of women becoming priests, even though they do allow girls to become altar girls now (which is a step in the right direction, IMO). This is a major injustice towards women in the religion, I believe. I am thankful that Wicca respects women and the feminine aspects of divinity so much, and that many women are valuable high priestesses in the various Wiccan traditions.
I should point out that Wicca is not for everyone, and it's not the right path even for many spiritual people. As a Wiccan, I have never been encouraged to believe that my path is the only viable path that one can choose on the road to greater enlightenment, nor do I believe that there is a realm of torturous fire and brimstone awaiting any spiritual person in the afterlife who did not choose Wicca. Instead, I believe that it's one of many viable paths towards spiritual enlightenment, and it encourages me to work with everyone who is open-minded and has chosen a path of acceptance for all paths.
I should also point out that I believe in scholarly research when it comes to Wicca. I do not believe that any Wiccan tradition as we know it today existed prior to the 20th century, and the religion was first introduced to the world at large by Gerald Gardner in the 1950's with his book WITCHCRAFT TODAY. Wicca is not an ancient religion, but rather it's a modern religion based on certain ancient ideas, including the concept of a Goddess, the reverence of nature as divinity, and the belief in an oscillating system of birth, death, and rebirth.
By paying homage to both a Goddess and a God, I feel like I have both a spiritual mother figure and a father figure in my life. As a Norse Wiccan, as I mentioned in a previous blog, I also have the Norse deities to call upon as a sort of spiritual family, and the Norse Wiccan Goddess and God-forms are the deities Freya and Frey, the Lady and the Lord, twins, deities of fertility who are the children of the sea god Njord.
By revering a Goddess as well as a God, I feel much more complete than if I was paying homage to only one of the two, as I believe that male and female polarities exist in the universe and both are equally important and equally capable of manifesting themselves in the human form. Everyone has a mother as well as a father, so it's reasonable to assume that both aspects are part of the Creator-force of the universe.
As I noted in this blog, Wicca is far from perfect, and it's only one of many paths possible, but I believe that it will be a particular path that is truly going to be a mover and shaker in the spiritual world of the future. It's far from the only path out there, but it is a good alternative to organized religion and I am thankful that cold atheism isn't the only alternative to organized religion.
