"We are not evil. We don't harm or seduce people. We are not dangerous. We are ordinary people like you. We have families, jobs, hopes, and dreams. We are not a cult. This religion is not a joke. We are not what you think we are from looking at T.V. We are real. We laugh, we cry. We are serious. We have a sense of humor. You don't have to be afraid of us. We don't want to convert you. And please don't try to convert us. Just give us the same right we give you - to live in peace. We are much more similar to you than you think."

Margot Adler
Drawing Down the Moon

What it means to be Wiccan

Many people think that when people say that being a Wiccan means something that that person belongs to one of those fringe Wiccan groups that say that everyone outside their group is not a Wiccan, or not a real Wiccan. The problem that these fringe groups make for the rest of us is that being Wiccan does have a meaning, and when you say that you are Wiccan you are embracing that meaning.
If you are going to claim to be a Wiccan there are somethings you should know right off the bat. First, just because you are studying Wicca that does not make you a Wiccan. You do not pick up or touch a book on Wicca and POW! you're Wiccan. If this were so, think of all those non-Wiccan publishing employees, book stockers and warehouse managers who would be Wiccan just by virtue of doing their jobs. They'd be opening a carton at their local Borders and WHAM! They have a change of religion! The difference between being Wiccan and studying Wicca is that the Wiccan has made a commitment to live his/her life in a way that is a part of the religion of Wicca and made a commitment to be Wiccan. This commitment may be in the form of a dedication (a ritual performed by you or someone else that stresses your commitment to be a member of the greater community of Wiccans or followers of your gods,) an initiation (a ritual performed by another person or people upon you that stresses your membership in a group or a tradition,) or by a personal committment where you decide to be Wiccan from that day forward.
It is assumed that you would not make this decision without a basic idea of what being Wiccan meant. You wouldn't, for example, call yourself a Catholic because you went to a Catholic church one day and sat through a mass you didn't understand, and you don't call yourself a Wiccan unless you know at least a small amount about what Wiccans believe.
Being a Wiccan doesn't mean you have special powers, or that you are a nice person, or even that you are serious about your religion. Some people are just as Wiccan as you or I and they are crappy at it. A person can even be Wiccan and be a member of a stupid tradition that teaches everything wrong and outright lies. It doesn't make them not Wiccan, it just makes them not very good Wiccans.
You aren't Wiccan because it interests you, or you watched a TV show or even because you discover Wicca and realize it says exactly what you believe. You can't be Wiccan and not know what Wicca means-you can't be a Wiccan by accident. To make this easier, I've encluded a list of things that make me consider a person Wiccan:

1. The person is a member of a previously existing tradition of Wicca who practices either soltitarily or with a group or both.

OR

2. The person is a member of a tradition of their own creation of Wicca (an atraditional Wiccan) who practices either solitariliy or with a group. (An eclectic is not always an atraditional!)

AND

1. The person's concept of the divine encompasses some form of recognition of more than one gender.
2. The person follows a significant amount of the core theology of Wicca (minimal harm, recognition of the forces of life as a reflection of the divine, a separate theology from Christianity.)
3. Where that person's theology differs from the core theology of Wicca s/he is aware of that core theology and why his/her practice differs.
4. The person self-identifies as Wiccan.
5. The person is aware of the actual and mythic history of the religion and why people were Wiccans historically.
6. The person is committed to Wicca, the religion, as opposed to the practice of Magic(k) or spells which they may or may not do at all.
7. The person is not better defined as another religion altogether.
8. The person follows or attempts to follow an ethical code of practice.

As you can see, this is a very wide definition. It does not say which tradition you must follow, only that you need to at least be similar in your practices to other Wiccans to be considered Wiccan. If you get only two lessons from this article, let it be that a person who says they are Wiccan but does not fit your idea of what a Wiccan is may, in fact, still be a Wiccan, just not a very good one and that you cannot be a Wiccan without knowing what Wicca means-you can be similar to a Wiccan, sure, but in order to be Wiccan you must know what Wicca is, who follows it and why they do so. You cannot be a Wiccan by accident or without knowing it.

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