Becoming a Pagan

[neekyv]

Hey there....
Just thought you might be interested as your in the newcastle area...
Around christmas there was a local advertisement in the paper ( Cessnock) about a 'United Pagan Church' or something like that- by sounds of things they were pretty open to any type of wiccan/ pagan and had a ceremony to celebrate the sabbat.
Maybe someone from there could answer your questions- perhaps even just doing a public dedication of your faith might help you....
Check out unitedpaganchurch.org.au

[andie82]

I've started getting into paganism / Wicca since Jan and buy a lot of my books & materials on line.
Ebay has some great stores. & most of your bigger book shops like QBD, or angus & robertson have a range off books. Fishpond is another good one for books.

How do you know if you are Pagan or Wicca?

[AngelPunks]

ok Pagan is an umbrella term - think the term christian to cover those who believe in jesus

wicca is a specific tradition within paganism - think anglican or something like that

Big thing with wicca is you can't actually call yourself Wiccan unless you've been initiated into a Wiccan coven - you can say you follow parts of wicca but you technically cannot call yourself wiccan.

And on a side note - you can be a witch and not wiccan and you can be wiccan and not a witch.

I am a witch, sorcerer and sangomas and will never follow the wiccan path because it is not who I am and I personally get sick of people assuming that when they hear the term "witch" used to describe me they thing I'm wiccan.

[andie82]

Cool Thanks

I wasn't aware about having to be initiated into a Covan. I vagually remember reading somewhere that inititaions an older tradition and not necessary these days with so many practising solitary (or am I getting confused?)

[AngelPunks]

In some traditions you cannot call yourself of that trad unless you are initiated. Golden Dawn and OTO are a few that are very much via initiation only, I also used to work with a few covens that were initiation only. I actually miss working within hierarchy of covens, because you had to prove you had the knowledge and aptitude to move up a level, it also meant that you had the grounding in the basics before you tried anything "harder". I suppose that has helped me a lot with working with some of the things I do, that I have had many years grounding in basics. But then again I'm hereditary and I've been doing this for as long as I can remember.

Wicca is one of the newer ones (it is only 50 odd years old) that has an "older" trad requisite for initiation. A lot of people are not aware of it, so they call themselves wiccan and then if they ever meet a "true" wiccan they get asked to name their lineage - which they can't. I do know people who can name their lineage.