Are there even some proclaimed Wiccans confusing Witches, the crafts, and Witches place in Wicca?

Question

After all this time, why would there still be confusion? A lot of debates took place in the fifties, and I thought it was all pretty well worked out. As an Elder of the Lore I could partake or join a Wiccan circle. This would not cause Wiccans to automatically become part of the Lore. That modern Witches sometimes choose the relgion of Wicca for worship does not make all Wiccans Witches.

Unless! Did someone do one helluva spell to confuse things in the 90s?

Wikipedia is more miserably confused than even neophyte Pagans. The fact that Christians do most of the editing and fact checking probably is the reason. I have to discount any answer based of wiki when in comes time to judge best answer.

Answer 1

I think that the confusion comes in because of the way that a lot of us who haven't been a part of the beginning came to our beliefs or were introduced to Wicca. You see where I am I began my path or journey looking into witchcraft because that was the information that I had in the beginning. I just found Wicca only four years ago. Before that I had no idea it was out there. My only map to my journey in the beginning was the gut knowledge that I was not christian and that the belief system that I had been forced into as a child was slowly killing me. I had first accepted the earth shattering idea that I was indeed a witch because that was the closest description of what i knew in my gut. So in my mind Wicca is a part of that. I can't be one without the other. I know that I am probably explaining this badly but as I travel my spiritual path things slowly become more clear and I see where they can be separate. So forgive us who are still struggling against so much. I thank you for the lessons you are teaching me. Blessed Be.

Answer 2

Many places tell people they can become Wiccan by osmosis and fail to mention the Wiccaning ritual. But I figure that what other people don't know doesn't hurt me. I know who I am, what I want to do and I ask no permission of anyone to do any of this!

I'm just pissy that we can get the Pagan community better organized since we are picking up lapsed Christians right and left. You can't teach people the truth unless you can get them to come together in the first place

I remain a Pagan and a Witch since 1954 and between you, me and the broomstick it was the potions and herbs that were used in the 60's that screwed everything up. What is happening now is all flash backs!

Answer 3

there are many joining the ranks of Wiccans, and witches alike. Being that the word 'witch' came from the word wicce (pronounced witchae) I can see where there is some confusion. I personally don't care about the labels. Folks need to lighten up.

Answer 4

yes, it was probably Lywellyn Publications, and their willingness to print anything that would sell to teenagers, that caused much of the confusion.

piled on top of several movies and TV shows like Charmed, that misrepresent Witchcraft, Wicca, Druidry and the like. to a point where the layman cannot tell the 3 apart anymore.

Answer 5

I am a Wiccan And a Witch, i dont confuse the two, yet i am both.
Blessed Be!
Ariel
)O(

Answer 6

'Wicca is a religion found in various countries throughout the world. It was first popularised in 1954 by a retired British civil servant named Gerald Gardner.[1] He claimed that the religion, of which he was an initiate, was a modern survival of an old witchcraft religion, which had existed in secret for hundreds of years, originating in the pre-Christian Paganism of Europe. Wicca is thus sometimes referred to as the Old Religion. The veracity of Gardner's claims cannot be independently proven, and it is thought that Wiccan theology began to be compiled no earlier than the 1920s.[2]
Various related Wiccan traditions have since evolved or been adapted from the form established by Gardner, which came to be called Gardnerian Wicca. These other traditions of Wicca each have distinctive beliefs, rituals, and practices. Many traditions of Wicca remain secretive and require that members be initiated. There is also a movement of Eclectic Wiccans who do not believe that any doctrine or traditional initiation is necessary in order to practice Wicca.[3] The 2001 American Religious Identification Survey estimated that at least 134,000 adults identified themselves as Wiccans in the United States.[4]'

"Witchcraft (from Old English wiccecræft "sorcery, necromancy"), in various historical, anthropological, religious and mythological contexts, is the use of certain kinds of alleged supernatural or magical powers. A witch (from Old English masculine wicca, feminine wicce, see Witch (etymology)) is a practitioner of witchcraft. While mythological witches are often supernatural creatures, historically many people have been accused of witchcraft, or have claimed to be witches. Witchcraft still exists in a number of belief systems, and indeed there are many today who self-identify with the term "witch" (see below, under Neopaganism).
While the term "witchcraft" can have positive or negative connotations depending on cultural context (for instance, in post-Christian European cultures it has historically been associated with evil and the Devil), most contemporary people who self-identify as witches see it as beneficent and morally positive.
The majority of people identified as practitioners of witchcraft in history were women.[citation needed][dubious — see talk page] Likewise, in legends and popular culture the stereotype is female. The term witch is typically feminine, masculine equivalents include wizard, sorcerer, warlock[1] and magician.'

'A craft is a skill, especially involving practical arts. It may refer to a trade or particular art.
The term is often used as part of a longer word (and also in the plural). For example, a craft-brother is a fellow worker in a particular trade and a craft-guild is, historically, a guild of workers in the same trade. See some further examples below.
The term is often used to describe the family of artistic practices within the decorative arts that traditionally are defined by their relationship to functional or utilitarian products (such as sculptural forms in the vessel tradition) or by their use of such natural media as wood, clay, glass, textiles, and metal. Crafts practiced by independent artists working alone or in small groups are often referred to as studio craft. Studio craft includes studio pottery, metal work, weaving, wood turning and other forms of wood working, glass blowing, and glass art.
A craft fair is an organized event to display crafts by a number of exhibitors.
Folk art follows craft traditions, in contrast to fine art or "high art".
Both Freemasonry and Wicca are alternatively know as 'The Craft' by their adherents.'


But then again, you know this already, right?!

Answer 7

You make it seem as if there is a rational approach to this nonsense that can be codified like the study of medicine or botany. Grow up.