wicca – Magic and Media

Musings on Witches of America by Alex Mar

I’ve been going down a long rabbit hole of magic and witchcraft related content these past two months as I get back into the swing of being religious and actually practicing said religion. As I was scrolling through the sparse offerings of my library, I stumbled on this book by Alex Mar. Witches of America is an in-depth, anthropological and biographical look at witchcraft and mystery religions in America. Mar travels across America to see what she can learn from different segments of paganism and witchcraft, searching for her own brand of spirituality. She winds up getting involved with a lot of really interesting religions that make a point of only revealing the inner-working of their craft to initiates. Which got me thinking: how have mystery religions — those religions that require initiation before secrets are revealed — adapted to the modern world of social media and the general public nature of social interaction now?

The Influence of The Craft on Modern Neo-Pagansim

The 90s was an especially influential year for the spread and development of modern neo-paganism to the point where I would label it as a third-wave (the first being in the early 19th century and the second in the 60s hippie era). This decade coincided with a lot of things that really helped boost the presence of new belief systems and especially the visibility of Wicca as a religion. First and foremost being the internet. The development of the internet, forums, chat rooms, and other means of communication allowed previously secluded practitioners to be able to communicate with others who were practicing, sharing beliefs and rituals with each other. Previously, pagan traditions were passed down through mentors and groups, many of those interested joining finding that there was a barrier of training standing between them and full indoctrination into the belief system of their choice. Or they found relevant information scattered throughout a myriad of books, many of them hard to find or especially secretive about their specific rituals.

Musings on Practical Solitary Magic by Nancy B Watson

There are some days when I question how well my personality fits into the very metaphysical and faith based practices of Wicca and magic. I spent a lot of time in high school and college studying psychology, even adding it as a secondary degree. It allowed me to view the world through a new way of thinking, to understand both myself and other people. The brain is one big mystery even now, but studying psychology helped me become more objective and learn just a little bit more about how my dysfunctional brain worked.