Wicca
How did you discover and become initiated into Wicca?
My story sounds so much like some of the really stupid ones that went around a couple of decades back that I am embarrassed to tell it. I wouldn't even do that unless there were real-life witnesses to the changes that I went through; witnesses like my roommate of the time, David Bright or friends like Karen Grey.
What happened is that I started having dreams and those dreams started me writing rituals and building an altar; which continued for some time. A little later I met some people through the Society for Creative Anachronism who were involved in Wicca and especially The Wiccan Church of Canada. These people tried very hard for over a year to get me involved with the WCC but I resisted. Eventually I started dating a woman who, it turned out, was the Handmaiden of the WCC and she was the one who finally got me to attend. I stayed with the group for about two years and became a corporate officer. My first initiation was through that group as well.
Leaving them, I became involved in several other projects and worked with a number of groups. One of these, The Coven of the Secret Star, initiated me into the first two levels of what they called The Old Order or Old Religion and I did study with them for a time. Later I went through all three initiations with The Cauldron of Cerridwen, an Alexandrian coven.
Over the years there have been other initiations but the majority of them are what I think of as honorary; granted because of things I have done for the Craft, rather than based on long years of study.
Elders often talk about how the Wiccan and wider Pagan communities have changed over the years. What would you say are the biggest changes between now and when you first became aware of Paganism?
First, there are witches absolutely everywhere. Second, all you have to do today to be a witch is read two books, watch one movie and a television series and, suddenly, you are calling yourself a High Priest/ess. Third, what passes today for magickal power, esoteric knowledge and tradition have all been so watered down and mixed around at to be downright insulting, not only to Wiccans but to Native Americans and other traditional Pagan paths.
I don't want to go too far here because I have no desire or intention to insult your readers but we have a real problem on our hands. The Pagan community has little if any real scholarship internally. And, when someone does publish an article that is accurate, they get attacked. Let me give you an example.
One of the practices that many American witches practice is smudging, fumigating their sacred space and themselves with burning sage. But when asked why they do this, the answers are utterly startling. The first answer is almost always that it was borrowed (Native American activists call it 'stolen') from Native practices. But a little research will demonstrate that smudging with sage was very rare, even for those few nations that used sage. And why, if witches want to follow Native practices, do they smudge with sage and not with tobacco?
I apologize if I started to rant but this is a very sore subject. Thousands of Pagans carry around quartz crystals. I wonder how many of them know that most quartz crystals in the US are a product of strip mining? Are they aware of the working conditions of the children in Brazil who walk barefoot over slag heaps to pick out quartz crystals, formerly useless byproducts of mining for gemstones? Are they aware of the number of supposed Native American teachers and shamans who are or were fakes and who are or were banned from stepping foot on reservations from coast to coast? All of this so that someone or other could make a fast buck and prove how gullible Pagans are?
Let's talk about Canada. What happened there and did you contemplate for one moment that a simple request for a holiday would have the consequences that it did?
The basics are simple. I applied to time off for Pagan holidays under the terms of a union contract. I was turned down. I filed a grievance. I won.
Did I know that my grievance would lead to dozens of obscene and threatening phone calls throughout the night for weeks? No. Did I know that this case, while establishing a parliamentary precedent for the recognition of Wicca across both Ontario and Canada, would create a situation where a large number of Pagans across Canada would shun me or even attack me in the public press? No.
Was I aware that I would win? Of course! Was I aware that this win would change government views and legislation? Certainly.