We’re often used to thinking about religion as imposing a top-down cohesion in theology, myth, and ritual: A religion has a fixed pantheon of gods, shared myths, and certain beliefs and practices that all of its adherents adopt. In reality, this is a very narrow idea of religion that doesn’t map onto the ancient world–nor […]
Read more "Video: The Gods of Right Here"The word “witch” is a complicated one, and there’s a lot of disagreement over who can and should use it to describe themselves. (The honest answer is probably “Anyone who damn well pleases,” but that video would be too short.) In a lot of contemporary discourse, there’s emphasis on the notion that witchcraft is a […]
Read more "Video: Are Wiccans Really Witches?"One of the hallmarks of traditional Wicca is that initiates take an oath of secrecy: There are certain things they agree not to discuss with non-initiates. But why? From the outside, this can feel like a snobbish and exclusionary practice. In this video, I talk through some of the motivations for magical secrecy, not as […]
Read more "Video: The Point of Initiatory Secrecy"When seekers ask about what Gardnerian Wiccans believe, they’re often told that Wicca is an orthopraxy, not an orthodoxy. Unfortunately, those terms carry connotations that may give people a misleading impression of Wicca. In this video, I explore why I dislike the “orthopraxy, not orthodoxy” line.
Read more "Video: Orthodoxy and Orthopraxy in Wicca"In a previous video, I talked about the “schmidentity” of deities–the way that two gods can be somehow distinct from each other and yet the same, especially in cases where their cults share a common historical origin. Here, I turn my eye to the Gods of traditional Wicca. I discuss a few figures from ancient […]
Read more "Video: Who Are the Wiccan Gods?"The Gardnerian Tradition of Wicca, like any other group, is vulnerable to internal politics that can be baffling from the outside. Lately, a few transphobic Gardnerians have been making a lot of noise about wanting to institute a distinction between “traditional” and “reform” Gardnerian Wicca–and well-meaning seekers who don’t know the context may not understand […]
Read more "Video: “Traditional” versus “Reform” Gardnerians?"I’ve just returned from a fabulous trip to the United Kingdom. While I was there, I had the opportunity to spend time with some online friends from the British Wiccan community, and doing so got me thinking about some of the broad cultural differences in Wicca between the US and UK. The three differences I […]
Read more "Video: Wicca in America Versus Britain"New on YouTube. In various religious and magical spaces, the concept of “tradition” is incredibly important. But what is tradition, really? Why is it valuable? And why do people get so weird about it? In this video, I talk through my thoughts on these questions, and provide my own proposed definition of religion: A set […]
Read more "Video: What Even is Tradition, Anyway?"Let’s talk a bit about the relationship between Wicca and Thelema. How was Thelema an influence on the early days of Wicca? In what ways are the two religions alike? And–just as importantly–how do they differ? In this video, I talk through some of the history of Gerald Gardner’s meetings with Aleister Crowley and his […]
Read more "Video: Wicca, Thelema, and True Will"What is the relationship between witchcraft and astrology? Is there such a relationship at all? In this video, I talk a bit about the diverse practices under the umbrella of astrology, how they do (or don’t) relate to witchcraft, and why many witches seem to be turned off of astrology in general. I also talk […]
Read more "Video: Witchcraft and Astrology"
Jack Chanek 