Module 4 – Wicca, Goddess Worship Feminist Witchcraft, and Neo-Satanism PDF

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Online notes for SRS-1110 passed the class with an A, very easy to understand FALL 2020...

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Module 4 – Wicca, Goddess Worship/Feminist Witchcraft, and Neo-Satanism ● After Witch Craze, few women remained in stage entertainment and witchcraft (deep cultural distrust of women involved) ● Aleister Crowley o Translated Kabbalah from German to English o Interested in left and right handed paths originated from Hinduism Abrahamic faiths = right handed self-restraint, supplication, will of God, social good Left handed people were killed/beaten because it was considered evil as they used the hand of Satan o Into extreme sports (Mount Crowley in England named after him) o Big adherent of left handed paths ➔ Less common ➔ Pushing limits ➔ Over indulging ➔ Precursor of neo-Satanism focus of self/those closest o During his time, India was a part of Great British Empire which allowed him to become interested in philosophy not rooted in Abrahamic faiths o Kama sutra interested in this despite being raised in sexually repressed times o Him and others interested in methods of release and control o Read stuff coming out of East with MacGregor Mathers ● HOGD and OTO were part of high ceremonial magic (more scientific than low magic which was involved in folk healing) ● Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn o 2 medical doctors (an MD and coroner) involved in the occult found a handwritten manuscript written in code and struggled to decode it o Received a letter welcoming them into the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn o Received a second letter with decipher and an invitation to open a branch of the HOGD in England ● HOGD and OTO were secret societies (did not speak about in public) drew from upper class England, Germany ● Nazis outlawed Free Masons, OTO, etc. so had to be very secretive ● Crowley discovered HOGD in England with Mathers and joined ● Both complained that they were not going through the levels fast enough, after complaining, they were kicked out ● Crowley then met people from the OTO, joined, rose through the ranks quickly

● Crowley’s first wife Rose is possessed by “Aiwaz” and it dictates the Book of the Law (free sex and free love) ● Crowley brings this book and it gets adopted by the OTO ● Media gets wind of OTO and turns into a scandal ● OTO moves from England to Italy to get away from media ● Buy a villa in Italy called the House of Thelema ● OTO gets kicked out of Italy as well when the Italians find out about “sex fiends” ● Mussolini kicks the OTO out of Italy (ends up as the leader of Italy during Nazi power) ● Crowley continues communication with friends all over Europe and is caught by the MI5 ● Crowley claims he is a double agent (this claim is not backed by the government) ● Crowley and Mathers then enter an HOGD meeting and claim they will be taking over o Crowley had taken notes and info given to him when they were rising through the ranks and published the work as OTO writing o HOGD took OTO to court however secrecy of HOGD caused them to lose the battle ● This had a very strong influence on neo-Paganism ● Neo-Paganism o Pagan = paganus (Latin) = someone from the country, behind the times, “country bumpkin” o Pagan used as word for people who were not from the Abrahamic faiths o Practicing neo-paganism = practicing pre-Christian religions from the West o Neo-Pagan Traditions (not sects) Wicca ● Margo Adler and Starhawk wrote major How To publications on Wicca ● Wicca comes from wic = to bend/shape (reality by knowing how to use magic) ● New religious movement ● Gerald Gardner = father of modern wicca o Died 1963 o Nudist o Met coven practicing Celtic pre-Christian traditions in the New Forest o Set up his first coven (no more than 3 or 4 people) o Covens mostly involved with low magic herbs, cures, etc. o Gardner ran 2-3 covens in England and he trained priests o Wrote 2 books on wicca and paganism The Witchcraft Law and The Goddess Arrived ● Not monotheistic, some polytheistic, some pantheistic ● Lunar based calendar (8 large festivals, 13 moons) ● Halloween (Roman Catholic) = Samhain “sow-in” (Wicca) o Most sacred day in Wiccan calendar o Dress up and hide because you do not want death to take you away

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No Satan involved as it is a Christian antigod Magical modality Certain sense of pre-destination 3 steps (1st, 2nd, 3rddegree) Some covens had priestess and priest, others only priestess (priestess has final word) Doreen Valiente = mother of modern wicca o Found Gerald via newspaper article and joined his coven o Worked as a Bletchley Park codebreaker o Wrote all ceremony scripts used by all Wiccans o Was one of Gardner’s high priestess o Told Gardner to stop using Crowley’s work o Wrote very good poetry o No matter what kind of paganism you believe in, it was mostly likely written by Valiente o Gave John Valiente a list of 30 people to know where her ashes are spread

● Alex Sanders o Self-proclaimed King of the Witches o Personal mythology while staying with his grandmother at age 8/9, he went into the kitchen and found his grandmother saying incantations while holding a knife, when she saw Sanders, she nicked him under the scrotum and claimed that he was now a witch o Very similar to Gardnerian witches o Late 1990s, a Gardnerian witch claimed he trained Alex Sanders ● Both Gardnerian and Alexandrian witches present in Canada ● Wiccan Church of Canada is only wiccan church present in Canada ● Only two government sections can get involved in religions o Corrections Canada must accommodate religious practices in jail (Satanism not accepted) o CRA large religions have tax exemptions ➔ No branch of Wicca has been able to get recognized ● Most Canadian witches are eclectic discovered Wicca through books so based individual practice on those rather than Gardnerian/Alexandrian ● Few buildings involved as it is a nature religion (rituals can be done anywhere) ● No institution attached to any neo-Pagan traditions Druidry ● Druids practice druidry ● In England, there are Christian druids

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No written documents from druids (everything was sung or spoken) All we know is from writings of Roman Generals (the conquerors) Priesthood = priests/priestesses of Celtic religion Modern day druidry is reconstruction and best guess Look towards Native traditions for more clues More academic schools of druidry also exists (read historical accounts and piece together practices) Nature based In North America, both types of druidry exist Polytheists Mass memorization involved (ADF) A Druid Fellowship o Viewed as different than Wicca but can practice both o Started in California o 100% claim everything recreated o Largest of druid groups

Asatru ● An asatru practices asatru ● National religion in Iceland ● 1st temple constructed in Iceland about 2-3 years ago ● Religion of western Nordic people ● Religion of the Vikings ● Large amount of written literature in runes (books, rituals, songs) ● Scandinavians in the early 1800s wanted to practice the religion of their ancestors ● Return of folk knowledge ● Do not call themselves Pagan but rather Heathen (one who lives on the heath) ● Women’s magic revival of Asatru in last 30 years ● Viking = verb = you go a Viking ● Xenophobia/white supremacist groups use Viking symbols but are not Asatru ● (Brotherhood of Oden) ● Asatru = not a race, but a religion, as such, everyone is welcome from all over the ● world ● Worship Nordic gods/goddesses ● Men’s mysteries and women’s mysteries ● Pantheists Feminist Witchcraft & Goddess Worship o Political definition of witch o Fusion of spirituality with politics

o Wicca starts in Britain then diffuses whereas FW/GW starts in USA then diffuses o Both are similar but not the same o Social climate in North America at the end of WWII ➔ Women had to fill jobs as men left ➔ When men came back, women were reluctant to give back the jobs belonging to men o War in Vietnam caused Buddhist values to come back to North America ➔ Thought of let go of material things and focus on personal spirituality ➔ Results in black Rights, LGBT, women’s rights movement, Francophone rights (FLQ separatists) o Result of civil rights activity in 1960s o Women demanded equal pay for equal work o Women said that there was no role for women in Christianity (no face of God that looks like me, He, Him) they want someone to look like them o Start of Feminist worship ❏ Initially as solely political movement ❏ Wanted to use strong, empowered popular image of women = WITCH ❏ During marches, women dressed as witches with guns o W.I.T.C.H. = Women’s International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell o W.I.C.C.A. = Women in Constant Creative Action o WITCH and WICCA are both political movements in 1960s to 1970s in the US ❏ Wants to move on from monotheism and men dominated groups ❏ Tries to reclaim harmful words so they empower and not discriminate ● Starting to move into fable, myth (untrue), anecdotal o May be unstudyable due to lack of money or will ● Political movements that turn into second wave witchcraft (spiritual) o Feminist Worship ❏ Political social level of wicca (rips off wicca) ❏ Polytheists/pantheist ❏ Takes Pre-Christian worldview and moved into using structure without male God figure or women only ceremonies ❏ Focused on female power o Goddess Worship ❏ All goddesses come from one goddess ❏ New archeological digs show temples with exclusive female presence ❏ Old literature didn’t talk about goddesses, only gods ❏ Came up with The Great Goddess (new religion system o W.I.T.C.H. ❏ Women International Terrorist Conspiracy (from) Hell (1950s) ❏ Full power to women to pick what they want to do

❏ Not about religion but about removing white male power ❏ Marched with broom sticks and green faces during protests to scare/shock people ❏ Not violent just wanted equality ❏ This political background caused goddess worship and religions o W.I.C.C.A. ❏ Women in Constant Creative Action ❏ Political and social movement for equal rights ❏ Not religious ● Problem in gender fluidity started in 1990 o Hermes and Janice did not come up until then ● Marija Gimbutas o An Eastern European archeologist/scholar o Studied prehistoric European pottery, goblets, etc. and noticed similar repeating patterns on them o She also discovered the lack of gods present at this time and the high number of female figures (they did not find any statues of men only stone/clay penises) o She wrote two books on the symbols she found and theories of goddess societies o Interpreted dug up patterns with female influence/presence o Teachings soaked up by 2nd wave feminists ● Mary Daly o A Roman Catholic scholar of religious studies that works at Boston University in women’s rights o Writes about Christianity having nothing for women and how we need a women religion o Writes ‘Beyond God the Father’ and ‘Church and the Second Sex’ o She uses ‘she/ her’ to refer to god o She wants people to think about the origins of words and what they mean o Part of goddess worship, not feminist worship ● Z Budapest (Susan b Anthony coven no 1) o Opened a woman’s bookstore and occult shop early/ mid 1970s in SanFran o Part of her worldview was that you can see someone’s future (it was illegal to tell fortunes at that time) o Created a feminist witch coven with a group of lesbians to start a women’s religion and to create a mythology ★ Non hierarchical

o The mythology was that the sweat of the goddess created all things on the planet which they named after Goddess Diana and called the religion “Dianic worship” o You do not have to be LGBTQ to join but only females can believe o Diana/Dianic = not being controlled by men (not many books so they chose the same) o High priestess=however is performing or doing Connected to Starhawk (see below)

● Morgan McFarland & Mark Roberts Time Early 1970s (viet war time) ○ Exposed to buddhism when over in viet. ○ Some came back and embraced o Both were active in women’s rights movements and communal rights movements o Together they designed a new religion (egalitarian) o Coming from commune/hippie era o Their form of goddess worship had both gods and goddess but a goddess was higher than a god o Men could participate o Dianic worship (woman goddess:diana) o Popular in US South o Known as McFarland Dianics now ● Starhawk (connects Fem witchcraft and Wicca) -Reclaiming collective( spiritual,environmentally,politically) o Believes you actively must go out and be the change in the world (part of her spirituality) o Was already involved in Wicca in 1960 o Z Budapest had issues with police/authorities for fortune telling so she moved to LA and established an occult shop there o Starhawk goes to ship and gets involved with Z Budapest o Starts to formulate stuff from Z and Wiccan religion protesting to save the environment, rituals and ceremonies, etc. o Starhawk and friends (no hierarchy or degrees) create new spiritual path that dances between FW/GW and wicca = Reclaiming Collective ➔ Not much Reclaiming in East Canada but higher numbers in Alberta and B.C. ➔ Hold week long festivals = Witch Camps o Most successful Wiccan author (Spiral Dance has been in print for over 40 years o She believed gods should not have a face and that men and women should be equally represented

o Well known in environmental movement o Not the head as there was no hierarchy o Currently write fiction based on equality of all and energy in everything o Fills the gap between feminist goddess worship and religious witch identity o She was an equalist, polytheist, and social activist o Says one needs to be involved actively in social movements o “You can pray all day but it won’t change anything” o A lot of Wiccans say view on environment is separate from religion Starting reclaiming as a collective Charles Arnold o Wiccan high priest, sort of Gardnerian o Worked at a college wanted 2 days for religious holidays o Wicca was not recognized as a religion o When denied he took it to the attention of the human rights board and won o In the US to be a religion it must be a group of people, in Canada to be a religion you must be excluded in some way o British Columbia was the first province to allow rites of passage o Canada will accept wiccan as a religion but not Satanism Semiotics of Spells o Comes out of archeology and anthropology o Semiotics = study of signs and symbols o Sign has specific, univocal, clear meaning that is culturally based (stop sign) o Symbol has many, multivocal meanings that are culturally based ➔ Layers of meaning ➔ Can be clear or unclear ➔ Why behind meaning can easily be lost -Red rose in February = I love you, pink may mean I like you - Intensity of color makes an impact ➔ Red in China = wealth, good luck ➔ Meaning behind red = passion = Ares God of War = blood/gore/gut = increased emotion ➔ Black heart = sorrow or loss ➔ Purple heart with brown polka dots = ??? symbols must have logical explanation based on culture o Semiotic meanings = language of religious texts ❏ Metaphoric entailments ❏ Subset info about colors determines metaphor

❏ Tattoos, graffiti, flags, parliament hill are all examples o The tendency to read historical texts at literary meaning is new as it was always assumed it was metaphorical o Spells use symbolic language (Western Eurocentric) ● Candle Spell 1. Reason Usually for someone else’s benefit (you don’t want to be perceived as selfish) 2. Color Choose color based on reason 3. Personalize Name, DOB, zodiac sign, sign to represent reason, arrow from reason to self for direction of result (allows spell to focus) 4. Dress Put oil on candle ❏ Can be fragranced/essential oil relating to meaning or olive oil ❏ Dab of oil on hand, turn candle in hand while thinking from result ❏ Work your way from the middle out, 2 times 5. Light ❏ Light close to full moon ❏ Light close to 11:59 if you want to increase something ❏ Do not blow candle out, let it burn out 6. Say/think words associated with reason

● Neo Satanism o Not historical version but contemporary (last 100 years) o Solitary ❏ “Satanist” – usually identify for shock value or because they are adhering to different type of world view ❏ Alone, therefore limited information available ❏ Least sociological information ❏ Young (15/16 – 19/20), self-taught (movies, books), heavily male, usually prosecuted forpetty crime/vandalism ❏ Believe books on Satan that are stolen are more valuable or enhanced ❏ Not vocal about beliefs due to historical programming ❏ Socially awkward, little self-control, for wish fulfillment

❏ At university age, realize what they have imagined does not fulfill desires so drift off to other things o “Outlaw” Groups ❏ 1980s had a big Satan scare in the West (more US than CAN) ➔ everyone was convinced Satanic groups were kidnapping virgin girls and impregnating them ➔ Kerr, a Vancouver Police Officer for Guns and Gangs went undercover and got a good snapshot of these groups ❏ Older college and university demographic until age 25 ❏ Small groups of 4-5, classically/primarily male ❏ Charismatic leader of group = priest with 4-5 less dominant personalities following him ❏ Wish fulfillment as well as more focus on money, power and prestige ❏ Not high end felonies ❏ Little rituals performed following the leader ❏ Soldiers at ground level realize they are not getting what they want (because it is not about ❏ devotion to the spiritual but rather a figurehead) ❏ Last for 3-5 years before they finish, end or disintegrate ❏ Unsure if leader then establishes new underlings o Neosatanic Churches ❏ Sociological Definitions Cult = small group following charismatic leader Sects = medium, more established group o Leader has passed but spiritual path continues to grow and thrive o (Christianity is a sect of Judaism) Church = large religious organization o Involved with staying in power o Many branches o 1000s to millions of adherents o Everyone with direct tie to founder is gone but religion continues to grow o Spreads geographically and linearly over time ❏ Modern Satanic Churches ➔ All types of people involved (age, race, colour) ➔ Do not advocate murder despite hating people ➔ Focused on being powerful and godlike as possible (murder is damaging to image, ➔ thus do not condone) ➔ May believe in decipet or lying ➔ Do not torture animals, no collective suicide

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➔ Illuminati is not under Satanism ➔ Materialistic, self-indulgence, status, image ➔ Motivated towards libertarian in American framework o In big cities, city council prays before meetings from various religions o In Arizona, prayers were cancelled as Satanists wanted Satanic prayers o Tucson allowed Satanic prayers Practice is banned in prison o Religion is about getting what you want o Prison is not ideal o May attempt to breakout Believe in magic and study it (source is Satan) No politicians but entertainers View Abrahamic faiths as impediments o Laws based on these faiths cause them trouble

● CoS o Church of Satan o Found by Anton Szander LaVey in 1966 o In the San Francisco, LA area o Founder dead for 30 years, religion still active o 2 kids with 1st wife, 1 with 2nd wife who is currently a key person in the CoS o woke up one day and Satan told him Abrahamic faiths were all “poo poo” so he must open this Church o Satan = metaphor for self-indulgence, getting desires, critical thinking, not following around o People in Church may or may not believe in literal figure o Wrote Satanic Bible, wife wrote Satanic Witches (#1 in most stolen books) o Writing = cynical because of setting (no war, no bombs, flower people, love, peace, etc.) ❏ LaVey and friends reacting against atmosphere of the era because ❏ why should I care about others, why not focus on self and mine ❏ Everyone else = followers ❏ Chose Satan as ultimate rebel ❏ Modern day take out Satan and it could be written by any ❏ multimillion dollar company owner ❏ Historical setting makes huge difference o Does not recognize anti-God fiture that is worshipped o LaVey rose to fame (books, talks, people joining sent money)

Dislike for institutional thinking is very clear Facetious Once said, Satan is the best thing Christianity every got because it keeps the church in business o Famous people of Church Sammy Davis Jr. Alice Cooper for PR purposes only -Father is a minister -He is a devout Christian – Evangelic...