It's an old observation -- ask 3 Wiccans for an opinion or a definition, you'll get 5 different answers. So, you won't find just one answer here, either. Instead, here is a series of articles, discussions, and "rants" about Wicca in general and Blue Star in particular. Not every member of Willow Bough will agree with all of the info here -- we'd be surprised, in fact, if anyone in the grove couldn't find something to disagree with in all of these. Still, we hope that these will give someone new to Wicca the basics about the religion, and give "old timers" something else to discuss.
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The word "Pagan" comes from the Latin pagani, meaning "village" and "country dweller," a term first employed by the Romans to describe the Gauls and other northern tribesmen ("barbarians"). Later, the term was used as an epithet for those who had not 'yet' been converted to the new religion, Christianity, which itself was derived through a fusion of Mithraism and Judaism. Christianity had largely developed in the more cosmopolitan environment of the Roman cities, and so the pagani were largely regarded as'backwater hicks.'
Likewise, the later and more central European term heathen originally referred to those persons who lived upon the heaths, thus also far from urban environments. Thus, contemporary Pagan spirituality lies in the countryside, in Nature, despite the ironic fact (or because of it) that much of the Pagan movement in the coastal United States has developed in modern urban centers.
Contemporary Paganism, or NeoPaganism, reveres the earth as sacred, and its practitioners ever seek to reaffirm their spiritual selves through the cycles of the seasons, the tides, the turning of the moon. Some Pagans express this by being active in environmental politics, others may simply teach their children how to recycle. Paganism respects men and women as equals, and acknowledges the sacredness of all consensual sexuality without resorting to sexism. There is no single sacrosanct book providing all the answers to life for Paganfolk: Pagans revel in the questions, and seek personal answers more through poetry than theology.
Within Paganism lies the essence of the oldest spirituality on the face (and in the body) of the earth: it is the foundation of the human soul and psyche, and so it adapts ancient myth and folklore for modern spiritual needs.
Paganism is a religion of personal responsibility. Because there is no set of commandments in Paganism, it is understood that how we govern our lives is up to us, and it is therefore equally up to us to atone for personal transgressions against others. As a result, many Pagans try to retain a sense of personal honor; a habit which has become sadly archaic in modern society.
It should be remembered that, historically, Paganism never truly ceased to be. Even during the height of medieval Christendom, substantial regions of northern Europe remained firmly heathen. Animist and shamanic tribal religions still dominate much of the central African and northern Asian landscape, with significant pockets of such belief remaining in Australia, South America, and southeast Asia. In 1969, the United States legally recognized the Church of All Worlds, one of many Pagan religious institutions, and hundreds have followed since then. In 1972, Iceland recognized Nordic Paganism (Asatru). Other nations have done the same. Paganism is returning.
Q. But isn't a pagan someone who doesn't believe in God?
A. Pagans do believe in a God... several, in fact. Many Pagans believe in a complementary Goddess and God, whose union provides the spark of creation. Others are pantheistic, seeing the universe itself as divine. Still others are polytheistic, revering the multiplicity of life and divinity in a complex web of relationships. Most are animist, believing that all living things (including the earth Herself) possess consciousness, and virtually all believe that divinity is equally immanent and transcendent (within and without).
Q. Is this a joke?
A. While Pagans believe that humor is sacred too, no, this is not a joke.
Q. Is this Satanic?
A. No. Contrary to the claims of some ill-informed Christian fundamentalists, Pagans do not even acknowledge the existence of a devil, much less worship one. Satanism, real or imagined, is anathema to the entire Pagan worldview, and could best be regarded as a Christian heresy with existential tendencies, rather than a feature of the Pagan spiritual community.
Q. Is this New Age?
A. Not exactly. While Paganism has influenced much of the New Age phenomenon (evidenced in spiritual environmentalism, Goddess reverence, and some strains of eclectic Wicca), so has Zen Buddhism, pseudo-shamanism, mystic Christianity, motivational marketing techniques, and a host of trendy fashions. A 1990 national survey of readers of Green Egg (one of the most widely circulated Pagan journals) revealed that only five percent of its Pagan readership also identified themselves with the New Age. Simply put, Paganism is a religion, and the New Age is not.
Q. Is this a cult?
A. No. While a "cult" is properly defined as any religious veneration (such as the Catholic cult of saints), the term has acquired many unsavory characteristics in the public mind that clearly disclude Paganism from it. "Cults," in this context, most often involve aggressive recruiting, inflexible dogma, censorship of opinion, sexual manipulation, and/or surrender of will and individuality. Not only are these not characteristics of Pagan groups, but it can be argued that the Pagan renaissance is in direct response to such behavior!
Q. What about Wicca?
A. Wicca, or Witchcraft, may be described as one denomination of Paganism, much the same way that Protestantism is a denomination of Christianity. Much of the American contemporary Pagan renaissance emerged through Wicca, so there can be a considerable influence. Other Pagan subgroups include Druidry, Asatru (Germanic Paganism), Romuva (Slavic Paganism), some ceremonial magick societies, and perhaps to a limited extent, the Afro-Carribean syncretic practices of Santeria.
Q. Do Pagans proselytize?
A. Pagans tend to consider individual spirituality to be a very personal affair, and thus are frequently offended at the concept of recruiting for a religion. No, Pagans typically do not proselytize. As a result, people interested in Paganism, for one reason or another, must usually ask questions on their own, and hope they meet a Pagan who happens to enjoy a good conversation. Certainly, website access has made this task easier, and it should be understood that most Pagan-related websites are intended to either serve an existing community or make themselves available as passive resources for the interested.
Q. How many Pagans are there?
A. Estimates vary. Gauging by circulation figures for the major Pagan periodicals and books, as well as attendance at regional gatherings and mailing lists, estimates fluctuate between 80,000 to 200,000 in the United States and Canada alone. This would suggest that Pagans outnumber Quakers, Buddhists, and Unitarians in North America. However, because Paganism is not an organized religion, it is very difficult to determine exactly how many there are, and since Pagans often prefer the quality of their associates rather than the quantity of them, most remain unconcerned. (Note: This was written in 1994 -- while estimates of the number of Neo-Pagans have gone up considerably from then to now, there is still no authoritative figure.)
The above was written by Devyn Christopher Gillette for the Rutgers University Pagan Students Association in 1994. Permission is granted to circulate this information over web services provided that this credit is included and the material remain unaltered.
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Blue Star Wicca is a Craft tradition practiced across the United States and touching the lives of hundreds of people as it has evolved and grown. Commonly associated with the simple pleasures of music and family ties among its membership, its history is rich, diverse, and sometimes curiously contradictory.
What would develop into this tradition emerged out of the Coven of the Blue Star, established in Philadelphia circa 1975. It later became prominent in the New York city area. The foundation of this coven had been laid down by Franque Dufner ("Franque the Wizard"), a peace activist who had been active with Vietnam Veterans Against The War. Dufner had earned Third degree, American Welsh tradition (Buczynski line) through "Lady Kay," and had also played a role in the founding of the Covendom of Valhalla. Dufner, with one "Lady Pamela," a Gardnerian High Priestess who served as Elder, founded the fledgling 12-member coven which also included two other Priestesses: "Lady Paula," and "Lady Maria." Membership was largely comprised of students from Pagan Way classes conducted by Lady Pamela in the Philadelphia area and persons involved with Dufner's household in the Society for Creative Anachronism, the Vale of the Flaming Sword.
Within two years, folk musician and storyteller Tzipora Katz (later an Alexandrian Third) served as a Priestess, and later exclusively as High Priestess to the coven. The coven grew, and soon had affiliate groups in Philadelphia, Binghampton and Monticello, and soon developed as a traditionalist-style alternative to more rigid groups in these areas.
Fusing elements from a variety of sources, the coven was humorously listed as practicing "Great American Nontraditional Collectic Eclectic Wicca" during its registration process as the thirty-ninth member coven of the Covenant of the Goddes (COG) in February 1980.
Early developments were heavily influenced by the background traditions of its founders as well as original work, and soon became identified as being "post-Neo-Gardnerian." The Coven of the Blue Star also provided much of the founding energy for at least one annual Pagan gathering in the New York area which continues to be celebrated every autumn.
In 1983, members produced the music cassette "Moon Hooves In The Sand" in a Brooklyn amateur recording studio. Featuring several songs commonly used in its rituals and coordinated by Tzipora and her then-spouse Kenneth, the cassette initiated a long folk music career for the couple. Wider dispersion of the coven framework began to take shape as "Kenny and Tzipora" traveled the United States in what current Blue Star participants jokingly refer to as the tradition's "tour period."
Today, the tradition remains widespread, with groups primarily located in the northeast, central, and midwest United States. Leadership for the overall tradition has been completely decentralized since 1992, with various independent Thirds presently maintaining a loose confederate awareness of one another. The tradition presently includes various factional sects, including Blue Star Traditionalists, Blue Star Nationalists, and even some Blue Star-style eclectic circles. There are also solitaries throughout the United States and individual offshoot groups which borrow heavily from the tradition's framework. Maidenhill Wicca has some roots in Blue Star, and a bond exists between it and the Odyssean tradition as cousins.
Blue Star Wicca features various fundamental principles, with a primary emphasis on worship of the Old Gods than on conducting acts of magick and spellcraft. Hallmarks of the tradition include specific tenets of faith, initiatory tattooing, liturgical music, and a coven officer system (Handmaiden, Summoner, and sometimes Scribe). Spiritual and community service is a fundamental cornerstone to its initiation ethics, and the initiate is acknowledged as clergy following a training process that can be painstakingly difficult. There is an emphasis on the Craft as part of one's daily life, celebratory rites of passage for members and associates, sacred acts of cooking, and children are included in appropriate rituals.
Blue Star "officially" works skyclad, although a regalia system does exist for occasions deemed appropriate. Members wear dark (hunter or forest) green robes with cingula (cords), and initiates wear royal blue robes (or rarely, red, being a direct borrowing from the American Welsh and more common with so-called "pre-tour" groups) with cingula and athames. Many groups simply attire themselves in typical daily wear during ritual, although some savvy circles have adopted the color scheme when doing so. Initiates may be seen with other regalia during certain rites, but typically the attire is more modest compared to other NeoGardnerian groups.
The tradition generally retains a tripartite system of initiation (with Dedicant, Neophyte, and Elder grades), with Thirds retaining full autonomy of their respective groups and students. Groups are also coordinated by initiates of other degrees, or even (rarely) by pre-initiates, ideally under the some level of tutelage and/or mentorship by Thirds. Even with this structure, Blue Star endeavors to maintain a family-style camaraderie, with some groups enjoying close social relationships with one another. In 1991, BarleyMoon Coven began the practice of instituting an annual "Family Gather" reunion, and this has continued to be celebrated at rotating sites across the United States.
Most of the earliest groups worked within the Greco-Roman pantheon, but many more recent groups rely on a British Isles, pan-Celtic, and/or continental Indo-European system of worship. When a polytheistic framework is appropriate, popular deities include Herne, Epona, Brid, the Dagda, Diana, and Pan, with "Sky Father, Wind Brother" and "Earth Mother, Star Sister" during more pantheistic rites.
Blue Star provides a framework system which its members have the option to draw upon and build with, and this has had the interesting result of groups developing significant differences while retaining a basic core. Though its social structure has mutated over the years, the positive result is that practical need has become prioritized over dogmatic rigidity, leaving orderliness to serve where best required. There are groups which work within a specific main course of mysteries, while Blue Star as a whole might be set to provide a table setting, leaving participants to satisfy their palates with whatever suits their spiritual appetites and retain a fairly matched set of utensils.
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For a moment, let's talk about computer programs. Since you're using a computer in some form to read this, you're probably familiar with the "one size fits most" style of computer software: you go to the store, find a program that looks like it does what you need to get done, and buy it. When you put it on your computer, it mostly does what you wanted it to. But if you wanted to change how it worked, you couldn't. What you bought at the computer store is a version of the program to run on your type of computer -- but not the version that can be modified by a programmer. You don't have the "source code."
In the world of computer programming, the open source movement has become increasingly visible over the last decade. When you get an open source program, you get code that you can change to meet your needs. If you're a programmer, if there's something about the program that you don't like, you can tweak it; if there's something that you like a lot, you can borrow it for your own projects. Even if you're not a programmer, there might be dozens of people updating your favorite piece of software just because they like it and want it to be better.
How does this apply to Wicca, puns on "open sourcery" aside? Religions differ not only in the number of gods they acknowledge or the holidays they celebrate, but also in the extent to which they allow folks to tinker with the system. Christianity, for example, has the Bible for a huge part of its "source code." Recognize part of that book as holy, but not other parts, and you wind up with a religious schism -- Roman Catholicism vs. Protestantism. (The Roman Catholic Bible includes the books of Judith, Tobit, Baruch, and others which Protestant Bibles do not.) The problems get even worse if you try to add to the source code: not only is the Book of Mormon recognized as scripture only by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (aka the Mormons), many mainline Christian denominations don't consider the LDS church to be a branch of Christianity.
Wicca, in contrast, doesn't have any one book of source code, any immutable book of scripture. Sure, there are texts that most folks appreciate and refer to: the Charge of the Goddess and the Wiccan Rede may be two of the more familiar. But since there is no One True Scripture, the degree to which any one book represents Wicca has to be judged on external verifiability (this author claims that silver is used to represent the Moon because the Moon really is made of silver, and NASA is covering things up? Hmm, maybe I'll give that book a miss...), the degree to which it agrees with other good books (leading to the question, what books do you start from?), and what works. Even the "most common texts" are revised and re-written, in prose and rhyme, with or without archaisms, with almost infinite variations on the theme.
One consequence of this is that, while Christians, Jews, and Moslems are collectively called "People of The Book" (at least in Islam), Wiccans and other Neo-Pagans might be called "People of the Library." Ask a seemingly simple question and you may receive citations from a dozen different authors in reply. Another consequence is that it can difficult to classify the practices of any particular person or group as Wiccan or not.
What it does not mean, I must point out, is that all Wiccans use and support Open Source computer programs. That's a discussion that can turn more heated than any discussion of mere religion!
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If you still have questions (and we sort of hope that you do!) there are plenty of good "Wicca 101" pages on the web. Witchvox is an amazing site, with a particularly extensive discussion of Neo-Pagan basics in many different languages. Blue Star, the Wiccan tradition ("denomination") of which Willow Bough Grove is a part, has its own web page. It also has a listing on Witchvox, describing the tradition better than the folks here at Willow Bough could.