Witchvox Article

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Posted: November 11th. 2000
Times Viewed: 5,219

If one more person informs me that her inspiration for deciding to become Wiccan is Sabrina the Teenage Witch or The Craft or anything of that ilk, I will turn her into an artichoke for newt and bat-wing stew. Or perhaps a pineapple on which I will perform voodoo. You may ask why in the heck an essay on the difficulties of teenage Wiccans finding adult instructors is beginning with such harsh threats. There is a simple answer that I trust will be discovered in the course of my blathering.

Adult Wiccans, in very many cases, do have problems with pre-teens and teenagers meddling with their spirituality. They are also justified. (Gasp.) Did a teenager just agree with an adult voluntarily? Yes, I did! Think about it! How many of the hundreds of teenagers that flock to the Craft yearly are doing it because of genuine, thought-out, deep dissatisfaction with their spirituality? Hm? Or maybe, just maybe, they're all running to the Occult because of something else... the media-pushed misconceptions about our lives as Witches.

I remember, when I was in the seventh grade, there was the High Holy Clique at my middle school. They were the "Best Friends Forever" crowd that had just returned from a trip to Salem, Massachusetts, and were proclaiming themselves Wiccans left and right. I noted that they were all continuously decked out in black clothing and enormous, garrish pentacles, and practically stood on milk crates in the lunch room crying out against the "evils" of Christianity. And I sat there. And I watched. And I observed.

Now put yourself in the shoes of an average, ordinary, religiously-neutral American adult. You witness such events. Eleven- and twelve-year-olds running around in black garb and railing against one of the oldest institutions in the world. They may threaten each other with spells or hexes. They wear strange symbols and flaunt their newfound "spirituality" to anyone who will listen. Would you take them seriously? Of course not. And it is this kind of "Wiccan" that is making it very difficult for us real Wiccans to find our place in the adult world of the Craft.

Most of the people who Instant Message me are young teenagers seeking guidance in the Craft. They usually get pissed off at me (pardon the language) when I start asking them why they think they need to be a Wiccan. "What specifically is it about Christianity you don't like? (Most of these folks are Christian.) What, besides the fact that a lot of your Christian friends aren't nice to you and you don't like going to confession, do you disagree with about your faith? What's calling you to Wicca? Have you ever considered giving your current faith a chance?" If they do get angry with my persistent questioning, I usually write them off as one of the Clique Wiccans - the teenagers that are attracted to a religion because of its close association with the supernatural and the color black. (Grumble.) Now is not the time to point fingers over who's at fault for this image, but I highly suspect the media.

There is another group of teenage Wiccans out there, though. Unfortunately, we are in the minority. Most of us are "older" teenagers, although many are not. We've sat down to consider why we feel the need to separate ourselves from our childhood religion, what is it about Wicca that we are drawn to, and how this change is going to affect our lives. We aren't dabbling in a spirituality for fun, for the shock value to our friends, to horrify the folks, or just plain for the hell of it. It's a conscious decision to unify ourselves with the Goddess and God, the Earth, and basically, the universe. We're the ones who can tell you the folklore behind the Sabbats, can list off the top three reasons for leaving their religious institution and argue their validity, can whip up a healing spell in no time, and will sit down and hash out every last detail - without revealing any secrets, mind you! - of our religious beliefs to prove that it isn't a cult. Why can't there be more dedicated teenage Wiccans and fewer of these dabblers?!

I'm certainly not the High Priestess of any lowly coven, never mind even a big one. I'm just a Solitary Wiccan who likes to observe others, and the observations I've made disturb me greatly. We young folks are the future of the Craft - as we grow up, we bring our faith with us. We are responsible for disproving centuries of misbelief about Witchcraft; this is one of our duties as young Pagans. So if the majority of our age grou pis not dedicated to the True Craft, how are the real ones supposed to convince the adult Pagan community that we're devout?

It's not an easy task. Adults are wary of taking on underage scholars for a number of reasons, not necessarily beginning with the lack of true faith. There are, after all, legal issues. If your parents object to your Wiccan interests, any sensible adult will not teach you, for fear of being slapped with a lawsuit. Secondly, there is the concern that the average "Wiccan" teenager is actually not really Wiccan. It requires a lot of effort to train someone from the ground up, which is why it's better to study for perhaps a year or more before seeking formal training or initiation into a coven - it's easier for the teacher if the new pupil has a lot of background. The extended study period gives the student a chance to really examine the faith closely before buying into it, and also a way out if it's not appropriate. The suspicion and lack of trust that adults harbor against teenage Pagans is quite sound, given the lack of dedication in our diverse group.

I've railed against the Clique Wiccans for a reason - as I said earlier, I'm no better than anyone, I just see things and tell the truth. People hate to be told the truth when it's an inconvenience, and to the Clique Wiccans, this truth is a true inconvenience. I hate to sound like I want to purge the religion of all the nondevout worshippers, that's not my point. My hope is that the Clique Wiccans who read this article will stop and consider what it is they're doing and why it's not helping the Neo-Pagan movement, and that maybe they'll reconsider carrying the banners that say "I WEAR BLACK AND A PENTACLE, I'M A WITCH!" Perhaps they'll even do some serious reading on the subject and eventually come to a point of self-dedication or parting company with the faith. But in the meantime, don't bitch about not being able to find an adult to help you. Books are great reference, and one of the major principles of the Wiccan faith is being self-sufficient. Teach yourself, know yourself, and know your faith. Don't give anyone a reason - ever - to look down on you or your religion. You're doing all of us a huge favor by setting a fine example of what real Witches are all about.

Meara Skye

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Location: , USA

Bio: Meara Skye continues to be a 25-year-old trapped in a 16-year-old's body, much to her disgruntlement. She continues to be an eclectic Wiccan dedicated to the Welsh Goddess Rhiannon, and continues to thank her cat Sophia and her 1972 Volkswagen Beetle (still orange, thank you) Emily-Celeste for their everpresent support and feedback, be it spoken in Feline or Germanic Motor-ish. She would also inquire if any of her readers have cures for household sprites who steal small shiny things.

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