As I said in a previous post I have a problem with terminology and it's attendant baggage. You ever try finding a definition for pagan, witch, wiccan, or magic? Oh, you can find the technical dictionary definition but that's not how people *use* the words. Some people don't use the word witch because they imagine a Wicked Witch of the West sort.... And then there is the magic/magick debate.... (Magic is a *whole* other topic btw) And I think a lot of people also use Wicca and witchcraft interchangeably. So here is my take on the whole thing, and I fully expect the wrath of all sorts of people to fall on my head for these but here I go anyway!
Pagan to me is a very broad term, it includes pretty much anything nature based, dualistic ad/or pantheonistic (is that a word?) and a mystery tradtion. I think that you can be wiccan without being a witch and vice versa. Being a witch is more about magic... whereas I think you can be wiccan and never do any magic at all. If I had to call myself something I would probably choose witch.... I think the term has romance and in my mind at least the term wiccan has been ruined by fluffbunnies (also another topic).
I do *not* think that in wicca you can just pick and choose what you "like" and I have major issues with people borrowing from native american and other tradition when the person doing the borrowing has no connection with that culture. I just don't feel comfortable borrowing deities from a culture I know nothing about. Now I may change my mind about all this tomorrow or next week, or not.
I also have an issue with people who insist that they have all the right ideas and not only are you wrong but you're stupid for thinking the way you do. They are so busy proving themselves right that they aren't willing to even consider that there might be different points of view, it's just too threatening. Whew... alright that's it for now. I'm sure I will think of a hundred and one points that contridict myself tomorrow lol but that's for tomorrow.
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