Archive: May 2004
What initially inspired you to write Witchcraft and the Web? Why did you choose to bring many outside voices and contributors in on this project?
Actually, I was contacted by the publisher with the idea. This publisher, ECW Press in Canada, was interested in beginning a line of Pagan titles. The acquisitions editor had found me online, and based on my Web presence and my background and experience that she had read about there, she thought I was someone who'd have a good perspective on the phenomena of how Witchcraft has been affected by the Web. I was still relatively new to the Web myself.
For my part, I thought that if this publisher was going to be doing a line of Pagan titles, writing for them might give me a good opportunity to influence that line. I thought that I might guide them away from the usual fluff that floods the market and persuade them that there is a market for more advanced Pagan titles. I believe the Pagan movement — for movement it is — has matured and is hungry for more advanced material.
Evidently, they agreed, because soon they contracted for books with three of my friends/sister authors, all elders in their various traditions of the Craft. These were Judy Harrow in New York, for Spiritual Mentoring; Grey Cat in Tennessee for Deepening Witchcraft; and Tamarin Laurel in Massachusetts for Initiation at Beltane (fiction). ECW has published other good Pagan titles since then as well.
But it wasn't all just because the publisher asked and I liked the publisher. I really did feel that the spread of cyberculture had a significant effect on Paganism. The Web not only fostered Paganism's growth, but also helped us build community. It offered us new ways of connecting with our coreligionists. Because of the relative safety of cyberconnections, the Web allowed many Witches to come out of the proverbial broom closet. It reassured them that there were others who felt and believed as they do. In addition, Web communication enabled us to learn more of our history, and to share lore and ways of doing magic and ritual. It was fun to sit down and really think about the ways the Web and Craft have grown together, and then to try to share that with readers.
You refer to the spider woman goddess throughout this book, what is the significance and meaning of this energy in your life?
Spider Woman is the cosmic weaver. What is Webcrafting but weaving in the medium of cyberspace? To me, she is the perfect goddess who embodies and influences our cyberconnections.
Why do you prefer to use the term Witchcraft over other label such as Wicca and Paganism?
Because the three terms are not synonymous. Paganism is a more general term which includes other religions such as Druidism, Asatru, and reconstructed traditions. I am a Pagan of the Witchen persuasion. Wicca is a specific kind of Witchcraft, what is often referred to as BTW, or British Traditional Wicca. Wicca has a clearly traced lineage, where one group or teacher trains others, then initiates them. They have a specific Book of Shadows, specific rituals and liturgy, specific deities, mixed-gender covens, and a delineated hierarchy.
Witchcraft, on the other hand, is more home-grown. It's also more eclectic. Some Witchcraft traditions are devoted solely to the Goddess or goddesses and do not necessarily honor a god. These are called Dianic Witches, and while they are mainly all women, there are male Dianics. Other Craft traditions have a specific focus, such as healing or psychic development. Witchcraft can often be less ceremonial than Wicca, too. For a more detailed explanation of my thoughts about these differences, I refer you to an article I did some years ago in Reclaiming Quarterly called "The W Word, or Why We Call Ourselves Witches" on my website at http://machanightmare.com/W_word.html
You've been involved with the Witchcraft community for over 30 years what were some of the biggest changes/shifts you noticed from the beginning up until this point?
Wow! They're so big, those changes. When most of us old-timers became involved with Witchcraft and began to study, there were only a very few books. Even those few titles were hard to come by, especially if you lived outside a major metropolitan area that had a thriving literary scene. Now there are movies, TV shows, books, paraphernalia, and even Barbie dolls.
Now, it's not that these pop culture things are really Witchcraft, but they do indicate how popular Paganism has become. That's mainly a good thing, but like anything, it has its shadow side. In some ways, this growing popularity has kind of watered it down, while in other ways it's spread our religions to seekers who had previously felt isolated and disconnected from others. People with no sense of community.
The same applies to Witchcraft and the Web: we now have community where before we had only small, hidden groups of practitioners.
Since this is an election year what impact can Witches and Pagans make by voting? Which political issues do you feel our community should pay attention to?
I'm glad you asked this question. I think it is supremely important for Witches and Pagans, and for all citizens, to vote. We live in the real world. We live in the world of Nature and our neighborhoods and our workplaces. Politics (from the Greek polites, meaning ‘citizen') are about human interaction. They are about the human condition. Education, health services, transportation, basic necessities like fire, ambulance, hospital, police, water, sewage, and even food — all are regulated by government, either local, state or national. Policies and rules put into place by our legislators affect all of us.
Witchcraft (and Paganism) is not about escaping reality. Rather, it is about deepening it, deepening one's connection to the Web of life. So if we do spells, we need to put them into action. It's not enough just to gather the proper herbs and stones and such and put them together at a certain astrologically significant time, using the appropriate incantations to empower them. After we do that, we have to put them into action in the mundane world. So if you want a job or apartment, you do the spell for it, and they you go apply for jobs and look at apartments. No one is going to come knocking at your door offering you a job or an apartment. You have to actively seek it. It's the same with politics. It's not enough to do a protection spell and assume you won't get hassled by ignorant people who disapprove of what you're doing and the fact that you're a Pagan. You have to assure your rights to believe and practice as you wish.
Therefore, it is imperative to exercise our hard-won right to vote. This is even more important today when we have an administration in power that is eroding our civil rights. The current administration is a conservative Christian theocracy, meaning a community governed by god (theos) or priests of that god(s). If we sit idly by while conservatives trample on our Constitutional rights, rights which were won with the blood of patriots, then we will lose them. So do vote! (Please note that I do not equate all of Christianity with that espoused by the current White House.)
As to what issues for Pagans to pay attention to, the key issue in that regard is the separation of church and state. The freedom of speech, the freedom to worship as we choose, the freedom of assembly.
You've been hosting classes/workshops for many years. Would you sat the majority of people hear about your classes/workshops via the Internet?
No, not necessarily. I've been teaching since about 1980, mostly locally where I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, but also nationally through my long involvement with the Covenant of the Goddess. CoG is a national organization with Local Councils all over the country. CoG's annual business meeting, Grand Council, is part of a festival sponsored by CoG called MerryMeet. MerryMeet rotates around the country. Each year it is hosted by a different Local Council. It has been primarily through my work in CoG that I have been exposed to other Witches, and from there to Pagans in general.
People assume that because cyber covens and online courses aren't "in person" they are completely safe. Do you have any cautions to provide our readers on how to keep safe and avoid any pitfalls/scams?
Well, to begin with, I'd offer the same caution that I'd proffer in any situation where someone is meeting new people and new ideas and ways of doing things — and that is the Latin phrase caveat emptor, let the buyer beware. Trust must be built; it must be allowed to grow; and it must be earned. It's imprudent to put your trust in people you don't know. It takes time for you to build an ordinary friendship, so it understandably takes time to build the kind of trust desired in a working magical group.
That is complicated online because of the ability of people to assume different personalities. See my writing about online personae in Witchcraft and the Web.
Please tell us about your next book and when it is due out!
Thanks for asking. My next book is Pagan Pride: Honoring the Craft and Culture of Earth and Goddess, due out in September from Citadel Press, New York. It's a compendium of 101 things that Pagans have contributed to culture. Many of the entries will surprise you, since they are such an ingrained part of Western culture and are not necessarily thought of as having been Pagan in origin. Such things as democracy and theater are Pagan inventions. Pagan stories, myth, and folklore, such as the story of the Trojan War, are embedded within our culture. I think we Pagans will find much to be proud of that we didn't realize was part of our Pagan world.
Thanks for this opportunity to speak to your readers. I'm heartened by the growth of our religions, and it is our younger practitioners and our children who will carry Witchcraft and Paganism forward into new times.
Blessings of the living land,
Macha
Related Links:
Cherry Hill Seminary Website: www.cherryhillseminary.org
M.Macha NightMare's Website: www.machanightmare.com
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