(^236) A Wiccan Bible
What Is Wiccan Community?
I called this chapter ‘Liber ab Gens’ because the Latin word gens translates well as
both ‘tribe’ and as ‘nation.’ Here, hidden in the very nature of an ancient Pagan lan-
guage we find the wisdom of that which is Wiccan community. We are not a group of
folk who all think identically about any one subject because the very nature of our
religion forces one to decide for oneself. Contained here in this book is my personal
dogma and doctrine. You do not have to agree to be Wiccan.
For this reason, using the term Wiccan community does not accurately reflect the
nature of our religion. Wicca is based on knowing oneself rather than knowing the
words in a book. As a result, it is a very personal religion, and while any one Wiccan is
likely to share many things in common with the next, our religion is based far too greatly
on the individual to envision a large community without tremendous amounts of in-
fighting on the subject of just what Wicca is. For that reason, here I use the term Pagan
community rather than Wiccan community to discuss relations larger than those of kith
and kin. While not every Pagan is Wiccan, in general terms there is no greater distance
between the beliefs of any one Pagan and the other than between any one Wiccan and
another.
Finding Pagan Community
Currently, the main problem with finding Pagan community is found in the same
reason I choose to use the term Pagan community rather than Wiccan community. For
the most part, each effort to establish Pagan community has found it necessary to be-
come a tradition or denomination unto itself. Now this in and of itself is not a bad thing,
so when I discuss the following Pagan organizations, please do not think I am attacking
them in anyway. But the current structure does create an obvious problem: How does
one find out what traditions or groups are available to the seeker? Not a reference or a
listing, but how does someone meet folk from the many different groups and tradi-
tions? How does one find the community options?
Listed here are what I have found to be top of the list of Pagan organizations, these
are the finest of the finest. However, only one of the three listed has not become a
tradition unto itself.
A Druid Fellowship
In my opinion, this is one of three of the finest Pagan organizations available to the
seeker. Founded by Isaac Bonewits, one of the better-educated authors in the Pagan
community, the central idea behind its liturgy is that although local chapters (called
groves) may change the pantheons used in ritual, the basic ritual construct are the same
from group to group. This way, a member familiar with ritual structure in one grove
can travel the world and still attend public religious services the same way members of
most mainstream religions can.
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