(^230) A Wiccan Bible
This importance of building community is a part of each and every Wiccan ritual.
Yes, this step in ritual is often the symbolic sex of the Great Rite that marks union of
two people along with the union of their families; however, the message is union of all
kinds. And yet, with each and every Wiccan ritual pointing out the importance of build-
ing community, there is no central mailing list, no way to fully identify our tribe. You
see, in all of our drive to unite in our commonalties, the very structure of Wicca de-
mands that each person be an individual. As a result, there are great numbers of folk
that have missed the point entirely. Even if a central community or mailing list existed,
it would not accurately reflect the community to whom I write because as we have
learned oh so many times, anyone can join a mailing list. In other words, if you have not
heard it yet, you will surely hear someone call himself or herself Wiccan, and yet they
have absolutely nothing in common with yourself. Now what kind of community would
that be?
They might even perform the rituals perfectly, having memorized them from one
book or the other. But if those rituals are performed without meaning, they do not make
one Wiccan in anything except name’s sake. What we do in ritual does not a community
make. Instead, it is those things done outside of the formalities of ritual that makes for
a community of like-minded folk. This is true of all religious communities.
During Catholic ceremonies, there is often a time to turn to your neighbor shake
his or her hand and say ‘Peace be with you.’ But the action that makes community is not
shaking your neighbor’s hand in church, it is mowing his lawn when his leg is broken,
watching his house when he is away, and being concerned about his or her children as if
they were members of one’s own family. One can define the Jewish community better
by what takes place between visits to synagogue than what takes place in synagogue.
One can define Christian community better by what takes place between visits to
church than what takes place in church; one can define Krishna community better by
what takes place between visits to the ashram than what takes place in the ashram;
one can define Muslim community better by what takes place between visits to the
mosque than what takes place in the mosque. So naturally one can define Wiccan
community better by what takes place between our rituals than what takes place within
rituals. In this manner, we see that what takes place outside synagogue, church, ashram,
mosque, and ritual are infinitely more important than what takes place within those
houses of worship.
The reality of Wicca is that there are two distinctly different types of people who
call themselves Wiccan; thus, there are two distinctly different tribes. First, there are
the folk who think Wicca is a soulful Path of duty in service to and kinship with our
Lord and Lady. Then there are the folk who think Wicca is a reason to be all dark and
spooky. Indeed, this split in Wicca has caused many to stop using the name Wicca to
describe their religion in an attempt not to be identified with the faddists using the
same word. Let’s face it, tell people that you are Wiccan and the TV show Buffy the
Vampire Slayer will come to some folk’s minds. Others, like myself, have clung desper-
ately to the word because we see the many noble battles fought to bring our religion
into the position where it enjoys the same legally protected freedoms that other world
religions do. We know that brave folk like Dr. Leo Martello and Herman Slater fought
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