[BTW] British Traditional Wicca

[MidnightLetter]

While it is based on older practices and religions, it is generally accepted that the various branches/traditions of Wicca can be traced back to Gardnerian Witchcraft which was founded in the UK during the late 1940s. This thread is for those of you who are interested in learning more about BTW, specifically Gardnerian and Alexandrian Wicca and more about where Wicca as a modern religion started. Questions and discussions are welcome!

 

[MidnightLetter]

Gardnerian Wicca is a Wiccan tradition whose members can trace initiatory descent from Gerald Gardner. The tradition is named after the person many consider as the founder of Wicca, Gerald Gardner (1884-1964), a British civil servant and scholar of magic, among other topics.

Gardnerian Wicca, as an initiatory, magical and oral tradition of modern witchcraft, is comprised of a number of tradition-specific rituals and practices that are used by its initiates to comprehend the Craft Mysteries. In addition to their magical operations, most Gardnerians utilise their spiritual system to gain an experiential/non-conceptual understanding of the age old question of life and death. The principles of the Mysteries, which include Wiccan worldview, ontology and ethics, can be categorized
as follow:

- Initiation and Oath before the Gods
- Mystery of the Goddess and God
- Powers of the Mighty Ones of the Four Quarters
- Non-dualism
- Reincarnation
- Magic and Witch Power
- Three-fold Law of Return
- Wiccan Rede
- Circle of power
- Wheel of the Year

Since one of the most important aspects of the craft tradition is understood through experience, Gardnerians keep their rituals and coven practices secret from non-initiates. In this way, each initiate is given the opportunity to find for him/herself what the ritual experience means by using the basic 'language' of a shared ritual tradition, to discover the nature of the Mysteries.

The tradition has a focus on its community, placing great emphasis on ethical conduct and reverence towards all sentient beings as central to spiritual maturity. The belief that 'ye may not be a witch alone' also extends the idea that personal growth, both intellectually and spiritually, is
dependent on and affects our surroundings and the people around us. For example, Gardnerian High Priestess Eleanor Bone was not only one of the most respected elders in the tradition, she was also a matron of a nursing home. Moreover, the BW coven today is well known as a coven with
many members from academic or intellectual background contributing to the preservation of Wiccan knowledge. Gerald Gardner himself actively disseminated educational resources on folklore and the occult to the general public through his Museum of Witchcraft in the Isle of Man. Therefore, Gardnerian Wicca can be said to differ slightly from many other craft practices that generally concentrate solely on solitary spiritual development.
source

Gardnerian BOS  

[MidnightLetter]

Alexandrian Wicca is a Wiccan tradition founded in the 1960's by Alex Sanders, with his wife Maxine. Alexandrian Wicca is similar in many ways to Gardnerian Wicca, and receives regular mention in books on Wicca as one of the religion's most widely-recognized traditions. The Alexandrian tradition is based largely upon Gardnerian Wicca, in which Sanders was trained to the first degree of initiation, and also contains elements of ceremonial magic and Qabalah, which Sanders had studied independently.
Alexandrian Wicca, in similarity with other traditional Wiccan practices, emphasizes gender polarity. This emphasis can be seen in the Sabbat rituals, which focus on the relationship between the Wiccan Goddess and God.

As compared to Gardnerian Wicca, Alexandrian Wicca is "somewhat more eclectic", according to The Encyclopedia of Modern Witchcraft and Neo-Paganism. Maxine Sanders notes that Alexandrians take the attitude "If it works use it". Tool use and deity and elemental names also differ from the Gardnerian tradition. Skyclad practice, or ritual nudity, is optional within the tradition, training is emphasized, and ceremonial magic practices, such as those derived from Hermetic Qabalah and Enochian magic may be part of ritual. The core beliefs are still adhered to as well.
source

Alexandrian BOS  

[Korealia]

MidnightLetter

- Initiation and Oath before the Gods
- Mystery of the Goddess and God
- Powers of the Mighty Ones of the Four Quarters
- Non-dualism
- Reincarnation
- Magic and Witch Power
- Three-fold Law of Return
- Wiccan Rede
- Circle of power
- Wheel of the Year

I wonder why 'non-dualism' is listed. Specifically, citing 'The Study of Witchcraft' by Deborah Lipp, polarity is a very important factor in BTW.  

[too2sweet]

I don't think it is talking about polarity. I went back to the original article and started going back through the reference links and this is what I found...

Quote:

We view our relationship with the God and Goddess as a reciprocal one. We need Them, and we give to Them, and in equal measure, They need us, and They give to us. We do not see the Gods as 'out there' somewhere. Rather, the Divine is within us, and we are in the Divine. This is not a 'psychologizing' of religion. It is a nondualistic way of looking at all that is. The trick is to realize that the Gods are as separate from us as they are a part of us, and to be able to hold both these truths simultaneously.

Which brings us to the idea of non-dualism. This is a way of looking at the world which realizes that, though separation is necessary, it is an illusion made necessary by the fact that we are working in the field of Time. We both are and are not separate from everything else in the universe. This is another importance concept in Gardnerianism.
source

The above quote is from an article that was written by Akasha and Eran, HPS and HP, Windsinger Coven - which is possibly an off shoot of New England Witchcraft Traditionalists, which itself seems to be lineaged BTW.  

[Korealia]

too2sweet

The above quote is from an article that was written by Akasha and Eran, HPS and HP, Windsinger Coven - which is possibly an off shoot of New England Witchcraft Traditionalists, which itself seems to be lineaged BTW.

so the concept of non-dualism is not in reference to the polarity of nature, but the concept of schizm in spiritual and material? that's the gist i get from it.

wonder if a source can be found that is specifically BTW. as you start branching off from that lineage, some of the belief and theological aspect might start getting a bit dodgy.

as far as i understand it, even if you're a lineage holder, once you start branching out from the original teachings, you're not practicing BTW, no matter how close to ritual structure you practice. too much variation from the orginal Gardnerian BTW and they start splitting hairs. hmm.... neutral  

[too2sweet]

Quote:

Okay... here is the deal. The original poster is somewhat misinformed. BTW itself is a lineaged branch off from Gardnerian Wicca. BTW and Gardnerian Wicca are not synonymous any more than Gardnerian and Alexandrian are synonymous. Gerald Gardner created Wicca as it is practiced. Originally, there was no Gardnerian Wicca. Wicca itself implied Gardner. However... as happens, there were people initiated into Gardner's Coven (by Gardner or his HPS) who did not agree with some of the tenants. It is very important to note that these disagreements never really covered the CORE of Wicca. They were generally extraneous issues. So, as was planned for in the creation of Wicca, these individuals hived off, but made changes that altered in some ways from Gardnerian Wicca. The first to do this was Alex... creating Alexandrian and Gardnerian Wicca through the split. BTW was another offshoot, partially in answer to what Buckland did in bringing Wicca to the US while changing certain aspects and then altering from the Traditional path all together.

And that is an important example. Though Raymond Buckland is a lineaged initiate of Gardnerian Wicca, he is not a Gardnerian Wiccan any longer. Nor is he even a Traditional Wiccan any longer. This is because he differed from the core, inherent basics of Traditional Wicca. And that is where the original poster of this question got it wrong as far as the dilution of centralized ideas.

On polarity... I honestly have no idea what they are talking about. Polarity is everywhere... dualism is everywhere. Nature, deific structure, et al. Even in spiritual and material ideas, unless they were saying that the spiritual and the material were not at separate poles... if that is the case, they are quite right. It breaks down smaller than that... so yea... not quite sure what they were trying to say to be perfectly honest.

Okay... that makes sense in the second quote. Yes... I do agree in fundamentals, though I think that it is a poor way to describe it. There is a certain artificial nature about the way that we define things, because we must, because we are not even capable of really grasping the whole.

Quote:

Quote:

In the context of the article that you linked to, non-dualism seems to be pointing towards the idea of panentheism - that Deity is both immanent and transcendant.

To be honest, I'm not certain it matters. However one chooses to percieve the universe and our relationship with Deity, it isn't the core of BTW - how one practices and works is. There's room inside each coven for varying individual perspectives.

Quote:

too2sweet

Quote:

We view our relationship with the God and Goddess as a reciprocal one. We need Them, and we give to Them, and in equal measure, They need us, and They give to us. We do not see the Gods as 'out there' somewhere. Rather, the Divine is within us, and we are in the Divine. This is not a 'psychologizing' of religion. It is a nondualistic way of looking at all that is. The trick is to realize that the Gods are as separate from us as they are a part of us, and to be able to hold both these truths simultaneously.

Which brings us to the idea of non-dualism. This is a way of looking at the world which realizes that, though separation is necessary, it is an illusion made necessary by the fact that we are working in the field of Time. We both are and are not separate from everything else in the universe. This is another importance concept in Gardnerianism. source

The conversation arose out of a discussion of this quote and while I can see the point they are making - I was looking for the opinion of someone who might have a little more knowledge on the subject.

Since this is an essay dealing in part with the nature of the mysteries, it can never properly commune those things. As the article states itself, it uses metaphors and similar from outside Wicca in order to discuss it.
It seems to me that the concept of non-dualism is one that has been taken and adapted by the author to describe to a non Wiccan audience, things that are in my opinion, futile to talk about. Being an orthopraxy, no initiator will/should/can tell a candidate "you must believe in deity in this way", it is something that each person realises and understands in their own context through the rites and rituals that Wiccan's practice. This includes direct experience of Deity. These aspects of Wicca are not prescribed. Outside of the concept of the Lord and Lady, there is no doctrine on how a person should view Deity. Hence the divergence in ditheism and polytheism within Wicca. As Morgandria rightly points out. Such concepts are not core, but in one persons individual way, may assist to communicate things that are related to core.
As regards the comment of the poster you were discussing this with, such concepts are not outside the divergence of BTW practice. In order for BTW practice to remain such, the core must be followed without omission and additions should be noted as being additions. It is additions that evolve into differing traditions of BTW, it is divergence from core that separate a tradition from being BTW.