Wicca's Origins and the False Testimony of the Old Religion

[Miss Lune Soleil]

I'm currently writing a thesis on Wicca's origins and why it is falsly referred to as the Old Religion. It isn't finished yet, but a lot is here. Let me know in the thread what you think so far! smile

http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=17297555  

[Nihilistic Seraph]

*thumbs up*  

[Miss Lune Soleil]

=3 Thank y'all  

[Starlock]

Much of it is information I've seen before elsewhere, but I wouldn't expect you to be doing original research unless you were doing it for Grad studies or a Ph.D. (and then, you're hard pressed to find a program to do that kind of study in). Though it is presenting info I've seen before, it's a well done summary that I wouldn't mind pointing people to. One thing I might do, however, is shift the citation style to something more formal: either parantheticals or footnotes. That way someone could follow the same trail you did to the same information. Granted not everyone cares about that, but it's good policy even though it makes for more work on the part of the writer.  

[Miss Lune Soleil]

Starlock

Much of it is information I've seen before elsewhere, but I wouldn't expect you to be doing original research unless you were doing it for Grad studies or a Ph.D. (and then, you're hard pressed to find a program to do that kind of study in). Though it is presenting info I've seen before, it's a well done summary that I wouldn't mind pointing people to. One thing I might do, however, is shift the citation style to something more formal: either parantheticals or footnotes. That way someone could follow the same trail you did to the same information. Granted not everyone cares about that, but it's good policy even though it makes for more work on the part of the writer.

3nodding Yeah I did consider doing that, but at the time it seemed too fiddly lol (plus I need to figure out how to do those little numbers of Word xd ). The peeps in the Rehab guild already suggested more direct quotes and such, and that'd fit nicely too. Thanks ^^  

[Nihilistic Seraph]

Ctrl Shift, + for the superscript. Or, insert, the footnote to put the citational info at the bottom of the page.  

[The Bookwyrm]

I think my only complaint is that the "Old Traditions" came from folk beliefs outside Britain as well. wink It's nit picky, but these traditions are a kind of hodge-podge from all across Europe, and I hate to see some of these rich traditions from areas such as the Germanic countries, Italy and Ireland and Scotland all simply called British.

It's definately a weighty project, though. Are you writing this as a part of an honours degree, or just because you can?  

[DR490N]

just a little tidbit of info here. the 'horned god' is most likely Cernunnos, an ancient celtic god representative of sexuality and the wild, wild animals, occasionally nature in its untamed form, etc. Cernunnos was typically depicted as a male figure with stag's antlers holding a vine in one hand and a torc in the other(coincidentally these are all things i independantly developed a certain facination and reverence for before researching ancient celtic religion, leading me to believe i worshipped Cernunnos in at least one of my past lives, which isnt at all unlikely considering that i was a pagan celt in each and every one of those lives as a human). he is a central god of all classes of ancient celtic society, and even after the scottish celts converted to christianity, they still worshipped cernunnos for some time, until the christians eventually began integrating elements of cernunnos's appearance into the depictions of satan.  

[Miss Lune Soleil]

Thanks Nihl smile

It isn't for any degree, Blue, it's actually for my own referance and use in debate. biggrin

As for the Horned God Cernunnos thing, while that is used as the name for the God in public, Cernunnos himself is not the Wiccan God. >.> Plus Wicca isn't Celtic anyway...  

[The Bookwyrm]

DR490N

just a little tidbit of info here. the 'horned god' is most likely Cernunnos, an ancient celtic god representative of sexuality and the wild, wild animals, occasionally nature in its untamed form, etc. Cernunnos was typically depicted as a male figure with stag's antlers holding a vine in one hand and a torc in the other(coincidentally these are all things i independantly developed a certain facination and reverence for before researching ancient celtic religion, leading me to believe i worshipped Cernunnos in at least one of my past lives, which isnt at all unlikely considering that i was a pagan celt in each and every one of those lives as a human). he is a central god of all classes of ancient celtic society, and even after the scottish celts converted to christianity, they still worshipped cernunnos for some time, until the christians eventually began integrating elements of cernunnos's appearance into the depictions of satan.

Actually, Cernunnos is one of many horned gods used in reference for the Wiccan God; other include Pan and Herne (pronounced Hern-yah). These three gods, along with many others, were taken into account as references when the Christian Church began to depict Satan with horns and cloven hooves. Baphomet is actually the poster child for Satan in the middle ages; horned gods can be found in all early cutlures. Their "horns" represented male verility.

Cernunnos was actually a sun deity from Gaul, associated with fertility in humans, animals and agriculture, as well as the hunt. He's also a god of abundance, and very helpful when you're trying to get together a few extra dollars. The Scots, I'm pretty sure were very much like the Irish and worshipped Herne, not Cernunnos, as Big C was a deity found only on the continent. wink  

[phantomkitsune]

Gypsy, you rock.
Lune, the beginnings of it are lovely. Very stative, but it makes it easy to read. It seems very well-researched. And I like that you differentiated the origins of the things Wicca draws on. It is so often simply called British.
Dragon, you might want to be slightly more discriminating about the difference between Celts and Gauls. The Celts were the ones with the kilts, and the Gauls were the ones in France, to put it most simply.  

[The Bookwyrm]

phantomkitsune

Gypsy, you rock.

heart I certainly try. My Gothic lit prof is saying the same thing, due to my trivia knowledge of thing occult.