Reflection #4

This week I started to put more into my paper. I was surprised that the outline we had made in class actually really helped me come up with what to put in my paper and all of my thinking felt like it was already done, I just needed to put more support and words behind it. I was very shocked and happy by this because everything seemed to come easier and I already knew what I planned to cover in each paragraph. I know that if we had not done this as an assignment or not in class, I know that I wouldn’t have made an outline by myself and if it was assigned outside of class I probably wouldn’t have worked as hard on it when I got back home. We were assigned to only do five pages, but I actually ended up doing seven including the Works Cited page. It’s kind of funny because I told my boyfriend this and now he’s concerned that my paper is going to be way over the maximum amount of pages. I’m hoping that he will be wrong, but I do have a tendency to just keep writing. A big goal of mine for this class is to stay within the page limits and to be sure that I keep myself within those page limits so I hopefully won’t have to fight with myself on what needs to be taken out.

I guess that after doing so much research on Wicca, I feel that I am constantly repeating myself, but not actually in my paper. I think I’m just repeating myself on the assignments and my plans and ideas for the paper. I was having some issues with this while writing. I would start to type something but then question myself on whether I have already written that point somewhere else in my paper or if I just remember writing the point down for another assignment. That made it a little more difficult to write, but I guess at least I feel like my paper is going to be very thorough.

Outline for Research Paper

Thesis: Many believe that Wicca involves worshipping the devil and dangerous spells, I

have found that Wicca is actually a peaceful religion that worships nature.

Background:

Major Points:

I. Some Wiccans believe that what you do will eventually come back to you three times.

a. Opposition: This is a ridiculous belief, similar to karma or sinning and it doesn’t really matter.

b. A2

c. This idea has been repeated in many different sources, there is also the Wiccan Rede

II. Each witch makes Wicca their own. Some tag in other religion’s practices.

a. Opposition: Because witches are able to make the religion their own, they can worship Satan.

b. E1, E2

c. They could worship Satan, but Marion Gibson, author of Witchcraft Myths in American Culture, believes they tag in religions like Buddhism, feminist philosophy of Cixous or Irigaray.

III. Wicca is becoming more well-known, especially in other countries, and it is becoming more accepted into socities.

a. Opposition: I don’t know and haven’t heard anything about Wicca so this must be untrue.

b. F1

c. In America, Wicca hasn’t been as widely practiced as in other countries but in London the witches are becoming so accepted that the Beltane ceremony was openly celebrated and shared with others and the witches were able to be a part of the parade.

IV. Wiccans do not worship the devil or Satan.

a. Opposition: Does a “Horned God” sound like a peaceful man to you? I picture the devil.

b. B1, D1, F3

c. The “Horned God” represents the Lord of Death, winter and the hunt, supposedly male divinity. The Moon Goddess, on the other hand, is the Mother Goddess, Summer, fertitlity and birth, which is supposed to be feminine. They do not mention a devil, just seasons and things each sex is believed to need a blessing for.

V. Hollywood glorifies witches, but also give them a bad reputation.

a. Opposition: Witches deserve bad reputations for their evil deeds.

b. B2

c. Hollywood has created bad witches like Alphaba in the Wizard of Oz and the witch in Snow White, but in reality people don’t look or act like these characters. No one is colored green permanently from birth, has a face covered in worts or a big crooked nose that looks sinister. Unless the person made it widely known, it would be difficult to pick out the witch in a group of people.

VI. Conclusion

Intro and Conclusion

Sliding the keys from his car, Jeremy quickly climbs out of his truck. He’s late but hopefully they already started without him. He traces the woods until he finds a worn path. It’s dark and slightly chilly, with nature chirping around him. When he starts to see a bright orange and red light, he knows he found the clearing. As he approaches the others, he’s glad to see that they did start the ceremony without him. They are chanting and as he silently approaches, they allow him to join in as well. Jeremy is a Wiccan and he is celebrating Beltane, the first day of summer. Jeremy’s ceremony with his coven is a peaceful one and it will always be a peaceful ceremony because he does not practice Satanism, a common myth about Wicca.

When this paper was started, Jeremy was celebrating a peaceful Beltane ceremony with his coven in hopes that their prayers will bring good fortune. With the evidence provided, it is quite easy to have a better understanding of Wicca and to see that the majority of the myths are wrong about Wiccans. While there may be some that go a little overboard with their beliefs, which can and does happen in any and every religion, the majority of Witches are nice, natural and peaceful when they practice Wicca. So be sure to keep in mind, what you do to others is supposed to come right back to you three times.

Reflection #3

Over the weekend, I had a feeling that writing our actual papers/rough drafts was going to be the next step that we took with our eight-page research paper. I was feeling pretty motivated, I guess, so I started to write my paper. I am shocked that it actually isn’t as bad as I was dreading. My creativity appeared to be really on the rise because I was able to open up my paper with a story, that is completely my own. From there I began with Wicca’s history and explained how this guy, Gardner, is believed to be “the one” who first started a certain “type” of Wicca. He had his own type of practice and one of his practices or realizations was the Wiccan Rede. He had apparently come up with the shortened version, but I was able to find a really long, rhyming poem that wicca.org appeared to really appreciate. I decided to include the poem in my paper and was happily surprised that it takes up a lot of room. I definitely believe that the poem was a wise decision. I think that I have decided to either mention or slightly give an idea about the other main leaders practices of Wicca. Apparently Witches are supposed to make Wicca there individual religion, but it sounds like they get ideas from other Witches and covens. It’s all so interesting to me but yet still everything seems very vague. I’m not sure if it’s because each of the Witches practice Wicca individually or if people are afraid to write and show that they know about Wicca or may even practice Wicca but everything I’ve found seems to be just giving me an idea of what is going on without really telling me the details.

Proposal

For this eight-page research paper, I propose to research and provide a history of Wicca, provide the specific rituals that Wiccans may perform, describe the wrongful assumptions and myths against Wiccans all to prove that Wicca is a peaceful religion that does not in itself worship Satan. I will be hoping to accomplish a well-thought out research paper by using my time wisely I had a feeling that writing our actual papers would be coming up soon so I spent a few hours over the weekend writing my first three paragraphs and pages. I am not good when working under pressure so I will be spending a few hours each day I can manage to try and complete, revise and better my paper. This method has worked for me in the past so I hope it will work again. Fall quarter I spent a lot of time meeting with my professor so I may be trying to visit or leave a few emails. I'm also hoping to take advantage of the Writing Center as well.

Since I am the one doing the most research on my topic and because I will have spent so my time and energy into the project, I declare myself as the expert in the classroom on Wicca.

More Websites:

http://www.witchonthego.com/structure.html

http://ariannasmoon.tripod.com/wiccasite/index.htm

http://spells-witchcraft.org/book-of-shadows.html

Reflection #2

When I was researching Wicca, I didn’t realize that there were different kinds of Wiccan practices. I guess I’m used to being a Catholic so much where no matter what church you go to, the mass is held in the same order, with the same or similar songs and everything is traditionally repeated. But with Wicca, each witch is supposed to practice in their own fashion. So some may tie in Buddhism, the feminist philosophy of Cixous or Irigaray into their Wiccan practices. I was paging through one of my sources, History of Witchcraft, when I turned to page 168 and found a group of eight people running around a circle completely naked. It was very unexpected so I read the caption next to it: “Alex Sanders leading a ritual dance at the sabbat, which is often performed ‘skyclad’-naked- in order to reduce inhibitions that might impede the flow of magical power.” After I was taken by surprise with that photo, I started paying more attention to the photos in the book. I was surprised to see even more ritual practices that were each unique. For example, sometimes Wiccans may dress up like the Horned God and the Moon Goddess with a veil on the woman with a crown overtop that has a moon and the pentacle on it. The man wore a mask that had two horns and almost looked like it branched out like a triceratops, but the “branching out” part appeared to be leaves. There is another practice that apparently comes in different degrees because a picture was described as “The First Degree Initiation of Janet Farrar in a ritual conducted by Alex and Maxine Sanders” and it included “biding and blindfolding [as] a part of the death and rebirth symbolism embodied in the ceremony of initiation.” After finding out that there are different ways to practice Wicca, I’m trying to decide how specific I should make my paper on it. Should I describe each of the more commonly known and popular rituals or should I just state that each witch practices Wicca in their own way?