FAQs

Doesn’t Wicca have a lot of rules?

We hear this from people who are put off by Wicca and feel that joining a coven will in some way stifle their own creativity and spirituality. There are huge numbers of people identifying as witches at the moment, which is very exciting. However, many of them feel that Wicca is not for them, that it’s old, hide-bound and rule-based. HA!

What Wicca offers is a period of training – a journeyman’s experience, if you like – where people learn the foundations and frameworks of magical practice. By its nature, any period of training or learning comes with guidance and a certain level of rigour – however, once you are initiated, the horizons are limitless. Wicca is the magpie of all practices, we bring in whatever magic we find, from whatever source works. It’s joyous and free and ecstatic, it is serious and rigourous and deep. Yes, there is a framework but from that framework, wonderful, and meaningful things happen and people are free to practice and learn in unlimited ways.

Is Wicca a cult?

No. While Gardner referred to ‘The Witch Cult’, Wicca is the polar opposite of a cult – it’s quite difficult to join and extremely easy to leave.

Isn’t Wicca exclusive?

No again. It is fair to say that in the past Wiccans were largely straight white middle-class British people, however this has changed a great deal and continues to do so. Our coven is one of multitudinous inclusive covens around the globe which is a mix of gender, sexuality, race, ability, education and class. The only qualifications for joining Wicca are to have a genuine interest and the time to commit.

Do you practice skyclad?

Ritual nudity (usually termed being ‘skyclad’) is part of Wicca and many covens do practice this way, however there are several things which it is important to note.

Firstly and foremostly, this is ritual nudity, as in being naked before one’s gods and is more akin to naturism, where it has its roots. It is not nudity for sexual reasons; any covens who conflate the two are to be avoided. It is also only practiced amongst initiated Wiccans. If you are told you must practice naked before you join a coven or before you are initiated, please run, this is very likely a coven to avoid.

Finally, not all covens practice skyclad and if you are uncomfortable with this just ask – some will be happy to accommodate your needs.

As an aside, many people feel that skyclad practice is their biggest barrier to joining Wicca, however every person I have met who was nervous about it changed their mind immediately. Some genuine quotes are ‘it is so freeing’, ‘I was afraid of being judged but I was wrong’ and most often ‘I can’t believe I was so nervous, the second I was in, I completely forgot about it’.

I’ve heard you can’t be disabled and be Wiccan

You’ve heard wrong. There are many disabled Wiccans and equally as many ways we accommodate for disabilities in circle.

There is an exception, in that for safe-guarding reasons, genuine covens will not initiate people with severe learning disabilities or who are classified as vulnerable individuals. This is mainly to protect against unexpected or unwitting harm to someone who either cannot fully understand, or who may find the experience of being in a magical circle to be overwhelming. It also protects the coven from potential accusations of wrongdoing from family members, who may feel that witchcraft is not a suitable path for their vulnerable relative – particularly in covens which practice skyclad.

For the same reasons, no valid coven will initiate a child and many have a minimum age requirement which can be well above the legal adult age.

In short, if someone could be vulnerable to any form of coercion, is unable to fully independently care for themselves or has difficulty interpreting the world around them, it would be unethical to initiate them into what can be an intense spiritual experience that requires a good level of emotional maturity to process and understand.

I’ve heard terrible things about Gerald Gardner so I think Wicca has to be dodgy.

There has recently been a backlash against Gerald Gardner on social media, with unfounded rumours about his character, including remarks about him being a pedophile. It is important to note that no evidence in support of these accusations has emerged.

Not only has a lot of rigorous academic research been conducted into his life and history over many decades, but there is a large body of written and recorded accounts of his character from those who knew him well in his lifetime.

No sources, original, personal or public, indicate that Gardner was predatory. It is a matter of public record that he was a naturist and indeed may have been part of the kink culture of his time; however there is no historical evidence of wrong doing. His contemporaries may not have agreed with him at all times, but remembered him fondly and spoke well of his character.

It’s unclear where or why this rumour began, however it may perhaps tobe part of a rejection of Wicca which has it’s roots in the reclaiming movement of the 70s and which has surfaced more recently in social media; largely among those who haven’t experienced Wicca and/or who may believe some of the statements above.

Whatever your practice is, Gardner reformed the craft as we know it in the West, combining what he knew of traditional practices, folklore, myth and western esoteric magic to develop the path that is Wicca. Whether people want to believe it or not, the freedom we have to openly explore all the paths of witchcraft that exist owes a lot to his work breaking taboos and bringing witchcraft into the public domain, contributing to the repealing of the anti-witchcraft laws in the UK. I believe he would be delighted by the freely available and glorious profusion of paths and practices that exist around the world as well as all the wonderful books, films and podcasts we can access, Wiccan or otherwise. I do not however believe that he was a predator.