This post is mostly going to be random ramblings about things and thoughts that have been occupying my mind as of late.
I have started reading a few books on Wicca for review. A couple of these seem to completely omit any information about the history of Wicca, while still being aimed at the fledgling Wiccan. One of them seems to confuse the words witch and Wiccan, and uses Wicca and witchcraft as synonymous, which they of course are not. Wicca has a lot to do with witchcraft, but to do, as one of these books, and claim that Wicca is simply "a way of life", makes me honestly cringe in dislike.
I don't know if this has anything to do with the current trend of Wicca, witchcraft, paganism and different forms of divination that seem to have become so popular on eg. Instagram. When I try to browse for Wiccan images I seem to come across a lot of pictures of tarot cards and pretty looking young women dressed in Killstar-clothing with very eccentric makeup on. Not that there is anything wrong with eccentric makeup, dark clothing (although we could discuss the influence of brands like Killstar on the occult, pagan and goth scenes) or tarot cards for that matter, it is just that I do not expect that to be the first thing to see. And that brings me to the topic of representation.
How do we, or even I for that matter, represent myself on social media? I do not have a very large following on Instagram, barely over a hundred followers, most of whom are my friends, and I post pictures of a varying content. A lot of my Instagram consists of pictures of historic clothing and the sewing thereof, snippets of my daily life (including selfies), food pictures (because I love making food), and the occasional altar picture. My Instagram has not been a primary outlet for content relating to Wicca, rather it has been more reflective of other things I do in life, mostly clothing and fashion.
The point of my Instagram was never to be an outlet for Wiccan themed posts. I intended it to be more oriented toward sewing, goth fashion and snippets of my personal life. However I have started thinking that I should include Wicca more in my feed, and as I have been thinking about it I have also began wondering how I would represent Wicca, and witchcraft for that matter, in a good and versatile way. It takes a lot of time to prepare good content and I have not had that time, and I do not know whether I will have it in the future either. But as a Wiccan of some fifteen years, I think it is my responsibility to think about how I present myself and my faith on social media, because there are so many young people looking for their own path in life, and if all they see when they search for Wicca on social media is tarot cards, black-clad women in perfect makeup and hauls or unboxings of witchcraft-related items, then they are not getting a very good idea of what Wicca really is.
And this brings me back to where I started. If these books (geared toward the beginner) that I am reading omit important things like the history of Wicca, the mentioning of the Goddess and the God, claiming that Wicca is only "a way of life", or even get basic things (like drawing down the moon, of consecrations) wrong, where does that leave us? Have we reached a point in Wicca where celebrity culture has taken over and we listen only to the most popular outlet of information, instead of learning as much as we can and thinking critically about it for ourselves? Is it only symptomatic of society in general?
I am wondering where we are headed. I am not part of a coven or any tradition. I have always been a solitary and eclectic Wiccan and witch, and that is only a result of the circumstances in which I have grown up and lived in. But I have made it a point to read and learn as much as I possibly can. I am by no means claiming that I know everything, far from it. And it might be the academic in me, but when I read a book that is supposedly about Wicca, and it contains no references, or the reference list consists of five books and does not reference any of the books that laid the groundwork of Wicca, then allow me to be skeptical of the contents of said books.
Maybe I am nitpicking. Everyone has to start somewhere, and anywhere is better that nowhere if it inspires the novice to learn more from better sources. Or is it? I would prefer that books for beginners be well written and contain correct facts. Here I believe that the publishers carry as much responsibility as the authors. I believe it is unethical to claim to write a book for beginners on Wicca and make such a crap job of doing it that you muck up even the most essential details. It honestly makes me angry that such misinformation is allowed to be published, and I fear that publishing was done mostly for monetary reasons.
Anyway. I think I shall end my rambling rant here. I will be publishing a few reviews soon, once autumn arrives, and one of them will unfortunately be a rather poor one. But on the positive note, I am also reading some very good books at the moment, so look forward to those.
What do you think about representation or the responsibility to fact check what you write for a young or inexperienced audience? Tell me in the comments.
~Stella
