What it's All About:
This is what the majority of us are. Being eclectic is fun and accepting. Yet, there are those that don't think that there is such a thing as Eclectic Paganism or Wicca. But there is among all that is Paganism. However, this is a hard topic to talk about, because it differs from person to person.
Songs Featured:
The Power of the Witch by Inkubus Sukkubus
Mother I Feel You by Circle of Women
Fire in the Head by Emerald Rose
Color Me Pagan by Fritz Jung
Links Mentioned:
Reconstructionist Paganism: Heathenry, Emerging Worldviews 23 - BreakPoint
Wicca and Eclectic Neo-Paganism: Beliefs and Practices, Emerging Worldviews 22 - BreakPoint
An Old Witch (I have to apologize here because I said the wrong title of this story in the podcast.)
Spirit Guide of the Week:
Cybele or Kybele
Dream Symbol: (There are three)
Head
Helicopter
Hill
Transcript:
(05:20)
Welcome to another episode of the Music of the Goddess’ Vault Podcast. I am your host, Midnight Starr. You just heard Power of the Witch by Inkubus Sukkubus. Today’s show is all about Eclectic Paganism.nJust to note here, now that things are getting back to a new normal all around the world, I am not going to announce any more events from now on. But if you still want me to, the event should be at least a month ahead of schedule. You have to remember that this is a biweekly podcast. So, I can’t do anything at the last minute. However, for those last-minute events, I can still post them on Music From the Goddess’ Vault Social Media pages. If you haven’t, please check out goddess vault one dot wixsite dot com forward slash home. Go ahead and let me know what you think of it and this show. If you can, please share this podcast via Twitter, Facebook, goddess vault one dot Wix site dot com forward slash home, or wherever you can talk to everyone you know. Now for the topic, Eclectic paganism. I along with most of you would consider ourselves Eclectic pagans. There are a lot of benefits to it that I will be explaining in this show. I guess you can say that being Eclectic is not quite being Celtic, Greek, or Norse pagans for example, but all the above.
I’ll talk about it. But first here’s a track from Three Weird Sisters called Witch of the Wood.
(11:26)
You can already guess what an Eclectic Pagan is. I will give you some definitions on the web anyway. According to Wikipedia, “Eclectic Paganism, also occasionally termed Universalist or Non-denominational Paganism, is a form of modern Paganism where practitioners will blend paganism with aspects of other religions.”How it is different from Reconstructionist Paganism is that in Reconstructionism, they are trying to recreate pre-Christian traditions and adapt them to the modern world. And the other difference is that they only worship one pantheon. Us Eclectics have a variety of gods in not one, but many pantheons that we choose. Some of us will take methods from, say for example Buddhism or Christianity, and adapt them into our pagan practice. Otherwise, mix and match to see what fits us as individuals. I know that there are tons of pagans arguing over which form of the path is best. But to us Eclectics, it would be that all paths are the best. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all in paganism whatsoever. It's all up to you how you want to proceed in worshipping a deity. I’ll talk more about Eclectic Paganism later. For now, here’s Unto Ashes with Witch’s Rune.
(15:49)
It's time for another spirit guide of the week. This goddess has many places that used to worship her. However, her origins are in what is now modern-day Turkey. At that time, she was the Phrygian Mother of the gods. I am talking about the goddess Kybele. She is also known by other names like Cybele, Cuba, or Kubaba. She used to be a witch, but now she is the world’s oldest surviving goddess. Kybele is the goddess of healing, fertility, witchcraft, women, and children. Ancient Anatolians know her as the mountain mother. In Rome, she was known as the Magna Mater. And the Hittites called her Kubaba. Her name is translated to mean Caves, Cave Dweller, or Place of Caves. Her myth was that Kybele was unwanted as a child. She was exposed to the wilderness and was raised by lions and leopards. Because of her wild nature, Kybele first became a witch before becoming an immortal goddess. And she is closely identified with Hekate and Dionysus. I can’t find anything that you can offer Kybele or her other names on your altar. Otherwise, you would have to figure this one out. That is it for now. Stay tuned for another spirit guide of the week.
(20:11)
That was Mother I Feel You by Circle of Women. You know what. It is hard to talk about being an Eclectic Pagan. You spoke to five of them and you got five different responses. But it is what you call a tradition, and like with most, there are different ways of practicing it. Eclectic witches can be either coven or solitaire. Here are some other ways that Eclectic is a path. As I already mentioned it is a tradition where you can mix and match others. This is in terms of beliefs and practices where you can blend many different pantheons. As an Eclectic witch, you can even modify a tradition. That is what happened after Gerald Gardner created Wicca. So there were offshoots of it like Dianic or Alexandrian and so on. I wouldn’t say that this is the only path that is uniquely an individual practice. There are probably others too. But it is individual in terms of how a practitioner practices it. Otherwise, it's up to you how you want to be an Eclectic pagan. And this is also true when you are in a coven. Being Eclectic is also a great way for someone to paganism to figure out their own path. It might take months or years. There is a debate going on in the pagan community about us Eclectics. I haven’t experienced this myself, but there are some people in the Gardnerian or Alexandrian traditions that don’t think of any Eclectics as Wiccan. This isn’t true. If someone wants to become pagan it doesn’t matter what they want to worship or whom. When I was doing my research into this, I found out that there is a Church of Universal Eclectic Wicca. It was formed in 1969 in Westchester, New York. It is now based in Great Fall, Virginia. So this is clearly an American tradition. Here’s Pagan Girl by Burning Sage.
(26:30)
Here's another dream symbol to interpret. There are three in this week’s dream symbol. They are head, helicopter, and hill. Heads in dreams usually mean intellect, rationality, understanding, and wisdom. If you had a dream where you had two heads, it's telling you to ask for help and assistance. To dream that your head is being ripped off by someone indicates that you are not seeing a problem. Helicopters in dreams mean achievement and ambitions. If you had a dream where you are in a helicopter, that represents living beyond your means. To dream that you are being chased by a helicopter means that you are feeling trapped by your goals. Hills in dreams represent the obstacles that you will soon confront. If you had a dream that you are climbing a hill, it's telling you that you are having some problems achieving your goals. To dream that you are standing on a hilltop means that you have succeeded in reaching your goals. And to dream that you are going down a hill indicates that stuff is not going the way that you planned it to do. If you want a dream symbol to interpret and maybe have a dream symbol featured; the contact information will be mentioned at the end of this show.
(31:20)
It's time for another myth. Here’s another one from Folktext. This one is called The Witch That Was Hurt and it comes from England. (Due to copyright, I will not put the story in this transcript.)
(40:01)
That was Rowena of the Glen with The Witching Hour. Before that, you heard Fire in the Head by Emerald Rose. Before I go, I just read a Wild Hunt article interviewing Helen Browning who is the director of the Australian one-hour documentary Under the Pagan Sky. The filming of this was three years in the making and mainly focuses on Druids and Eclectic Wiccans there. If you live in Australia, there is also an accompanying half-hour program on ABC called Pagans Down Under. But go and check out Under the Pagan Sky. That is it for this show. Again I am your host, Midnight Starr. If you have a suggestion for a song, show topic, spirit guide, or dream symbol; Or you just want to like, share or comment; You can do so on the Music From The Goddess’ Vault Facebook page, through goddess vault one dot wixsite dot forward slash home, Or on Instagram and Twitter at goddess vault.
I am going to leave with Fritz Jung, Color Me Pagan.
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