Anyone have any idea why recently Wiccan and Paganism has become so trendy? My sister said The Craft movie had a big influence on it. I don't know.

Of course my sister also claims that Paganism is the only religion that contradicts science.

ESP, telepathy, clairvoyance, and spells contradict science all right. Doesn't everything supernatural contradict science as it is?

-Derek

1) Young people have always been fascinated by witches, vampires, and other things that go bump in the night. (Consider the money made by The Blair Witch Project.)

2) The Goth and Wiccan subcultures are popular enough for there to be a sizable market, and Hollywood knows this. Furthermore, teens are rebellious and curious about ways of life other than the Christianity of their parents, and movies about witches may tap into this curiosity as well. (The Craft.)

3) Young artistic wiccans are probably working their way into movie-making jobs, including animation. (One Scooby Doo movie on the Cartoon Channel openly pushed Wicca and made it seem "cool". I surmise that only wiccans "on the inside" would make such a tv movie.)

I appreciate your response, but any idea why it's becoming so trendy recently?

Why not earlier? I thought it would have been more rebellious after all the Salem Which Trials and such.

You know what the biggest reason people follow Paganism is other than it being trendy? It gives them a sense of control over their life.

-Derek

Don't know if it's universal, but my friends who have chosen Wicca/Pagan have been looking for a more female friendly religion and like the Goddess power aspect. It's decidedly anti-Christian while remaining religious, promising an afterlife (or reincarnation), and requiring ritual. Some people love ritual!

[This message has been edited by LadyShea (edited May 21, 2001).]

LadyShea wrote: Don't know if it's universal, but my friends who have chosen Wicca/Pagan have been looking for a more female friendly religion and like the Goddess power aspect. It's decidedly anti-Christian while remaining religious, promising an afterlife (or reincarnation), and requiring ritual. Some people love ritual!

Some pagan homosexuals I knew in college seemed attracted to paganism for much the same reasons. They didn't feel their lifestyle was accepted in Christianity. (No surprise there.)

I think its for the same reasons that "counter-culture" stuff went mainstream in the late 60s and early 70s.

It starts as a sub-culture movement and goes mainstream. These 20 something Wiccans will soon enough be the 30 something evangelists on street corners.

There is always a bulk of young people trying to be different by doing what all of their friends do.

DC

[This message has been edited by DChicken (edited May 22, 2001).]

LoL! That is so true. Being different just like all the rest of them.

I want to be different, just like everybody else - King Missile.

-Derek

Detached9, are you sure that your sister didn't misspeak herself or that you did not mis-hear her comments about Paganism and science? One might expect a neopagan to brag about how science-compatible neopaganism is.

And I don't think that there is anything fundamentally "unscientific" about ESP, except for the standards of proof of many of its advocates. ESP would be hard to fit in with the rest of our understanding of mind, but if it can be verified to exist in some unambiguous fashion, then we would have to accept its existence.

"But I want to be a homer-sexual too!"

I think movies like The Craft are mirroring the culture's interests, not adding to the popularity of cults--- or else explain Bewitched.


Our society has gotten more open about religion and sexuality lately, so it is easier to learn about now than ever before, and easier to be one.


Pagans are thrilled with science. There is no reason to feel the belief contradicts science. They just feel they believe in things science hasn't explained yet---


As Trish Telesco said:

Witchcraft and Wicca are two different things--- and the politics of the Salem Witch trials were something all together different.


Wicca is a fairly new religion--- and it only opened its books to the public in the late sixties and early seventies. Before that it was a private religion. Still is actually. Many Traditional Wiccans are seriously pissed about the open door policy of some newer wiccans.


I agree that it seems to give practioners mroe control of their lives. It is also more friendly and less confusing (than monotheism)



[This message has been edited by jess (edited May 22, 2001).]