What if it’s Not What I Expect?

11 Aug

When approached by seekers one of the first things we guide them on is to be careful in what they read. The nature of the modern world and the vast sea of information that is the Internet means that if you go digging, you very well may uncover oathbound material and we try to help seekers steer clear of this for a couple of reasons (which are very much focused on their development rather than any sense of particular gatekeeping):

1) Not everything on the Internet is true

I’m not just talking about the ramblings of AI content generators but also simply that when discussing neopagan beliefs, traditional witchcraft and Wicca there is a lot of history to cram into the last century or so with variations in texts, practices and experiences varying wildly. Add on to this an inevitable layer of misunderstanding, over credulity and the simple challenges of actually verifying information from what is supposed to be a mystery tradition and, well, at the very least you have the makings of a whole bookshop’s worth of academic study and disagreement.

2) Even if it is true, it might not be true for us.

Whilst people may chose to write or pass on information that is accurate or indicative of their experience/tradition/opinion, these things are not universal. What we do may not be the same as what others do and by coming in to an experience with pre-set ideas of what to expect one can readily end up either disappointed or, worse, realise that perhaps this particular path isn’t the right one for them after all. To give just one example, the tradition of disrobing for some kind of ritual can vary between those who work skyclad for all magical practices to something like some forms of Freemasonry where it’s generally considered fine to rollup a shirt sleeve.

3) What’s to be lost or gained?

As I hinted above, Wicca is a mystery tradition; which means that a fundamental aspect of how it works is that you go into it not really knowing what’s going to happen. There’s a lot of reasons for this, building trust being a significant one. But more than that I would argue that a vital part of a mystery tradition is that it forces you to be open to an experience, to quiet the part of your brain that is always wanting to predict everything, even if just a little. And on some level it’s that much harder to really let go and be present in the moment if somewhere in the back of your mind you’re ticking things of a check-list.