As I may have mentioned in previous posts, there is no central
Wiccan authority. The most prominent idea of authority in Wicca religious
practice is that the individual them-self is the authority. They choose what,
how, when, where, and who they want to worship. The most popular version of the
reconstructed birth of Wicca says that an Englishmen Gerald Gardner in the
1950s brought forth popularity of the Wiccan faith from its unclear medieval
roots. However, it is also said that many other practitioners of the time were
also declaring their leadership role in bringing to pass the famous status of
the faith. Various Wiccan followers were writing books, journals, and
newspapers claiming their “proper authority”, persuading other Wiccan
supporters to follow them and form their own sect. Thus, since there are so
many lineages of Wicca, outsiders are unclear in who Wiccans follow; even
Wiccans themselves have conflict with one another on which Wiccan historical
power figure is the correct lineage to abide by.
When it comes to the matter of new media, particularly the
Internet, most Wicca dedicated websites
will proclaim who they follow IF they even follow any specific authority head;
but most of what I have discovered encourages Wiccans to create and follow
their own path.
There seems to be little contention on the aspect of authority in
Wiccan belief, but I have discovered a medium in which this struggle rings
true. YouTube shows Wiccan video bloggers taking the opportunity to vent and
explain their views, reveal their troubles and conflicts with others, and
answer questions, while fellow Wiccans and outsiders alike have the opportunity
to comment their thoughts and opinions on the subject matter. One example is
this young lady below:
In this example, this woman expresses her struggle to explain to
faithful Gardner followers that she relies on her own spiritual path and that
it is not required to solely adhere to Gardner’s teachings.
Just simply reading her video description one can tell her frustration with the authority issue.
She asserts:
“I find that people assume that Wiccans must follow Gardner. But
it's simply not true. Gardner is no prophet. Gardner is a man who started a
tradition. Others came from Gardner's tradition and made their own tradition.”
In a response to a specific YouTube user she stresses, “It burns
me up when people say I have to
listen to Gardner. He's no prophet and not the authority of my path-I am.”
Responses in the comment section showed much support for her stance on this issue.
This could in some ways represent Professor Paula Cheong’s
assumption that religious authority is being eroded by online religious
activities. Nevertheless, since many of the teachings from various Wiccan sects
encourage one to follow their own spiritual path, the sect itself--being with or
without an authority figure, is not a huge
problem for the religious community. The above was just one of very few
examples that are out there of problematic authoritative opinions colliding.
In contrast, a different example found
on the web embodies Cheong’s “Logic of
Dialectics and Paradox.” This entails the idea that “online competing resources
can also serve as a source of education, serving to enhance a priest’s
authority relating to and involving knowledge since the latter is able to move
beyond dictating to that of mediating between texts” (Cheong 21).
This means that authority is possibly
effective to a greater degree when members of the faith hold some measure of
knowledge that allows them to assess the authenticity of the leader’s knowledge.
In a website called cybercoven.org
which has been running now for nine years, creator Lisa McSherry handles all
covens, connections, blogs, reviews, and numerous writings. She cherishes the
use of new media to fill the gap in the Wiccan offline community and uses her 40
plus years of knowledge of the faith to teach newcomers, encourage those investigating,
and to assist those who have been a part of the faith for many years as well.
She is able to converse with those previously characterized about Wiccan religious
texts, rituals conducted, Wiccan history, and much more with her adept
knowledge and long-standing experience which allows her to “display her proficiency
and sophistication by addressing their specific concerns” (Cheong 21).
As a result, these people that listen to her can decipher her
information and choose whether to believe and follow her or not.
The introduction page to her website (the two following paragraphs
shown below) demonstrates Cheong’s paradox and addresses McSherry’s passion of new media to use her knowledge and
authority to share and dictate (in all senses of the word) her faith.
Humans
have been encoding thought and experience since we first began carving bones to
mark the lunar cycles. As we discover new methods of communication – drums,
papyrus, books, radios, computers – we reevaluate and redefine the world in
terms of the new technologies’ properties, creating new modes of opportunity,
thought and social experience. By appropriating new communication technologies,
the spirit creates symbols and rituals – hieroglyphs, printing presses, online
databases.
This site
is the virtual home for many of my various projects. As different as they are,
they all have one thing in common: they were created from a desire to fill a
vacuum, a hole in the community. My projects have included documenting our
ventures into cyberspace -- opening new territory while maintaining the
strength of our traditional knowledge; manifesting a tradition-based coven (JaguarMoon.org , now in it's ninth year);
creating an ever-growing database of reviews of items of interest to our
community (at FacingNorth.net); participating
in cutting edge magickal theory; and outlining a magickal and spiritual
perspective of group dynamics. Most recently, I've become a contributor to
several of Llewellyn Worldwide's annuals. www.cybercoven.org
Thus, although there may be some
contention among the various Wiccan traditions on authority, the logic of the paradox as well as the logic of
continuity and complementarity much
outweigh any conflict that may be found among followers of the Wicca religion.
Cheong Glossary:
Continuity- “involves
arguments which propose or reason that the relationship between religious
authority and new media is characterized instead by connectedness, succession
and negotiation.”
Complementarity- “refers
to the acts of interrelation of socio-technical developments that co-constitute
and augment authority.”
Source:
Chapter titled, “Authority.”
Pauline
Hope Cheong, Arizona State University. Heidi Campbell, editor,
(forthcoming) Digital Religion: Understanding Religious Practice in New
Media Worlds. London/New York: Routledge.
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