Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Neopaganism

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Wicca Rock

Wicca Rock - Is it an Incipient Genre

Hello All. I am soliciting opinions on two articles, each of which I have made contributions on, one of which I have made the major contribution to: Themis music and Wicca rock the latter which I recently re-wrote.

I am completely new to Wikipedia (a few months) and I wanted to introduce the topic of an underground phenomina moving more to the surface.

Likely everyone here knows that there are many Wiccans out there who belong to no coven but who are in essence lone eclectic Wiccans. Given the world focus on ecology/giving back to nature; the preservation of earth and a quest for more wholesome values, Wicca is centered as the only nature-based religion.

Early this year I found it very novel to have encountered a group of music people gathered at "Holy Joes" a club in Toronto at a quasi black-garbed wicca event and got invited to another in middle Ontario. I went and it was pretty amazing. We did a "hand drumming in the woods" session and I was part of the circle. I learned of a band called Themis from one of the teachers (who is in the band) and now many months later after seeing much more and after rounding up the scant few public acknowledgments of this emerging music genre, I am writing about it.—Preceding unsigned comment added by Nymphetamine labyrinth (talk • contribs) 19:34, 20 July 2008

Maybe not a genre

I wonder that maybe this is not a new music genre but maybe just another form of music influenced by Wicca.—Preceding unsigned comment added by Nymphetamine labyrinth (talk • contribs) 19:34, 20 July 2008

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Thanks. — Headbomb {^ταλκ_{κοντριβς} – WP Physics} 09:27, 15 March, 2009 (UTC)

Capitalisation and hyphenation

Has any consensus been reached yet on the capitalisation and hyphenation of paganism/neopaganism? I glanced through the archives and didn't see anything, but maybe I missed it. I see that Neopaganism does not use the hyphen, which I think is good. But is it neopagan or Neopagan? Spock of Vulcan (talk) 23:12, 18 January 2011 (UTC)

To answer my own question, I've been reading the Manual of Style and it says that all religions, sects, churches, and their followers are capitalised. So Pagan and Neopagan are correct, whether being used as nouns or as adjectives. Problem solved! Spock of Vulcan (talk) 07:45, 19 January 2011 (UTC)

Actually, the Neopaganism article is rather inconsistent. I've seen Neopaganism, Neo-paganism, Neo-Paganism, neopaganism, neo-paganism, and neo-Paganism. Lately it seems to have been leveled out to Neopaganism. However, the debate continues between using Paganism or Neopaganism. WarriorPrincessDanu (talk) 16:52, 5 June 2011 (UTC)WarriorPrincessDanu

Bias

Greetings,

I’m from Costa Rica and I’m Neo-Pagan, I have been Redding the articles of English Wikipedia about Neopaganism in order to take info for the Spanish Wikipedia Neo-Pagan Project, but I’m kind of concern and I would like to call your attention on this matter. I think there is some sort of bias in english Wikipedia trying to associate Neo-Paganism with White supremacism and racism. For example: White Order of Thule

This is only one of many examples, wich I think is very inadequate. In Spanish Wikipedia this doesn’t happen. There are mention of certain fascist-neopagan connections when applies, but not so much nor so often like I think is seen in English Wiki. I would like to edit more but my handle of the English language is not good enough.

Opinions?

Thanks. --Lucifer2000 (talk) 05:07, 26 January 2011 (UTC)

Bienvenito, Lucifer2000.

The following is based upon my undocumented experiences and wide, unscholarly studies. It is not a thorough examination of the question.

I think that it is important to see that within the Neo-Pagan sphere are many schools of thought regarding ethnicity, national origin, and their importance to spiritual practice. In its beginnings, when Neo-Paganism was first beginning to depart from mystical traditions of European origin such as Freemasonry and Spiritualism, its adherents were ethnically and linguistically English. Although they taught nothing on the subject of their Englishness having anything to do with their religion, they drew upon a combination of British, Continental European, and even Jewish and Hindu ideas to form what would become Neo-Pagan Witchcraft, Druidry, and other similar faiths and practices.

In the 1970s, largely as a reaction against the universalist feminism that seemed to have taken hold of Neo-Paganism, some Neo-Pagan adherents began to link up with already-existing Neo-Nazi groups, adding some of their language and practices to that of white supremacy groups. This led to the formation of groups with both a racist and a Neo-Pagan flavor. It was not the result of intrinsic qualities of the Neo-Pagan movement, but of the ideas and inclinations of certain adherents.

My advice is threefold: firstly, that one should never rely just on one source of information as a guide to forming opinions and learning spiritual principles and practices, because in doing so, one comes to believe that the message received through that source is infallible; secondly, that one should always question every source, no matter how impressive and well-founded it seems, to find out why it is relevant to your path; thirdly, that as soon as one finds a group of truly like-minded persons with whom to engage in spiritual practices, one should keep on guard for the tendency to hand over one's identity and values to the betterment of the group. This applies to your findings in that you are drawn to a spiritual practice that comes to you largely through European and English-speaking North American culture. By its limited cultural origins, it naturally speaks to only some of the experiences and values of a person living in Costa Rica. It even harbors members whose beliefs would exclude people because of their ethnicity, possibly including you. I admire the service you are performing for both Neo-Paganism and for Spanish speakers in translating and composing Wikipedia articles about the subject. I hope that you can capture the essence of Neo-Paganism while also offering a balanced, realistic perspective on all of its variants. I believe that in doing so, you will find that the heart of Neo-Pagan belief and practice today is just as diverse, inclusive, and tolerant as any religion, and that persons claiming to be Neo-Pagan, yet who teach and practice racist ideas, are hangers-on at the fringes of the Neo-Pagan movement who, eventually, drift out of the picture altogether as they find that few of their fellow Neo-Pagans are interested in their rhetoric.

I hope this helps. Sincerely yours, Amergin Sierkejd (talk) 13:44, 13 February 2011 (UTC)

Request for input in discussion forum

Given the closely linked subjects of the various religion, mythology, and philosophy groups, it seems to me that we might benefit from having some sort of regular topical discussion forum to discuss the relevant content. I have put together the beginnings of an outline for such discussion at Wikipedia:WikiProject Religion/2011 meeting, and would very much appreciate the input of any interested editors. I am thinking that it might run over two months, the first of which would be to bring forward and discuss the current state of the content, and the second for perhaps some more focused discussion on what, if any, specific efforts might be taken in the near future. Any and all input is more than welcome. John Carter (talk)

_{Automated message by Project Messenger Bot from John Carter at 15:44, 5 April 2011}

Please help

The Starhawk article was moved/renamed today to Starhawk (author) without discussion by a proponent of the video game of the same name. Now Starhawk (and all 100 Wikilinks to her name) redirects to a disambiguation page. Please note my Requested Move discussion about moving it back to the original article title. If inspired to vote, please note Wiki policies that support this, such as WP:PRIMARYTOPIC, etc. Softlavender (talk) 12:13, 15 May 2011 (UTC)

I have moved the article back so that while it still sits at Starhawk (author), the page at Starhawk is a redirect there in the first instance. We can then put an 'otheruses' tag on the page to lead to a disambiguation page. I think that's the best solution for now, and have asked the original mover of the page not to do so again unless there is consensus for the move. At least this way all the links point to the right place. Kim Dent-Brown ^(Talk) 16:13, 15 May 2011 (UTC)

Thank you very much, Kim. However, your wording of your vote as Against move implies that you are against my proposal that the page should be titled "Starhawk". Do you mind clarifying your position in the move request discussion? I'm saying this because an Against vote means against what I proposed, which is the reversion back to "Starhawk". Thanks very much! Softlavender (talk) 03:29, 16 May 2011 (UTC)

What makes a significant witch/Wiccan?

There's an interesting discussion at Template talk:WiccaandWitchcraft about the criteria for inclusion of named individuals in the template. Folk with an interest in the topic might like to express their opinions. Kim Dent-Brown ^(Talk) 07:04, 1 June 2011 (UTC)