Wicca is a Beautiful Religion. Here’s Why I Left

In middle school, Wicca filled an ache I had felt all my life. A feminine Divine, magic and mysticism, powerful rituals, a reverence for nature… it was basically my dream religion. I was completely enamored and I could imagine myself practicing Wicca for the rest of my lifetime.

The issue was that I was also completely in love with Persephone and the Greek pantheon. As I got to know my Gods, I discovered that Wicca was an incompatible framework for worshipping the Theoi. 

I still find Wiccan beliefs beautiful (minus the transphobia in Traditional Wicca. For a great post on that, read this by my Wiccan friend over at their blog). The Wheel of the Year speaks to me, although I can’t stand the Maiden, Mother, Crone trope. My problem is that many Wiccans take Pagan deities from various cultures (Greek, Norse, Celtic, etc) and attempt to fit them into a Wiccan framework. This distorts the original mythology and religion until many of the Gods become almost unrecognizable in their Wiccan forms. 

Take Hecate, who is considered a crone Goddess of witchcraft in traditional Wicca. In ancient Greece, Hecate was actually a maiden goddess whose association with witchcraft didn’t arise until late in antiquity (Potentially. Hecate’s history is murky and hard to research). I believe that the Gods reveal new aspects of Themselves over time, but there’s a difference between emphasizing new aspects and completely disregarding the old ones. 

And then there’s the issue of Wiccans fabricating history. It’s gotten a lot better, but there’s still a rare handful of Pagans convinced that Wicca is an accurate representation of medieval witchcraft. This can put Wiccans at odds with history-focused religions like Hellenic Polytheism.   

Of course, a belief doesn’t have to be historically-proven in order for it to be valid. But Wicca shares little in common with Ancient Greek Paganism. I tried to be a Hellenic Wiccan for a while- it didn’t work out. Being a Hellenist Wiccan means applying a framework to the Gods that makes grand departures from ancient religion. It isn’t easy so it’s rarely done. I discovered that worshipping the Theoi within Wicca just felt… wrong. It clashed with my journey to the Theoi.

Sometimes I find myself feeling terribly nostalgic for the magic and wonder of Wicca. But reverence for nature and the feminine Divine can be found in most other forms of Paganism. At the end of the day, I wouldn’t trade my relationship with the Theoi for anything- even those badass circles of magic.

Unless anyone is interested in drawing down the moon. We can make it work…