To: alt.pagan,alt.magick
From: tim@toad.com (Tim Maroney)
Subject: Wicca and Freemasonry (9406.wiccmsn.tm)
Date: 49940622
Quoting: | ipfoot@ic.ac.uk (Ian Paul Foot) and |>tim@toad.com (Tim Maroney) 

|> It is time for paganism to realize that its origin myth is only a myth,
|> and to engage its real, documented history in the last century.  I have
|> to say that even among pagans who don't use the word "witch" I
|> generally see very little understanding of the connections between
|> paganism, Freemasonry, and ceremonial magic.

|I believe that it helps greatly to have at least a 
|basic grasp of the history  and origins of your tradition and practices.
|This is partly why I get so annoyed when people present their wishful 
|fantasies as true history (a very easy mistake to slip into - I've been 
|brought back down to earth a few times and had to revise my beliefs and 
|opinions).

One of the most unfortunate things is that even the minority of pagans
who do realize the historical connection seem to think it is basically
of little to no significance.  The model they apply is that Gardner
hunted far and wide for sources to raid and that Freemasonry, the
Golden Dawn, and Thelema, were just traditions he borrowed a little bit
from, and that all a pagan needs to know is that there are some quotes
sprinkled here and there.  As a longtime student of all these
traditions, I think this is completely off base.

Wicca and paganism are entirely in the mainstream of the initiatory
syncretism that formed in 19th century Freemasonry and which gave rise
to the Golden Dawn and Thelema.  Anti-CM prejudice is so firmly
established in Wicca and paganism, though, that it never seems to occur
to most practitioners that they might be able to enrich their practice
and understanding by studying these root traditions, or that these
traditions might all have a tremendous amount in common.  The main
thing they know about ceremonial magic of any stripe is that "it ain't
us"!  But it is.

It's a lot harder to find clearcut differences than it is to find
important points of contact.  Most of the perceptions of difference
on both sides are based on ignorance.  For instance, Wiccans have a
completely false and insulting view of the meaning of the magical
circle in ceremonial magic, while I have heard O.T.O. types say that
obviously Gardnerians (whose initiations are very Masonic) would have
no interest in Freemasonry!  The more you look at either tradition, the
less difference there seems to be....
-- 
Tim Maroney, Communications and User Interface Engineer
{apple!sun}!hoptoad!tim, tim@toad.com

"It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied;
 better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied."
	-- John Stuart Mill, UTILITARIANISM (1863)