Feminist forms of Neopaganism and/or Witchcraft

[Hope3645]

Greetings All,
I am doing a gender analysis on Feminist forms of Neopaganism and/or Witchcraft (sometimes same thing, sometimes not) for my Feminist Philosophy class. I have read a couple of related books (Drawing Down the Moon and The Spiral Dance), but these are kind of dated (even though they have useful updates. I was hoping that some of you would share your knowledge with me. Thanks!

What I would like to know:

How many Feminist Pagan or Witchcraft traditions are there now, and what are they called?

What are the main differences between Feminist Witchcraft or Paganism and mainstream Witchcraft or Paganism philosophically and in practice?

What do you feel are the strong and weak points of Feminist Witchcraft or Paganism from a Feminist point of view?

Well, this is all for now as I have to go to classes. If I think of any more questions I will post again soon! Thanks for your help!

[Meadhbh]

I'm not wiccan, so their are other that can help you more than me, but you may want to look into dianic wicca.
http://www.templeofdiana.org/dianic-tradition.htm
http://www.daughtersofthegoddess.com/index.html
http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=uswi&c=trads&id=8451
http://www.acadine.org/w/Dianic_Tradition
http://www.ulcseminary.org/faqs/dianicFaq.php
http://www.magickmind.net/traditions.html
http://www.carm.org/wicca/dianic.htm
http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Dianic_tradition

[Mithrea]

Online Dianic Resources (http://www.mysticwicks.com/showthread.php?t=114024)

Dianic Print Resources (http://www.mysticwicks.com/showthread.php?t=114067)

Womanpath Linkage (http://www.mysticwicks.com/showthread.php?t=114065)

Dianicism is Feminist, no question about it. Womanpath is too, though not in the way that you usually think of feminism and I'm not sure Shekhinah Mountainwater would like having her path called feminist. You'd have to ask her :) Reclaiming (Starhawk) is probably third on the list.

Wicca, in and of itself is feminist. The problem just becomes that some people fear that word and have alot of misconceptions about it. Well, and then there is a basic disagreement in popular culture about what the word means.

How many Feminist Pagan or Witchcraft traditions are there now, and what are they called?

It depends on who you ask. Most people would answer "one: Dianicsim." I would say there are a great deal more, even than the three I've listed.

What are the main differences between Feminist Witchcraft or Paganism and mainstream Witchcraft or Paganism philosophically and in practice?

Semantics mostly ;) However, if you want to know the basic difference between Dianic Wicca and Wicca, the shortest answer is that the Goddess has a more prominent role in both theory and practice. As the Goddess who gave birth to everything, even God, her role is slightly more important. On the other hand, some Dianics (not wiccan) do not see the divine as male at all. I could spend years answering this question, so if you have more specific questions, perhaps I can answer those :)

What do you feel are the strong and weak points of Feminist Witchcraft or Paganism from a Feminist point of view?

It's strength is that it empowers women in a way that no other path seems to be able to. It nurtures parts of their souls that patriarchal religion tries to squash and encourages individuality. It's weakness is that it's lack of hierarchy makes it a bit scattered. Resources become hard to find and groups are even harder. Another weakness I see is external and not really anything to do with the path itself. The fact that Dianics are so ostrasized means that they have to hide inside a movement (paganism) that is already hiding to a certain extent. For example, there are a great number of feminst pagans on this board. I bet most people couldn't name more than one. Even in a community like MW, most of them hide who they are. I think that is counterproductive (even though I would never question their right and choice to do so.) It denies Dianics the sense of community that is core to their belief system.

I hope that helps some. :)