opinions...

[Lady Tana]

Ok everyone... i debated and debated this with myself ... should i or shouldnt i post this..
i feel like we are all family here and as such i am hoping for a 'family' opinion on this..
i recieved a letter the other day from someone that had visited my website.. this letter has bothered me terribly for days now... so i am submitting the letter.. along with my reply as well as the reply i just recieved today to see what your guys' feelings are on this... if im wrong ... please let me know.. maybe im just PMSing or something... lol
(i have, of course, omitted the persons name and site due to the fact that ... well... it just seemed right :) )

*~*~*~*~*~
I was looking at your web site and I found that you had information from several different paths all lumped (falsely) under the term Wicca. As well as Wiccan information, you had Norse, traditional witchcraft, and Celtic as well as a few other snippets of information from other paths. You have gathered a lot of information, but not all of it correct and you have not learnt to distinguish between paths. Trying to practise Wicca alongside Norse can have serious adverse effects, and you are blatantly encouraging visitors to your web site to do this.

*~*my answer*~*
I'm sorry that you feel that I 'lumped (falsely) under the term Wicca' anything.
As an eclectic Witch I dont follow just one path. The information that I have gathered is correct and true for ME..
I am not 'blatantly encouraging visitors to (my) web site' to do anything but read what I have to offer... and I have as yet to have any 'serious adverse effects' from any practicing that I have done.
I am sorry that you feel you must write and tell me that YOU feel I am incorrect.. but, as I stated before.. I follow MY path as it is... I am not saying that my way is the true, correct or even the way that others should follow.

*~*todays reply*~*
Everyone must choose and follow their own path, and I don't think that you yourself are doing anythign wrong, but you must remember that a lot of people have looked to your site for knowledge (take a look at your guestbook) and it is not made clear on your web site to these visitors that the information comes from different paths. I am sure that you can appreciate the possible risks to an uninitiated stumbling across mixed information, not knowing as much about it as you do yourself, and not knowing where the lines are to be drawn.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

basically ... should i put some sort of 'disclaimer' on my site saying that i dont know everything and these are just my views and my ways of practice?? i didnt realize that i had 'lumped' them in any way and catogorized them as anything... hmmmm

well.... just looking for others opinions as well...

Lady Tana (who feels a tad better for deciding to ask... even tho she feels silly questioning herself)

[Mairwen]

First of all, I know two Norse Wiccans personally ~ and I've been told there are others. So, why can't this be done, exactly? *scratches head in dire confusion*

I submit, for you, or anyone else who wants/needs to take it (and reword it to fit their needs), the disclaimer from my website:

Disclaimers: #1. This site is not "Wicca 101", nor am I Wiccan. If you're looking for Wicca 101, please go elsewhere.*#2. I do not represent all Pagans, or even all Gwyddons, nor do I claim or aim, or even desire, to do so! Almost none of us share identical views ~ even people in the same group. The views on these pages are expressly my own, unless duly noted.*What I perceive, another person may not.

~~ Sadly enough, I don't like dislaimers, but it became necessary to put one up. :-( Were that we lived in a perfect world, yadayadayada.

[eaglewolf]

One of the first things I did with my site was to add a 'disclaimer' or sorts...

In fact, I try to add a little something to each page, before diving into the subject, including my Principles page.

I try to let people know it is important for them to seek many sources of information before formulating any strong opinions.

I, for one, feel it is important to let people know they are my views and not necessarily shared by others. Hopefully visitors to my site will become curious about other sources and search, search, search...

Just a thought.

~ew

[Mairwen]

Having gone to your website and just skimmed over it, I don't see anything wrong with it. For that reason, I ask that you update your awards page, and put this graphic there ... (for information, see here: http://pagan.drak.net/feymariblue/loaded.html)

[Witchbourne]

Well i say to you that whatever this person that wrote you is upset about i can't understand it....hmm...since i sometimes call myself a kitchen witch and takes a little from here and there....no i cant see no danger in this...

I think that you should ignore this person and keep running your page as you allways have....

Blessed be*
:)

[Shatav]

Okay, having just come from your site, there is only one minor thing that I found could be construed as "misleading". You never state that the site is "Wiccan" site. You have information on Wicca, and quotes that contain the word Wicca, but never once do you say this is only a Wiccan site. In fact, more often you refer to your path as witchcraft or paganism, which are far broader definitions and can include many number of traditions even ones that this person feels are "contradictory"...which btw, I don't really think are.

The only think I see as even remotely misleading would be your title for your glossary. These terms do indeed apply to more than one tradition and even those outside of paganism itself. But if you feel that's the way it should be, for gosh sakes, leave it!

We can't please all the people all the time. I'm an alchemist and hermetic mage and I can't tell you how many times I get messages like this about what I think and how it's wrong and this that or the other thing. Some people just don't want to give up labels. That's their problem, not yours. They want to label and say this word means a, b and c, and won't see that from your standpoint it might include d, e, and f as well, tough noogies.

Ummm....I need to calm down now. I'm getting a bit riled up.

[Lady Tana]

Mairwen...

i will be adding that to my page... (as soon as my *#^%$# ftp program is running again....)

thanks to everyone so far for making me feel better about what i have there...

i appreciate it sooooo much..

*HUGGS*

[Mairwen]

I thought you'd like that. :D

BROOMBROOM!

[mol]

Sweep
Sweep
Sweep the floor...
Sweep the bullshit out the door...

(Sorry for the language... ;) )

[mol]

Originally posted by Lady Tana
Mairwen...

i will be adding that to my page... (as soon as my *#^%$# ftp program is running again....)

thanks to everyone so far for making me feel better about what i have there...

i appreciate it sooooo much..

*HUGGS*

OT: What FTP program are you using...email me..maybe I can help you out.

[Mairwen]

Sweep the bull**** out the door...

~ negativity don't come round here no more!

[gunner]

after seeing the quote savaging lady tana's site i took about two hours to have a look for myself. what i found was a pleasantly designed site showing thought and effort in it's design and of the pages i sampled i thought they were well researched and clearly understandable as well as educational and i'll be visiting her site again. taken all together i'd say it was well worth the visit and the person criticising her had his/her own axe to grind. lady tana's page on "halloween" was particularly interesting. in sum lady tana i'd suggest you ignore that person and go on as you are, you're doing well. blessed be.
"gunner"

[Niamh]

I looked around your site and think it's great! I agree... I would not respond to this person any longer... hopefully they will get the hint and lay off. THey have their own issues to deal with, and you don't need their negative energy getting you down!
Of course, in today's world, the disclaimer is a good idea. It seems like we all have to use them at some time or another!
Blessed Be!

[eaglewolf]

I could just be me, but I think the guy was trying to be helpful...

Misconception is, after all, one of our [Pagans] biggest concerns... or am I missing something?

~ew

[Tigerwallah]

Lady Tanya, I visited your site and found it to be a wonderful and magical place. Ignore the sour puss and do what you will. If she were a wise witch, she'd realize that everyone finds their own path. We discover things everyday that we instantly know to be true. We
also, hear or read things we immediatly disregard as false.

I found nothing in your site that I felt was false or misleading. In fact, I would like to commend you on your site. It is a wonderful mixture of Historical truth, charm, magic, and wisdom. I also loved the Halloween page.

Blessed Be!

[Niamh]

He Could have been trying to be helpful. Pagans are used to being on the defense and misunderstood. But at the same time, if he's trying to be helpful, he should say so!

[eaglewolf]

The fact that the second email was much more respectful than the first (very rare), says to me they were only trying to help...

~ew

[Lady Tana]

Thanks to everyone...
he did send another letter telling me that he didnt mean the first letter to come across in the 'vein' that it did...

but yall made me feel alot better about it...

(and once the !@#@$!@ ftp is working again I AM adding the disclaimer!!)

[Dextra]

Ya know, I feel like if you are comfortable with what you practice, then you shouldn't worry about what anyone says about your choice of path. I recently had someone ask me what path I followed and I said "Celtic". They asked me what kind of Celtic, which kind of threw me off since it's also sort of an eclectic path. My oh-so-intelligent answer? "Uh,... just general Celtic?" So....now when anyone asks me what path I follow, I just say Eclectic Celtic and leave it at that. I'm not a big fan of labels, but at least now I can identify myself a little better. :D

[bluecat]

Your thoughts and beliefs are your own and if a person is so close minded as to say that you are wrong they are coming very close to that "single truth" kind of thinking that permeates other belief systems that will remain nameless for the sake of this post.

BlueCat

[Lady Tana]

Originally posted by Mairwen
Having gone to your website and just skimmed over it, I don't see anything wrong with it. For that reason, I ask that you update your awards page, and put this graphic there ... (for information, see here: http://pagan.drak.net/feymariblue/loaded.html)

Mairwen... i added the loaded broom graphic to the awards page... thanks again :)
and as so far i have NOT added a disclaimer page... but im still thinking on it :D
thanks everyone

[Earth Walker]

;) When women and men look at Goddess religion,
they expect to find earmarks of the religions with
which they were previously involved. They are
confused when they don't find anything like it, and
so it is even debatable if we have a religion or a
tradition. Witches prefer to call it their Tradition.:)
There are many traditions. We are not divided by
color(such as black and white witches); rather, we
follow different traditions: Dianics, Druids, Gardnerians,
Welsh, English, Pictish, Nordic, eclectic and more.
None of these witchy traditions worship the devil. :smash:
The devil, poor thing, is a christian, not a Pagan
invention. :bigredgri
Devil worship is a measly 150 years old, and was the
backlash result of witch burnings.:G

Walk gently with the Goddess. :sunny:

[Silverwitch]

I too, think he may have been trying to be help, albeit in a hostile way! His second letter is much more conciliatory, in response to your well handled reply. You often find that people who are "strict" anything, get a little upset when the correct labels aren't used - so "strictly" speaking Wicca, Norse, Celtic etc are all different Traditions under the Pagan banner, that's of course if your looking for a nice little box to fit yourself in! Me I'm a Ceremonial Magician with Wiccan leanings and a dash of Druidry thrown in for good measure. I could also be described as an Occultist, Witch, Mage, Nutcase, Weirdo and so on and so forth. We are all such multifaceted people, just like our Gods and Goddess's.

Don't fret, you handled it brilliantly, but I do think a disclaimer may be wise.:sunny:

[bluecat]

You were wonderful. You should see some of the "Book Wiccans" shudder when I have participated in a ritual and pulled my large lock blade from it's belt sheath; you could have sworn I shot someone.

As I have said I have no problems with most folks, but those who insist that their way or path is the only one and you have to do things a certain way have a way of rainsing my ire. I ask them if they really thought many ancestral Witches had a lot of special tools that could be easily identified when the witchhunters came. They responded by telling me that there was no more worry for that sort of thing. I politely informed them to not be so sure, I have learned that anything is possible.

BlueCat