homosexuality and Wicca

Throughout most branches of Wicca, all sexual orientations are considered healthy and positive, provided that individual sexual relationships are healthy and loving. Sexual orientation is therefore not considered an issue. Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people are almost always welcomed in individual communities, covens, study groups, and circles. Many homosexual Neopagans were initially attracted to Neopagan religions because of this inclusion, in which their relationships are seen on an equal footing. Sometimes their desire is more specifically to move away from what they see as homophobic pressure in their original religion.

In support of this philosophy, many Neopagans cite the Charge of the Goddess, which says "All acts of Love and Pleasure are My rituals". Therefore all forms and expressions of sexuality, as long as they are otherwise healthy and consensual, are accepted.

Exceptions

One qualified exception is Gardnerian Wicca and some other relatively conservative groups. Gardnerians do not make any moral judgments about homosexual people, but they usually form their covens from male-female pairs. This practice may stem from the influence of Gerald Gardner who wrote (ostensibly quoting a witch, but perhaps in his own words):

The witches tell me 'The law always has been that power must be passed from man to woman or from woman to man, the only exception being when a mother initiates her daughter or a father his son, because they are part of themselves' (the reason is that great love is apt to occur between people who go through the rites together.) They go on to say: 'The Templars broke this age-old rule and passed the power from man to man: this led to sin and in doing so it brought about their downfall.'

Most traditional Wiccans worship the God and Goddess, and a central part of Wiccan liturgy involves the Great Rite; an act of actual or symbolic ritual sexual intercourse between the two deities. This is traditionally carried out by a priest and priestess who have had the deities invoked upon them, and the conventional practice appears to be exclusively heterosexual. When performed 'in token' this involves the athame (representing the masculine principle) descending into the chalice (representing the feminine).

This has led some Wiccans (and other occultists) to express the kind of homophobic views which led to observations such as this from the Pagan Federation of Canada: 'Over the last few decades, many people have thought that the emphasis on male/female polarity in Wicca excludes homosexuals'. However this source goes on to make the case for the validity of homosexuality even within traditional Wicca, suggesting that gay men and lesbians are likely to be particularly alive to the interplay of the masculine and feminine principles in the Universe.

Traditional Wiccan covens aspire to having equal numbers of men and women, to embody their belief in the importance of balance between the male and female (which extends sexually). This goal is often not met, since there are more women involved in Wicca than men. There are probably around the same or greater percentage of homosexual persons practicing traditional Wicca, as the percentage of homosexual persons in the population at large. This, and the imbalance of female and male practitioners, can sometimes be a practical obstacle to gay people and women who wish to join traditional circles, an obstacle often shared by single people. The actual sexual orientation of the individual is not an issue.

Another exception is Dianic Wicca (also known as Feminist Witchcraft and/or Feminist Spirituality), a branch of Wicca practiced almost exclusively by women, most of whom are heterosexual, preferring to practice their spirituality with other women in pursuit of Women's Mysteries. Some Dianics, of course, are lesbians, just as there are lesbians in other Wiccan denominations. Dianic Wiccans worship a Goddess but no God, and form female-only covens, for the most part. There are some mixed-gender Dianics, specifically the McFarland Dianics, who practice in either all female or mixed-gender circles, and who may or may not include the god in their workings.

Gay and lesbian oriented traditions

Dianic Wicca is attractive to lesbian pagans because it is a religion that welcomes them and celebrates their perspectives on feminism, sexism, and women's empowerment within patriarchal culture.

Although not specifically Wiccan, one branch of traditional Witchcraft has provided a home for many Neo-Pagan homosexual men and women. The Feri Tradition is very open to all sexual orientations and some sources encourage bisexuality during rituals to reach states of ecstasy. The Feri Tradition should not be confused, however, with other spiritual traditions bearing the name Faery (including the Radical Faeries as well as branches of Wicca that focus on fairy/faery lore.)

Faery Witch covens of gay men only have been formed and are readily accepted among the larger group of Faery Witches. Both heterosexual and homosexual couples are married and handfasted in Faery Witch ceremonies every year.

The Minoan Brotherhood was founded in 1977 by Edmund Buczynski, an elder in the Gardnerian, WICA and New York Welsh Traditions, in order to create a Craft tradition for gay and bisexual men--one that would celebrate and explore the distinctive mysteries unique to men who love men. The Minoan Sisterhood was founded as the Women's counterpart to the Brotherhood soon thereafter by Lady Rhea and Lady Miw-Sekhmet in collaboration with Buczynski, based on his work with the Brotherhood. Legitimate Minoan initiations and elevations are all conducted in same-sex only circles. Both traditions continue to this day. The Brotherhood and Sisterhood are oath-bound, initiatory mystery religions which use a ritual framework descended from Gardnerian Wicca.

The Brotherhood of the Phoenix was founded in the summer of 2004 by seven gay men from diverse traditions such as ceremonial magic, shamanism, and pre-Gardnerian witchcraft in order to create an ecumenical Neopagan tradition which serves the community of men who love men. The mandate of the Brotherhood is to help gay, bisexual, and transgender men overcome the burden of societal labels. The Brotherhood rejects the limiting beliefs and prejudices of modern culture and religions that preach intolerance and hate. Instead of didactic teaching, they stress a simple Neopagan principle: "Find the Divine within your own experience." To impart this principle, they hold public rituals near the eight common holidays of Neopagan tradition where we celebrate the embodiment of the gay male divine through the life-cycle of human experience. The Brotherhood is committed to the principles of Activism, Outreach, and Education to build positive relationships which benefit our community and our world. The Order sponsors workshops, lectures, social events, and activist campaigns to achieve these aims.

There is another predominantly gay group called the Radical Faeries, which emphasizes queer spirituality. Certain branches are exclusively focused on gay male spirituality; others are open to all genders and orientations.

Other gay traditions include the Triad Brotherhood (Hectite Tradition), and the Green Man Tradition.

Gay and bisexual deities

Many Neopagan gods and goddesses are seen as bisexual or gay. The Neopagan pantheon includes many gay themes. A few of them are:

• Astarte, the Great Mother. Her temple staff included a caste of gay male priests called the kelabim.
• Pan, the patron god of shepherds and god of nature, is famous for his sexual prowess with both maidens and shepherds. Pan is also reported to have had relationships with younger, teenage boys.
• Inanna had a creature neither male nor female rescue her from the underworld, named Asushunamir. This is sometimes regarded as the origin of the queer ones.
• Apollo has often been seen as bisexual, as he has been associated with the hyacinth (the traditional flower symbolic of homosexuality). He may have also been sexually involved with a man bearing that same name (Hyacinthus) in Greek myth. See Apollo and Hyacinthus

Also, Artemis, Hestia, and Athena were specifically virgin goddesses, possibly implying asexuality.

In addition, the Feri Tradition teaches about the Divine Twins, who often appear as a sexually active same-gendered pair, as well as of the Blue God, a queer (and often androgynous) deity associated with snakes and with spring.

See also

• Wicca
• Wiccan morality

Further reading

Conner, Randy P. Blossom of Bone – Reclaiming the Connections between Homoeroticism and the Sacred (1993). San Francisco: Harper.

External links

• Gay Paganism: 26 articles on the Witchvox website
• Faerywolf
• Greek Mythology The secret Greek myths of male love, ancient coming-of-age rituals, uncensored and developed
• Article about Edmund Buczynski
• The Brotherhood of the Phoenix
• Short biography of Lady Rhea, co-founder of the Minoan Sisterhood
• Gay pagans, Gay Witches...? Links to reprinted articles and essays from The Wellhead.
• Pagan Theologies wiki: Sexuality articles
• Pagan Theologies wiki: Gender articles

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