The Major NeoWiccan Differences

Between Traditional, Transitional, and NeoWicca, today there are a tremendous number of different Wiccan traditions. For the most part the majority of them service the same core: They worship roughly the same deities in spirit, celebrate roughly the same festivals in the wheel of the year, follow roughly the same ritual structures, and abide by roughly the same system of ethics to an extent. But the particulars themselves (and sometimes entire details altogether) are different from Coven to Coven, tradition to tradition, and especially across denomination; along with the changing of the times, so too have the differences between Coven-Initiated and Self-Initiated Wicca increased especially.

So then what is it exactly that most often distinguishes Traditional Wicca from NeoWicca? This remains a deceptively complex question that can sometimes be incredibly frustrating to people ... On the one hand, as Thorn Mooney (author of 'Traditional Wicca: A Seeker's Guide') puts it, it can feel like a petty and unnecessary obsession with semantics; “who cares what words we use as long as we understand the concepts that they represent”? But on the other hand, how we use words matters, and how we assign meaning has very real consequences in the real world.

The word 'NeoWicca', then, becomes important terminology- and like all terminology it must be defined. Specifically, it must be defined in relation to Traditional Wicca (for without Traditional, there is no Neo). And here, NeoWiccan is not different enough that it’s another religion entirely. But it's not similar enough and doesn't share in the Mysteries in the same way, and so it cannot be considered another tradition in the way Alexandrian Wicca is a different tradition than Gardnerian, either. Instead, more accurately, it is better described as a different denomination. And what delineates it from Traditional Wicca the most significantly is the forever contentious baseline requirement of Initiation which gave rise to the Codification Era in the first place.

Traditional Wicca, regardless of whether one is Alexandrian or Gardnerian, requires, beyond all shadow of a doubt, that one is initiated into and works within a properly lineaged Coven that can be appropriately vetted within the greater community of initiated Traditional Wiccans. This conference of initiation from High Priest/ess to Postulant comes with certain oaths requiring secrecy. Thus participants in the faith are not allowed to discuss certain elements of their religion with outsiders who have not likewise been initiated and cannot prove their lineage of initiation through the proper channels.

By contrast, NeoWicca’s membership relies only on the age-old question proposed by Doreen Valiente in 'Witchcraft Today': "Who initiated the first Witch"? In other words, NeoWiccans are Self-Trained, Self-Dedicated to, and Self-Initiated into the mysteries of Wicca; the faith requires no Coven participation, no High Priest/ess to confer title or degree, and no oaths of secrecy or silence about one’s experiences and the things they learn. It is Open Court, and participation with (and training by) others is completely optional.

The validity of such an initiation is perhaps the most contentious point. However, it’s not nearly as much of an issue as people often make it out to be; to put it simply into perspective: Think of the longstanding tradition of initiation already found in Christianity and Judaism.

In much the same way that not all denominations of Christianity will accept the Rite of Baptism as valid when previously performed by specific denominations (i/e, Catholics will not accept the baptism of Mormons)? And just like not all denominations of Judaism will accept the conversions of other denominations (i/e, Orthodox and Conservative Ashkenazi Judaism will not always accept the conversion of Reform Jews)? Being initiated into one Wiccan Tradition does not automatically make you an initiate of all others; anyone initiated into Gardnerian Wicca must still be reinitiated should they wish to join Alexandrian Wicca- and no one who Self-Initiated as a NeoWiccan would automatically be accepted as a Traditional Wiccan. They too would still need to undergo the appropriate method of initiation of the tradition sought.

This does not invalidate anyone’s previous or current initiations in any regard. It merely acknowledges each initiation ritual (as well as the experiences and spiritual knowledge conferred through them) as being individual and different. And that difference matters when dealing with a series of faiths who, at their very core, are orthopraxic, and for whom personal experience of the mysteries- and Initiation is one of the core mysteries- is paramount.

Which brings us to the next, slightly more nebulous, difference: The Coven itself; its structure, the way in which they are approached, what its function is, and more.

Within Traditional Wicca, being in Coven is the default. Being a solitary practitioner, then, is often an anomaly. The byproduct of a necessity or an accident- something such as a move, poor health, or some other such issue- which actively prevents someone from working with their Coven. By contrast, while Covens certainly do exist for NeoWiccans, it is Covens which are the abnormality as opposed to the default; instead of working together in a Coven they are much more likely to practice solitarily.

Additionally, for Traditional Wiccans a Coven is a closely knit spiritual family which actively bonded through sacred oaths and shared experience and understanding of the Mysteries. Membership is exclusive and granted cautiously- typically only after a candidate has been extensively evaluated by all members of the Coven; High Priest/esses have to make sure that a Seeker is not only sincerely interested in the specific tradition of the Coven itself, but is also compatible with the other members ... NeoWiccan “Covens”, on the other hand, are much looser; a casually defined environment more akin to a study group or book club, an Open Circle, or some other kind of general NeoPagan group where people can attend (often at will) with minimal investment or commitment actually required of them.

While they are both called Covens (and that’s just fine), it’s important for people to understand that the term has completely different spiritual connotations and intent between the two denominations, and that needs to be respected and treated properly ... That isn’t to say that Covens never develop with the same closeness within NeoWicca, however, or that they cannot abide by similar formats. It’s simply to say that it’s not as common for this to happen- and that when it does, it’s not typical. It's also to say that it's considered a bonus when a NeoWiccan has others to circle with (especially in a Covened manner)- whereas in Traditional Wicca that is the expected default.

NeoWiccan style “Covens” also still serve important functions for their communities and shouldn't be discounted just because the word Coven means two completely different things across the two denominations, and are often approached and formulated differently ... Being a solitary practitioner, after all, doesn’t mean one is (or has to be) an isolationist. It only means that the bulk of one’s ritual and religious practice is often performed alone, by one’s self Covens of any format provide integral community gathering points and learning opportunities they wouldn’t have the opportunity for otherwise.

Covened or Solitary, another major difference is that NeoWiccans often have no specific (or “traditional”) way of doing things.

Traditional Wiccans have a vast lineage and history of ritual, experience, and- of course- tradition to draw upon. One that’s been handed down through skilled teachers- conferred from (and built upon by) one Coven, one High Priest/ess, to the next. And while there is always room for the modification and adaptation of these core ritual structures and beliefs, and no two Covens are exactly the same as one another even within the same traditional Lineage? Joining a Traditional Wiccan Coven is still to step into an already formed tradition.

Much of the information NeoWiccans have to work with, however, is from the Outer Court of Traditional Wicca; information which has been cobbled together from books written by Traditional Initiates, and which is based on what little information those Initiates have been able to can safely give out to others without breaking their oaths (or, in some cases, the works of blatant Oathbreakers); in other words, there are significant gaps in the mysteries, where oathbound information was actively and intentionally withheld. Thus, it is an incomplete tradition by default.

NeoWiccans must, then, as a basic act of religious action, actively work to fill in these gaps themselves using external information from other sources. And because they belong to no Traditional form of Wicca they are technically free to fill these gaps with whatever they see fit (within reason); whether this is done through personal interest in lore and mythology, or is based in their own Gnostic experience of the mysteries, is greatly dependent on individualistic preference- presenting NeoWiccans with a great amount of freedom as to what they believe and do, and who they do it for.

This ultimately means that the old Outer Court tradition of “Plug and Play” (where the holes in information presented to each Outer Court Circle was intentionally "plugged in" with suitable filler- such as using Apollo and Artemis as replacements for the correct, oathbound names of the Lord and Lady- purely for the purpose of education and use in the Outer Court; the expectation still being that these "errors" would, of course, later be corrected after their initiation) is still very much an active part of the formation of NeoWiccan traditions. Becoming NeoWiccan, then, is technically to create your own tradition in much the same way as the original Transitional Wiccans did ... A tradition supported by a solid foundation of Traditional Wiccan belief, true. But one which must still be further designed and built by (and will therefore be unique to) you alone, none-the-less.