Gender variance in spirituality: Difference between revisions

    imported>Sekhet
    imported>Sekhet
    Line 411: Line 411:
    ''See also: [[Wikipedia:Modern Pagan views on LGBT people]]''
    ''See also: [[Wikipedia:Modern Pagan views on LGBT people]]''


    Transgender people are generally magickal people, according to Karla McLaren in her ''Energetic Boundaries'' study guide. Transgender people are almost always welcomed in individual communities, covens, study groups, and circles.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wicca-spirituality.com/gay-wicca.html |title=The Scoop on Gay Wicca |work=Wicca Spirituality: A New Wicca for a New World}}</ref> Many transgender people were initially attracted to [[Modern Paganism]] because of this inclusion. However, there are some Neopagan groups that do not welcome transgender people. In some cases, this is because of the emphasis on the union of male and female, and the exclusion of transgender individuals from such practices.<ref name="EncWitch"/> Also, some gender separatist groups exclude transgender people, often on the basis that non-transgender individuals share certain spiritual qualities derived from genetic or biological sex.<ref name="EncWitch">{{cite book|title=The Encyclopedia of Modern Witchcraft and Neo-Paganism|first=Shelley|last=Rabinovitch|author2=James Lewis|publisher=Citadel Press|year=2002|isbn=978-0806524061
    Transgender people are generally magickal people, according to Karla McLaren in her ''Energetic Boundaries'' study guide. Transgender people are almost always welcomed in individual communities, covens, study groups, and circles.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wicca-spirituality.com/gay-wicca.html |title=The Scoop on Gay Wicca |work=Wicca Spirituality: A New Wicca for a New World}}</ref> However, some Neopagan groups do not welcome transgender people, and specifically exclude people from participation who do not fit into [[cisgender]] [[male]] and [[female]] categories.<ref name="EncWitch"/> Some gender separatist groups exclude transgender people, often on the basis of their [[gender assigned at birth]].<ref name="EncWitch">{{cite book|title=The Encyclopedia of Modern Witchcraft and Neo-Paganism|first=Shelley|last=Rabinovitch|author2=James Lewis|publisher=Citadel Press|year=2002|isbn=978-0806524061
    }}</ref> Dianic Wicca is an example of such a separatist group.<ref name=Adler>{{cite book |last=Adler |first=Margaret |title=Drawing down the moon: witches, Druids, goddess-worshippers, and other pagans in America |year=2006 |publisher=Penguin Books |page=[https://archive.org/details/drawingdownmoonw00adle_2/page/126 126] |isbn=978-0-14-303819-1 |title-link=Drawing Down the Moon (book) }}</ref>
    }}</ref> Dianic Wicca is an example of such a separatist group.<ref name=Adler>{{cite book |last=Adler |first=Margaret |title=Drawing down the moon: witches, Druids, goddess-worshippers, and other pagans in America |year=2006 |publisher=Penguin Books |page=[https://archive.org/details/drawingdownmoonw00adle_2/page/126 126] |isbn=978-0-14-303819-1 |title-link=Drawing Down the Moon (book) }}</ref>


    Line 422: Line 422:
    Newer Wiccan traditions often avoid or disregard the historical aversion to [[LGBT]] individuals.{{r|FWQC|KraemerGS|ObolerGE}}<ref name="Gallagher2005">{{cite book|last=Gallagher|first=Ann-Marie|title=The Wicca Bible: the Definitive Guide to Magic and the Craft|publisher=Sterling Publishing|year=2005|isbn=978-1-4027-3008-5|location=[[New York City|New York]]|oclc=61680143}}</ref> Oboler notes the change in neopagan culture thus, "Although the symbolic bedrock of Wicca and modern Paganism is strongly gender-essentialist, the Pagan community, like the culture as a whole, has been moving away from that position."{{r|ObolerGE}} These traditions sometimes cite the Wiccan ''Charge of the Goddess'' which says "All acts of Love and Pleasure are My rituals".<ref name=":7" /><ref name="Gardner 2004 p.70">Gardner, Gerald. ''Witchcraft and the Book of Shadows'' (2004) Edited by A.R.Naylor. Thame, Oxfordshire: [[I-H-O Books]], p.70. {{ISBN|1-872189-52-0}}</ref> Professor Melissa Harrington wrote that despite traditional Wicca showing [[heterosexism]] "as Wicca has grown and attracted gay practitioners they have begun to work out ways in which Wiccan rites can become more meaningful to them".<ref name=":4" />
    Newer Wiccan traditions often avoid or disregard the historical aversion to [[LGBT]] individuals.{{r|FWQC|KraemerGS|ObolerGE}}<ref name="Gallagher2005">{{cite book|last=Gallagher|first=Ann-Marie|title=The Wicca Bible: the Definitive Guide to Magic and the Craft|publisher=Sterling Publishing|year=2005|isbn=978-1-4027-3008-5|location=[[New York City|New York]]|oclc=61680143}}</ref> Oboler notes the change in neopagan culture thus, "Although the symbolic bedrock of Wicca and modern Paganism is strongly gender-essentialist, the Pagan community, like the culture as a whole, has been moving away from that position."{{r|ObolerGE}} These traditions sometimes cite the Wiccan ''Charge of the Goddess'' which says "All acts of Love and Pleasure are My rituals".<ref name=":7" /><ref name="Gardner 2004 p.70">Gardner, Gerald. ''Witchcraft and the Book of Shadows'' (2004) Edited by A.R.Naylor. Thame, Oxfordshire: [[I-H-O Books]], p.70. {{ISBN|1-872189-52-0}}</ref> Professor Melissa Harrington wrote that despite traditional Wicca showing [[heterosexism]] "as Wicca has grown and attracted gay practitioners they have begun to work out ways in which Wiccan rites can become more meaningful to them".<ref name=":4" />


    According to professor and Wicca author [[Ann-Marie Gallagher]], "There is a moralistic doctrine or dogma other than the advice offered in the [[Wiccan Rede]]... The only 'law' here is love... It matters that we are gay, straight, bisexual or transgender– the physical world is sacred, and [we are] celebrating our physicality, sexuality, human nature and celebrating the Goddess, Giver of ALL life and soul of ALL nature."<ref name="Gallagher2005" />
    According to professor and Wicca author Ann-Marie Gallagher, "There is a moralistic doctrine or dogma other than the advice offered in the Wiccan Rede... The only 'law' here is love... It matters that we are gay, straight, bisexual or transgender– the physical world is sacred, and [we are] celebrating our physicality, sexuality, human nature and celebrating the Goddess, Giver of ALL life and soul of ALL nature."<ref name="Gallagher2005" />


    The Pagan Federation of Canada stated, "Over the last few decades, many people have thought that the emphasis on male/female polarity in Wicca excludes homosexuals."  However, the Federation goes on to make the case for the validity of LGBT orientations 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.<ref>Huneault, Robert.''Homosexuality and Wicca''. Pagan Federation/Fédération Païenne Canada website, accessed 11 May 2007. [http://www.pfpc.ca/info/wiccan/wicca/homo.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071229050605/http://www.pfpc.ca/info/wiccan/wicca/homo.html|date=29 December 2007}}</ref>
    The Pagan Federation of Canada stated, "Over the last few decades, many people have thought that the emphasis on male/female polarity in Wicca excludes homosexuals."  However, the Federation goes on to make the case for the validity of LGBT orientations 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.<ref>Huneault, Robert.''Homosexuality and Wicca''. Pagan Federation/Fédération Païenne Canada website, accessed 11 May 2007. [http://www.pfpc.ca/info/wiccan/wicca/homo.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071229050605/http://www.pfpc.ca/info/wiccan/wicca/homo.html|date=29 December 2007}}</ref>