Gender Variance in Wicca
by bennybargas
Our friends and family who do not identify in whole or in part with the gender identity that society attempts to impress upon them have made great progresses in society and so, naturally, issues of gender variance and gender identity are often topics of public discourse. Trans* visibility has increased with women like Laverne Cox and Jazz Jennings becoming household names and men like Ben Melzer making history as the first trans-man on the cover of Europe’s edition of Men’s Health and Aydian Dowling winning first runner-up in the the US counterpart’s cover contest. But along with the great gains made, so too, have there been terrible sorrows. Violence continues to disproportionately affect trans-men and -women, like the 20 who have been murdered in the United States as of August 10th. Therefore, it’s no surprise that gender identity would also become a focus in both greater Paganism and Traditional Wicca with increasing frequency. It should also be no wonder that I would find myself wanting to deconstruct the flawed and illogical arguments made by a few in Traditional Wicca to advocate for the lack of room for our trans* and gender-variant friends. And by deconstruct, I mean completely destroy three of the most pervasive.
The Tradition has always been about cis-gendered identities!/It’s Tradition!/You are fundamentally changing the tradition!
This argument reveals that the person expressing this point of view suffers from a fundamental lack of understanding of sex, gender, and identity.
Sex is the word used to describe the physical difference between males and females (but there are also intersex individuals). Sex describes one’s secondary sexual characteristics and in fact that’s what is used to determine sex at birth. Whereas gender is the social identity of “man” or “woman” (or other variances like non-binary, non-conforming, transgender, etc.) that describes one’s social role, behavior, manner of dress, and self-image, among other things. Despite what some misguided folks will claim, gender identities are not universal. Each society has very different ideas and ideals regarding what is masculine and what is feminine, who is a man and how to attain or demonstrate manhood, and who is a woman and how to attain or demonstrate womanhood. Gender identity has no litmus test; it is a social construct and therefore no more inherently natural than money or religious identity.
Therefore, to suggest that one must be born of the male sex to be a man and that one must be born of the female sex to be a woman (that is, everyone must be cisgender) is reflective of your own personal belief in Western society’s imposed binary gender construct. It is not something that is demonstrable in practice as evidenced by the myriad gender constructs and expressions we find throughout the world’s cultures across both time and space. And Wicca, as I was taught, is an orthopraxy. This means that Wiccans are bound together by a shared practice and not a uniform belief. Accepting trans* and gender non-conforming identities has nothing to do with our Tradition and everything to do with your beliefs on what is or who can be a woman or man.
Well then, it’s not about gender, it’s about sex!/Ours is a fertility religion that celebrates the mystery, polarity, union, and procreative power of the male and female sexes and so one should act in the capacity defined by our Tradition according to sex!
The tradition I learned does not prescribe behavior according to sex (male and female). There are roles and functions for men and women (gender) but the Tradition does not define who qualifies as a man or woman. Further, by suggesting that the sex of a person is paramount and must determine their role, you are suggesting that there is something inherently necessary about having male sex characteristics to be a man and female sex characteristics to be a woman. You are equating a person to their sexual characteristics, reproductive anatomy, and procreative capacity. Therefore, if the physical characteristics and procreative ability of the sexes are the foundational definition of what it means to be a woman or man in the Craft, then by that logic:
– infertile males and females must either not qualify as men and women, respectively, or must be lacking
– females who have had their uteruses (and males their testicles) removed or damaged must not qualify or must be lacking
– males who have breasts and females who do not must not qualify or must be lacking
Such is the necessary and logically-consistent result of harboring beliefs that sex must determine gender, role, and ability in the Craft. There is no alternative reading that is logically sound. What’s more, a definition of people relying solely on sex cannot account for the sheer complexity of nature. After all, where would intersex individuals fall in such a worldview? If someone shared anatomical organs with both males and females, how would you decide if they were a man or a woman? Why should it even be up to you to decide on that which Nature has created and that which another person lives?
This is not how Gerald B. Gardner or other Craft Elders would have thought or done!
Certainly, Gardner and the first generations of Wiccans had their ideas about it and it’s almost guaranteed that they would probably define man and woman using cisgender descriptions. But as evidenced by the fact that several of them would have refused admittance to homosexuals in their day on the grounds that homosexuals were aberrations and unfit or incapable of the practice of Witchcraft, clearly our fore-fathers and -mothers suffered from a lack of knowledge of the reality of sex, gender, sexuality, and the intersections of such realities with identity.
So while it is often wise to refer back to their wisdom on matters concerning the Craft, they are neither infallible nor unquestionable. They, like us, are products of their time. And as products of our time, we have learned much about Nature and Reality since their days and part of those revealed Mysteries includes the dispelling of the beliefs that heteronormative and cisgender identities are the only natural reality and that all else are aberrations, unnatural, and undesirable.
To adopt the anachronistic beliefs of our fore-parents would mean turning our backs on the wisdom and knowledge we have gained in the last six or seven decades. It would be no better–indeed no more wise–than adopting the belief that the Earth is flat because our spiritual forebearers believe it so. And as Witches, many of us are driven to learn more about Nature and Reality (i.e., Existence) and Its Mysteries, not ignore them to imitate the Dead.
If I have missed or not addressed other important arguments against the inclusion of trans* or gender non-conforming individuals or the lack of room for their involvement in the Craft, please share them with me. I welcome further discussion on the topic. Even more importantly, though, I am a cisgender gay man and while I do my best to educate myself on the realities and issues facing my trans* and gender non-conforming peers, I recognize that I may sometimes fail, so if I’ve misspoken or misrepresented something above and you wish correct me, please feel free.
And to learn more about the realities, daily lives, and issues that impact transgender and other gender non-conforming people, check out the following resources:
Reblogged this on The Jackal, Stag, and Crescent.
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[…] of the traditional Wicca isn’t always as apparent. Until our Gardnerian brohab Benny wrote this awesome blog article about it. Go read it. Go learn something. We’ll be having a cocktail off to the side and going by […]
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[…] of the traditional Wicca isn’t always as apparent. Until our Gardnerian brohab Benny wrote this awesome blog article about it. Go read it. Go learn something. We’ll be having a cocktail off to the side and going by […]
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Excellent post!
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THAT (clap) CAPTION (clap) GIVES (clap) ME (clap) LIFE (clap!)
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Great post well written . I only know of a few trade that specifically forbid Trans or no conforming people. I want name them they are well known.
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The ability to conceive and/or give birth is what makes a woman a woman, not breast. Infertility would not change this as all of the parts are there or were there if they have been removed. To provide the seed that forms life from the egg is what makes a man a man, not a penis.
I have read that animals are “gay”. NO, they are not gay. Although animals exhibit homosexual behavior, they do not choose a same sex partner for life. It is more for practice and sometimes for release but that’s it. Animals are not homosexual.
Tradition is just that, it is something that always has been and always will be. You can not change tradition. You can start your own tradition but that doesn’t make it right.
Without the earth Gods and Goddesses, nothing would exist. Creation is of male and female. Two males can not create life … two females can not create life, only male and female can create life. That is why LGBT or Q can not practice in a circle with the same sex priest/priestess. A man can not be a priestess. He can not draw down the moon; only a person born female can do this as you are taking on the personification of the Goddess. The female can act as a priest because women are naturally born with a very small penis called a clitoris. This should only be done if it is absolutely necessary as women are not Gods. Women represent the Goddesses, Men represent the God and together they create Life. In other words, give life to what you are doing in the circle.
The Horned Gods are not and never will be LGBT or Q!!! With their seed, life is created. This can only be done with a Goddess as anal sex can not provide the egg from which life is created; therefore it is a dead end road to no where. Imitation penises do not provide the seed for life therefore can not be used as well.
There is a spiritual or physical reason why someone chooses to be gay, BUT … no one is “born that way”. Whatever happened to make someone believe that they were “born this way”, happened between the ages of 0-3. An age where the child doesn’t remember the action consciously but does remember subconsciously. Therefore the male will associate homosexual behavior as normal and something to be enjoyed. Or, in the case of a lesbian, she might subconsciously associate men with discomfort, fear or even pain and therefore be “turned off” by men. Whatever the reason, they were not born this way. The Gods are not gay and the Goddesses are not lesbians, they are the reason that we have life on this planet. This could not be accomplished if they were gay.
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Gee. This is a mess of factually-incorrect, scientifically-illiterate bigotry. But I’ll try my damnedest to power through it.
As outlined in my post, “(wo)man” is a social construct. By your definition, cis-gender women who have congenital defects where they cannot give birth, create eggs, or are missing parts would not qualify as women. Likewise, cis-gender men who can’t & could never provide “seed” would not qualify as men in accordance with your statement. But surely they are so relying on your narrow and biologically shallow definition is inadequate.
You are factually-incorrect when you day that there are no gay animals, no gay animals that mate for life, or that homosexual behavior in animals is “just for practice”. Homosexual behavior has been observed in many species throughout the world, there are same-sex animals that have and do mate for life, and there are animals that have demonstrated a preference for same-sex partners.
Normally, I would provide citations but this information is settled science and a simple Google search would educate and cure you of your ignorance.
The rest of your post is theological opinion. If you don’t believe that your Gods represent the whole complexity and variety of Nature, that’s your prerogative. Your belief that you can speak for the Gods is your right to god but I think it’s the height of hubris. But I will point out that throughout history and across the world, there is clear record of non-heteronormative and non-cisgendered deities. That you choose to ignore these gods or facts because they don’t fit with your “natural” (haha) worldview is your own folly.
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OK… Let me put it this way … If you were born with a vagina, you were born a FEMALE … If you were born with a penis, you were born a MALE. If you were born with both then you are a hermaphrodite. Is that scientific enough for you!!! YOU sir are splitting hairs. What I have stated is a fact, not some BS to suite my Nonspiritual lifestyle. You stated fact in so far as “homosexual BEHAVIOR” in animals BUT they DO NOT mate with the same sex FOR LIFE. They DO NOT choose to ONLY be with the same sex. If anything it is BI-SEXUAL behavior they exhibit NOT HOMOsexual.
YOU would be VERY surprised at WHO I know and HOW I know that the HORNED GOD IS NOT A FAGGOT; NO, he is NOT EVEN BISEXUAL, HE is ALL male and not attracted to the same sex.
“Non-heteronormative and non-cisgendered deities.”: What kind of made up crap is that. It seems to me that the “Gay” community has made up special words to explain the unexplained. It is not natural for a person born with a penis to have sexual relations with someone else that was born with a penis, especially in a circle. Someone born with a penis can not “call down” a deity that DOES NOT HAVE ONE. The deities are very real as are the EARTH GODS.
Like I said … There are spiritual, physical and psychological reasons for someone to think that they are gay … BUT … being “born that way” is not one of them.
Name one GOD that you know for a FACT is gay … you can’t, there are none. Except the ones that you have created in you own spiritually screwed up GAY mind.
You will find out when you try to cross over how wrong you are. Until then, STOP TRYING TO MAKE ALL OF THE GODS GAY. THEY WOULD NO MORE HAVE SEX WITH YOU THAN THEY WOULD A TREE.
That’s just wishful thinking on your part. That is why the GODS have the GODDESSES.
LGBT and Q is a spiritual battle between good and evil. Apparently evil is winning hands down. You surely can not recognize the battle for what it is because your too busy committing an injustice in the name of the GOD and GODDESS. They are the sex that you have to be to create any kind of life, especially if it is of the light.
Back door sex only is of the darkness and the GOD that rules it, he just wants you to think that it is a “spiritual” thing. When you are screaming “oh God”, the GOD of the darkness is the ONLY one listening.
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LMFAO! OMG, I literally almost died from laughter at your last two sentences! In fact, I had to turn it into a meme!
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Your post is scientifically-illiterate. Nature is far more complex and varied than you give Her credit for. Even if we were to throw out the discussion of gender being a social construct and stuck with “biological sex”, there are genotypical males (XY) who have vaginas and there are genotypical females (XX) who have penises. Nature is not binary.
As mentioned, there ARE IN FACT animals that display casual homosexual behavior and there are also animals who mate with same-sex partners for life. Off the top of my head, there’s a pair of gay penguins in NY who are raising chicks together.
How you know what you claim to know is a curiosity not worth explaining as clearly you knew very little. The fact that you’re not able to comprehend simple words like “non-heteronormative” and “cis-gendered” is clear evidence of this.
As previously stated there are a number of gay gods: Antinous, Hyacinthus, and Ganymedes. Plus a number of gods who were at least bisexual: Dionysus, Apollo, Zeus, Horus, and Seth to name a few. That these basic mythological references are lost upon you speaks volumes.
The rest of your post is pseudo-spiritual nonsense used to couch your homophobic and bigoted beliefs. All major medical and psychological institutions agree with the decades of mountains of research that prove that sexuality is not a choice but an inborn trait. Nobody ever chooses to be gay. Your opinion is ignorant and unsupported by reality.
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Reading through this article and the replies it inspired, while I credit your determination and heartfelt points and do so with all due respect, your twists of theory and your somersaults of rationalizing left out one very simple thing– scientific and biological reality. In the Craft, I was taught that we embrace and work within the laws of Nature, not against them. Homosexuality has been with us from recorded time, and I have many dear friends who are gay. There is no condemnation nor judgement behind my words, but reality is what it is. Duality and/or differing energies or chemicals are essential to the life force, and they are the keys to life. There is no denying that fact. Our very cells are made up of the interaction of dual elements, or multiple elements, but never the same elements, which would produce nothing. That isn’t to say that anyone, regardless of their sexual preferences or leanings, should not be included in the Craft. Each coven is autonomous and free to run itself as the members please. But science and biological truth should not be denied in favour of unproven ideas formed in order to bolster the modern LGBTQRSUV-whatever movement. A man who is attracted to other men is gay, and that’s his thing, to which he has every right. But no matter how conflicted he may be emotionally or psychologically (even neurologically, as this argument has expanded through the years), he will never be a woman, at least not physically. He can take hormone therapy and even mutilate himself with reconstructive surgery, but his DNA will remain male. Please understand the points I make are in no way an attack on anyone’s chosen lifestyle or personal convictions, but rather a simple observation and acknowledgement of what is.
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Oh and I would remiss if I did not point out another factually-incorrect and scientifically-illiterate statement you’ve made. NO ONE CHOOSES TO BE GAY. It is natural, it is in-born, and it is not a choice. Again, the science on the naturalness and immutability of homosexuality and bisexuality in humans is long settled. Suggesting otherwise is simply bigotry and uneducated nonsense.
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It is a spiritual battle that The Evil One is winning thanks to people like you insisting that “we’re born that way”. The GODDESS does not make mistakes unless you count yourself as being one.
I know my facts as I AM in touch with the spiritual realm and have been told different. I am NOT illiterate as you would suggest because … I can read the crap that you’ve posted. I have done my research both physically and spiritually. YOU ARE WRONG. I am right on this subject as you will find out when you are “no longer with us”, you might even see the evil when IT leaves your body. Who am I kidding … It will take you with it, unless you stop having homosexual sex and ask Yeshua for forgiveness. He would say: “Go and sin no more” or do you deny His existence as well.
The Goddess is the light and since you deny Her, you probably won’t be there. Have “fun” in your gay darkness…
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You should’ve left your Christian evangelism at Church instead of bringing it with you to circle.
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Being LGBT or Q is not natural. Wicca is of nature. Therefor the two together is as oil and water … The do not mix.
This is not mans law, it is the law of nature.
The LGBT and Q community is just desperate to fit in somewhere and want to change the traditions to suite themselves. It is just as bad as when one race claims to be the root of all races, they just want to make themselves more important than they really are.
When people learn to accept that they are no ore important, in the scheme of things,than the ant or the roach and just accept that it is “natures way”, they might be able to see the errors of their ways. Just because humans have brains and can think doesn’t mean that they should.
Look what has happened to the world because humans THINK that they know everything about anything spiritual.
It is a spiritual battle of good and evil that these people are fighting. To practice how they “feel” is the spiritual battle that they are loosing. To accept that they are different but not practice their differences is the only way to win a spiritual battle when your very soul is at stake. To be spiritual is not to be religious but to understand and accept all life on a spiritual level and it’s place in this world.
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Oh dear, it appears you’ve spilled some Judeo-Christian morality and worldview into your Paganism. You should probably store them in separate containers; they don’t mix well. Otherwise what you end up with is this messy bigoted mix here that you call Wicca but doesn’t much sound anything like Wicca.
First, Wicca, like all religion, is a social construct. It is not natural in the sense that it is “of nature”. It’s a wholly human construct conceived in the minds of human beings attempting to grasp the unknowable (e.g., the Gods, ultimate reality, etc).
The LGBTQ+ community isn’t some monolith attempting to change traditions. Healthy traditions generally adapt to an evolving society that changes as it learns more about itself and reality. As our society has come to learn that heterosexuality isn’t the only form of natural sexual expression, existing members of those traditions tend to reflect that in how they practice or perceive their tradition. Of course, there are a few like yourself who still cling backward & unscientific thoughts.
It’s curious that you would think that humans have either been gifted or evolved the ability to reason yet we should utterly forego that ability. Using our natural ability to reason and think issues through is the only sensible thing to do. Wallowing in ignorance is simply foolishness.
What’s even stranger is that you associate some cosmic moral struggle withnsex and sexuality. This is an attitude for which you will not find much support in modern or ancient Paganism. It is clearly an influence from evangelical Christianity and is almost unique to it. I would surmise that you have a background in these sort of religions and have unwisely imported some of their beliefs into your concept of Wicca.
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Have you forgotten that Yeshua said that we (Pagans) would be welcome at His fathers table if we truly believe in Him. I love and accept Yeshua but I choose to have an earth based spiritual life.
I do not have to be “Christian” to believe in Him.
Until the 4th century, Yeshua and Mary Magdalene were worshiped as Jewish Pagan Deities. Learn your history before you chastise me.
Nowhere in history, especially Pagan history, is there ANY reference to ANY Gods being LGBT or Q.
Since the LGBT and Q community wants to make Yeshua gay because John “kissed him on the mouth”. Let me educate you on this: John was his son. Yeshua, by Jewish law, would have HAD to be married to claim the title “Rabbi”, which he did. It was The Fathers Law that he marry, unless he was the ONLY one excluded. He would have had to be married, it was his wedding at Canaan, He would have had to teach his children a trade, he would have had to teach them to be righteous and then he would have had to get them married; Just like his parents had to do with him.
The Catholic Bible, the first bible, was taken from the writings of Pagans. Learn about Constantine and you will learn that the Bible was not written until the 4th century. Educate yourself before you try to educate me.
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The Bible and Christianity are utterly irrelevant to this discussion. That you reference them proves my point that you’ve done mixed up your theologies for the worse.
In a previous comment, I listed a number of queer deities. Go read about them since you are obviously ignorant of their existence.
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Sex and sexuality are two different things, moron. A man having sex with a man who “feels like he was born the wrong sex” is two different things. He is having sex with someone who has a problem with their own sexuality. Understand.
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You’re confusing “gender identity” with sexuality. Try again.
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@Melinda Lilly:
Sorry but you’re missing goal on several levels. Biology, ancient cultures around the world, and the study of wicca as initation tradition.
Nature gives us so many diversities in sexuality and gender. Also same sex couples for life in the animal kingdom, sex changing creatures, every posibility in mating you can imagine. Sex is everywhere, it’s the source of life and everyone can express this in his/her/hir individual way. If you are a trained priest/ess you can channel this power, no matter what’s between you legs.
The nature of gender goes far beyond the physical plane, especially when it comes to working on the astral plane/ profane world. This is also the dogma you can find back in the BOS. It’s not about the polarity in the first place, it’s about the trinity, with the androgynous creator in the center.
Ancient cultures knew the potence and power of people who walk between worlds, a specific form of fertility that was not bound by the laws of the mundane world. Still today there are tribes who know that your newborn baby, or your marriage, will be blessed by the Gods when the rite is performed by a Two-spirited.
Many people nowadays that are initiated priestesses and priests of the Craft prove that there is much more possible than people like Gerald Gardner liked us to believe. Don’t forget that our founding father was a bit afraid of the power of women, as seen in the Law he created at a certain point. Maybe good old Gerald also knew, with all his traveling around the world, that the power of Two-spirited people is evenmore so a force to be reckoned with. 😉
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A person only has ONE spirit unless you count the ones that are possessed or oppressed, then they have two, their and an evil one. A hermaphrodite has two different sex organs but, alas, only one spirit. I work with the spiritual plane all of the time and know this for a fact. I also know for a FACT that the GODS are NOT LGBT or Q.
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Oh, petal, if you have facts, please cite those sources. UPG doesn’t count.
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“Man and man, and woman and woman, should never attempt these practices together. And may all the Curses of the Mighty Ones be on any who make the attempt.”
This is from the Book of Shadows, ours is directly from the New Forrest Coven. A man can not initiate a man and a woman can not initiate a woman. If your lineage is American, I can understand why you think you can change it. I doesn’t make you right though.
Gerald Gardner did not make up these words, he copied them from someone else s Book of Shadows. Witches have always known these things and would never go against the GOD and GODDESS. We are in touch like no one else is as we constantly commune with the God and Goddess.
When it comes to knowing “spiritual truths”, we are the ones to ask. I am a witch, I am a Pagan. I do not call myself Wiccan because I do not want to be confused with fluffy bunnies or male “wanna be” bunnies.
The meaning of the word Wica (Gerald Gardners term for the people that were witches) as well as the spelling (Wicca) has changed with the times. I do not want to be associated with this new meaning or the new spelling as it is not the same path that I follow. I am a true witch … NOT a fluffy bunny Wiccan who thinks that traditions can change just because I don’t like the way that they are suppose to be. If you do not like the tradition DO NOT claim it and then change it. Create a tradition of your very own and leave ours alone. You are NOT Gardnerians if you are practicing gay magic in a circle.
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So no proof. Gotcha.
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I think I figured out how to ban people from commenting. 🙂
Bye, Felicia–I mean Melinda.
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