Theoretical Frame

 My theoretical frame for my essay is "Re-enchantment." I have come across many different reasons for why women choose to become a part of Wicca: female empowerment, to create their own identity, or to escape and cope with their everyday life. All these reasons can revolve around one thing: enchantment of the self and the world around them. 


Wicca - Wikipedia

In the book, Teenage Witches, Magical Youth and the Search for the Self, by Helen Berger and Douglass Ezzy, we can examine how many young witches found themselves in witchcraft and how becoming a part of witchcraft has changed the ways in which they view the world, and how they can improve, or re-enchant, the world around them. 

We also see how the symbol of the witch is used in Feminist Wicca: Path to Empowerment, by Linda Warwick, and in the book, Waking the Witch: Reflections on Magic, Women, Magic, and Power by Pam Grossman. Here we see how women use the symbol of the witch as a means of feminism and empowerment, a way to grow themselves and challenge the patriarchy. In Grossman's book as well, she explains how the image of the witch has changed from completely evil and ugly to a symbol of independence and nonconformity 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wicca and Magick

Image
  You cannot discuss the topic of witchcraft without diving deep into Wicca. Wicca is a modern Pagan “religion” developed in the early twentieth century. I put religion in quotation marks because it is not formally known as a religion, nor do many scholars and people a part of Wicca call it that. Many refer to it as a nature religion, a mystery religion, or a “magico-religion,” due to the practice of magic. Many practitioners prefer to call Wicca a “spirituality,” and “way of life,” as opposed to religion. Diving into Research           The keywords that I used in my search were simple: “witchcraft today,” “magic,” or “witches,” every single one of these coming up with a connection to Wicca. It brought me to the book, Witchcraft Today, published in 1954 by Gerald Gardner, the first author to announce Wicca to the general public and considered to be the father of Wicca. This book was used often by practitioners and is essentially the basis behind British Traditional Wicca. I also fo
Read more

Revised Research Question and Sources

  What drives women of all ages to become a part of Wicca and witchcraft? How do these women use Wicca as a political angle and why do many communities within Wicca deny this political side of their religion? Sources: Jarvis, Christine. “Becoming a Woman Through Wicca: Witches and Wiccans in Contemporary Teen Fiction.”  Children’s Literature in Education , vol. 39, no. 1, Springer Netherlands, 2008, pp. 43–52, doi:10.1007/s10583-007-9058-0 Warwick, Lynda L. “Feminist Wicca: Paths to Empowerment.”  Women & Therapy , vol. 16, no. 2-3, Taylor & Francis Group, 1995, pp. 121–33, doi:10.1300/J015v16n02_13.    Fine, Julia C. “MagicResistance: Anti ‐ Trump Witchcraft as Register Circulation.”  Journal of Linguistic Anthropology , vol. 30, no. 1, 2020, pp. 68–85, doi:10.1111/jola.12249 Magliocco, Sabina. “ Witchcraft as Political Resistance.”  Nova Religio , vol. 23, no. 4, 2020, pp. 43–68, doi:10.1525/nr.2020.23.4.43. Smith, Thomas Aneurin. “ Witchcraft, Spiritual Worldviews and Envir
Read more

Literature Review 4

Image
  Teenage Witches: Magical Youth and the Search for the Self by Helen Berger and Douglass Ezzy Citation: Berger, Helen A., and Douglas Ezzy.  Teenage Witches: Magical Youth and the Search for the Self . Rutgers University Press, 2007.  JSTOR , www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt5hj9jq . Summary:     Berger and Ezzy interviewed many young witches in the United States, England, and Australia to find out what drove them to become witches and what it means to be a witch. They dive deep into the moral ethics of witchcraft and how these people find themselves and their identity within the religion. Some of the interviews that showed the most insight were placed at the beginning of the book or between each chapter, giving us a firsthand experience from witches themselves.  Authors:      Helen Berger is an American sociologist who has done a lot of research into Paganism and witchcraft. Her interest in witchcraft began in 1986 and since then she has performed many lectures on paganism and has even bee
Read more