The following is a parable. Bear with me.

So me and a very dear friend argued one day, like you do, about religion and politics and what-not. One facet of the argument involved whether it was wise for me to call myself Wiccan–to affiliate myself with others who identify as such, by identifying myself as such. And this led to several really interesting subtopics: the difference between prescriptive and descriptive terminology, for instance, or the the difference between a 60-year-old religion and that same religion 2,000 years later. We both got a little testy, but at the end of it we were still friends, and we’d taken our brains to interesting places. Very cool. If you have friends you can argue with like that, you should give them a hug next time you see them, because they ought not to be taken for granted.

But anyway. I’m talking about it now because of one particular subtopic, which was my friend’s suggestion that the inclusiveness of the word “Wicca” makes it too easy to hijack by people I’d rather not share the label with.

The logic goes like this: If A) “Wicca” is so inclusive that it excludes exclusion, which is to say B) you can’t effectively gainsay anyone who publicly identifies as such, then C) you’re doomed to association with people you’d rather not associate with as long as you insist on identifying as such yourself.

I have to admit she has a point. Among those loudly bidding to represent my religion in the court of public opinion are–or at least, were–a group calling themselves “British White Witches” who publicly claimed…

…to have hexed Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in protest of the movie’s depiction of broomstick-riding.

“Warner Bros. claims the film is an accurate portrayal of things that happen in witchcraft, yet woodcuts from the 16th and 17th centuries show broomsticks being ridden with the brush part in the front,” said Kevin Carlyon, whose own coven is in Sussex. “It’s a common mistake….” Carlyon also claims that he knows first hand the proper way to ride a broomstick.

—”Harry Potter’s Got It Wrong: Witch,” People Magazine, July 9, 2001.

I mean, how embarrassing is that? Let us count the ways:

• If Warner Bros. claimed accuracy in the film, it was only in representing a book,
• the whole of which is fiction,
• just like broomstick riding–fiction!
• just like, also, those 16th C. woodcuts, which were Inquisition propaganda and not journalism for Gods’ sake,
• which is beside the point, which is Wiccans don’t fly on broomsticks any more than they cast spells by wrinkling their noses, dammit!
• Also, he’s crap at hexing. Box office sales were phenomenal.

Had enough? Good.

So my friend suggests that the word “Wicca” is a lost cause. It’s been too successfully hijacked by nutbars in People Magazine. I should stop using it as a label for my own religious beliefs and affiliations. We’re known by the company we keep, right? And, like it or not, I’m keeping company with any fruitcake who calls himself a Wiccan.

I disagree, of course. (If I didn’t, it could hardly have been an argument, could it?) I don’t think I’m that helpless in the face of lunacy. If I think I’m being badly represented by self-described Wiccans, I can do the same things I do when I feel my religion is under attack by those prejudiced against it. I can write to the newspapers in which the offending stories show up. I can write blog posts, like this one. I can write to my elected representatives if the incident warrants it. And I can call out for the support of the thousands of Wiccans networked by such grassroots websites as The Witches’ Voice, asking them to do the same.

This last strategy is important. Because who’s to say that I’m not the fruitcake after all? I may have a very clear idea of what constitutes bad representation, but I don’t write the rules. If the majority of worldwide Wicca were to agree with Mr. Carlyon, then I’d have to concede that the lunatics had taken over the asylum–or that I was simply less knowledgeable than I’d thought–and that my own views no longer represented the religion as it stood today. This is something I’d find out right quick after posting a call to arms at WitchVox.

Communities are self-policing that way. I intend to be a good community member.

To all this, my friend responds that, *shrug*, I’m certainly free to waste my energy fighting a losing battle. In twenty years time, events will surely have proven her right.

On this, we agreed to disagree, or at least to put off revisiting the subject until 2027.

I think you can guess where this is going, in light of recent posts. As always, stay tuned.