{"id":504,"date":"2010-10-14T21:45:10","date_gmt":"2010-10-15T02:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/"},"modified":"2020-07-22T18:16:29","modified_gmt":"2020-07-22T23:16:29","slug":"a-few-useful-terms","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/concepts\/a-few-useful-terms\/","title":{"rendered":"A few useful terms"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It might be helpful to cover some common terms you may come across in discussions of Paganism. Many of these terms are also used about other religions, but you may not have come across some of them before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"concepts:<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

You’ll see me use the terms path<\/strong> and tradition<\/strong> fairly frequently. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A path<\/strong> is a larger religious practice or religion unto itself. (Wicca is a path. Celtic reconstructionism is a path. Asatru is a path.) But some paths (Wicca, mostly) have offshoots within the path that are called traditions<\/strong>: much more specific in terms of shared practice, focus, and other details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you think of path as roughly equivalent to Christianity or Judaism and a tradition as equivalent to Catholicism, Southern Baptists, Reform Judaism, etc. you’ll be in the right ballpark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you ask me what my path is,<\/strong> I say initiatory religious witchcraft. My tradition has a specific name, Omphalos Tri-Cellan, but knowing that doesn’t help other people a lot, since there’s not much available about it outside members of the tradition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s also useful to know some general terms used in religious discussion – or at least be able to refer to them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are two common basic approaches to religion: orthopraxic<\/strong> and orthodoxic<\/strong>. In these cases, ortho<\/em> means \u2018right or correct\u2019. Doxic<\/em> is related to the word \u2018dogma\u2019 or belief, and praxic<\/em> is related to the word \u2018practice\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Orthodoxic<\/strong> religions focus on a shared (\u2019right\u2019) belief system: people in the religion will generally share common beliefs about a range of topics. The best known of these is Christianity: orthodoxic religions often have a shared Creed of belief, such as the Nicene Creed .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Orthopraxic<\/strong> religions are those who share practices. Wicca is in this category, but so is Judaism: to be a good Jew, you don\u2019t need to believe, you simply need to follow the Law as it is set down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Obviously, no religion is purely practice without belief, or belief without practice. If you start with practices, you need some reason to keep up with them. Otherwise, why do the practices? And if you have beliefs, you are eventually going to build up practices that reflect those beliefs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exoteric<\/strong> religions are those open to the public, and generally accept anyone willing to abide by the requirements of the religion. They focus on the needs and demands of daily life – personal struggles, family and job life, community structures, and they are generally accessible to a wide range of people (all ages, genders, backgrounds, interests, etc.) Protestant Christianity is a great example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Esoteric<\/strong> religions and orders are designed for and focus on a much smaller group – not everyone is considered able, willing, or appropriate to the group\u2019s goals. Just the same way that not everyone may go to (or want to go to) a particular college, not everyone will fit with these goals or practices. Esoteric groups also generally focus on religious mysteries, and often have some initiatory practice. Traditional Wicca is an obvious example, but the Freemasons are another well-known esoteric order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, eclectic<\/strong> is commonly used in the Pagan community to describe someone who borrows from multiple sources. An eclectic Wiccan<\/strong> is normally someone who borrows from multiple Wiccan traditions and sources, while an eclectic Pagan<\/strong> would borrow from different Pagan paths. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It can be really hard to tell what other people mean when they describe themselves as eclectic, so again, I usually ask for specifics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

(I cover terms about the nature of deity in a separate article.<\/a><\/strong>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revised July 22, 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It might be helpful to cover some common terms you may come across in discussions of Paganism. Many of these terms are also used about other religions, but you may not have come across some of them before. Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3967,"parent":2238,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-504","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P11EQH-88","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1656,"url":"https:\/\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/beginning\/wicca-can-be-anything-right\/","url_meta":{"origin":504,"position":0},"title":"Wicca can be anything, right?","author":"jenett","date":"May 4, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Wicca is anything you want it to be.\" comes up every so often. It goes like this: someone - often very well-meaning - gets interested in modern Paganism, reads some books, and thinks that they've found a religious path in which they are entirely free to do anything they want,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"concepts\"","block_context":{"text":"concepts","link":"https:\/\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/tag\/concepts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/beginning-wicca-anything.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/beginning-wicca-anything.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/beginning-wicca-anything.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/beginning-wicca-anything.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":83,"url":"https:\/\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/beginning\/religious-witchcraft\/","url_meta":{"origin":504,"position":1},"title":"What is religious witchcraft?","author":"jenett","date":"August 13, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Many people hear first about Wicca (a particular form of religious witchcraft) and never realise that there are other variations out there. So, I'm going at it the other direction: talking about the broader options, and then we'll move on to Wicca (and different ways people use that term.) Before\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"concepts\"","block_context":{"text":"concepts","link":"https:\/\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/tag\/concepts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/beginning-religious-witchcraft.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/beginning-religious-witchcraft.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/beginning-religious-witchcraft.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/beginning-religious-witchcraft.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2273,"url":"https:\/\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/beginning\/","url_meta":{"origin":504,"position":2},"title":"Beginning","author":"jenett","date":"December 23, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Are you curious about Paganism? Not sure what different terms or concepts mean? Trying to figure out how to make sense of sites and descriptions that say different things about what Paganism is or isn't, or what witchcraft is or isn't? This page links to a number of articles on\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Beginning: leaf on a red background","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/beginning-header.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/beginning-header.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/beginning-header.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/beginning-header.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":693,"url":"https:\/\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/building\/where-to-start\/","url_meta":{"origin":504,"position":3},"title":"Where to start","author":"jenett","date":"October 22, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Not sure which paths to start looking at first? Below are a variety of different (fairly general) paths, along with a list of qualities or interests. If several things in a list seem to fit you, it might be worth checking that path out in more detail. Please note: these\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"self-awareness\"","block_context":{"text":"self-awareness","link":"https:\/\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/tag\/self-awareness\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/building-paths.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/building-paths.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/building-paths.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/building-paths.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":522,"url":"https:\/\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/beginning\/range-of-uses\/","url_meta":{"origin":504,"position":4},"title":"Different uses of the word Wicca","author":"jenett","date":"October 27, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"People use the term Wicca in a wide variety of ways. On one hand, it makes some things easier (you can share a general idea of the broad foundation of what you do fast.) On the other hand, it makes a lot of things much harder - because people use\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"concepts\"","block_context":{"text":"concepts","link":"https:\/\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/tag\/concepts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/beginning-different-uses.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/beginning-different-uses.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/beginning-different-uses.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/beginning-different-uses.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":521,"url":"https:\/\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/beginning\/an-introduction-to-wicca\/","url_meta":{"origin":504,"position":5},"title":"An introduction to Wicca","author":"jenett","date":"October 14, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"People sometimes find the origin of Wicca both fascinating and complicated. 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