Confronting Fallacies: Christian vs Wican
Someone asked me to review the article "The Hidden Traps of Wicca," published on October 11, 2024. Despite the recent date, the content feels like a decades-old retread of the same tired arguments.
Written from a narrow theological perspective, the piece is riddled with logical fallacies, historical inaccuracies, and blatant misrepresentations. By deliberately mischaracterizing the faith, the author constructs a "straw man" designed to be easily dismantled.
Click the link to review yourself: THE HIDDEN TRAPS OF WICCA.
It should be noted that I have intentionally used the spelling Wica in my analysis, as that was the actual term used by the primary sources responsible for this entire historical mess before it was further rebranded.
The part that irritated me is the comment "God’s perspective."
Claiming to speak from "God’s perspective" is perhaps the ultimate expression of intellectual and spiritual overreach. It is a paradox: it uses the language of humility—submitting to a higher power—to mask an act of supreme ego.
When an individual asserts that they know the present mind of the infinite, they are not just sharing a belief; they are attempting to end a conversation by claiming an unassailable authority. It also ignores even in their own texts, the one they called "God" changes his mind.
To claim God’s perspective is to ignore the fundamental boundary between the finite and the infinite while also essentially claiming God himself as personal property. As humans, our "perspective" is physically and cognitively trapped by:
Time: We can only process the present, while "God" is traditionally defined as seeing the beginning and the end simultaneously.
Bias: Our views are colored by culture, biology, and personal history.
Complexity: We struggle to understand the ripple effects of a single action, yet we claim to know the intent behind the mechanics of the entire universe.
The Moral Hazard of Certainty
The arrogance lies in the weaponization of the divine. When someone claims to know what God is thinking right now, they often do so to bypass the hard work of empathy, nuance, and evidence.
It is a way to say, "I am not the one judging you; the Creator of the Universe is." This removes the speaker from the responsibility of their own words, turning their personal prejudices into "divine decrees."
They are essentially "putting" their word's in God's mouth making him little more than a puppet character and then claiming to be his mouthpiece. If God has an issue with something, he does not need another mere mortal human being to do anything.
They also contradict their own commands about not judging less they be judged while on one hand any judgement is up to God then claiming they have certainty what that will be which again their own texts state they don't.
To claim to have mapped the mind of the absolute is to shrink "God" down to the size of one’s own skull. It replaces the vastness of the unknown with a mirror that reflects the speaker’s own desires, biases, fears and certainties.
In short, there is no greater irony than a fallible human claiming to possess an infallible view. It is an attempt to play the role of the judge while standing in the witness box.
That said, I shall proceed to answer the other fallacies and hold my irritation down within the best of my abilities in regards to all sides of this debate and show both sides of the coin are nonsense.
A Reflection on Mystery
True reverence usually begins with an admission of mystery. To claim to have mapped the mind of the absolute is to shrink "God" down to the size of one’s own skull. It replaces the vastness of the unknown with a mirror that reflects the speaker’s own desires and certainties.
In short, there is no greater irony than a fallible human claiming to possess an infallible view. It is an attempt to play the role of the judge while standing in the witness box.
Here are the primary fallacies and misrepresentations present in the text:
1. The Straw Man Fallacy
The author creates a simplified, weakened version of Wiccan belief to knock it down. For example, the text claims Wiccans have "no set rules or absolute standards" and that the Wiccan Rede means "witches are free to do whatever seems right to them."
The Reality: Most Wiccans view the Rede ("An' it harm none, do what ye will") and the Threefold Law as a strict ethical system of personal responsibility. Far from "doing whatever they want," Wiccans believe they are cosmically responsible for the ripples their actions cause.
2. False Equivalence (Wicca = Satanism/Demonic)
The text uses a "slippery slope" narrative through the story of "Kathy," who claims white magic led her to "black demons." It implies that because Wicca is "occult," it is inherently a gateway to the Christian concept of Satan.
The Reality: Wicca is a non-Abrahamic religion. Wiccans do not believe in the Christian Devil, nor do they worship him. Equating the two is a Category Error—applying the rules and entities of one religion to a completely different one that doesn't recognize those entities.
3. Etymological Fallacy
The article claims the word Wicca comes from the Anglo-Saxon word wicce, meaning "to bend or shape nature."
The Reality: While wicce/wicca (female) are Old English roots for "witch," the definition "to bend or shape, twist and pervert" and all the rest is a popular folk etymology popularized in the 20th century.
Most linguists also get these matters wrong speculating that such forms mean "one who practices magic" or is related to "to wake" or "to divine." By using a "bending" definition, the author frames the religion as an attempt to "control or corrupt" God’s creation, setting up a theological conflict.
Al already addressed the actual etymology doing away with all the nonsense on all sides HERE. Also, factually, I demonstrate the noun God is also not part of the "biblical languages" of Hebrew, Greek and Latin. I do that HERE.
4. Overgeneralization (Hasty Generalization)
The text treats all Wiccans as a monolith. It uses the story of one teenager (Rebecca) and one "former Wiccan" (Kathy) to define the experiences and motivations of millions of people.
The Reality: Wicca is highly decentralized. There are Alexandrian, Gardnerian, Dianic, and Eclectic Wiccans. So called Gardnerian is the root of the others.
The Reality: Many do not use altars in the way described, and many do not focus on "spells" but rather on seasonal cycles and meditation, or praying like anyone else, and do the "less occult" bits as the previous forms more or less based in.
5. Appeal to Fear (Scare Tactics)
The article uses "Kathy’s" testimony of "black demons" and a "cold wind" to frame Wicca as a physical danger to one's health.
The Reality: This is a subjective anecdote used to bypass logical inquiry and trigger an emotional fear response. It frames a spiritual practice as a "public health hazard" without empirical evidence while ignoring "questionable issues" of their own identity and such documented histories at that.
6. Misrepresentation of History
The text mentions the myth that Wicca began 35,000 years ago in a female-led civilization.
The Reality: While some early 20th-century Wiccan authors (like Margaret Murray) proposed a "Great Goddess" prehistoric hypothesis, but then applied the Greek/Roman deity Diana to the mix, and a fiction pushed by extremist feminists.
"Modern Wicca" is not that ancient unless you count the late 1940s CE as "ancient," and is recognized by most practitioners and scholars as a New Religious Movement (NRM) formalized in the mid-20th century.
By focusing on the "35,000-year-old-feminist-extremist" myth, the author targets the most easily debunked historical claims to discredit the entire faith.
THE FICTIONS OF WICCA
To provide a balanced perspective, it is important to acknowledge that some practitioners and early founders of Wicca have promoted historical and linguistic claims that have since been debunked by historians, folklorists, and linguists.
In the mid-20th century, as the religion was forming, several "foundational myths" were presented as facts. Here are the most significant factually false or historically inaccurate claims found within the Wiccan community:
1. The "Ancient Origins" Myth
The Claim: Wicca is a "survival" of an unbroken, 35,000-year-old underground religion practiced in secret since the Paleolithic era.
The Fact: Extensive historical research (most notably by historian Ronald Hutton in The Triumph of the Moon) has shown that Wicca is a New Religious Movement formalized in the 1940s and 50s by Gerald Gardner. While it draws on older folklore, Freemasonry, and ceremonial magic, there is no evidence of an unbroken lineage of "Wiccan" covens spanning back to pre-Christian times.
2. The "Burning Times" (The Great Witch Hunt)
The Claim: During the European witch trials, 9 million women were executed by the Church, and these victims were specifically practicing Wiccans (the "Old Religion").
The Fact: * The Embellished Numbers: Historical records estimate the total number of executions (men and women) was between 40,000 and 60,000, not 9 million.
The Identity: Most people executed were Christians accused of heresy or maleficium; they were not members of a secret pagan religion. The "9 million" figure was a factual error from an 18th-century historian that was later adopted as a rallying cry in early Wiccan literature.
3. The Matriarchal Prehistory Theory
The Claim: Human civilization was originally universally matriarchal and peaceful until "male warriors" (the Kurgan hypothesis) invaded and replaced Goddess worship with patriarchy.
The Fact: While some ancient societies were matrilineal (tracing descent through the mother), there is no archaeological evidence of a universal, global prehistoric matriarchy where women ruled. Most anthropologists view this as a romanticized narrative rather than a historical reality.
4. False Etymology and the "Bending" Fallacy
The Claim: The word Wicca comes from an Old English word meaning "to bend" (as in "to bend reality" or "will").
The Fact: Linguistically, this is a back-formation popularized in the 20th century to provide a philosophical veneer to magic. It has no basis in historical linguistics.
5. The Margaret Murray "Witch-Cult" Fraud
The Claim: Accused individuals in the Middle Ages were part of a structured, underground pagan cult worshiping a "Horned God."
The Fact: Margaret Murray’s The Witch-Cult in Western Europe (1921) is historically discredited. She manipulated trial records to invent a secret religion that never existed.
6. The Gardnerian Invention: Syncretic Hijacking
The Claim: Wicca is an ancient, syncretic religion where "all gods are one god and all goddesses are one goddess."
The Fact: This concept was synthesized by Gerald Gardner in the mid-20th century. He drew heavily from Freemasonry, Ceremonial Magic (Golden Dawn), and the Kabbalah to create a modern framework.
7. Actual Origins Many Deny: Suppressing History
New Forest Initiation: These he claimed initiated him are known to have been low ranking members of a local Rosicrucian order at the time that drew specifically from Murray's writings which he adopted, along with other things like parts of Thelema.
Nudism: He himself mentioned his concepts of "sky-clad" were based on ideas of Nudism at the time, along with observing practices of Voodoo or Voodoo like activities of various indigenous African and Asian cultures.
The Fallacy of the "Nebulous Monotheism": Gardner took a monotheistic "Great Spirit" concept and split it into a dual-theistic set of hypostases (a God and a Goddess). By claiming that all historical deities are merely "aspects" of these two, Wicca engages in Cultural Hijacking.
The all Encompassing Occult One: It erases the distinct identities of diverse gods and goddesses from around the world to force them into a single, syncretic "One" narrative transcending gender and sexuality which does have its own pitfalls.
Cultural Erasure through Syncretism: A primary fallacy in Wicca is the claim that "all deities are one deity." By asserting that every historical god or goddess from diverse global cultures is merely an "aspect" or "mask" of the Wiccan Horned God or Triple Goddess, Wicca engages in a form of syncretic hijacking. This erases the specific cultural, linguistic, and historical context of independent deities to force them into a modern, dualistic box.
No Time for Strawmen and Logical Fallacies
If we are to have intelligent discussions and Debates we must avoid as much as possible arguments and claims presenting a Straw Man while attacking a Mirage.
For example, it becomes clear that the modern Wiccan definition is a "philosophical veneer" designed to move away from the actual functional roles these titles held in West Germanic society, especially when it comes to such titles of Lawmen (Warlocks) and Oracles (Witches), in their original Old Saxon sources and contexts; at least as far as the oldest sources clearly indicate.
The "Two-Sided" Fallacy
My review establishes a "Middle Ground of Truth" by showing that:
The Article (Attacker): Uses Appeal to Fear and False Equivalence to frame a modern NRM as a demonic threat.
Wicca (Defender): Uses Historical Fabrication and Cultural Erasure to frame a mid-century synthesis as an ancient survival.
Logical Fact Based Conclusion
The article "The Hidden Traps of Wicca" is factually unreliable because it fails to address what Wicca actually is: a mid-20th-century New Religious Movement synthesized from Western Esotericism. Instead, it attacks a "35,000-year-old" myth that Wiccans themselves often incorrectly promote.
This is not a personal attack. It's impersonal facts that do not care about feelings. Truth, authentic and demonstrable, isn't there to conform to your feelings.
Both the author of the article and the founders of Wicca are guilty of suppressing history—one to demonize, and the other to legitimize—leaving the truth of these ancient titles and traditions completely ignored for little more than anything-goes bigoted, biased cosplay on both sides of this nonsense coin.
