As a gay Wiccan, I have found that often times I will come across issues when planning out rituals and such. This is because many aspects of Wicca include balancing the male and female, and quite often will include things pertaining to fertility or male/female relationships. I am slightly uncomfortable with this and was wondering if there was any way I could perhaps adapt my practices or if I should even be practicing wicca at all?
Any help would be appreciated,
-shshgr
Just adapt things the way you want them to be. If people are upset by it then just leave the organized religion, make your own rules (can be same as Wicca), and call yourself a Pagan. Point is, don't let anyone tell you you're wrong or can't be what you want to be :)
Wicca is at its heart a fertility religion, which is why the male/female balance is stressed so heavily. Instead of thinking of it as speaking about sexual preference, think of it rather as gender-balanced. In other words, you may be gay, but you are still biologically a male. So it is perfectly possible as a male, no matter whether you are gay or straight, to stand for the God in circle with a female (lesbian or straight) standing as the female. I know many gay Wiccans who do just that.
That being said, I can understand where some of this might feel uncomfortable for you. And if that is the case you may want to look further to see whether Wicca is in fact the religion that speaks best to your personal needs.
As has been mentioned, you might want to read "Gay Witchcraft: Empowering the Tribe" by Christopher Penczak which speaks to some of the issues of particular importance to you. Do note that Christopher is a Shaman and a Witch, not a Wiccan. And perhaps Witch might end up being a title you will want to claim as well, rather than sticking with Wicca.
You might also want to look into the Minoan Brotherhood which was founded as a Tradition that held as its purpose working with the spirituality of gay men. You can find more about them at http://www.minoan-brotherhood.org/ They also have a Yahoo group for those interested in perhaps joining the Brotherhood at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MinoanSeekers/ Again, this is not a Wiccan group, but many of their beliefs and practices may resonate with you.
Let me emphasize too that Wicca is an all-inclusive religion that welcomes those of any sexual preference; straight, gay, bi, lesbian, trans-gendered, etc. So I don't mean in any way to discourage you from continuing within the Wiccan path. But Wicca is what it is, a religion based on gender-balance, and on the energy created between male and female that creates all life around us. Gardner even referred to it as a fertility cult, and it is based in large part on the old fertility rituals of our pre-Christian ancestors of northern Europe. That may not fit the spiritual needs of everyone who comes to Wicca initially, and that's OK. Wicca was never meant to be a religion for everyone. If it speaks you you by all means stick with it and see how you can work out your issues. If not, there are other paths that may suit you as well if not better than Wicca.
I have friends that are gay and are Wiccan..but there solitary casters or have their own coven, I'm gay and I practice but I m don't classifi myself as a certain religion. How I see it is by the two energies and having both balanced and being able to use them makes you powerful..if you learn to embrace the goddess energy within you , it's just as if a female..we blessed that we can identifiy with both. Being gay witch actually is a powerful thing when you accept it and practice :)
Thank you all for the wonderful responses and help!
As a solitary caster, it is often hard to find the male/female balance within my rituals, but I try my best to balance it all out.
I would love to look up the books, but considering the fact that I'm in both "closets," I would not be able to accquire them. Perhaps I'll see if my local library has them c:
That being said, I would like to clear up one thing; I am female. I didn't mean to confuse anyone, but I use the terms gay and lesbian interchangeably. Plus, I was in a hurry to type and gay was shorter. Sorry for any confusion that may have caused ^^'
Ello, yeah im gay too, and yes i find it hard to cast spells when it seems 'unbalanced' someone should make a gay coven!!! Any advice for me? much obliged!
Hi GayWolf, You might want to take a look at the books "Gay Witchcraft" and "Sons of the Goddess" by Christopher Penczak for some suggestions on how to merge your sexuality and your spirituality into a meaningful path. The books are more about Witchcraft than about Wicca, but I think you'd still find them useful.
If , when you talk about a gay coven, you mean an actual, physical coven, there are some out there. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, you might want to research the Minoan Brotherhood which is a Tradition for gay men.
On the other hand, if you mean having a gay coven here on SOM, that you cannot do. The site owner has decided that there are currently enough covens already here on this site and he is not permitting the formation of any new ones.
I would also recommend the Greek pantheon for gay pagans in general. Zeus, Artemis, and Dionysus are just some of the Greek deities that had homosexual tendencies, and you may be able to relate to them easier.
