A lot of the time, people see shows on TV about witches and then they get to looking them up and find Wicca or a friend my show you it, or even the Pentagram might lead you into it, that's what happened to me..
Wicca's relatively new as an official religion (out of the World Broom Closet by Gardner in the 1950's) so there could very well be a generation who grew up with it, but it's not one of the major world religions (yet) and I keep hearing stories about Wiccan parents either being rejected by their children, or wanting to remain private with their faith instead of making it part of family life because...well, personal issues, perfectly within individual rights, but it just saddens me to see an opportunity to represent just go like that.
Other times, it's a friend who saw it on TV, did the research the TV/movie thing was based on, it suits them, it might suit their friends and they want to see...
Other times, it's aspects. Like, I wanted to practice Buddhism after watching a movie I forgot the title of "7 years in tibet" or something, just because I liked how kind they were to animals. I was kind of animals, but I was considered eccentric. Buddhism seemed like an opportunity to validate my "eccentricity"...and then I did more research into the lineages and such and it was just, nah, not entirely for me. But that's what got me looking it up, that there was a teeny tiny bit of a wound there from the society I lived in that would think respect for life could get too weird.
So, I'm definitely overgeneralizing if I say that the same draw to Wicca could be disempowerment, especially by patriarchal culture--which even modern Westerners have, not as obviously, but still has many of those undercurrents much as we'd all like to go, "Yay, we're all past that. Gender-egalitarianism for everybody." Someone hears "the Goddess" and it fulfills a personal need (that's been clouded and dismissed by society) for some hint of feminine divinity. Or it could be environmentalism, the harmony with the natural environment. It could be the witchcraft aspect of Wicca. It could be the fertility aspect, even. It could be that they've met Wiccans, not even grown close enough yet to be friends, and they just seem like really nice and serene people! And their faith is a large part of their life, so, somebody new to that could get interested.
"They" will have as many reasons as there are individuals within that "they", for feeling called to the Wiccan path.
what do you find weird about it? everyone has a different reason for joining/finding the path. i researched it for a class. a couple of my friends found out from me. another friends baby sitter was from a family of wiccans. it just depends. some find out through tv or movies. more often they want to be a witch [a la Harry Potter] and while surfing the web they discover paganism.
are you referring to the religion as weird? why exactly? Wiccans are rather peaceful, harmless people who just want to live with everyone else. unlike most religions who preach a 'convert everyone' dogma, Wiccans follow a 'the right path, is the right path for you' rule. if someone asks us, we will explain our religion, but we won't drag the person to circle and get them to join.
Have you seriously never gotten interested in anything, that you needed to find out more about, because there was actually more to it than what first got you interested?
I did research on a lot of religions and found one that fit not a specific one I knew nothing yet I'm still learning yet I am knowledge on Wicca because I wouldn't practice something without learning more
So the "weird" part is more like... OMGs some people they watch ONE episode of Charmed, they read ONE book by Silver Ravenwolf, and instantly they're a self-initiated practitioner and have completely converted to a whole other religion in the census and on Facebook??
Is that more like it? Hey, for some people, when it really feels right then they jump.
this is true, its frustrating when people dedicate their lives to being a witch, and some person sees an Harry Potter movie, looks up witchcraft online, and voila! They claim to be a witch. :/
