23) What does Dianic mean?
Description
This article is from the Paganism FAQ, by susanhk@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Susan Harwood Kaczmarczik) with numerous contributions by others.
23) What does Dianic mean?
Like everything else in neopaganism and the Craft, the term Dianic
is one that has several meanings. A majority of those who call
themselves Dianic are women that choose not to work with male energy
in their ritual, magic, or universe. They feel that they need
spiritual and psychic space filled with only women's energy.
Some Dianics are feminist Witches, both lesbian and heterosexual,
who often come to the Craft through feminism. Although these women
may be involved with men in one way or another, they agree that
religion has over-emphasized the male for the last several thousand
years, and therefore want to share their women's energy in women's
circles. They may or may not also be involved with the mainstream
pagan community, and they may or may not participate in magic and
ritual with men.
The most visible groups of Dianics are those who are lesbian
Dianics. They are generally not interested in revering any sort of
male deity or in working with men in circle. They choose to limit
their dependence on and acceptance of the male-defined world as much
as possible, and they do so not to exclude men but rather to celebrate
women and the feminine. For that reason many of them do not interact
much with the "mainstream" pagan community.
(There are also those who call themselves Dianic and who are not
like those described above, but who practice Witchcraft based on the
traditions found books like those of anthropologist Margaret Murray.
However, the term is more often meant to designate those practitioners
described in the first two paragraphs. This definition is taken
largely from the book _To Know_ by Jade.)
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