Dianic Wicca Research Project
Transcript of Dianic Wicca Research Project
W I C C A R E V E A L E DLesson One: An Introduction to Wicca
THE DIANIC TRADITIONA RESEARCH PROJECT
A. Ashlea / Mellatrix
December 2011
A Preface
Why I chose to study Dianic Wicca:
When I saw that the first research activity was to find a branch of Wicca and present an essay on it, I
was very excited to begin. Of course, being a complete beginner, I was interested in every branch of
Wicca! I had initially planned to study the Algard tradition, founded by Mary Nesnick as a syncretisation
of the Gardnerian tradition and the Alexandrian tradition. After some time studying this tradition,
however, I came to the conclusion that my research project would tend toward being a project on British
Traditional Wicca, as there is little to no information in public domain on Algard Wicca which isn’t
simply the re-feeding of the same few facts about Nesnick and the technical origins of Algard Wicca.
I decided, eventually, to look for stock photography to include in my research project rather than
striking out and attempting to find the perfect tradition to research right off the bat. Once I found an
appropriate image, I decided that I would try to network back to find a tradition that I could easily
associate with that image. It was when I found the cover image for this assignment that I decided upon
Dianic Wicca. The image of a woman in flowing garb against sea and moody sky, staff in hand and arms
outreached, spoke volumes of power and magic to me. It was then that I recalled the lesson’s mention of
Dianic Wicca, a feminist tradition.
I immediately placed this stock image into my assignment’s cover page and began to research Dianic
Wicca. What I found amazed me enough to cause me to want to write an entire essay on it: the founder
herself has a rich and passionate plethora of information on the internet, and the tradition itself is as
fascinating as it is complex, because I find feminism complex and I find feminism beautiful and I feel that
religion and feminism have the right to beautifully and passionately complement each other.
I don’t agree entirely with the premise of Dianic Wicca. I think that Dianic Wicca is about ninety per cent
aligned with what I feel to be an appropriate message for a feminist religion, but I feel that it pushes
issues to their extremes. This was another strong reason for me to choose to study Dianic Wicca for my
research project: I know that I’m affected greatly by modern culture, by the subtly (and sometimes not-
so-subtly) effective patriarchy which pervades most facets of my life as a young, cis-gender female living
in Australia.
I feel that perhaps there’s a possibility that Dianic Wicca, in and of itself, isn’t so extreme after all - that
it’s simply an extreme (and extremely necessary) response to an extremely patriarchal society. It’s made
me want to research it because it’s made me want to gain a new and beautiful understanding of
feminism. It’s made me want to challenge myself to throw off the shackles of patriarchal raising, of
sexist media, advertising, pay rates and professions, and to learn to understand the principle of a
religion comprised of one hundred per cent binary women.
I don’t know what a society of women would be like. That, ultimately, is my reason for choosing to study
Dianic Wicca. When all is said and done, I am a woman and I want to know what it would be like to be in
a female-dominated environment. Dianic Wicca provides that, and whilst I may feel that they provide it a
little too strongly, I am willing to suppose that it may well be my upbringing causing me to think that, so
I am studying Dianic Wicca to learn of the beautiful religion of powerful goddess-women.
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What is Dianic Wicca?
The Core of Dianic Wicca
Grandmother Spider is weaving her web to bring together all sisters who hear the calling, within
whose bosom the ancient self beckons a return. Where women can freely celebrate the shining
female aspects of religion and theology, of sisterhood and shared experience, of dance and
ritual. For here there be witches!
- Zsuzsanna Emese Budapest, http://www.zbudapest.com
Dianic Wicca is a mystery tradition, the core of which is goddess worship and women’s mysteries. Dianic
Wicca is a tradition in which women are called to worship the Divine Feminine and view all things as
extending from this Divine Feminine; this is a religion centred around a Divine Feminine being raised
above all else, including the Divine Masculine. The Core of Dianic Wicca is love of the Goddess.
The Goddess
Dianic Wiccans honour the Divine Feminine, but in general they do not have a Patron Goddess. Dianic
Wiccans are asked to avoid pledging their services to one individual Goddess, as they believe that all
Goddesses are one Goddess, the eternal Divinely Feminine force manifesting Herself in one of many
guises to aide. Dianic Wicca proposes that everything, even every woman, is an aspect of the Goddess.
Dianic Wiccans have a beautiful, loving relationship with the Goddess, the official website
(zbudapest.com) stating that “[t]he Goddess is all women - without exception. She is one mighty force,
all-inclusive, all-mother.”
Dianic Wiccans recognise Mother Nature as the Goddess, and understand and expect that people will
break her down or syncretise her in order to understand her, and so Dianic Wiccans tend to break the
Goddess down into the facets which represent their own stages in life: maiden, mother and crone. The
most common Goddesses (or Goddess aspects) which Dianic Wiccans tend to work with are the Maidens
Diana, Artemis, Luna and Athena; the Mothers Hera, Juno, Minerva, Nu Qua and Kwan Yin and the
Crones Hecate, Magera, Kali and Innanna.
The Dianic Membership System
Z Budapest states that a Dianic Wiccan is “a woman who worships the Goddess in her many guises.”
(zbudapest.com) Becoming a Dianic Witch begins with ‘The Journey’, which seems to be a retreat
conducted by Z Budapest herself in which she teaches women about Dianic Wicca, beginning with the
basics and extending from there. Dianic Wicca only accepts women as members, and these women must
be cis-gender, binary women. Women born as men are not permitted to join the Dianic system, nor are
men born as men or men born as women. It is a tradition which appears to require either attendance in
person at a workshop or paid attendance in an online school to become an initiated member, though as
far as this student’s eyes can see, a detailing of the membership levels and requirements is not
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presented anywhere on Z Budapest’s website; whether this is because this student has bad eyes or
because Dianic Wicca is a mystery tradition, she can’t say.
Dianic Literature
Z Budapest has written much literature about her own tradition, all of which are available on her
website and presented as textbooks in the faith. This student can’t afford to buy any new books right
now because she has a few bills to get through and has missed a lot of work lately (and she may or may
have already splurged on some other Wiccan books!), so she couldn’t get a hold on one of these books to
read through.
The Holy Book of Women’s Mysteries by Z Budapest (available through Amazon from USD$0.23)
The Holy Book of Women’s Mysteries is essential for pagans, feminists and women seeking to learn more
about the spiritual path as it relates to the feminine and the Goddess aspects of witchcraft and Wicca.
This book is not about reinstating a matriarchy or tearing down patriarchy; it is about women’s
spirituality and its relationship with politics and lifestyle.
- zbudapest.com
The Grandmother of Time by Z Budapest (available through Amazon from USD$3.88)
In The Grandmother of Time, Zsuzsanna Budapest teaches both beginners and experienced practitioners
how to integrate Wiccan spirituality into their everyday lives. Here are new approaches to today’s
rituals, from birthdays and dedications of newborn babies to purifying our homes and protecting us in
travel.
- zbudapest.com
Grandmother Moon by Z Budapest (available through Amazon from USD$0.92)
Grandmother Moon invites us to “look at the moon as the old ally she is.” Renowned feminist witch
Zsuzsanna Budapest shows us how to tap into the moon’s power for peace, health, and energy. With
delightful wit and wisdom, she shares practical and entertaining lunar lore, from ancient moon-based
rituals to lunar cycle diet tips. Budapest reveals how, by acting in harmony with the moon, women can
balance everything from their mood and weight to fertility. Here is a spirited illumination of the natural
moon cycles that influence our lives.
- zbudapest.com
Summoning The Fates by Z Budapest (available through Amazon from USD$4.50)
During the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, Z Budapest narrowly escaped a massacre. Was it chance that
spared her life, or destiny? In Summoning The Fates, Budapest, a pioneer of the women’s spirituality
movement, introduces us to the three Fates that rule our lives. Not even the gods and goddesses can
escape these raw forces of nature presiding over the past, present, and future. Budapest uses fairy tales,
historical lore, and personal anecdotes to describe the three sacred sisters who are especially active
during out thirty-year life cycles: Urdh (youth), Verdandi (adulthood) and Skuld (the crone years). Want
a taste of the cosmic soup bubbling in Fate’s cauldron? Budapest also offers heartfelt advice, exercises,
and rituals to help you connect with the Fates and embrace your own unique destiny.
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Celestial Wisdom for Every Year of Your Life by Z Budapest (available through Amazon from
USD$6.98)
Lighthearted and playful, yet chock-full of wisdom, Celestial Wisdom for Every Year of Your Life reveals
surprising insights into the possibilities within each year. Here we find the issues, challenges, and joys
specific to each birthday. Learn the dynamics at play to make the best choices and decisions to lead the
fullest life possible at any and every age!
- zbudapest.com
Who is Zsuzsanna Budapest?
Zsuzsanna Budapest (b. Jan 30 1940) was born in Budapest, Hungary to a witch and medium who taught
her the Craft from a young age. Due to poverty and political oppression, Budapest fled the country as a
political refugee in 1956, narrowly avoiding a massacre, and has since been extremely active in politics -
especially feminist politics, which shape many of her driving motives within Dianic Wicca, which she
regards as a political movement as much as a spiritual one.
Budapest emigrated to the United States of America in 1959 in order to pursue study at the University of
Chicago, and interestingly enough went from political oppression in Hungary to spiritual oppression in
America, where she was arrested in 1975 when she gave a Tarot reading to an undercover policewoman.
Budapest lost her appeal, but her trial set a standard and allowed major progress towards American
laws against psychic presentations being abolished, showing that Budapest is a spiritual warrior as well
as a political one.
Today Budapest is married with two sons and lives in San Francisco, where she is as involved in policital
and spiritual feminist activism as much as ever. She runs and stars in her own television show (13th
Heaven) and she is the director of a non-profit organisation known as the Women’s Spirituality Forum.
Professor Lucie Marie-Mai DuFresne, PhD., the organiser of a conference held regularly at the
University of Ottowa which is dedicated to Budapest’s work, says of her:
“Z's influences transcend the communities of feminism, spirituality and gender studies. Her life's
works will be remembered in American History as one of the great foremothers of the second
wave of feminism, the founding mother of the Women's Spirituality Movement and an outspoken
lesbian woman who fought for women's reproductive rights in Los Angeles at one of the first
abortion clinics, who co-founded the Los Angeles Anti-rape Squad (the first rape crisis
intervention), who established the Los Angeles Take Back the Night marches for which she
received the mayor's proclamation of appreciation. And of course, she will be remembered as the
last witch put on trial for her witchcraft and found guilty in the United States; meaning she also
blazed a trail for the popularizing of Paganism.
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The importance of Z's work on the development of contemporary women's spirituality cannot be
overlooked. At a time when women were finding their voice, when the archaeological findings of
Marija Gimbutas and Merlin Stone had not yet been published, Zsuszanna Budapest had already
drawn the link between feminism and spirituality with her Feminist Book of Light and Shadows,
which later became The Holy Book of Women's Mysteries. The Susan B. Anthony Coven No. 1,
which she started with a group of other women in 1971, became the springboard and training
grounds for many well-known leaders, like Starhawk, Ruth Barrett, Carol Christ, Charlene
Spretnak, Barbara Chesser, Susun Weed, Ava Carpenter, Fiona Morgan, Patricia Monaghan,
Anne Carson, Vicki Noble, Lunaea Weatherstone, Riane Eisler, Diane Stein, Jade River, Kathy
Jones, Kriszta Veres and hundreds of other authors, scholars, artists, musicians and spiritual
leaders.”
Though many dislike Budapest and find her activism to be too extreme, and though many feel that Dianic
Wicca is too excessively focused on the Divine Feminine and biased against the Divine Masculine, this
student cannot deny that Budapest is an amazing woman who has been through incredible feats and
created incredible reforms, fighting for human and planet alike.
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