THE INVOCATION of INVITATIONAL RHETORIC in WICCAN RITUALS by Kayleigh Howald a Thesis Submitted To
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THROUGH THE NORTH DOOR: THE INVOCATION OF INVITATIONAL RHETORIC IN WICCAN RITUALS by Kayleigh Howald A Thesis Submitted To The Faculty of The Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters In Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements For The Degree of Master of Arts Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton, FL August 2016 Copyright 2016 by Kayleigh Howald ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to express sincere appreciation to my thesis chair, Dr. Becky Mulvaney, for her patience, encouragement, and guidance. Not only throughout the duration of this thesis, but for all the years she has mentored me. I am beyond grateful and now beyond words. I am immensely appreciative of Dr. Bill Trapani: committee member, graduate advisor, and more than occasional savior. Thank you for never allowing us to quit. I also wish to thank my committee member, Dr. Jane Caputi for her helpful suggestions and unwavering support. I also extend my gratitude to my loving support systems. To Kaitlin and Christine, the best friends a girl could ever have. To my fiancé Tom, my partner in all things (“I guess I hate most things, but I never seem to hate you”). And, finally, to my family: I will never doubt your love for me ever again. iv ABSTRACT Author: Kayleigh Howald Title: Through the North Door: The Invocation of Invitational Rhetoric in Wiccan Rituals Institution: Florida Atlantic University Thesis Advisor: Dr. Becky Mulvaney Degree: Master of Arts Year: 2016 Wiccan witchcraft, a contemporary religion, frequently suffers from misunderstandings; the worst of which, arguably, being that it thrives in a postfeminist society. Although it remains unclear why witches, despite their specific traditions, would not immediately embrace feminism, this study claims that whether practitioners agree or disagree, they are performing feminism. In this study, I argue that Wiccan rhetoric (both discursive and non-discursive) functions epistemically to encourage feminist values. The thesis analyzes three typical forms of Wiccan rhetoric using Sonja K. Foss and Cindy L. Griffin’s approach of invitational rhetoric and the values of equality, immanent value, and self-determination. v DEDICATION This manuscript is dedicated to my friend, my mentor, my soul mate, my mother, Lee Ann. In a world where women fear becoming their mothers, I aspire daily to be even half the woman mine is. I am in an endless state of awe over her strength and her determination and I am grateful, not only for the life she has given me, but for the sacrifices she made that allowed for all of this to be possible. (I’m here safe, and I love you.) I also dedicate this manuscript to all those whom have passed from my life. I will see you in the next one. THROUGH THE NORTH DOOR: THE INVOCATION OF INVITATIONAL RHETORIC IN WICCAN RITUALS LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... viii I. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 1 Justification and Purpose of Study .................................................................................. 1 II. LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................... 9 Feminism ......................................................................................................................... 9 Witchcraft ...................................................................................................................... 14 Ritual ............................................................................................................................. 17 Ritual in Witchcraft ....................................................................................................... 21 III. METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................................... 24 IV. ANALYSIS................................................................................................................. 34 Public Ritual .................................................................................................................. 41 Home Altars .................................................................................................................. 52 V. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................ 65 Contributions of the Study ............................................................................................ 65 Finale ............................................................................................................................. 69 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. A mother's primary altar. Kayleigh Howald, 2016. .......................................... 54 Figure 2. Empowerment. Kayleigh Howald, 2016 ........................................................... 57 Figure 3. Secondary altar belonging to Author’s mother. Kayleigh Howald, 2016 ......... 59 Figure 4. Author’s primary altar. Kayleigh Howald, 2016. .............................................. 62 viii I. INTRODUCTION Justification and Purpose of Study In her book Wicca for Beginners: Fundamentals of Philosophy and Practice, Thea Sabin describes asking a potential student for her Wiccan study group why he wanted training. “We ask everyone who talks to us about training this question,” she writes. “If they tell us they are looking for a nature-based religion, a path to self- empowerment, a way to commune with deity… we continue the conversation. If they tell us they want to hex their ex-lovers, brew cauldrons full of toxic stuff, make others fall in love with them, worship the devil, or fly on broomsticks, we tell them they’re out of luck and politely suggest that they seek out a therapist.”1 It is the unfortunate truth that, more often than not, it is the latter who approach Wiccan practitioners with the misunderstanding that the media-contrived and culturally-stereotyped version of witchcraft is truth. However, this misconceived notion of witchcraft is not born solely from ignorance or misogyny as scholars rightly argue (both of these are major contributing factors to the continued backlash against practitioners).2 It is also due to the lack of information on the subject of witchcraft as a religion. In fact, peer-reviewed articles 1 Thea Sabin. Wicca for Beginners: Fundamentals of Philosophy and Practice. (Minnesota: Llewellyn, 2006), 1 2 Starhawk. The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess. (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1989), 81 1 about witchcraft (found using “witchcraft” as the only search term) rarely pertain to modern practices. Articles often pertain to the social and cultural context of early European witchcraft or casually group witchcraft with demonology. The articles that do explore contemporary witchcraft are typically about African witchcraft, which (while quite different from the Western notion) is treated with a similar level of what one could consider contempt.3 Unsurprisingly, witchcraft – not as a cultural phenomenon, fictional concept, or medieval death sentence, but as a religion – lacks study by rhetorical scholars. While one could look to performance theory to study the phenomenon of witchcraft rituals, this fails to reach the heart of what these religious rituals mean to those involved. Although performance theory agrees that ritual is a tool of communication, it argues that ritual only indirectly affects social realities and perceptions. As religious scholar Catherine Bell explains, “The meaningfulness of ritual that such interpretations attempt to explicate has nothing to do with the efficacy that the ritual acts are thought to have by those who perform them.”4 As such, much of the current academic research on witchcraft as a religion – which stems largely from gender studies, cultural anthropology, and theology – approaches it in a similar manner.5 Furthermore, while communication studies has examined religion and gender, scholars tend to primarily consider the tenets of a religion as an influence on gender identity.6 3 Leo Igwe. "A skeptical look at African witchcraft and religion." Skeptic 11, 1(2004), 72 4 Catherine Bell. Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 43 5 Bruce Kapferer. "Introduction: outside all reason: magic, sorcery and epistemology in anthropology." Social Analysis: The International Journal of Social and Cultural Practice 46, 3 (2002), 1 6 Frances Raday. “Culture, religion, and gender.” International Journal of Constitutional Law 1, 4 (2003), 663 2 At this juncture, it seems too obvious to argue that witchcraft also suffers from misunderstandings due to its association with and worship of female figures (as that has been covered by scholars for several decades).7 Instead, I wonder why witchcraft and its subsequent communities are not fully embracing feminism or identifying as feminist. This is not to say sects of the religion are necessarily rejecting feminism or not practicing along feminist guidelines, but there is very little consensus. While many covens adhere to strict feminist values (and operate under these first and foremost at times), there are others that practice with feminist values either without recognizing it or acknowledging it.8 Perhaps it is the fear of the word, of the symbol of feminism, or the fear of being too political. Perhaps there are too many traditions, too many differing opinions. Perhaps there are men and/or women in leadership