The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum

I feel kind of ashamed to admit it, but: I'm totally baffled by the differences between different types of Wiccans.

First, that's partly because it's sort of complicated (and there's a reason I call it definitional clusters, not definitions: think of it as "this stuff has things in common" rather than "here are the absolute characteristics", if that helps.)

But also, there's a lot of variation.

1.  So, obviously definition #1 on Jennet's page is Trad Wicca.  And #2 is also Trad Wicca but not BTW . . . right?  And Wiccans in both 1 and 2 are learning from a group, including eventually oathbound materials.  

Yep. (For people not skimming the page, both my clusters 1 and 2 are initiatory.) In an initiatory trad, the only way to learn the complete trad is from someone who is initiated in it and able to teach it. (Because, if you're not initiated in the trad you don't have the whole picture and therefore can't teach it. Q.E.D.)

The specifics of this vary by trad: in some trads, people have the ability to teach to the degree they hold, in some trads, people are only considered able to teach at 2nd or 3rd degree. Some trads are initiatory but only have one degree. Some trads don't teach *any* specific trad material before initiation. Others teach some but not anything oathbound. Some - mine's in this last group - teach some oathbound material after Dedication (and a preliminary commitment to keep the material within the group) but before initiation.) The only way to know for a trad is ask someone in it.

But let's say someone wants to practice definition #3.  Would this then be a person who would study Outer Court materials coming from Trad Wiccans?  Or where else would they get info from?  

Outer Court materials. Books. Internet. Workshops. Festivals. Classes. Short-term class series. Discussions. (And not necessarily just from Trad Wiccans, though the further away from that kind of source you get, the more you probably need to apply careful attention to see if what you're doing is usefully called Wicca or something else.)

I also note that as I've said before, my trad is initiatory, but I describe it as 'initiatory religious witchcraft' rather than Wicca, because I believe we're working with different core religious mysteries. (Or as much as I can be, given that I'm not initiated into a BTW trad, anyway. But transformation, rather than fertility.)

2.  What counts as eclectic Wicca?  Is it any form of Wicca that draws in non-Wiccan elements, or just things that make a specific point of blending in those elements --- Norse Wicca, Tameran Wicca, etc?  

This depends on who you ask. For some people, it's drawing from multiple Wiccan traditions. For some people, it's drawing from Wicca and other magical or religious traditions that are not Wicca. (Other people would call this one 'eclectic Paganism', not 'eclectic Wicca').

So, for example, there are traditions that mingle Alexandrian and Gardnerian Wicca. Or various initiatory lines and practices (Blue Star's history has some of this, though I am not looking up the details at the moment), in the first category.

As for religions like Norse Wicca: do they tend to be more Norse, or more Wiccan?  Like, is it a basically Wiccan structure with Norse names added, or is it more like a Wiccanized form of Heathenry?  (Or does it depend so much on the person that that's impossible to answer?)

 
Lots of variation, though my experience is mostly that it's the "Wiccan structure with Norse names", not the latter. (But I've heard of examples of the latter.) But really, the ritual structure is a) a sort of big thing and b) Wiccan ritual structure is sort of heavily recognisable, pieced as it is from various sources with a certain amount of added connecting material.

Trad Wicca but not BTW

Traditional Wicca, and British Traditional Wicca are the same thing. The term BTW is an American coinage however, and isn't often used outside of North America. In Europe Traditional Wicca is actually most often just called Wicca, with the prefixes really only used when conversing with those within North America.