{"id":8629,"date":"2013-08-01T01:10:35","date_gmt":"2013-08-01T06:10:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=8928"},"modified":"2013-07-23T00:55:04","modified_gmt":"2013-07-23T05:55:04","slug":"tink-about-it-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2013\/08\/01\/tink-about-it-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Tink About it"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dress code<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A few weeks ago I joined a discussion in a pagan Facebook-group about \u2018what pagans\/witches wear\u2019. Almost at the same time I was asked to do a photo-shoot \u2018as a witch\u2019 so to speak. I really didn\u2019t get it. Pagans are normal people that wear whatever they feel like. Do clothes make the witch? I don\u2019t think so. Well, not in my case anyway\u2026 In my daily life I don\u2019t dress \u2018witchy\u2019, whatever that may be. I\u2019m most comfortable in jeans and a shirt (warm weather) or jeans and a sweater (cold weather).<\/p>\n

After some reading and asking around I found out what was meant by \u2018witchy\u2019 clothes: either the mainly black \u2018gothic\u2019 outfits or the colourful \u2018hippie\u2019 outfits with long skirts and layers. That doesn\u2019t include everything of course, but you get the idea. Yes, I see a lot of pagans I know in these kinds of clothes, especially at gatherings but some of them also dress the same in daily life. I often like the outfits very much on other people, but they\u2019re just not me<\/em>. I\u2019ve tried it and people said it suited me well, but I didn\u2019t feel happy in it. I do wear a dress once or twice a year to a pagan festival fair, but that\u2019s more than enough for me. And I\u2019m not the only one, thank gods.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Being a solitary witch I can wear whatever I want when I do ritual stuff. It depends on my mood and the kind of ritual. It varies from wearing my daily outfit to dressing up in a ritual robe and all. I wear what I feel like at that moment. Some pagans have lots of ritual clothes in all kinds of colours; they make the clothing an important part of the preparation. Although I agree putting on a ritual robe after the ritual bath or shower can be very special, to me it\u2019s not obliged to get into the right mood. I want to be fully focused during ritual and uncomfortable clothes are unnecessary distractions.<\/p>\n

When I work with \/ am part of a group doing a ritual I adapt myself to what the group wants, to a certain point. I don\u2019t like it when clothes are made into a real issue; they are not that important to me.\u00a0 Of course I\u2019ll try to wear something suitable. When I don\u2019t have the desired colour in my wardrobe I\u2019ll wear a neutral robe or jeans\u00a0 with a shawl or something else in that colour.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In a group I was part of for several years we decided to make ritual robes together. Quite the challenge because most of us had never done something like that before! Luckily we had one very experienced and talented woman among us, that helped us through. We wanted to do it all by hand to put our energy into it. It was \u00a0a very simple design in unbleached cotton. Afterwards we dyed them together in a beautiful olive green. I re-discovered what I already knew\u2026 I\u2019m not cut out to be a seamstress. I\u2019m not good at it and I simply hate it. This robe brought me blood, sweat and tears, literally. It wasn\u2019t the right fabric, I cut my fingertips despite the many thimbles, threads got twisted\u2026 aaaargh! When I burst into tears for the umpteenth time, my husband took the robe from me and finished it on the sewing-machine. Although I loved the group and the people in it have become dear friends, I still to this day hate<\/em> that robe! That can\u2019t be how it\u2019s meant to be, so I\u2019ve accepted my shortcomings and bought my robes from then on.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And of course there\u2019s the skyclad option\u2026 My simple answer to that is: only when it has obvious added value. I\u2019ll use two examples to illustrate that.<\/p>\n

On several occasions I performed a ritual skyclad to see how it feels. It has benefits, practically: like no fear of getting fabric near candles, and mentally: for example being naked before the gods. But to me the disadvantages weighed much heavier. I don\u2019t have a problem with being naked, but I felt very uncomfortable in a literal way. Although I have enough fat on it, my butt hurt. My boobs and tummy have lost the fight against gravity a long time ago and underneath it got very sweaty. Enough detail, I think you get the picture!<\/p>\n

During the time I spent in a traditional coven we performed certain rituals skyclad. In an initiation ritual the part of being skyclad, naked before the gods and other ones present, has an explicit reason. Those rituals wouldn\u2019t be\/feel\/mean the same when dressed. Behold the added value I was talking about earlier! \u00a0I had a meaningful and very important experience during an initiation by being confronted with my own naked body.<\/p>\n

So\u2026 for me it\u2019s skyclad when necessary only. Besides, there\u2019s another practical reason for wearing clothes. I love to do rituals outside as often as possible. Apart from the climate being a spoil sport, Holland is very densely populated and it\u2019s hard to find a private place to do skyclad rituals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dress code   A few weeks ago I joined a discussion in a pagan Facebook-group about \u2018what pagans\/witches wear\u2019. Almost at the same time I was asked to do a photo-shoot \u2018as a witch\u2019 so to speak. I really didn\u2019t get it. Pagans are normal people that wear whatever they feel like. Do clothes make the witch? I don\u2019t think so. Well, not in my case anyway\u2026 In my daily life I don\u2019t dress \u2018witchy\u2019, whatever that may be. I\u2019m most comfortable in jeans and a shirt (warm weather) or jeans and a sweater (cold weather). After some reading and asking around I found out what was meant by \u2018witchy\u2019 clothes: either the mainly black \u2018gothic\u2019 outfits or the colourful \u2018hippie\u2019 outfits with long skirts and layers. That doesn\u2019t include everything of course, but you get the idea. Yes, I see a lot of pagans I know in these kinds of clothes, especially at gatherings but some of them also dress the same in daily life. I often like the outfits very much on other people, but they\u2019re just not me. I\u2019ve tried it and people said it suited me well, but I didn\u2019t feel happy in it. I do wear a dress once or twice a year to a pagan festival fair, but that\u2019s more than enough for me. And I\u2019m not the only one, thank gods.   Being a solitary witch I can wear whatever I want when I do ritual stuff. It depends on my mood and the kind of ritual. It varies from wearing my daily outfit to dressing up in a ritual robe and all. I wear what I feel like at that moment. Some pagans have lots of ritual clothes in all kinds of colours; they make the clothing an important part of the preparation. Although I agree putting on a ritual robe after the ritual bath or shower can be very special, to me it\u2019s not obliged to get into the right mood. I want to be fully focused during ritual and uncomfortable clothes are unnecessary distractions. When I work with \/ am part of a group doing a ritual I adapt myself to what the group wants, to a certain point. I don\u2019t like it when clothes are made into a real issue; they are not that important to me.\u00a0 Of course I\u2019ll try to wear something suitable. When I don\u2019t have the desired colour in my wardrobe I\u2019ll wear a neutral robe or jeans\u00a0 with a shawl or something else in that colour.   In a group I was part of for several years we decided to make ritual robes together. Quite the challenge because most of us had never done something like that before! Luckily we had one very experienced and talented woman among us, that helped us through. We wanted to do it all by hand to put our energy into it. It was \u00a0a very simple design in unbleached cotton. Afterwards we dyed them together in a beautiful olive green. I re-discovered what I already knew\u2026 I\u2019m not cut out to be a seamstress. I\u2019m not good at it and I simply hate it. This robe brought me blood, sweat and tears, literally. It wasn\u2019t the right fabric, I cut my fingertips despite the many thimbles, threads got twisted\u2026 aaaargh! When I burst into tears for the umpteenth time, my husband took the robe from me and finished it on the sewing-machine. Although I loved the group and the people in it have become dear friends, I still to this day hate that robe! That can\u2019t be how it\u2019s meant to be, so I\u2019ve accepted my shortcomings and bought my robes from then on.   And of course there\u2019s the skyclad option\u2026 My simple answer to that is: only when it has obvious added value. I\u2019ll use two examples to illustrate that. On several occasions I performed a ritual skyclad to see how it feels. It has benefits, practically: like no fear of getting fabric near candles, and mentally: for example being naked before the gods. But to me the disadvantages weighed much heavier. I don\u2019t have a problem with being naked, but I felt very uncomfortable in a literal way. Although I have enough fat on it, my butt hurt. My boobs and tummy have lost the fight against gravity a long time ago and underneath it got very sweaty. Enough detail, I think you get the picture! During the time I spent in a traditional coven we performed certain rituals skyclad. In an initiation ritual the part of being skyclad, naked before the gods and other ones present, has an explicit reason. Those rituals wouldn\u2019t be\/feel\/mean the same when dressed. Behold the added value I was talking about earlier! \u00a0I had a meaningful and very important experience during an initiation by being confronted with my own naked body. So\u2026 for me it\u2019s skyclad when necessary only. Besides, there\u2019s another practical reason for wearing clothes. I love to do rituals outside as often as possible. Apart from the climate being a spoil sport, Holland is very densely populated and it\u2019s hard to find a private place to do skyclad rituals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":195,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/195"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8629"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8629\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8336,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8629\/revisions\/8336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}