View source for Skyclad (Neopaganism)

{{Short description|Ritual nudity in Wicca}}
[[File:The witches Sabbath, by Luis Ricardo Falero.jpg|thumb|200px|Artistic representation of a skyclad witch in ''Festival of the Witches'' by [[Luis Ricardo Falero]], 1880]]
'''''Skyclad''''' refers to [[Nudity in religion|ritual nudity]] in [[Wicca]] and [[Modern Paganism]]. Some groups, or Traditions, perform most or all of their [[rituals]] skyclad.  Whilst nudity and the practice of [[witchcraft]] have long been associated in the visual arts, this contemporary ritual nudity is typically attributed to either the influence of [[Gerald Gardner]] or to a passage from [[Charles Godfrey Leland]]'s 1899 book ''[[Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches]]'', and as such is mainly attributed to the [[Gardnerian Wicca|Gardnerian]] and Aradian [[coven]]s.
==Origins==
===Gardner===
Gardner's ''[[Witchcraft Today]]'' was published in 1954. The book claimed to report on the contemporary practice of Pagan religious witchcraft in England, which had supposedly survived as an underground religion for centuries. Ritual nudity was included as a regular part of Wiccan practice, but in the modern day it is mainly used by [[Alexandrian Wicca|Alexandrian]], [[Georgian Wicca|Georgian]], and [[Blue Star Wicca|Blue Star]] Wiccans. The "[[Charge of the Goddess]]", a part of Gardnerian ritual liturgy, does instruct Wiccans to practice ritual in the nude. Gardner spent several years in India, and may have picked up the concept from the [[Digambara]] [[Jainism|Jains]], a religious sect in which the monks may not wear clothing.<ref name="Llewellyn">{{cite web | title=Llewellyn Encyclopedia and Glossary: Skyclad | url=http://www.llewellynencyclopedia.com/term/Skyclad |access-date=18 March 2007}}</ref>

The term ''Digambara'' literally means "sky-clad".<ref>{{cite book|title=Therapy, Nudity & Joy: The Therapeutic Use of Nudity Through the Ages, from Ancient Ritual to Modern Psychology|last=Goodson|first=Aileen|url=http://www.pastordavidrn.com/files/nudityancientmodern-goodson.pdf|chapter=Nudity in Ancient to Modern Cultures|publisher=Elysium Growth Press|year=1991|isbn=9781555990282|access-date=25 August 2015}}</ref> England had close links with India at the time when Wicca first became public in England, so this usage could well have been familiar to English speakers with a knowledge of Far Eastern religions. In particular, Gerald Gardner, who first popularized Wicca in England, was a noted folklorist with an interest in Far Eastern culture who spent much of his adult life in Ceylon and Burma, so it's plausible he was familiar with this Jain term.<ref name="Llewellyn" />

Dr. [[Leo Ruickbie]] also notes that the traditional and artistic representation of witches cannot be overlooked as a source for nudity in Gardner's system, citing artists such as [[Albrecht Dürer]] and [[Salvator Rosa]].<ref name="Ruickbie113">{{cite book | first=Leo | last=Ruickbie | author-link=Leo Ruickbie  | title=Witchcraft Out of the Shadows| publisher =Robert Hale| year=2004 | isbn=0-7090-7567-7 |pages=113}}</ref>

===Aradia===
The origins of this instruction have been traced to ''[[Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches]]''.<ref name="Hutton225">{{cite book | first=Ronald | last=Hutton | author-link=Ronald Hutton  | title=Triumph of the Moon | publisher =Oxford University Press | year=2000 | isbn=0-500-27242-5 |pages=225}}</ref><ref name = "Ruickbie113"/> The following speech by [[Aradia (goddess)|Aradia]] appears at the end of the book's first chapter;

<blockquote><poem>
And as the sign that ye are truly free,
Ye shall be naked in your rites, both men
And women also: this shall last until
The last of your oppressors shall be dead;<ref>Leland, [[wikisource:Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches Chapter I|Chapter I]]</ref>
</poem></blockquote>

[[Doreen Valiente]], one of Gardner's priestesses, recalls Gardner's surprise at Valiente's recognition of material from ''Aradia'' in the original version of the "Charge" that she was given.<ref name="Valiente">[[Doreen Valiente|Valiente, Doreen]], quoted in {{cite book | last=Clifton | first=Chas | editor=Mario Pazzaglini | title=Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches, A New Translation | year=1998 | publisher=Phoenix Publishing, Inc. | location=Blaine, Washington | isbn=0-919345-34-4 | pages=73 | chapter=The Significance of Aradia }}</ref> Valiente later rewrote the "Charge", preserving the lines from ''Aradia''. Valiente's version was then widely circulated and reprinted.

Accepting ''Aradia'' as the source of skyclad practice, Robert Chartowich points to the 1998 Pazzaglini translation of these lines, which read "Men and Women / You will all be naked, until / Yet he shall be dead, the last / Of your oppressors is dead." Chartowich argues that the ritual nudity of Wicca was based upon Leland's mistranslation of these lines by incorporating the clause "in your rites".<ref name="Chartowich">{{cite book | last=Chartowich | first=Robert | editor=Mario Pazzaglini | title=Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches, A New Translation | year=1998 | publisher=Phoenix Publishing, Inc. | location=Blaine, Washington | isbn=0-919345-34-4 | pages=453 | chapter=Enigmas of Aradia }}</ref>

===Outside Wiccan traditions===
Ritual nudity is not exclusive to traditional Wicca. Amongst those groups that do, only some rituals may involve ritual nudity. The [[Stregheria|Arician tradition]], as an example, practices skyclad for six months of the year, and performs their ceremonies in ritual robes for the other half of the year.<ref name="Arician">{{cite web | title=Stregheria.com FAQ | url=http://stregheria.com/FAQ.html | access-date=June 27, 2006 | archive-date=May 22, 2006 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060522185828/http://www.stregheria.com/FAQ.html | url-status=dead }}</ref>  Within, and especially outside of, specific areas of Wicca and Pagan, reasons other than tradition may be given to explain a preference for skyclad worship. [[Starhawk]] states in ''[[Spiral Dance (book)|Spiral Dance]]'', "The naked body represents truth, the truth that goes deeper than social custom" and "is a sign that a Witch's loyalty is to the truth before any ideology or any comforting illusions."<ref name="Starhawk">{{cite book | last=Starhawk | title=The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Religion of the Great Goddess | year=1979 | publisher=[[HarperSanFrancisco]] | location=San Francisco | isbn=0-06-251632-9 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/spiraldancerebir00star_0/page/109 109] | chapter=The Goddess | chapter-url-access=registration | chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/spiraldancerebir00star_0/page/109 }}</ref>

==Notes and references==
{{Reflist}}

{{WiccaandWitchcraft}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Nudity in religion]]
[[Category:Wiccan terminology]]
[[Category:1950s in modern paganism]]