Akasha, Akashic principle -- The all-pervading
spiritual 'ether', usually envisaged as violet in color.
Akashic Records -- The 'recordings' left
in the Akasha by every event. Advanced occultists develop the gift
of retrieving past events by 'reading the Akashic Records."
Alexandrians -- Witches initiated by (or
stemming from those initiated by) Alex and Maxine Sanders. An offshoot
of Gardnerian witchcraft, though founded independently.
Amulet -- An object worn as a protective
charm against evil. (See also talisman.)
Ankh -- The crux ansata or looped cross,
Egyptian hieroglyph for 'life'. Widely used as an occult symbol of
the Life Principle.
Aradia -- Widely used Wiccan name for the
Goddess, derived from the Tuscan witches' usage as recorded in C.
G. Leland's Aradia -- the Gospel of the Witches.
Astral Body -- The "psychic" double
of the physical body, consisting of substance more tenuous than matter,
but grosser than mind or spirit.
Astral Plane -- The level of reality intermediate
between the physical and the mental. It is the level of the emotions
and instincts.
Astral Projection -- The transferring of
consciousness from the physical to the astral body, so that one perceives
and moves about on the astral plane while the physical body remains
inert. It may be involuntary or deliberate.
Athame -- The witch's black-handled knife.
Its use is purely ritual (for which purposes it is interchangeable
with the Sword) and it is never used for actual cutting (cf. White-handled
Knife). It is always a personal tool, belonging to one witch.
Aura -- The force-field which surrounds
the human body, the inner bands at least of which are Etheric (q.v.)
in substance. The aura is visible to sensitives, who can learn from
its color, size and structure much about the person's health, emotional
state and spiritual development.
Bealtaine, Bealtuinn, Beltane -- The May
Eve/May Day Great Sabbat, normally celebrated on the night of 30 April.
The original meaning is "Bel-fire", after the Celtic or
proto-Celtic God variously known as Bel, Beli, Balar, Balor or Belenus.
Bealtaine is the Irish Gaelic form, Bealtuinn the Scottish Gaelic,
and Beltane the usual anglicized form. In Irish it also means the
Month of May, and in Scottish, May Day.
Book of Shadows -- A traditional book of
rituals and instructions, copied by hand by each new witch from that
of his initiator. Different forms are passed on by the various Wiccan
traditions; the Gardnerian Book of Shadows has been mostly widely
and publicly quoted and misquoted.
Burning Times -- A term used by some witches
for the period of persecution of witches (actual or alleged) which
reached its height in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Used
in reference to England, it is in fact a misnomer; English witches
were customarily hanged, not burned, though they were burned in Scotland
and on the Continent. In this country, 18 witches were hung, and one
pressed to death in Salem, Ma, near where I live, in 1692. The sad
fact is, that none of these were witches, they were all Christians
who someone (a neighbor) was angry with.
Cernunnos, Cerunnos -- The only known name
of the Celtic Horned God; it is much used by witches, in the Cernunnos
form.
Cerridwen -- A Welsh Goddess-name, much
used to represent the Mother or Crone Aspects.
Coven -- An organized group of witches,
meeting and working regularly together.
Covenstead -- A coven's normal place of
meeting.
Craft -- The Witches' name for the religion
and practice of witchcraft, and its followers.
Cup, Chalice -- One of the four elemental
tools, representing the Water element.
Deosil -- In a clockwise or sun-wise direction
(Cf. Widdershins.)
Familiar -- An animal kept by a witch for
the psychic help it can give; cats, dogs and horses in particular
react very sensitively to negative influences, supplying early warning
or corroborative evidence. Their human 'owners' (or rather, partners)
are careful to give them psychic protection in return. Certain kinds
of deliberately created and maintained thought-forms may also be called
familiars.
Fetch -- A young boy, usually 12-15 years
of age, who acts for the High Priest and Priestess in locating things
either within or without the covenstead.
Fivefold Kiss, Fivefold Salute -- The witches'
ritual salute, man to woman, or woman to man, with kisses (1) on each
foot, (2) on each knee (3) on the lower belly, (4) on each breast
and (5) on the lips - really eight kisses in all. I is only used within
the Circle.
Gardnerians -- Witches initiated by (or
stemming from those initiated by) Gerald Gardner or one of his High
Priestesses. There are also many witches today who practice the Gardnerian
system but whose initiation does not ultimately derive from Gardner's
coven, and it would be sectarian not to call them Gardnerians.
Great Rite -- In Wicca, the major ritual
of male-female polarity, which is also the third-degree initiation
rite. It can be either symbolic, in the presence of the coven, or
'actual' - i.e., involving intercourse - in which case it is always
conducted in private. In our tradition, only a married couple or established
lovers may perform the 'actual' Great Rite together.
Grimoire -- A (usually mediaeval) book or
'grammar' of magical procedures.
Handfasting -- A Wiccan wedding ceremony
Hereditaries -- Witches who claim a continuous family tradition and
practice of the Craft, from long before the current revival. I am
a Hereditary witch, my family having been involved in Wicca for over
400 years. However, this is a family tradition, and therefore cannot
be taught to anyone else except a son or daughter or spiritually adopted
son or daughter. SINCE I AM CHILDLESS, AND THE LAST OF MY FAMILY,
MY TRADITION WILL END WITH MY DEATH.
High Priest -- (1) The male leader of a
coven, partner of the High Priestess who is the overall leader. (2)
Any second-degree or third-degree male witch. (The distinction is
between a coven function and a personal rank.)
High Priestess -- (1) The female leader
(and overall leader) of a coven. (2) Any second-degree female witch.
(The distinction is between a coven function and a personal rank.)
Hiving Off -- The process whereby two or
more members leave their parent coven to form their own coven. A relationship
is continued during the first year between the two covens, afterward,
no further communication is allowed. The High Priestess of the old
coven, once two or more covens have hived off, becomes a Wiccan Queen,
and wears slash marks of the appropriate number on her sleeve.
Incarnation -- The manifestations of a living
entity into physical form; specifically, any one of the earthly lives
of an immortal human individuality in the continuing Reincarnation
process.
Individuality -- The immortal, reincarnating
part of a human being, consisting of the Upper Spiritual, Lower Spiritual
and Upper Mental levels; contrasted with the Personality, which consists
of the Lower Mental, Upper Astral, Lower Astral, Etheric and physical
levels, and which only persists for one Incarnation, a new Personality
being built up around the immortal Individuality for each Incarnation.
Karma -- The 'spiritual bank balance' carried
by the Individuality from one Incarnation to the next. The literal
meaning of the word is 'action' or ' cause and effect'.
Left -- Hand Path Generally used to mean
black-magic working, but this is really a corruption of its original
Tantric meaning.
Magic(k) -- The Science and Art of causing
Change to occur in conformity with Will' (Aleister Crowley). Crowley
added the 'k' to distinguish true magick from the debased, escape-from-reality
concept of magic, and many occultists have adopted this usage.
Magus -- In general, a male occult adept.
In Wiccan usage, a second-degree or third-degree male witch.
Maiden -- In a coven, the Assistant High
Priestess for ritual purposes, who may or may not be the High Priestess's
deputy in leadership. In earlier times, the title of Maiden was sometimes
applied to the leader whom we would now call the High Priestess. In
my tradition, the Maiden must be a young girl, 12 - 15 years (a virgin)
when she is appointed to that position.
Pentacle -- One of the four elemental tools;
an engraved disc representing the Earth's element. It is normally
the centerpiece of a Wiccan Altar.
Pentagram -- A five-pointed star. An upright
pentagram (ie; with a single point uppermost) represents (1) a human
being (astride with arms outstretched) or (2) the four Elements governed
by the fifth, Spirit. An inverted pentagram (ie; with a single point
downwards) represents Spirit still subservient to the four Elements;
it is generally seen as a black magick symbol, except when it is used
as the symbol of a second-degree initiate, the implication there being
that he or she is still on the way to full development.
Planes -- The various levels of being and
activity - Spiritual, Mental, Astral, Etheric and Physical.
Priest, Priestess -- Every initiated witch
is regarded as a priest or priestess, the priest-function being seen
as inherent in every human being who is prepared to activate it.
Reincarnation -- The process, generally
believed in by witches and many others, whereby each immortal human
Individuality is reborn to life after life on Earth until all of its
Karma is worked out and balanced, and it is sufficiently highly developed
to progress to a higher state.
Skyclad -- The witches word for 'ritually
naked'
Soul-Mates -- Individuals who are continuously
involved with each other in successive Incarnations, becoming rather
like a pair of binary stars. Also known as twin souls.
Summerlands -- A spiritualist word for the
Heaven which souls enter after death. Often used by believers in Reincarnation
to denote the astral stage of rest after Physical death, before the
Individuality withdraws from all the lower levels to prepare for its
next Incarnation.
Widdershins -- In an anti-clockwise direction,
against the sun. (Deosil is clockwise motion.)
Witch Queen -- A High Priestess from whose
coven at least two other covens have hived off.
