Hexagram Gematria - This is a series of short essays about the six-pointed star and what it means in the Wiccan religion. It also looks at the 666 symbolism.
Wiccan Yule - Here are several ceremonies and an essay about Wiccan Yule. If you'd like to contribute one, you may feel free to email to me to share..
Wiccan Wedding - This is one of many ceremonies we have for Wiccan hand-fasting ceremonies. We add to these regularly.
Witchcraft - This is an article discussing the differences between 'witchcraft' and that which is performed by Wiccan.
Wiccan Glossary - This is a glossery of Wiccan terms for those not familiar. If you have any you'd like to add or things you'd like to see added to these definitions, please feel free to email me at amy@ulcseminary.org
Wiccanning an Infant - This is one of many ceremonies that we have for Wiccanning an infant. Wicanning is a form of baptism or naming ceremony. Please feel free to share one of your ceremonies if you'd like.
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.
Q: What do Wiccans believe? A: While there is much variation, certain core beliefs are common to most Wiccans:
Belief in the God and the Goddess, the Law of Return (sometimes called the Three-Fold Law), the Wiccan Rede, and Magic. Most would also recognize the Circle, the Book of Shadows, the Pentagram, the Elements, the Wheel of the Year, and certain working tools such as the Athame, the Cauldron, etc.
In general Wiccans share a sense of personal connection to the divine life source, which is open to contact through "psychic power," mysticism, or "natural magic."
Wicca is very welcoming of women, but Wiccans are not exclusively female. Male Wiccans and Witches are called Wiccans and Witches, not Warlocks.
There are no universal Wiccan proscriptions regarding food, sex, burial, or military service.
Wiccans, as a rule, discourage proselytization.
Q: Do Wiccans believe in Jesus? A: Wiccans do not believe in Jesus as Savior since they do not believe that anyone is in need of saving in the Christian sense. The material world is not evil, sex is not shameful, and human actions are not judged by a god with the intent to categorize us for an afterlife, nor are we held accountable for the actions of our ancestors (as in belief in Original Sin).
Q: Can I be a Christian Wiccan? A: The Christian God claims ownership of the One True Way. To worship Him on another path in conjunction with the Goddess (as is the practice of Wicca) is not to worship Him but to disrespect Him and His teaching. While it is perfectly acceptable to choose the god(s) most suited to you, it is inadvisable to incorporate any monotheistic god into a polytheistic practice.
Q: How can Wiccans be ethical or even well-behaved if they don't follow God's laws and obey the Ten Commandments? A: Most non-Christians find this common query offensive. The notion that Christians have a corner on ethics and morality, and that no one can attain either without being pushed to it by the Christian God, is arrogant as well as ignorant. It suggests that Buddhists, Taoists, Confucians, Hindus, and all others who do not follow the Judeo-Christian God are unethical, immoral, and ill-behaved, which I think anyone of intelligence, given a moment's reflection, will surely realize is false. There are many, many non-Christians who behave well in all respects without knowledge of or concern for the Christian God's laws and Commandments.
However, in this case the intent of the question is to know how to regard Wiccan ethics and behavior, and although there is no legalistic codification of behavior for Wiccans, the Rede and the Law of Returns (or the Three-Fold Law) are usually given in response to this query.
For more information, see The Evolution of Wiccan Ethics.
Q: What are the Wiccan Rede and the Law of Returns or the Three-Fold Law? A: The Rede is a long poem attributed to Adriana Porter, but most people who mention it mean only the last eight words, which are most commonly quoted, "An it harm none, do as ye will." While this sounds, superficially, like carte blanche, the common practice of shortening it to "Harm none" gives some indication of how stringently it is generally interpreted. "None" is taken to include the doer, and "harm" is interpreted to include interference, impairment, or other disservice as well as direct physical, emotional, or psychic harm.
The Law of Return is the belief that any action will return like action in this life. This is not karma, not retribution in a future life. The return is in this life, here and now. Some believe the return is three-fold, hence the "Three-Fold Law." The Law is often repeated in a rhyme such as, "Heed and beware the Rule of Three: / Three times thy acts return to thee / This lesson thou must learn and mind / What ye put out returns in kind." Or more succinctly: "Any thought or deed you do, three-fold will return to you."
Some Wiccans regard the Law of Return as bunk and nonsense, a silly refashioning of Indian karma, while others believe in it implicitly. I say if it helps remind people to behave decently, there's no harm in it, at least in the simple "return" form, though I admit the threefold version is tough to swallow.
