Words Flashcards
Akasha
The fifth element, the omnipresent spiritual power that permeates the universe. It is the energy out of which the elements formed.
Amulet
a magically charged object that deflects specific, usually negative energies. Generally, a protective object.
Asperger
a bundle of fresh herbs or a perforated object used to sprinkle water during or preceding ritual, for purification purposes.
Athame
a Wiccan ritual knife. It usually has a double-edged blade and a black handle. The athame is used to direct personal power during ritual workings. It is seldom (if ever) used for actual, physical cutting. Sometimes called the Magic
Balefire
a fire lit for magical purposes, usually outdoors.
Bane
that which destroys life, which is poisonous, destructive, evil, dangerous.
Beltane
Beltane is a Wiccan festival that celebrates the symbolic union, mat-ing, or marriage of the Goddess and God, and links in with the approaching summer months.
Besom
Broom
Bolline
the white-handled knife, used in magic and Wiccan ritual for practical purposes such as cutting herbs or piercing a pomegranate.
Book of Shadows
a Wiccan book of rituals, spells, and magical lore. Once hand copied upon initiation, the Book of Shadows is now photocopied or typed in some covens. No one “true” Book of Shadows exists; all are relevant to their respective users.
Censer
a heat-proof container in which incense is smoldered. An incense burner. It symbolizes the element of air.
To Charge
to infuse an object with personal power. “Charging” is an act of magic.
Conscious Mind
the analytical, materially based, rational half of our consciousness. The mind at work when we compute our taxes, theorize, or struggle with ideas.
Corn Dolly
a figure, often human-shaped, created by plaiting dried wheat or other grains. It represented the fertility of the earth and the Goddess in early European agricultural rituals and is still used in Wicca.
Coven
a group of Wiccans, usually initiatory, and led by one or two leaders.
The Craft
Wicca. Witchcraft. Folk magic.
The Days of Power
Sabbats
Deosil
clockwise, the direction of the sun’s apparent motion in the sky. In Northern Hemisphere magic and religion, deosil movement is symbolic of life, positive energies, the “good.” It is much-used in spells and rituals; i.e., “walk deosil around the circle of stones.”
Divination
the magical art of discovering the unknown by interpreting random patterns or symbols through the use of tools such as clouds, tarot cards, flames, and smoke. Divination contacts the psychic mind by tricking or drowsing the conscious mind through ritual and observation or through manipulation of tools.
Divine Power
the unmanifested, pure energy that exists within the Goddess and God. The life force, the ultimate source of all things.
Earth Power
the energy that exists within stones, herbs, flames, wind, and other natural objects. It is manifested divine power and can be utilized during magic to create needed change.
the Elements
earth, air, fire, and water. These four essences are the building blocks of the universe. Everything that exists (or that has potential to exist) contains one or more of these energies. The elements hum within ourselves and are also “at large” in the world. They can be utilized to cause change through magic.
Esbat
a Wiccan ritual, usually occurring on the full moon.
Evocation
calling up spirits or other nonphysical entities, either to visible appearance or invisible attendance.
Grimoire
a magical workbook containing ritual information, formulae, magical properties of natural objects, and preparation of ritual equipment.Many of these works include “catalogs of spirits.”
Handfasting
a Wiccan, pagan, or Gypsy wedding.
Imbolc
a Wiccan festival that celebrates the first stirrings of spring and the recovery of the Goddess from giving birth to the sun (the God) at Yule.
Initiation
a process whereby an individual is introduced or admitted into a group, interest, skill, or religion. Initiations may be ritual occasions but can also occur spontaneously.
Invocation
an appeal or petition to a higher power (or powers), such as the Goddess and God. A prayer. Invocation is actually a method of establishing conscious ties with those aspects of the Goddess and God that dwell within us. In essence, then, we seemingly cause them to appear or make themselves known by becoming aware of them.
Kahuna
a practitioner of the old Hawaiian philosophical, scientific, and magical system.
Labrys
a double-headed axe that symbolized the Goddess in ancient Crete, still used by some Wiccans for this same purpose. The labrys may be placed on or leaned against the left side of the altar.
Lughnasadh
a Wiccan festival which marks the first harvest, when the fruits of the earth are cut and stored for the dark winter months, and when the God also mysteriously weakens as the days grow shorter.
Mabon
Wiccans celebrate the second harvest at Mabon when nature is preparing for winter. Mabon is a vestige of ancient harvest festivals that, in some form or another, were once nearly universal among peoples of the earth.
Magic
the movement of natural energies (such as personal power) to create needed change. Energy exists within all things—ourselves, plants, stones, colors, sounds, movements. Magic is the process of rousing or building up this energy, giving it purpose, and releasing it. Magic is a natural, not supernatural, practice, though it is little understood.
the Magic Circle
a sphere constructed of personal power in which Wiccan rituals are usually enacted. The term refers to the circle that marks the sphere’s penetration of the ground, for it extends both above and below it. It is created through visualization and magic.
Magic Knife
Athame
Meditation
reflection, contemplation, turning inward toward the self or outward toward deity or nature. A quiet time in which the practitioner may dwell upon particular thoughts or symbols, or allow them to come unbidden.
Megalith
a huge stone monument or structure. Stonehenge is perhaps the best-known example of megalithic construction.
Menhir
a standing stone probably lifted by early peoples for religious, spiritual, or magical reasons.
Litha
the summer solstice, usually on or near June 21, one of the Wiccan festivals and an excellent night for magic. Midsummer marks the point of the year when the sun is symbolically at the height of its powers, and so, too, the God. The longest day of the year.
the Might Ones
beings, deities, or presences often invoked during Wiccan ceremony to witness or guard the rituals. The Mighty Ones are thought to be either spiritually evolved beings, once human, or spiritual entities created by or charged by the Goddess and God to protect the earth and to watch over the four directions. They are sometimes linked with the elements.
Neo Pagan
literally, new-pagan. A member, follower, or sympathizer of one of the newly formed pagan religions now spreading throughout the world. All Wiccans are pagan, but not all pagans are Wiccan.
the Old Ones
a Wiccan term often used to encompass all aspects of the Goddess and God. I’ve used it in this context in The Standing Stones Book of Shadows. Some Wiccans view it as an alternative of The Mighty Ones.
Ostara
occurring at the spring equinox, around March 21, Ostara marks the beginning of true, astronomical spring, when snow and ice make way for green. As such, it is a fire and fertility festival, celebrating the return of the sun, the God, and the fertility of the earth (the Goddess).
Pagan
from the Latin paganus, country-dweller. Today used as a general term for followers of Wicca and other magical, shamanistic, and polytheistic religions. Naturally, Christians have their own peculiar definition of this word. It can be interchanged with neo-pagan.
Pendulum
a divinatory device consisting of a string attached to a heavy object, such as a quartz crystal, root, or ring. The free end of the string is held in the hand, the elbow steadied against a flat surface, and a question is asked. The movement of the heavy object’s swings determines the answer. A rotation indicates yes or positive energy. A back and forth swing signals the opposite. It is a tool that contacts the psychic mind.
Pentacle
a ritual object (usually a circular piece of wood, metal, clay, etc.) upon which a five-pointed star (pentagram) is inscribed, painted, or engraved. It represents the element of earth.
Personal Power
the energy that sustains our bodies. It ultimately originates from the Goddess and God (or, rather, the power behind them). We first absorb it from our biological mothers within the womb and, later, from food, water, the moon and sun, and other natural objects. We release personal power during stress, exercise, sex, conception, and childbirth. Magic is often a movement of personal power for a specific goal.
Polarity
the concept of equal, opposite energies. The eastern yin/ yang is a perfect example. Yin is cold; yang is hot. Other examples of polarity: Goddess/God, night/day, moon/sun, birth/death, dark/light, psychic mind/conscious mind. Universal balance.
the Projective Hand
The: the hand that is normally used for manual activities such as writing, peeling apples, and dialing telephones is symbolically thought to be the point at which personal power is sent from the body. In ritual, personal power is visualized as streaming out from the palm or fingers of the hand for various magical goals. This is also the hand in which tools such as the athame and wand are held.
Psychic Mind
the subconscious or unconscious mind, in which we receive psychic impulses. The psychic mind is at work when we sleep, dream, and meditate. It is our direct link with the Goddess and God and with the larger, nonphysical world around us. Other related terms: divination is a ritual process which utilizes the conscious mind to contact the psychic mind. Intuition is a term used to describe psychic information that unexpectedly reaches the conscious mind.
Psychism
the act of being consciously psychic, in which the psychic mind and conscious mind are linked and working in harmony. Ritual consciousness is a form of psychism.
Receptive Hand
the left hand in right-handed persons, the reverse for left-handed persons. This is the hand through which energy is received into the body.
Reincarnation
the doctrine of rebirth. The process of repeated incarnations in human form to allow evolution of the sexless, age-less soul.
Ritual
ceremony, A specific form of movement, manipulation of objects, or inner processes designed to produce desired effects. In religion, ritual is geared toward union with the divine. In magic it produces a specific state of consciousness that allows the magician to move energy toward needed goals. A spell is a magical ritual.
Ritual Consiousness
a specific, alternate state of awareness necessary to the successful practice of magic. The magician achieves this through the use of visualization and ritual. It denotes a state in which the conscious mind and psychic mind are attuned, in which the magician senses energies, gives them purpose, and releases them toward the magical goal. It is a heightening of the senses, an awareness-expansion of the seemingly nonphysical world, a linking with nature and with the forces behind all conceptions of deity.
Runes
stick-like figures, some of which are remnants of old Teutonic alphabets. Others are pictographs. These symbols are once again widely being used in magic and divination.
Sabbat
a Wiccan festival. Beltane, Imbolc, Lughnasadh, Mabon, Midsummer, Ostara, Samhain, and Yule.
Samhain
a Wiccan festival that marks the symbolic death of the sun God and his passing into the “land of the young,” where he awaits rebirth of the Mother Goddess at Yule.
to Scry
to gaze at or into an object (a quartz crystal sphere, pool of water, reflections, a candle flame) to still the conscious mind and to contact the psychic mind. This allows the scryer to become aware of possible events prior to their actual occurrence, as well as of previous or distant, simultaneous events through other than the normally accepted senses. A form of divination.
Shaman
a man or woman who has obtained knowledge of the subtler dimensions of the earth, usually through periods of alternate states of consciousness. Various types of ritual allow the shaman to pierce the veil of the physical world and to experience the realm of energies. This knowledge lends the shaman the power to change her or his world through magic.
Shamanism
the practice of shamans, usually ritualistic or magical in nature, sometimes religious.
the Simple Feast
a ritual meal shared with the Goddess and God.
Spell
a magical ritual, usually nonreligious in nature and often accompanied by spoken words.
the Spirits of the Stones
the elemental energies naturally inherent at the four directions of the magic circle, personified within the Standing Stones Tradition as the “spirits of the stones.” They are linked with the elements.
Talisman
an object, such as an amethyst crystal, ritually charged with power to attract a specific force or energy to its bearer.
Traditional Wiccan
an organized, structured, specific Wiccan subgroup, usually initiatory, with often unique ritual practices. Many traditions have their own Books of Shadows and may or may not recognize members of other traditions as Wiccan. Most traditions are composed of a number of covens as well as solitary practitioners.
Trilithon
a stone arch made from two upright slabs with one lying atop these. Trilithons are featured in Stonehenge as well as the circle visualization in The Standing Stones Book of Shadows.
Visualization
the process of forming mental images.Magical visualization consists of forming images of needed goals during ritual. Visualization is also used to direct personal power and natural energies during magic for various purposes, including charging and forming the magic circle. It is a function of the conscious mind.
White Handled Knife
a normal cutting knife, with a sharp blade and white handle. It is used within Wicca to cut herbs and fruits, to slice bread during The Simple Feast, and for other functions—but never for sacrifice. Sometimes called the bolline.
Wicca
a contemporary pagan religion with spiritual roots in shamanism and the earliest expressions of reverence of nature. Among its major motifs are: reverence for the Goddess and the God; reincarnation; magic; ritual observances of the full moon, astronomical and agricultural phenomena; spheroid temples, created with personal power, in which rituals occur.
Widdershins
anticlockwise motion, usually used in the Northern Hemisphere for negative magical purposes or for dispersing negative energies or conditions such as disease. Southern Hemisphere Wiccans may use widdershins motions for exactly the opposite purposes; namely for positive ends, for the reason stated in the entry under deosil. In either case, widdershins and deosil motions are symbolic; only strict, closed-minded traditionalists believe that accidentally walking around the altar backward, for instance, will raise negativity. Their use in Wicca stems from ancient European rituals practiced by peoples who watched and reverenced the sun and moon in their daily revolutions. Widdershins motion, within ritual contexts, is still shunned by the vast majority of Wiccans, though others use it once in a while, for instance, to disperse the magic circle at the end of a rite.
Witch
anciently, a European practitioner of the remnants of pre-Christian folk magic, particularly that relating to herbs, healing, wells, rivers, and stones. One who practiced Witchcraft.
Witchcraft
the craft of the Witch—magic, especially magic utilizing personal power in conjunction with the energies within stones, herbs, colors and other natural objects. While this may have spiritual overtones, Witchcraft, using this definition, isn’t a religion. Some followers of Wicca use this word to denote their religion, however.
Yule
a Wiccan festival marks the rebirth of the sun God from the earth Goddess. A time of joy and celebration during the miseries of winter. Yule occurs on the winter solstice.
