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Correllian Wicca First
Degree
LESSON 2
[ Correllian Wicca
First Degree | MyWitchSchool.com
]
COSMOLOGY
GOD
THE UNIVERSE AND EVERYTHING
There are two levels to the Wiccan
understanding of Deity. The first is Personal, the second
Universal.
On a personal level we approach Deity as an entity with
Which we interact through words and actions and with Whom we maintain a
personal relationship. At this level we give Deity many names and faces,
and interact with Deity through these. Most Wiccans will use a variety of
names and faces for Deity in this personal sense, and will have one
particular form which they perceive as their PATRON. They will
interact with this Patron Deity, or in some cases Patron Deities, in a
very personal way, seeking guidance, inspiration, and practical help in
both daily life and esoteric matters.
Let us use the Goddess
Sekhemet as an example. Sekhemet is a Goddess of Egyptian provenance, and
Her worship goes back to and beyond the dawn of recorded history. Sekhemet
is commonly portrayed as a woman with the head of a lioness, carrying
either a scepter or a sword. Sekhemet is the patroness of magic, but also
of courage and strength. A DEVOTEE of Sekhemet might hope to be
inspired by Her with these qualities. Does this mean that we believe that
Sekhemet is an entity living somewhere with the actual head of a lioness
on a human woman’s body? No.
The best analogy of how Wiccans look
at Deity is the famous example of the diamond. We think of Deity rather
like an enormous diamond of many facets. Each facet is beautiful in and of
itself, and can be used as a way to access the heart of the diamond, but
in reality each is only a different way of looking at the same stone. Thus
when the Devotee speaks to Sekhemet, they are in reality using a personal
form to access a Universal power. The reason we need such personal forms
is that we build our bond with Deity through emotion. All of the abstract
understanding in the world will make no difference to you if you cannot
connect to it emotionally -it will seem dry and empty, striking no
resonance in your being.
Since everyone’s emotional nature is
different -being as we are, individuals- we Wiccans use many different
images of Deity. A person who has negative feelings toward their mother
may have difficulty identifying with the Mother Goddess, but may find a
Crone Goddess a great source of strength and comfort. A person who loves
the ocean may find it much easier to connect with the more aquatic Mother
Goddesses like Yemaya, than with an Earthy Mother Goddess like Gaia. Both
are the same concept, but the exact approach offers variety to the
individual.
At no time do we perceive an individual face of Deity
-such as Venus, or Cerridwen, or Xochitl- as being the only face of Deity
-only our individually preferred face.
Also it must be remembered
that we live many lifetimes, through reincarnation. Sometimes we resonate
very strongly to a particular face of Deity because we have interacted
with Deity through that face in previous lifetimes. Thus we might be drawn
to Isis for example, because they have in previous lifetimes been a
devotee of Isis.
The second way in which Wiccans look at Deity is
Universal. We acknowledge that the true nature of Deity is beyond all
names and forms, and indeed perhaps beyond all mortal understanding. As
our personal images of Deity are the facets so UNIVERSAL DEITY is
the diamond. Wiccans believe that any one name or form for Deity can never
possibly encompass all of the nature of Universal Deity, but can only
serve to limit our understanding of it. Because of this we regard
monotheism as an extremely primitive and limiting point of view. Rather we
use our personal images of Deity symbolically to help us understand the
nature of Universal Deity, using myth as a tool to illustrate the
qualities and processes of Universal Deity without ever imagining that a
single view can encapsulate the whole nature of the Divine.
Having
laid out this basic understanding of how Wiccans view Deity, let us
illustrate it by presenting one of the most sacred myths of the Wiccan
faith, and explaining it’s deeper meaning.
VANGELO DELLE
STREGHE
One of the most sacred pieces of Wiccan literature is
the Vangelo delle Streghe. This is a collection of legends
preserved and passed down through generations of the Aradian
witches of Italy. A little over a century ago the Italian witch
Maddalena gave a copy of the Vangelo to the famed folklorist
Charles Godfrey Leland, on the understanding that he would publish
it.
The most important part of the Vangelo is the creation story it
contains. This creation story is a sublime allegorical account of the
creation of the physical world, and the descent of Spirit into Matter. The
story touches on very ancient themes, being reminiscent of the ancient
Greek myth of OPHION AND EURYNOME, and of the creation myth of the
Goddess CYBELE.
You must understand however that the stories
in the Vangelo are meant to be understood as ALLEGORY, that is to
say that they represent their subject symbolically, portraying it in
familiar every-day forms rather than abstract concepts. If you try to read
these stories literally they appear rather shallow and foolish. Only by
understanding that Vangelo’s human characters actually represent the
timeless forces of Nature and the Universe, and their actions portray the
cosmic processes, can you hope to get anything out of it.
Maddalena
did not bother to explain this. She was willing to let people know more
about the ancient Aradian Wiccan traditions, but she didn’t want them to
know to much. She knew that people who understood allegory would be able
to read between the lines, and appreciate what they found there. She is
also supposed to have made certain alterations to the text, apparently for
purpose of secrecy, which leave some confusion in the text. But despite
this, the text is of enormous value.
CREATION
According to the Vangelo delle
Streghe;
“Diana was the first created of
all creation. In Her were all things.”
In other words Diana, or Goddess,
is PRIMEVAL DEITY. She existed before the first beginning, as
CHAOS -God without form existing in a void, and having within
Herself the seeds of all things, both spiritual and material, all mixed up
together without order or definition. Primeval Deity is androgynous,
having both feminine (spirit or yin) and masculine (matter or yang)
elements, and is sometimes portrayed as such in myth and artwork..
Sometimes however Primeval Deity is portrayed as feminine, since we think
of Primeval Deity in association with the Goddess, or Spirit -indeed as
the Higher Self of Goddess. In this sense Primeval Deity is identified
with the CRONE Goddess -the Goddess in Her aged state, having
existed from before the dawn of time. This is the wisest and most knowing
part of Goddess, most commonly called HEKATE. This is the Goddess
portrayed with greater or lesser respect as the Hallowe’en witch, with Her
pointed hat and broom.
For endless aeons Primeval Deity existed in
this amorphous and undifferentiated state, in the darkness before the
first creation. At first She slept, aware of nothing, resting and
recharging, gathering Her energies and merely being -alone and complete in
Herself.
But over the course of time, Primeval Deity began to stir;
to become aware. First She became aware of Her own existence. In time She
began to think, to dream, to question -to desire. She wondered; What would
it be like to feel? What would it be like to move? To take action? To be
able to receive sensation? To see? To taste? To hear?
And so for
aeons Primeval Deity thought, and considered, and wondered. And
then;
“Out of Herself, the first
Darkness, She divided Herself. Into Darkness and Light She was divided.
The God, Her brother and son, Herself and Her other Self, was the
Light.”
Primeval Deity divided Herself
-One became Two.
All of the physical, tangible, volatile parts of
Primeval Deity went into the God, who was the Light. The God exploded into
existence out of Primeval Deity in a shower of spark and flame which we
remember as the Big Bang, the starting point of physical
creation.
All of the spiritual, ethereal, eternal parts of Primeval
Deity remained in the Goddess. In this sense Goddess is thought of as a
continuation of Primeval Deity, since the consciousness of Primeval Deity
is one of the Spiritual parts that remained with Her.
And the
God spread out in all directions through the primordial void, a blaze of
light and superheated matter. In time His fire would cool into stars, and
from stars to Planets. As this happens the vibration of the matter slows,
it becomes more dense, seemingly solid.
This slowing cooling, and
solidifying, is described as “Falling into Matter.” Symbolically the God
is described as having fallen into Seven Planes of existence. Some
people say there are more, but then the divisions are not as exact as all
that, so the number is not so important as the concept. Seven Planes is
the ancient number, based on the idea of the seven Ptolemaic Planets (that
is, the Sun, Moon, and those Planets visible with the naked eye). These
Seven Planes are, from the lowest up; Physical, Emotional, Mental, Astral,
Soular or Egoic, Monadic, and Divine. We will talk more about these later.
The Seven Planes are also sometimes called the Seven Spheres, or the Seven
Dimensions; all refer to the same basic concept.
The Vangelo
continues;
“And when Diana saw that the
light was so beautiful, the light which was Her other half, her brother
the God, She yearned for it with exceeding great desire. Wishing to
receive the light again into Her darkness, to swallow it up in rapture,
in delight, She trembled with desire. And this trembling was the first
dawn.
But the God’s light fled from Her and would not yield to
Her wishes. He was the light which flies into the most distant parts of
heaven, the mouse which flies before the cat.”
Seeing the beauty of the God
-that is, of the physical Universe- the Goddess was entranced with desire,
and wanted it back. She had dreamed of seeing and tasting and doing, but
being separate from the God She could do none of this. She could only
observe from outside that which She had created. The Goddess wanted the
experiences She had dreamed of, and so She desired to take the created
Universe back into Herself... But it wasn’t that easy.
The Vangelo
tells how The Goddess went to the oldest part of Herself, Primeval Deity
-Who was still within Her. The Vangelo calls Primeval Deity “The Mothers
and Fathers who were before the first creation” emphasizing Primeval
Deity’s androgynous aspect.
In other words, the Goddess
consulted Her own Higher Self. In many ancient myths -notably the story of
Demeter and Persephone- this same process is shown as the Goddess entering
Hekate’s cave to take council of the eldest and wisest part of
Deity.
In the Vangelo Diana asks Primeval Deity how She could
reunite with the God -how could Spirit take Matter back into Itself? And
the Ancient One, Primeval Deity, the Goddess’ own Higher Self, answered in
this way;
“To rise You must fall. To
become the greatest of all Goddesses, You must first become a
mortal.”
In other words, it was not
possible for Spirit simply to take Matter back into Herself. If the
Goddess wished to reunite with the God, to be one with Matter and
experience it, She had to enter into the physical world. Only in that way
could Goddess and God reunite.
And so Diana “fell” -that is to say
She descended through the Seven Planes to the Physical. She did this by
dividing off parts of Herself -the many souls- which she sent into the
Physical, placing them into physical forms. Each soul was to lead many
lifetimes, going through many physical forms in the process. Reading this
now, you are one of the lifetimes of one of those souls, which are part of
the great Goddess. We are Her children, and also children of the God, for
our existence is the accomplishment of their union.
The Vangelo
describes this process in extremely symbolic terms. It tells how Diana
took the form of a cat (the soul entering into material form) and in this
way got close to the God, then resuming Her own form, made passionate love
to Him.
Then, to maintain the Union of Spirit and Matter, the
Goddess cast a spell;
“She sang a charm, and her
voice was as the buzzing of bees. And then Diana sat at Her spinning
wheel and began to spin the thread of life, and the God turned the
wheel.”
In other words, having placed
soul into matter, the Goddess used the power of “sound” -that is,
VIBRATION- to set the Universe as we know it into motion. Energy is
what holds all things together, from sub-atomic particles to the very
galaxies of stars. The Vibration of that energy, it’s movement -sometimes
described as “Frequency” - is what makes it work, and determines on what
level it works. The denser or more physical a thing is the lower it’s
Vibration or frequency is said to be. The more Spiritual the energy, the
higher it’s Vibration is said to be. Vibration is comparable to sound,
which can be a powerful magical tool. For this reason the Vibration of the
Universe, at differing frequencies through each of the Seven Planes or
spheres, is often described as the MUSIC OF THE
SPHERES.
Music and song have long been used in many spiritual
traditions as a means of affecting the Vibration of energy. Sound can be
used in this way to disperse negative or unfocused energy, to break down
psychic blockages, and to create or effect specific energetic forms. Sound
is a very powerful tool precisely because sound, or Vibration is the very
force the Goddess used to set the Wheel of Life into motion.
Called
the Goddess’ spinning wheel in the Vangelo delle Streghe, the Wheel of
Life is a very ancient concept. It is represented annually by the sacred
Wheel of the Year (which you will learn about in LESSON 3). From
this Wheel the Goddess (Spirit) spins the thread of life -i.e.; determines
it’s nature, qualities, the lessons to be learned and the things to be
done and accomplished. The DESTINY, if you would. But the God
(Matter, or perhaps more precisely physical experience) turns the wheel.
As Goddess is the nature of life, the God is the process of living -the
movement through the Planes of Existence. The Goddess is the essential
nature of the Universe and life itself, She provides the Divine Spark
which animates all things. But the God carries that spark forward. The God
is Lord of Space and Time -master of the temporal universe. In this aspect
He is called the Lord of the Dance, for He leads the dance of life,
facilitating experience and growth.
In this way -their essence
originating from the Goddess, their ability to move and to grow
originating from the God, the many souls descended to the physical Plane.
The goal of this, as stated above, was to experience; to learn and grow.
Having arrived in the physical the souls set out to learn all that the
physical Plane could teach them, and then began their ascent back up
through the Seven Planes to ultimately rejoin with Goddess, from whence
they come. Each Plane has it’s own special lessons, which are of great
importance to the soul.
Though seemingly separated from the
Goddess, each of these souls remains always attached to Her, always part
of Her -for it is through them, as part of them, that Goddess entered into
Her own physical creation, the God. We are one with the Goddess, and our
experiences are Her experience. We are eternal and immortal as souls,
never cut off from Goddess, or Spirit, only differentiated. All of the
powers and abilities of Goddess are within us, and at our command, if we
can clear our vision enough to see and access
them.
Descending through the Planes of Existence was like
going through a curtain, or VEIL. The Veil obscures our vision of
the things above us. Because of the Veil we forget that we are part of the
Goddess, that we are spiritual beings experiencing the physical, and start
to to think that we are simply physical beings. As we ascend the Planes,
we are highly aware of those Planes which are below us, and perceive them
fairly easily. It is much harder to perceive the Planes above us. It is
hard for us to see or communicate with the higher Planes of consciousness,
and easy to imagine that what our eyes perceive is all that exists. To
progress we must part the Veil and see beyond it. The more we work,
magically and psychically, the thinner that Veil becomes. Some people are
born with the Veil already very thin -these people are said to be BORN
OLD. It may seem that those who are Born Old don’t have to work as hard to
progress, that psychic and magical skills just come naturally to them
-This is because they have already done the work to develop these skills
in previous lifetimes.
It is generally said that we are currently
on the Mental Plane, able to easily perceive mental, emotional, and
physical energies, and that we are -and have long been- in the process of
moving into the intuitional Plane, and thus have increasing perception of
what we might loosely call psychic matters. Though we have some perception
of the Planes beyond this, it is difficult to see very much of them from
our current perception.
Of course as in all things there are a
variety of points of view on the subject of the Planes, or Spheres, of
Existence. This is the Correllian view.
[ Correllian Wicca
First Degree | MyWitchSchool.com
]
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