Macrocosm - The world that is around us.
Magick - Causing changes in the physical plane due to force of human will. The projection of natural energies (such as personal power) to being about needed change. Energy exists in all things: us, plants, stones, colors, sounds, movements, words. Magick is the process of raising this energy, giving it purpose, and releasing it. Magick is a natural, not supernatural, practice, but is little understood. Magick is neither black nor white. It simply is. What the magician decides to do with the magick is another matter...
Magick Circle - A sphere constructed of personal power in which rituals are usually performed. Within it the witch is protected from outside forces. The sphere extends both above and below the surface of the ground.
Magickal System - The basic set of guidelines relating to the worship of specific Gods and Goddesses or cultural traditions.
Male Mysteries - Pagan study which attempts to reclaim the power and mystery of the old Gods for today's Pagan males.
Matrifocal - Term used to denote pre-patriarchal life when family clans centered around and lived near or on clan matriarch.
May Pole - Sexual symbol of Beltane representing the phallus.
Meditation - Reflection, contemplation- turning inward toward the self, or outward toward Deity or nature. A quiet time in which the practitioner may either dwell upon particular thoughts or symbols, or allow them to come unbidden.
Metaphysics - Philosophical belief system in that all things are a part of one main source - "know thyself" - and that each thing, animate or inanimate should be respected.
Megalith - A huge stone monument or structure. Stonehenge is the best-known example of a megalith.
Menhir - A huge stone probably erected by early peoples for religious, spiritual, or magickal reasons.
Microcosm - The work that is within us.
Monotheism - Belief in one supreme deity who has no other forms and/of displays no other aspects.
Mother - The aspect of the Goddess representing motherhood, mid-life, and fertility. She is represented by the full moon, the egg, the colors red and green. Her Sabbats are Midsummer and Lughnasadh.
Myth - Cycles Body of lore about any land or people that makes up their mythology.
Mysticism - A belief that direct knowledge of spiritual truth or ultimate reality can be attained through intutition, insight or divination.
New Age - The mixing of metaphysical practices with a structured religion.
New Religion - Pagan term used in reference to Christianity.
Nursery Rhyme - Cute doggerel or poems supposedly written for the amusement of children. Much Pagan lore was hidden in these ditties during the years of witch persecutions.
Occult - Literal meaning is "hidden" and is broadly applied to a wide range of metaphysical topics which lie outside the accepted realm of mainstream theologies.
Occultist - One who practices and or studies a variety of occult subjects.
Ogham - Celtic equivalent of the Teutonic runes. The ancient alphabet of the Celtic people.
Old Ones - The A term which refers to all aspects of the Goddess and God.
Old Religion - A name for Paganism as it pre-dates Christianity by at least 20,000 years.
Pagan/Neo-Pagan - Means from the heath, the country.
General term for followers of Wicca and other magickal, shamanistic, and polytheistic Earth-based religions. Also used to refer to pre-Christian religious and magickal systems.
Paganing - When a baby is presented in circle to the Goddess and God, and given a craft name which s/he will keep until about 13 and can choose their own at their Coming of Age celebration.
Pantheon - A collection or group of Gods and Goddesses in a particular religious or mythical structure.
Pantheism - Belief in many deities who are really one because they are all merely aspects of the single creative life source. Paganism is pantheistic.
Passion Over Ritual - Ritual observed when a loved one has dies.
Past Life Regression - Act of using meditation or guided meditation to pass through the veil of linear time and perceive experiences encountered in a previous existence.
Path Working - Using astral projection, bi-location, or dream time to accomplish a specific goal. Also called vision questing.
Patriarchal - Term used to apply to the world since the matrifocal clans that worshipped Goddesses were supplanted by codified religions that honor all-male deity(s).
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 elbows steadied against a flat surface, and a question is asked. The movement of the heavy object's swings determines the answer. It is a tool which contacts the psychic mind.
Pentacle - A magickal symbol consisting of a 5 pointed star, each corresponding to the elements of Earth, Air, Fire, Water and Spirit, connected by a continusous line. A circle surrounding a five-pointed, upright star (pentagram). Worn as a symbol of a witch's beliefs. Many witches consider wearing it inverted to be blasphemy of their faith and is commonly associated with Satanism.
Pentagram - The five pointed star which has come to symbolize western Paganism. It is an ancient symbol with multiple meanings, it is always seen with its apex up. The basic interlaces five-pointed star, visualized with one point up. It represents the five elements: Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Spirit. It is a symbol of power and protection.
Personal Power - The energy which sustains our bodies. It originates within the Goddess and God. We first absorb it from our biological mother within the womb, and later from food, water, the Moon and Sun, and other natural objects.
Polarity - The concept of equal, opposite energies. The Eastern Yin Yang is a perfect example. Yin is cold; yang is hot. Other examples: Goddess/God, night/day, Moon/Sun, birth/death, dark/light, psychic mind/unconscious mind. Universal balance.
Polytheism - Belief in the existence of many unrelated deities each with their own dominion and interests who have no spiritual or familial relationships to one another.
Poppets - Anthropomorphic dolls used to represent certain human beings in magick spells.
Projective Hand - The hand thought to be the point through which personal power is sent from the body. Normally the hand used for manual activities such as writing, dialing the phone, etc. It is also the hand in which tools such as the athame and wand are held.
Priestess - A female that is devoted to her own chosen deities.
Primacy - Paths and beliefs definitions taken on early in life, becoming important issues throught life.
Psychic - Lying outside the sphere of physcial science or knowledge, sensitive to non physical influences and perceptions .
Psychic Mind - The subconscious, or unconscious mind, in which we receive psychic impressions. It is at work when we sleep, dream, and meditate. It is our direct link with the Divine, and with the larger, nonphysical world around us.
Psychism - The act of being consciously psychic, in which the psychic mind and conscious mind are linked and working in harmony. Also known as psychic awareness.
Psychometry - The ability to obtain paranormal information from touching or hold an object.
Rede - The Basic tenet of witchcraft. "An it harm none, do what thou will.
Reincarnation - The process of repeated incarnations in human form to allow evolution of the sexless, ageless soul.
Ritual - An established order of words and/or actions for ceremonies in magickal workings.
Ritual Ceremony - A specific form of movement, a manipulation of objects or inner processes designed to produce desired effects. In religion ritual is geared toward union with the Divine.
Ritual Consciousness -A specific, alternate state of awareness necessary to the successful practice of magick. This state is achieved through the use of visualization and ritual. The conscious mind becomes attuned with the psychic mind, a state in which the magician senses energies, gives them purpose, and releases them toward a specific goal. It is a heightening of senses, an expanded awareness of the nonphysical world, a linking with nature and with Deity.
Ritual Tools - General name for magickal tools used by a witch or magician. They vary by tradition and usually represent one of the elements.
Runes - Set of symbols that are used in both divination and magickal workings. An integral part of a magickal system with its own pantheon.
Sabbat - A witch's festival. Meetings held at the eight major seasonal holidays: the Equinoxes and the Solstice called the Quarter Days, and at the time of each season called Cross-Quarter Days; the Cross-Quarter Days fall at or about February 2, May 1, August 2, and October 31.
Scourge - Small device made from leather or hemp which resembles a whip and is used in flagellation rites within some traditions.
Scrying - A method of divination. To gaze at or into an object (a quartz crystal sphere, a pool of water, reflections, a candle flame) to still the conscious mind in order to contact the psychic mind. Scrying allows the scryer to become aware of events prior to their actual occurrence, as well as to perceive past or present events through other than the five senses. Divination method using such things as a bowl of inked water, a mirror or a crystal ball.
Shaman - A priest or witch doctor among some Ural-Altaic eople. The Shaman uses magick to propitiate gods and spirits, to foretell the future and heal.
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 his or her world through magick.
Shamanism:
The practice of shamans, usually ritualistic or magickal in nature, sometimes religious.
Shapeshifing - The ability to change shape and form at will.
Shillelagh - Magickal tool corresponding to the staff in other traditions. Usually made from blackthorn wood.
Sigil - Magically oriented seal, sign, glyph, or other device used in a magickal working. Ones you create yourself are the most effective. Sigils can be used on letters, packages, clothing, etc.
Simple Feast - A ritual meal shared with the Goddess and God.
Sky Father - Shamanistic in origin. It assigns deification to the sky as a male entity.
Skyclad - The act of celebrating or performing magickal works in the nude. Considered deeply spiritual, NOT sexual.
Solitary - Pagan who works and worships alone.
Spell - An act of a wishful desire, a need for the spell which is either written, spoken aloud or to oneself, danced or all of the above in which full mental energy is used.
Spiral - Symbol of coming into being. Staff:
Ritual tool which corresponds to the wand or athame.
Stang - Ritual tool from Pagan Rome which resembles a two-pronged trident. Often used in place of the wand or circle.
Subconscious Mind - Part of the mind which functions below the levers we are able to access in the course of a normal working day. This area stores symbolic knowledge, dreams, the most minute details of every experience ever had by a person.
Summerland - The Pagan Land of the Dead.
Sympathetic Magick - Concept of likes attract. Most common way spells are worked.
Talisman - Object that magic has been worked on to bring you something, usually a man-made object.
Tarot Cards - Set of 78 cards which feature pictures and symbols used to conned the diviner with the collective unconscious.
Tarologist - One adept at the art and science of handling the Tarot.
Telepathy - Strong identification with a vibrational frequency that allows for attunement.
Threefold Law - Karmic principle that energy that is released is returned three times over.
Tradition - Branch of paganism followed by any individual Pagan or coven.
Trilithon - A stone arch made from two upright slabs with one lying atop these. They are featured in Stonehenge.
Triple Goddess - One Goddess in all of her three aspects: Maiden, Mother, Crone.
Twelfth Night - which occurs twelve (12) days after the Winter Solstice (Yule).
Tradition - A group of Covens having a common lineage and/or common form of practice
Virgin - Youngest aspect of the Triple Goddess. Also know as the Maiden. Represented by the waxing moon, colors white and blue. Her Sabbats are Imbolc and Ostara.
Vision Quest - Using astral projection, bi-location, or dream time to accomplish a specific goal. Also called path working.
Visualization - The process of forming mental images. Magickal visualization consists of forming images of needed goals during ritual. It is also used to direct personal power and natural energies for various purposes during magick, including charging and forming of the magick circle.
Wand - Ritual tool brought to the craft from ritual magick.
Warlock - Antiquated term misused in reference to a male Witch. It means oath-breaker or Liar. Most Pagans, Witch's find the term offensive.
Web Weaving - Networking with other magickal people via conversation, writing, e-mail, to gather information which will mutually assist each party.
Wheel of the Year - One full cycle of the seasonal year.
Wicca - A modern Pagan religion with spiritual roots in the earliest expressions of reverence for nature. Some major identifying motifs are: reverence for both the Goddess and God; acceptance of reincarnation and magick; ritual observance of astronomical and agricultural phenomena; and the use of magickal circles for ritual purposes. A religion including diverse Traditions related to many European and Mediterranean cultural sources. This religion worships feminine and masculine deities, and pays homage to The Mighty Dead. This corporation specifically excludes the Native American Religions, Native American Shaman and Native African religions from the definition of these words.
Wicce - Synonymous with Wicca. In some circles, Wicce is used for women and Wicca is used for men.
Wiccan - A person that has been properly Dedicated, Initiated or Ordained into the Religion of Wicca by a member of the Clergy who has the authority to perform that Dedication, Initiation or Ordination.
Witch - A practitioner of folk magick, particularly that kind relating to herbs, stones, colors, wells, rivers, etc. It is used by some Wiccans to describe themselves. This term has nothing to do with Satanism.
Witchcraft - The craft of the witch - magick, especially magick utilizing personal power in conjunction with the energies within stones, herbs, colors, and other natural objects. This belief system also has nothing to do with Satanism.
Will - The conscious control the higher level has over the psychic mind.
Windershings - Counterclockwise, Moon wise. When closing a circle, you start at North and end at East.
Yggdrasil - One of the best known Tree of Life symbols. It unites all existence from the Underworld, to the Physical world.
Magickal Definitions
Before Time Was
How Wicca Started
What Wicca Is and Is Not
Law of Power
Balance
The Path
What is Wicca
Nature of Our Ways
Code of Chivalary
Wiccan Rede
Wicca & Practical Magick
Wicca & Paganism
Wicca & Witchcraft
Ten Things About Wicca
Wiccan Keys
Wiccan Creation
Places Of Power
Wiccan Alphabet
In Defense of Wicca
Basic Facts
A Wiccan Story
Wiccan Symbols & Meaning
Why Study?
Religion
Comparative Religion
Wiccan Glossary - A to E
Wiccan Glossary F to P
Wiccan Glossary P to Z
New Book Of Laws
Principles Of Wiccan Belief
Wiccan Faith
Concept of Deity
Natural Wiccans/Pagans
Words To The Wise
Circle - Why We Use Them
Circle Casting
Casting - Another Method
Erecting The Temple
The 4 Directions
Circle Etiquette
Sacred Circle
Smudging
Doing Magick
Skyclad
Skyclad - Page 2
Meditation
Morality
Wicca
Thoughts
Some More Thoughts
Old Spells
Spells and Soil
Sacred Space
Sacred Water
Sacred Woods
Trees
Celtic Tree Astrology
Which Tree Are You?
Gardening
Gardening Therapy
Taking A Trip
Past Life Regression
Age of Innocence
Tips For Solitaries
Organizing A Group Ritual
Finding A Teacher
The Lore Of Numbers
A Life Well Lived
Wicca - Links Continued