These words and terms may be difficult to find in regular dictionaries. Different traditions sometimes use the same word in different ways, the definitions that follow are as the terms are used in my Wicca.

Alcashic Records: astral record of everything that has ever happened amulet: something that is worn for protection, usually jewelry

ankh: ancient Egyptian symbol of life; it looks like a cross with a loop at the top

astral projection (AP): an altered state, often achieved via trance, in which the consciousness is freed from the physical body

athame: ceremonial knife used in magick and rituals; in classical Wicca, an athame is only used ritually and must have a black handle

aura: bio-energy field of a living creature

banishing: a magickal working performed to remove evil, threats, darkness, negativity, or people embodying those qualities

Book of Shadows: a witch’s handwritten book of spells, rituals, and magickal information

botanica: a Santerian shop that sells herbs, charms, candles, religious statues, and so on.

bruja/brujo: Spanish for witch. (j is pronounced like h)

Burning Times: historical period in Europe when Christians persecuted and tortured witches and alleged witches; thousands were put to death, usually by hanging or burning at the stake

chakra: any of the seven energy nodes of the human body chalice: a ceremonial goblet that represents the element of water charm: a magickal object, action, or incantation that effects magick, or averts evil or danger

Circle: a group, less formal than a coven, of witches who practice, worship, celebrate, or study together

Clairvoyance: psychic ability to know things beyond your immediate knowledge (also called ESP and second sight)

Coming out of the broom closet: living openly as a witch

Consecration: a ceremony that dedicates a thing or place for sacred use

corn spirit: spirit of a grain crop, embodied in an entity, person, or animal

coven: organized group of witches who practice, worship, and,’ or celebrate together; covens traditionally consist of no more then thirteen members, and are led by a high priestess and a high priest

Covenstead: place where a coven of witches usually meets, often the home of the high priest/ess

Craft: witchcraft

croning: ceremony held to mark a woman’s transition from mother to crone, the final phase of a woman’s life

crystallomancy: divination by crystals, usually a crystal ball

dedicant: a new witch in the period of study and apprenticeship before initiation (traditionally a year and a day)

deosil: clockwise

divination: any practice that reveals the future or unknown things, often involving tarot cards, runes, and crystal balls

eclectic: a witch who works with deities from or worships with in more than one culture or mythological system

elder: witch who has attained a position of respect in the craft; coven member who has attained an advanced degree of initiation

Esbat: coven meetings held at the Full Moon; incorrect designation used by some witches for the Lesser Sabbats

evocation: calling upon spirits, elementals, or other entities

faery: alternative spelling for fairy, to distinguish it as a belief system

familiar: animal, usually a cat, with whom a witch establishes a special psychic/magickal relationship; familiars offer help, companionship, protection, and usually unconditional love as well

Fivefold Bond: ritual tie that links wrists, neck, and ankles

Fivefold Kiss: ritual greeting of eight kisses between witches of opposite genders in classical Wicca, on the feet, knees, pelvis, breast, and lips

flying ointment: paste, usually containing herbs, that is applied to the skin to aid in astral projection

folk magic: a culture’s traditional magical practices

Gardnerian: of or relating to Gerald Gardner, who is credited with reviving Wicca in modem times; any formal Wiccan tradition that follows Gerald Gardner’s system

granny woman: a female shaman, usually of the Appalachian Mountain region of the United States

grimoire: Book of Shadows, a handwritten book of spells and magical information

gris gris: French patois word for a charm

hex: n. a spell, usually negative; the evil eye, a curse; v. to cast such a spell

hedgeWitch: a walker-between-worlds, a non-Wiccan witch with a shamanistic path

hidden children: witches who must keep their religion secret, the hidden children of the Goddess

high priest/ess: witch who has attained a tradition’s highest degree of initiation and leads a coven

hoodoo: African-American folk magic tradition

HP/HPS: high priest/high priestess

I Ching, The Book of Changes: Chinese system of divination that uses yarrow stalks or coins inscribed with hexagrams

incubus (pl. incubi): malevolent male entity that takes sexual possession of sleeping women

invocation: calling upon a god/dess for help or to empower a spell juju: West African word for magic

karma: that which accrues and is carried over from one lifetime to the next, can be positive or negative, according to the lives you have led

kitchen witch: witch who uses mainly practical magic centering on the home, hearth, and family

kundalini: dormant bio-energy resident in the base of the human spine, in the root chakra, released through yoga and other practices for enlightenment, intelligence, and spiritual insights

libation: liquid offering to a god/dess, such as wine or milk, usually poured out upon the earth, but may be poured into a fire or offered in another way

mage, magus (p1. magi) someone who is adept at magick but not a witch; in some Wiccan traditions, a male witch who has attained more than the first level of initiation

magickk: ceremonial or ritual magick, high magick; alternative spelling for magic used by some witches and other practitioners to distinguish it from the illusions and prestidigitation of stage magicians

maiden: stage of a woman’s life between menarche and mother hood or mentoring; assistant high priestess in a traditional coven

Matrix: word used to describe the universe as the Goddess-web- of-life

medicine bag: Native American shaman’s pouch, usually containing herbs, stones, feathers, and so on

medium: person who is able to channel spirits or other entities

mojo: Afro-American word for magic

mojo bag: small bag, usually containing charms or talismans, worn around the neck for power, protection, and so on

necromancy: divination via spirits of the dead

novice: someone who has just begun studying the craft

OBE: out-of-body experience, astral projection, lucid dreaming

Ogham: any ancient Celtic magical alphabet

Old Soul: person who has been reincarnated several times

omen: anything that may be interpreted as a sign, positive or negative, from the universe

oracle: place or method for divination by means of deities, as interpreted by a priest/ess, including the flight of birds, the sound of splashing water or rustling leaves (the most famous oracle of the ancient world was that of Apollo at Delphi)

orisha: any deity in the Santerian religion

Ouija board: board printed with letters and simple words that is used for communicating with spirits and operated by two or more people touching a paten that moves around the board pointing to letters or words

pentacle: five-pointed star, usually inside a circle; one of the suits of a tarot deck

pentagram: pentacle that is written, printed, or drawn; five- pointed star inside a circle

postulant, neophyte: new member of a coven, someone who has not yet been initiated

prafia: Hindu word for bio-energy, the vital force shared by every living creature

poppet: humanoid figure that is used to represent someone for a spell or other magical working

psychometry: drawing psychic impressions from objects while handling them

psychopomp: god/dess who guides souls to the underworld or afterlife

reincarnation: transmigration of the soul, metempsychosis, rebirth in another body after death

runes: ancient Nordic alphabet, marked on stones or sticks and used for divination; magical chants or songs; any magical alphabet or the stones, cards, or sticks on which it is printed

Sabbats: eight annual Wiccan festivals (see Part I, About Wicca)

Sands of Time: sand taken from between the paws of the Great Sphinx in Egypt, used to make spells and charms permanent

Santeria: Afro-Caribbean Earth religion that joins Yoruban god/desses with Catholic saints

scrying: divination by means of gazing, for instance into water, a dark mirror, a crystal ball, or a bowl of black ink

séance: gathering of people, usually seated around a table, for the purpose of communicating with spirits

shaman: priest and medicine man, usually of Native American or Siberian peoples; shamanic practice includes magic, healing, shapeshifting, communication with ancestral spirits, and divination

shamanka, shanianess: words sometimes used for female shamans

ShapeShifting/SkinWalking shamanic practice, often aided by drugs, drumming, and/or dance, of mentally assuming animal form

sheikh/sheikha: modern Egyptian Arabic words for magickal adepts sigil: occult or mystical sign, a paper talisman

skyclad: ritual nudity, insisted on in some Wiccan traditions

solitary/solitaire: witch who practices alone, without a coven

sorcerer/sorceress: traditionally a person who practices black magick, usually by aid of malevolent spirits; modern term used by some magick-users to differentiate themselves from witches

succubus (pl. succubi): malevolent female entity that takes sex ual possession of sleeping men

Strega: Italian magickal tradition

Summerlands: place where we rest after death, between incar nations

synchronicity: meaningful coincidence

talisman: magickal object, usually made or carved at an astrological moment suitable to its purpose

Tantra: Hindu path based in kundalini yoga and sex magic as a way to enlightenment

the tarot: ancient system of cards used for divination

telekinesis: ability to move objects with your mind (also called psychokinesis, PK; telekinesis is a very rare gift that usually manifests accidentally when a person is angry or upset and is most often seen in adolescents and fades with age)

third eye: chakra in the middle of the forehead

totem animal: animal that represents a person, tribe, or other group

warlock: old term for a male witch that no one uses anymore; men who pretended to be witches in order to penetrate coy- ens and betray witches during the Burning Terms

Wheel of the Year: annual cycle of the Sun, the Moon, the sea sons, and the zodiac

white witch: witch on a right-hand path widdershins: counterclockwise

witch doctor: African shaman

witch’s ball, witch ball: mass of dried entwined herbs about by the wind, any small tumbleweed; glass ball with a mottled surface hung in a window to thwart witches and trap their spells; fancy-dress party attended by witches

witch’s bottle: sealed bottle placed in the house or buried on the property for protection. There are many ways to make a witch’s bottle. Some witches use the detritus of the year—. broken pottery, rusted nails, junk mail, and so on. Witches sometimes add something personal—hair, nail clippings, urine, a bloody bandage or tampon. This sort of bottle is al ways buried, usually at Samhain (for the new year). Another type is a bottle filled with salt and sugar, and/or herbs for blessings like protection, happiness, prosperity, and charms to avert specific threats. This type of bottle is secreted some where in the home.

witch’s ladder: type of knot magic in which charms are knotted or braided, with specific magical intention, into cords, to make a powerful talisman; cord with 40 knots in it, or a string of 40 beads, used as a meditation device or aid to concentration

Witch Queen: high priestess whose coven has hived off two or more new covens

wizard: someone who practices magic, but is not a witch wort, wortcraft: herb, herbalism

yin/yang: opposite but balancing male and female principles—yin is female (Moon) energy, negative and passive; yang is male (Sun) energy, positive and active

Yoni: female genitalia as a sacred symbol of life, creation, fertility, sexuality, the Goddess, and so on