Sometimes you don’t get to make this choice.  If there’s not a coven near you, there’s only one option left besides putting everything on hold and moving to a city where you can find a group.  Still, many people who come to the Craft have differing understandings about whether or not you can be a Witch without a coven, or if you can choose to be Solitary even if there’s a coven available, or how joining a Coven will change your Craft experience.

Coven training provides…

• Social interaction that most people need in life.
• Plenty of people with whom to share (multiply joys).
• Plenty of people with whom to have conflict (increased opportunities for growth).
• Structure that can help one feel secure as learning begins.
• Trained leadership that can accelerated the education process.
• Support system for all aspects of your life.
• Group ritual experience and shared magickal opportunities.
• Someone to go to for help in emergencies or when questions arise.
• The feeling of being part of something bigger than just you.
• Safe space in which to do the deep sharing necessary to grow in personal power.
• The potential for you to be able to share your knowledge and teach others.
• The chance to be part of a living tradition of the Craft as shared by the group.
• Friendship, networking, and teamwork experiences.

Negative coven experiences can include…

• Extreme angst and conflict, if the group isn’t well-managed with an “active focus”.
• Danger, if the leadership doesn’t accurately assess skill levels and prepare members for the work to be done.
• Codependence, if personal power and accountability aren’t stressed and encouraged.
• Extortion, if unethical behavior is enacted within a atmosphere of trust.
• Poor education, if those instructing are not well-educated or trained and capable of passing on knowledge.
• Ego-centrism, if the leaders are insecure and see/treat coven members as minions.
• Stagnancy, if change is not accepted and differing views/conflict not dealt with maturely and integrated.
• Unethical alignment, if the coven is geared towards illegal or “shadowy” work or behavior as a standard.
• Immaturity, simply because people are people and we all make mistakes as we grow.
• Embarrassment, because you now have an audience for the mistakes you make.
• Relationship conflict, between friends, husbands/wives, etc.  As you change, your relationships do also.

Solitary work provides…

• The opportunity to hear your own Voice first.
• Freedom to study what you please at your own pace and to use what you find as you see fit.
• No one to judge you on your ritual skills.
• No “peanut gallery” to tell you what you may or may not be doing “wrong”.
• A true “at your own pace” approach.
• More anonymity — literally, no one else knows.
• The chance to grow in strength as you face your challenges alone.
• The opportunity to develop your own symbolism and correspondences.
• An often “more unique” end product that is your spiritual practice.
• No group to whom you are bound or outside rules you have to follow.
• No situations where you are being pushed to expand an area you might find uncomfortable.
• No added requirement to learn to play or work well with others.
• No one depending on you to do your part to contribute to a larger whole.

Negative solitary experiences can include…

• Having to reinvent the Wheel every time — no benefit of someone else’s trial and error.
• No one to call when you have a magickal emergency.
• Potential questions of self-doubt (am I doing this right?  am I doing this safely?)
• No one to celebrate your successes — unshared victories.
• No one to help dust you off after a massive failure.
• No one to give you that “Other Input” when you feel lost and unsure which way to go next.
• Fears of looking like a fool if asked to participate in group ritual.
• Dangers of getting in over your head because you’ve missed something that was foundational training for a magickal working you are wanting to do.
• Lack of support in the mundane times, no one to call or with whom to share your path.
• Wondering if you’re the only one and the extreme loneliness that can ensue.
• Being told you’re invalid because you’re not Initiated, even though you do everything else “right”.

________________________

Being in a good coven can provide many helpful growth experiences, good educational opportunities, a social framework, a sense of group purpose, and many other wonderful things.  Finding a good coven can be difficult.  Because we do not have a centralized body of ministry, education or clergy approval, there are a large number of self-appointed High Priests and High Priestesses out there whose only claim to being such is a whim and a self-delivered smack on the head.  There are equally more who really want to serve and do a good job that just aren’t equipped as leaders, have bad personal skills, can’t teach, and don’t understand the work it takes to keep one’s ego well-balanced while being “in charge”.  There are still others who see their students as ego-extensions of themselves, others that want to keep their students held back so they can ensure they remain at the top of their self-created pyramid, and still more that use the titles as a front for sexual misconduct, monetary exploitation, and unethical behavior.

There’s no one to whom these kinds of leaders can be reported.  There’s no “slap on the wrist” or “magickal incarceration” that can be meted out.  No one can “make” anyone give up a title or degree.  Even worse, these days, those that have gone through the degree process are treated as though the time they spent and the skills they have gained mean nothing (if anyone can be a High Priestess just by deciding to be so, why work for it?).  After all, anyone can say “I’m a 3rd degree High Priestess of Such-and-Such Circle of the Blah-dee-Dah”.  The proof is in the pudding.  You can tell a person, their focus, their dedication, their ethic, and their personal power based on what they do in the world around them.  In other words, it’s not what they SAY, it’s what they DO that you need to pay attention to.

In short, look at what the coven is by what it does and ask yourself… is the Coven like something I am aspiring to be?  Covens require resonance, require that a certain amount of “fitting in” takes place.  Can you fit into a group that is focused on achievement, on hard work, on dedication?  Can you fit into a group that is laid back but spends more time reliving old stories and gossiping than doing any kind of magickal work?  Can you fit into a group that requires all children be left at home for every group event?  Can you fit into a group that requires you be silent about anything you are taught, not even speaking to your spouse, even if your spouse is a member of the same group?  Look at the group’s overall energy, work, presentation, feel, and focus.  Realize that, should you become part of that group, you will begin to take on the energy of that group, which will change you.  If you fight against that change, you will be seen as trying to tear apart something that was working just fine before you got there.  Or, worse case, you will change yourself and implode later as you realize you aren’t what the Gods wanted you to be.

Being a solitary can present equal difficulties, almost in mirrored inverse of coven-difficulties.  Whereas most of the problems working with a coven involve other people, most of the problems working solitary involve you and you alone.  There’s no one to blame when you screw up, so you have to have a thick skin and be willing to make mistakes.  There’s often no one to ask what to do when shit hits the fan, so you have to have some common sense.  There’s no one to challenge you, so you’d better be self-driven.  There’s no one to give you a reading list, an assignment, or to guide your spiritual walk, so everything you do is an adventure, self-dictated by you.

There’s less chance of getting wrapped up in someone else’s drama, though.  You don’t have to worry about conforming on any level.  You don’t have to worry about sharing, telling anyone what you feel, or asking anyone’s permission to do anything magickally.  You are a free agent.  This can be a really good thing as you begin to grow in your own power.

Then there’s the not-so-good side… Wicca is traditionally an initiatory religion.  This means, it takes a Witch to make a Witch.  To many, you have to go through a ritual, conducted by another Witch, to be considered such.  As a solitary, you can claim whatever degree or title you want.  There are those who have been trained and initiated that won’t value it the same way you do because they can’t relate — everyone in THEIR tradition knows the value of a 1st degree in that Trad, but only you know the value of your own training.  Worse, they’ll be watching what you do to see if you “measure up”.  I’ve seen Solitaries laughed at in ritual because they did an invocation in a strange way.  I’ve also seen Solitaries blow coven-trained people out of the water in ritual only to end up the butt of negative talk because “who do they think THEY are?”.  People are people.  Give them a chance to offer criticism to make themselves feel better and it’ll happen more often than it should.

When making a decision to join a coven or be solitary, the first question you should ask is:  What appeals more to me — working alone or working with a group?  If the answer is working alone, then do that.  Start working alone.  Network as you can for help if you need it.  If your answer is working with a group, you need to start looking.  Ask the Gods to bring you the group that is right for you.  Ask them to give you a sign to help you differentiate between multiple groups.  Understand that asking the Gods for a “good group” isn’t the same as asking the Gods for a “group with only good experiences”.  Remember that those in charge of groups are learning, too.  You can evaluate how healthy a group is by seeing if its leadership also grows and changes and is humble and laughs at themselves while still being able to maintain a certain reverence and seriousness about their Craft.

If you really want to find a coven but can’t, for now, network online.  It can help with the social connections you need and may lead you to a group nearby you didn’t know existed.  Ultimately, it can still be hit-or-miss when it comes to finding a good coven and having a successful relationship with that coven (these are two separate steps).  A period of solitary work can be good for most anyone because it builds strength, builds character, teaches self-reliance and self-trust, teaches how to Craft your life without being fed by a spoon by someone else.

A Coven (like a Church) is an organizational structure to effect a purpose supported by a shared set of beliefs held by all those in membership/attendance.   At the end of the day, you can be a Witch without being part of a Coven.  You can’t be part of a Coven without being a Witch.  Just as one can be a Christian without going to Church but a Church is typically composed of Christians.

There will be some who disagree with me whole-cloth.  I have met some people in my life who have never been “formally trained” but whom I count as degreed and initiated Witches.  Sometimes Life is the Initiator and wears a mundane face.  I personally judge a person’s initiatory process based on what they’re doing NOW, the sincerity of their hearts and the efforts they are demonstrating to walk their path.  If someone asks the Gods for Initiation — be it Solitary or Coven-bound — the Gods hear and the Gods start setting wheels in motion to put that person through the lessons needed to purify that person and strengthen them for the work ahead.  Be careful when you ask for Initiation… it does begin to happen.  Initiation may be what we call the ritual, but it is also a process, just as birth may last 6 hours but who discounts the 9-months that lead up to birth as meaning nothing?

Also, an initiated person isn’t one who is beyond mistakes — oh NO!  Rather, they tend to make more because they know the learning, not the perception of their success, is what is important.  A perfect person tends to denote someone with either (a) lack of principle, (b) a fence-sitter, (c) someone good at covering up the truth, (d) someone who can’t admit wrong and is deft at shifting blame, or (e) someone who always plays it safe and doesn’t try to expand beyond what they can already do well.  None of these are, in my opinion, things to which a Witch (or anyone else) should aspire.  If a person looks like Teflon, acts like Teflon, and has the one-dimensionality of Teflon, then chances are nothing sticks to them — even the good stuff — and they emit noxious particles when the heat is on.  Stay away!

There’s enough to say about this dilemma to fill a book, but this should get you started asking the right self-questions to determine whether or not you need or want a coven-based experience in your life.  I don’t personally believe that the Gods turn aside anyone who is sincere in their Quest.  If that means you get led to a coven, then wonderful, but that’s not going to be the only road to knowing the Divine Ones.

Don’t let an initiated person tell you that they’re better than you because they have a degree.  That shows you their limits.  I assure you, the Gods don’t have those limits, and there is at least one High Priestess — me — that will stand up for your right to take the Hermit’s Walk towards wisdom and who will embrace you as changed upon your return.

Listen to your inner voice.  Be sincere.  Do the Work.  Always strive.  Love yourself.  Love the Gods.  Love your fellow wo/man.  Love the Earth.  Feel the Wonder.  Own your Power.  Make a better place of this world.  Live with integrity.  Persist and prevail.  Be a good example of what to be.  Have faith.  Ask for what you desire.  Observe the Holy Days.  Seek the Mysteries.  Trust your Knowing.  Strive for Balance.  Know Joy.

None of these requires me or anyone else.  Being a Witch is in your hands.  If you want a Coven, then I pray you find one that emphasizes the Truth and Beauty and Health and Positive Growth of this path so you have companions to share your journey.  If you’re ever in my neck of the woods, our doors will always be open to those who are Seekers walking in Love, Truth, Honor, and Service.

Your path is your own.  Make it extraordinary.

Next entry in New To Wicca?  — Teacher or No Teacher?

Witchvox Featured Article, August 2009.

Photo by Eddi 07 (via Flickr).

Being Wiccan is not always joy and daisies.  Part of this “dark side of Wicca” has to do with the path itself.  The rest stems from the way the Wiccan path integrates — or does not integrate — with the rest of the world.

If you choose to become Wiccan, you have to accept both wells of darkness for what they are:  part of the landscape, deep and dark holes in which you can fall and be injured, places from which (with effort) you can draw sustenance, a place suitable for tossing the bright coins of your desires in the hopes to manifest change.  With that in mind, let’s take a closer look.

The Well Of Death

Some Witches would say that the balance of the Craft is between Life and Death, with the idea that half the year is dedicated to one principle and the other half sworn to its opposite.  After all, that’s how you divide things when you have TWO, right?  Right down the middle.

Toss that thought.  Wicca is not a linear path.  Instead of Life and Death being on two ends, they are placements on a circle.  From our perspective, using actual lives as data, Death is a very small point.  It’s a crossing, a threshold, not even a room in the house — Death is a transition space as we move from one kind or type of life to another.  Most of our path is spent in the realm of Life, of living, of existing as a corporeal being with a spiritual sense of something beyond our limited self-scope.

The Well of Death is deep and frightening mostly because it contains so much of what is unknown.  Like the small coin held close to the candleflame, Death casts a huge shadow, even though Death itself is actually a small thing.  That shadow preoccupies us, though.  We spend billions each year running from death through health care gimmicks, surgeries, drugs promising to reverse time, drugs giving us the sexual responsiveness of a 20-year-old, photos on magazine covers prostelytize the virtues of youth and timelessness.  Oh yes, we are afraid of Death.

But Death is more than leaving this life.  The winds we feel at the crossroads are the longing sighs of the Lord of the Underworld, stimulating changes in course, changes in life, changes in thinking.  As we learn to succumb to the greater and smaller alterations in our life path, we are flexing our muscles to prepare for the “big Letting Go” into the next world.

To be Wiccan is to be able to look this force in the eye, to lean over the edge of that sacred well and see our reflection in the black waters below.  Death is part of the landscape.  It cannot be changed.  That dark lower realm is a place from which we can draw strength by facing our fears and demons.   It is a source of survival in a barren landscape.  When controlled, our darker aspects can be rich resources of cunning, strength, and power — but you don’t gain these by running away from Death.  We can toss our bright wishes into the Well of Death for strength, freedom from these dark forces, a safe passage protected from all harm.  It’s merely another way of propitiating the spirits — it’s been done for centuries.

Perhaps the most dangerous aspect of the Well of Death is becoming addicted to the taste of the water.  The Craft is about Life and the challenges of Living.  Death is a small event — our final exit — with many practice runs of “letting go” and “forced change” over the course of our lives.  I have heard some people express Life as “slow Death”, that once we are born, we are dying.  Regardless of the fact that being alive makes Death inevitable, I find this more grim than I can express.  I know that in the course of my existence, if you want to measure out the time spent crossing over that Veil into the Summerlands compared with all the REST of my life, Death is a blink.  A moment.

What sets Death apart, though?  Really, it is the final decision over which we have little, if any, control.  For all the time you are living, you have the power of choice, to do what you will and create what you wish and bring into being that which you choose to birth.  But when the Lord of the Underworld comes to gather you — when Hades comes for the Persephone we all are — there is no choice.  Our time of choices ends.  All we can do then is fight and thrash against the God that comes to claim us, or place our hand in His and step bravely into the realm in which we shall be welcomed as royalty.  Those left behind will cry Demeter’s tears, and they, too, will learn to move on as spring returns to their lives.

It is a challenge for some on this path to keep the focus on Death in its proper place.  The Wheel of the Year is filled with life — Birth at Yule, growing through youth at Imbolc and Ostara, sexual maturation at Beltaine, marriage and family at Midsummer, the harvest of early and later adulthood at Lughnasadh/Lammas and Mabon, and then — and only then — the meeting at the Veil at Samhaine.  Of course, there are shadows of Death in all the other places on the Wheel, but it’s only a shadow.  No one in their right mind looks at the Shadows and treats them as the main focus.  There is a time when those Shadows become solid and are the center focus — but all the time?

It is tempting to focus on Death, Darkness, and Shadow when you begin this path.  It’s a new thought — most modern religious movements don’t tell you it’s okay to embrace the Shadow (that’s why they put the Boogey-man face on it and attempt to keep us away from it — and our own power).  However, ask yourself if that heavy focus on Death, Decay, Darkness, and Shadow is really natural for you?  Is it a holdover attitude from abuse in your past?  Are you preoccupied with the idea that power comes only from these places?  As I said, it’s easy to fall into the darkness of this well.  The taste of working with the Shadow is as addictive as anything else.  But it’s not balanced.

Sadly, I’ve met more than my share of Witches and Pagans who seem to work only with Dark Goddesses, who love to speak about how powerful they are, how bad-ass their hexes are, and so forth.  They really put Shadow-work on pedestal, love drinking from that well.  I’ve also had plenty of accusations leveled that I’m afraid of the “dark” and unwilling to do the “hard work” of facing the Shadow (I think the derogatory term is “fluffy”).  Whatever — I base my path on what Nature does.  Nature spends about 2 months of the year in true “dead zone” (between Samhaine and Yule).  Nature doesn’t linger in Death, and neither should we.  I respect it, I honor it, but I do not esteem it above its station.  It is PART of our Mysteries — not THE Mystery.  I suggest that you, likewise, keep your path in balance.

The Well Of Distance

The second dark well in practicing Wicca pertains to dealing with those who aren’t Wiccan.  These people can be strangers, friends, family, spouses, children, employers, lovers, and all other relationships short and long term.  I call it the Well of Distance because that is what exists between you and everyone else when you step on this path.

When we cast circle, we draw the boundary between ourselves and the larger world for the purposes of doing magick.  Stepping onto the Wiccan path performs a similar separation.  Some of the separation happens within you.  Some of it happens in reaction to the changes in you.  None of it is anyone’s “fault”.  Differentiation isn’t bad… it’s just different.  Fault only occurs when someone takes an action that is disrespectful, and that, too, has a tendency to happen, not just with religious differences, but any differences.

When you become Wiccan, you are choosing to join a minority faith.  Most people who are minorities are born minorities, have to live with the stress of being “different” from the time of their birth.  Many Wiccans are converts, coming to this faith from the mainstream of some other socio-religious background.  Choosing to be Wiccan can bring down on your head a rash of persecution, funny looks, abusive words, guilt trips, ridicule, and other vicious words, actions, and attitudes.  It’s best you know that up front and be prepared.

My High Priestess taught me that choosing to be Wiccan wasn’t something you do to be popular.  Being Wiccan changes how you look at life in a deep way.  It makes the circle of people you can share your faith with much smaller.  It limits your dating pool — when most of the Western world is Christian, finding another pagan to marry means fishing in a much smaller pond.  Being Wiccan usually necessitates a conversation with family — due to misunderstandings, this often doesn’t go smoothly.  One can lose friends, lose respect of people who have known you all your life, lose “points” with employers and work associates.  It doesn’t always happen, however, there is still a lot of prejudice in the world.  I happen to live in the South — I’ve seen with my own eyes crosses being burned in the yards of Witches.  It happens.

Beyond people challenges, there are social challenges, too.  It’s hard to find a church, hard to locate other Pagans, hard to find good literature and guidance to follow your path.  There is a sense of “aloneness” that can be suffocating.  There can be difficulties in applying natural wisdom to your life, especially when you come from a path where everything you needed to know was dictated to you.  There are no ethics, no laws to break, nothing really to rebel against (some people need that “box” to break out of in order to feel like they’re in control).  There is little organization and plenty of grumblings between fellow Pagans.  There’s always the choice of just being Solitary, but face it — we’re social creatures.  We need the interaction.  Good interaction is hard to find.

This Well of Distance is just part of the landscape, too.  It is part of that circle boundary that exists between magickal and non-magickally-minded folk.  Sometimes the Distance comes from us, baggage left over from earlier religious or social experiences, and that is where our own Shadows overlap… where the waters from both wells come together.  The waters from the Well of Distance can be bitter.  It’s hard to have to recognize that people who have known you all your life suddenly “don’t get you” when, really, nothing has changed about you but the word you use to describe yourself.  It’s hard to be alone, knowing that the topic of religion on a date might end up being the end of the date.  It’s hard to not have a strong social support system, to not be able to just head down to the corner temple and participate in a spiritual event of your faith.  And it’s hard to really be you around unsupportive family and friends — most people either stay true to themselves and have to put up with the discomfort or rejection of those close to them, and others have to “keep a lid on who they really are” in order to keep the peace.  Yes, it can be a bitter drink from that Well, but we all end up swallowing it at some point or another.

In other words, being Wiccan isn’t this easy thing.  It’s considerably more difficult than changing your hair color (which is also a choice to alter something you’ve probably had since birth/early life).  It takes commitment to walk this path because, believe me, you will encounter experiences — self-generated and other-people-generated — that will make you want to give up and go back to something easier.  But there is strength to be gained in the doing, joy to be found in the walking.  It takes effort, and you’re going to get tired and hot and thirsty.  You may have to drink from these wells now and again.  But don’t forget…

The Craft path meanders along the shores of the River of Life.  There is a strong and solid flow of beauty, wonder, and bliss beside where the Children of the Goddess walk.  It sparkles in sunlight like cloth-of-gold and gleams like silver beneath the moon.  It’s there to splash in, drink from, trail our fingers in, let it bear us up and carry us to the sea.  While you experience your challenges on the path, don’t forget to go to the River.  She will remind you that this path is about Flow, and Movement, and Change, and Life, and Beauty, and Wonder, and…

Who knows what you will discover along Her shores!

The point I’m trying to make is that you can’t walk this path by tending the Wells of Death and Distance.  Tending the Well of Death renders you unbalanced and enslaved.  Tending the well of Distance leaves you angst-ridden and bitter and alone.  Don’t stand still at the Wells — or anywhere for that matter.  If you’re not on the move, you’ve missed the point of your life being a journey and your spiritual walk being an action you take.  Challenges are normal, but face them and move on.

Don’t dwell at the well, and you’ll do well.

Next entry in New to Wicca?  — Coven Or Solitary?

Photo by Eddi o7 (via Flickr).

I’m calling it a pamphlet because we really don’t have the space for a Wiccan History Primer.  There are some excellent books and websites available for further research into the history of the Craft.  When it comes to learning about modern Wicca (what you’re investigating currently), I tend to recommend the following titles:

• Gerald Gardner’s Witchcraft Today
  
• Stewart Farrar’s What Witches Do
• Doreen Valiente’s The Rebirth of Witchcraft
• Scott Cunninghams’s The Truth About Witchcraft
• Ronald Hutton’s Triumph Of The Moon

But until you can get your hands on these and get through them, let’s give a brief overview to whet your interest (and bring any wild-tales-of-woo-and-wonder you might have heard back to earth).

Wicca, as presented by Gerald Gardner, is only about 60 years old.  Some people give the benefit of the doubt that Gardner didn’t make it up and place it shortly before that (in the early 20th century).  Even so, that makes its currently functioning form rather young on the comparative scale of Religious Age.  Some would like to discredit it based on this fact.  I disagree with them (if you’d like to know why, you can check out my post, Confessions Of An Ex-Reconstructionist).  However, if you want to be an empowered Wiccan and not one wandering in around in a fog of Romantic fact-interpretation, you need to just accept Wicca’s age at face value.  Yes, Wicca has ancient roots, but it is not, in its currently practiced form, an ancient religion.  It is a Neo-pagan faith — a revival of earth- and tribe-centered practices to provide a pagan expression of spirituality for our modern age.  There is no need to feel shame about Wicca being new, though there are those who will try to lay that burden on you for various reasons.  Regardless of the label on your path, your path is yours.  Walk it in awareness, and walk it with pride.

What one might call witchcraft, on the other hand, is quite ancient. Every culture has evidence of those within its society that walked the edge between the seen and unseen worlds.  Depending on the culture, these people were either respected or reviled, honored or feared (you can probably guess how our culture perceives and regards those who practice witchcraft as a general rule).  Also, the individual practices of what modern critics might call witchcraft varied from culture to culture.  For example, divination is a fairly common practice that many associate with witchcraft, but the methods of performing it are quite different.  The Romans read entrails (called extispicy) and observed the flame of the sacrificial fire, Druids were noted to read the flights of birds (called ornithomancy), and there are even references in the Bible to the induction of trance by dance, hallucinogens, and self-flagellation.  These were all still cultural expressions, however, and those cultures embraced those expressions (today, those same practices are often unwelcome in general society).  I point this out because, if you want to deepen your Craft, eventually you will need to become well-acquianted with a culture and a pantheon and its methods.

Witch has not always been considered a ‘positive label’. While some cultural areas have no stigma on the word ‘witch’, history shows common usage of the word ‘witchcraft’ as a label designed to explain misfortunes or bad luck and the word ‘witch’ to denote the person at the root of those unfortunate circumstances.  Sadly, modern reaction to the word ‘witch’ is still fairly negative.  It is changing, however, and that is largely due (I believe) to pronounced efforts of will on the parts of those who wear that label proudly and who are determined to reclaim it for its powerful roots.  Wise, Cunning, Holy, Magick… these are the ideas we bring forward into the future.   That we are a wise people, ever seeking to know through experience.  That we are a cunning people, having many understandings and perceptions that allow us to find a way through difficult times and make life better for us and the world around us.  That we are a holy people, reverent and connected with the Gods, walking a spiritual path.  That we are a magickal people, capable of creating change, discerning potentials, and molding futures.

People have died under the accusations of witchcraft. Many of them, mostly women and other minorities.  Nine million women did not die at the hands of Inquisitors, but the numbers are high enough to rival a good mid-to-large sized city being entirely wiped out.  And for what?  Going against the norm, possessing “powers” that threatened the hierarchy (no matter how mundane and useful those “powers” might have been), or for simply owning a piece of property or valuables that someone else might inherit were the accused found guilty and thus condemned.  People still die under the accusations of witchcraft (the Oceania announced that 50 people in Papau New Guinea were executed for charges of witchcraft in 2008).  Nowadays, you’re more likely to get a look that would kill instead or other forms of persecution.  I personally know people who have had their ability to be parents called into question because they were Craft.  I know another who had his house burned down.  I know still others who believe they lost jobs, some who have had crosses burned in their yards, and still more who have lost friends and family connections.

There are many different kinds of Wicca out there. That’s pretty much where the movement is now.  Originally, only those initiated by Gardner and from a British Traditionalist line (Gardnerian, Alexandrian, and a couple of others) could really claim that name.  Now, the cat’s out of the bag and there’s no getting it back where it started.  Some might argue that, due to Gardner’s publication of Wicca and of subsequent authors’ publishing about their traditions, that Wicca was meant to be given to the masses, that this was a form of “passing power” in the form of information so to establish a new movement.  Others argue that Wicca is a title that can only truly be retained by those in a Gardnerian lineage and the rest are practicing something else, but not Wicca.  Please listen to these arguments kindly and compassionately — all of them.  People are talking about what is important to them.  It’s not too hard to understand why a BTW (British Traditionalist Witch) feels annoyance that a term that historically was theirs has now been absconded with and liberally applied to whomever might want to use it.  It’s also not hard to understand that, with the exponential growth of Neo-paganism that perhaps the Gods had a hand in making sure that more people could access this path.  Someday, I hope we’ll find a way to lay down the grudges and pull down the walls, but the first step in that is actually listening to the grievances on the table and then all parties being willing to give up their ultimatums going forward.  For now, you’re going to find that Wicca comes in as many flavors as ice cream — some of them don’t care about any connection to Gardner at all, others are quite proud of any trace they can find (even if it’s not an accurate one… they’ll still trade on the power they believe lies in the lineage).

What Wicca and Witch mean for future generations is determined by those practicing NOW.  In other words, your current actions and how you live your path are creating the history that will be read by future generations.  Knowing our history is important.  I encourage you to read and learn and try to understand not only the facts but the cultural movements that gave rise to those facts.  Humans evolve about as slowly as anything else… we have a tendency to repeat our mistakes when we don’t learn from our collective past.  Remember that when you take action in the present moment, you have given birth to the past.  Act in a way that you would be proud to read about in a history book about the Wiccan movement and your contributions to that movement.  While many people spend a lot of time trying to research and recreate the past, I offer that we must pay equal attention to meeting the challenges and building the future.  The in-between time — the edge of our circle — lies here in the moment we call Now.  All of us are in ritual together, creating the magick of that moment.  Be careful what you contribute in this sacred space.  It lives forever.

Next entry in New To Wicca? — Being Wiccan Can Be A Challenge

Photo by Eddi 07 (via Flickr).

It’s only natural to wonder about rules, laws, and things you “have to do” in order to be Wiccan.  After all, most faiths have some kind of text that is esteemed as the guidepost for spiritual expression among its members.  Most faiths have rules and expectations and beliefs — depending on the faith, these can be fairly relaxed or rigidly dogmatic.  And thus the title of this post — More Like Guidelines Than Actual Rules.  You’ll have to forgive my Pirates of the Caribbean reference there.  The phrase is just too appropo to the topic to pass up!  The other potential title for this post was Why Are The Laws Always Gone? (again, POTC reference).  As you’re about to see, our “laws” can be as elusive as Captain Jack’s rum.

It’s true.  As far as many Wiccans are concerned, their one “Law” is the Wiccan Rede: An It Harm None, Do What Ye Will.  This really is just a part of a much longer passage, these eight words being the last two lines.  However, these two lines contain the most often quoted, the most often debated, and ultimately, the most often deriled eight words you’ll hear in regards to “Wiccan Law”.  I’m going to refrain from going into full detailed exposition of the Rede here (my workshop on this will take every bit of an hour and a half).  The biggest points I want to make about the Rede are these:

• Rede means ‘advice’.  In other words, the Rede isn’t Law.  Nothing happens to you if you don’t follow it.  Like any other piece of advice, you are welcome to ignore it.  Believe me, there are more than a few that do.

• The most basic essence of the Rede involves thinking before acting, considering the consequences of your actions, and realizing that you are ultimately responsible for those actions and the effects your actions have on others.

• You’re likely to hear that the Rede is a bunch of fluffy nonsense, impossible to do, and therefore the moral baby to throw out with the ethical bathwater.  You’re welcome to agree with them (and some of them can be very convincing amidst all that condescension), however, I will tell you from 20 years of personal experience that the Rede holds a few secrets for those willing to meditate upon it.  It’s harder to follow than any other “guideline” I’ve ever tried.

Aside from the oft-maligned and misunderstood Wiccan Rede, the other “Law” you’re liable to hear mentioned is the Law of Three-Fold Return.  This isn’t as much a Law for Wiccans as it is a Universal Truth for everyone.  It’s just how energy works.  Every action has an equal and opposite reaction — you might recognize that from physics.  This isn’t the great Wiccan Rule, formulated for Wiccans, by Wiccans.  It applies to everyone.  It’s non-discriminatory and an equal opportunity truth.  With civil law, you have the choice to obey or not.  With a natural law, the Law itself is more like a public service announcement.  Regardless of your feeling on the matter, what you send out comes back.  Send out negative, get back negative, unless something happens to that energy to change it along the way in some fashion.  Send out positive, get back positive, again unless something happens to change it.  As for the “Three-Fold” part, focus less on the numbers and more on the fact that it happens.  In the end, it doesn’t matter whether or not you only get a “Two-Fold” return or a “One-Fold” return.  You act in a proper way for the sake of behaving properly, not to mitigate the outcome to your favor.

You may also eventually encounter The Laws Of The Craft. These laws number 162 in the version found in The Grimoire Of Lady Sheba.  Let me say upfront that there are doubts as to the origin of these laws and that any adherence to them has fallen by the wayside for the most part.  I still utilize them as a teaching tool.  Researching and understanding these Laws has been a subject of particular enjoyment for me, and I’m afraid I’m not in the camp that cries that these Laws are worthless.  However, will you be expected to memorize them, follow them, engrave them upon your heart?  Chances are, probably not.  I do recommend working through them, however, as suggested in my OWLs offering Being An Ethical Witch.  As with the Rede, secrets are there for those who look diligently.

This is one of the most difficult parts of becoming Craft — our lack of dogma and definitive rules for how you should live and practice your faith.  Our Scripture is written in the living world around us, with as many interpretations available as there are perspectives to view it.  Our Laws, as stated above, are more like guidelines, devoid of any meted out punishment.  Any repercussion is delivered neutrally, matter-of-factly, just because “that’s the way it works”.  There’s no ultimate Evil out to make you violate some precept and, in truth, if the greatest guideline is still nothing more than advice (the Rede), there’s not even something to violate to earn that punishment.

For some people, this is too much to handle.  It requires that you establish a moral compass for yourself, to be able to defend the readings of that moral compass and to navigate your path successfully with which way it tells you that you should go.  If you’re coming from a religion where you are told what to think, what not to think, how to believe, how to worship, and where to go and when, then coming into the Craft can be like giving a toddler too many choices of what to wear in the morning — the toddler won’t be able to decide because there’s just too much to decide upon.  For your first few years in the Craft, while you are learning to establish your own ethics, it is very easy to feel a little lost and overwhelmed.  After all, you’re probably already insecure about practicing a faith that seems so complex, and then, on top of all that new stuff to learn, you’re also told that you have to figure out how to act/practice/make decisions all by yourself.

Here is the primary guideline I’d like to leave you with:  we practice the Craft by practicing our Craft.  Practice is a verb, an action word.  You learn to walk this path by walking, not holing yourself up and intellectually pursuing your spirituality.  You have to do things… risk… try… succeed sometimes and fail sometimes… revise your understanding and move forward again.  Each time you should be a little wiser, aware of yet one more thing that didn’t work.  Learning the ropes of the Craft — navigating those pesky guidelines — means taking your life and your choices into your own hands by whatever ethical code you develop for yourself.  The more you risk and try and learn, the more you grow and solidify your understanding of your path and the guidelines that apply specifically to you.

Fortunately, as an earth-centered spirituality practitioner, most of the “laws” are going to take care of themselves in your life.  Sadly, the laws you will have to worry most about are the ones mankind makes and the “laws” of restriction that live in your own head as negative self-talk, judgments/prejudices, and destructive patterns.  Will you conform or transform?  What are the payoffs for each option?  And do you have the strength to make the hard choice and go against the grain when you must?

Rules are rigid, brittle, just beg to be broken, and imply punishment for error.  Guidelines flex, flow, allow room for breath and movement and change, are subject to interpretation and personal application.  Considering the Craft is all about change and movement, which do you think works better, even if it means more work?

And that’s why they’re guidelines, Miss Swan.  Also explains why the rum is always gone, doesn’t it?

Next entry in New to Wicca? — A Wiccan History Pamphlet

Photo screencap from Pirates Of The Caribbean (Walt Disney Pictures, 2003).

I’ve learned not to go too far into a discussion about the Craft without delving into the topic of conversation that people tend to want to hear about most.  That topic would be magick.  With a K.

Ask any practitioner of the Craft or other magickally inclined path what magick is and you will get a solid handful of stock answers (one of which will nearly always be either Aleister Crowley’s or Dion Fortune’s definition).  You will also get a wide range of answers from people who have veered from the stock replies and found their own definition through practice.  I’m going to focus on the definition of magick by using both Uncle Al’s and Auntie Dion’s definitions and applying them to the two kinds of magick you can work:  THEURGY and THAUMATURGY.  Good Witches (and I mean that in both the “skill” good and the “ethical” good) excel at both.

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THEURGY

Theurgy is magick that is done to effect change and transformation within the practitioner, to deepen spiritual practice, to evolve and grow spiritually.  A theurgist approaches magick to delve into and discover the greater symbolisms around him and to apply those insights to himself in order to transform the “lead to gold”, so to speak.   I’m starting with Theurgy because I see the Craft as a faith, a spiritual foundation and path first and foremost.  The Wiccan plate isn’t a heap of spells and trinkets with faith like an anti-acid in case your spell don’t go down right.  It’s a hearty meal of faith and spiritual growth with the tools of magick as implements to enjoying the meal and the skills of magick as garnishes and sides to make life more enjoyable, better, and helpful for all.

I’m pointing this out because one of the predominant trailheads leading to this path is people thinking spells are cool.  You know what?  You’re right… they are.  They get you things you want and need for yourself and others on the material plane and make life comfy, safe, and more enjoyable.  But I’m asking you to get out of the consumer mindset for a minute and realize that life extends beyond your birth and your death and how cushy the ride was between the time you popped out of Mom and the time you’re going “home to Momma”.

Theurgy takes the long view.  Theurgy doesn’t care so much about the package but what’s inside.  Theurgy isn’t into “win friends and influence people and pull rabbits out of hats for fun and profit”.  Theurgy is about looking in that mirror, really seeing yourself, healing the things that stand between you and understanding/embracing your Divine nature so you can put all that force for Good to work in the world to help others cross that same bridge.  You can disagree with me if you like, but that kicks Thaumaturgy’s butt any day of the damn week (except when you need to affect change on the material plane so you can stick it out here a little longer to get more Theurgy work done).  That said…

Magick is the Art of changing Consciousness at Will. This is Dion Fortune’s definition, and I find it a seamless dovetail with the understanding of Theurgy.  I happen to like this definition because of the word “consciousness”.  It’s especially appropriate with the current movement of certain New Age thoughts being brought into the mainstream — for example, the Secret (aka Law of Attraction), the power of positive thinking, the Power of Now.  Each of these wildly popular ideas/publications is based in what I call consciousness shift.

Consciousness shift does create incredible results.  One might even say magickal results.  A shift in perspective can open up new alternatives.  A shift in self-talk can give us wings to rise above old habits.  A shift in empathy can help us deliver more appropriate action to a delicate situation and preserve the feelings and dignity of those around us.  Oh yes, changing consciousness means changing the entire playing field.  However, changing consciousness at will takes a bloody hell of a lot of practice.  This basically says that the ability to do magick lies in your strength to be aware and present so you can monitor and guide your conscious state to deliver the results you want.  It’s all on you.  And it’s not easy.

I’m not talking about the easier little magicks of holding your tongue when someone pisses you off or expanding your field of awareness to be able to tell what’s in the mailbox before you open it.  Nah, those are simple.  Would you like examples of heavy magick?  I’ve seen some!  You have, too, come to think of it.

Ever seen someone quit smoking?  Lose a lot of weight?  Stop drinking?  Undergo cognitive therapy to correct a mental imbalance?  Attend counseling to save a marriage?  Recover from attempted suicide?  Bulemia/anorexia?  Leave an abusive marriage?  Raise a child as a single parent on a low income?  Rehabilitate from an amputation or other major injury?  Heavy magick there, folks.  Heavy.  Every single one of these situations requires a complete act of Will on all levels — spiritual, mental, emotional, physical — to take a goal from a want into a manifested reality.  Heavy magick isn’t just one choice, easily made, easily completed.  Heavy magick is about transformation through consistent application of will to every thought, every desire that rises from every thought, every action that proceeds either checked or unchecked from that desire.

When working heavy magick, you come to understand the meaning of the phrase “a time that is not a time, a place that is not a place”.  Whenever a person is working these deep magicks, the moment of choice is a moment in ritual.  In that ritual moment, the choice is but an opportunity to focus again on the desired outcome.  For a recovering drug user, the temptation of cocaine is just another moment where he must overwrite his current consciousness of being a drug user with the desired outcome of being drug-free.  Each time he makes that choice, he reinforces that Willed reality.  He makes magick happen because he transformed his own consciousness and moved into a different future than the one presented to him on his old path of “drug user”.  There is no difference between the Future and the Now — the Future manifests instantly when we choose to create/observe it.  The moment the drug-user chose to stop using drugs, the Future was made manifest instantly in the Now by his Choice, by his Will.  At the next moment of temptation, he could always choose to manifest a different future, go back to doing lines of coke, and then that Future becomes the Now — again, instantly.  Or he can choose to reinforce the “recovering drug-user” reality he chose last time.  Anyone who has ever faced these kinds of demons knows that, while I might explain this in simple terms, doing is FAR from easy.

So, here’s your first few bubbles of magick-magnificence popped:

(1) Magick is as easily performed by Witches/Pagans as anyone else working with Will… people just might not call it Magick, but damn, it looks pretty awe-inspiring to me, regardless.  If you want to see what a powerful circle looks like, attend an AA or NA meeting.  You’ll be surrounded by people working Will the way a blacksmith works iron.  It’s humbling to see men and women standing firm against a truly soul-sucking force… blows most basic candle spells out of the water.

(2)  Magick is bloody hard work and anyone trying to tell you it’s not has no clue.  You do get better at it, but before you diss me and say I’m wrong, I challenge you to break your worst habit.  If you’ve already broken all of them and think you’re all that, then I challenge you to break the habit of your ego.  That should keep you occupied for a while.  I seriously think the ego is the Goddess’ version of ultimate busy-work, because, seriously, dealing with my inner Paris Hilton is just NEVER done.  *smile*

(3)  Magick is about transformation.  Look at the species in the world that naturally transform their shapes — butterflies, frogs, snakes shedding their skins, deer shedding their antlers — and tell me what is required to do those things.  The answer:  either surrender to the process or generate friction of some kind.  In one, you have to let go and trust.  For people who like control and order and not being disempowered, letting go and surrendering is an exercise in trying not to chew your nails down to the quick.  In the other, you have to deliberately create friction, rubbing against rough objects and working hard until you shed those old parts of yourself.  And that doesn’t feel so good either.  But it’s part of the process.

People don’t usually come to the Craft saying “Please, I want to wrestle my demons and kick my own butt and make something of myself.”  But if you have a good Teacher, or good spiritual Guides, and are a quick study of the natural order of the Universe, you eventually figure out that this is exactly what it’s all about.  And once that happens, you either put it in reverse rather quickly, decide to focus on the material Thaumaturgical stuff (and wonder why things don’t really ever get any better), or you get off your ass and get to work.

I hate to be the voice of disenchantment, but there it is.  If you’re only here to make someone fall in love with you, win the lottery, exact revenge, or be a bad-ass, then please come back when you are a little more mature and not thinking like a two-year-old believing the world revolves around you.  Because, truth is, the world DOES revolve around you.  And any Craft leader worth their salt isn’t going to put an unlocked remote control to your own YouTube in your hands if all you’re going to do is screw around and serve your own selfish desires.  That’s not Wicca, that’s not the Craft, that’s not the Great Work, but hey — some branches of the Satanic philosophy may suit you nicely.

Now that we have that out of the way, we’ll move on to…

THAUMATURGY

As I’ve hinted at earlier on, Thaumaturgy is about effecting changes on the material plane, usually for mundane reasons.  Spells to get a job, find a lover or mate, attract prosperity, protect your home or family, heal a pet… these are all Thaumaturgical aims.  Thaumaturgical is often referred to as “low” magick as the material plane is the “dross” of existence.  It has its value, however, it is not the ultimate aim.  In fact, as I mentioned above, Thaumaturgical magick can play directly in to assisting with Theurgical work.  By healing your body, you can stay on in your physical incarnation and therefore, have more opportunity to do Theurgical work.  By gaining a job, you can maintain a level of comfort and stability which frees you to enjoy pursuits you might not enjoy if stressed out due to homelessness or hunger.  By attracting a mate and creating a family, you create an environment of mirrors to help you grow and thus, again, pursue your Theurgical work.

So, yes.  Thaumaturgy does have its uses.  There are a number of texts/websites that divide Witches from Ceremonial Magicians along this line of Theurgy and Thaumaturgy, stating that Witches work this “low magick” (aka “folk magick”) while Ceremonialist do Theurgy, looking down with scorn on the worth of lower magick.  Is this the fenceline?  I don’t believe so.

Looking to the foundations of the modern Neo-pagan religion known as Wicca, the first thing we have to acknowledge is that Wicca is a spiritual Franken-baby, bolts and all.  Gardner took folk tradition and married it to ceremonial ritual.  He reached up and grabbed the shirt-tail of “As Above” Theurgy and reached down and hooked the collar of “So Below” Thaumaturgy and sat them on the laboratory table side by side.  You may not agree with me, but I personally think it was bloody brilliant.  After all, spiritual paths mean nothing if they don’t fully allow us to engage in a mundane and physical existence.  And all the mundane connections in the world avail us not if they don’t answer the burning questions and mysteries that lie beyond eat, sleep, make love, work, doing it all over again.

The Thaumaturgy and folk aspects of magick help us with our daily lives, allow us to contribute in tangible ways when others need assistance.  In truth, assistance in a Thaumaturgical/mundane manner is often the only help we can actually give another because the Theurgical work is completely on the individual.  We can’t help with that… we can only Guide, but even that is solely at the discretion of the person Following.  Thaumaturgy is a vital Craft practice, and I embrace it.  It is also an immense amount of enjoyment — it turns life into something of a living laboratory for those who choose to Dare enough to experiment with spells and conjurations.

The Theurgical and soul-evolution aspects of magick are really completely in our own hands, done in our own time, using our own power, manifesting at our own speed.  The crux with Theurgical magick is that it cannot work at cross-purposes with Thaumaturgical magick.  In other words, cursing another person (a definite Thaumaturgical act) will not go hand in hand with refining one’s spiritual state.  Just as the “Below” must lie under the “Above”, Thaumaturgical magick must lie “under” Theurgical magick, in support of one’s own growth.  Thus, Theurgy can be  suitably yoked to Thaumaturgy.  My most successful spells on a physical level have been those that directly supported my work on a spiritual level.  Likewise, if I’ve done magick for another, I have had incidences where my Thaumaturgic efforts on their behalf did not have the right “harmonic” with the Theurgical work that lay ahead for them.  I could see down the road where, if my spell had worked precisely as I’d planned, that person would have missed out on an experience that transformed them forever.

Aleister Crowley’s definition (ironically, to me) explains Thaumaturgy quite neatly:  Magick is the Science and Art of causing Change in conformity with Will. I will point out that Thaumaturgical magick is, indeed, quite the science.  To get it right, you need to learn symbols and correspondences, astrological timing, and mental focus.  As I said, it’s a grand laboratory and you need to know how to mix items A, B, and X to get Z.  However, it is also an art.  So much of learning how to be an effective Thaumaturgist is intuition, just knowing.  The goal is to cause change, to stir something up.  In short, Thaumaturgy breaks inertia, gets things moving again (which is why it is such an excellent helpmeet in Theurgical efforts).  But it’s not just any change we’re looking for… it’s the change in accordance with Will.

Here’s the stumbling block:  will does not mean want.  And frankly, a good percentage of the time that people participate in Thaumaturgical spellwork, it’s because they WANT something — a lover, money, power, job, sex, fame, fertility, material things.  There’s nothing wrong with that, okay?  That’s being human — we’re talking about the Craft here, so you can put the shame and guilt bricks back down.  But WILL is a different thing.  WILL has to do with higher purpose, the work you are here to do, the part you are meant to contribute.  If you want a million dollars but your higher Will requires you to live a life of more meager means in order to develop certain traits or pursue certain goals, then your Thaumaturgy efforts are likely to fall flat.  Your mundane magick has to actually SUPPORT that higher level — for you, for others, for the world.

This is one of the reasons we have the big no-no’s of working magick on others without their permission.  Let’s say you want someone to fall in love with you.  Alright, I think we’ve all felt that way a time or two.  Tell me this:  do you know what their path is and why they were born and what they are meant to learn in life?  I guarantee you that you don’t.  When you deliberately throw energy out there against another’s true Will, you are effectively attempting to change their life course, and for what?  Because you — no greater or less than them in the grand scheme of things — wanted it.  You decided that getting your own way was more important than that person’s entire reason for existence and the work they were sent here to do.  That’s pretty selfish.

Let’s say you decide to do the spell anyway and you put that energetic force out there that says “Come to Me!”  Not everyone is born listening, ears wide open, to their true Will.  It’s a hard process just to get that communication to come through clearly and without static.  So now you’ve put all your Lust into this working, and believe me, Lust is one of the most powerful forces there is.  It starts that whole Law of Attraction thing.  If that person you’re doing the spell on isn’t strong in their higher Will, you’ve got a chance of swaying them, of pulling them off their Divine course in life.  Of course, you can always feel less guilty and say that they wanted it, too… that they went along with it.  Personally, I couldn’t sleep at night if I knew that I’d cast a spell on someone, luring them deliberately over to my house, and because they were influenced by me, they made a choice to miss out on an important moment or opportunity.  I know that’s an extreme example, but it’s a valid one.

Thaumaturgical magick is an incredibly powerful tool.  It can assist you in reaching your Theurgical goals more easily and with greater enjoyment and fulfillment.  It can also be used in a base and unethical manner.  The choice of how you’ll use it is up to you.  It is because of this danger of misuse that I do not teach any Thaumaturgy at all until a Seeker has completed their ethics work and has shown some obvious internalization that this path isn’t here for blatant and noxious self-service.  Again, I’ve not presented the bright and flashy side of magick you might have been seeking when you came to the Craft, but this is how it is on the path I walk.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Do I believe in magick?  Absolutely.  Magick has helped me transcend a childhood filled with emotional and physical abuse and psychological abandonment.  Magick has helped me restore a sense of healthy sexuality after being molested.  Magick has helped me find my own voice, reclaim my own power, gain confidence in the work I do both great and small.  Magick has supported me through difficult mundane times, always delivering exactly what I needed.  Magick has allowed me to help others in ways that kept them on their paths, healed them, renewed them, and delivered them from demons new and ancient.

Magick works.  And magick is work.  And when it works — when it takes your breath away, brings you to your knees in awe and humility, answers your needs and raises you up higher than you thought you could go — you understand why no word could ever describe it except MAGICK.

Next article in New to Wicca? — More Like Guidelines Than Actual Rules

Published in two parts July 19, 2009 (Part 1) and July 26, 2009 (Part 2) — Witchvox Featured Article.

Photo by Eddi 07 (via Flickr).

When I host an open public ritual or a ritual at a gathering, I schedule a Pre-Ritual Workshop for immediately before the ritual.  During this workshop, I explain a few vital things:

• Why we do ritual (Purpose)
• What the ritual is about (Theme)
• What can be expected in ritual (General Flow)
• What I need participants to do (What to Do)

I also take this time to allow ritual attendees to ask questions so they’ll feel comfortable participating.  The Craft is different from the Church — we ask that our participants help us co-create the experience of ritual.  In other words, we don’t provide places to sit and a bulletin telling them when to stand, sing, pray, or put money in the offering plate.  Nor do we lecture participants while they sit penitently and quietly.  This takes some getting used to if all you’ve ever known of sacred worship involves passivity and piety.

Moving into the ritual dynamic of the pagan faith also takes time for students of the Craft.  I enjoy watching new students at their first ritual, seeing the glow of anticipation and anxiety filtering through their aura.  Matter of fact, one of my students recently recalled her first experience in ritual by saying, “I don’t remember exactly what happened, but something didn’t go according to plan, and we all started laughing… and it was okay!  That’s when I knew this was something completely different.”

Yes, pagan ritual is completely different than anything you’ve ever known.  It can range from a quiet meditation in front of your altar to a fully scripted and choreographed working filled with ritual drama, sacred gestures, and names that everyone has to agree on the pronunciation of beforehand.  It can make you feel warm and tingly, calm and mellow, or absolutely wild and ecstatic.  It can be for one or for hundreds — the techniques for pulling these off vary considerably.  But in the end, good rituals share one major trait:  they transform.

Does It Move You? That is my measure of a good ritual.  The Craft path cycles and spirals.  Like a river that is never the same from moment to moment, a Witch’s path experiences constant change.  This is good — it means we’re not stagnant.  However, if change is a form of death, and death is a gate, then it is the work of good ritual to move us through those gates with mirth and reverence.  Sometimes we all try to go through the same gate — such as working a point on the Wheel of the Year and turning those spokes as a Community.  And sometimes, one ritual is experienced in different ways by different people, each of us working the gate we are currently approaching, each of us moving deeper into the labyrinth of personal growth.

One of the first things you’ll most likely notice about pagan ritual is that it’s not done in a Church or other building (as a rule).  That’s not saying that we cannot work indoors.  Many groups do, including mine.  But there is something about being outside that cannot be captured inside a man-made box, regardless of how pretty the Corian counters might be or how well-decorated the walls are with witchy-goodness.  Let me give you my impressions of why I work in circle, why I love working outdoors, why being a Witch is intimately wrapped up in my adoration for ritual expression of my path.  For this, I’ll use a bit of fiction.  Let’s give your visualization skills a try, ok?

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The path threatened to disappear in the deepening darkness of the wood.  She knew where she was at when her arm brushed the holly tree — the only one on this side of the stream — and began to curve instinctively to the right to follow the curve in the trail she knew by heart.  She had been walking this path for as long as she’d been walking This Path.  She knew where it led, and yet, the destination never failed to seem a little different each time.

Ahead, she saw the bright flicker of flame glimmering between gaps in close standing trees.  No sooner than her heart leaped for joy in her chest, the sound of a drum gave it chase and her feet quickened their pace to keep up.  The steady murmur of the stream gave way to the murmur of voices.  Shadows gathered and merged and separated as embraces were exchanged.

Close enough now to see, she could easily pick out the marker stone near the edge of the grove.  Set a little bit apart from the path and newly whitewashed since Beltaine, small offerings to the spirits of the land surrounded its base.  And just in front of it stood a deep basin of water that she knew had just been drawn from the stream and strewn with the blessing herbs used at Full Moon.  She closed her eyes and said a prayer of thanks and purification, kneeling to dip her hands in the cold water.  Light glinted off her silver rings as she raised her wet fingertips to forehead, lips, heart, solar plexus, womb, knees, and feet.  A cool rush of calm and steadiness drenched her body and spirit, separating her further from the hectic world of 9-to-5 and human expectations.  When she stood, it was as a different person.  She still felt the joy, but now purpose anchored that joy, tethering the ecstasy to a reality she would soon change to her Will.

She stepped to the edge of the Circle and was brought in with a kiss from a Brother.  They were all here — this chosen family — reunited in this time and this place to share another life together, to do the Work as One.  Smiles and hugs and welcomes warmed her, balancing the coolness of the water blessing, moving her into the Sacred Space of community.  As she neared the altar, her Priest met her, taking both her hands and kissing them, following those kisses with one on her lips.  She felt the heady energy of the bond she shared with him.  Their connection had been built and fostered through many turns of the Wheel, and she knew his strength and his power and his love for her and the work they did together as representatives of the God and Goddess.

A salute rose with a rumble of deep bass as a Priest claimed the honor of First Sighting of the Mother as She looked over the ridge.  As one, the coven turned to the East and hailed Her radiance.  She marveled — yet again! — at the beauty of red firelight and blue moonlight meeting on her skin, the serpent bracelet she wore seeming to slither between fire and ice along the length of her arm.   She made a motion to one of the Dedicants and he began a hypnotic drum beat as all turned to face the center.  Firelight picked out the features of those she considered chosen family, beloved friends, and fellow Children of the Goddess.

As one, the coven began the silent meditation that melded spirit to spirit, heart to heart, hand to hand.  She reached out and took up the coven sword, whispering the blade’s name like a lover, feeling its answer thrum through her bones as she began to trace the circle’s bounds.  Behind her, voices took up the chant one by one as she passed behind them, the circle’s strength and area growing with every voice added, every step taken.  Once, twice, thrice around, the sound of voices harmonizing, rising and falling, while the Moon rose steadily into the embrace of the tree boughs, escorted by only the brightest of the stars.

Circle cast, she returned to the altar, nodded to the East Gate and gave the motion to begin the Invocations.  Tonight, they would invoke cross-gender, women calling the masculine elements, men calling the feminine elements.  Her sister’s voice rose and fell as she heralded the realm of East, tracing the pentagram in the air before her as she called on the powers of Air and Breath and Mind.  Slowly, the wind — still until this moment — began to rise.  She smiled and lifted her face to the sky as she heard it coming, traipsing through the treetops, rustling the eastern banner and announcing its presence with a kiss on her cheek.

Fire responded similarly as another sister entreated its presence, the central bonfire sending forth a plume of sparks into the blackness like a rush of fire-sprites hell-bent on becoming stars.  As her brother in the West took up the invocation for Water, she could hear the stream just beyond the circle’s edge, could see it gleaming silver where the Moon’s light played on its surface.  As the final invocation began for the purpose of conjuring the element of Earth, the forest seemed to gather around ever more tightly.  Animals and earth spirits, young and ancient, moved in the bounds just beyond the reach of light.  “Welcome,” she thought reverently, “Welcome, all.”

Hands reached out to grasp hands, over and under to create the weave of connectivity.  No words needed to be spoken to remind those gathered that this Circle was the Center of the Universe, that from this place their magick would expand out like the Big Bang, creating new worlds and new life.  In that moment, the Circle was less a space in the woods and more the conjoining of minds and hearts and energies, made of people and potential and power.

It was time.  Her Priest mirrored her turn towards the altar as they each took a moment to gather themselves and offer themselves to the working at hand.  When their eyes met again, his gaze reminded her of the many times he had looked at her in just this way, lifetime upon lifetime ago.  She raised her arms towards the Moon.  For all the world, she resembled a child stretching forth her arms to her Mother, longing to be lifted and embraced, to be drenched in love.  She could hear her Beloved speaking the words of Invocation.  She could feel herself emptying, sliding back, a flood of power and mystery rushing in to fill the spaces where she once stood.  It was bliss, the Moon coming down, coming home, coming forth from her lips as the Goddess spoke and moved and lived through her, the heavens touching the earth through the soles of her earth-dusted feet.

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There is something about worshiping in a temple not made by human hands, where you are surrounded by the perfect beauty and intricacy that no sculptor can match, and no word-smith can describe.  There is something about feeling the power of the elements and Deity respond to your call that is a mystery almost too great to be spoken, one must experience it.  There is something about the way the power of a chant sings in your blood for hours, its melody humming along under your daily life for days and weeks after the Circle is opened.  There is something about having your Brothers and Sisters in the Craft there, standing beside you, this illusion of separateness and struggle dissolved in the light of a Full Moon or Radiant Sun.

While some groups have dedicated spaces — outdoor circles, temples, homes that can host their gatherings — the truth is that our true Circles are formed by people.  Sometimes you are a Circle of one, feeling more like a point until you realize that anything and everything around you is part of your Circle and you are not alone.  Sometimes you are a Circle of many, and you get to enjoy the blessings of meeting and knowing and loving again those who have walked this path with you in a previous lifetime.

And then, for some of you, this is the lifetime.  Becoming a Witch is what I call “the Big Door”.  You can only do it once.  When you take that step across the threshold and into the Circle, when you choose to make this your life and take the initiation into the Greater Mysteries, there is no turning back.  You have chosen to pursue a life of introspection and growth, commitment and service for all your lifetimes to come.  It’s not that you can’t “undo it” in this lifetime… many have walked away.  Some would say that they were never really a Witch to begin with.  I like to think it’s like taking a dip in a pool.  Some people dip a toe in, some wade in the shallows, while others learn to dive and delve deep.  But once you’ve touched the waters of the Mother, you will always return, maybe to brave a little deeper experience next time, and the next time.  Eventually, you will come to a place in a far future life (or perhaps this one!) and you will realize that learning, for you, is less a process of actually learning than it is a process of remembering.  Why is that?

Because you were called here as surely as I might speak your name.  Because what happens in Circle is never broken.  Never forgotten.  In the Circle, all moments are the same moment, and all rituals part of the same unbroken rite of Life.  You remember the Circle because, once you enter, you never really leave it.  You remember because you are already here.

And that, my dear ones, is something I have never found in church.

Next entry in New to Wicca?  –   Do You Believe In Magick?

Photo by Eddi 07 (via Flickr).

This message has been brought to you by Sitara Haye, who realizes that she has a decent chance of getting burned at the keyboard for offending a Recon.  For those with the extreme desire to be judgmental or offended, allow me to direct your attention to the Built-in Argument Counteraction Key (codename:  BACK Arrow) in the upper left corner of your screen.  It is a safety exit and will assuredly deliver you from the evil on my page.  Thank you!

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If you’ve done any reading at all on Wicca, you will recognize this section as an explanation of the Wheel of the Year.  The Wheel of the Year is a fair bit more intricate than just the eight Sabbats of the Solar Wheel.  Matter of fact, I can pretty much explain my entire faith, cosmology, and spiritual foundation based on an eight-spoked Wheel.  And what I have no proof of, I can make an excellent educated guess based on applying what I call “Wheel Magick” to the situation.

Just as we discussed the Lunar Wheel and Her movements as manifestations of the Moon Goddess’ energy on earth, the Wheel of the Year is Solar driven.  Based on the placement of the Sun in the sky, we tell the time of year and thus also align with the energies of and activites of that time.   When we apply those stations on the Wheel to other areas for the purpose of classification, we are able to create a solid system of correspondence, interaction, and cyclical wisdom that guides our spellwork, dictates how we should stay in balance, and does a thorough job of explaining the passages of life.

The Wheel is one of the Keys to the Mysteries of the Craft.  You can ignore it if you want, but good luck picking the lock on the doors it opens.  You’re welcome to peek through the keyhole and take part peripherally by attending Sabbat rituals here and there, but it is the process of moving with the Wheel that helps us grow in power, that helps us unlock the endlessly nested doorways into deeper communion with the Gods and all of Nature.

Here is a brief but precise overview of the Wheel of the Year.  I have included the astrological aspects for the Sabbats (if the Wheel is the Solar clock, then you’d best know how to tell time).  I have also included the times of day, seasons of the year, and corresponding Lunar phases for additional reference.  You will notice how the correspondences seem to “stack up”.  This is the multi-layered Wheel Magick I spoke of earlier.  It would take far too long (probably a good quarter of a written book) to explain it in the kind of detail that puts the chill bumps on your arms, so for now I’ll just give an overview.

One last thing — there is whole cycle of mythology involving the Oak King and the Holly King.  This is  a complex round of mythology explaining the cycles of power and is the centerpiece of a large part of traditional Wiccan ritual drama.  It, inevitably, confuses the hell out of everyone when it gets mixed up with the details listed below.  In order to try and prevent further addled brains, I will tell the story elsewhere in another article.  Yes, it’s important.  No, I haven’t forgotten it.  Just want to say that for all those who might notice it missing.

Let’s start at the beginning, shall we?  This, of course, means starting at the end.  The Craft is full of paradox.  You come to love it.  *smile*

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SAMHAINE

• Sun crosses 15th degree of Scorpio
• Calendar holiday is traditionally eve of November 1st (ie, October 31st)
• Astrological holiday around November 7th
• Moon Phase: Waning Crescent
• Season: Final half of Autumn / Begin ‘Time of the Little Sun’
• Sabbat Classification: Greater Sabbat / Fire Festival / Cross-Quarter
• Theme: Death, Final/Blood Harvest, Summer’s End, Crossing The Veil, Ancestral Veneration
• Traditions: Culling of the herds before onset of winter, bringing herds in for the cold months, final crops harvested and season’s successes tallied.  Veil between worlds is thin, souls of those who have died in the past year cross on this night.  Ancestors and spirits can cross back to visit, Dumb Feast / Feast Of All Souls is held in honor of loved ones who have died.  Divination for the upcoming year a common tradition in Celtic and Brythonic homelands.  Time of Chaos at the cusp of the new year.

YULE / WINTER SOLSTICE

• Sun enters sign of Capricorn
• Astrological holiday, observed approx. December 21-22
• Moon Phase: Dark/New (no moon visible)
• Season: Beginning of Winter (modern calendar)
• Sabbat Classification: Lesser Sabbat / Cardinal Sabbat / Winter Solstice
• Theme: Longest Night, Sun’s Death and Rebirth
• Traditions: Festivities to celebrate the Sun’s birth. Vigil to keep watch during the Longest Night.  Feasting and singing.  Giving of gifts.  Hospitality and welcome.  Yule tree.  Yule log.  Yule bushes.  Midnight or dawn ritual observance, kindling newborn fire.

IMBOLC or CANDLEMAS

• Sun crosses 15th degree of Aquarius
• Calendar holiday is traditionally eve of February 2nd (ie, February 1)
• Astrological holiday around February 4th
• Moon Phase: Waxing Crescent
• Season: Final half of Winter
• Sabbat Classification: Greater Sabbat / Fire Festival / Cross-Quarter
• Theme: Awakening, Quickening, Purification, New Beginnings, Dedication
• Traditions: Festival of lights to celebrate the Sun’s growing light.  Beginning garden preparations/plans.  Traditionally honors Bridget/Brigit/Bride with rites such as Bride’s Welcome and Bride’s Bed.  Typically and hearth and home festival for groups.  Smooring the fire.  Purification and cleansing of persons and homes.  Dedication of projects (especially artistic ones to be harvested at Lugh’s festival at Lughnasadh).  Excellent Sabbat for storytelling (especially love stories such as Bride’s marriage to Angus Og).

OSTARA / SPRING EQUINOX

• Sun enters sign of Aries
• Astrological holiday, observed approx. March 20-21
• Moon Phase: Waxing First Quarter
• Season: Beginning of Spring (modern calendar)
• Sabbat Classification: Lesser Sabbat / Cardinal Sabbat / Spring Equinox
• Theme: Day and Night Balanced, Fertility, Planting of Seeds/Intentions, Life Returning to Earth.  Also is the Traditional Earth Day date (not April 22nd – see this link for more information)
• Traditions: Seed planting.  Eostre egg decorating and hunts.  Earth Day services and pause for Unity for Conservation efforts.  Earth Day service projects.  Garden preparation.  Dawn/morning ritual observance.

BELTAINE

• Sun crosses 15th degree of Taurus
• Calendar holiday is traditionally eve of May 1st (ie, April 30th)
• Astrological holiday around May 7th
• Moon Phase: Waxing Gibbous
• Season: Final half of Spring / Begin ‘Time of the Big Sun’
• Sabbat Classification: Greater Sabbat / Fire Festival / Cross-Quarter
• Theme: Life, Fertility, Sex, Growth, Delight, Sensuality
• Traditions: Great Rite.  Celebrations of fertility and growth of crops.  Greenwooding.  Bonfires.  Traditional time to send cattle into the shielings for the summer.  Sensual celebrations of life and generative powers of sexual union.

LITHA or MIDSUMMER / SUMMER SOLSTICE

• Sun enters sign of Cancer
• Astrological holiday, observed approx. June 21-22
• Moon Phase: Full Moon
• Season: Beginning of Summer (modern calendar)
• Sabbat Classification: Lesser Sabbat / Cardinal Sabbat / Summer Solstice
• Theme: Longest Day, Height of Sun’s Power
• Traditions: Bonfires.  Faires and festivals.  Honoring the Faery Folk.  Honoring the spirits of the Land (genus loci).  Vigil.  Harvesting of St. John’s Wort.  Well-dressing (most of June and July in British Isles).  Dawn and/or noontime ritual observance.

LUGHNASADH or LAMMAS

• Sun crosses 15th degree of Leo
• Calendar holiday is traditionally eve of August 1st (ie, July 31)
• Astrological holiday around August 7th
• Moon Phase: Waning Gibbous
• Season: Final half of Summer
• Sabbat Classification: Greater Sabbat / Fire Festival / Cross-Quarter
• Theme: 1st Harvest, Settlement of Grievances, New Contracts (Marriages, Alliances), Sacrificial King, Games of Skill and Demonstrations of Arts
• Traditions: Festival dedicated to Lugh (Irish God, Master of All Skills).  Loaf-Mass (Lammas) or Bread Harvest.  Harvest of Grain.  1st Harvest and Offerings of Crops to Gods.  Peacemaking and addressing of grievances before the hard work of harvest begins (everyone needs to get along to get crops in).  Alliances made, marriages made before Winter season (this is a happy harvest theme, but practically, allowed for clans to know the number of mouths needing to be fed come Winter and thus accounted for during Harvest).  Sacrificial King (good time to do a symbolic sacrificial rite, ex. John Barleycorn).  Sharing of creations, works of art, songs, stories, and showcasing other skills.  Competitions and games.  Trial marriages (handfastings).  Making of oaths.

MABON / AUTUMN EQUINOX

• Sun enters sign of Libra
• Astrological holiday, observed approx. September 21-22
• Moon Phase: Waning Last Quarter
• Season: Beginning of Autumn (modern calendar)
• Sabbat Classification: Lesser Sabbat / Cardinal Sabbat / Autumn Equinox
• Theme: Day and Night Balanced, Harvest (focus shifts from fields to include vines and fruit bearing trees), Harvest of Intentions begun at Ostara, Death Approaching, Harvest Moon (falls in September)
• Traditions: Vanquishing of the God of Light by the God of Darkness (Night will be longer than day from this point onward to Yule).  Eleusinian mysteries of the abduction of Persephone.  Time of both Thanksgiving and impending Mourning.  Ritual drama to say farewell to the Light half of the year.  Festival of harvest, thanksgiving, wine and abundance.  Welcome of the Hunter (constellation Orion returns to the skies).

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An important part of your Craft practice will be celebrating these Sabbat holidays by observing traditions that mark this time of year for you and allow you to be connected to the Earth in a meaningful way.  Here are some things I suggest you research for your own personal practice.  If you are seeking to be part of a coven, I highly suggest you complete this assignment anyway, even though covens often have their own traditions in place in which you will take part.  It is important to know what speaks to you at this time of the year so you can decide if the way a coven practices is a good fit for you or not.  The following research angles will help you discover your own vital connectedness to the Wheel:

What is your blood heritage? Research the celebrations and traditions within your family blood line. These traditions and cultural myths will likely speak very strongly to you.  Blood sings to blood and the traditions of your ancestors have a high chance of being a good match for you if you are reclaiming your cultural heritage and expressing it through Wicca.

What is going on in the natural world where you live at these times? It may feel wrong to celebrate Spring Equinox if your flowers and bunnies don’t start popping up until later in April.  A comparison between cultures with colder climates (such as Norse/Germanic) and those with warmer climates (Brythonic) will show a difference in how these cultures flowed with the land.  The celebrations do differ, even if the astrology doesn’t.  For example, I always call the Full Moon near the end of September Geese Fly Moon because that’s when the geese start their V-formations and migrate.  This time will be different for other places, but the mental connection ties me to the land here.

What are modern expressions of ancient cultural traditions and how can you weave them back in? For example, a suitable replacement for a Summer Solstice Faire would be a trip to a carnival or Ren Faire.  A perfect modern celebration of the harvest is a trip to the Farmer’s Market (or your own garden if you have one) and the preparation of locally grown (preferably organic!) produce.

What cultural groups were native to your land and what did they do to celebrate this time? For example, here in Chattanooga, the area was inhabited by the Cherokee long ago.  The time of Lughnasadh corresponds to the Cherokee Green Corn Festival.  As part of our celebrations this year, the coven is taking a weekend field trip to Cherokee to learn more about the culture and to attend an outdoor drama about the Cherokee removal.  We will be doing our coven Lughnasadh as part of our activities one evening at the campground.  This connects us to both the land’s culture as well as the Wiccan Wheel we follow due to our (mostly) Caucasian heritage.

There is so much information available to you about holidays and traditions.  It is my fervent opinion that the Craft (actually, any viable spiritual faith) must adapt to the Age and the challenges of the Age.  That which does not change and evolve is primed for elimination.  Reconstructionist pagans will heartily disagree with me on this point, and that is fine.  However, I look to Nature as my final authority on the practice of my faith.  And as nothing in Nature remains exactly the same without adaptation of some sort (even the Stars shift over long periods of time), I acknowledge that changes can and should be made to traditional celebratory expressions in moderation.

If we use Nature as our guiderule to say that we must adapt with the Wheel, then we must equally say that we must adapt our celebrations slowly and carefully, as Nature would.  I don’t expect anyone to go out on Beltaine, build two fires, and drive their cats between them because people used to drive their livestock between the bel-fires and, well, cats are the closest thing you’ve got — but hey, if you decide to try that, please send me pictures, okay?  However, you probably could, at the very least, learn to start a fire without matches, have a bonfire, jump over it or make two fires and walk between them, or send tealights lit from that fire home with everyone at your ritual to spread the light to all their homes.

Remember to be respectful as you choose traditions for your Sabbats.  If you come up with something new, do NOT say that it’s some ancient tradition when it isn’t.  It’s okay if it’s not ancient if it works for you for your intended purpose.  Just don’t misrepresent another culture because you think it will make you look more authentic.  It actually just makes you look dumb and disrespectful.  If you come up with something for a Sabbat celebration one year, I suggest trying it for at least one more year to see if it is “tradition worthy”.  See if celebrating it that way means something for you and others, if you can feel the change in yourself and your energy when you work that ritual.  There’s a reason that rituals are repeated when they work:  it’s because they work and it feels right.

I hate to say it, but reading this article was the easy part.  Now you have research to do!  Enjoy!

Next entry in New to Wicca? -  We Are A Circle Within A Circle

Photo by R C Photographic (via Flickr).

Let me begin by stating that this article is not a statement against gay or lesbian or bisexual persons in any way.  Regardless of how you choose to express your sexuality, there is still an active/passive, masculine/feminine polarity that occurs naturally.  Whether you’re “top” or “bottom”, you are definitively male or female by birth and have a vibration specific to you, even if it doesn’t necessarily correspond with your birth gender (sometimes the paint color on the walls just doesn’t match the plumbing… and you know what??  It doesn’t matter!).  As humankind evolves and the practice of changing one’s natal gender or expressing an alternate sexual energy becomes more commonplace, we do begin to move beyond the physical manifestation of sexuality and we start to understand polarity on other levels:  energy, expression, emotion.  Therefore, read what follows from your core vibration, whichever sex that might be, and enfold your own experiences of sexual discovery into the words I’ve written.  This will bring forth the meaning for each person, regardless of the perceived barriers that society would like us to create based on sexual orientation or natal gender.  With that said, allow me to continue.

While some might say that it is the presence of a Feminine Deity that singles out Wicca and Paganism and makes them “special” among religions in the Western world, I actually believe that what is unique about this path is the tandem worship of both the Masculine and the Feminine simultaneously.  Not all Wiccan and Pagan groups work with both the God and the Goddess — please do not be shocked if you find a coven who works only with the Goddess as there are plenty of them out there.  However, regardless of whether or not groups revere the God and Goddess equally, it does not change the reality of the interplay between Masculine and Feminine energy in the Universe.  And now, we’re back to sex — for preparation for the act of sex accounts for the necessary differences in genders and why men are formed a certain way (with the ultimate “outtie”) and why women are formed a certain way (with the ultimate “innie”).

There are relatively few examples of asexual reproduction (not requiring both sexes or some type of insemination) among animals.    Some species of frogs and lizards, less complex animals such as hydra and corals that reproduce by “budding” and then the new growth breaking off from the mother.  The Komodo Dragon reproduces all on her own, carrying both the genetic material for males and females in her DNA — eggs are laid and unfertilized by the males of the species (this is called parthenogenesis, or ‘virgin birth’).  Wasps and honeybees undergo a special kind of parthenogenesis as well with eggs being laid and those that are fertiled by males in the apiary hive hatch as males and those left unfertilized hatch as females.

So, basically what I’m saying is — “Sex… everybody’s doing it.”

Polarity, by definition, means ‘a relationship between two opposite forces or tendencies‘. The obvious polarity that we are discussing here is that between Female and Male.  Slow your mind down for a minute and let’s regress backwards to early human history.  As our cognitive abilities developed, we began to notice things beyond “this is good to eat”, and “search for shelter when the black clouds come”.  One of the first and most obvious realizations of early man had to have been the anatomical differences between male and female.  Even if you have a child, who is just a small human, that child still is either male or female.  In the instant of that awareness, the world becomes divided into halves.  These halves carry with them certain experiences, instincts, physical differences.  All of these unique identifiers color the perspectives of those who identify themselves as either male or female.

Children themselves repeat this early human discovery again and again as they explore their bodies and view the bodies of other children and realize that boys are different from girls.  Indeed, it is the first and most personal mystery that we encounter cognitively in life.  We might encounter the mysteries of nurturance and the Mother Goddess from being breastfed by our own mothers, but that’s not so much a cognitive development as an instinctual one (ie, we KNOW that Momma has the good stuff and when our tummy rumbles, we cry and the boob pops out… yay!!).  But if you’ve ever seen that moment on a young toddler’s face when they see the genitalia of the opposite sex, you are actually witnessing a sacred moment.  You are witnessing the first realization of polarity, of opposites, of “me and the Other”.

With this realization comes an amazing passing of power.  For one, the establishment of polarity births the potential for realizing most of the universal truths regarding life as we know it.  From it, we learn that there is more than just our view and, perhaps more importantly, that for OUR view to grow and become fertile, we require the opposing view to “arouse” us into CREATION.  Sometimes that creation is an action, and at other times we are creating an object, a path, a new way of living or doing things.  From polarity, we also learn that we are interdependent upon each other for new growth.  From polarity, we learn the Mystery of correspondences and begin to understand the overlying enigmas of our supremely ordered universe.  We begin to make the connections:  male/female, day/night, hot/cold, moving/still, above/below.  The world begins to unfold with the fractal-like discovery of sexuality.

While the polarity itself is an amazing thing all on its own — just knowing that there is a male and a female polarity is a huge jump — that is still not the whole of the Mystery.  Beyond that separation lies a question:  why the difference? Well, look at the male body and the female body.  They are alike in nearly every way except one HUGE obvious difference, so obvious that even a toddler who cannot name something can see it and is moved by it so much that the child demands an answer.  It is obvious that the difference is related to a function, that function related to an act, that act is sex, and sex leads to the creation of life and the passing on of genetic information that leads again to the polarity as  a child is born either male or female and it all begins again.

Thus, the recognition of the differences in our bodies leads us to cognitively understand the sexual act as being something of extremely great importance.  After all, it is where two opposites come together and unite and from this act, life — LIFE! — is created anew.  While there are some Mysteries that are only Masculine in nature or only Feminine in nature, these Mysteries, too, revolve around sex and our own personal gender’s experience of our natal polarity assigned at birth.

In other words, it really does all come down to sex.  The Mystery of Sex and Polarity ushers in a certain progression of realizations about the intrinsic wisdom of the natural world.  And so, it is only natural that earth-based spiritualities would revere and meditate upon it.  Wiccans and Pagans are not the only ones doing this — we don’t hold the copyright.  Most of the primitive cultures observed and saw this polarity and interaction that brings forth life.  We see this in their pantheons, their myths, and their ritual observances.  The Egyptians bore their sacred idols from one temple to another temple that the “gods might be together”.  Tantra is a path of study that is wholly centered around the sexual conversation between Shiva and Devi; Devi asks her questions as the receptive half of Shiva and Shiva answers her.  Tantra is not the sexual parlor game and bedside table fodder that Western culture has tried to subvert it into.  It is actually ancient wisdom that vibrates on a core resonance with the Craft and is greatly worth study as you advance along your path.  Even the Christians know this wisdom to be true:  I invite you to look up passages talking about Christ’s relationship with the Church as that between a man and woman, a groom and his bride.

Sex as a central formulary principle for spirituality works, provided that your definition of sex is about the Mysteries of the act, the differences required in the participants that the act may be performed, and the understanding that the act of sex on physical level is merely the activity taken on Earth that mirrors the workings of the Universe both above and below.  Sex, as an activity, is fun and pleasurable and makes being alive incredibly enjoyable.  However, to say that pleasure is all that Sex is for — in other words, to worship sex for the sake of sex — is not the purpose of Wicca, the Craft, or any other viable spiritual path.  Even the Charge of the Goddess warns us that what we do must be for more than pleasure:  All acts of love and pleasure are my rituals.  We are granted the blessing of enjoying sex, but we are given the responsibility of ensuring that it deepens our connections, enriches our commitments, and widens our understandings.  That puts sex, for Wiccans and Pagans, far beyond “just fucking around”.

Wicca recognizes and honors the Mysteries that we learn through Sex.  Sex is one of the Two Great Doors.  Death is the other.  You will see the balance of polarity again between Sex and Death on the Wheel of the Year.  Beltaine is our holy day where the Mysteries of Sex (the fertile conjoining of Male and Female) is celebrated as the highest order of the day.  At Beltaine, we honor Life and that which creates it and the manifestation of the Mysteries of Life.  Conversely, at Samhaine — exactly one-half the way through the year from Beltaine — we celebrate and honor the Mystery of Death, that which puts an end to our bodily experience of Life in a physical form.

Sex and Death, Beginning and End, are really not so different, just as man and woman are really not so different.  Just as Sex conjoins male to female to open a doorway for life to begin again, Death also conjoins male to female to open a doorway.  In case of Death, the Feminine human soul, receptive to the power of the All, the separated and Fallen Daughter Malkuth (Google Malkuth, Tree of Life) is conjoined to the prime generative force of the Universe again, and life — this time on the non-physical side of the Veil — begins again in wholeness.

The reason the act of Sex makes us feel so heavenly, so enlightened, is because it shows us Universal Truth.  Asexual reproduction is possible, however, we were not made for it.  I, for one, am glad.  Our instincts, our hormones, our understanding of our physical differences and the desire to mate — all of these things lead us to the experience of Sex.  By understanding the Mysteries in Sex, we can learn that there is something more than being Male or being Female, being projective or receptive.  We understand that there is a THIRD reality where the two become one, and that this third reality has the potential to create all life.  If the differences in our sexuality and gender lead us to understand that an Illusion exists and that there is something more beyond merely our perspective, then it is death that banishes that illusion and restores us to Unity with All Things.  When we die, we pass out of our limited perspective, we journey “to the Light”, and there we stay until, like all things, we long to return to the Illusion of separation and the Darkness of rebirth.  And at that moment, a man and woman come together and open a door, and we proceed from the Darkness of the Womb into the light of the World so that, by living, we may learn how much we don’t know and seek again the Light that we are assured to find from the moment of our first breath.  For to be born is to be given the glorious promise that we shall one day die and again remember All.

As you walk this path, the Rose of this Mystery will continue to open for you.  Its scent will grow more intoxicating as the Sun’s light coaxes it to full bloom.  You will be amazed by the intricacy of the petaled labyrinth.  You may also experience the thorns that keep the Mysteries from those who think to pluck the Sacred Rose for themselves.  What I can promise you is this:

The Rose of Truth never fades.  The Rose never dies.  Share it, then, with someone you love.  Know the pleasure — become the Mystery.

Next entry in New To Wicca? — God In Motion:  The Solar Wheel

Photo by Eddi 07 (via Flickr).

Just as the Goddess will be casually referenced as the Maiden, Mother, or Crone, the God might also be referenced in his archetypal forms.  Most common are the Warrior, the Father, and the Sage.  There is also a Dark Lord as well, but we will discuss him a little later on when we come back to connecting the Feminine and Masculine principles.

WARRIOR: Like the Maiden phase, this is the youthful phase of the masculine essence.  While there is no menarche marking the lintels of the sacred gate with blood, young men go through changes at puberty that lead them through different coming-of-age experiences.  Just as the transition between the Maiden and the Mother is marked by the fertility of the woman and her achievement of child-bearing age, young men transition into men who have the ability to quicken life inside a woman.  With this great power comes great responsibility.  Young men are strong, capable, on the cusp of discovering a new world or staunchly defending what is.

FATHER: Corresponding to the Mother archetype, the Father is the young Warrior grown up and settled into a place of stability for the sake of his family.  The energy of the Father is steady, firm, and practical, skills honed with maturity from his Warrior days and tempered with the first flickers of wisdom.  The Father is the fulcrum of the masculine archetypal line, with the Warrior to one side as impetuous and courageous and somewhat idealistic and invincible.  The Father, having caused life also knows that he has ensured the death of his progeny by bringing them into this world.  This inner knowing of the resposibilities for another life is exemplified in the balance and protectiveness of the Father.  On the other end of the fulcrum, we have the…

SAGE: Companion of the Crone, the Sage has accumulated his wisdom through life experiences and is now at the peak harvest of his life.  The Sage has seen his share of battles and these have shaped him.  The Sage has been the youth, has raised the next generation of youth, and is now the bastion of wisdom and tradition for the grandchildren that follow.  The Sage is elder to his people, holy man, cynic, truthsayer, mystic, grandfather, and soul-shaker.  His very archetypal title, Sage, means ‘wise‘.  It should be remembered that wisdom comes with experience whereas knowledge does not need to take such an arduous route.  Thus, the Sage has earned his place through action and is far more than a mere man of learning.  He is the embodiment of the Masculine Mysteries, experience made manifest and dedicated to the service of family, clan, nation, and world community.

There are many different Gods in the Wiccan and Pagan world.  Whereas the Goddess and the Feminine were subjugated and repressed for hundreds and thousands of years, we now fight to restore the Goddess to Her rightful place alongside the God.  However, the God has his own battle to wage as well.  During the centuries of monotheistic and patriarchal religious organization, the God has also suffered.

Our modern idea of God is a distant old man in heaven, far removed from earthly problems, who leaves His creation to suffer and spin out of control.  This God has no need nor room for the presence of the Feminine half of Himself and thus, He creates nothing for She is not there to inspire him, to arouse him, to offer Him her womb for His seed of new manifestation.  As one might imagine, this God is exceedingly grumpy (you’d be grumpy, too, if you hadn’t been laid in millenia).  He is wrathful, jealous, punitive, and stagnant.  He demands sacrifice from those He loves most and best.  He is willing to send His own Son to die a horrible death for mankind (as some kind of permanent sacrificial king for all Creation).  And that doesn’t even begin to touch the centuries of deplorable and depraved crimes committed in His name, all for the sake of controlling the masses and the all-too-human flaw known as greed.

Yes, men have as much to recover, to learn, to discover and reclaim as women do.  When men come to the Craft, they must discover and reaffirm a completely different face of God than many of them have ever known.  Instead of a God of vengeance, men must discover and embody the qualities of temperance and respect.  Instead of modeling a God of impotence and stagnancy, men must reconnect with their sexuality in positive ways and learn again how to flow and let their emotions move them.

There is a Dark God, Lord of the Underworld, leader of the Wild Hunt.  Like the Dark Goddess, He is not so much bound into a cycle by his age, for He is outside the concept Age.  He may appear young, or in His prime, or Elderly as suits Him or the culture that gave birth to him.  His function is the dread task of keeping the realms of the Dead, foraging and collecting souls in some myths, bringing Death or calling to those about to die.  It is a secret place of transformation when one works with the Dark God or Dark Goddess — death is the most intensely personal experience we have, after all.  Whereas our mothers take upon themselves to share the birth experience with us, physically we must pass through the Veil at the end of life alone.

Before we move on to the Solar cycle of the Wiccan faith known as the Wheel of the Year, let’s spend some time talking about the relationship between the Masculine and the Feminine, for it is central to Wicca and much of Paganism as well.

Next Entry in New To Wicca? — The Power of Polarity

Photo by Eddi 07 (via Flickr).

]]> http://sitarahaye.com/2009/07/08/warrior-father-sage-the-new-face-of-god/feed/ 0 http://sitarahaye.com/2009/07/07/goddess-in-motion-the-lunar-wheel/ http://sitarahaye.com/2009/07/07/goddess-in-motion-the-lunar-wheel/#comments Tue, 07 Jul 2009 21:12:40 +0000 Sitara Haye http://sitarahaye.com/?p=537

One of the ways you will first come to understand the Goddess is by learning lunar rhythm.  Women have long been connected to the cycles of the Moon through their menstruation.  The Moon itself is very Feminine in nature in that She is passive — the Moon has no light of Her own.  She reflects the Sun’s light.  It is one of the reasons the Tarot card, The Moon, is connected with Illusion.  The Moon having light is illusion.  The Moon is a great mirror, not a star.

Do not for a moment believe that the Moon has no power of her own.  If you do not believe me, schedule a trip to the beach or (if that’s too far) your local area hospital on a Full Moon night.  And when the Moon is not Full, when She is part in shadow, partly illuminated, realize that the shadow is her true face.  The light we see is the veil, the mirrored reflection, the glamour.

You will probably get your first introduction to the Goddess through three words:  Maiden, Mother, Crone.  These three words are the generally accepted archetype to describe the stages of a woman’s life in relation to her fertility.  These three words also apply to the phases of the Moon.

MOTHER:   We’ll begin with this one because it is (a) most obvious what I’m talking about and (b) because the universal archetype of the Goddess is most often seen as the Mother.  The Full Moon is the Mother phase, round as a pregnant woman’s belly.  The Full Moon energetically lasts about five days.  In my tradition, it lasts nine (I’ll explain a little more below).  This is a time when the Moon’s reflective power is at its peak.  Perhaps even more important is the lesson exhibited by astronomy:  Full Moons only occur when the Earth stands directly between the Moon and the Sun.  When the Earth is “cradled” between the Mother and the Father, that is the time of the Full Moon and the Mother phase.

MAIDEN:  Before the Full Moon, from the moment you see the crescent in the twilight sky until 2-3 days before the Full Moon, the Moon is in her Maiden phase.  This corresponds to the time in a young woman’s life before the onset of her menses.  Some people include a young woman’s life all the way up to pregnancy and/or delivery in the Maiden phase.  It is associated with growth, increasing light denoting increasing power and wisdom.  You can always tell when the Moon is in her Maiden phase because you will see the crescent at twilight as the sun is going down.  This is the ONLY time you will see a crescent moon at twilight.  If you see Diana’s Bow (a name for the Maiden Moon), that silver curve in the western sky as the Sun descends, then you know a new moon cycle is just beginning.  Yes, you can learn to tell the exact moon phase without running for a calendar or almanac.  Isn’t that cool?  *smile*

CRONE:  In direct opposite reflection to the Maiden phase, the Crone phase begins after the Full Moon has started to obviously wane (decrease) in light.  You will notice that the Moon seems to shrink in direct mirror image to how it grew.  The Crone phase of the Moon corresponds to the maturation of a woman and her journey past the fertile years of her life.  It is a time of review and teaching, of wisdom earned and winding down.  You can always tell the Crone moon because you will see the crescent moon at dawn in the East.  You will NEVER see the Maiden Moon at sunrise.  If you’re seeing a crescent moon on the way to work in the morning, then the Moon’s cycle is coming to an end.  It will soon be Dark Moon and then the cycle will begin again.

DARK MOTHER:  There is a phase you may or may not hear mentioned called the Fourth Face or the Dark Mother.  This refers to the 2-3 days when there is no moon seen in the sky.  The reason that you cannot see the Moon is because She lies between the Earth and the Sun.  She has turned Her face to the God… I like to say She is renewing Herself during this time, giving neither shadow nor light to us, revitalizing Herself.  (Remember this wisdom, my sisters in the Craft — it is vital for your own Feminine Health to take time EACH MONTH to renew yourself, to renew the Dark Goddess face, the side of you that you don’t show anyone, to commune with the Goddess.  Dark Moon is perfectly suited for this work).  During the Dark Moon, the Moon is conjunct (“lined up on the same side of the sky”) with the Sun.  This signals the end of one cycle and the beginning of the next.  Dark Moon, like Full Moon, is an EXTREMELY powerful time for magickal work and ritual for personal growth.

I mentioned earlier that my tradition gives nine days to the Full Moon (Mother phase).  We also give nine days to the Maiden phase and nine days to the Crone phase.  Nine is a sacred number to the Goddess (three Goddess phases times three).  Also, three times nine equals 27.  Most moon cycles are around 28-30 days in length.  This gives Nine Days to each of the phases of Womanhood, saving 1-3 days for the Dark Goddess and the time of transition.

When working with a nine-day cycle, the maturation of woman is more easily tracked by the Moon phase.  Nine days into the Maiden Moon, the Moon gets a “bump”, just like a woman gets a “baby belly bump” when she is pregnant and beginning to “show”.  From that “baby bump day” (literally, it is the ninth day from New Moon… check it out!) through the Full Moon and then about4 days past the Full Moon, this is the Mother Phase.  The Moon is in its fullness, swelling as the light (lifeforce) grows within Her and shining radiantly.  Ever seen a pregnant woman glow with the blush of pregnancy?  You’ve seen the earthly manifestation of that same Full Moon power!  As the Moon begins to wane, it’s like she begins to “sag” some.  That fullness shrinks, starts to diminish, just as a woman’s breasts are not quite so firm after the birth of several children and breastfeeding and, well, gravity!  From around the 18th day of the cycle through the time when the Moon disappears, She is in her Crone phase.  Her “fertile light” is shrinking, but the power of the Dark Face — her TRUE FACE — is growing.  If you have ever been around someone’s sassy tell-it-like-it-is grandmother, you know exactly what that Dark Face looks like.  The fertility may be on the wane, but the sharp edge of that crescent wit is still sharp as a scythe blade!

Interesting, huh?

The Craft is filled with correspondences such as these.  This is part of the Lunar Mystery lessons I teach my students, things I’ve learned from many years of observation and meditation.  Think you can’t do it?  My nine-year-old daughter can look at the moon and tell you if the Moon is getting bigger or smaller just by when she sees it and which way it is facing.  It is possible to learn this ancient wisdoms and to connect to them so deeply that you feel them in your daily life.

This is just the beginning.  May your desire for the Old Ways only “wax” greater from this moment on, and may your love for the Shining Ones never “wane”!

Next Entry in New To Wicca? — Warrior, Father, Sage:  The New Face of God

Photo by Eddi 07 (via Flickr).