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Who is Wiccan anyways?
Someone who worships the natural
elements.
Seeks understanding with their
higher power on their own, without the need for aid from a priest or other clergyman.
Someone who practices their own
spirituality wherever they feel inspired each day.
Someone who respects the beliefs
of other wiccans and of anyone with a different spiritual belief because each wiccan also
has their own vision of spirituality.
Someone who uses their inner
energy and methods such as meditation and visualization to achieve their goals and lift
their spirits.
Why We Choose To Explore
Wicca...
The Wiccan Spirituality is so
different from others in that it is so flexible. You are encouraged and invited to
use your own beliefs and set of dieties to worship. You are invited to write your
own spells, practice either solitary (alone) or in a group, and to use what is available
to you rather than what is neccesary for spellworking. It is open and free.
Just reading about it makes me feel like an individual.
It is a mystical, magickal,
sacred thing that opens me up to myself as well as my environment. After only a
little while practicing Wicca, I feel like I'm much more in tune with nature and myself.
Everyone I've met is so
non-judgemental. It's refreshing!
A word about Dieties...
Dieties are
tricky for me. I never really understood what a diety was until I read some books
specifically about Wicca and Religion. In Wicca, all sorts of names of Gods and
Goddesses are used in rituals, prayer and blessings. This, I believe, is because we
make a connection somewhere deep inside us when we hear a particular name. For
instance, the god Pan that one would associate with a horned flute-playing green God of
the Forest. Diana might bring to mind the picture of a beautiful lady swathed in
moonlight, holding a horn or a quiver of arrows. Egyptian Gods are worshipped if one
is so inclined, and I have met Christian Wiccans, too! ;)
My ideas
about Dieties are private for now until I explore them more, but searching for what works
and what doesn't was the beginning of my spiritual path, so I recommend some thought on
the subject.
The Charge of The Goddess
(a passage that speaks of The
Goddess that Wiccans worship )
Whenever ye have
need of any thing, once in the month, and
better it be when the moon is full, then
shall ye assemble in
some secret place and adore the spirit
of She, who is Queen of
all witches. There shall ye assemble, ye
who are fain to learn
all sorcery, yet have not won its
deepest secrets; to these will
She teach things that are yet unknown.
And ye shall be free from
slavery; and as a sign that ye be really
free, ye shall be naked
in your rites; and ye shall dance, sing,
feast, make music and
love, all in Her praise. For Hers is the
ecstasy of the spirit,
and Hers also is joy on earth; for Her
law is love unto all
beings. Keep pure your highest ideal;
strive ever towards it; let
naught stop you or turn you aside. For
Hers is the secret door
which opens upon the land of youth and
Hers is the cup of wine of
life, and the cauldron of Cerridwen,
which is the Holy Grail of
immortality. She is the gracious
goddess, who gives the gift of
joy unto the heart of man. Upon earth,
She gave the knowledge of
the spirit eternal; and beyond death,
She gives peace and
freedom, and reunion with those who have
gone before. Nor does
She demand sacrifice, for behold, She is
the mother of all
living, and Her love is poured out upon
the earth.
She who is the beauty of the green
earth, and the white moon
among the stars, and the mystery of the
waters, and the desire of
the heart of man, calls unto thy soul.
Arise, and come unto Her.
For She is the soul of nature, who gives
life to the universe.
from Her all things proceed, and unto
Her all things must return;
and before Her face, beloved of gods and
men, let thine innermost
divine self be enfolded in the rapture
of the infinite. Let Her
worship be within the heart that
rejoiceth; for behold, all acts
of love and pleasure are Her rituals.
And therefore let there be
beauty and strength, power and
compassion, honor and humility,
mirth and reverence within you. And thou
who thinkest to seek
Her, know thy seeking and yearning shall
avail thee not unless
thou knowest the mystery; that if that
which thou seekest thou
findest not within thee, then thou wilt
never find it without
thee. For behold, She has been with thee
from the beginning; and
She is that which is attained at the end
of desire.
The Charge Of The
Horned God
Listen to the Words of
the Horned God,
Who was of old called among men
Adonis, Tammuz, Dianus, Herne,
Bran, Beli, Lugh, Gwyn,
Dionysus, Osiris, Cernunnos, Pan,
And by many other Names.
O Secret of Secrets,
That art hidden in the being of all that lives,
Not Thee do we adore,
For That which adoreth is also Thou.
Thou art That, and That am I.
I am the Flame that burns in the heart of every being,
And in the core of every Star.
I am Life, and the Giver of Life,
Yet therefore is the Knowledge of Me
The Knowledge of Death and Resurrection.
I am alone, the Lord within ourselves,
Whose Name is Mystery of Mysteries.
I am the Horned God.
I am the Lord of the Universe,
The Father of all living,
The All-Devourer and the All-Begetter.
I am He Whose Seed lies strewn
As glittering Gems across velvet darkness
Within the Womb of the Mother.
I am the Lord of the Shadows
In the darkness of the Underworld,
For I am the Midnight Sun.
I am the Light of the Stars,
And the Spark of the Spirit Eternal,
For I am the God Within.
I am the Horned Leader of the Hosts of Air,
The Leader of the Wild Hunt,
The Judge of Gods and of Men.
I am the Hidden God,
Who ever yet remains,
For I dwell within the secret seed.
I am the seed of grain,
I am the seed of flesh,
I am the Seed of the Stars.
I am the Lord of the Heights,
I am the Lord of the Depths,
God of forest, of flock, and of field.
I am the Hunter and Hunted,
I am the wolf and the Shepherd,
I am the vine and the grain.
I am a Guiding Star above you,
I am a bright Flame before you,
I am a smooth Path beneath you.
I am the Light of Life.
I am the Flame of Love.
I am the Horned God!
Charge of the God
My law is harmony
with all things. Mine is the secret that opens the gates of life
and mine is the dish of salt of the earth.
I give the knowledge of the everlasting, and beyond death I give the promise
of regeneration and renewal. I am the sacrifice, the father of all things,
and my protection blankets the earth.
Hear the words of the dancing God, the
music of whose laughter stirs the wind,
whose voice calls the seasons.
I am the Lord of the Hunt and the Power of the Light, sun amongst the clouds
and the secret of the flame. I call upon your bodies to arise
and come to unto me. For I am the flesh of the earth and all its beings.
Through Me all things must die, and with Me all things are reborn.
Let My worship be in the body that sings, for behold all acts of willing sacrifice
are my rituals. Let there be desire and fear, anger and weakness,
joy and peace,awe and longing within you.
For these too are part of the mysteries found within yourself.Within Me,
all beginnings have endings, and all endings have new beginnings.
The Pagan Law
We are of the Old Ways,
among those that walk with the Goddess and
God and receive thier love.
Keep the Sabbats and
Esbats to the best of your ability, for to do
otherwise is to lessen your connection with the Goddess and God.
HARM NONE,
this is the oldest law, and is not open to subject or
change.
Shed not blood in
rituals: The Goddess and God need not blood to be
duly worshiped.
Those of our way are kind
to all creatures, for hurtful thoughts
are quite draining and arent worth the loss of energy.
Misery is self created,
and so to is joy, so create joy and disdain
misery and unhappiness, this is within your power, so harm not.
- Teach
only what you know, to the best of your ability, to those
students that you choose, but teach not those that would use your
instruction for destruction or control. Also teach not to boost
pride, forever remember: she who teaches out of love will be
enfolded in the arms of the Goddess and God.
Ever remember that if you
would be of our way, keep the law close
to your heart, for it is our nature to keep the law.
If ever the need arises, any
law may be changed or discarded and new
laws made to replace them, so long as to not break the Oldest Law,
HARM NONE.
- ***RULE
OF THREE***
Ever Mind the Rule of Three
Three Times what thou givest returns to thee
This Lesson Well, thou must Learn
Thee only gets what Thou dost Earn
Principles Of Belief
(from a convention in the 70's)
- 1. We
practice rites to attune ourselves with the natural rhythm of
life forces marked by the phases of the Moon and the seasonal
Quarters and Cross-Corners.
2. We recognize that our
intelligence gives us an unique responsibilty
toward our environment.
3. We acknowledge a depth of
power that is far greater than is
apparent to the average person. Because it is far greater than
ordinary, it is sometimes called "supernatural," but we see it as
lying within that which is Naturally potential to us all.
4. We concieve of the Creative
Power in the Universe as manifesting
through polarity-as masculine and feminine- and that this same
creative Power lives in all people, and functions the interaction
of the feminine and masculine. We value neither above the other,
knowing each to be supportive of the other. We value sexuality as
pleasure, as the symbol and embodiment of Life, and as one of the
sources of energies used in magickal practice and religious
worship.
5. We recognize both our outer
worlds and inner, or psychological
worlds-somtimes known as the Spiritual World, the Collective
Unconscious, the Inner Planes, etc. - and we see the interaction
of these two dimensions the basis for paranormal phenomena and
magickal exercises. We neglect niether dimension above the other
seeing both as necessary for our fulfillment.
6. We do not recognize any
authoritarian hierarchy, but do honor
those who teach, respect those who share their greater knowledge
and wisdom, and acknowledge those who have courageously given of
themselves in leadership.
7. We see religion, magick,
and wisdom-in-living as being united in
the way one views the world and lives within it- a world view and
philosophy of life, which we identify as Witchcraft or the Wiccan
Way.
8. Calling oneself Witch does
not make a Witch- nor does heredity it's
self, or the collecting of titles, degrees, and initiations. A
Witch seeks to control the forces within him/herself to make life
possible in order to live wisely and well, without harm to others,
and in harmony with Nature.
9. We acknowledge that it is
the affirmation and fulfillment of life,
in a continuation of evolution and development of consciousness,
that gives meaning to the Universe we know, and to our personal
role within it.
10.Our only animosity towards
Christianity, or towards any other
religion or Philosophy of life, is to the extent that its
institutions claim to be "the one true right and only way" and
have sought to deny freedom to others and to supress other ways
of religious practices and beliefs.
11.As American Witches, we are
not threatened by debates on the
history of the Craft, or the orgins of various terms, the legiti-
macy of various aspects of different traditions. We are concerned
with our present and future.
12.We do not accept the
concept of "absolute evil," nor do we woship
any entity known as "Satan" or the "Devil" as defined by
the
Christian Tradition. We do not seek power through the suffering of
others, or do we accept the concept that personal benifits can
only be derived by denial to another.
13.We work within Nature for
that which is contributory to our health
and well being.
         
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