An Introduction To the Old Religion I. GODDESS RELIGIONS IN THE OLD WORLD A. Gravettian-Aurignacian Cultures (25000 BC-15000 BC) 1. The Upper-Paleolithic period, though most of its sites have been found in Europe, is the conjectural foundation of the religion of the Goddess as it emerged in the later Neolithic Age of the Near East. a. There have been numerous studies of Paleolithic cultures, explorations of sites occupied by these people, and the apparent rites connected with the disposal of their dead. b. In these Upper-Paleolithic societies, the concept of the creator of all human life may have been formulated by the clan's image of women, who were their most ancient primal ancestors. (1) It is believed that the mother was regarded as the sole parent of children in this culture. (2) Ancestor worship appears to have been the basis of sacred rituals and ancestry is believed to have been reckoned through the matriline. (a) The beginnings of Roman religion were basedon survivals of the Etruscan culture and ancestor worship was the earliest form of religion in Rome. (b) Even today, the Jewish people determine who is and is not a Jew through the matriline. 2. The most tangible evidence supporting the theory that these cultures worshipped a Goddess is the numerous sculptures of women found throughout most of Europe and the Near East. Some of these sculptures date as far back as 25,000 BC. a. These small female figurines, made of stone, bone, and clay, most of which are seemingly pregnant, have been found throughout the widespread Gravettian-Aurignacian sites in areas as far apart as Spain, France, Germany, Austria, and Russia. (1) These sites and figurines appear to span a period of at least 10,000 years. 3. Johannes Maringer, in his book 'The Gods of Prehistoric Man' says- "It appears highly probable then that the female figurines were idols of a Great Mother cult, practiced by the non-nomadic Aurignacian mammoth hunters who inhabited the immense Eurasian territories that extended from Southern France to Lake Baikal in Siberia." a. It was from this Lake Baikal area in Siberia that tribes are believed to have migrated across a great land bridge to North America about this time period, and formed the nucleus of what was to become the race of American Indians. (1) This tends to support the observation that European witchcraft and American Indian shamanism have similar roots. B. The Roots of Western Civilization 1. Western Civilization began in Mesopotamia and the Nile Valley, where it traveled into Palestine and Greece. a. From Greece civilization traveled to Rome,and as the Roman Empire grew it spread to Spain, France, Germany and England. 2. Mesopotamia ( 3500 BC - 539 BC ) a. Mesopotamia ("the land between the rivers") is the name used to describe the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the southern area of which is mostly lowlying swampland and marshes. (1) The fertile lands of Mesopotamia lie between the desert and the mountains. The northern part has regular rainfall while the southern part, stretching down to the Arabian Gulf, suffers dry scorching summers from May to October. (a) In what is now the southern part of Iraq, Sumer existed as one of the world's first civilizations. b. Between 2800 and 2400 BC the city-states of Sumer were at their strongest and wealthiest. (1) The Goddess was worshipped under various names which were epithets, or characterizing phrases, such as 'Queen of Heaven' and 'Lady of the High Places'. The name of the city or town that She was the patroness for, was often attached to Her title making Her name even more specific. (a) An example of this is the temple erected about 3000 BC in the city-state of Uruk which was dedicated to the Queen of Heaven of Erech. (b) This city was made a major power and rival to its sister city Ur by Gilgamesh's son. c. About 2350 BC an ambitious king, named Sargon, attacked Sumer, and made it part of his huge Empire. His capitol of Agade gave us the name by which Sargons empire is known- the Akkadian Empire. (1) The Akkadian Empire was the first successful attempt to unite a huge area under the rule of one man. It eventually gained supremacy in about 1900 BC and gradually superseded the Summerians as the cultural and political leaders of the region. (a) The Akkadian language of the Babylonians became the international language of the Near East, just as French would become the language of diplomacy thousands of years later. (b) The new Babylonian culture incorporated the Sumerian religion, and the Sumerian language was adopted as the language of the liturgy much as Latin is used as the language of liturgy for Roman Catholics. (c) The sumerian Goddess, under the names Inanna, Eriskegan and Irnini, evolved into the great Babylonian Goddess Ishtar. d. Approximately 1600 BC Babylon was sacked by an Indo-European people known as the Hittites who came from Anatolia, off to the northwest. (1) During the confusion that ensued, the Kassites seized the throne of Babylon and ruled peacefully for 400 years. (a) Ishtar's power waned as the Babylonians were influenced by the warlike Hittites and Her temples were taken over by a male-dominated priesthood, which called the Goddess Tiamat and wrote stories of how their god Marduk had killed Her in the struggle for control of the region. e. In the centuries following 1103 BC the Assyrians rose to power and expanded into most of Mesopotamia from their homeland which lay between the cities of Asher and Nineveh on the Tigrus River. (1) In the eighth century, the Assyrians conquered most of Syria, Palestine, Phoenicia and had invaded Egypt as far as Thebes (Luxor) before the Egyptians drove them back. (a) Looking to legitimize their new empire, they 'married' their god Asher to Ishtar, whose followers had secretly kept Her worship alive. (b) The joining of Ashur with Ishtar produced a son named Ninurta, and this is the first formally recorded triad of Goddess, Consort, and Divine Child in the Near East. (2) From 631 to 539 BC much inter-city warfare occurred as the Assyrian empire fell apart. (a) In 539 BC Nabonius, the last king of Babylonia, surrendered to Cyrus II of Persia who was busy building the greatest empire ever attempted. 3. Anatolia a. Anatolia, which is also called Asia Minor, is a broad peninsula jutting westward from the Asian continent itself. To the north lies the Black Sea, to the south the easternmost part of the Mediterranean. At the entrance to the Black Sea are the Dardanelles and it is here that Asia comes closest to the continent of Europe. Not surprisingly, Anatolia has always been the main link between the Orient and the Occident. b. In Neolithic Anatolia (present day Turkey) the Great Goddess was worshiped in the shrines of Catal Huyuk around 6500 BC. c. Anatolia was invaded sometime before 2000 BC by the Indo- Europeans and a group of them settled in a part of Anatolia known as Hatti. The invaders and local people came to be known collectively as the Hittites. (1) These are the same Hittites who sacked Babylonia in 1600 BC and suppressed the worship of Ishtar in favor of their god Marduk. d. Most of the references to the Goddess in the literature and texts of Anatolia alluded to the older Hattian deities despite the fact that the only records allowed to survive were written after the conquest of Anatolia by the Indo-Europeans. (1) One of the most important female deities to survive was the Sun Goddess Arinna. After the conquest she was assigned a husband who was symbolized as a storm god. (a) At the time of the Hittite invasions of other lands, many of the people who were Goddess-worshippers may have fled to the west. The renowned temple of the Goddess in the city of Ephesus was the target of the apostle Paul's zealous missionary efforts (Acts 19:27). This temple remained active until 380 AD. 4. Crete a. The Aegean Sea is an area of the Mediterranean, lying between the mainland of Greece and the western coast of Anatolia. The Aegean Sea is dotted with a great number of mountainous islands and the largest of these is Crete, which is just about 60 miles southeast of Greece. (1) Crete was the society that is most repeatedly thought to have been matrilineal and possibly matriarchal from Neolithic times to the Dorian invasion. (a) Reverance of the double headed ax as a symbol of the Mother Goddess and a reverence for the sexual vitality of bulls were two notable aspects of Crete's early culture. (b) Bull leaping is thought to have been the origin of Spain's bullfighting, although in Crete the bull was never harmed. (2) After viewing the artifacts and murals at Knossos, the Archaeological Museum at Iraklion and other museums in Crete, there is little doubt that the principal sacred being on Crete for several millenia was the Goddess and that women acted as Her clergy. 5. Egypt (3100 to 30 BC) a. Egypt is a hot, desert land divided by the fertile valley of the Nile river. Hardly any rain falls there and the summers are scorching hot. Even today, most of Egypt is arid desert. (1) The Cultivation, a strip of land on each side of the Nile river, is one of the most fertile stretches of land in the world. (a) Although the Cultivation is only 12 1/2 miles wide, it runs for about 620 miles from Aswan in the south to the broad farmlands of the delta where the Nile empties into the Mediterranean. b. In prehistoric Egypt, the Goddess held sway in Upper Egypt (the south) as Nekhebt and She was depicted in the form of a vulture. (1) The people of Lower Egypt, including the northern delta region, worshipped the Goddess as Ua Zit (Great Serpent) and depictions of Her show Her as a cobra. c. From about 3000 BC onward the Goddess was said to have existed when nothing else had been created. (1) She was known as Nut, Net, or Nit which was probably derived from Nekhebt. (a) According to Egyptian mythology, it was the Goddess who first put Ra, the sun god, in the sky. (b) Other texts of Egypt tell of the Goddess as Hathor in this role as creatrix of existence, explaining that She took form as a serpent at the time. d. In Egypt the concept of the Goddess always remained vital. Eventually the Goddess evolved into a more composite Goddess known as Isis. (1) Isis (Au Set) incorporated the aspects of both Ua Zit and Hathor. Isis was also closely associated with the Goddess as Nut, who was mythologically recorded as Her Mother; in paintings Isis wears the wings of Nekhebt. (a) Isis was also associated with another triad which included Her husband, Osiris, and their son Horus. (b) Isis' cult was introduced into Rome and the last temple of Isis was closed in 394 AD by Theodosios. 6. Canaan (8000 - 63 BC) a. The biblical land of Canaan, the 'land of milk and honey' was an area about 90 miles wide running north and south along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean. (1) In modern times the region includes the states of Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, and part of Syria. The area made up of Jordan and Israel used to be known as Palestine. b. Images of the Goddess, some dating back as far as 7000 BC, offer silent testimony to the most ancient worship of the Queen of Heaven in the land that is most often remembered today as the homeland of Judaism and Christianity. (1) In exploring the influence and importance of the worship of the Goddess in Canaan in biblical times, we find that as Ashtoreth, Asherah, Astarte, Attoret, Anath, or simply as Elat or Baalat, she was the principal deity of such great Canaanite cities as Tyre, Sidon, Ascalon, Beth Anath, Aphaca, Byblos, and Ashtoreth Karnaim. c. In Egypt, the Hebrews had known the worship of the Goddess as Isis or Hathor. For four generations they had been living in a land where women held a very high status and the matrilineal descent system continued to function at most periods. (1) Judging from the number of Hebrews who emerged from Egypt in the Exodus, as compared with the family of the the twelve sons who supposedly entered it four generations earlier, it seems likely that a great number of those Hebrews known as Israelites may actually have been Egyptians, Canaanites, Semitic nomads and other Goddess-worshipping peoples who had joined together in Egypt. d. Archaeological records and artifacts reveal that the religion of the Goddess still flourished in many of the cities of Canaan even after the Hebrews invaded it and claimed it as their own on the authority that their god had given it to them. (1) And just to the east, all most at their doorstep was Babylon, where the temples of Ishtar were still going strong. 7. Persia (3000 - 331 BC) a. Throughout its early history Iran was often invaded by nomadic peoples. (1) Some came through the Elbruz mountains east of the Caspian Sea. (a) Others, like the Medes and Persians, entered Iran through the Caucasus mountains in the Northwest. b. By the 9th century BC the most powerful group in Iran was the Medes, who kept the Persians as their servants. (1) In 612 BC the Medes, together with the Babylonians, captured Nineveh, Ashur, and Kalhu, which were in the heart of the Assyrian empire. (a) The Assyrian empire collapsed and its vast territories were divided between the Medes and the Babylonians. c. About 550 BC the king of the Persians led a revolt against the Medes and from that point on the Persians, led by their King Cyrus the Great, ruled over Iran. (1) Cyrus captured Babylon and gained control of the whole former Babylonian empire. (a) Virtually all of western Asia was now under Persian rule. (2) The nest two kings extended Persian rule to Egypt in the south and to the borders of India in the east. (a) Egypt revolted later and won its independence for a short time, but was forced back into the empire just in time to be part of the prize won by Alexander the Great of Macedonia when he conquered the Persian empire in 331 BC. II. PEOMAGOGIC HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSAL GODDESS RELIGION A. Definition of Poemagogic 1. Term coined by Anton Ehrenzweig a. The special function of inducing and symbolizing the ego's creativity. (1) It has a dreamlike 'slippery' quality. (a) One aspect slips into another just like a dream. B. Legend of the Universal Goddess 1. The craft is a religion which has an unbroken tradition that dates back to Paleolithic times (approximately 35,000 years). a. As the last ice age retreated the tribe of nomadic hunters worshipped the Goddess of the Wild Things and Fertility and the God of the Hunt. (1) Semi-permanent homes were set up in caves carved out by the glaciers. (a) Shamans and Shamanka conducted rites within hard to reach portions of the caves, which were painted with scenes of the hunt, magical symbols and the tribes totem animals. 2. The transition from Hunter-Gatherers to agriculturists was reflected in the change of the 'Lady of the Wild Things and Fertility' to the 'Barley Mother' and the 'God of the Hunt' to the 'Lord of the Grain'. a. The importance of the phases of the moon and the sun was reflected in the rituals that evolved around sowing, reaping, and letting out to pasture. 3. Villages grew into towns and cities and society changed from tribal to communal to urban. a. Paintings on the plastered walls of shrines depicted the Goddess giving birth to the Divine Child - Her son, consort and seed. (1) The Divine Child was expected to take a special interest in the city dwellers, just as His Mother and Father had taken an interest in the people who lived away from the cities. b. Mathematics, astronomy, poetry, music, medicine, and the understanding of the workings of the human mind, developed side by side with the lore of the deeper mysteries. 4. Far to the east, nomadic tribes devoted themselves to the arts of war and conquest. a. Wave after wave of invasion swept over Europe from the Bronze Age onward. (1) Warrior gods drove the Goddess' people out from the fertile lowlands and the fine temples, into the hills and high mountains, where they became known as the Sidhe, the Picts or Pixies, and the Fair Folk or the Fairies. b. The mythological cycle of Goddess and Consort, Mother and Child, which had held sway for 30,000 years was changed to conform to the values of the conquering patriarchies. (1) In Canaan, Yahweh fought a bloody battle to ensure that his followers had "no other gods before me." (a) The Goddess was given a masculine name and assigned the role of a false god. (b) Along with the suppression of the Goddess, women lost most of the rights they had previously enjoyed. (2) In Greece, the Goddess in Her many aspects, was "married" to the new gods resulting in the Olympic Pantheon. (a) The Titans, who the Olympians displaced were more in touch with the primal aspects of the Goddess. (3) The victorious Celts in Gaul and the British Isles, adopted many features of the Old Religion and incorporated them into the Druidic Mysteries. (a) The Faerie, breeding cattle in the stony hills and living in turf-covered round huts preserved the Craft. (b) They celebrated the eight feasts of the Wheel of the Year with wild processions on horseback, singing and chanting along the way and lighting ritual bonfires on the mountaintops. (c) It was said that the invaders often joined in the revels and many rural families, along with some royalty, could claim to have Faerie blood. (d) The College of the Druids and the Poetic Colleges of Ireland and Wales were said to have preserved many of the old mysteries. 5. In the late 1400's the Catholic Church attempted to obliterate its competitors, and the followers of the Old Religion were forced to 'go underground.' a. They broke up into small groups called Covens and, isolated from each other, formed what would later be known as the Family Traditions. (1) Inevitably, parts of the Craft were forgotten or lost and what survives today is fragmentary. 6. After nearly five centuries of persecution and terror, came the Age of Disbelief. a. Memory of the True Craft had faded as non-members who could remember how they once had met openly died and those who came after never knew of them. (1) All that was left were the hideous stereotypes which were ludicrous, laughable or just plain tragic. 7. With the repeal of the last Witchcraft Act in England in 1954, the Craft started to re-emerge as an alternative to a world that viewed the planet as a resource to be exploited. III THE ARCHETYPE OF THE GODDESS A. The Craft has always been a religion of poetry, not theology. 1. The myths, legends, and teachings are recognized as metaphors for 'That which cannot be told'; the absolute reality our minds can never completely express because of the limitations placed on it through biology. a. The mysteries of the absolute can never be explained - only felt or intuited. b. Symbols and ritual acts are used to trigger unusual states of awareness in which insights that go beyond words are revealed. (1) When the phrase 'secrets that cannot be told' is used, it is not a matter of oaths taken or the threat of penalties that might be imposed. (a) The true meaning is that the inner knowledge literally cannot be expressed in words. (b) It can only be conveyed by experience and no one can legislate what insight another person may draw from any given experience. (c) This is why the Craft is not a spectator religion, where you can refuse to put any effort in and gain anything meaningful for your own development. (d) This is also why entrenched priesthoods foster the belief that non-priests must go through a hierarchy of priests, heads of churches, and eventually through chosen prophets and sons of the deity in order to receive special attention by the deity. B. The primary symbol for 'that which cannot be told' in the Craft is the Mother Goddess. She has an infinite number of aspects and thousands of names because She is the reality behind many metaphors for the creation of the universe. 1. Unlike patriarchal systems, the Craft sees the Goddess as giving birth to the world rather than creating it out of nothing. a. The fertile Lands were made from Her Flesh, the Waters from Her own bodily Fluids, the Mountains from Her Bones, and the Winds from Her own Breath. (1) The Goddess does not rule the world, She IS the world and since She gave birth to us all, we have the potential to reconnect with the spirit of Her in all Her magnificent diversity. (2) Religion for us, then is a matter of relinking with the divine within and with Her outer manifestations in all the human and natural world. (a) One of the basic beliefs that the Craft is founded upon is what Stewart Farrar call the 'Theory of Levels', which recognizes that reality exists and operates on many planes. (b) A simplified but generally accepted list would be - physical, etherical, astral, mental and spiritual. (c) It is recognized that each of these levels has its own laws and that these laws, while special to their own levels, are compatible with each other and their mutual resonance governs the interaction between the levels. (d) The point of this excursion into the esoterica of how the universe works, is to point out that we do not separate our physical existence from our spiritual existence. In the Craft, spirit and flesh are joined together and physical aspects of being human such as sex are not considered 'dirty ' or 'sinful'. C. The importance of the Craft for women, is a direct outgrowth in the decline of Goddess religions and the rise of God dominated religions. 1. Male images of divinity are characterized in both western and eastern religions today, and women are thus deprived of religious models and spiritual systems that can speak to female needs and experience. a. In the extremes of male dominated religions, women are not encouraged to explore their own strengths and realizations. (1) They are taught to submit to male authority, to identify masculine perceptions as their spiritual ideals, to deny their bodies and sexuality, and to fit their insights into a male mold, no matter how ludicrus that may seem. 2. The image of the Goddess inspires women to see themselves in a very different light. a. As Daughters of the Goddess, they are divine, their bodies are sacred, and the changing phases of their lives are holy. (1) Their aggression is healthy, and their anger can be purifying. (a) Their power to create and nurture as well as their ability to limit and to destroy, when necessary, is seen as the very force that sustains all life. (2) Through the Goddess, women can discover their strengths, enlighten their minds, own their bodies and celebrate their emotions. (a) They can move beyond narrow constricting roles and become whole people. 3. For women, the Goddess is the symbol of the inmost self and the beneficent, nurturing, liberating power within all women. a. The cosmos is modelled on the female body, which is sacred. (1) All phases of life are sacred and age is a blessing, not a curse. (a) The Goddess does not limit women to their bodies. She awakens their minds and spirits and emotions. (b) Through Her, they can know the power of anger and aggression, as well as the power of love. D. The Image of the Goddess has a great deal to offer men as well as women. 1. Men are also oppressed in a God ruled, patriarchal society. a. Men are encouraged to identify with a model that no human being can possibly live up to. (1) Men are expected to be mini-rulers of their own very narrow universes. (a) Men are internally split between a spiritual self, that is supposed to conquer their baser animal instincts, and their emotional selves. (b) They are at war with themselves. In the west, they are expected to overcome the tendency to sin, while in the east they must suppress the desires of the ego. (c) Needless to say, no man comes away from this type of struggle undamaged. 2. Every male who is raised by a mother, will from birth carry within him a strong feminine imprint. a. This is so, because women give birth to males, nurture them at their breast, and in our culture, are primarily responsible for their care until they reach adolescence. (1) The symbol of the Goddess allows men to experience and integrate the feminine side of their nature without danger of losing those feelings which are the touchstone of their masculinity. (a) The Goddess becomes: the mother who will never abandon her child: refuse to nurture him when he is feeling his most vulnerable: tempers her justice with compassion and understanding, all these in ways not always possible in human women and other men. 3. For a man, the Goddess is his own hidden Female self, as well as being the Universal Life force. a. She embodies all the qualities society teaches him not to recognize in himself. (1) His first experience with Her may therefore be somewhat stereotypical, in that She appears as the cosmic lover, the gentle nurturer, the eternally desired Other, or the Muse. All that he is not. (a) As he becomes more whole and becomes aware of his own 'female' qualities, She seems to change, to show him a new face. Always holding up a mirror, She shows what may seem ungraspable to him. (b) He may chase Her forever and She will elude him, but through the attempt, he will grow until he too learns to find Her within. IV THE ARCHETYPE OF THE HORNED GOD A. The Horned God is born of a Virgin Mother 1. He is a model of male power that is free from father-son rivalry or 'Oedipal' conflicts. a. He has no father, because He is his own father. (1) As He grows and passes through the changes on the Wheel, He remains in relationship with the prime nurturing force of the Goddess. (a) His power is drawn directly from the Goddess and He participates in life through Her. 2. The Horned God represents powerful, positive male qualities that derive from deeper sources than the stereotypical violence and emotional crippling of men present in our society. a. When a man strives to emulate the God, he is free to be wild without being cruel, angry without being violent, sexual without being coercive, spiritual without being unsexed, and able to truly love. 3. For men the God is the image of inner power, and of a potency that is more than merely sexual. a. He is the undivided Self, in which mind is not split from the body, nor spirit from flesh. (1) United, both can function at the peak of creative and emotional power. b. Men are not subservient or relegated to second class spiritual citizenship on the Craft. (1) But neither are they automatically elevated to a higher status than women, as they are in other religions. (a) Men in the Craft must interact with strong, empowered women who do not pretend to be anything less than what they are. (b) Many men find this prospect disconcerting at first. 4. For women raised in our present culture, the God begins as a symbol of all those qualities that have been identified as male, and that they, as women, have not been allowed or encouraged to own. a. The symbol of the God, like that of the Goddess, is both internal and external. (1) Through meditation and ritual a woman invokes the God and creates his image within herself. (a) In this way she connects with those qualities that she may lack. (2) As her understanding moves beyond culturally imposed limitations her image of the God changes and deepens. (a) He becomes the Creation, which is not simply a replica of oneself, but something different and of a different order. (b) True Creation implies separation as the very act of birth is a relinquishment or letting go. (c) Through the God, women know this power within themselves, and so, like the Goddess, the God can empower women. 5. In the Craft, the cosmos is no longer modeled on external male control. a. The hierarchy is dissolved and the heavenly chain of command is broken. (1) The "divinely revealed" texts are seen as poetry not the "word of God." (a) Instead, a man must connect with the Goddess who is immanent in the world, in nature, in women, and in his own feelings. (b) She is immanent in everything that childhood religions taught needed to be overcome, transcended, and conquered, in order to be loved by 'God'. b. The very aspects of the Craft that seem threatening also hold out to men a new and vibrant spiritual possibility: that of wholeness, connection, and freedom. (1) Men of courage find relationships with strong powerful women exhilarating and they welcome the chance to know the Female within the self. (a) They enjoy the chance to grow beyond their culturally imposed limitations and become whole. c. Within Covens, women and men can experience group support and the affection of other women and men. (1) They can interact in situations that are not competitive or antagonistic. (a) Men in Covens can become true friends with other men, without giving up any part of themselves, or subjecting themselves to derision or ridicule. V. ETHICS AND VALUES SHARED BY MOST MEMBERS OF THE CRAFT A. The ethics of the Craft are more positive than negative. 1. Rather than being exhorted with a plethora of "thou shall nots" the Craft is guided by principles more along the lines of "blessed be they who...." a. The Craft is a joyous creed; it is also a socially and ecologically responsible one. Witches delight in the world and their involvement in it on all levels. (1) They enjoy their minds, their psyches, their bodies, their senses and sensitivities; and they delight in relating, on all these planes, with their fellow creatures and the Earth Herself. 2. Wiccans believe in a joyful balance of all human functions. a. This outlook is perfectly expressed in the Charge of the Goddess, which is an integral part of most of the rituals of all witches. (1) "Let My worship be within the heart that rejoices; for behold, all acts of love and pleasure are My rituals, and therefore let there be beauty and strength, power and compassion, honor and humility, mirth and reverence within you." (a) This provides a model of a balanced ethic which presents eight qualities that are positive and not restrictive. (b) Compassion means empathy, not condescension; humility means a realistic appraisal of your own stage of development; reverence means a sense of wonder. (c) The Wiccan is always conscious that compassion must be partnered with power, humility with honor, and reverence with mirth. 3. Love of life in all its forms, is the basic ethic of the Craft. a. We are bound to honor and respect all living things and to serve the Life Force. (1) It has been said that we all serve the Goddess, even if only as compost. 4. Witchcraft recognizes that life feeds on life. a. We must kill in order to survive, but life is never taken needlessly, never squandered or wasted. (1) To ensure the survival of the species, females are not hunted as game, for they share the sacred bond of motherhood with the Goddess. (a) Serving the Life Force also means working to preserve the diversity of natural life, preventing the poisoning of the environment and the destruction of species. 5. The World is seen as the manifestation of the Goddess a. What happens in the World is important because the Goddess is directly affected. (1) While the seasons of the year renew the Goddess, She needs the participation of Her creations to keep the cycle going. (a) This is the real function of the Sabbats. They reinforce the ties between humankind and the Planet that gives us life. (b) Unlike other gods, that allow humanity to exist at their sufferance, the Goddess needs us just as much as we need Her, and we are partners in the pageant of Life. 6. Justice is seen as an inner sense that each act brings about consequences that must be faced responsibly. a. This is based on the belief that all things are interdependent and interrelated. (1) Therefore, we are all mutually responsible because an act that harms anyone harms us all. (a) This is summed up in the form of a law known as Karma, which dictates that all actions bring about changes. (2) There is a saying in the Craft that illustrates the effects of Karma known as the 'Threefold Law of Return' (a) 'Whatever is sent out is returned three times over.' (b) It is a sort of amplified 'Golden Rule' 7. Honor is a guiding principle of the Craft. a. It is an inner sense of pride and self respect (1) Refusing to do anything which would make you ashamed of yourself strengthens your magical will and leads to the self respect that comes from setting your own course, guided by your own inner sense of right or wrong. (a) This makes you rightfully proud of past accomplishments and encourages you to stay the course. b. The Goddess is honored in oneself and in others. (1) Women are respected and valued for all their human qualities. (a) The Self, one's individuality and unique way of being, is highly valued. (2) Like Nature, the Goddess loves diversity. (a) Oneness is attained not through losing the Self, but through realizing the Self's potential. 8. Self development and the full realizatin of one's unique yet many aspected potential is a moral duty for a witch. a. Life is seen as a gift from the Goddess and it is up to us to push the evolution to mankin (1) If suffering exists, it is not our task to reconcile ourselves to it. (a) We must work for change in all ways at hand. b. That which helps this evolution to come about is seen as good and desirable while actions that thwart it are to be avoided because each of us is a factor in the cosmic evolutionary process. ************************************************************************************* I. THE MODERN SCIENTIFIC VIEW OF THE UNIVERSE A. Foundation 1. Nearly three thousands years ago, the Greeks started to emigrate eastwards towards Ionia. They settled on the islands in the Aegean Sea and on the coastline of Asia Minor. a. The conditions found in Ionia were difficult. (1) Backed by inhospitable mountain ranges, they settled in small walled towns and supported themselves with dry farming, capable of producing only some olives and a little wine. (a) With farming ruled out as an option for survival, the Greeks turned towards the sea and soon found that they were the neighbors of two very large empires, the Babylonians and the Egyptians. (b) Trade with these two empires seemed to be the natural solution to their problem, but they needed to resolve some basic questions concerning the founding of their society. b. Both Babylonian and Egyptian cultures had developed urban civilizations based on an abundance of arable land and plenty of water. (1) Their societies were theocratic, ruled by kings with magical powers. (a) There had been little technological or scientific novelty, due to the extreme regularity of their physical environment and the rigidity of their social structures, which were based on the need to build and maintain vast irrigation systems. (b) Babylonian mathematics and astronomy were restricted subjects whose study was permitted only to the priesthood. Egyptian geometry served exclusively to build pyramids and measure the area of inundated land or the volume of water reservoirs. (2) Both cultures developed mythical explanations for Creation. (a) With gods being responsible for all aspects of the world, and with minimal science and technology developed for practical necessities, their simple cosmology was complete. (b) Unlike the Greeks, the environment made no demands on them which they were not able to meet. So other than figuring out how to kill their enemies more efficiently, there was no inducement to learn to think or to develop their science and technology further. c. The colonial Greeks were forced by their environment to adopt a more dynamic outlook. (1) With no theocratic traditions to hold them back, they rejected monarchies at an early stage. (a) They opted, instead, for republican city- states in which a small number of slave-owners governed by mutual consent. (2) Babylonian astronomy, which had aided priests to make magic predictions, was pressed into service as an aid to maritime navigation. (3) Contact with the Egyptians had planted the seeds of wonder in the intellectuals who accompanied the Greek traders on their trips around the Aegean. (a) Rejecting the cosmologies of the Egyptians they formed the rudiments of what was to become philosophy. (4) Seeking explanations to the world around them, they found ways of exploring nature in order to explain and control it. (a) The Ionians took the geometry developed by the Egyptians and made a tool with many applications; such as measuring the distance from the coast to a ship at sea. (b) Geometry became the basic instrument for measuring all things. All natural phenomena including light and sound, as well as those of astronomy, existed and could be measured in exclusively geometrical space. (c) Simple analyses of natural phenomena such as water, beaches, clay deposits, phosphorescence, magnetism, evaporation and condensation as well as the behavior of the winds and the changes of temperature throughout the year led to the discovery that nature is made up of opposites. (5) These simple analyses of phenomena and the observation of the presence of opposites combined with the political and economic structure of Ionian society produced the dominant intellectual structure which is the basis of modern western science. (a) Geometry rendered the cosmos accessible to examination according to a common standard, quantitative scale. (b) Together with the concept of pairs of opposites, geometry was to become the foundation for a rational system of philosophy that would underpin Western culture for thousands of years. (c) Rational thought followed a new logical technique developed by Aristotle called the syllogism, which provided an intellectual structure for the reconciliation of opposing views. (d) In this way, the Ionians before him, and Aristotle, produced a system of thought that would guide men from the limited observations of personal experience to more general truths about nature. B. The Middle Ages 1. During the latter part of the Roman empire, interest in science as founded by the Greeks waned and practically all Greek manuscripts went to Arabia. a. In a way, Greek science was preserved for posterity by the Arabs, who themselves added very little to it. (1) They did introduce to science the so called Arabic system of numbers, which used the zero as a place holder. (a) To be sure, Alhazen produced a work on optics, but generally speaking Greek science was not improved upon to any appreciable extent by its translation into Arabic. (b) Science was still based upon the authority of Aristotle. 2. Between 700 and 1100 AD, a beginning was made toward a revival of learning in Europe. a. Large universities developed under the shelter of the Church. (1) Trade spread, and both Greek and Arabian manuscripts gradually found their way back into Europe. (a) The Crusades assisted in this process. b. Since the Church had survived the Roman state and had become all powerful, it was natural that the revival of learning should take place under its influence. (1) Many of the scientific manuscripts were translated from the original Greek into Latin by monks, in monasteries where merchants and knights bringing treasures from the east would often seek shelter for the night. (a) These scholars were satisfied just to make exact translations, and so the science which they passed on to the world through the Church was the original Aristotelian version. (2) Although the church had re-established science in the various large universities, it is important to remember that Church domination flavoured it to suit itself. (a) The doctrines of Aristotle came to have the power of law behind them. (b) Truth was not discoverable, by that time truth was dictated by the Church. (c) It became a crime of the first order even to question the Church sponsored views of Aristotle, to say nothing of suggesting that experimentation might be a better way to establish the truth. C. The New Awakening 1. During the Renaissance, universities were able to free themselves from Church rule and science was able to see the light of day without being shrouded in theology. a. All of the following produced revolutionary ideas which led to their authors spending some part of their lives in prison because, while the Church did not have a stranglehold on the human mind, it still ruled with an iron fist and was always on the lookout for heresy. (1) Copernicus developed the heliocentric theory of the universe. (2) Galileao, Tycho Brahe, and Kepler established the fundamental ideas of modern celestial mechanics, based upon observation first, and theorizing afterward, thus revolutionizing scientific thought. (a) Galileo in particular stressed the idea of controlled experimentation to such a degree that today he is recognized as the father of the modern scientific method based upon inductive rather than deductive reasoning. (b) Galileo carried observation to the quantitative stage by making accurate measurements. He truly emphasized the 'how', as contrasted with the 'why' of Aristotle. (c) By quantitative observations on falling bodies and other mechanical motions, assisted by instruments of his own invention to improve the accuracy of his measurements, Galileo laid the foundation for the discoveries of Newton. (3) Sir Isaac Newton is considered by many to be the greatest scientific genius the world has produced thus far. (a) He crystallized the scientific thought of his time into a few fundamental statements now accepted as laws of nature. (b) These include three famous laws of motion and the law of gravitation in the field of mechanics alone. (c) In addition, he invented calculus and contributed greatly to the field of optics. (d) His role was primarily that of a co-ordinator of information or a systematizer of knowledge. He formulated the over all pattern by which scientific knowledge was to be organized in the great classical period that was to follow his time. D. Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Classical Period. 1. Science was really gathering momentum by this time and becoming very complicated. a. The various branches of physics received recognition as fields that, while related, were becoming too complex to be included under the general heading of physics. b. Chemistry was coming into its own after a balky start as the secret science of Alchemy. c. Electricity was an infant science, with a great deal of promise. E. The Modern Period (1890 to Present) 1. With the discovery of radioactivity and x-rays, along with the isolation of the electron, and the formulation of the concept of the electrical structure of matter, science moved into today. a. In the early days, science was concerned with the observation of natural phenomena and the search for explanations of WHY they existed. (1) As the emphasis shifted to HOW the phenomena worked the body of knowledge grew dramatically. (a) Many varied disciplines developed to encompass general fields of specialized knowledge and sciences such as geology, oceanography, and meteorology came into their own. (b) In the light of this tendency to form subgroups, the mother of all sciences, which was and is dedicated to the study of the physical world, came to be known as Physics. b. The field of physics deals with three 'realities' of the physical world and has developed three interconnected world views to explain them. (1) Classical Newtonian Model of the Universe (a) This model of the universe works well when you deal with objects consisting of large numbers of atoms, and velocities which are small compared to the speed of light. In other words, our mundane world. (2) Einstein's Relativistic Model of the Universe (a) This model works well when considering objects on a planetary and larger scale that may be many light years away from each other. In this model the shortest distance between two points is not always a straight line, because gravity curves space. (3) Quantum Theory of the Universe (a) Quantum theory was developed to explain the behavior of subatomic particles. It is similar to Relativistic physics in that it deals with speeds approaching, and sometimes exceeding, the speed of light, but it considers small groups and singular particles at a time. II. THE CRAFT VIEW OF THE UNIVERSE A. Craft cosmology is rooted in the paleolithic Shaman's insight of the universe being made up of swirls of energy. 1. Everything is seen as vortexes of moving forces which are either swirling into existence or out again. a. These vortexes of force set up currents in a sea of everchanging possibilities. 2. The appearance of separateness exists where fixed objects exist within a linear stream of time. a. Reality, as we know it, is actually a temporary solidification of a field of energies into a physical form. B. Rationale of the Two Principles a. Stewart Farrar has proposed the following explanation of how Crafters integrate every phenomenon from chemistry to clairvoyance into a philosophical framework that allows them to constantly explain, examine, develop and improve their philosophy. (1) The Theory of Levels maintains that a reality exists and operates on many planes. (a) That each of these levels has its own laws. (b) That these sets of laws, while special to their own levels, are compatible with each other. (c) That mutual resonance governs the interaction between the different levels. (2) The Theory of Polarity maintains that all activity, all manifestation, arises from the interaction of pairs and complementary opposites. (a) Pairs of opposites such as positive and negative, light and dark, content and form, male and female are not conflicts between 'good and evil', but a creative tension like that between the earth and the sky in a lightning storm. III MODES OF PERCEPTION A. Ordinary Waking Consciousness 1. Sees the world as made up of separate parts of matter. a. While some of the arrangements of matter are recognized as living, few are recognized as intelligent. b. Evolved as a means of survival. (1) Allows a differentiation between things that are potentially threatening and those that are not. (a) It works by narrowing the field of conscious perception to one thing at a time, isolating it from its surroundings. (b) Starhawk describes it as viewing a dark forest with a narrow beam flashlight that illuminates a lone leaf or a solitary stone. c. It casts a net across reality which allows us to break the whole down into pieces which can be examined one at a time or fitted together to get the 'whole picture'. (1) It is based on a culturally transmitted system of classification which acknowledges the existence of phenomena that is perceived as valid by the majority and ignores anything that is not. B. Extraordinary Waking Consciousness 1. Views the world as broad, holistic and undifferentiated. a. Allows us to see patterns and relationships between all the vortexes of energy that make up the universe. (1) Frees us from the constraints of our culture, but prevents us from sharing it with others who have not experienced it. (a) The psychic and magical aspects of the Craft are concerned with shifting into and out of this mode of perception at will. C. The Hemispheres of the Brain 1. The brain is actually composed of two specialized organs, which provide us with our perception of reality. a. The brain is made up of several different structures, which are believed to have evolved as we became more adaptive to our environment. (1) The Spinal Cord (a) This is the oldest part of the brain, stretching from the neck down to the base of the spine. (b) The two principle functions associated with the spinal cord are simple reflexes and to provide an electrical connection between the brain which controls the body and the nerves which cause the muscles to move the body and provide feedback to the brain. (2) The Brain Stem (a) This is situated on top of the spinal cord. It still possesses the tubular form of the spinal cord and in some respects can be thought of as an extension of it. (b) There is a very intricate network of nerves in the brainstem known as the reticular formation. The reticular formation is the central point from which and to which all nerves run between the body and the brain. (c) Visualizing the reticular formation as a telephone operators switchboard helps to understand its function. It sends all stimuli that has not proven to be benign to the brain for immediate attention and suppresses all other stimuli. (d) The brain is still aware of all of the other stimuli, but it need not focus on all of it at once. (3) The Cerebellum (a) Connected to the brainstem is the cerebellum, which somewhat resembles the cortex in terms of its neuronal structure though it is much older than the cortex. (b) The cerebellum is primarily concerned with the co- ordination of movements. It seems to integrate the information coming from all the senses with all the muscles so as to produce smooth, finely tuned movements rather than jerky unco- ordinated movements. (4) The Midbrain (a) The midbrain consists of the Thalamus, the Limbic System, and the Hypothalamus. (b) The Thalamus sits on top of the brain and relays information from the sensory organs to the cortex and between different portions of the cortex and the reticular formation and the limbic system. (c) The Limbic System is a group of structures in the middle of the brain that play an important role in emotion and motivation. Included in the limbic system is the pineal gland, which is thought by some to be the 'third eye.' (d) Just below the thalamus is the Hypothalamus, which regulates the internal balance of the body. The pituitary gland is located here and it is the gland which tells all the other glands when to produce hormones. (5) The Neocortex (a) The Neocortex, or Cortex, as it is commonly called, makes up only one quarter of the brains total volume, but it contains 75% of all the neurons that make up the brain. (b) The cortex is also known by its greyish color which is a result of a greater density of blood cells in this region. For this reason, the cortex is sometimes called 'grey matter' and the rest of the brain is called 'white matter.' (c) Some areas of the cortex play particular roles in sensory activity. The rear of the cortex is associated with the processing of visual information, a small area on the side with auditory information, and a strip extending from the top center of the cortex down each side is concerned with the sense of touch and also with muscular control. 2. Large parts of the cortex do not appear to be very specific in their function. a. Rather, they seem to be concerned with the integration of information from several different senses. b. In other words, the cortex builds up a total world view based on all the information that is relayed by the body's senses. c. In reality, the cortex is not just one structure, but two, which appear to have developed separate, but complementary, specializations. (1) The left side of the cortex seems to have specialized in analysis. (a) It is here that math ability is found, along with understanding language and a sense of linear time. (2) The right side of the cortex seems to have specialized in synthesis. (a) Creativity, all forms of art, the sense of rhythm and music and a distinct lack of time sense characterize the states of consciousness which are attributed to the right side of the cortex. d. To make things really interesting, these two sides of the cortex are connected by a mass of nerves, which form what is called the corpus callosum. (1) It just so happens that the corpus callosum wires the brain up so that the right side of the body is controlled by the left side of the brain and vice versa. IV. THE CONCEPTS OF THE SELF A. Classical Psychoanalysis 1. Freudian and Jungian Psychology a. The Id and the Personal and Collective Unconscious (1) Contains sensations, emotions, basic drives, image memory, intuition and diffuse perception. b. The Ego (1) Organizes the impressions of the unconscious, gives those impressions names, and classifies them into systems. c. The Super-Ego (1) A set of verbally understood precepts, that encourages us to make judgments about right and wrong according to the society in which we reside. 2. Transactional Analysis (T/A) a. Child (1) Corresponds to the Id and the Personal and Collective Unconscious. b. Adult (1) Corresponds to the Ego c. Parent (1) Corresponds to the Super-Ego B. The Craft Concept of the Three Selves 1. Younger Self or Child a. Corresponds to the Child mode of T/A (1) Indirectly experiences the world, through the holistic awareness of the right hemisphere of the brain. (a) Due to its limited verbal ability, Younger Self communicates through images, emotions, sensations, dreams, visions, and physical symptoms. 2. Talking Self
	I. MAGIC IN THEORY A. Origins of the word Magic 1. Derived from the greek "Magike Techne" meaning the art of the Magi. a. The Magi were priests of ancient Persia (Iran) who also practiced in Chaldea and Babylon. (1) They were similar to the Druids, in that they wore white robes and favored a simple mode of life and a vegetarian diet. (2) The Magi worshipped no idols. (a) They chose the Divine and Sacred Fire as the symbol of their Divine Being. (b) The Divine Fire burned in their sanctuaries and was never allowed to go out. (c) Parallels to this exist in the practices of the Vestal Virgins in ancient Rome and the Presence Lamps that are always kept burning over the altars of some Roman Catholic churches. 2. The Greeks were unaware of any other caste of priests that practiced the magical arts so they thought the Magi were responsible for them. a. This shows how isolated and ill-informed the ancient peoples were of their own world. (1) The Egyptians had quite a formidable magical system based on the Egyptian Book of the Dead many years before the Magi appeared in Persia. There is also a Tibetan Book of the Dead, which details a magical system derived from Tibetan funeral rites. 3. The Greeks may have gained their root word for magic from the Indo-European root word MAGH (meaning to be able, to have the power to act.) 4. Aleister Crowley started the custom of spelling magic as MAGICK as he felt it would help in differentiating between the illusions that are the stock in trade of stage magicians and real magic as practiced by serious students of the occult. B. Working Definition of Magic 1. The ability to recognize and understand the underlying forces of nature and the laws which govern them. a. Starhawk pares this down to the ability to change consciousness at will. (1) To someone who understands these laws, magic is a very natural part of the Universe. (a) People who do not understand these laws or who refuse to recognize them, see magic as a supernatural act performed against God and therefore unnatural. C. Foundation of Magical Theory 1. All of magical theory is based on the development of the human brain and subsequent attempts to gain control over a hostile environment. a. The single most important development in the evolution of humankind was the development and subsequent use of the cerebellum. (1) Until humans developed a 'higher brain' they had only their 'animal brain' to guide them through life. (a) This 'animal brain' is responsible for those functions that people sometimes call instincts, but are really functions of the autonomic nervous system. (b) The autonomic nervous system monitors and maintains vital functions such as heartbeat, digestion, circulation, hormone production and immediate responses to dangerous situations. (c) Recent research in Biofeedback and Cybernetics have revealed that the autonomic nervous system (known commonly as the automatic nervous system, because it takes no conscious thought to operate) is actually capable of being directly controlled by conscious thought. b. With the development of the 'higher brain', early humanity was able to see the world as an integrated whole in which they played an independent role. (1) The development of this 'higher brain' led to self- consciousness and started us on the road to questioning how our world worked and how we could gain control of our environment. (2) The subsequent development of the cerebrum into two specialized organs interconnected so that they could work independently or co-operatively as needed, led to the ability to examine the world from two different viewpoints. (a) The right half of the brain enabled humankind to form holistic concepts of the interactions of the forces of nature in a dynamic way. (b) The left half of the brain allowed the development of verbal skills which ensured the transmission of knowledge learned through trial and error and thus gave humanity the peculiar ability to learn without the need to directly experience. II. MAGIC IN PRACTICE. A. The early magical systems were based on the observation that all of reality is based on the interaction of various natural forces. 1. The two basic magical powers that are taught to all humans as their birthright are the ability to embody complex concepts in symbolic words and to divide the world into 'pieces' so that they can examine it for short periods of time as though it were caught in a 'freeze frame.' a. We dismiss the ability to embody complex concepts in symbolic words as being too fundamental to consider, but it is the basis for all learning. (1) This process, which we call naming, is vital to our understanding of the world around us. (a) By creating names that embody specific concepts, we create a vocabulary by which 'initiates' in the subject can manipulate the relationships between the different concepts to reveal new truths that lead to a better understanding of the world around us. (2) Gaining control over something by learning its name is one of the oldest forms of magic. (a) In the Christian Bible, God instructs Adam and Eve to name all the plants and creatures and to exercise dominion over all of them. (b) In societies which practice magic, mothers give their children 'true names' and 'public names' to protect them from harm by someone wishing the child ill. (c) Most people have heard the story of Rumplestiltskin, where the heroine must guess the villains name, otherwise she will be unable to stop him from carrying out his evil deeds. (d) Or the story of the wizard who manages to summon a demon to do his bidding, only to wind up becoming a slave to the demon because he did not know the demons proper name. b. Once humankind began to exert its influence on the world, the need to differentiate its parts and count them became very important. (1) We differentiate the world through the use of DISCRIMINATION and this allows us to count the separate parts. (a) Discrimination is the ability to separate an object from its shadow, trees from a forest, your child from a group of children, and your friends from your enemies. (2) Counting took on additional significance when trading surplus food for finished goods became the basis of early commerce. (a) The merchants needed to develop a method of keeping track of their transactions. At first they used a picture code similar to Egyptian hieroglyphics, which involved drawing a picture that represented the goods traded and which were then assigned a numerical value in accordance with how much could be traded for the goods. (b) This was before the concept of money and allowed merchants to trade for credits of non-tangible assets. (c) As competition grew the merchants started abbreviating the pictures of their trade goods and the symbols became the letters of the various alphabets, with the number values still attached. (3) As astronomy and astrology were developed, the people who were learning to recognize these interactions of the forces of nature needed to record their knowledge, and they seized upon the merchants secret trade codes, or alphabets (named after the first two letters in the Phoenician script.) (a) Because they placed great importance on the measuring of things they also adopted the numerical values of the letters as representing the numerical truth of the symbols they were using to record their new knowledge. (b) This led to the magical system called GEMATRIA, which is based on reducing the letters of someones name, etc to a number which is assigned special sig- nificance. c. Gematria was especially popular with biblical scholars. In the thirteenth chapter of Revelations in the Christian Bible, a beast "comes up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns and ten crowns, and on its heads the name of blasphemy". One of the heads had been 'wounded to death', but the wound had healed. "Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred, threescore and six." (1) It is generally accepted now that the Beast was meant to stand for the Roman Empire and its seven heads for the seven Emperors. (a) The head which was wounded to death but healed, looks like an oblique reference to Nero, who took great delight in persecuting the new Christian faith and its followers, one of the more well known of which was letting them fight lions bare handed in the Coliseum. He was murdered in 68 AD, but there were persistent rumors that he had risen again and had escaped to the East, and would soon return with an army to take his revenge. d. Aleister Crowley adopted the name of The Great Beast which, when reduced from greek into numbers using gematria, equals 666. He did this partly to shock the good people of the late Victorian era and partly as an exercise in imitative magic. e. Another story told of the importance placed on the interpretation of the Christian Bible through gematria involves the same chapter of Revelations and the Social Security Administration in the United States of America. (1) In chapter 13:16-17, the author speaks of a second beast which comes after the first. 'Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to marked on the right hand or the forehead,' 'so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.' (2) These verses were quoted over and over from pulpits in the United States when it was announced that everyone was to be issued a Social Security number for purposes of identification, and that all government files would require the populace to submit their Social Security number along with their name, to be sure they were properly identified. (a) The citizens, whipped into a fury by the clergy, deluged their Congressmen with letters of protest. (b) The Congressmen, being pragmatists, came upon a plan to soothe the savage breasts of their constituents and still get their own way. (c) They made it a part of the Social Security Act that the number was not to be used as identification for any purpose other than for Social Security. This is why all Social Security cards bear the legend "Not to be used for Identification." (d) Many years later, around 1973, this was set aside when Military Service numbers were abandoned in favor of using Social Security numbers to identify military service personnel. (e) Even today the Social Security card is not generally accepted as identification, not because of the original objection, but because it does not have a photo of the bearer. 2. The ancients, in seeking to bring order and under- standing to their world, developed the concept of the Elementals. a. They recognized that everything was the result of the interaction of four great natural forces. b. These Elementals were not seen as what the world was made of, like todays' elements in chemistry, but a shorthand way of explaining the way things interacted. c. After a while the process of visualizing the Elementals as personifications of the natural forces produced thoughtforms which were able to act independently of their creators. (1) The major force that exhibited the principle of motion was ascribed to the Element of Air. (a) In visualizing airy beings the race of Sylphs were actualized on our planet. These creatures had wings of gossamer, with very slight and tiny bodies, their facial features were made up of sharp planes and they tended to very short attention spans, and this usually left them in very good spirits because it was not their nature to brood. Childhood stories retain a racial memory of the Sylphs in our present day Fairies, much as Walt Disney drew Tinkerbell. (2) When the natural attribute of a force was expansion it was said to have a Fiery nature. (a) The Elemental creatures of Fire were the Salamanders. These creatures loved to play in the warm ashes of fireplaces and their skin glowed with alternating colors just like a hot piece of charcoal.They were quick to take offense and could carelessly allow a fire outside of the fireplace, if the family they chose to live with allowed the ashes to get too cold for them to be comfortable. With our present dependence on natural gas and electricity to provide our heat, we have lost touch with the fire Elementals, but the big brothers of the Salamanders were dragons, which possessed the airy quality of flight, the fiery quality of being able to exhale fire and the earthy quality of being fascinated by bright jewels and glittering gold. (3) The natural force of contraction was assigned to the Elemental of Water. (a) The race of water Elementals were called Undines after the undulating property of water, which rises and falls in synchronization with the movements of the Moon. The Undines were thought to be related to the Sylphs but of a stouter character. They were slow to anger and slow to soothe, and steadfast unless stirred up by the Sylphs. (4) The epitome of the solid earthiness the last Elemental was the Gnome and his burrowing cousin the Dwarf. (a) Gnomes and Dwarves were as big hearted as they were diminutive, but they did not take kindly to anyone who harmed the earth. The forest was the natural habitat of Gnomes and they knew all the secrets of each bud, leaf, root, and tree. The Dwarves lived inside the earth and mined the treasures that were uncovered by dint of their delving. Skill in metalsmithing developed alongside their shrewd sense of trading and woe to the person who got between a Dwarf and his treasure or bested him in a deal. d. In the early stages of humanity's development, the personifications of the Elementals lived on the fringes of human settlements, and developed their own societies and kingdoms. (1) But as humans started to infringe upon their domains and closed themselves off to seeing the Elementals, they in turn withdrew into the higher planes. (a) Since they were originally expressions of natural forces on earth, they are bound to it and serve as caretakers for the earth until humankind is wise enough to care for it without their help. (b) Because they were actualized on this plane by the strength of human thought, they owe a debt of brotherhood to the human race and will appear and help those humans who learn how to summon them. 3. Confronting the twin mysteries of Birth and Death, early humanity was forced to consider the existence of a Supreme Being responsible for these Mysteries. a. Why some societies chose to see these forces as warring or opposite, while others chose to view them as mutually beneficial or complementary, we can only guess. (1) What we can be sure of is that a lot of their rituals and magical acts were motivated by their particular world view. (a) The body of accepted rituals and magical acts were codified and served as the basis of the religion which would grow up to explain how the world began, how someone was supposed to act while in it, and what happened after s/he died. 4. Imitative and Sympathetic Magic evolved as a means of influencing the world around the Ancients. a. These two forms of magic were based on the principles of mimicry, contagion, and the belief that man is a microcosm of the macrocosm. (1) Imitative magic is the general category which covers magic performed on a model,doll or actor representing the real world counterpart, which is to be affected. (a) Examples of this type of magic would be cave drawings depicting successful hunts, love poppets and Voodoo dolls, and the survival of ancient folk dances wherethe dancer dons the skin and horns of an animal while the other dancers act out the stalking and killing of the "sacrifice." (b) Mimicry of a real life situation, while utilizing parts of the subject to form a bond is the basis for imitative magic. (c) Underlying imitative magic is the Theory of Contagion, which holds that parts of a living being contain the essence of its life, even after being separated. In simple terms, a magical link exists between ourselves and our parts. (d) American Indians and Orientals did not want their pictures taken, for fear of losing their spirits inside of the camera. (e) Many of the Grimoires from the Middle-ages warn against allowing nail clippings, locks of hair, or old articles of clothing to fall in the hands of your enemies for fear of the harm your enemies could bring against you by harming them. (f) As a side note, the dancers in the mummers plays took great care to ensure that the skins and horns of the animals that were used in their dances were taken from male animals, this ensured that the females were left to breed and produce new game for the future. (2) Sympathetic magic is based on the belief that man is a miniature reproduction of the universe, that he is the microcosm to the universes macrocosm. (a) This is based on the drawing of analogies between two like beings. (b) Many of the important magical analogies are not natural to most peoples minds today, but have been handed down by tradition from the remote past. (c) Salt is used to ward off demons. All demons are supposed to detest it and no salt should be used in ceremonies designed to attract them. Salt is anti-demonic because it is a preservative. Since demons are creatures that corrupt and destroy, anything that has a preservative quality is contrary to their nature and is disagreeable to them. 5. Attempts to group observations into a codified system of relationships resulted in the development of the many Tables of Correspondences, which have been handed down through the ages and serve as source documents for creating new rituals. a. These tables usually ascribe variously corresponding items to one of the old Astrological Planets. (1) Each planet is ruled by a Goddess or a God from the local pantheon and has its own number, color, musical note, metal, gem stone, hour of the day, herbs and flowers, and attributes. III. WESTERN TRADITIONS OF CEREMONIAL MAGIC A. Hermetic Magic 1. This is the main tradition of the West and has been championed by many secret societies such as the Freemasons, Golden Dawn Society, and the Builders of Adytum. a. Franz Bardon has written three volumes of instructions for aspiring Hermetic Magicians. 2. What we know of Hermetic Magic dates from the first century AD. a. Hermetic Magic is a mixture of traditions. It combines Egyptian knowledge with ideas of the Greeks and Jews who lived in Egypt, principally in Alexandria, at the time of Jesus. b. These three groups all claimed that the knowledge they held in common was divinely inspired. There are two different accounts of how the knowledge had been received. (1) The first account derives from the apocryphal Book of Enoch. (a) In a passage that amplifies Genesis 6:1-5, Enoch tells how 200 angel descended from heaven to Mount Hermon and took wives from the "daughters of man." (b) The angels taught their knowledge to these women and to the children they bore. For this presumption, the angels were thrown out of heaven. (c) Hermetic scholars recognize in this account a parallel to the myth of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. (d) In the Gnostic interpretation of Adam and Eve's fall, Jehovah is not The Deity, but a powerful though lesser spirit, who built the material world and rules over it. (e) Because of his jealousy and pride Jehovah forbade knowledge to Adam and Eve hoping they would worship him as the Highest God. (f) The serpent, in this interpretation, is not Satan, but the spirit Ouroboros, sent by Wisdom (Sophia) to liberate the minds of men and women. (g) Magical knowledge is thus seen to be a higher and more pious wisdom than obedience to Jehovah and the serpent Ouroboros, far from being humankinds enemy, is seen as one of its greatest saviours. (2) In a second account, magical knowledge came from Hermes Trismegistus (Thrice Great Hermes) who has given his name to the magical sciences. (a) Hermes was a god of Greek settlers in Egypt, and was also identified with the Egyptian God Thoth. (b) Through the agency of an ancient Egyptian king, this god gave humankind 42 books of knowledge, of which 14 short fragments, in Greek, survive. (c) The most important of these is the Emerald Tablet. (d) What we derive from Hermes above all is the Doctrine of Correspondence: "That which is above is like that which is below." (e) In other words, each man and woman is a small model of the cosmos. Each mind is a model of the Divine mind. (f) The four material elements - water, earth, wind and fire - are models of the four universal principles. (g) The Ptolemaic scheme of the solar system is a model of the system of the astral spheres. (h) The Doctrine of Correspondence is essential to magic, and to all occult studies. c. From Hermetic Tradition we derive not only Ceremonial Magic, but also Alchemy. (1) Magicians have usually practiced both sciences; and both are said to have been taught by the angels of the Book of Enoch and by Hermes Trismegistus. (a) The difference between them is that, in alchemy, the magician tries to bring about a special physical manifestation of ether. This is the Philosophers Stone, the prima materia. With it the Alchemist can transmute base metals into gold, which is the highest material form. (b) The Ceremonial Magician on the other hand, manipulates the ether to call upon spirits and to learn from them. (c) Obviously, these are two similar, though very different branches of one science. B. Faustian Magic 1. Faustian magic is the evocation of demons, and it began to develop well before the 16th century when Faust lived. a. We do not know how much Faustian magic the 16th century wizard, Dr. Johann Faust, actually practiced. (1) There are several copies extant of a book attributed to him. (a) Doctoris Iohannis Fausti magiae maturalis et innaturalis, printed in Passau in 1505. b. The most significant of the magical practices advocated by these books is the use of a book of spirits or Liber Spiritum. (1) The Liber Spiritum must be written on virgin paper. (a) On the left hand pages are pictures of demons and on the right hand pages are oaths that those demons have taken to serve the sorcerer. (b) Each oath is signed by the demons mark. (c) The book must be consecrated by a priest, who says three holy masses over it. 2. The process the good doctor had to go through to evoke the demons and force them to swear oaths to him was very involved. a. Here is a short biography of Faust. (1) Johann Faust (ca. 1480 - ca. 1540 ) probably born in Swabia and was described by a contemporary as "a most filthy beast, the midden of numberless devils." He was as notorious for his homosexuality as he was for his reputed pact with Mephistopheles. When he died there was "a great noise and shaking of the house that night......In the morning he was found dead, with his neck rung behind him; the Divell whom he served having carried his soule into Hell." Although he sold his soul for material gain, he seems to have died in poverty. C. Enochian Magic 1. What we know of Enochian Magic comes from a book called "A True and Faithful Relation of What Passed For Many Years Between Doctor John Dee and Some Spirits", edited by Meric Casaubon and published in 1659. a. The book is a memoir of the Welsh scholar John Dee (1527- 1608), concerning the experiments he conducted with the aid of the psychic Edward Kelley (c. 1553-1595). (1) John Dee was a mathematician and astrologer at the court of Elizabeth I of England, while Edward Kelley was a psychic; he was also probably a sorcerer and necromancer. b. Dee learned the Kelley had a gift for contacting spirits by means of crystal gazing, and from 1582 to 1587 he used Kelley in arduous attempts to learn the wisdom of the angels. (1) Kelley, for his part, was never sure he was communicating with angels and he constantly tried to with- draw from the experiments, but Dee convinced him to continue. c. Eventually, the spirits (chiefly a guide named Enoch) communicated through Kelley a spiritual language. (1) This Enochian language had an alphabet of 21 letters. The spirits supplied 19 invocations in this language and they translated these for Dee. They also dictated magical diagrams, primarily squares, some of them containing as many as 2,401 letters and instructions for their use. 2. Despite the wealth of knowledge it encompassed, Enochian magic fell into obscurity for many years. a. It was revived by the Order of the Golden Dawn and is currently on the market titled "The Book of Enoch", and claims to present the complete Enochian system in a simplified and easy to use format. D. Abramelin Magic 1. This branch of magic is based on an 18th century french manuscript titled "The Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage". a. Abramelin set forth the semi-Gnostic doctrine that the world was created and is maintained by demons who work under orders from angels. (1) A magician given the help of a Guardian Angel, could learn to control the demons for his own purposes. (a) An adept depends heavily on word magic in the process and especially on palindromic magic squares. IV. THE GREAT BOOKS OF MAGIC A. All great fairy tales mention the Magic Book of Spells, kept by the great magicians of times long ago. 1. These are records of incantations and gestures that have been tried out hundreds of times before and proved to be most effective. 2. Medieval magaicians collected any and all books on magic they could get their hands on. a. There was an explosion of magical books in the Middle Ages. (1) Most were imperfect copies of each other as they were translated from language to language and back again. (a) These books were called Grimoires, perhaps an adulteration of the french word for Grammer, which was applied to books used to teach the basics of different subjects to the children. b. Actually there were only about five books of magic which had any claim whatsoever of being authentic and most of the others were incomplete, and usually incorrect, copies of these basic five. B. History of the Grimoires 1. The Testament of Solomon is the first great book of magic known to us. a. It was published in Greek between 100-400 AD. (1) Probably copied down by hand in the 2nd century. (a) Speaking of the book as being published is of course strictly a convention since all books were hand copied until the invention of the printing press. b. This book purports to be Solomon's autobiographical memoir of the building of the Temple in Jerusalem, which he accomplished with the slave labor of devils. (1) With the help of a ring given to him by the angel Raphael, Solomon bound the vampire devil Ornais and forced him to work on the Temple. (a) Solomon learned the names of the other devils from Ornias and bound them as well. (2) By the 12th or 13th century, a list of 51 useful demons had crept into copies of the Testament of Solomon. (a) These were demons who could be persuaded to bring material benefits to the sorcerer. 2. The Key of Solomon is perhaps the most famous of all the magical texts. a. There are many versions in various languages. (1) The bulk of these are in French and Latin, some dating from the 18th century. (a) The Grimoire itself is believed to be much older. In the 1st century AD Josephus referred to a book of incantations for summoning evil spirits supposedly written by Solomon. (b) A Greek version in the British Museum may date back to the 12th or 13th century. b. The Key was prohibited as a dangerous work by the Inquisition in 1559, although like most books of magic, the local clergy were allowed to keep (and to use) copies as long as they did not step out of line and/or defy the authority of Rome. c. The Key was concerned almost wholly with the practice of magic for personal gain. (1) It contained no hierarchy of demons, but it did offer a system of magic based on the drawing of pentacles, which are five pointed stars inscribed with charms. (a) These were grouped according to astrological signs. (b) The pentacles for Saturn, for instance, were useful for causing earthquakes, inciting demons to fall upon victims, and in general bringing about ruin, destruction and death. 3. The Lemegeton, or Lesser Key of Solomon, appeared mot long after the Key of Solomon. a. It was divided into four parts. (1) Goetia (a) Wier, Agrippa's pupil was said to have drawn on the Goetia for his Grimoire called Psuedomonarchia Daemonium. (2) Theurgia Goetia (3) The Pauline Art (4) The Almadel (a) The Almadel was mentioned in writings dating back to the 1500's. b. The Lemegeton included a complete hierarchy of 72 demons, whom the sorcerer could evoke for his benefit. c. The origin and meaning of the Lemegeton is unknown. 4. The Constitution of Honorius first appeared in 1629. a. It was attributed to Pope Honorius III (1216-1227) and its main contribution was to put a strongly Roman Catholic construction on magical evocation. (1) Manuscript copies (corrupt ones) of the Constitution of Honorius made their way to Germany well before 1629. These had been translated from Latin to French leading some to believe that it had made its way into France before coming to Germany, where it was translated from French into German. b. Elements of the Constitution mingled with certain other available texts and from these arose the strange mixture of practices that can properly be called Faustian magic. 5. The Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage is another puzzling text with no definite source. a. As far as we know, it began as an 18th century French manuscript, dated 1458, and it claimed to have been translated from Hebrew. (1) MacGregor Mathers, who founded the Order of the Golden Dawn, came across the text in the British Museum and translated it into English. Since then it has had a strong influence on the practice of magic. C. Other Grimoires 1. As previously noted, there was an explosion of Grimoires in the Middle Ages and they continued to proliferate with the advent of the Rennaisance. a. Most of these Grimoires were rip offs of the Key of Solomon or later additions by lesser known magicians to works attributed to well known magicians. (1) Grimorum Verum, written in French and supposedly published in Memphis by Alibeck the Egyptian in 1517, although it probably dates from the 18th centuryand seems to be based on the Key of Solomon. (2) Grand Grimoire, was written in French and dating from the 18th century. (3) The Red Dragon, a version of the Grand Grimoire (4) True Black Magic or The Secret of Secrets, a French version of the Key of Solomon published in 1750. (5) The Arbatel of Magic, published in Latin at Basle, Switzerland in 1575. (6) The Black Pullet, supposedly published in Egypt in 1740, it probably dates from the late 18th century. (7) The Fourth Book, added to Agrippa's Occult Philosophy after his death, and rejected by his pupil Wier as a forgery. (8) The Magical Elements of Heptameron (a) Attributed to Peter of Abano, who died in 1316. It was probably written in the 16th century as a supplement to the Fourth Book. LESSON 4A I. THE TRAINING OF A MAGICIAN A. How Ceremonial Magic Works 1. We have seen that magical texts always appeared in print many years after they were written. a. By that time, the texts had become corrupted, secrets had been suppressed, and whole new doctrines had been grafted onto the older teachings. 2. The practice of magic is a highly individual matter. a. A true adept works out his own methods of evocation after sifting through all the available material and adopting techniques that resonate with his own inner self. (1) Magic is an inner discipline. The errors that crept into the magical texts were errors of form as opposed to errors of substance. (a) The inner meaning is what gives the work its power. What matters is the magician's state of mind, which produces the psychic force he invests in the invocation. 3. Before one can practice magic he must attain a high level of development in the mental, psychic and physical planes. a. In order to practice ceremonial magic it is necessary to strengthen and develop the physical and etheric. (1) Become expert in the techniques of astral travel and psi. (a) And master the symbols of the Universal Mind in all their forms. 4. Magicians are reputed to be able to make spirits appear and talk to them face to face, materialize balls of fire or watery globes and set them to work, penetrate people's minds, and travel to the farthest parts of the world as quickly as thought. a. They area said to be able to do these things by mastering the use of the universal energy called ether. (1) Some call the universal energy AKASHA which is a Sanskrit word meaning bright or shining. (2) Ether is not matter, but it is the origin, or substratum, of all matter. (a) It infuses the entire universe. The universe being considered to be nothing but ether in its various states of existence. (3) Ether emanates directly from the Deity. At its purest, the point at which it is closest to the Deity, it is pure light. (a) As it emanates outward in all directions it becomes more and more gross. (b) The different levels of what we call the astral plane are levels of ether. (c) What we call the material plane is the lowest, grossest form of ether. 5. Magicians use the Ptolemaic scheme of the universe as a map of the etheric levels. a. In this scheme, the universe is made up of 10 astral spheres and four material spheres. b. It is further grouped into the Higher Astral, Lower Astral, and the Material Planes. (1) The Higher Astral Plane (a) Primum Mobile (First Mover) (b) Crystal firmament (c) Fixed stars (2) The Lower Astral Plane (a) Saturn (b) Jupiter (c) Mars (d) Sun (e) Venus (f) Mercury (g) Moon (3) The Material Plane (a) Fire (b) Air (c) Water (d) Earth c. In describing the Material plane magician use the ancient division of four elements: earth, water, air and fire. (1) Ether serves as the fifth element or (in Latin) the quinta essentia, or quintessence. (a) Because ether (or akasha or quintessence) has no bounds of time or space, anyone who learns to use it will be able to penetrate all levels of the universe thoroughly and instantly. (b) The magician who is adept in his craft can thus work equally well on the mental, astral, and material planes. B. The Apprenticeship 1. It is possible to stumble across your hidden talents, but it is better to follow a set course of study in magic. a. This provides guidance along the way and because you are following a path that has been trodden before, you will come across milestones that will help you gauge your progress. b. The following information is derived from a 10-stage program of initiation based on the contemporary German magician Franz Bardon's book Initiation into Hermetics. 2. Before you begin you must give up the idea that you own your own thoughts. a. Most people believe their thoughts are part of their minds, just as their hands are a part of their bodies. (1) Your thoughts live freely in your mind, just as wild animals roam freely through a forest. (a) Each mind is connected to the Universal Mind and thoughts, as well as thought-forms, swim through it occasionally surfacing in this mind and that. (b) This concept must be mastered if you are to understand and master the process of magical evocation. b. The spirits you will evoke inhabit your mind just as independently as your thoughts. They live in your mind because it is a part of the Universal Mind. (1) For this reason if you evoke a spirit of the sphere Venus, it will not arrive from outer space but from within your own mind. (a) The spirits originate in the mind but they are quite real. The spirits do appear and work on the material plane, but you must look within yourself for them. (b) The point is that whatever you seek must be looked for within, for you only delude yourself when you look for the answers outside yourself. 3. Once you have grasped the material above fully, you can begin the ten stages of the initiation. a. The exercises will prepare you menetally, psychically, and physically for the practice of magic. (1) Mental- Now that you are awarea that your thoughts are like living beings, you must become more awaare of them. Meditation, perhaps coupled with yoga, is a good way of doing this. ******************************************************************* I. THE MEANING OF RITUAL IN WORKING MAGIC A. The Need to Change the Wiring in our Brains. 1. Learning to work magic requires that a certain amout of neurological re-patterning of our brains takes place. a. To be effective, we have to change the way we use our brains. (1) Magic requires the development and integration of the right hemisphere way of thinking with the left hemisphere way of thinking. (a) The spacial, intuitive and holistic patterns of awareness that characterize the right hemisphere modes of consciousness must be able to communicate and work in harmony with the verbal, analytical and linear patterns of awareness so characteristic of the left hemisphere. (b) A person's growth, creativity and personality is deeply influenced during this process and it eventually leads to a person who is truly functional as a whole person. B. The language of magic is expressed in symbols and images. 1. Images bridge the gap between the verbal and non-verbal modes of awareness. a. Symbols and images implant certain ideas in Younger Self who passes them on to High Self. (1) By allowing the critical and analytical functions of Talking Self to relax, Younger Self may respond fully and emotionally to what happens during your magical workings. (a) Ritual, which is defined as "a specific set of images and symbols attached to certain actions", allows us to deliberately alter our states of consciousness so that we may perform works of magic. 2. All humans relate to their environment through symbols and rituals. a. Except during rare occasions, we do not experience our environment directly. (1) Our left hemisphere patterning awareness developed so we could safely ignore anything in our environment which was not potentially dangerous. (a) A direct benefit of this survival tactic was the ability to concentrate, which allowed us to examine the world around us and led to experimentation. (b) Experimentation led to better ways of doing things, such as making tools, and technology was born. It has served as a goad and a goal since then. b. The way our left hemisphere works is fascinating (1) Working as a filter of all the stimuli coming into the various senses of a human, the left hemisphere examines everything closely and then files the new sensory data away as images, tastes, smells, etc. where it stays in memory. (a) The majority of this activity occurs when we are young and enchanted with the world around us. (b) Maturity is usually judged by the degree to which your enthusiasm for examining the world around you has diminished. (c) Ironically, when you become too mature, you withdraw from the world around you and lose interest, this is usually marked by a tendency to live in your memories instead of the present. This condition is called old age and people who give in to living in the past are called senile. (d) Those of us who never lose our sense of wonder toward all the world has to offer are often accused of having never 'grown up' or if, we have managed to live long enough, to be going through our 'second childhood.' (2) As we approach something in our normal everyday activities we receive an image from our eyes and a part of our brain searches through our memory for an image that matches the one at which we are looking. (a) If there is already an image on file, even if it is not a perfect match, the image on file is fed to that part of our brain which 'sees' what we are approaching. (b) In this instance, assuming that we have not associated the image in memory with something dangerous, we will walk past the object without paying it any attention or actually seeing the object. (c) If there is not an image on file we will stop and examine the new object as if we were seeing it for the first time, which we are. (d) Then having classified and categorized it, we then file it away in our memory for future reference and continue on our way, oblivious to our surroundings. (3) This behavior allows us to concentrate on more abstract things than worrying if our favorite armchair is going to have us for brunch. (a) An extension of this type of behavior is the formation of habits. Habits are ways of interacting with our environment, based on assumptions made using our stored images and experiences as a true picture of reality. (b) In effect, habits are pre-programmed responses to everyday occurrences. (4) A little known fact relating to habits is that habits do fulfill a psychological need. (a) And you cannot break a habit, you can only replace it with another that meets that same psychological need. II RITUAL ETIQUETTE a. The Ritual Bath 1. Before performing a ritual it is necessary to prepare yourself for the work ahead. a. A ritual bath washes away the dirt and grime of the everyday world along with the tensions of the mundane world (1) Draw a hot bath and add some essence, oils or perfume that makes you feel good. (a) If you have studied the uses of oils and scents in magic, you might want to tune your additives to the work to be done. (2) Turn off all the lights and light a single white taper. (a) Make sure that it is in a candle holder that will handle it without you worrying about it setting fire to anything or spilling wax where you do not want it. Votive candles and holders work very well for this. (3) Light a stick of incense or place some on a glowing coal in a censer that you can pick up. (4) Place some sea salt in a white dish or small bowl. (a) Being so close to the sea (southern California) it is easy to collect sea salt by just taking some ocean water home and letting it evaporate in the direct sunlight until all that is left is the salt crystals. (b) If you cannot get sea salt, you might want to use some iodized or rock salt from the market. It is essentially the same thing but personally I like the idea of making or collecting my own salt. (5) You should have some purified water in a cup or vial. (a) Fresh spring water or stream water is ideal but most of us living in the desert have to make due with bottled water from the store. (b) Rain water, collected, strained, and kept in glass bottles is a good substitute. (c) It is definitely preferred that you not use tap water because of the additives in it. b. The following is a very simple ritual for consecrating the ritual bath. (1) Lock the doors and unplug the phone. (a) This is to ensure that you are not disturbed. (2) Once the bath is drawn and any oils have been added to it as desired, take the candle and make three slow passes over the water as you say the following evocation. (a) "By this creature of fire do I purify this ritual bath. May all impurities flee before its light." (b) Set the candle down so that it is out of the way but still sheds light on your work. (3) Take up the dish of salt and, sprinkling three pinches of the salt into the water say the following. (a) "By this creature of earth do I purify this ritual bath. All impure creatures may not approach it." (4) Set the dish of salt aside and pick up the incense or censer and make three passes over the water as you say the following evocation. (a) "By this creature of Air do I purify this ritual bath. May my hopes and aspirations rise upon the smoke to be carried by the winds to the Lady." (5) Set the incense aside and pick up the water. Pour the water into the bath. You may form patterns that appeal to you if you like. Say the following. (a) "By this creature of water do I purify this ritual bath. May this bath contain the Waters of Life that spring forth from the Heart of the Mother." (6) Settle into the bath and soak until the water starts to get too cold to stay in or until you have fully relaxed and left the tensions of the world behind, which ever comes first. (a) This is a good time to meditate on the work you wish to do. (7) Dry off with a freshly cleaned white towel, that has been allowed to dry in the sunlight if possible. (a) Again, the color of the towel can be coordinated with the work you intend to do. I prefer large bath sheets that I can wrap around myself until I am ready to dress. (8) Apply any anointing oils that you plan to wear and dress in fresh clean clothes, or in robes if you do not have to travel to your working site. c. There are provisions made for 'emergency' ritual baths in the event that you cannot take a real bath. (1) These usually involve dousing yourself with specially prepared solutions that serve the purpose. (a) These are not favored as they do not allow any time for relaxation and meditation. (b) Any good 'formulary' should have the recipe for instant ritual bath solutions. B. Handling Ritual Tools 1. A Witch's tools are more personal than her toothbrush. a. Generally, it is considered extremely bad form to handle another persons tools without prior permission. (1) Some witches charge their tools so that others who handle them incorrectly can receive a nasty jolt of psychic power to teach them to keep their hands to themselves. Personally, I do not approve of this practice as it may result in harming someone too innocent to know that they should not be handling the tools. 2. Some Covens maintain ritual tools that they only allow their own members to handle. a. If you are a guest, it is always best to avoid offending anyone by not handling anything unless it is specifically offered to you. C. Entering and Leaving the Circle 1. A witch's magic circle is designed to keep the power raised within it contained and concentrated. a. Leaving and entering the circle during the ritual tends to weaken it and for this reason it is not encouraged. (1) Animals and small children can pass through the barrier of the circle because they live in a 'state of grace' under the protection of the Goddess. (a) Even so, animals and children should be kept out of the ritual area unless they are a specific part of the ritual because they are distracting. b. When it cannot be helped, the High Priestess will open, or 'cut' a door in the circle so that people who need to, can pass into or out of it. (1) Naturally, after the person has passed through the High Priestess will set a guard or close (seal) the circle. c. Walking across the barriers of the circle is considered to be extremely disrespectful and only someone who wants to test the patience of the High Priestess will do it knowingly. D. Movement Within the Circle 1. Movement within the circle is in accordance to the order found in nature. a. As you face South you can track the Sun and Moon from your Left to your Right. (1) This is the order of how we move in the circle, from side to side when doing things such as lighting candles, etc. b. Continuing the movement from the West to the North and back to the East we have inscribed a circle in a clockwise or Deosil (for 'as the sun travels') motion. (1) Deosil is the direction the Circle is cast in, and all circular movement within the Circle should be in a clockwise direction. (a) There are times when we would move in a counter clockwise direction but that would be only under the specific directions of the High Priestess and even then only after explaining why we were doing it. (b) The general rule is "Always move in a clockwise direction." 2. Each Coven maintains its own practices for giving salutes during invocations, evocations and blessings. a. Invoking and banishing pentagrams are also used in setting up the Circle and during other rituals acts. (1) Imitating the others in the group is a 'safe' way to avoid any social blunders. (a) When in doubt, do not do anything that you feel uncomfortable about. III CREATING MEANINGFUL RITUALS. A. Creating Sacred Space 1. We define a new space and a new time whenever we cast a Circle in the Craft to begin a ritual. a. The Circle exists outside the boundaries of ordinary space and time. We say it is between the worlds of the seen and the unseen. (1) It is a space in which alternate realities meet, in which the past and future are open to us. b. Casting the Circle is an enacted meditation. (1) We create an energy form which serves as a boundary that limits and contains the movement of subtle forces. (a) In group work, it is usually the High Priestess or her assistant who casts the Circle. 2. Casting the Circle is the formal beginning of the ritual. a. It is the complex 'cue' that tells us to switch our awareness into a deeper mode. (1) In ritual, we 'suspend disbelief' just as we do when we are watching a play or reading fiction. 3. In the permanent stone circles of the Megalithic era, where rituals were enacted for hundreds of years, great reservoirs of power were built up. a. There was no need to draw out the circle as we do today, because the stones defined the sacred space. (1) Casting a temporary circle as we do today probably began during the time of persecution when tearing down stone circles was a popular sport of christian mobs. (a) To further the 'destruction' of our circles, the church ordered that christian churches be erected over the old sacred spots in the countryside. B. Evoking The Guardians of the Watchtowers 1. The concept of the quartered circle is basic to the craft, as it is to many cultures and religions. a. The four directions each correspond to and resonate with a quality of the self, to an Element, a time of day and year, to tools of the craft, symbolic animals and forms of personal power. (1) These correspondences are usually set down in a table similar to the one in the back of The Spiral Dance and provide the basis for visualizations throughout the ritual. (a) Constant visualizations of these connections create deep internal links, so much so that physical actions during ritual can trigger the desired inner states. 2. The Guardians of the Watchtowers are energy forms. a. They are the Spirits or Wraiths of the four Elements. (1) They bring the elemental energy of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water into the circle to augment our human power. (a) The vortex of power created when we evoke the four Quarters guards the circle from intrusions and draws in the higher powers of the Goddess and God. C. Each Movement in a Ritual has Meaning 1. When we move deosil or sunwise we follow the direction the sun appears to move in, and draw in power. a. Deosil is the direction of increase, of fortune favour and blessing. (1) When we move widdershins, or counter clockwise, we move against the path of the sun. (a) This direction is used for decrease or banishing. D. Cosmic Power Times 1. Some traditions assign one of the four seasons to each of the four Elements. a. When this is done, they will orient their altar to face that quarter which represents the season that is being honored. (1) Tthe East is associated with Air and the Spring, South is associated with Fire and Summer, West with Water and the Autumn and the North with Earth and Winter. 2. Depending on the time of day or night, some traditions encourage facing towards one of the four directions to draw power and perform magic appropriate to the Element used. a. From sunrise to noon you should face East, Noon until sunset face South, sunset to midnight face West and midnight to sunrise face North. E. Raising the Cone of Power 1. Energy is raised in coven rituals and most often molded into the form of a Cone. a. This is called the Cone of Power. The base of the cone is the circle of coveners; its apex can focus on an individual, an object, or a collectively visualized image. (1) At times the cone is allowed to rise and fall naturally without being sent anywhere. (a) At these times the cone is used to renew the coveners personal power. (2) It may also be sent off in a burst of Force, directed by one person who may be a part of the circle or may stand in the center serving as the focal point. b. Rhythmical drumming, hand claps and dance movements may all be used to raise the Cone of Power. IV. FORMAT OF A TYPICAL RITUAL A. Creating Sacred Space 1. The High Priestess or assistant casts the circle. a. The circle can be marked out by stones, chalk, salt or any other natural material. (1) No one is allowed to enter the circle until it has been properly cast. (a) Once cast, other members of the ritual enter the circle through a pre-arranged 'door' in the circle. Usually in the north. B. Evoking the Guardians of the Watchtowers 1. The guardians are evoked, one at a time and welcomed. a. The circle can be purified by that Element assigned to each Guardian, as the Guardian is evoked or later, after all the Guardians have been evoked. C. Invoking the Goddess and the God 1. Many traditions invoke the Goddess in all their rituals. a. Some invoke the Goddess and God at Sabbats and the Goddess only at Esbats. (1) Some traditions invoke either the Goddess or the God, in accordance with the Season. D. Feasting 1. The ritual feast can consist of eating a simple meal of ritual cakes and wine or a full blown feast in honor of the Goddess and God and the season. a. It is traditional to pour a libation from the chalice out onto the ground 'for the Goddess' before anyone else has a drink. (1) Some traditions have a modest meal of cakes and wine and then, after the circle is over, settle down for some serious feasting. E. Working Magic/Raising the Cone 1. Any magical work or healing is usually done at this time. F. Grounding of the Cone of Power 1. Some traditions perform a ritual to rejuvenate the Earth Mother by grounding any unused energy raised during the formation of the Cone of Power. G. Thanking the Goddess and/or the God 1. A formal declaration of thanks for attending the rites and for any special favors granted. H. Thanking and releasing the Guardians 1. A formal thanking and leave taking of the Guardians. I. Closing the circle 1. Either the circle will be banished so that it cannot be discovered or a maintenance spell will be placed upon it to allow it to retain and grow in power. ************************************************************** I PHILOSOPHY OF CONSTRUCTION A. Well to do Crafters 1. Well to do crafters, who have the ability to pay for fine workmanship, may buy only the finest articles made of silver and gold. a. Following the belief in the law of contagion, they will set aside their tools and use them solely for their magical work. (1) Many have velvet or silk covers made for the tools which will keep them nice and shiny with a minimum of polishing. B. Garden Variety Kitchen Witches 1. These people place more value on making their own tools, even if they are not the prettiest to look at. a. They feel the tools become charged with their will as they are formed by their minds and hands. (1) Many times the tools will do double duty in the kitchen and it takes someone who knows how the tools are used to figure out that they are magical. (a) This necessitates that the equipment be reconsecrated each time they are to be used for magic ritual. (b) A direct benefit of this is that you get lots of practice in consecrating tools. And you inject a certain amount of magic into your everyday life. II. NAMES AND THE USES OF THE VARIOUS TOOLS A. Clothing 1. The Ceremonial Robe a. Most traditions adopt a robe of a particular color. (1) This serves the same purpose of going skyclad, in that it makes everyone more or less equal. (a) Colors tend toward symbolizing purity (white) identifying with nature (green) or camouflage for outdoor work (brown or black). b. The robe is usually hooded for outdoor use but many crafters who only work inside use robes of a lightweight material with no hood. (1) The robe is supposed to be made of a natural fiber such as cotton and sewn by the owners own hand. (a) Some witches will say a blessing over each stitch which helps them concentrate their magical will on the purpose of the robe as they are making it. (b) Having someone who is good at sewing or using a sewing machine to make the robe is not unknown, although rigid purists would probably turn their noses up at the idea. c. To ensure that the robe retains its ability to trigger subliminal responses it is only worn for ritual purposes and usually stored in a chest set aside for ritual equipment when not being used. (1) Many traditions adopt a specific incense with a distinct aroma for their ritual work and the robe absorbs the scent. (a) The scent can be another subliminal trigger. 2. The Cingulum or Cord. a. This is a cord, usually braided, which is worn about the waist and tied in a simple knot. (1) The cingulum symbolized the witchs' bond to the Goddess and is used in knot magic and binding rituals. (a) It is usually made of a natural fiber such as cotton, silk or wool. (b) Some traditions favor one color for all members (such as red) while other traditions prefer a different color for each degree. (c) When there are different colors for each degree the highest achieved is worn or all cords earned are worn braided together. (d) The length is traditionally tied to laying out a typical circle with a nine foot diameter. Some cords are 9 feet long and others are a little longer than 4 1/2 feet long. (e) To lay out a nine foot diameter circle with the shorter cord the witch would mark the center of the circle with a stick or athalme and tie one end of the cord to it. She would then use the other end to measure out the circumference of the circle by walking around it with the cord held taut. 3. The Cloak a. This is a large loose fitting cloak or cape of heavy material with a hood. (1) The color is usually black, dark blue or grey. (a) This is a totally functional piece of equipment. It was worn as a witch travelled to the Covenmeet. It allowed her to blend into the shadows of the night. (b) Having the ability to disappear into the surrounding shadows of a forest at night while wearing this cloak led to the belief that witches had the ability to turn invisible. (c) As night wore into dawn, the cloak was worn to keep away the chill of morning on the return trip. Sometimes a lining of a common color such as brown was sown into the cloak so that it could be worn inside out on the return during daylight. B. Jewelry 1. The Necklace a. Almost all statues of the Goddess from ancient times depict Her as wearing a necklace. (1) For this reason a modern female witch may wear a necklace as a sign of her attachment to the Goddess. (a) The necklace is made of a natural substance such as a strand of amber beads alternating with beads of jet, or seashells. (b) A necklace made of acorns incorporates the connection with the Goddess, and the God, whose tree is the oak and the acorn is an ancient symbol of fertility. (c) Necklaces with symbols that make the witch feel 'witchy' are very common and they are usually fashioned of silver which is the Lady's metal. (2) In most traditions the male witch is not required to wear a necklace, but when he chooses to it might be silver in identification with the Goddess. (a) Or gold in identification with the God. Designs could be traditional, like a torc or pentagram or anything else that appeals to him. 2. The Bracelet a. Some traditions use bracelets as magical amulets and female witches, especially high priestesses, will wear copper bracelets which help them to identify with the solar aspects of the Goddess or the God. 3. The Ring a. I have no knowledge of any tradition that requires its members to wear a particular ring. (1) Most witches have a favorite 'magi
		Home