M

by: Rick Johnson
PO Box 40451
Tucson, Az.
85717
RikJohnson@juno.com

Return to the Home Page.
Return to the Miscellenous Page.
Return to the Vocabulary Page.

MAPPCAF-- One of the numerous Pagan Festivals that are held around the country, attracting hundreds of Pagans to share and socialize. For more information and a schedule of those well known festivals, I refer you to Circle Network, Box 219, Mt Horib, Wi, 53572 which acts as a self-appointed advertising house for the Festivals.

MABINOGEN-- Any of a number of collections of Welsh legends from the Celtic times and used as a basis for Welsh Wicca.

MABON-- ( may-BONE) The Wiccan Sabbat which celebrates the main harvest. In olden times homemade gifts or food were exchanged. It is held on the Autumn Equinox, around September 21.

MACCARONIC-- A poetic verse that is written in a mixture of languages. This may appear to give a certain savoir faire to the phrase but is a real pain unless you understand the language.

MACERATE-- To soak an herb in alcohol or oil.

MACHAROMANCY-- Divination by knives or swords.

MACROCOSM-- The universe, all that exists.

MAGE-- In ceremonial magick, a master magickian.

MAGIC-- Illusion done by conjurors and usually for entertainment. Compare with Magick.

MAGICK-- The ability and/or process of causing change to occur by non- material means. This may include psychic ability enhanced through ritual actions.

MAGICK CIRCLE-- see Circle

MAGICK MIRROR-- see speculum.

MAGICK SQUARE-- A series of letters written in a specific order sothat they read the same in different directions. They are powerful talismans of magick. The SATOR square, being one, is made to prevent fires and thieft.
S A T O R
A R E P O
T E N E T
O P E R A
R O T A S

MAGICKAL ARTS-- Any of the systems of magick used to make a change in self or environment.

MAGICKAL THINKING-- The method and attitude used to perform magick.

MAGICKIAN, MAGICIAN-- One who is skilled in magick.

MAGISTILLUS-- Literally 'little master'. Christian Inquisitors made a great deal of an old lady, abandoned by her family and society, turning to a pet for love (modern research has proven that simply petting a cat is healthy and will extend health and life ) which they called 'a devil' who was watching her for 'the devil'. See familiar.

MAGUS-- 1) A male magickian of high prank.
2) (Gardnerian) The second title given to male Witches of a high rank. It is the male equivalant to the Witch Queen. In Gardnerian Wicca, it is a purely honorary title held by the Working Partner of the High Priestess who is a Witch Queen, thus no man can be a Magus alone. See Witch King.

MAIDEN-- 1) The younger of the Three Aspects of the Goddess. She is referred to as the Virgin (not virgo intacta) because she, in this aspect, has no husband. She represents the unrestrained sexuality and freedom of youth as well as the new-found life in the world as well as the joys of a woman who answers only to herself and is not 'owned' by a husband or father or son as is usual in patriarchial societies like America.
2) In Wicca, the woman who is the assistant to the High Priestess. She is essentially a young woman who is a High-Priestess-in-training who takes over when the High Priestess cannot function.
3) The woman who rules at certain Spring Sabbats.

MAJOR ARCANA-- (tarot) The 21 cards in a tarot deck that represent divine influences.

MALANDANTI-- (Italian) The 'evil' witches who sought to overthrow the current political system in Italy and bring the country back to the worship of the Goddess.
Generally, any one who seeks to overthrow the system is a terrorist and evil. If they win, they are a patriot and good. Menachim Begin, the former Prime Minister of Israel was a terrorist when he fought for Israel's independence in the 1940's. After he won, history called him a hero. Think about George Washington.

MALE ENERGY-- The energy transformed by the male body. It is active, constructive and aggressive. Yang.

MALEFICIA-- See Black magick or Left Hand Path.

MALKIN-- A medieval term of a familiar in the shape of a cat.

MALLEUS MALEFICARUM-- The Witches Hammer was published in 1486 and is considered by Witches to be the most evil book ever written. Written by two dominican monks, Jakob Sprenger and Heinrich Kramer who firmly believed in the evils of Witchcraft, this work is devided into three sections. Part 1 describes the evil of Witchcraft and states that if you don't believe what they say, you are guilty. Part 2 is a list of the fancifle evils supposedly perpetrated by Witches and Part 3 is a 'how to' guide for torturing a confession out of a suspect.
The actual impact of this work is often understated but it was the one of the first books actually printed on the newly invented printing press and so had a much wider dissemination than it would have had had it been hand-copied as were prior works. Becasue of this printing, everyone had to have a copy just as today everyone had to have a cabbage patch kid or beany baby when they were popular.
Most Witches who read this work do so in the bathroom so that they can get sick in a room with a toilet. People like Montague Summers love the work. I suspect that Hitler may have treasured a copy.

MANIFEST-- To create.

MARGARET MURRAY, DR-- See Murray, Dr Margaret.

MARKERS-- Various historical scenes discovered theough astral projection through time which help one find your way.

MATRIARCHAL-- A society which is ruled by women. There are no martiarchal socienties today although the Amazons of Greek history may have been matriarchal. Contrast this with patriarchal where men rule. Almost every muslum society is patriarchal.
Many covens are matriarchal in design.

MATRIFOCAL-- Influenced by women or a society where women have a disproportionate say in life. Navajo indians are matrifocal.
This contrasts with Patrifocal where men make most of the decisions. America is a patrifocal society.
Almost every modern coven is matrifocal.

MATRILINEAL-- Societies where descent is traced from female to female. Contrast this with patrilineal where descent is traced through the father. America is patrilineal (we do take our father's name).
American Gardnerians are matrilineal.

MATTER-- Energy that manifests itself in such a way that it appears to be solid.

MATTHEW HOPKINS-- See Hopkins, Matthew.

MEASURE-- The string that is used to mark the body parts during a Traditional Wiccan Initiation. This is the ultimate Object Link.

MEASUREMENTS, BODILY-- In the old days, most measurements were taken from the human body. If you wanted to know how many feet a wall was, you simply set your feet down one after another and counted them and that was the required measurement. Obvioulsly, as peoples bodies were different (my foot is 8 1/2" but my 16 year old son has a 12" foot. Obviously I encourage in him a tendency towards barefoot.), arguments occurred. So King Henry VIII made the law that stated that his body measurements were the official and legal measurements in England. And so these measurements became standardized until the metric system was developed.
In Wicca, Tools are intensely personal items and so are traditionally measured according to the owners body. A Wand is one Ell long, the Athame blade is one spann long and so on.
Common Wiccan measurements are: ell, yard, cord, palm, hand, foot, finger, spann, inch, etc.

MEDICINE MAN-- (Native American) That person among the American Indians who possessed some spiritual, religious or magickal powers similar to Witches.
There are a number of 'white indians' who pretend to honor Native Americans by doing faked and watered down 'indian' rituals such as sweat lodges but who have not earned the right to do so.
One of my students was Darlene, the daughter of the Medicine Man for the Cherokee Nation and whenever she saw some white guy posing as a medicine man, she would swear them out in Cherokee and considered them to be lowest of the low. In her eyes, these people stole the Indian land, culture, language and now the religion with no idea of how these rites were to be done and not even caring that they were raping Indian religions.

MEDITATION-- A focused form of relaxed concentration in which the person allows the mind to go inward, changing emotional states or achieving an insight not normally possible while in a normal waking state.

MEETING-- A term used for any gathering of Witches. Compare to working.

MEGALITHIC-- A ritual site made of very large stones. Stonehenge is the most famous example of a Megalithic Stone Circle, Avebury the largest.

MEGALITHIC YARD-- A theoretical measurement for the ancient Stone Cicles of Great Britain. It is believed to be 2.72 feet or 0.82 meters long. If true, most ritual Circles are based upon the Megalithic Yard. If so, then the modern Wiccan Circle should be 3 Megalithic yards in diameter (8.16 feet) instead of the Traditional Nine Feet.

MELITIUS, ABBOT-- (7th century) An early christian missionary who around 601 c.e. was told by pope gregory that when he reached England, he should not destroy the pagan temples but rather steal them, build a church on that spot and invent a holiday to compare with the pagan one and a saint to compare with the local God/dess. Thus all saints day and all souls day were stolen from Samhain, easter was stolen from Ostara, christmas was stolen from Yule, etc. The Goddess Bride was changed into the saint Brigit and people who never existed such as saint christopher were invented.

MELRAWD-- In Wicca, the period when the Novice begins to unlearn the mundane thinking process and learns the magickal way of Thinking. A time of intense learning.

MENHIR-- A standing stone of Europe. Wheras Great Britain prefered the Stone Circle, Western Europe preferred the solitary Menhir.
Most Menhirs were used to mark holy spots or to recharge Ley Lines. However some were used as a weather control device by grounding out potential lightening storms and so producing generally good weather with light rains.

MERLIN-- Although scholors argue as to the date and even the races of those in the Arthurian myths, we may presume that Merlin was a Druid and thus a Celt, who assisted Arthur (possibly a Celt as well) in the 5th Century in his efforts to stave off the Saxon invasions of England after the Romans puled out of Britain. Merlin was reported to be half human and half demon (or Witch? as the christians called all Wiccan High Priests devils) and the greatest magickian in the history of the British Isles.

MERRY MEET, MERRY PART-- A greeting used by Witches.

MESO-PAGAN--A term coined by Robin Goodfellow and used to refer to a religion which attempts to revive any of a various form of a paleo-pagan religion but are unable to completley give up judeo-christianity. Some examples are Masonic Druidism,Thelemic and some eclectic wiccans who still attend a xian church.

MESSENGER OF THE GODS-- (Gardnerian) That person who has been appointed the task of maintaining communication between several Covens in an area. See Summoner.

METAPHYSICS-- The philosophy behind magick and physics.

METEMPSYCHOSIS-- The proper term for reincarnation.

MICROCOSM-- The universe duplicated on a scale smaller than and within man.

MIDSUMMER-- See Litha.

MIGHTY ONES-- See Lords of the Watchtowers.

MISTLETOE-- A parasitic plant that grows on a number of plants. Called All-Heal by the Druids, it was so sacred that it could only be harvested by a pure person who cut it with a sacred sickle after having a proper sacrifice made under the tree. The mistletoe was then cut and caught in a white cloth to avoid it being contaminated by touching the ground.
In reality, the berries and leaves of mistletoe are highly toxic and anyone who makes a love potion with it is guilty of poisoning the person they are trying to seduce.
It is customary for people to kiss under mistletoe though Witches have a different idea of what to do.

MITHRAS-- (Persia) Around 1400 b.c.e. (another date given for this is 500 b.c.e.), a young virgin entered a cave in Persia that was being used as a livestock barn and on December 21, gave birth to Mithras, the Sun God. A star appeared to herald the birth and wise men approached to give gifts and worship. Sound familiar? Remember that Saul of Tarsus was a priest of Mithras and later came to be called Paul when he converted to what can be referred to as Pauline Judiasm or christianity.
Essentially, Mithriasm was a popular religion in the Mideast and its temples are found as far west as England (which has five surviving temples to Mithras). It was heavily influenced by Zoroastrianiam and was much more popular with the Roman Empire than christianity (which was a slaves religion). For but one incident, the world may today be Mithraic. That one incident occured in 324 c.e. when the Roman Emperor and his generals had a vision before a battle. The Generals saw Mithras and took it as a sign that they were blessed and would win the battle. Constantine saw jesus and, because he was Emperor and could kill anyone he wanted, forced the Empire to convert to christianity.

MIZ-MAZE-- A maze cut into the earth to symbolize the Goddess and the winding path to Her. Roman catholicism remembers this when the offer you the illustration of a winding and difficult path to heaven or a straight and easy path to hell. Those who swollow this catachesm ignore the catholic belief that you can be the most evil person on the earth and still goto heavenas a saint if you repent at the last minute or ask a priest to do the last rites (a spell which is supposed to guarantee your entry into heaven), a request that he may not refuse. This makes the earlier choice useless.
The miz-maze has no choices. It takes you closer and farther from the center but you will always arrive at your destination if you will just remain on the Path..

MOLACH-- (Canaanite) Once considered to be a god to whom the Canaanites and Phoenecians sacrificed their children, it has since been discovered to be a term that represents the concept of child-sacrifice. Generally, these children were killed then burned (or burned to death, I'm not certain) and their ashes placed into funerary jars. The custom existed up through the fall of Carthage after the Punic wars.
Lest we dwell too much on the barbarism of this custom, remember that in the Old Testament, Abraham was told by god to sacrifice his first born son. As he was about to do so, he was stopped by an angel and murdered a ram instead. This represents what is called an 'aetiological myth' or a story made up to explain a custom that is common in a people. In this case, the early Israelites were accustomed to sacrifice their first born sons to jehovah and the story of how easily Abraham was willing to comply shows how ingrained and common this practice was. However, the myth then shows that at about the time of Abraham, the Israelites began to cease child-sacrifice and replace it with animal sacrifice.
The Irish, and I suspect many other catholic peoples, had a similar custom. However, instead of killing the child, they gave one of their sons to the church who was then given a new name and expected to sever most of his relations with his former family. Again a form of child sacrifice. Since the Irish did this to ensure a job for at least one son and as a means of reducing the numbers of reproductive males and so limit the population (HAH!!! I have three uncles who are catholic priests and four aunts who are nuns and that celebacy rule never slowed the priests down), one wonders if the 'molach' custom had similar intentions in a world of limited resources and a rising population?

MOMMET-- See Poppet.

MONOTHEISM-- The concept of only one god, generally believed to be separate from man and nature.

MOON-- The symbol of the Triple Goddess in Wicca.

MOON CROWN-- The Crown worn by the High Priestess of a Coven of Witches as a symbol of her position and a symbol of the Goddess. Generally they are a silver band with a silver Crescent Moon worn at the forehead.

MOON VOID-OF-COURSE-- (astrology) That interval between the time when the moon has left one sign but has not yet entered another.

MOONWISE-- See Deosil.

MOTE-- Might, may. See So mote it be.

MOTHER-- That aspect of the Goddess which symbolizes the nurturing and procreative aspect of the Goddess. Her symbol is the Full Moon.

MOTHER SHIPTON-- ( 15th century) Born in 1488 in Knaresborough, Yorkshire, England, she was the illigetimate daughter of a poor begger woman and the High Priest of the local Coven. When the mother told him of her pregnancy, he promised to teach her certain spells in return for her being faithful to him. She agreed and they travelled together with her becoming well off.
The baby (who later became known as Mother Shipton) was born Ursula Sontheil and was described as deformed and ugly but healthy, however a contemporary woodcut shows her to be an attractive woman. The mother was locked up in a convent (generally a way of imprisoning a woman who could not be legally killed). Despite her appearance (she may have been wrongfully described as ugly as an attack by her rivals), Ursula married Toby Shipton and became a famous prophet in the same manner as Nostradamus, dying peaceably (unusual for a Witch in those days) in 1561.

MOUNT BROCKEN-- The highest peak in the Hartz mountains of Germany where Witches are reputed to gather.

MUNDANE-- In Wicca, pertaining to the everyday material world. Eclectic Witches use the term Mundane to refer to non-Wiccans. Compare with Cowan.

MURRAY, DR. MARGARET-- ( ? - ? ) An Egyptologist who wrote about Witchcraft in the 1920's. Her theory was that Wicca was an organized pre-christian religion that was persecuted by christianity because of it's allegiance to the Horned God. Her first work, The Witch Cult in Western Europe (1921) explored an amazing number of contemporary records to collect evidence on the Religion. Her second work, The God of the Witches (1931) explored the basic beliefs of the Religion and her final work, The Divine King (1954) explored the idea that many of the English Kings were secretly members of the Witch Religion.
Return to Contents.

To contact me or to request topics to be covered, send to RikJohnson@juno.com
by: Rick Johnson
PO Box 40451
Tucson, Az.
85717

Return to the Home Page.
Return to the Miscellenous Page.
Return to the Vocabulary Page.