PAGAN TERMS
ALTAR:
This can be a shelf or a table that ritual objects are placed for the purpose of magic and worship.
ALEUROMANCY:
A form of divination where answers are written on pieces of paper in balls of dough and baked.  Fortune cookies and the likes are a derivative of this.
ALLEGORY:
The use of easily understandable symbols to illustrate hard to understand abstract concepts.
AMULET:
A protective object which is sometimes inscribed with magical symbols.  This is worn or carried to drive away negative energy or spirits.
ARADIAN:
Wiccan tradition (Italian).
ARADIA:
A goddess name in Wicca (Italian).
ATHAME:
(a-THA-may) This is the ritual blade used by most Wiccans.  This is never used for cutting and is usually double edged, dull and black handled.
AURA:
The spiritual energy field around the body.  The size, shape and colours of the aura can tell so many things about the person's condition.
B.C.E:
Before Common Era.
BIBLIOMANCY:
Form of divination where you let a book fall open, pointing with you eyes closed at some place on the page and finding significance from the word or words chosen.
BOLEEN:
White handled knife.
BOOK OF SHADOWS:
A Witches book that holds spells, magical works, rituals and personal notes.
BURRIN:
Alternative name for the white handled knife.
CANDLE MAGIC:
This is the art of using candles to focus your energy to bring about a desired result.
CAKES AND ALE/CAKES AND WINE::
This can be for many things, mainly for giving thanks or grounding after a ritual.
C.E.:
Common Era
CELTS.:
People of Ireland and Scotland.  The origins of wich are fuzzy at best, but they are believed to have come from India and migrated into central or Eastern Europe around 700 BCE and then spread to the British Isles.
CHAKRAS:
Energy centres of the body, where the body and spirit most strongly connect.
CHALICE:
The ritual cup used in Wiccan ritual.
CHANT:
A song or rythmic poem repeated rythmically for magic, ritual or for the joy of it.
CIRCLE:
The sacred space where the ritual or worship occurs.
CORRESPONDENCES:
0This is a teaching system which uses the idea that, for example, the direction of south is corresponding to the element of Air, the quality of thought, the dawn of a day, the spring of the year etc.
COVEN:
A group of 2 or more Pagans who worship together on a regular basis.
CRONE:
The goddess in her aged form.
DGREE:
There are three degrees within the Wiccan system.  A novice or seeker takes First Degree Initiation following a year and a day of study.  After this, they can call themselves "Priest" or "Priestess".  Then they may progress through Second Degree to Third Degree.  A Third Degree Witch is entitled to teach and run his/her own coven and is call a "High Priest" or "High Priestess.  Some covens arrange things differently.
DEITY:
A god or goddess.
DOESIL:
(DAY-o-sil), Sunwise or Abti-Clockwise (Southern Hemisphere).
DIVINATION:
Fortune telling by various means such as Tarot, numerology, Rune Stones etc.
DOGMA:
A riged set of beliefs established by the priesthood of some religions.
ELEMENTS:
Earth, Air, Fire and Water.  From these, everything in the universe is made.
ESBAT:
One of the minor or lesser Wiccan rituals.  Usually these are performed on the Full Moon or the New Moon.
FENG SHUI:
The ancient Chinese art of Geomancy.  This is based on the Asian system of the five elements and direction.
GEOMANCY:
The art of reading the Earth's energies and aligning our environment to take best advantage of them.
GODHEAD:
The oversoul of the universe.  Called many things as God, the Combined Consiousness etc.
GOD:
A very broad term used to describe a higher form of entity or power.  This is a male term for a deity.
GODDESS:
The female deity.
GREGORIAN CALENDAR:
Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 introduced the Gregorian calendar - wiping out ten days to make it astronomically correct.  Another day was later dropped.
GROUNDING:
A process of clearing and releasing excess energy back into the ground.  It has a calming effect and allows clear thought.  It is most important after ritual or magical work.
HANDFASTING:
A Pagan wedding, legal or non-leagal.  It was a common term for marriage until the 1400's.
HEATHEN:
Much the same as Pagan, though Heathen literally means a dweller on the heath.
HECATE:
The Crone Goddess of ancient Greece.
HERNE THE HUNTER:
A famous apparition that appears (apparantly) in Windsor Park accompanied by hounds.  He is a later version of the great Pagan God Cernunnos.
INITIATION:
The ritual of joining a group or coven.  This varies greatly depending on the coven.
JULIAN CALENDAR:
This was the calendar used before the Gregorian calendar.
KARMA:
A system of checks and balances of your actions.  What goes around comes around.  This plus the responsibility of ones actions directly on to that person