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| | From:  _vixedjuju_ (Original Message) | Sent: 12/9/2007 6:58 PM |
WICCA FROM MY POINT OF VIEW
by Lady Phoenix
I can give you a brief overview of Wicca. (I don't speak for all Wiccans, only
myself. There are some differences in the different Traditions.)
We believe that the ultimate godhead is unknowable. This doesn't make for a good
working relationship with the deity, however. So, we break it down into a
Goddess and a God. Different Wiccans worship different Gods/Goddesses. We can
utilize *any* pantheon. Some worship Pan/Diana, some Cernnunos/Aradia,
Isis/Osiris, and many others.
We see our Goddess as being Triple Aspected -- Maiden, Mother, and Crone, and
she is reflected in the phases of the Moon -- Waxing, Full and Waning. We see
the God as the Lord of Nature, and he is reflected in the seasonal changes. Like
Jesus Christ, he dies for the land and the people, and is reborn.
In general, we believe in reincarnation and karma. What you call Heaven, we call
the Summerlands. We don't believe that Hell exists (or Satan either.) We believe
that there should be balance in all things - when the balance is disturbed,
that's when 'evil' occurs. Fire, for example is not 'evil'. It could be
considered such when it becomes out of balance, as in a forest fire, or house
fire. Controlled fire is a useful tool. Anger is not 'evil', but when unbridled
can't help but lead to negative things. When properly expressed and balanced
with constructive working to correct that which invoked the anger - it, too, can
be a useful tool.
We regard the Earth as our Mother, and try to have respect for Her by not
polluting her and try to live in harmony with Her and Her ways.
Women reflect the Goddess, Men reflect the God, so the Wicca have a Priestess
and Priest to 'run' the religious services. We call our services circles.
This was sort of a "Reader's Digest Condensed Version" of Wicca. If you have any
questions or want more detail on any of this, please let me know. Thank you for
asking.
Blessed be >>Phoenix<<
Origin: InterVisioN "The ParaNormal Connection" 603-547-6485 HST (1:132/123) |
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EXEGESIS ON THE WICCAN REDE
by Judy Harrow
Originally published in HARVEST - Volume 5, Number 3 (Oimelc, 1985) second
publication: THE HIDDEN PATH - Volume X, Number 2 Beltane, 1987)
All religions began with somebody's sudden flashing insight, enlightenment, a
shining vision. Some mystic found the way and the words to share the vision,
and, sharing it, attracted followers. The followers may repeat those precise and
poetic words about the vision until they congeal into set phrases, fused
language, repeated by rote and without understanding. Clichés begin as great
wisdom - that's why they spread so fast - and end as ritual phrases, heard but
not understood. Living spirituality so easily hardens to boring religious
routine, maintained through guilt and fear, or habit and social opportunism -
any reason but joy.
We come to the Craft with a first generation's joy of discovery, and a first
generation's memory of bored hours of routine worship in our childhood. Because
we have known the difference, it is our particular challenge to find or make
ways to keep the Craft a living, real experience for our grandchildren and for
the students of our students.
I think the best of these safeguards is already built into the Craft as we know
it, put there by our own good teachers. On our Path, the mystic experience
itself is shared, not just the fruits of mysticism. We give all our students the
techniques, and the protective/supportive environment that enable almost every
one of them to Draw the Moon and/or invoke the God. This is an incredibly
radical change from older religions, even older Pagan religions, in which the
only permissible source of inspiration has been to endlessly reinterpret and
reapply the vision of the Founder (the Bible, the Book of the Law, the Koran,
...). The practice of Drawing the Moon is the brilliant crown of the Craft.
But notice how often, in the old myths, every treasure has its pitfalls? I think
I'm beginning to see one of ours. Between the normal process of original visions
clotting into cliché, and our perpetual flow of new inspiration, we are in
danger of losing the special wisdom of those who founded the modern Craft. I do
not think we should assiduously preserve every precious word. My love for my
own Gardnerian tradition does not blind me to our sexist and heterosexist roots.
And yet, I want us to remain identifiably Witches and not meld into some
homogeneous "New Age" sludge. For this, I think we need some sort of anchoring
in tradition to give us a sense of identity. Some of the old sayings really do
crystallize great wisdom as well, life-affirming Pagan wisdom that our culture
needs to hear. So I think it's time for a little creative borrowing from our neighbors.
Christians do something they call "exegesis;" Jews have a somewhat similar
process called "midrash." That it is something between interpretation and
meditation, a very concentrated examination of a particular text. The assumption
often is every single word has meaning (cabalists even look at the individual
letters). Out of this inspired combination of scholar-ship and daydream comes
the vitality of those paths whose canon is closed. The contemporary example, of
course, is Christian Liberation Theology, based on a re-visioning of Jesus that
would utterly shock John Calvin.
Although our canon is not closed - and the day it is the day I quit - I'm
suggesting that we can use a similar process to renew the life of the older
parts of our own still-young heritage. So, I'd like to try doing some exegesison anessential statement of the Craft way
of life. Every religion has some sort of ethic, some guideline for what it means
to live in accordance with this particular mythos, this worldview. Ours, called
the Wiccan Rede, is one of the most elegant statements I've heard of the
principle of situational ethics. Rather than placing the power and duty to
decide about behavior with teachers or rulebooks, the Rede places it exactly
where it belongs, with the actor.
eight words the Wiccan Rede fulfill:
AN IT HARM NONE, DO WHAT YOU WILL.
I'd like to start with the second phrase first, and to take it almost word by
word.
Do what YOU will. This is the challenge to self-direction, to figure out what we
want, and not what somebody else wants for us or from us. All of us are subject
to tremendous role expectations and pressures, coming from our families, our
employers, our friends, society in general. It's easy to just be molded,
deceptively easy to become a compulsive rebel and reflexively do the opposite of
whatever "they" seem to want. Living by the Rede means accepting the
responsibility to assess the results of our actions and to choose when we will
obey, confront or evade the rules.
Do what you WILL. This is the challenge to introspection, to know what we really
want beyond the whim of the moment. The classic example is that of the student
who chooses to study for an exam rather than go to a party, because what she
really wants is to be a doctor. Again, balance is needed. Always going to the
library rather than the movies is the road to burnout, not the road to a Nobel.
What's more, there are others values in life, such as sensuality, intimacy,
spirituality, that get ignored in a compulsively long-term orientation. So, our
responsibility is not to mechanically follow some rule like "always choose to
defer gratification in your own long-term self interest," but to really listen
within, and to really choose, each time.
DO what you will. This is the challenge to action. Don't wait for Prince
Charming or the revolution. Don't blame your mother or the system. Make a
realistic plan that includes all your assets. Be sure to include magic, both the
deeper insights and wisdoms of divination and the focusing of will and energy
that comes from active workings. Then take the first steps right now. But,
beware of thoughtless action, which is equally dangerous. For example,
daydreaming is needed, to envision a goal, to project the results of actions, to
check progress against goals, sometimes to revise goals. Thinking and planning
are necessary parts of personal progress. Action and thought are complementary;
neither can replace the other.
When you really look at it, word by word, it sounds like a subtle and profound
guide for life, does it not? Is it complete? Shall "do what you will" in fact be
"the whole of the law" for us? I think not. The second phrase of the Rede
discusses the individual out of context. Taken by itself, "DO WHAT YOU WILL"
would produce a nastily competitive society, a "war of each against all" more
bitter than what we now endure. That is, it would if it were possible. Happily,
it's just plain not. Pagan myth and modern biology alike teach us that our Earth is one
interconnected living sphere, a whole system in which the actions of each affect
all (and this is emphatically not limited to humankind) through intrinsic,
organic feedback paths. As our technology amplifies the effects of our
individual actions, it becomes increasingly critical to under-stand that these
actions have consequences beyond the individual; consequences that, by the very
nature of things, come back to the individual as well. Cooperation, once
"merely" an ethical ideal, has become a survival imperative. Life is relational,
contextual. Exclusive focus on the individual Will is a lie and a deathtrap.
The qualifying "AN IT HARM NONE," draws a Circle around the individual Will and
places each of us firmly within the dual contexts of the human community and the
complex life-form that is Mother Gaia. The first phrase of the Rede directs us
to be aware of results of our actions projected not only in time, as long-term
personal outcomes, but in space - to consider how actions may effect our
families, co-workers, community, and the life of the Earth as a whole, and to
take those projections into account in our decisions.
But, like the rest of the Rede, "an it harm none" cannot be followed
unthinkingly. It is simply impossible for creatures who eat to harm none. Any
refusal to decide or act for fear of harming someone is also a decision and an
action, and will create results of some kind. When you consider that "none"
also includes ourselves, it becomes clear that what we have here is a goal and
an ideal, not a rule.
The Craft, assuming ethical adulthood, offers us no rote rules. We will always
be working on incomplete knowledge. We will sometimes just plain make mistakes.
Life itself, and life-affirming religion, still demands that we learn, decide,
act, and accept the results.
Judy Harrow |
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CHRISTIANITY AND WICCA
By Rowan Moonstone
The following is the comparison listing of Christianity and Wicca that I
mentioned in a previous message. It was prepared by Kerr Cuchulain, who is the
Canadian Chapter Head for the Witches League for Public Awareness, in response
to a request from a Christian minister who contacted the League.
Christianity Wicca
Patriarchal/Paternalistic Duotheistic (Goddess/God)*
Dualistic: divinity separate
Monistic: Divinity inseparable from everyday world
Resurrection Reincarnation
Heaven: destination of Christian
Summerland: resting place between souls incarnations
Hell No equivalent
Satan No equivalent
Original Sin No equivalent
Redemption/Atonement/Confession/Karma/Threefold Law (evil returns upon the
perpetrator three-fold)
Hierarchy/Authoritarian No hierarchy/ Autonomy
Bible (scripture) No equivalent **
Sabbats based upon Biblical Seasonal and Lunar Sabbats and Christian
historical
events
Prophets/Saints/Messiahs no equivalent
Generally daylight worship Some worship nocturnal (lunar esbats)
Churches/temples Circles case where convenient, usually no formal
temple, no
size restrictions on small groups (covens) 3-13 people usual though
congregations may be larger.
10 Commandments Wiccan Rede Harm none
Psychic phenomena generally
Psychic abilities encouraged / discouraged except for (magick) "miracles"
* Names vary from tradition to tradition. Different aspects of the Goddess/God
have different names creating the impression that Wicca may be pantheistic.
** Wiccans use a book called the "Book of Shadows". This is a working notebook
rather than a scriptural text. |
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SOME THOUGHTS ON THE EVOLUTION OF WICCAN RITUAL
By: Paul Hume Undoubtedly (insofar as anything in this mish-mash of magick can be undoubted
(g)) the "convergent evolution" thing has a place in the development of the
various trads.
ie. hitting on similar manifestations of one True Thing. An algorithm stays the
same, no matter how you code it.
Some of the interesting divergences, f'rinstance...
The Quarters: Always a lively discussion (g). Air's in the East. No, it's in
the North, etc. The traditional post-GD attributions stem from a system
attributed to Egypt, and Egyptian climate. The traditional Wiccan ones make
sense in the context of Northern Europe, esp. Britain. (At least the Brit-Trad
ones do).
The ceremonial (solar variety) magician concentrates on the Equinoxes and
Solstices as his major milestones in the wheel of the year, whereas Wicca
sticks with the Cross-Quarters as their main events. Again, the solar calendar is an Egypto-Sumerian bugaboo, and more important to
agricultural peoples (or so it is suggested) whereas the Cross-Quarters fit the
rhythm of birth and growth in herd animals, and thus suggest a tradition that
evolved in the herding cultures of the early Celts and Britons (who did not
succumb to the siren song of agro-economy until much later).
How rigorous these arguments are is open to dispute - they may just be attempts
to correlate anthropology and tradition. But they suggest areas of emphasis
that separate the two paths, and suggest further the different aspects of
Reality that drive them.
Paul |
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BELIEFS AND CUSTOMS OF WICCA Not every Wiccan will subscribe to all of these points, but generally they are
representative.
1. The divine Spirit is present in all creatures and things: people, animals,
plants, stones...
2. The ultimate creative force manifests in both feminine and masculine modes;
therefore it is often symbolized as the Goddess and The God.
3. In some covens, both are celebrated equally. In others, The Goddess is
given precedence or even celebrated without reference to the God.
4. All Goddesses and Gods are aspects of The Goddess and The God. The aspects
most popular in Wicca are the Triple Goddess of the Moon (Maiden, Mother and
Crone) and the Horned God of death and rebirth.
5. Reincarnation and karma are valid concepts. Upon death one goes to a state
of rest and reflection, and eventually chooses where and when s/he will be
reborn.
6. Magick is practiced for positive (helping) purposes: spiritual development,
healing, guidance, safety, etc.
7. Rituals are generally performed outdoors when possible, at the New and Full
Moons, and at eight Sabbat festivals which mark the progression of the seasons.
8. Magick and celebration are performed in small groups, usually 3 to 13,
called covens. These are basically autonomous -- there is no central church
authority or hierarchy.
9. There is no holy book, or prophet, no equivalent of the Bible or Jesus or
Mohammed. Individuals have access to the divine, and do not require an
intermediary. Every initiate is regarded as a priest/ess.
10. The central ethic is "And ye harm none, do as ye will." Whatever energy you
send out returns threefold, so it is wise to be kind to others.
11. We should live in harmony with the Earth and Nature, and not exploit them.
12. Though Wicca is a valid spiritual path, it is not the only one. There is no
recruiting, and people should be free to choose the path that best fits their
needs.
13. The concepts of original sin, sacrifice, redemption, confession, the
divinity of Jesus, sinfulness of sex, Judgment, Heaven and Hell, denigration of
women, bodily resurrection, and the Bible as divine revelation are not part of
Wicca. Neither are Satanism, the Black Mass, desecration of cemeteries, the
sacrifice of animals, etc. Copyright (c) 1983 Amber K., Our Lady of the Woods. Used by
Permission |
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THE WICCAN FAITH
I can give you a brief overview of Wicca. (I don't speak for all Wiccans, only
myself. There are some differences in the different Traditions.)
We believe that the ultimate godhead is unknowable. This doesn't make for a
good working relationship with the diety, however. So, we break it down into a
Goddess and a God. Different Wiccans worship different Gods/Goddesses. We can
utilize *any* pantheon. Some worship Pan/Diana, some Cernnunos/Aradia,
Isis/Osiris, and many others.
We see our Goddess as being Triple Aspected -- Maiden, Mother, and Crone, and
she is reflected in the phases of the Moon -- Waxing, Full and Waning. We see
the God as the Lord of Nature, and he is reflected in the seasonal changes.
Like Jesus Christ, he dies for the land and the people, and is reborn. In general, we believe in reincarnation and karma. What you call Heaven, we
call the Summerlands. We don't believe that Hell exists (or Satan either.) We
believe that there should be balance in all things - when the balance is
disturbed, that's when 'evil' occurs. Fire, for example is not 'evil'. It could be considered such when it becomes
out of balance, as in a forest fire, or house fire. Controlled fire is a useful
tool. Anger is not 'evil', but when unbridled can't help but lead to negative
things. When properly expressed and balanced with constructive working to
correct that which invoked the anger - it, too, can be a useful tool.
We regard the Earth as our Mother, and try to have respect for Her by not
polluting her and try to live in harmony with Her and Her ways.
Women reflect the Goddess, Men reflect the God, so the Wicca have a Priestess
and Priest to 'run' the religious services. We call our services circles.
This was sort of an "Reader's Digest Condensed Version" of Wicca.
Blessed be >>Phoenix<
<
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THE WICCAN INFORMATION NETWORK What is WIN?
The Wiccan Information Network is a project of the Wiccans Invoking Tolerance,
Compassion, and Harmony Society (W.I.T.C.H.). The WITCH Society is a registered
society in the province of British Columbia. The WITCH Society works to support
the right of Pagans (including Goddess Worshippers) and Witches to practice
their faith as they see fit, as it falls within the Craft, civil, and criminal
law and does not infringe in any way on the rights of others. WITCH is working
toward the return of the Wiccan and Pagan religions as respected faiths in
society through education via the media and by public discussion. The Wiccan Information Network is a non denominational Wiccan project sponsored
by the WITCH Society. The WIN project is coordinated by the police liaison
committee of WITCH. The WIN coordinators are responsible for coordinating the
efforts of those involved in the project. WIN is made up of Wiccans from all
over North America and includes many Wiccans who are law enforcement officers. What are the objectives of WIN?
The objectives of the Wiccan Information Network are: 1. To monitor anti-Wiccan activities, groups and individuals;
2. To research occult related crime;
3. To distribute this intelligence to those in the Wiccan community that are
affected by it;
and
4.To liaise with law enforcement agencies in order to provide them with accurate
information on Pagan religions and occult related crime. How does WIN work?
The WIN coordinators have assigned area coordinators to specific regions in the
US and Canada. WIN members forward any anti Wiccan information that they come
across to their area coordinators. These coordinators investigate this
information and forward it to: 1) Pagan groups in their areas affected by this information;
2) Area coordinators of other areas affected; and
3) The WIN coordinators. The WIN coordinators analyze and collate all intelligence received and assign
area coordinators to follow-up tasks if necessary. The WIN coordinators send out
a monthly intelligence summary to WIN members.
What else does WIN do?
The Wiccan Information Network also: Publishes information booklets and manuals for law enforcement investigators;
Publishes resource directories for those seeking information or speakers on
Pagan beliefs or occult related crime;
Arranges public speaking engagements in order to brief members of the Pagan
community on the subjects studied by WIN. Do I have to join WIN to participate?
No. You don't need to join WIN to help us. All that you need to do is send us
any information, newspaper clippings, articles, etc. that you feel we should be
aware of. We'll make sure this information gets to the right people. Who receives the monthly WIN intelligence summary?
Only WITCH Society members, WIN project members, selected Pagan newsletters and
Pagan organizations affiliated with WIN receive the monthly intelligence
summary. You cannot subscribe to it, for security reasons. If you'd like to
become a member of WITCH the current dues are $25 (Canadian) per annum, which
includes notice of meetings by mail and subscription to the WITCH Society
newsletter. A copy of the WITCH constitution and bylaws is available upon
request if you send a stamped and self addressed envelope. How can I become involved in WIN?
You don't have to belong to WITCH to be a part of WIN, although it is preferred.
If you are interested in becoming a part of WIN you should contact the WIN
coordinator with a resume of your previous experience in anti defamation work
for the Wiccan community. Organizations or newsletters interested in obtaining
WIN intelligence summaries should contact the WIN coordinator in writing and
send information on their constitution and editorial policies. Donations to
assist us in our work are greatly appreciated. All donations should be
forwarded to the WITCH Society and all checks should be made payable to the
WITCH Society. Wiccan Information Network, W.I.T.C.H. Society,
Box 2422, Main Post Office, c/0 2708 Belmont Ave.,
Vancouver, BC, V6B 3W7 Victoria, BC, V8R 4A8 |
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THE WICCAN REDE WITH THESE EIGHT WORDS
THE WICCAN REDE FULFILL:
"AN IT HARM NONE, DO WHAT YE WILL."
Copyright 08/17/92 by Servants Of The Elder Gods, Rocky Mountain
Coven and James C. Taylor OVERVIEW. The purpose of this paper is to look at the Wiccan Rede, at the types
of conduct it excludes, and at the type of conduct it requires. We will begin
with a detailed examination of the wording of the Rede itself, which presents as
"pseudo-archaic" but actually makes excellent use of the specific meanings of
several archaic words which have no real equivalents in contemporary English.
We will then take a look at the two sections of the Rede, and see why they are
presented in their proper order as written. Finally, we will examine various
uses of magick and see how--and if--they adequately measure up to the standard
of the Rede. THE VOCABULARY OF THE WICCAN REDE. As mentioned above, the Rede appears to be
presented in a pseudo-archaic or "phony ancient" form of English. Is this simply
harmless foolishness, or is there some excellent reason for the vocabulary
selected? Let's take a look at the Rede, word by word. AN: This word is commonly mistranslated as "IF", which is a significant error.
The word "AN" is more accurately translated "JUST SO LONG AS". IT: This pronoun refers to whatever it is that you are thinking of doing. HARM: This refers to anything which either you or any other person involved or
affected by "it" would regard as loss, damage, pain, discomfort, injustice,
invasiveness, or preven-tion, relative to the situation existing before "it" was
done. Anything which goes against another person's free will, even if it intends
them good, would constitute serious harm. NONE: This ought to be self-explanatory. "None" is an all-exclusive word. If you
harm anyone or anything, including yourself, including a small rock in Trenton,
New Jersey, you have harmed "some", not "none". DO: To perform whatever working is contemplated by "IT", above. WHAT: The meaning here is "Whatever", and refers forward. YE: The archaic PLURAL form of "you". The current word "you" denotes both the
singu-lar and the plural; the archaic word "YE" is always plural. We shall
see, later on, that this is no accident. WILL: To will something is to exercise your intellectual decision-making power
to deter-mine the course of action which you feel to be the best. "Will" has
little or nothing to do with "wish" or "want" or "desire". It is not an
emotional inclination or feeling. It is the employment of reason to make a
decision based upon your best judgment. The Two Sections Of The Wiccan Rede
A. SECTION ONE: "AN IT HARM NONE". Why does the Wiccan Rede not say, "Do what ye will, an it harm none"? There is a
reason why the "An it harm none" comes first in the Rede, and that reason is
that "An it harm none" is intended to come first in your own thinking, as a
Wiccan initiate and practitioner. If you or any Wiccan begins with "Do what ye
will", I assure you that you, like the Funda-mentalists before you, will find a
way to excuse and even to justify anything you take it into your head to do!
Knowing this about human nature, the Lady inspired the Rede to be written as it
is, with the "An it harm none" to come first. The Wiccan Rede's "An it harm none" has parallels in many disciplines. Perhaps
the most significant parallel is found in the Hippocratic Oath taken by every
physician before s/he is certified to practice. The first part of the
Hippocratic Oath binds the physician "First, to do no harm." It is sobering to
realize that magical ethics, as set forth in the Wiccan Rede, are or should be
so similar to medical ethics, an issue with such a powerful effect on so many
lives. When we read of a physician who has violated his medical ethics, we read this
with outrage toward him and with empathy toward those patients who suffered
inadequate care because the physician violated his ethics. It is more sobering
to realize that future genera-tions will regard violations of magickal ethics
with the same degree of outrage, and rightly so. B. SECTION TWO: "DO WHAT YE WILL." Even without the first part of the Rede, "Do what ye will" is most certainly not
a blanket permission to do whatever you desire to do. As one Wiccan High
Priestess has observed, "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts
absolutely." Seems like I've heard that before, but it's certainly true when
you're talking about using real magick to accomplish real goals in the real
world.When we realize the kinds and orders of results, both expected and
unexpected, both knowable and unknowable, which eventuate from almost every
human action, it would seem the better part of both valor and wisdom to never do
anything at all, especially not anything which is done with spiritual power
guided by no more than human wisdom! Unfortunately, to do nothing is also a
choice, and the results of inaction are often far worse than the results of even
ill considered action. This is why the second half of the Rede demands that we
make a decision and act upon it, as well as conforming that decision to the
requirement that it harm none. THE STANDARD OF THE REDE. Please note that the Wiccan Rede contains no loop-
holes whatsoever. The Rede does not say, "An it harm none to the best of your
know-ledge." The Rede also does not say "An it harm none to the best of your
ability to discern whether it will harm someone." The Wiccan Rede does not say these things, or anything similar to them. It
simply says "An it harm NONE, do what ye will." This means that YOU, once you
have committed to live by the Wiccan Rede, are committed to be solely and
totally responsible for any harm resulting from ANY ACTION YOU TAKE, MAGICKAL OR
NOT. Paul Seymour's forthcoming book begins with some strong cautionary notes
concerning the use of magick. One of the examples he gives is particularly
tragic, and concerns a young man who worked a simple and apparently harmless
"money spell". The spell worked, and the young man got his money--he inherited
it, when his parents were both killed in an accident shortly after he worked the
spell. Paul does not say in his book if this young man was a Wiccan initiate. If
he was, then in addition to his sorrow and loss, he has had to live with the
fact that, by the standard of the Rede, he is ultimately responsible for the
death of his parents. When you commit to live according to the Wiccan Rede, you commit to conform your
entire life, not just the magickal, mystical and religious aspects of it, to the
standard set by the Rede. Never again will you be able to act impulsively or
without considering the results of what you do. Never again will you be able to
act or even speak in thoughtless irritation or anger. Instead, you will come to
consider the implications of every word you speak, and of every routine action
you do. For it is not just by magick that we can harm ourselves or others;
everything we do, and everything we say, has the potential to help or harm
others, and to help or harm ourselves.It is also important to note that the Rede
sets up a standard which prevents us from harming ourselves as well as others.
Other religions, including Christianity, regard it as virtuous to suffer harm
for the sake of another, even to die so that another person might live. The
Wiccan Rede does not permit this. You are to harm none, and this means that you
are not to harm yourself, even for the sake of doing good for someone else. To
some, this may seem like a selfish standard. But think about it. Would you
wish to benefit by someone else's injury or death? Of course not! If you did
derive some benefit, such as an inheritance, from the death of another person,
would you feel good about this? Well, some people might, but probably you would
not. Therefore, in a very real sense, you yourself are harmed by a benefit you
derive from the injury or death of another. True, the harm is emotional, but it
is entirely real. Wicca recognizes that human beings are social creatures. What does harm to one,
does harm to all in varying degrees. Therefore, it is imperative that each
person strive to harm no one, himself or herself included. Finally, it is significant to note that word "ye" in the statement, "Do what YE
will." This is the ancient plural form of "you", and it means that your
individual will is assumed to be in accord with some other will, instead of
acting entirely on its own. What is this other will which, together with yours, comprises the "ye" in the
Rede? Well, if you are working in a coven, it could well be the combined will of
the members of the coven. But this would not apply to those who are working on
their own, and it is not the highest or best meaning, even for those working in
coven. How does one act, so as to be certain to harm none? Not by refusing to
act, since inaction is itself a decision, and often causes far more harm than
even rash action. Not by delaying action until the time for it is past, because
that is the same as inaction. And not by relying solely upon your own human
wisdom, either. The best way to act, so as to be certain to harm none, is to call upon the
Goddess and/or the God, and to hand to Them the power you have raised, together
with the situation you have raised the power to deal with, and say, "You are
holy, good, and wise, and know how to use this power to help and not harm. Do
Your will in this situation. That is my will, that Your will be done." And thus
the Rede is fulfilled: For the "ye" who will are yourself and Them-selves, who
are good, and love humanity, and who always act for the highest good of all. |
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THE REDE OF THE WICCA
(Being known as the Counsel of the Wise Ones:) Bide the Wiccan laws ye must
In Perfect Love and Perfect Trust
Live and let live
Freely take and freely give
Cast the circle thrice about
To keep all evil spirits out
To bind the spell every time
Let the spell be spake in rhyme
Soft of eye and light of touch
Speak little, listen much
Deosil go by the waxing moon
Sing and dance the Wiccan rune
Widdershins go when the moon doth wane
And the werewolf howls by the dread wolfsbane
When the Lady's moon is new
Kiss thy hand to her times two
When the moon rides at her peak
Then your heart's desire seek
Heed the northwind's mighty gale
Lock the door and drop the sail
When the wind comes from the south
Love will kiss thee on the mouth
When the wind blows from the east
Expect the new and set the feast
When the west wind blows o'er thee
Departed spirits restless be
Nine woods in the cauldron go
Burn them fast and burn them slow
Elder be ye Lady's tree
Burn it not or cursed ye'll be
When the wheel begins to turn
Let the Beltaine fires burn
When the wheel has turned to Yule
Light the log and let Pan rule
Heed ye flower, bush and tree
By the Lady, Blessed be
Where the rippling waters go
Cast a stone and truth ye'll knowThe Rede of the Wicca
When ye have a need
Hearken not to others' greed
With the fool no season spend
Nor be counted as his friend
Merry meet and merry part
Bright the cheeks and warm the heart
Mind the Threefold Law ye should
Three times bad and three times good
When misfortune is enow
Wear the blue star on thy brow
True in love ever be
Unless thy lover's false to thee
Eight words the Wiccan Rede fulfill
An' it harm none, do what ye will |
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MONISM, ONE WICCAN PERSPECTIVE
Copyright 11/24/92
Durwydd MacTara "Henotheism n. Belief in one god without denying the existence of others."
(American Heritage Second College Dictionary) "Monism n. philos. A metaphysical system in which reality is conceived as a
unified whole." (American Heritage Second College Dictionary) "Monotheism n. The belief or doctrine that there is only one God." (American
Heritage Second College Dictionary) "Pantheism n. 1. The doctrine identifying the Deity with the various forces and
workings of nature. 2. Belief in and worship of all gods." (American Heritage
Second College Dictionary) "Polytheism n. The worship of or belief in more than one god." (American
Heritage Second College Dictionary) "To witches, deities manifest in different ways and can be worshipped and
contacted through any form suitable to local conditions and personal needs.
Wicca does not believe, as do the patriarchal monotheisms, that there is only
one correct version of God and that all other God forms are false: the Gods of
Wicca are not jealous Gods. We therefore worship the personification of the
male and female principles, the God and the Goddess, recognizing that Gods are
aspects of the One God and all Goddesses are different aspects of the one
Goddess, and that ultimately these two are reconciled in the one divine
essence."
(Vivianne Crowley, WICCA: The Old Religion in The New Age,-pp. 11-12) Vivianne Crowley, a very capable spokesperson for British Traditional Wicca,
identifies the core belief of Wicca (at least BTW) as Monism in the piece quoted
above. However, she also opens the door to defining Wicca as duotheistic in
principle with the subdivision of the monist reality into the praxis of
worshipping both Lord and Lady. However, there is yet a THIRD level of obscurity in Wiccan Praxis! Most Wiccans
wor-ship a threefold Goddess (Maid, Mother, and Crone) and many also worship at
least a twofold God. So, are the Wicca REALLY polytheists or perhaps pantheists
or even modified Henotheists as some have claimed? Or, perhaps, a new category
altogether needs to be invented to accurately describe Wiccan belief and
practice. One suggestion has been made to add a word to our Thea/Theo-logical lexicon,
perhaps "Cthonotheism" (provided we MUST have a "Theism") to describe "Theistic
Wicca". One advantage is that it makes the assumption of worshipping that which
was there to be found and worshipped, NOT a Deity or deities invented in 1939!
(More on this later.) The following is the only published copy of the (Gardnerian) Blessing Prayer
that I know of. "In the name of Dryghtyn, the Ancient Providence,
Who was from the beginning and is for eternity,
Male and Female, the Original Source of all things;
all-knowing, all-pervading, all-powerful;
changeless, eternal. "In the name of the Lady of the Moon,
and the Lord of Death and Resurrection. "In the name of the Mighty Ones of the Four Quarters,
the Kings of the Elements. "Blessed be this place, and this time,
and they who are now with us." ("Witch Blood! The Diary Of A Witch High Priestess!" by Patricia Crowther in
chapter four (paperback edition 1974, House Of Collectibles, Inc.).) Courtesy of
David Piper Airmid (aka Erynn Darkstar), a contemporary craft scholar and researcher says of
this new (to most of us) name of Ultimate Deity:
"Dryghtyn is also the name used for JHVH in some old English bibles. I think
that was where the term actually originated. I think I saw a passing reference
to it in some boxed comparative translated text in "In Search of the Indo-
Europeans." Grendel, an Asatruar from Seattle suggests the "Dryghtyn" may be an alternative
spell-ing of the Teutonic "Drighten" meaning "Lord". I admit this is
interesting, to me, as the closeness of the linguistic link between the Old
English and Old German languages has been a scholarly "fact" widely known for
many years. As a side issue, this might be some evidence that runs contrary to the thesis
put forth by Aidan Kelly that Gerald Gardner "manufactured" Wicca in 1939. From
personal experi-ence, I have found that one unique distinction of the non BTW
strains of Witchcraft sometimes called "FamTrads" of Family Traditions) is the
incorporation of old Christian Imagery, often including ArchAngels for the four
directions or elements. Though this instance does not include Archangels, it
DOES include archaic (and relatively unknown) Christian terminology. If Gardner
did discover a remnant of the Old Religion upon which he based his modern
reconstruction effort, it is this sort of linguistic "artifact" which would have
survived. Perhaps a more scholarly investigation than Mr. Kelly's will "turn up"
more evidence? Jim Taylor, an Eastern Orthodox Theologian, also makes two (to me) illuminating
state-ments, concerning "The Dryghtyn Prayer": 1. "'In the name of Dryghtyn, the Ancient Providence, Who was from the beginning
and is for eternity, Male and Female, the Original Source of all things; all-
knowing, all-pervading, all-powerful; changeless, eternal.' This would be,
entirely, an acceptable way of describing God, both for most Jews and for most
Christians."
AND
2. "'In the name of the Lady of the Moon, and the Lord of Death and
Resurrection.' The Lord of Death and Resurrection would seem, to any Christian
to refer to Jesus Christ." This evidence of a possible mixing of an older (unrecorded) Christian Prayer may
lend further credence to Gardners' claims of building on an older, hidden,
traditional remnant. I, personally, also agree with Mr. Taylors' statement that "the idea of Wicca
being 'manufactured' in 1939 is far too pat, and ignores a great deal which
ought not to be ignored. At the very least, some degree of recognition should
be accorded to the obvious fact that most Wiccan practices and attitudes predate
Wicca by considerable periods of time--possibly even millennia". The existence of Monism, Duotheism, and Polytheism simultaneously in the belief
structure of Wicca is one good example of one of the Five Mysteries of Wicca,
that of Union. Wicca is a mystery religion, a PARTICIPATORY religion, and much
of its symbology must be lived and practiced to have meaning because much of the
real (some say hidden meaning is based on the knowledge of experience and not
the intell-ectual knowledge of mere logic and conscious thought processes.
I am an eclectic Wiccan with strong ties in my beliefs and practice to British
Traditional Wicca. I am a Monist, yet I have had strong direct experience with
Brigid, Danu, and the Morrigan as well as the Earth Mother and the Horned Lord
of the Forests. So my personal answer to the question of "What kind of Theism
fits Theistic Wicca?" is "several, or none; it is not really a valid question in
those limited terms"! But perhaps the concept of "Chthonotheism" would give a
better label to this concept when attempt-ing to discuss the idea of the
peculiar theism unique to Wicca?
Blessed Be,
Durwydd MacTara |
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WICCAN HISTORY Wicca is a relatively modern attempt (approximately 50 years old) at reviving
and reconstructing the old pre-Christian religions of Europe. In a mythopoetic
sense it is many centuries old. However, the Witch of 200 years ago would not
recognize what is called "witchcraft" today. Modern Wicca may have some of its
roots in some of the local folk-magic and "family witchcraft" of mid 20th
Century England. It does have traceable roots in the Golden Dawn magical society
of late 19th century England, some of Aleister Crowley's magickal work and some
Ceremonial Magic dating back to Elizabethan times. For a modern history of
English Wicca, the reader can most profitably consult the works of Janet and
Stuart Farrar and Doreen Valiente. Prehistory Up until recently, the earliest known remnants of human society that give us any
clues to the spiritual dimension of prehistoric man are those belonging to the
Gravettian-Aurignacian cultures of 2500-1500 B.C.E. This is called the Upper
Paleolithic Period. Though most of the sites so far discovered have been found
in Europe, a very important site in Anatolia (modern Turkey) has also been found
and is the (so far) the first or oldest City of Catal Huyuk (pronounced chatal
Hoo-Yook), they form a conjectural foundation for the religion of the goddess as
it emerged in the later Neolithic Age of the Near East. There have been
numerous studies of these Paleolithic cultures, including extensive explorations
of the sites occupied by these peoples, including the apparent rites connected
with the disposal of their dead. The earliest remains of ancient civilization indicating some form of Goddess
worship were in the caves in Lascaux, France. Here, the first and earliest
non-anthropomorphic divine figures were symbolized by the horse for female
Divinity and the Bison as the male divine influence. This portion of the cave
was painted in approximately 17,000 B.C.E. and sealed approximately 10,000
B.C.E. The anthropomorphic Goddess figures appear sometime approximately 7,000
B.C.E. The earliest remains in Catal Huyuk have been reliably carbon dated to
6,500 B.C. and show some interesting parallels in that the horse was replaced
with an anthropomorphic goddess and the Bison (an ice age animal) has been
replaced with the aurochs bull, ancestor of modern cattle. The anthro-pomorphic
Goddess is an Earth Mother and the nearby volcanoes (then active) were
considered her breasts.1 One major conjecture has been that the concept of the creator of all human life
may have been formulated by the clan's image of women. The reasoning behind this
conjecture lies in the observations in this century of the few remaining
Paleolithic type cultures. These Paleolithic cultures tend to be woman centered
since it is from the women that babies come and the women are absolutely
essential for the continuation of the tribe or clan. Current information also
indicates that it is also probable that the mother was regarded as the sole (or
at least primary) parent of children in this culture, and that there was a
definite pattern of ancestor worship. It is also very probable that ancestry was
matrilineal.The most tangible evidence that these very ancient cultures and
their predecessors 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 B.C.E.! Small female figurines, made of stone, bone and
clay (most seemingly pregnant) have been found throughout the widespread
Gravettian-Aurignacian sites as far apart as Spain, France, Germany, Austria,
and Russia spanning an apparent period of at least 10,000 years. Erich Neumnann,
in "The Great Mother" (p.95) says- "Of the Stone Age sculptures known to us,
there are fifty-five female figures and only five male figures. The male
figures, of youths, are atypical and poorly executed, hence it is certain that
they had no significance for the cult. This fits in with the secondary character
of the male godhead, who appeared only later in the history of religions and
derived his divine rank from his mother, the Goddess." 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." It was from the Lake Baikal area in Siberia that tribes are
believed to have migrated across the Bering land bridge to North America about
this time period, and formed the nucleus of what was to become the race of North
American Indians. In some primitive societies known to history, the male role
in procreation was not known. Intercourse and pregnan-cy both begin with
puberty, and there was no evident reason to regard one as the cause of the
other. Women were believed to conceive from the light of the moon or from
ancestral spirits. Neolithic cultures have left a bit more evidence for study and the images are a
bit clear-er and less speculative. One good instance of this is the stone age
painting of a priest-ess officiating over a group of worshippers along with a
male wearing a horned head-dress. An interesting point here is that the
priestess pictured is wearing a garter and wielding a ceremonial dagger, much
like the ones used in modern witchcraft. Of course much has been made of this,
including a lot of unfounded speculations on the "ancient connections" of modern
witchcraft, but that is a topic beyond the scope of the present work. The
beginnings of Roman religion are sure to have been based on the Etruscan
culture. Ancestor worship was the earliest form of religion in Rome. Another
interesting fact relating to ancient Matrilineal forms influencing present
society is reflected in the Jewish custom current today that membership comes
from the mother's side of a marriage. The above mentioned goddess images, some as old as 7000 BC, offer silent
testimony to the most ancient worship of a great goddess in the land that is
most often remember-ed today as the homeland of Judaism and Christianity. In
exploring the influence and importance of the worship of the Goddess in Canaan
in biblical times, we find that as Ashtoreth, Asherah (perhaps the origin of
the tribe of Asher?), 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. 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. Judging from the number of Hebrews who emerged from Egypt in the Exodus, as
comp-ared with the family of 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-worsh-ipping peoples who had joined together in Egypt.
Archaeological records and artifacts reveal that the religion of the Goddess
still flourished in many of the cities of Canaan long after the Hebrews invaded. What are some of the modern day applications of this long history of Goddess
worship? For an answer to this, let's look at an encapsulation of the
"herstory" of the legend of the Universal Goddess as taught to the new entrants
to the Faerie Tradition in 20th Century America. According to the legends of the Faerie, Witchcraft and magick began more than 35
thousand years ago, when the last ice age in Europe began and small bands of
nomad-ic hunters followed the free-running reindeer and bison herds. They were
armed with but primitive weapons (Stone Age, remember?), and had to lure or
chase the animals over a cliff or into a pit to kill and eat them. As Starhawk
says,"...some among the clans were gifted, could "call" the herds to a cliff
side or a pit, where a few beasts, in willing sacrifice, would let themselves
be trapped." As the last ice age retreated the tribes of nomadic hunters worshipped the
Goddess of the Wild Things and Fertility and the God of the Hunt. Semipermanent
homes were set up in caves carved out by the glaciers. 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. 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". 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. Villages grew into towns and cities and society changed from tribal to communal
to urban. Paintings on the plastered walls of shrines depicted the Goddess
giving birth to the Divine Child - Her son, consort and seed. 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.
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.
Far to the east, nomadic tribes devoted themselves to the arts of war and
conquest. Wave after wave of invasion swept over Europe from the Bronze Age
onward. 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. 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. In Canaan, Yahweh fought a bloody battle to ensure that his followers had "no
other gods before me." The Goddess was given a masculine name and assigned the
role of a false god. Along with the suppression of the Goddess, women lost most
of the rights they had previously enjoyed. In Greece, the Goddess in Her many aspects, was "married" to the new gods
resulting in the Olympic Pantheon. The Titans, who the Olympians displaced were
more in touch with the primal aspects of the Goddess. The victorious Celts in Gaul and the British Isles adopted many features of the
Old Religion and incorporated them into the Druidic Mysteries. The Faerie,
breeding cattle in the stony hills and living in turf-covered round huts
preserved the Craft. 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. 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. The College of the Druids and the Poetic
Colleges of Ireland and Wales were said to have preserved many of the old
mysteries. 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." They
broke up into small groups called Covens and, isolated from each other, formed
what would later be known as the Family Traditions. Inevitably, parts of the
Craft were forgotten or lost and what survives today is fragmentary. After nearly five centuries of persecution and terror came the Age of Disbelief.
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. All that
was left were the hideous stereotypes which were ludicrous, laughable or just
plain tragic. 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.
Janet and Stewart Farrar, in the introduction to The Witches Goddess say of the
modern re-emergence of the Goddess " ..may well prove to be one of the most
signifi-cant spiritual, psychic and psychological developments of our lifetime".
They have since done a wonderful job of presenting an overview of the ascendancy
and history of the expression of the masculine principle of deity as pressed by
Male God-forms and Gods with their book The Witches' God. What do the Farrars
consider this "masculine prin-ciple" to be? "...it represents the linear-
logical, analyzing, fertilizing aspect, with its emp-hasis on Ego-consciousness
and individuality, while the feminine principle represents the cyclical-
intuitive, synthesizing, formative, nourishing aspect, with its emphasis on the
riches of the unconscious, both Personal and Collective, and on relatedness."
As mankind started to develop his cultures in directions that were more male
dependent in the nature of the cultures, the emphasis in religion shifted to
become more male god than female goddess oriented. As this happened, the
Goddess(es) lost ground to the God(s). At first, the female aspect merely became
secondary to the male, but eventually the male took over and dominated to the
total exclusion of the female, particularly in western society as we know it
today. "The first major god-form to claim a monopoly of divinity was the Hebrew
Yahweh, from which in due course sprang the Christian and Moslem forms." "Dr.
Raphael Patai, in his books Man and Temple and The Hebrew Goddess shows that the
Goddess Asherah was worshipped alongside Yahweh as his wife and sister in the
Temple at Jerusalem for 240 of the 360 years the temple complex existed, and her
image was publicly displayed there." There is also evidence that the Jewish
community at Elephantine in Egypt acknowledged two goddess-wives of Yahweh, and
also there still remains in Ezekiel (xxiii) a metaphorical reference to a pair
of wives, where Yahweh condemns the "whoredom" of two sisters who "became mine
and bore me sons and daughters". |
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MY WICCA
By Durwydd MacTara My RELIGION is Wicca, my LIFE-STYLE is Witchcraft! I believe in a supreme being
that is both Immanent and Transcendent, that is expressing itself within AND
without. However, I also believe that trying to define/describe such an
infinite Divine Being in finite terms to be a waste of time and energy. I CAN
describe my perceptions of the Ultimate in terms of the energies that I work
with and find significant in my daily living. My style and methods of relating
to what I can perceive of these Divine Energies are what I describe as my
RELIGION. How I apply these insights gained via my religious practices, I term
my CRAFT. The name for my religion is derived from the Saxon root "wicce" (pronounced
"witchy") and is loosely translated as "Wise". The word "Wicca" was first used
in modern times in England by Gerald B. Gardner to describe/define an attempt at
restoring "the old wisdom" of pre-Christian beliefs and practice into a modern
context in the 1940's. Ergo, I could call my religion "wisdom" and my style of
application of this wisdom "wise-craft" or more simply, "The Craft of the Wise".
For the sake of convenience and easy understanding, I divide the expressions of
the Divine Energies into two groups; that of the active positive (symbolically
"male") energies represented to me by the stag horned Lord of the Forest, and
those of a more passive, nurturing, or "negative" polarity represented to me by
the Threefold Goddess. Approaching my perceptions of the universe and its
energies in this way allows me to break them down into "bite sized chunks",
applicable to my daily life in a mundane world, and what good is ANY belief
system if it is not of immediate and practical use here and now? So what are some of the beliefs and practices of this religion called Wicca, and
how do I apply them to my daily life? What does it all mean? The following
explanation is based on a press statement released by the American Council of
Witches released in the early 1970's, with some editing on my part to reflect my
own beliefs and practices. ================================= Basic Principles Of The Craft
1. The first principle is that of love, and it is expressed in the ethic,
"AN IT HARM NONE, DO AS THOU WILL" a) Love is not emotional in it's essence, but is an attribute of the individual
as expressed in relation to other beings;
b) Harming others can be by thought, word, or deed. Thought is included here,
because for the Witch, "thoughts are things" and every action, even thoughts,
can become magical actions, whether consciously intended or not;
c) It is to be understood the "none" includes oneself, though it is permissible
to harm self in helping others, should one so choose;
d) The harm which is to be regarded as unethical is gratuitous harm; war, in
general, is gratuitous harm, although it is ethical to defend oneself and one's
liberty when threatened by real and present danger, such as personal defense or
defense of another WHEN REQUESTED. 2. The Witch must recognize and harmonize with the forces of the universe, in
accord with the Law of Polarity: everything is dual; everything has two poles;
everything has it's opposite; for every action there is a reaction; all can be
categorized as either active or reactive in relation to other things.
a) The Infinite and Ultimate Godhead is one unique and transcendent wholeness,
beyond any limitations or expressions; thus, it is beyond our human capacity to
under-stand and identify with this principle of Cosmic Oneness, except as It is
revealed to us in terms of It's attributes and operation.
b) One of the most basic and meaningful attribute of the One that we, as humans,
can relate to and understand, is that of polarity, of action and reaction;
therefore Witches recognize the Oneness of the Divinity, but worship and relate
to the Divine as the archetypal polarity of God and Goddess, the All-Father and
the Great Mother of the universe. The Beings are as near as we can approach to
the One within our human limitations of understanding and expression, though it
is possible to experience the divine Oneness through the practices of the
Mysteries.
c) Harmony does not consist of the pretty and the nice, but the balanced,
dynamic, poised co-operation and co-relationship. 3. The Witch must recognize, and operate within the framework of the Law of
Cause and Effect; every action has its reaction, and every effect has its cause.
All things occur according to this law; nothing in the universe can occur
outside this law, though we may not always appreciate the relation between a
given effect and it's cause. Subsidiary to this is the Law of Three, which
states that whatever goes forth must return threefold, whether of good or ill;
for our actions affect more than people generally realize, and the resulting
reactions are also part of the harvest. 4. As Above, So Below. That which exists in the Macrocosm exists, on a smaller
scale and to a lesser degree, in the Microcosm. The powers of the universe
exist also in the human, though in general instance they lie dormant. The
powers and abilities can be awakened and used if the proper techniques are
practiced, and this is why initiates of the Mysteries are sworn to guard the
secrets from the unworthy: Much harm can be done by those who have power without
responsibility, both to others and to themselves according to the Laws of Cause
and Effect and of Threefold Return. a) Since our philosophy teaches that the universe is the physical manifestation
of the Divine, there can be nothing in the universe which does not partake of
the nature of the Divine; hence, the powers and attributes of the Divine exist
also in the manifest, though to much smaller degree.b) These powers can be
awakened through the various techniques of the Mysteries, and, although they are
only capable of small effects in and of themselves, it is possible to use them
in order to draw upon the forces of the universe. Thus humanity can be the
wielders of the power of the Gods, a channel for Godhead to act within It's own
manifes-tation. This, many feel, is further reason for the oath of secrecy.
c) Since the universe is the body of the One, possessing many of the same
attributes as the One, it's Laws must be the principles through and by which the
One operates. By reasoning from the known to the unknown, one can learn of the
Divine, and thus of oneself. By experiencing the Mysteries a person can truly
LEARN more about the One. Thus the Craft is a natural religion as well as a
MYSTERY religion, seeing in Nature the expression and revelation of Divinity. 5. We know that everything in the universe is in movement or vibration and is a
function of that vibration. Everything vibrates; all things rise and fall in a
tidal system that reflects the motion inherent in the universe and also in the
atom. Matter and energy are but two poles of one continuous phenomenon.
Therefore the Witch celebrates, harmonizes with, and makes use of the tides of
the universe and of life as expressed through the cycle of the seasons and the
motion of the solar system. These ritual observances are the eight great
Festivals of the Year, referred to as the Wheel of the Year. Further, the Witch
works with the forces and tides of the Moon, for this body is the mediator of
much energy to our planet Earth and thus to ourselves. 6. Nothing is dead matter in the universe. All things exist, therefore all
things live, though perhaps in a different manner from that which we are used to
calling life. In view of this, the Witch knows that there is no true death, only
change from one condition to another. The universe is the body of Godhead, and
therefore possesses one transcen-dent consciousness; all things partake of the
consciousness, in varying levels of trance/ awareness. a) Because of this principle, all things are sacred to the Witch, for all
partake of the one Life.
b) Therefore the Witch is a natural ecologist, for Nature is part of us as we
are a part of Nature. 7. Throughout the development of the human race, civilizations have seen and
worsh-ipped many and various attributes of the Divine. These universal forces
have been clothed in forms which were expressive to the worshipper of the
attribute of the God-head which they expressed. Use of these symbolic
representations of the natural and divine forces of the universe, or god forms,
is a potent method for contacting and utiliz-ing the forces they represent.
Thus the Gods are both natural and truly divine, and man-made in that the forms
with which they are clothed are products of humanity's striving to know the
Godhead.
a) In keeping with the Law of Polarity, these god-forms are brought into harmony
by the one great Law which states: All Gods are one God. All Goddesses are one
Goddess. There is one Initiator. This law is an expression of our understanding
that all of the forces of the universe, by whatever ethnic god-form is chosen to
clothe and relate to whichever force, can be resolved into the fundamental
polarity of the Godhead, the Great Mother and the All-Father.
b) It is the use of differing god forms, of differing ethnic sources or periods,
which is the basis of many of the differences between the various Traditions of
the Craft. Each Tradition uses the forms, and thus the names, which to that
Tradition best express and awaken an understanding of the force represented,
according to the areas of emphasis of the Tradition.
c) Because we know that differing names or representations are but expressions
of the same divine principles and forces, we require our members to swear that
they will never mock the names by which another honors the Divine, even though
those names be different from and seemingly less expressive than the names and
god forms used by our Tradition (for to the members of another Tradition, using
it's names, ours may easily seem equally less expressive). 8. A Witch refuses to allow her/himself to be corrupted by the great guilt
neuroses which have been foisted on humanity in the name of the Divine, thus
freeing the self of the slavery of the mind. The Witch expresses responsibility
for her/his actions, and accepts the consequences of them; guilt is rejected as
inhibiting to one's self-actualization, and replaced by the efforts of the Witch
to obey the teachings of harmlessness, responsi-bility for the consequences of
one's actions, and the goal of actualizing the full powers of the individual. a) We refuse to believe that a human being is born innately sinful, and
recognize the concepts of sin and guilt are tremendously inhibiting to the human
potential; the consequences of the Law of Cause and Effect, called karma by
some, are not punish-ment, but the recurrences of situations and their effects
because the individual has not gained the Wisdom needed to handle or avoid such
situations.
b) There is no heaven except that which we ourselves make of our life on Earth,
and likewise there is no hell except the effects of our unwise actions. Many of
us believe in a "waiting place" sometimes called Summerland where we rest,
recuperate and prepare for our next sojourn in the earth. "Death is not
followed by punishment or reward, but by life and the continuing personal
evolution of our human potential. c) One cannot damn the divine in oneself; one
can, however, cut oneself off from it through the rejection of wisdom and a
refusal to strive for self-realization. This cutting off does not lead to
personal suffering in "hell", for there is no Self to suffer if the tie to one's
own divinity has been severed; what remains is merely an empty shell, a
"personality" or thought-form devoid of it's ensouling Spark of the Divine Fire. 9. We know of the existence of the life-force which ensouls all living things,
that is, all that exists. We know that a spark of this Divine Fire is within
each and every thing that exists, and that it does not die; only the form of its
existence changes. We know that this spark of the life-force returns to
manifestation again and again in order to fully realize and actualize it's
potential, evolving finally to the peak and essence of existence which is pure
being. In this process of reincarnation each form returns in the same type of
form, though it's ever-increasing actualization may lead to higher levels of
existence of that form. Man returns as man, cat as feline, mineral as mineral,
each class of form evolving as the individual forms of that class evolve. 10. This process of evolution through successive incarnations in manifest form
works through the utilizations of wisdom gained, the essence of the life-
experience. This essence of experience, or Wisdom, is an attribute of the spark
of life itself, one and inseparable. 11. We must care for the body, for it is the vehicle of the spark of life, the
form by which we attain. Thus we must heal the body of it's ills and keep it a
tuned and perfected tool; so must we heal others (both physically and
psychologically) as far as it is within our power to do so. However, we cannot
interfere with the life of another, even to heal, except at their request or
with their express permission. The reasoning behind this apparent limitation is
that we are endowed with Free Will, and what the Gods themsel-ves hesitate to
infringe upon, is best left alone by us "mere" mortals.
12. Harmony with, and utilization of, the great natural forces of the universe
is called magick. By magick we speak, not of the supernatural, but of the
superbly natural, but whose laws and applications are not as yet recognized by
the scientific establishment. The Witch must strive to recognize these forces,
learn their laws, attune her/himself to them, and make use of them. The Witch
must also be aware that power corrupts when used _only_ for the gains of the
self, and therefore must strive to serve humanity: Either through the service
in the Priesthood, or by example and effects of his/her life on others. The
choice must be made in accord with the true nature of the Witch. |
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HISTORY OF WICCA IN ENGLAND: 1939 - Present Day This talk was given by Julia Phillips at the Wiccan Conference in Canberra,
1991. It is mainly about the early days of the Wicca in England; specifically
what we now call Gardnerian and Alexandrian traditions. The text remains "as
given", so please remem-ber when you read it that it was never intended to be
"read", but "heard" and debated. Text begins: There are three main strands I intend to examine: one, Gardner's claim of
traditional initiation, and its subsequent development; two, magical traditions
to which Gardner would have had access; and three, literary sources. As we look at these three main threads, it is important to bear in mind that
Gardner was 55 years old at the time of his claimed initiation; that he had
spent many years in Malaya, and had an enormous interest in magic, Folklore and
Mythology. By the time he published High Magic's Aid, he was 65, and 75 when
"The Meaning of Witchcraft" appeared. He died in 1964, at the age of 80. Gardner was born in 1884, and spent most of his working adult life in Malaya. He
retir-ed, and returned to the UK in 1936. He joined the Folklore Society, and in
June 1938, also joined the newly opened Rosicrucian Theatre at Christchurch
where it is said he met Old Dorothy Clutterbuck. I chose 1939 as my arbitrary starting point as that was the year that Gerald
Gardner claims he was initiated by Old Dorothy into a practicing coven of the
Old Religion, that met in the New Forest area of Britain. In his own words, "I realized that I had stumbled upon something interesting; but I was
half-initiated before the word, "Wica" which they used hit me like a
thunderbolt, and I knew where I was, and that the Old Religion still existed.
And so I found myself in the Circle, and there took the usual oath of secrecy,
which bound me not to reveal certain things." This quote is taken from The
Meaning of Witchcraft, which was published in 1959. It is interesting that in
this quote, Gardner spells Wicca with only one "c"; in the earlier "Witchcraft
Today" (1954) and "High Magic's Aid" (1949), the word Wicca is not even used.
His own derivation for the word, given in "The Meaning of Witchcraft", is as
follows: "As they (the Dane and Saxon invaders of England) had no witches of
their own they had no special name for them; however, they made one up from
"wig" an idol, and "laer", learning, "wiglaer" which they shortened into
"Wicca". "It is a curious fact that when the witches became English-speaking
they adopted their Saxon name, "Wica"."
In "An ABC of Witchcraft Past and Present", Doreen Valiente does not have an
entry for Wicca, but when discussing Witchcraft, does mention the Saxon
derivation from the word Wicca or Wicce. In the more recently published The
Rebirth Of Witchcraft, how-ever, she rejects this Saxon theory in favor of
Prof. Russell's derivation from the Indo-European root "Weik", which relates to
things connected with magic and religion. Doreen Valiente strongly supports Gardner's claim of traditional initiation, and
published the results of her successful attempt to prove the existence of
Dorothy Clutterbuck in an appendix to "The Witches' Way" by Janet and Stewart
Farrar. It is a marvelous piece of investigation, but proving that Old Dorothy
existed does nothing to support Gardner's claims that she initiated him. In his book, "Ritual Magic in England", occultist Francis King does offer some
anecdotal evidence in support of Gardner's claims. However, it is only fair to
point out that in the same book, he virtually accuses Moina Mathers of murder,
based upon a misunder-standing of a story told by Dion Fortune! With that
caveat, I'll recount the tale in full: King relates that in 1953, he became acquainted with Louis Wilkinson, who wrote
under the pen-name of Louis Marlow, and had contributed essays to Crowley's
Equinox. He later became one of Crowley's literary executors. King says that in
conversation, Wilkin-son told him that Crowley had claimed to have been offered
initiation into a witch coven, but that he refused, as he didn't want to be
bossed around by a bunch of women. (This story is well-known, and could have
been picked up anywhere.) Wilkinson then proceeded to tell King that he had himself become friendly with
memb-ers of a coven operating in the New Forest area, and he thought that
whilst it was possible that they derived their existence from Murray's "Witch
Cult in Western Europe", he felt that they were rather older. King draws the obvious conclusion; that these witches were the very same as
those who initiated Gardner. King claims that the conversation with Wilkinson
took place in 1953, although "Ritual Magic in England" was not published - or
presumably written - until 1970. However, on September 27 1952, "Illustrated"
magazine published a feature by Allen Andrews, which included details of a
working by, "the Southern Coven of British Witches", where 17 men and women met
in the New Forest to repel an invasion by Hitler. Wilkinson had told King of
this working during their conversation, which King believes to be proof that
such a coven existed; there are some differences in the two stories, and so it
is possible that two sources are reporting the same event, but as Wilkinson's
conversation with King came after the magazine article, we shall never know. In the recently published "Crafting the Art of Magic", Aidan Kelly uses this
same source to "prove" (and I use the word advisedly - the book "proves"
nothing") that Gardner, Dorothy, et al created Wicca one night following a
social get together! Of one thing we can be certain though: whatever its origin,
modern Wicca derives from Gardner. There may of course be other traditional,
hereditary witches, but even if they are genuine, then it is unlikely that they
would have been able to "go public" had it not been for Gardner.
There have been many claims of "hereditary" origin (other than Gardner's own!)
One of the most famous post-Gardner claimants to "hereditary" status was actress
Ruth Wynn-Owen, who fooled many people for a very long time before being
exposed. Roy Bowers, who used the pseudonym Robert Cochrane, was another: Doreen
Valiente describes her association with him in "The Rebirth of Witchcraft", and
The Roebuck, which is still active in the USA today, derives directly from
Cochrane, via Joe Wilson. "Witchcraft: A Tradition Renewed" by Evan John Jones
with Doreen Valiente describes a tradition derived from Robert Cochrane. Alex
Sanders, of course is another who claimed hered-itary lineage, and like
Cochrane, deserves his own place in this history, and we'll get to both of them
later. Many people have been suspicious of Gardner's claims, and have accused him of
making the whole thing up. They suggest that the Wicca is no more than the
fantasy of an old man colored by a romantic imagination. One particularly
virulent attack upon Gardner came from Charles Cardell, writing under the
pseudonym of Rex Nemorensis. One of Gardner's initiates who is still active in the Wicca today has an
interesting tale to tell about Cardell, whom he knew: "Cardell claimed to be a Witch, but from a different tradition to
Gardner's. Cardell was a psychopathic rat, with malevolent intent toward all and
sundry. He managed to get a woman called Olive Green (Florannis) into Gardner's
coven, and told her to copy out the Book of Shadows so that Cardell could
publish it, and destroy Gardner. He also contacted a London paper, and told
them when and where the coven meetings were held, and of course the paper got
quite a scoop. Cardell led people in the coven to believe that it was Doreen
Valiente who had informed on them. Doreen had just left Gardner in a bit of a huff after a disagreement; another
coven member, Ned Grove, left with her. Anyway, the day the paper printed the
exposure, Cardell sent Gardner a telegram saying, "Remember Ameth tonight".
(Ameth was Doreen's Craft name, and as it has now been published, I see no
reason not to use it here)." My informant also said that Olive Green was associated with Michael Houghton,
owner of Atlantis book shop in Museum Street, who was the publisher of High
Magic's Aid. Through this association, she also encountered Kenneth Grant of the
OTO, although their association was not friendly. Cecil Williamson, the original owner of the witchcraft museum on the Isle of
Man, and present owner of the Witchcraft Museum in Boscastle, has also published
a number of articles where he states quite categorically that Gardner was an
utter fraud; but, he offers only anecdotes to support these allegations. Although Gardner claimed his initiation occurred in 1939, we don't really hear
anything about him until 1949, when "High Magic's Aid" was published by Michael
Houghton.
This book has very strong Solomonic leanings, but like Gardner's own religious
beliefs, combined the more natural forms of magic with high ceremonial. In his
introduction to the book, Gardner says that: "The Magical rituals are authentic,
party from the Key of Solomon (MacGregor Mathers' translation) and partly from
magical MSS in my posses-sion)." Gardner did indeed have a large collection of
MSS, which passed with the rest of his goods to Ripleys in Toronto after his
death. Scire (pseudonym) was the name Gardner took as a member of Crowley's branch of
the OTO; although it is generally agreed that his membership was purely nominal,
he was certainly in contact with people like Kenneth Grant and Madeline
Montalban (founder of the Order of the Morning Star). |
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Although Gardner claimed his initiation occurred in 1939, we don't really hear
anything about him until 1949, when "High Magic's Aid" was published by Michael
Houghton.
This book has very strong Solomonic leanings, but like Gardner's own religious
beliefs, combined the more natural forms of magic with high ceremonial. In his
introduction to the book, Gardner says that: "The Magical rituals are authentic,
party from the Key of Solomon (MacGregor Mathers' translation) and partly from
magical MSS in my posses-sion)." Gardner did indeed have a large collection of
MSS, which passed with the rest of his goods to Ripleys in Toronto after his
death. Scire (pseudonym) was the name Gardner took as a member of Crowley's branch of
the OTO; although it is generally agreed that his membership was purely nominal,
he was certainly in contact with people like Kenneth Grant and Madeline
Montalban (founder of the Order of the Morning Star). Gardner was given his OTO degree and Charter by Aleister Crowley, to whom he was
introduced in 1946 by Arnold Crowther. As Crowley died in 1947, their
association was not long-lived, but Crowther confirms that the two men enjoyed
each other's company. So, after that brief introduction we can have a look at the first of the strands
I mention-ed. In 1888, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was born, beginning a renaissance
of interest in the occult that has continued to the present day. It is
impossible to overstate the importance of the GD to modern occultists; not only
in its rituals, but also in its personalities; and of course, through making
available a large body of occult lore that would otherwise have remained
unknown, or hidden in obscurity. I will be looking at this body of occult lore with other literary influences
later, and will here concentrate on the rituals and personalities that have
influenced Wicca. We cannot look at the GD in isolation from its own origins. It is descended from
a myriad of esoteric traditions including Rosicrucianism, Theosophy, and
Freemasonry. The latter in its own right, as well as via the SRIA - a scholarly
and ceremonial assoc-iation open to Master Masons only. Whether the German Lodge or Fraulein Sprengel actually existed is a matter still
under debate; but either in fact or in spirit, this is the source for the
"Cypher Manuscripts" which were used to found the Isis-Urania Lodge in 1888. As I'm sure everyone knows, Isis-Urania was founded by Dr Wynn-Westcott, Dr
Wood-man, and MacGregor Mathers. Not only were all three Master Masons; Wynn-
Westcott and Mathers were also members of the Theosophical Society. The most
important thing though is the fact that these three men were a ruling
triumvirate that managed the affairs of the SRIA. This is important, for the
SRIA included Hargrave Jennings in its membership, and Jennings is reputed to
have been involved with a Pagan group at the end of the 19th century, which drew
its inspiration from Apuleius - The Golden Ass.
But back to the GD - whether the Cypher Manuscripts actually existed, or Wynn-
Westcott manufactured them is now irrelevant; Mathers was commissioned to write-
up the rituals into a workable shape, and thus the Golden Dawn was born. Members of the Isis-Urania Lodge at various times also included Allan Bennett,
Moina Mathers, Aleister Crowley, Florence Farr, Maud Gonne, Annie Horniman,
Arthur Machen, "Fiona Macleod", Arthur Waite and WB Yeats. Also associated
were Lady Gregory, and G W Russell, or AE, whose "The Candle of Vision" was
included in the bibliography of "The Meaning of Witchcraft". The literary and
Celtic influences within the GD were immense. From the Isis-Urania Lodge sprang all the others, including the so-called
Dissident Orders derived through Crowley. It is this line that some commentators
trace to modern Wicca, so it is the one upon which we will concentrate. Aleister Crowley was initiated into the Isis-Urania Lodge on 18 November 1898.
As you most probably know, Crowley later quarreled with MacGregor Mathers, and
in 1903 began to create his own Order, the Argenteum Astrum, or Silver Star. In
1912, Crowley was initiated into the OTO, and in 1921, succeeded Theodor Reuss
as its Chief. According to Arnold Crowther's account, it was in 1946, a year before Crowley's
death, that Crowley gave Gardner an OTO Charter. Ithell Colquhoun says only that
it occurred in the 1940s, and further states that Gardner introduced material
from the OTO, and less directly from the GD, into "...the lore of his covens". As Doreen Valiente also admits, "Indeed, the influence of Crowley was very
apparent throughout the (Wiccan) rituals.". This, Gardner explained to her, was
because the rituals he received from Old Dorothy's coven were very fragmentary,
and in order to make them workable, he had to supplement them with other
material. To give an example of some of the lines by Crowley which are rather familiar to
modern Wiccans: I give unimaginable joys on earth; certainty, not faith, while in life, upon
death; peace unutterable, rest, ecstasy; nor do I demand aught in sacrifice. I am Life, and the giver of Life, yet therefore is the knowledge of me the
knowledge of death. And of course, the Gnostic Mass has been immensely influential. Not only poetry, but also magical practices in Wicca are often derived from GD
sources. For example:
the way of casting the circle: that is, the visualization of the circle, and the
pentagrams at the quarters, are both based upon the standard GD Pentagram
Ritual; both the concept and word "Watchtowers" are of course from the Enochian
system of Magic, passed to Wicca via the GD (although I would like to make it
very clear that their use within Wicca bears no relation to the use within
Enochia - the only similarity is in the name); the Elements and colors
generally attributed to the Quarters are those of the GD; the weapons and their
attributions are a combination of GD, Crowley and Key of Solomon. In "Witchcraft Today", Gardner says, "The people who certainly would have had
the knowledge and ability to invent (the Wiccan rites) were the people who
formed the Order of the Golden Dawn about seventy years ago...". The GD is not the only influence upon Gardner; Freemasonry has had a tremendous
impact upon the Wicca. Not only were the three founders of Isis-Urania Temple
Masons, so too were Crowley and Waite; Gardner and at least one member of the
first coven (Daffo) were both Co-Masons. Gardner was also a friend of JSM Ward,
who had published a number of books about Masonry. Doreen describes Ward as a "leading Mason", but Francis King says only that Ward
was, "a bogus Bishop... who had written some quite good but far-fetched books on
masonry, and who ran a peculiar religious-cum-occult community called The Abbey
of Christ the King..." Whether the books were far-fetched or not, we can assume
that some of the many similarities between Wicca and Masonry are in some ways
due to Ward's influence. Some of these include:
The Three Degrees
The Craft
So Mote It Be
The Challenge
Properly Prepared
The 1st Degree Oath (in part)
Presentation of the Working Tools at 1st degree and so on.
It seems to me quite clear that even if Gardner received a traditional set of
rituals from his coven, they must have been exceptionally sparse, as the
concepts that we know of as Wicca today certainly derive from ceremonial magic
and Freemasonry to a very great extent. Indeed, Gardner always claimed that they
were sparse. It could be argued that all derive from a common source. That the appearance of
a phrase, or technique in one tradition does not automatically suggest that its
appearance elsewhere means that the one was taken from the other. However,
Gardner admits his sources in many cases, and Doreen confirms them in others, so
I think it is safe to presume that the rituals and philosophy used by Wicca
descends from the traditions of Freemasonry and Ceremonial magic, rather than
from a single common source. However, as Hudson Frew points out in his
commentary upon Aidan Kelly's book, the phenomena of the techniques and
practices of ceremonial magic influencing folk magic and traditions is widely
recognized by anthropologists, and certainly does not indicate plagiarism. And
of course there are many traditional witchcraft aspects in the Wicca. We have looked at the development of the magical orders which resulted from the
British occult revival of the 19th and 20th centuries, and now we can see where
this ties in with Wicca, and Gardner's claim of traditional initiation. I have here a "family tree" of the main branches of British Wicca. It is by no
means exhaustive, and is intended to provide an outline, not a definitive
history! I have included my own coven lines and development as an indication of
the kind of "cross-over" of tradition which often occurs, not to suggest that
these are the only active groups! Also, it would not be ethical for me to
include details of other covens. We have two possible "hereditary" sources to the Gardnerian Craft: one, the
Horsa Coven of Old Dorothy, and two, the Cumbrian Group which Rae Bone claims to
have been initiated into before meeting Gardner. (NB: Doreen Valiente says that
the Horsa Coven is not connected with Old Dorothy, but is another group
entirely.) There is also sometimes mention of a St Alban's group that pre-dates
Gardner, but as far as I know, this is mistaken. The St Albans group was
Gardner's own group, which as far as research confirms, did not pre-date him. To return to Rae Bone: she was one of Gardner's HPSs, and her "line" has been
immensely important to the modern Wicca; she was featured in the magazine
series, "Man Myth and Magic" if anyone has a copy of that. In her heyday she ran two covens: one in Cumbria, and one in South London. Rae
is still alive, and lives in Cumbria, although her last coven moved to New
Zealand many years ago, and she is no longer active. No-one has ever been able
to trace the coven in New Zealand. At this point, I will just mention George Pickingill, although he is not shown
on the tree, as I think it extremely dubious that he had any connection with
Gardner, or any other modern Wiccan.
Pickingill died in 1909, whilst Gardner was still in Malaya. Eric Maple is
largely respons-ible for the beginnings of the Pickingill myth, which were
expanded by Bill Liddell (Lugh) writing in "The Wiccan" and "The Cauldron"
throughout the 1970s. Mike Howard still has some of Liddell's material which he
has never published, and I have yet to meet anyone within the British Craft who
gives credence to Liddell's claims. In the book, "The Dark World of Witches", published in 1962, Maple tells of a
number of village wise women and cunning men, one of whom is George Pickingill.
There is a photograph included of an old man with a stick, holding a hat, which
Maple describes as Pickingill. This photograph has subsequently been re-used
many times in books about witchcraft and Wicca.
Issue number 31 of "Insight" Magazine, dated July 1984, contains a very
interesting letter from John Pope: "The photograph purporting to be Old George Pickingill is in fact a photo of Alf
Cavill, a station porter at Ellstree, taken in the early 1960s. Alf is now
dead, but he was no witch, and laughed over the photograph when he saw it." A very respected Craft authority has told me that he believes the photo, which
is in his possession, to be of Pickingill, but like so much to do with Craft
history, there is no definitive answer to this one. Many claims were made by Liddell; some obviously from cloud-cuckoo land, others
which could, by a stretch of the imagination, be accepted. The very idea of
Pickingill, an illiterate farm laborer, co-ordinating and supervising nine
covens across the breadth of the UK is staggering. To accept - as Liddell avers
- that he had the likes of Alan Bennett and Aleister Crowley as his pupils bends
credulity even further.
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The infamous photograph which Liddell claims shows Crowley, Bennett and
Pickingill together has conveniently disappeared, and no-one admits to ever
having seen it. Like most of Liddell's claims, nothing has ever been
substantiated, and when pushed, he retreats into the time honored favourite of,
"I can't reveal that - you're not an initiate"! But to return to the family tree: the names of Doreen Valiente, Pat and Arnold
Crowther, Lois Bourne (Hemmings), Jack Bracelin and Monique Wilson will probably
be the most familiar to you. Jack Bracelin is the author of Gardner's biography, "Gerald Gardner, Witch",
(published 1960) now out of print, although still available 2nd hand, and in
libraries. (In Crafting the Art of Magic, Kelly claims that this book was
actually written by Idries Shah, and simply published under Bracelin's name. As
with every other claim, Kelly offers no evidence of this) I have seen a copy of Bracelin's Book of Shadows, which it is claimed dates from
1949, although in The Rebirth Of Witchcraft, Doreen says that Bracelin was a
"relative newco-mer" in the mid-1950s. I have also been told by two different
sources that Bracelin help-ed Gardner write "The Laws". In The Rebirth Of
Witchcraft, Doreen states that she did not see The Laws until the mid 1950s,
when she and her partner Ned Grove accused Gardner of concocting them in order
to re-assert control over the coven. As Bracelin was in the Gardner camp during
the breakup of the group, it seems reasonable that he did in fact help with
their composition. (NB: Alex Sanders increased the number of "The Laws" much
later - these appeared in June Johns' book, "The King of the Witches")
Although Doreen claims that the reason for the coven break-up was the fact that
Gard-ner and Bracelin were publicity crazy, there was another reason, which was
the instate-ment of a new lady into the coven, effectively replacing Doreen as
HPS. This is also the main reason for Gerald's Law which states that the HPS
will, "...gracefully retire in favor of a younger woman, should the coven so
decide in council." Needless to say, Doreen was not impressed, and she and Ned
left the coven under very acrimonious circumsta-nces. It was quite some time
before Doreen had contact with Gardner again, and they never quite regained the
degree of friendship that had previously existed. Monique and Campbell Wilson are infamous, rather than famous, as Gardner's heirs
who sold off his magical equipment and possessions after his death, to Ripleys
in the USA. Monique was the last of his Priestesses, and many Wiccans today still spit when
her name is mentioned. Pat Crowther was rather scathing about her recently in an
intervi-ew, and in The Rebirth Of Witchcraft, although Doreen tells of the sale
of Gardner's magical possessions to Ripleys, she doesn't ever mention the
Wilsons by name. In effect, the Craft closed ranks against them, and they became
outcasts. Eventually, in the face of such opposition they had to sell the Museum in
Castletown, and they moved to Torremolinos, where they bought a cafe. Monique
died nine years after selling the Museum. It is rumored that Campbell Wilson
moved to the USA, and met with a car accident there: this is only hearsay though
- I really do not know for sure what happened to him. However, Monique was influential in a way that even she could not have imagined,
when in 1964 or 5 she initiated Ray Buckland, who with his wife Rosemary (later
divorced), was very influential in the development of the Wicca in the USA. Fortunately, Richard and Tamarra James managed to buy the bulk of Gardner's
collec-tion back from Ripleys in 1987, for the princely sum of US $40,000, and
it is now back within the Craft, and available for initiates to consult and
view. D and C S. are probably completely anonymous, and if it were not for the fact
that C initiated Robert Cochrane (briefly mentioned earlier) they would probably
stay that way! Cochrane's origins are obscure, but I have been told that he was initiated into
the Gard-nerian tradition by C S, and met Doreen Valiente through a mutual
acquaintance in 1964. When he met Doreen, however, he claimed to be a hereditary
witch, from a different tradition to Gardner's, and as Doreen confirms, was
contemptuous of what he called "Gardnerian" witches. Indeed, Doreen believes he
coined the term, "Gardnerian". Doreen said she was completely taken in by Cochrane and for a while, worked with
him and the "Clan of Tubal-Cain" as he described his tradition, which was also
known as "The Royal Windsor Cuveen", or 1734. The figures "1734" have an interesting history. Doreen gives a rather strange
account of them in The Rebirth Of Witchcraft, which contradicts what Cochrane
himself describes in a letter to Joe Wilson, dated "12th Night 1966", where he
says, "...the order of 1734 is not a date of an event but a grouping of numerals that
mean something to a witch. "One that becomes seven states of wisdom - the Goddess of the Cauldron. Three
that are the Queens of the Elements - fire belonging alone to Man, and the
Blacksmith God. Four that are Queens of the Wind Gods. "The Jewish orthodoxy believe that whomever knows the Holy and Unspeakable name
of God has absolute power over the world of form. Very briefly, the name of God
spoken as Tetragrammaton ... breaks down in Hebrew to the letters YHVH, or the
Adam Kadmon (The Heavenly Man). Adam Kadmon is a composite of all Archangels -
in other words a poetic statement of the names of the Elements. "So what the Jew and the Witch believe alike, is that the man who discovers the
secret of the Elements controls the physical world. 1734 is the witch way of
saying YHVH." (Cochrane, 1966) Although Doreen says that Cochrane's group was small, it still proved to be
remarkably influential. As well as Cochrane and his wife (whom Doreen refers to
as "Jean") and Doreen herself, there were others who are well-known today, and a
man called Ronald White, who very much wanted to bring about a new age in
England, with the return of King Arthur. In The Rebirth Of Witchcraft, Doreen elaborates upon the circumstances
surrounding the death of Cochrane: the bald facts are that he died at the Summer
Solstice of 1966 of an overdose. Craft tradition believes that he became in
fact, and of his own choice, the male ritual sacrifice which is sometimes
symbolically enacted at the height of Summer. The Royal Windsor Cuveen disbanded after Cochrane died, only to be re-born from
the ashes at Samhain that year under a new name - The Regency. All of its early
members were from the Royal Windsor Cuveen, and they were under the leadership
of Ronald White. The Regency proved to be of great importance to the development
of the Wicca, although its existence was kept a fairly close secret, and even
today, there are relatively few people who have ever heard of it. Meetings were held in North London, at a place called Queens Wood. As well as
Ron White and Doreen Valiente, members included "John Math", founder of the
Witchcraft Research Association in 1964, and editor of Pentagram magazine, and
the founder of the Pagan Movement, Tony Kelly. At its height, there were
frequently more than 40 in attendance at rites, which tended to be of the
dramatic, pagan kind rather than the ceremonial associated with high ritual
magic. The Regency operated fairly consistently for over twelve years, finally
disbanding in 1978. The Membership roll reads like a who's who of the British
Wicca! Some of the rites have been incorporated into modern Wiccan rituals - in
fact, one was used at the Pan European Wiccan Conference 1991 with very great
success. Moving back over to Rae Bone's line, there are a number of influential people
here, mainly through her initiates, Madge and Arthur, who probably take the
award for the most prolific pair in Wiccandom! Rae, although initiated by
Gardner, does of course also claim a hereditary status in her own right.Madge
and Arthur's initiates include: John and Jean Score John Score was the partner of Michael Houghton (mentioned earlier), and the
founder of the Pagan Federation, which is very active today. Houghton died under very mysterious circumstances, which is briefly mentioned in
"The Sword of Wisdom" by Ithell Colquhoun. My Craft source told me that this
was actually a ritual that went badly wrong, and Houghton ended up on the wrong
end of some fairly potent energies. There is an interesting anecdote about Houghton in The Rebirth Of Witchcraft,
which is taken from "Nightside of Eden" by Kenneth Grant, and agrees in some
respect to a similar story that I was told some years ago. Doreen suggests in
The Rebirth Of Witch-craft that the story may relate to a magical working
involving Kenneth Grant and his wife, Gardner, Dolores North (Madeline
Montalban), and an unnamed witch, who was probably Olive Green. They were all to perform a ritual together, supposedly to contact an extra-
terrestrial being. The material basis for the rite, which took place in 1949,
was a drawing by AO Spare. Apparently soon after the rite commenced, a nearby bookseller (Michael Houghton)
turned up and interrupted proceedings. On hearing that Kenneth Grant was within,
he declined to enter, and wandered off. The rite was disrupted, and the story
goes that everyone just went home.
Kenneth Grant claims that as a result of disturbing their working, Houghton's
marriage broke up, and that Houghton died in mysterious circumstances. In fact,
the Houghton divorce was a cause celebre, with her suing him for cruelty because
he boasted of being a Sagittarian while sneering at her because she was only a
dingy old Capricorn! The interrupted ritual could well have taken place. Madeline had a flat near to
Atlantis (Houghton's shop), and would certainly have known both Grant and
Houghton. I know for a fact that Madeline was acquainted with Gerald, although
her opinion of both him and the Wicca was rather poor. One of Madeline's older
students told me that she thought Gardner rather a fraud, and ritually inept.
She also had a very low opinion of Wiccans, and refused to allow her own
students to participate in Wiccan rites. The reason for this lies in an anecdote
which Doreen doesn't relate: the story goes that Madeline agreed to participate
in a rite with Gerald, which turned out to involve Madeline being tied up and
tickled with a feather duster! The great lady was not amused. Prudence Jones Prudence was for many years the president of the Pagan Federation, and editor of
its newsletter. She inherited her role from John Score, after he passed away.
With Nigel Pennick, Prudence also runs the Pagan Anti-Defamation League (PADL),
and is an active astrologer and therapist. She has edited a book on astrology,
and with Caitlin Matthews, edited "Voices from the Circle", published by
Aquarian Press. Although Prudence took her degree in Philosophy, her main
interests lie in the areas of the Grail and troubadour tales, and she has
published privately an excellent essay on the Grail and Wicca. She is also a
very highly respected astrologer, who lectures extensively in Britain.
Vivianne and Chris Crowley Vivianne Crowley, is author of "Wicca - The Old Religion in the New Age", and
also secretary of the Pagan Federation. She has a PhD in Psychology, and is
perhaps the only person to have been a member of both a Gardnerian Coven and an
Alexandrian one simultaneously! Vivianne is very active at the moment, and has initiated people in Germany
(having memorized the ritual in German - a language she doesn't speak!),
Norway, and - on the astral - Brazil. As a result of her book, she receives many
letters from people from all around the world, and organized the first ever
pan-European Wiccan conference, held in Germany 1990. The second conference was
held in Britain at the June solstice, and the third (1992) in Norway. In 1993,
the Conference will be in Scotland. John and Kathy (Caitlin) Matthews, are probably well-known to everyone, but
possibly their Gardnerian initiations are not such common knowledge. The story
that John Matthews relates in "Voices from the Circle" is essentially the one
which he told the HPS who initiated him.
Pat and Arnold Crowther I have left Pat and Arnold till last, as it is from their line that the infamous
Alex Sanders derives! It is no secret anymore that Alex, far from being
initiated by his grandmother when he was seven, was in fact turned down by Pat
Crowther in 1961, but was later accepted by one of her ex-coven members, Pat
Kopanski, and initiated to 1st Degree. In "The Rebirth of Witchcraft" Doreen says that Alex later met Gardner, and was
allow-ed to copy from the Book of Shadows; Craft tradition is somewhat
different! It has always been said (even by Alex's supporters!) that he pinched
what he could from Pat Kopanski before being chucked out, and that the main
differences between the Alexan-drian and Gardnerian Books of Shadows occur where
Alex misheard, or miscopied something! There are certainly significant
differences between the two Books; some parts of Gardnerian ritual are quite
unknown within the Alexandrian tradition, and the ritual techniques are often
different. It is usually very easy to spot whether someone is an Alexandrian, or
Gardnerian initiate. Alex needed a HPS, and as we know, chose Maxine Morris for the role. Maxine is a
striking Priestess, and made a very good visual focus for the movement which
grew in leaps and bounds. In the late 1960s, Alex and Maxine were prolific initiators, and a number of
their initiates have become well known. Some came to Australia, and there are
still a number of covens in the UK today whose HP and/or HPS was initiated by
Alex or Maxine. Alex and Maxine's most famous initiates are almost certainly Janet and Stewart
Farrar, who left them in 1971 to form their own coven, first in England, then
later, in Ireland. Through their books, they have probably had the most
influence over the direction that the modern Craft has taken. Certainly in
Australia, the publication of "What Witches Do" was an absolute watershed, and
with Janet and Stewart's consistent output, their form of Wicca is more likely
to become the "standard" than any other type. Since their early days of undiluted Alexandrianism, they have drifted somewhat
towards a more Gardnerian approach, and today, tell everyone that there are no
differences between the two traditions. In fact, despite the merging that has
been occurring over the last few years, there are very distinct differences
between the traditions; some merely external, others of a very significant
difference of philosophy. Seldiy Bate was originally magically trained by Madeline Montalban, and then
took an Alexandrian initiation from Maxine and Alex. Her husband, Nigel, was
also initiated by Maxine, and they have been "public" witches for a number of
years now, often appear-ing on TV, radio and in the press. Their background in
ritual magic is expressed in the type of coven that they run; a combination of
Wicca and Ceremonial Magic. In 1971, Alex and Maxine went their separate ways. David Goddard is a Liberal
Catholic Priest, and for many years, he and Maxine worked in the Liberal
Catholic faith, and did not run a coven of any kind. Then in 1984, Maxine
gathered together a group again, and started practicing a combination of Wicca,
Qabalah and Liberal Catholicism. She and David separated in 1987, and since then
her coven has been exclusively Wiccan. In 1989, she married one of her
initiates, Vincent, and they are still running an active coven in London today. Alex's history after the split was a little more sordid, with one girl he
married, Jill, filling the gutter press with stories about Alex being
homosexual, and defrauding her of all her money to spend on his boyfriends.
Sally Taylor was initiated by Maxine and David, but then transferred to Alex.
She was trained by him, and then started her own group. I'd now like to focus upon the last of the strands which I believe has been
influential upon the birth and development of Wicca; that of the literary
traditions and sources to which Gardner would have had access. To a certain
extent these are contiguous with the magical traditions described earlier, as
nowhere is it ever suggested that Gardner did in fact ever work in a magical
Lodge, so we must assume that his knowledge came from the written form of the
rites, not from the actual practice of them. From reading Gardner's books, it is quite apparent that Margaret Murray had a
tremen-dous impact upon him. Her book, "The God of the Witches" was published in
1933, and twelve years previously, "The Witch Cult in Western Europe" had
appeared. "The God of the Witches" has been tremendously influential on a number
of people, and certainly inspired Gardner. In fact, "Witchcraft Today", published by Gardner in 1954 contained a foreword
by Mar-garet Murray. At this time, remember, Murray's work was still taken
seriously, and she remained the contributor on the subject of witchcraft for the
Encyclopedia Britannica for a number of years.
Now of course her work has been largely discredited, although she remains a
source of inspiration, if not historical accuracy. In Gardner's day, the idea of
a continuing worship of the old pagan gods would have been a staggering theory,
and in the second article in my series about Murray (published in The Cauldron),
I made the point that Murray may have had to pretend scientific veracity in
order to get her work published in such times. Don't forget that Dion Fortune
had to publish her work privately, as did Gardner with High Magic's Aid. Carlo
Ginzburg's excellent book, "Ecstasies", also supports Murray's basic premise;
although of course he regrets her historical deceptions. There were of course other sources than Murray. In 1899, "Aradia: Gospel of the
Witches" was published. Most of Crowley's work was available during the pre-
and post-war years, as were the texts written and translated by MacGregor
Mathers and Waite. Also readily available were works such as The Magus, and of
course the class-ics, from which Gardner drew much inspiration. Of paramount importance would have been "The White Goddess", by Robert Graves,
which is still a standard reference book on any British Wiccan's bookshelf. This
was published in 1952; three years after High Magic's Aid appeared, and two
years before Gardner's first non-fictional book about witchcraft. I would just
like to say at this point that Graves has taken some very unfair criticism in
respect of this book. The White Goddess was written as a work of poetry, not
history, and to criticize it for being historic-ally inaccurate is to miss the
point. Unfortunately, I agree that some writers have referr-ed to it as an
"authority", and thus led their readers up the garden path. This is not Graves's
fault, nor do I believe it was his intention. Another book which has had a profound influence on many Wiccans, and would
undou-btedly have been well known by Gardner is "The Golden Bough"; although the
entire book was written based upon purely secondary research, it is an extensive
examination of many pagan practices from the Ancient World, and the emphasis of
the male sacri-fice could certainly have been taken from here equally as well as
from Murray. Certain of the Gardnerian ritual practices were almost certainly
derived from The Golden Bough, or from Frazer's own sources.
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In "Witchcraft Today" Gardner mentions a number of authors when speculating
where the Wiccan rites came from. He says that, "The only man I can think of who
could have invented the rites was the late Aleister Crowley." He continues to say, "The only other man I can think of who could have done it
is Kipling...". He also mentions that, "Hargrave Jennings might have had a hand
in them..." and then suggests that "Barrat (sic) of The Magus, circa 1800, would
have had the ability to invent or resurrect the cult." It's possible that these references are something of a damage control operation
by Gardner, who, according to Doreen, was not too impressed when she kept
telling him that she recognized certain passages in the Witch rites! "Witchcraft
Today" was publish-ed the year after Doreen's initiation, and perhaps by seeming
genuinely interested in where the Rites came from, Gardner thought he might give
the appearance of innoce-nce of their construction!
As mentioned previously, Gardner also had a large collection of unpublished MSS,
which he used extensively, and one has only to read his books to realize that he
was a very well-read man, with wide-ranging interests. Exactly the sort of man
who would be able to draw together a set of rituals if required. The extensive bibliography to "The Meaning of Witchcraft" published in 1959,
demonstr-ates this rather well. Gardner includes Magick in Theory and Practice
and The Equinox of the Gods by Crowley; The Mystical Qabalah by Dion Fortune;
The Goetia; The White Goddess (Graves); Lady Charlotte Guest's translation of
The Mabinogion; English Folk-lore by Christina Hole; The Kabbalah Unveiled and
the Abramelin by Mathers; both Margaret Murray's books and Godfrey Leland's
Gypsy Sorcery, as well as a myriad of classic texts, from Plato to Bede! Although this bibliography postdates the creation of Gardnerian Wicca, it
certainly indic-ates from where Gardner draws his inspiration from. There are
also several books listed which are either directly, or indirectly, concerned
with sex magic, Priapic Cults, or Tantra. Hargrave Jenning, mentioned earlier, wrote a book called "The Rosicrucians,
their Rites and Mysteries", which Francis King describes as a book, "concerned
almost exclusively with phallicism and phallic images - Jennings saw the penis
everywhere." As I mentioned earlier, Hargrave Jennings, a member of the SRIA, also belonged
to a group, described as a coven, which met in the Cambridge area in the 1870s,
and performed rituals based upon the classical traditions - specifically, from
The Golden Ass. There is no evidence to support this, except that there are
often found references to a "Cambridge Coven" linked to Jennings' name. Many of
the rituals we are familiar with today were of course later additions by Doreen
Valiente, and these have been well documented by both her and the Farrars, in a
number of books. Doreen admits that she deliberately cut much of the poetry by
Aleister Crowley, and substituted either her own work, or poems from other
sources, such as the Carmina Gadelica. Of course we can never really know the truth about the origins of the Wicca.
Gardner may have been an utter fraud; he may have actually received a
"Traditional" initiation; or, as a number of people have suggested, he may have
created the Wicca as a result of a genuine religious experience, drawing upon
his extensive literary and magical knowledge to create, or help create, the
rites and philosophy. What I think we can be fairly certain about is that he was sincere in his
belief. If there had been no more to the whole thing than an old man's fantasy,
then the Wicca would not have grown to be the force that it is today, and we
would not all be sitting here in Canberra on a Saturday morning!
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