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(Number 359)
INTRODUCTION TO WICCA
"Wicca? What's it all about?" In continuing on from the last
posting in looking back at a vague past, I thought I would try to
identify what Wicca itself is all about, (as far as I'm concerned
that is). Everyone else is entitled to their own view, so please
don't come back and say this or that is wrong. This is my view thank
you very much and if anyone has a different view, we can agree to
differ and they are free to write their own
interpretation/perception.
We are all individuals and as such have differing thoughts,
perceptions and outlooks, which are constantly in flux as we go along
in this thing called life as we know it. Wicca has no dogma and will
not be categorized into a neat and tidy explanation for anyone. This
posting is purely my perception as it is at the present time (and
might change), but might hopefully give a general introduction for
those many people in this group who are new to it and are constantly
asking for some form of outline.
This question is actually being heard more frequently nowadays, both
here and abroad - for things are changing yet again and as we all
know, something very different has been quietly appearing on over the
last few decades.
There are so many problems in the world today - wars, terrorism,
pollution, repression by one side or another, technology and
commercialism all gone totally mad; along with food shortages, and
far, far too many people in the world and still growing. And it's
getting worse.
Why?
What has caused the cascading insanity that we see around us? I
don't even want to go there, or even think about it too much. More
importantly, what can we grasp onto which is secure and worth
believing, if we feel that way inclined?
Some of us think we know why this haphazard lunacy has all happened;
and if you're really interested and concerned, you too, may
eventually realize why things have turned out this way, but it's only
one's points of view again.
The important thing is to get back some normalcy, (whatever that is),
for those that seek it in some small way at least. Looking to one's
mental and spiritual outlook, without being once again crushed by an
unforgiving dogma and promises of everlasting hell fire and
retribution if one strays from the dogma issued forth by the powers
to be, (which in the end can help make this nightmare world, and all
its problems, quite unnecessary). That doesn't mean forgetting them,
or not being concerned, just unnecessary.
It can be done - our distant ancestors, according to scholars, knew
how. They knew how to live with Nature, to understand the reasons
behind it. They had a basic knowledge of the balance, which is a
part of everything seen and unseen - something we have lost in the
centuries and millennia that have passed.
But not lost irretrievably, for it is once again coming to us again.
It is a faith of sorts and a way of living. For me, it is Wicca.
Why is Wicca, and all kinds of other pagan derivations, returning to
the world!
Did it really disappear though? Was it really "there" before?
Before we get carried away in a diametric diversion of unanswerable
questions and theories, let's keep on a track I wanted to illuminate
a little for some of the interested readers of this Research Group.
Really, though, in answer to the above nebulous query, perhaps the
Old Ways and the Ancient Powers had never left - for folk beliefs and
the ancient Witch cult have always been with us in some way or
another for thousands of millennia, whatever "name" it was called.
But for the past several centuries' folk wisdom was given a Christian
overlay and largely ignored; the Druids, Witches, even perhaps the
Knights Templar and equivalent, with their age-old lore, were forced
underground by persecution - with much loss to the common man.
Now the established major religions are greatly weakened and
tottering; their foundations largely destroyed by a rapidly changing
world, while others are attempting a war on all who dare to differ.
Wars, hate and persecution and death seem to have a historical
tendency to follow such dogmatic religions. Their efforts to adjust
and alter, to "keep step with the times," have only weakened some of
them even further. Only the prop of being "socially convenient and
correct" has kept the churches, for one, from total collapse. And
the structure of society itself is continuing to weaken around them;
with "social convenience and correctness" having less and less power
as a new generation increasingly scorns that which is useless and
irrelevant.
Science itself, starting with Galileo and others as a reaction to a
stale and oppressive religious establishment, seems to have reached a
plateau in its discoveries. New research has become increasingly
expensive, and the feeling is growing that the results gained are now
justifying less and less of the cost put into them. Political
pressures fashion the wonders of science into weapons, which are both
increasingly cruel and very much more fearsome.
Commercialism, in its mindless striving forever more money, at any
cost to mankind and nature, has managed to pollute much of what still
remains of the natural world, but we all need it to survive.
Politics has reached a similar impasse. Both Marxism and Capitalism
were loosely created using the precepts of Christianity, and thus
both suffer from the same weaknesses as their parent: inflexibility,
dogma, intolerance and hypocrisy. Those who have lived under both
systems say that Marxism is considerably more drab and mechanistic
than its rival though. Thus we can expect that the current
intellectual fashions that are still left in the world tending toward
Marx will ultimately be halted by the dull, hard wall of reality.
Are we heading for a hard right again? Would the world stand for it,
or perhaps embrace it when backed against a hard wall? Round and
round….
So then - where else will there be to go?
The answer `perhaps' lies deep within ourselves - where it has always
been - and out in the world of nature, where it has long waited.
For the Wiccan Way (as one of many revised pagan ways) is as every
bit close to the soul of humanity; and it is a natural belief which
sees man as he is, and the world as it is, and seeks to push neither
into a preconceived dogmatic mold.
Furthermore, Wicca sees the great beauty, wonder, mystery and
richness of nature, and opens the way to an understanding of it,
which the modern world has overlooked in its blind thrust into the
twenty first century. What will our children and their children be
subjected to, I sometimes wonder?
The Wiccan Way, as it now exists, is based on some acceptable and
plausible beliefs from the distant past and some not so plausible.
The present store of rituals and practices has been drawn from many
historic sources, admittedly restored and updated by scholars and
practitioners from various Witch groups, some perhaps still existing
but never advertised; whose traditions might stretch unbroken since
far back in time.
There is much flexibility here, for Wicca is not at all, (or
shouldn't be) fixed and dogmatic. There are wonderful, new
adventures of the mind and spirit, for Wicca thrives on joy, beauty,
wonder, naturalness and colour in all things.
And, if we wish to maintain our feet in reality, there is the
inspiration of working toward a new world - one totally different
from today.
And one far better we should hope.
SO WHAT IS WICCA ?
Wicca in a nut-shell (for me) recognizes that throughout all things -
from subatomic forces and energies, to the forms of atoms and even to
the universe (and beyond) - there is a vibration we can tune into and
of course, a duality. We haven't yet even got the science to
comprehend the timeless, spaceless giant black holes, or conversely,
the sub atomic particles/energies that can be both energy and
matter. Night and day, black and white, hot and cold, happiness and
sadness and of the much misunderstood love and hate – back to the
ancient Oriental concept of Yin and Yang, (which was long matched, by
similar concepts in what we now call Europe by the way). It doesn't
necessarily mean female and male, but opposites that make a whole in
a sense.
The Witch realizes that there is no heaven except that which they
themselves make, and likewise no hell, but that of their own creation
too.
Many Witches believe that they have experienced previous lives in
previous eras of this world, whether a valid perception and actuality
or not – it is up to them. Often however, they can point to
impressive evidence in backing those perceptions up. Perhaps we will
never know, as it's like all-important issues; it has to be
experienced for oneself and not intellectualized or forced down one's
throat from another.
A Witch refuses to believe that mankind is born innately sinful, and
realizes that the concept of "sin" is itself arbitrary and harmful to
human nature, not to say totally man made.
The Witch knows that man is not better than woman, nor woman superior
to man. What one lacks the other can give, and let's be completely
honest, cannot be truly alive without the other! There is no greater
magick than that of man and woman together.
As in anything deeply mystical or magickal, the meaning cannot be
simply communicated intellectually; it has to work through an
analogous process within the individual; a stream of symbols, images
and experiences, rather than a mere explanation.
Wiccan today are priestesses and priests, initiates to the Ancient
Powers and are never laity. They are secretive in their undertakings
and do not proselytize, or spend constant hours merely talking about
it. The basic message is that, what is fundamental to Wicca is the
actual doing of it and no amount of theorising and
intellectualisation can substitute for the actual experience.
A Witch knows that what is called "magick" does truly exist, and it
is often worked by those who are in touch with certain forces of the
natural world. Outsiders can only dream and wonder, or contrarily
scoff within dogmatically closed minds.
The Witch believes that what cannot be seen is of the greatest
importance - that much exists of which the present world's science
knows little or nothing. And that anyone can experience what is
normally considered to be beyond "reality"
In most traditional and Traditional Witchcraft and even Wicca ritual,
(not unlike most of the magickal practices in the world today), a
need is met by a clearly understood series of Magickal skills and
practices that have been passed on, usually from a teacher to a
student.
The primary background skill of magick is the control of the mind and
its multitudes of states of specific and non-specific awareness. A
great deal has been written about the basics of these skills -
relaxation, concentration, raising power, subsequent release, and
visualization among others.
The combined result of these skills is usually called 'trance' - as
directed, self-willed, (sometimes assisted) states of consciousness.
The human mind is constantly entranced, shifting states, (whether we
know it or not), between habitual types of awareness according to the
random events and reactions of daily life. In ritual we use our
skill to induce very special trances in which we feel a connection,
awe, respect and love for the evoked/invoked Powers and which make us
receptive to the blessing and power offered by the actual rite.
These various states of mind are required, whether inducing results
through the magical power of mind alone, or whether through the
access to ancient and mystical powers of this world, and others, that
have been called upon to help.
In traditional witchcraft - the calls to the Ancestors, Land-spirits
and Deities in general - call a large group of Powers to the Coven to
join in worshipping the Patrons of the rite and thereby gaining
tremendous power.
Otherworld Powers are thought of as personal allies, ancestors and/or
patron Deities of the assembled worshippers, as well as any other
Beings who may wish the company well. So usually at the end of the
rites and before the Key Offerings, the followers establish a vision
of the Ancient Power, or Spirits and cause a final physical effect to
take place in the real world (or perception) in which we normally
live. They come to support their human allies and kin, and to join
in the Blessing offered to the company.
Any magical ritual has as a primary intention of the re-weaving of
the links and forces between human-kind, the natural world, and the
God/desses and Ancient Powers who support both. For many thousands
of years human culture `perhaps' lived in more or less intimate
communion with both the seen and the unseen worlds. Over the
centuries of European and specifically Christian culture, these ties
have been weakened, until our modern materialism is endangering the
very air and water that sustains our life. We work to reconnect with
the powers of Land, Sea and Sky, honouring the Spirit and Power that
is in them, as well as their physical realities.
Wicca itself has a deep love for all things natural and wild, as it
knows that there are many beings, which are intelligent and wise -
and not all human. Yet those who earnestly desire to know them may
meet them in places of seclusion and wilderness - and it is for this
reason that the Witch does not allow his or her heart and mind to
become cluttered by the useless trivia of a commercial-technical
society.
A Witch knows that there are deep forces and tides that underlie all
things, and that there exist here on earth infinitely complex
multidimensional matrixes of living power, which are far beyond the
capability of the human capacity to understand. That there is
intelligence here (and there – wherever that is) and the greatest of
wisdom - for such has always existed and always will.
The Witch realizes that mankind has always known of the existence of
this Supernal Intelligence(s), and has called `It – Them' by
thousands of names for tens of thousands of years. That men and
women of all eras have drawn strength and power, warmth and security
from these sources - at times in ways which seems to transcend
reality!
Wicca teaches that these sources are both female and male in their
many aspects and perhaps some being both, yet none, that though
vastly beyond our capacity to understand, we can actually perceive
Them - as powers, forces, individuals, or as Goddess and God to whom
we can speak, and receive answers.
It is well to remember that these are not hard and fast categories.
The greatest powers may be reckoned God/desses, even though they come
from other kins, realms of power, while one folk's Deity can be the
Ancestor of another. Yet other might forces defy our very logic and
can never be so described, yet encompass our very being, so let the
Wise do honour to all the Spirits and Ancient Powers.
Earth is the home of our human kindreds and of our closest allies.
The Kindreds are the beings and the Children of the Mother, descended
through the lines of countless Mothers and Fathers. As well as the
many mortal kindreds, there are the countless tribes of Otherworld
beings and entities.
The Otherworlds are both cause and reflection of our common realms.
Thus the Wise seek to know its ways, to better understand the flow of
events in this world and others, to exert the subtle influences on
life that are so much apart of Magick Art.
The Sorcerer and Witch will deal with, and make offering to many
kinds of Ancient Powers, Forces and Spirits. The Earth is our common
world, where most of us live out our lives, (even if our dimensions
may be different). When we look for our part in the great weaving of
things, it is the very patterns of the Earth that are our first
teachers.
The Witch knows that a balance is needed, with perhaps a greater
stress on the spiritual and Goddess in Her many aspects, Her
gentleness and peace and the God in His powerful understanding ways
and the Ancient Powers that abound around and in us in a timeless and
spaceless matrix to restore peace for us in the here and now and to
assure a meaningful survival of ourselves and our descendants.
This is Wicca (for me)!
So Mote it Be.
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