Pagan Glossary

             Don't know what a word means on my website or other reading?  Maybe you
will find it here.


Altar - A flat surface holding ritual tools and
symbols

Amulet - A natural object worn or carried for its
protective powers

Animism - The belief that natural objects and nature
itself are alive and conscious; or the velief that an
immmaterial force animates the universe

Aspect - A form, facet, or persona of diety.  A
manifestation of the Goddess or the God having its own
name, appearance, qualities, attributes, and mythology

Asperger - A ritual tool used to sprinkle water for
purification purposes

Athame - A black-handled, double-edged, kknife like
tool used by witches to channel energy, but never to
cut anything material

Attunement - A activity which brings the minds,
emotions, and psyches of a group into harmony prior to
ritual: Chanting, singing, guided meditation, and
breathing exercises are common ways to attune

Aura - The energy field of the human body, and
especially that radiant portion visible to the "third
eye" or psychic vision

Bell - Rung to "Alert the quarters" prior to invoking
the elemental powers

Besom - The old name for broom

Blessed Be - All-purpose greeting, response and
farewell amoung witches

Bolline - A white-handled witches knife used to carve
or cut materials necessary for ritual or healing

Book of shadows - A personal journal in which witches
keep thier notes on ritual and amgick, and perhaps
records of dreams, herbal recipies, class notes, and
so forth

Casting the circle - The psychic creation of a sphere
of energy around the area where ritual is to be
performed. both to unwanted influences or distractions

Cauldron - Represents the womb of the Goddess

Centering - The process of moving one's consciousness
to one's spiritual center

Chakras - The nexi or four focal points of the human
energy field

Chalace - A symbol of water and the womb

Circle - A term for a coven or other magickal group
meaning "To gather together for ritual"

Cone of power - Energy raised durning magick is imaged
as a cone

Cord - May signify a degree.  Aslo used in knot magick
and in binding or loosing spells

Correspondences - A system of symbolic equivalences
used iin magick

Coven- A group fo witches who gather regularly to
celebrate thier faith and work magick

Cowen - Anyone who is not a witch

Craft - Another name for wicca or witchcraft

Dedicant- A non-initiated sutdent of wicca

Degrees - Levels of initiation representing spiritual
development and craft skill, knowledge, and experience

Deosil - Clockwise. The direction the priestess or
priest moves when casting the circle, calling
quarters, and raising power

Divination - The art and practice of foreseeing trends
and discovering hidden knowledge

Drum - Used to raise power during ritual

Earthing - Sending excesses energy into the earth

Elder - One who is reconized as a experienced leader,
teacher, and counselor within the craft

Esbat - A gathering of witches to celebrate a certain
phase of the moon, work magick, and socialize

Familiar - An animal compainion trained to assist in
magickal workings

God - Male personification of diety

Goddess - The femal personification of diety

Grounding - Psychically reinforcing ones connection
with th earth

Grove - An organized group of pagans

Heathen - A non-christian

High priest - The primary male leader with in a coven

High priestess - The primary female leader with in a
coven

Immanence - The beliefthat deity exists within all
things, including people, and cannot be separated from
them.

Initiation - A profound spiritual experience in which
one's unity with diety is realized

Karma - The total effect of a person's actions during
thier successive incarnations

Lamps of art - Candles used to illuminate the alter at
a ritual

Law of return - What ever energy is sent out returns
to the sender multiplied

Laws of witchcraft - A list of rules for witches,
forcasing on individual condut and coven operation

Magick - The act of changing consciousness at will
Occult - Knowledge which is supposedly hidden from the
eyes or understanding of anyone

Pagan - A follower of any natur-based religion
Pantheism - A doctrien that indentifies diety with the
univers and its phenomena or the worship of all Gods

Pen of art - A pen used especially for magickal work
Pendulum - A divinatory tool consisiting of a small
weight on a thread or fine chain

Pentical - A disk of metal, ceramic, or wood with a
pentagram and other symbols inscribed on it

Pentagram - A starlike, five-pointed figure of very
ancient orgin, used amgickally for blessing,
protection, and balance 
I know we all know some of this but I thought it would
be best to have it for everyone.


Perfect love and perfect trust - A wiccian ideal; we
begin by working to create them with in the coven and
expand from there

Polarity - The interaction of tow differing polarity -
energies can raise enormous amounts of magickal energy

Polytheism - A belief in many Gods
Power - Energydrawn from natural sources, then
concentrated and directed within a ritual for magickal
purposes

Quarters - A shorthand term for the four elemental
powers and the directions they correspond to

Reincarnation - The belief that an individual soul or
spirit is born more than once, each time into a new
body

Ritual - A planned series of activities leading to the
accomplishment of a goal through magickal means

Ritual tools - Implements used in ritual magick
Runes - Letters used in the old norse and teutonic
cultures

Sabbat - One of the holy days of the wiccan religion,
celebrating themes such as birth, fertility and death,
related to the turning of the seasons

Showstone - A crystal ball or other polished stone
used for scrying

Spell - A pattern or series of words and or actions
performed with magickal intent; or sometimes simply a
spoken incantation

Stang - A forked stick placed in the center of the
circle, as a primitive symblol of the horned God or
other diety being invoked

Summerland - A wiccan concept of the after life, where
spirits rest in the company of the Lady and Lord,
reflect on what they have learned in thier most recent
incarnation, and prepare for the next one.
 
Talisman - A constructed magickal object, usually with
inscribed symbols intended to attract certain
specialized energies

Thaumaturgy - "Low magick" used to influence things
and events in everyday life

Theurgy - "High magick" emplyed to connect with diety
and foster spiritual growth or transformation

Thuible - A metal incense burner, sometimes suspended
froma  triple chain, used for cleansing

Tradition - A division or denomination of the wiccan
religion

Warlock - "Oath breaker" not a male witch

Wheel of the year - The cycle of seasons extending
throughout the year

Wicca - A benefiecent and magickal earth religion
which celebrates the immanent triple Goddess of the
moon and the horned God of nature

Wicce - A female witch

Wiccan rede - Ethical core of the craft

Widdershins - Counter clockwise; the direction a
magician moves when she or he wishes to banish,
remove, or release energy

Witch - A priestess or priest of the old religion

Witches pyramid -  A symbolic depiction of the
qualities necessary to practive magick