(ebook - occult) Book 1 of Wicca

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All One Wicca:Introduction

This has nothing to do with "New Age."

Footnote:The word "faith" is used here as opposed to Religion. A Faith is a non-specific religion

or religious Philosophy, like Christianity. Religions within the Christian Faith include Catholicism,

Fundamentalism, Protestantism, Vineyard Christianity and more.

...It has everything to do with religion.

The reason people justify the classification of things like this with such a masterpiece of

euphemism is simple: This religion, My religion, is uncommon enough to be passed over by most,

and common enough to scare the proverbial "Hell" out of those who fear any change (and have

such a thing to be scared out of.) We are everywhere, and if the idea of a non-Christian baby-

sitter or doctor frightens you, then be frightened.

The mythical "Agressive New Age" of fundamentalist fret, where militant lesbian vegans rule over

men enslaved as breeders or sorcerers plot massive role-playing games to get inside children's

minds, does not exist. It was made up to frighten people, but frightening is harming, and we do

not harm. We have no hidden agendas, no schemes, no secret societies, no passwords... our

"secrets" are open for all. We are normal citizens, your children, parents, neighbors, teachers

and friends, no more or less "evil" or "scheming" than anyone...maybe even a little nicer, a little

saner, a little more polite. I am sure there are a few misguided Wiccan souls out there with

delusions of grandeur or who are in serious need of "attitude adjustments," but personality and

insanity transcend religion, "there's one in every bunch." We are not stereotypes. Most of the

shared beliefs of Wiccans are here for you to see. That's it. No secrets. Obviously I haven't

included in depth detail about every ritual... that's insane, I couldn't create a disk or book large

enough to fill with everything about Wicca.

Like Judeo-Christianity and other world faiths, Wicca is a religion that is divided into sects. The

sects within Judeo-Christianity range from vastly differing broad groupings (i.e.: Jewish, Catholic,

Protestant) to the individual or small sects of various temples and churches (Wesleyan, Seventh-

Day Adventists, Southern Baptist, American Baptist, etc.) The sects of Wicca are called

"traditions" (or "trads") and are equally as diverse. A tradition usually includes family and

personal beliefs, passed down through the years, or the beliefs and values of a group of people.

Most Wiccan traditions fall into one of three categories, although borrowing between trads is

fairly typical. These categories are Gardnerian based, Dianic based and the many Fam-Trads,

which are based on the practices of families which may go back hundreds of years.

Gardnerian traditions and those traditions which have sprung out of Gardnerian traditions are

based on the books of and practices detailed by Gerald Gardner, but the term "Gardnerian

Tradition" also applies to many Fam-Trads which pre-date Gardner and seem similar to those

practices described by him. Most modern "Gardnerians" actually practice an eclectic amalgam of

inflexible early twentieth-century Wiccan beliefs from Europe, incorporating various Fam-Trads in

their quest for the "Original" Wicca. The oldest proof of a pre-Gardnerian tradition mentioned in

this book, the Marchand Fam- Trad, dates (at least) to 1930, but has only considered itself

"Wiccan" since the seventies. This is typical of the older trads, many of which have changed to fit

a "Wiccan" mold in the past forty years.

Fam-Trads range from the well known to the obscure. Some are strict, like the Marchand trad

which has an epic poem that details both the history of the family and the rules of Ritual in

explicit detail. Some, like the Tomas Family Tradition, have no written rules and consist of the

teachings of one person's lifetime. The history and size of a trad doesn't matter in Wicca,

although it can feel nice to have a huge group of colleagues and a stack of books to refer to.

Some trads claim lineages thousands of years old and some are being created right now, but the

beauty of Wicca is that neither is more legitimate. For this reason, size, which can mean the

difference between "a cult" and "a real church" in Christianity, doesn't matter in Wicca. Some

traditions consist of only one or two individuals, and the largest have thousands. In Wicca, it is

the shared beliefs, not their age or the number of believers, that make a tradition.

Universal Eclectic Wicca, which this book is about, is a broad-based tradition, originally created to

bring together the followers of several different groups whose leaders had learned from the

same training circle. Although none of our covens were alike, we decided to write a "tradition"

encompassing all of our beliefs. This is the result of that work.

To the Skeptic, reading with the purpose of ridicule or damnation, I ask you to remember that

this is not some freak cult...this is our religion, respect it as you respect your own, for our beliefs

are as deeply held. I charge the Christian skeptic to read Matthew 7:1: "Judge not" and bide by

it.

To the traditionalist, the Wiccan who says, "No, It must be done this way," I say "Grow," our

similarities outweigh our differences. This may not be YOUR tradition. I never said it was.

To all, I challenge you with our Affirmation of Acknowledgment... Wiccan, Christian,

Jew...whatever. Now is the time to love all mankind in peace.

Chapter One:Achieving the First Circle

Eclectic

defines eclectic as "selecting or selected from various sources." Universal Eclectic Wicca (UEW) is

based on not one or two sources but an infinite number of sources... any source its students find

useful. Much as the "Witch-Cult" grew and changed with the addition and subtraction of various

people throughout the British Isles, our modern Wicca, fueled by the rapid changes of the

communication age, grows and changes with the people we meet through networking and a free

press.

Could Gardner, or a more recent author, have predicted the ritual on Gallows Hill in Salem,

Massachusetts in 1992, where Pagans of every creed and color marched to honor those

persecuted in the name of religion? Could the shamans of the Hunted Years have predicted the

thousands of non-native seekers abandoning their "European ways" to become one with the

spirits of the land? Could any of us predicted the vast Pagan community of the Internet?

In order to understand the changes in Wicca, we must make the realization that no one was born

without the ability to contribute to humankind, that each life, no matter how insignificant, creates

some small change. A humankind without change is an ugly thought, indeed. An old bardic law

reads "Ever changing, ever learning, ever growing," and that is our modern Wicca. We live in a

beautiful time, for all its strife and hardship, and the pace of change is always growing. As

children, my grandparents had no television, my mother (despite her dependency on it now) had

no computer... I cannot comprehend my life without either. Who knows what my son will have at

my age?

The changing nature of the world calls for flexibility, not just cultural flexibility, but spiritual

flexibility. Religion that is static ceases to be religion and becomes something frightening, so we

must be constantly vigilant in our preservation of our open- mindedness. Fear of change is the

greatest cause of persecution in our history, especially the history of North America, the cradle of

modern Eclectic Wicca.

From the Zapatistas to the Inuit, the makeup of this entire continent is a list of the oppressed.

Many of the first settlers were escaping persecution when they came here and dished it out to

the indigenous people by the shovelful. Many found their religion focusing not on their god(s),

but on their persecutors, and to this day, entire sects of religions talk of nothing but "Not letting

'em get to us," and spend hours weekly trying to prevent change. The most frustrating aspect of

this "fear of change" is that it is more consuming within the groups who face the least

persecution, the world of the professional white male, and his affluent suburban Christian

community. Contact with harsh world of the underprivileged seems to give those persecuted

daily better things to do than worry about conspiracies or form militias. Those currently

persecuted can only look at those who have fallen and try to be stronger, focusing, not on the

past, but on the future and the change it promises.

When no longer persecuted, Churches must change or face becoming focused on the past. If

they fail to change, walls of fear and misunderstanding can rise up, cutting the Church and its

members off from reality and allowing insane, corrupt or downright evil leaders to run their lives.

From Jim Jones to the Televangelists that bilk senior citizens out of everything they own, it is a

scenario that replays itself every few years. Careers, lives, even souls are destroyed in moments

while we just shake our heads and mourn more "freaks" who have followed a leader we don't

understand.

"It is an "Us" and "Them" and anyone who isn't with the church is against it," a former

fundamentalist told me of her experience, shortly after leaving such a church. "We're no longer a

church, but a set of issues...if you're not anti-gay, anti-choice and anti- woman, you are not

welcome." This same person noted a frightening trend: "Not once were the teachings of Christ

not attached to the church's political agenda. We were buffeted with tales of the past, and how

everything is corrupted." "That wasn't a church," she added, "That was a conspiracy cult."1

The perceived persecution, at worst, can become real persecution. There is a metaphysical "law"

which says "Belief creates Reality." Nowhere does it come into effect more visibly than when the

cycle of persecutor and persecuted becomes continuous. Take the example of David Koresh's

Branch Davidians: Thinking themselves persecuted they began to prepare for a "war." Their

preparations led to their persecution, and then their war happened. The force of belief is very

powerful.

To prevent becoming another conspiracy cult, Wicca (or any religion) must be eclectic, and take

from all of its members. The myth of the Manna of the Athamé provides a parable for our

eclecticism, and perhaps was one of our ancestor's way of telling us this.

The Manna of the Athamé 2

...From the smoke of the fire a woman's form arose, the image at once of the sacred mother and

The Christians' sacred virgin of Christ. The nine daggers, one broken, danced afore her like a

circlet of silver. To each of us, eight in all, the daggers flew, and we felt that they were ours. The

Woman raised our brother's broken dagger and we saw it reformed with a beam of moonlight

made hard . She then bade us pass the daggers thrice around, hilt first, so all touched hilt and

blade. The third time, I saw the sigils of my Sisters and myself upon the blades, hanging for a

moment as if traced in quicksilver and then melting, fading into the blade. " The great sword

lives in each of you now, and you in it, a part, as are all who touch the holy instrument, a part of

it, as are all who have touched them, and them, and so forth." She spoke, each word hanging

briefly in the air like a fractured rainbow. "Let none touch, even see the Blade that are not

worthy, be they of The Faith or Christian, for destruction comes to those who do not use caution

in their choice of compatriots. Yet seek, if you may, the honorable and true, that your blade, and

theirs bear the marks of their goodness." "Ware those who seek to become a part without

inquiry," she charged us, "lest you allow them to taint life and faith and dishonor Your brother,

and those of his blood, or the blood of those slain that you may carry such tools. For that which

you are colors that which you touch, and the actions of one are the constant to those who know

not all."

In this story, there is a sort of psychic residue left by each person who touches the blade, much

as a person's residue in Wicca relates to us all.. The Goddess figure in the story warns us to be

selective in who we trust, that if the public meets only one of a group, it is that person who the

group is judged by. Certainly the works of Scott Cunningham, Gerina Dunwich, and the like do

Wicca a great honor when used as examples, but negative examples exist.

Many people believe that Modern Wicca, in its earliest incarnation, was created in its entirety by

Aleister Crowley. Even Gardner, in the aforementioned work, acknowledges that possibility, while

proposing the idea that Crowley learned from Witchcraft. 3 No good interpretation of the works

of Crowley is complete without at least an overview of the writings of the founders of early

Modern Wicca. Similarly, an understanding of early twentieth century Wiccan authors is only

reached by understanding the paradigm created by Crowley and his contemporaries.

Unfortunately, an uninformed overview of Crowley can create wild ideas in those searching for a

way to condemn Wicca. Certainly his philosophical fingerprint was apparent on the blade of

Wicca when an Northern New York Christian Activist referred to Wiccans as "Followers of the

dark Magician Crowley who claimed to be Satan himself."

Caution, therefore, is the guideword in our Eclecticism, what we include reflects what we are.

This does not negate it's importance! A religion comprised of someone else's rules falls into

inevitable decline. We must be inclusive and warm, just as the ancient peoples who practiced the

foundations of Modern Wicca were. Like them, we must welcome and process new ideas while

maintaining the old.

Eclecticism in Wicca is not, as some traditionalists have claimed, a loss of our ancestral history as

Wiccans, but a celebration of the History we are making now as humans. By embracing

Eclecticism, we are merely doing what was done before.... improving. The earliest Witches did it,

the Witta, Shaman and Druid. In a natural religion, eclecticism and evolution are unavoidable. It

is not our way to fight nature.

Chapter One:Achieving the First Circle, continued

Part Two:Universal

As I walked into a class he was teaching, a friend and metaphysical scholar had written the

following in a bold hand across a wall of blackboards in a run down high school. The students,

waiting for a question and answer session on Wicca, read:

CONTEMPLATE THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS:

1. Matter exists in every galaxy, it is universal.

2. Air is a need we all share, it is universal.

3. That screwdriver works on all screws it is universal.

Three meanings, one word. This isn't that uncommon in the English language. Universal means

ever-present, everywhere, throughout the universe. It also means the Entirety, everything that

was, is or will be. It also means usable by and for everything.

Wicca conforms to all of these definitions. It is ever-present, if we could travel to any location, at

any point in time, Wicca, that is, the laws and beliefs that comprise Wicca, would still be in

effect. Obviously the ethics would differ from situation to situation, but the basic religion would

stay the same. Wicca is not limited by one's location.

At the same time, Wicca encompasses The All, and The All is encompassed in Wicca. Unlike

many faiths, we do not believe the soul has a part of divinity that is separate from our body and

mind. While philosophers like Plato taught that the divinity manifested by the unity of the various

parts of the Psyche/Soul was a state to be achieved 2, we teach that total integration is there

from the start, giving us unlimited power, control of our own destiny and the Will to do anything,

best described in the catchphrase from Robert Heinlein's "Stranger in a strange land."'coined by

The Church of All Worlds :

"THOU ART GOD"3

We are God(dess.) This does not mean we are not human, or better, only that divinity, with all

its meanings, is within us, a part of us. In Wicca, this is sometimes called Manifest Divinity, and

means that everything is divine. Each moment in life is viewed spiritually, so each ordinary thing

becomes a lesson, with work, the littlest things have huge revelations, as shown in this tidbit

from The Green:4

THE DONUT

Inspiration comes from strange places, in this case, a donut.

Not just any donut, but a plain donut....lonely, boring, brown, tasteless, perfectly normal and

sitting there in a box that started out with nine, three cinnamon, three sugared, and three plain.

For two weeks, this donut sat alone in a box at my lover's parent's house, unwanted and

unattended. When it disappeared, box and all, I was too embarrassed to ask where it had gone,

so I didn't, just let it lay, and thought on it. You know, I felt sorry for that donut, deprived of a

sweet coating, it dried out, aged, and was thrown away, just because it wasn't special.

That donut was like humankind, like too many people who brush up against the cinnamons,

sugared and chocolate glazed to get a sparkle of difference, a dusting of significance, or, worse

yet, they gaze up at heaven waiting for some celestial custard filling, or Raspberry Cream, or

Dutch Apple Mousse to make them different, special, IMPORTANT.

You know, there is a beauty in a plain donut.

There is no distinction made between the spiritual and the physical...Everything is divine, a

lesson. Everything is Wicca.

The universality of Wicca also means that Wicca can be used by all and anything can be used in

Wicca. As long as the Five Points of Wiccan Belief are there, and the other basic beliefs are met,

any religion can be called "Wiccan," there is Wiccan Druidry, Wiccan Judaism, even Wiccan

Christianity.

The laws of Wicca are relevant to ALL religion (even Satanism is reined in by Wiccan laws, and I

can show you former Satanists with the Karmic debt to prove it.) This is because the laws of

Wicca are not merely Wiccan but, Universal, like the laws of physics or Magick.

Those laws that are metaphorical, such as the law of return or Karmic law, when proven by

physics such as "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction", or laws of physics

with extraordinary proofs, are said to be metaphysical. Metaphysical laws, while often

discounted, can be proven, with experimentation, as surely as can gravity.

Universality also means that we are all, Dianic, Gardnerian, Eclectic or what- have-you, practicing

the same thing, Wicca...All One Wicca. This does not mean that each tradition is unimportant,

only that all traditions are equally as important, whether comprised of one, or one hundred

coveners.

Rather than divide our members into Solitary and Coven Practitioners, in Universal Eclectic Wicca,

we have what are called "Circles." These circles represent two things: How much you know

about Wicca and How much time and effort you put into your religion, the community, and your

"learning quest." (The learning you have already done probably places you within a circle, but

small projects are asked of students wishing to switch into Universal Eclectic Wicca. These are

usually papers, or debates, or in- depth conversations to determine how much you know.) The

variances in your beliefs and the next Wiccan's are vitally important so don't...do not, try to think

like the next guy. Begin to let your philosophies wander, if you create something that isn't

Wiccan, oh well, our loss. Being "Wiccan" is not the goal here, being yourself is.

All religion is created by humankind, regardless of its inspiration. Your religion is your religion,

and mine is mine. We may use the same words, rituals, etc., but unless every way you think is

the same as mine, our religions are individual. All religion is limited to one practitioner, even if

we call the practitioners of similar religions by the same name, Kat MacMorgan's personal Wicca

is not Tamryn's Wicca, or Lady Diana's Wicca, or John Q. Pagan's Wicca, it is the religious belief

within her soul, much of which cannot be expressed in words. This fierce individuality is reflected

strongest by our deity concepts, our worship of Gaea, or Diana, or Apollo. Although we may even

call a God or Goddess by the same name, how can I know exactly what (s)he looks like to you?

The faces of the gods are shown differently to each person, and the same name, and even the

same image is different from one person to another. This is what I like to call a "What is blue?"

dilemma. We know that blue is the color of something, but how do we know that my brain

doesn't see blue things as a color you'd call red? How do you explain blue to a blind

person...YOU don't, you just know it is blue. Perception is never identical, although the level of

perception may be. My "god" may be female, or blond, or dark skinned, or called "Jayne Dough,"

but it's my inner god, and my inner religion, and it doesn't need to mean anything to you.

A few may feel strongly that the Gods have only one name, and one face, and as a priestess, but

mostly as a Metaphysicist I believe that's true. However, human beings are limited in their ability

to perceive things by the dimensions they exist within. We can only comprehend those things

with length, width, depth and time and our linear temporal existence (meaning that we move

only one way in time in these bodies, forward, without the ability to go backwards or circumsect)

limits what we know of time. Thus, beings of more than these four dimensions would be

impossible to grasp in their terms, and our own inadequacies would be filled by our imaginations,

creating our personal names and faces of God(s).

The gods are no more upset by our inability to perceive their Entirety than one is by a blind

person perceiving without sight. It is simply lack of a sense, a fault of our species. We can work

to better understand the gods (lose the obsession with linear time first) with the senses we do

have merely by applying the Hermetic maxim "As Above, So Below." By noting the effects of our

works on "lesser" creatures and creations we can glean, to a degree, what is going on "upstairs",

and I wouldn't put it past the gods to have a hand in assisting us.

Universalism includes everything in one broad sweep. The religion, its laws, its gods are universal

in scope and usage, and our ability to perceive them, as limited (or unlimited) as it is, still reflects

an Entirety. In our culture, it is easy to consider ourselves as unimportant as a single drop of

water in an ocean. The Wiccan learns to know better...It only takes one drop to make waves.

Chapter One:Achieving the First Circle, continued

Part Three:The Five Points of Wiccan Belief

While Universal Eclectic Wicca embraces a person's exploration into his or her own religious

paradigm, we must draw a line between what we will accept as part of Wicca and what we wont.

These limits to our religious universality are The Five Points of Wiccan Belief. Within them, we

can find most of the principles of the various traditions of Wicca. These five ethics are boiled

down from many traditions, and exist in almost all forms of Wicca, although the names and

parables attached to them change from group to group. Practices that don't uphold these

standards are difficult to classify as "Wiccan."

The Five Points are:

1. The Wiccan Rede

2. The Law of Return

3. The Ethic of Self-Responsibility

4. The Ethic of Constant Improvement

5. The Ethic of Attunement

The Central belief in Wicca, the Wiccan Rede is the oldest of known ethics, the use of various

phrasings of this law in pre-Gardnerian Fam-Trads leads to the conclusion that if there once was,

as some claim, a unified pre-Christian Pagan religion, this was a tenet of it. The most common

phrasing of The Rede is "An' it harm none, do as you will," Which is often reduced to "Harm

none." In Universal Eclectic Wicca we also have an expanded reading of the Rede which is

especially helpful when describing it to people who believe in commandments and long lists of

rules. It states: "If an action will cause harm, physically, emotionally, or mentally, to another

person or one's Self, refrain from doing it. Strive to always be helpful and never willingly cause

strife or harm to befall someone. Weigh your actions against each other, would you wish your

actions taken against you? Take no action you would not wish to receive."

The entirety of Morality can be defined by the Rede, even Judeo-Christian morality. While Exodus

and other parts of the Bible list "crimes and punishments," they were intended to prevent, not

cause harm, the same purpose as any "laws." Christianity began with the idea of harm none,

even if many of its laws were misinterpreted, slanted, and later downright perverted into bearing

little resemblance to their initial statements.1.

With the exception of some of the diabolic fads, all religion is based in "goodness". Mankind is,

as a rule, comfort-seeking, and thus inherently good. A man would rather craft a warm sweater

than a sword, and we've known for years that a good deed is a far easier sell than donning

armor and inflicting one's Will. You'll attract more ants with honey, says the fable, than with

vinegar.

The Second of the Five Points, the Law of Return (also known as the karmic law) means, quite

simply, that what you do affects what happens to you. If you do good, good is going to happen

to you; if you do evil, that'll happen too. Metaphors for the Law of Return exist in every religion,

there are ancient ones and modern ones.

Think of this law as a video game. Each time you do something good, you get "karma points",

and each time you do something bad, you get "bad karma points". You'll still get attacked by

life's monsters and pitfalls, but an excess of bonus points will help you recover quickly.

It's not mere metaphysical mumbo-jumbo, either. If you're a better, nicer person, you have more

true friends. When you have more friends, you have a support network to pick you up and set

you on your feet again. It works in the other direction, too.

In some traditions, the Law of Return is given a multiplier, good and bad are said to come back

upon you three- or tenfold, but even those traditions admit that an exact retribution ratio is

impossible to come up with.

Perhaps for some it's better to think of this law as a giant knob on some celestial radio. If you do

good on a regular basis, you find yourself on the "good stuff station" and more of the random

and semi-random events you are destined to encounter will lean in more positive directions.

The less good you do, the less your random event modifier. You'll hit the high end of the scale

less often, and bad "stuff" will happen more often.

The more you act positively, the better your random event modifier (ran-mod) becomes.

Admittedly, this is most easily understood by logicians, metaphysicists, technosorcerers and

computer and role-playing gamers (who greatly overlap, I might add,) but this is not a new or

far-out concept. Even in those religions furthest from Wicca, "Heaven" can be achieved by doing

more good than evil.

Like the Law of Return, The Ethic of Self-Responsibility is a law of metaphysics incorporated into

Wicca . More than any other aspect, this turns people (especially those with damaged Wills or

reduced sense of Self,) away from Wicca. It can be a scary thing for anyone not raised with it,

simply, when you mess up, it's your fault.

In Wicca, there is no "The devil made me do it." We don't believe in devils, and even if we did,

we don't believe any extraplanar creatures could control us, not even the gods. We make our

own destiny, and set up most of our own "trials and tribulations".

"I am my own person, I am not a slave to my desires, nor am I slave to a person, drug or god.

No being controls me but me."

Abuse or other trauma, drugs or body/brain chemistry can alter our perceptions of who and what

we are and only by working as an Integrated Total Self, with no separation of metaphysical,

emotional, physical, mental, spiritual and auric selves, can we grab the reins. Self-responsibility

requires that we ask for help when we need it, that we be prepared to go to whatever lengths

necessary to be responsible for who we are and what we do.

The Ethic of Self-Responsibility should be a given with The Law of Return. With this ethic you are

accepting the karma or "stuff" you give yourself, good or bad. Put together, The Law of Return

and the Ethic of Self-responsibility expect us to change positively, thus necessitating the fourth of

our points, The Ethic of Constant Improvement.

In Wicca, we seek be "ever growing," like the bardic law. The basest of these improvements are

taken care of by the Ethic of Self-Responsibility, but extending that responsibility beyond the

inner self, falls into this realm.

Scott Cunningham talks of Earth Stewardship in Living Wicca: A Further Guide for the Solitary

Practitioner , an important facet of Constant Improvement. Ecology is vital in a religion that

reveres nature as divine, and even the simplest of chores can be turned into an act of holiness

when done ecologically.

Teaching and preaching tolerance, racial harmony and reverence for art and history are also a

part of this ethic, and living one's life toward peace is vital. Only by being constant in our

learning, and eclecticism, do we prevent intolerance.

The Last of the Five Points of Wiccan belief is the Ethic of Attunement. Attunement, the act of

becoming in-tune with divinity is the purpose behind the majority of ritual. In Wicca, we believe

in three groupings of divinity:

1. The Self is divine.

2. The Gods/other powers are divine.

3. The Universe itself is divine.

1. The Divine Self (thou art god) is expressed within The Ethic of Self- Responsibility. No one is

in control of the Self except for the creator of the Self, the person that "owns" the body. We see

ourselves as divine, therefore, we know that we can do anything. Magick becomes possible

through faith in the Self, because faith is magical, as detailed in The Psychology of Religious

Experiences (Erwin Ramsdell Goodenough, 1965):

"The magic of faith - is it religion or magic? The question has broken down into tautology. Faith

that we can do the superhuman, such as killing or healing another person by suggestion, gives

us power to do what is beyond ordinary human powers. Through faith we do control the

uncontrollable - some of it, a little. Where there is faith, there is religion. Not intellectual assent

but faith, deep emotional acceptance, makes a Catholic or a Voodooist. Those who have "lost

their faith" often speak of the loss as though they had lost their sight or hearing, a faculty of

some sort that made them able to do things to themselves and for themselves which they cannot

now do. They are quite right; they have lost a real potency, a real power of control. So I must

say that, to call a belief "superstition", a ritual "magic", is only to pronounce a value judgment.

These are religious beliefs and acts which the person calling them "superstition" or "magic" does

not like. In calling them so, we are... limiting "religion" to what we ourselves approve."

Our rites of Attunement to the divine self include the practice of Ritual, and occasionally, High

Magick, but also includes meditation, dance, drumming and anything else that makes us feel "in

touch" with our Selves.

2. The Divinity of the Gods, or the "Other Powers" defies immediate explanation as do the gods

themselves. In Wicca, our gods are more like parents, the Divine Father and the Great Mother,

and less like the fury-fueled jealous God of Christianity. Our rites of Attunement to the Gods are

nearly all celebratory in nature, with the more intensive rituals combining the divinity of the gods

with the divinity of the Universe in worship of the lunar and harvest cycles.

3. The Divinity of the Universe is subdivided into three groups. In

Gaeism,

the Planet Earth is a

creature and each individual being, plant, animal or mineral is a part of that being, which is

usually, but not always, named for the Goddess Gaea or Gaia. In

Animism,

each thing be it a

windstorm or a rock, has a spirit of its own. In Cyclic Totality, or

Cyclicism,

it is the laws of the

Universe which are divine, be they the cycles of celestial decay, or the harvests, or the birth-

death-rebirth of the nitrogen cycle.

The combination of these three forms of Universal divinity are used in Wicca in varying degrees

with lipservice, if not full ritual given to every subgrouping.

The Five Points of Wiccan Belief are the basis for Universal Eclectic Wicca, and a project

providing "proof" of one's literacy within them is the only requirement expected of a student who

wishes to practice within the First Circle. If you wish to use this book as a lesson plan for the

First and Second Circles, I suggest that you use a two or three page paper focusing on a current

issue as a project before you start. Analyze the issue against the Five Points of Wiccan belief,

and ask a sympathetic teacher, fellow Wiccan or friend to read it.2

Have the person reading your paper ask the following questions of it:

-Are each of the Five Points mentioned?

-Does the author make his or her point clearly?

-Does the author make judgements based on the points, or merely state the facts of the issue?

-Whether you agree or not, does the author make a good case?

-Does the author show an effective working knowledge of the Five points?

In a coven or training circle, the proof of knowledge usually focuses on a few questions asked by

a leader and responded to by the student, questions are then asked by the other students, and

defense of your point is expected. A paper is often easier than defending to a coven, because

coveners and students always seem to find the one or two things you missed.

Once you've completed this task, you've achieved the First Circle....Congratulations!

Chapter Two:Redefining our Spirituality

To the "new" Wiccan, that is, the vast majority of us who are not born into the religion, a lot of

the so-called "simple" terminology had been beaten and burned out of us, their meanings so lost

in intolerance that we cannot use them without feeling a least a little betrayed. It is one of our

first steps, therefore, to "reclaim" the terms of our relationship with divinity. "Religion," "sacred"

and "spiritual" all mean more than Christ or "The One God," but it can be hard for some to

realize this.

An easy example is our early teachings. Now, with the exception of a few well- intentioned years

in the beginning, I was fortunate enough to go to a public school where the Judeo-Christian

beliefs were only slightly pushed, like in the Pledge of Allegiance, and I was allowed to explore

the various religions of other cultures. My earliest interests were the Greek Gods, especially

Demeter, but they were never listed as a "religion" dead or alive. Everything that wasn't Judeo-

Christian was either "mythology" or "philosophy" and any religion based on those things was

either "romantic" or "uncivilized," and always, always, just plain "silly." So for years, while at

night I dreamt that a far off Demeter heard my hushed prayers, I beat myself up over it, why

was I silly? Why was I childish? How could I glean faith from an Archetype? When I first really

began to study Wicca, my teacher said four words that have held immense importance for me.

"Everyone may be right."

Try the following visualization: Imagine a great sphere, just slightly smaller than infinite. If you

zoom close enough to the sphere, you'll notice that it's actually made up of billions of little

hexagons, and that each hexagon faces a different direction, like facets of a huge jewel. The

sphere is all one thing, but each facet, viewed from close enough, seems to be independent of it.

Truth is that sphere, and those facets all are created by truth, and have an equal portion of

truth. There is room for many different truths in the universe, and limiting ourselves to seeing

one facet is limiting ourselves to missing the beauty of the whole thing. Personal truth may be

merely one facet of this great object, yet it is no more or less important than any other facet.

Before you begin looking at the sphere, look at your facet. The sphere will come, but for now,

onto this quest.

-The Learning Quest-

Picking up this work probably indicates that you already have found your way to the learning

quest....ALL of Life is The Learning Quest, a journey from birth to beyond in which the goal, the

holy grail, so to speak, is to learn.

By the time we're teenagers, we understand most of the tangible world, and our basic knowledge

of things like physics, biology and the other sciences has given us the tools to understand the

rest. A learning lull develops, where our primary negative reaction to so-called "new" information

can either be A. "Tell me something I didn't know." or B. "Tell me something I couldn't have

figured out for myself." The teenage attitude then of "I know it all" which frightens parents so, is

justified because, compared to the rest of his/her life, the teenager does know it all.

In our last years of high school, and into our twenties the learning lull causes us to seek out a

new side, a new direction. Similar lulls happen after life changes, marriage or divorce, or for no

apparent reason, something we often call a "mid-life crisis." For some, further research into

something we already "know" is enough to satisfy this vanderjahl, but for many a whole new

thing has to be sought, and spirituality is the perfect "new quest."

We all make mistakes along the way, some small, some great big ones. The importance is not

how "perfectly" the quest goes, but how much we learn from however it goes. A record of your

quest is fundamental to this learning.

If you don't already keep a journal, start now. Write at least every other day. If you can't find

something worth writing about, try a ponderance (Appendix H) or use meditations from any

number of religions. Make lists, do freeform poetry, you'd be amazed by how much nonsense

makes sense later in life.

Most importantly, be yourself. Don't try to write the Diary of Anne Frank, or great memoirs to be

published after you die. If it helps you, tag a note to your journal addressed to your spouse,

parents, or kids, asking them to destroy it upon your death. If you feel you "must" leave

something behind of great importance, write it separately, but keep a journal for yourself, and

keep it casual and truthful.

-Sacred-

Many of us grow up with a slanted idea of what is sacred. We were told that this statue or that

space was sacred and thus APART from ourselves. One of the first steps toward redefining our

spirituality is to "give up" our previous notions of things like "what is sacred?" and create new

definitions. Sacred must cease to be separate, for we devalue things kept from us, and it must

begin to mean something more, something different.

Our new Sacred could be defined as "Those things which, by bringing us closer to ourselves,

bring us closer to divinity." A child is sacred, a grove, a hiding place where we once kept our toys

and games, an engagement ring, a necklace given by a dear friend, all these things are personal

relics, as important as a scrap of some saint's skin or a sliver of so-called crosswood. Perhaps

these things are made even more sacred by their general normalness, a pair of old slippers, for

instance, that bring comfort, joy and a feeling of being "at home" are sacred by their very

nature, like the warm wishes of The Gods intended just for you.

The student of Wicca must reevaluate "sacred" under these rules:

#1: Do I consider it sacred because I need it??

Those things that are vital...shelter, food, water, are sacred to everyone, and we should respect

and honor them as sacred, but a more personal "sacredness" is what we're seeking.

#2: Do I consider it sacred because I've been told it is?

These things may be sacred to others, but if your only reason for considering them as personally

sacred is because someone has told you so, it is probably not sacred to you. This doesn't mean

you shouldn't respect another person's sacred items, just that they have no sacred meaning for

you..

#3:Is it religious?

Like the things above, these things should inherently hold some respect, however, those things

that are not of your religion are probably not sacred to you. If they have non-religious value (a

grandmother's rosary, for instance) than that value should be why it is considered sacred, not

what it represents.

#4: Does it call to mind a belief, friendship, or other undefinable part of my Self?

Items like this range from Totemic relics to things that appeal for no apparent reason, many

people consider these things explanatory of their life. Some of these items, rocks, feathers,

baubles, may have no apparent value, others may have obvious emotional attachment, like an

engagement ring. Others may appear ordinary, but be far from it, like the feather you found the

day after Eagle spoke to you or the stick from the tree that died at your parent's house, but have

great meaning. Like a journal, creating a collection of sacred things tells you about yourself....for

many Wiccans, these things become altar decorations, or are placed around a circle to lend their

power to the proceedings.

These things are powerful, and we can use them to learn so much about ourselves. Tamryn, a

colleague of mine, once gave his students the assignment of listing personally sacred things, and

giving a brief description of why they considered those things in that way. Students listed things

like their children's baby teeth, musical instruments, gravestones and old love letters. With each

list, students wrote how the assignment made them feel, and the surprising majority felt that

they had "learned" something about themselves. This is just one example of the soul-searching

we ask of our students, a single method of revealing the inner mysteries and a step toward

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AllOneWicca:IntroductionThishasnothingtodowith"NewAge."Footnote:Theword"faith"isusedhereasopposedtoReligion.AFaithisanon-specificreligionorreligiousPhilosophy,likeChristianity.ReligionswithintheChristianFaithincludeCatholicism,Fundamentalism,Protestantism,VineyardChristianityandmore....Ithaseverythi...

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