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Hello, readers of Mystical Pagan

Please feel free to browse around and look over the many posts that can be found here. I hope you find them useful.

Blessings...
Ma'iingan

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How to Become a Witch/Wiccan

It is often asked where one should start when they've discovered this wonderful system. First of all, when you ask this question, does...

Monday, May 22, 2017

Questions to Fully Understand Wicca - Part 4

Do you understand actual Wiccan tenets and ethics?
Wicca has many tenets. I could debate with the HPs who challenged me on these questions that the Rede is indeed an ethic, as it is based on the Thelemic principle of: "Do as you will shall be the whole of the law" created by Aleister Crowley (an influential figure of Wicca).

Tenets on the other hand are numerous. They can range from The Legend of the Descent of the Goddess, to The Charge of the Goddess written by Doreen Valiente (often touted to be the Mother of Wicca, if Gerald Gardner was called its Father), and can even include Gardner's 161 Ardanes (though terribly outdated and archaic). But because most of the information on traditional Wicca is inaccessable, the entire list of tenets is, admittedly beyond me. I understand the limitations of my knowledge of Wicca and am humble enough to admit to it.

Do you understand the various rites and elements of Wiccan ritual, including the traditional tools utilized and the symbolism behind them?
I believe with this question, the HPs is asking if I understand the concept behind such rituals as The Great Rite and the Five Fold Kiss as key rituals within the Wiccan religion. I understand that the Five Fold Kiss derives from The Legend of the Descent of the Goddess in which she surrenders herself to the God, body, mind and soul. It is also the place by which the phrase "Blessed Be" comes from. Contrary to popular belief, it is not a common greeting, but comes from such phrases in The Descent as "blessed be thy knees, that shall kneel at the sacred altar".

The Great Rite on the other hand is a component of common rituals in which the union between the God and Goddess is demonstrated, either literally (and privately) between a man and woman (not necessarily the High Priest and High Priestess, nor by two strangers, but by two ADULTS who both CONSENT to the act, representing the deities), or figuratively, through the use of the athame and the chalice, in which, at a key moment in the ritual, the athame is plunged into the cup to signify the union.

I believe I have outlined the purpose behind two fairly standard Wiccan tools (chalice and athame) and their symbolism in the ritual.

Further questions on this point regard actual practice of these ritual elements...its rather difficult for me to demonstrate off camera, so I'll leave the questions unanswered.

Do you have a baseline understanding of the Wheel of the Year?
With the information that is available, I think just about everyone has a "baseline understanding" of the Wheel of the Year. In the tiniest of nutshells, it's about observing and understanding the relationship that unfolds between the God and Goddess...from Yule to Samhain.

If you're not looking for the theological explanation of what the Wheel of the Year or the Sabbats are, then they're more an observation of the agricultural cycle of the Earth, marking each of the key points in the year. For instance, Lughnasadh is the harvest of the grains whereas Samhain is the harvest of the meats. These harvests being meant to sustain people during the long winter months.

Of course, living in the century we do now, we have no need for actual harvest seasons (unless you are a farmer), so I think most Pagan mark the theological aspects of the Wheel of the Year, in understanding the relationship of the God and Goddess...his birth, her recovery, their entrancement, their union, her pregnancy, his death and once again, his birth. But this is but the BASELINE understanding of the Wheel. The question is asking for a full on detail of what the Wheel means. To go into full detail would entail deep, deep research, and would naturally depend on the region (even in just the country) in which the asker is talking about. We forget that Wicca has been pieced together from snippets of different "Pagan" spiritualities from around the world. To put out a full on detailed report on the Wheel would again, depend.

Do you actually observe the cycles of nature (Sabbats and Esbats), in both formal and informal ways? How do they apply to your life?
I can say with absolute honesty that because I have never claimed to be Wiccan, I don't actually observe the entire Wheel of the Year. Previous to now, I had not felt any necessity in regards to celebrating it. The only Sabbat that held any real, true meaning to me was Samhain, as it had always intrigued me...its lore, both Pagan and Christian, as well as modern societies view on the holiday.

It wasn't until fairly recently that I had begun to become interested in celebrating the Sabbats and gaining a greater understanding of what they are and what they mean. I continue to study.

Next Week:
Part 5

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