A Witches Bible - Janet Farrar, Stewar Farrar 1981

Glossary
Principles, Rituals and Beliefs of Modern Witchcraft

Akasha, Akashic Principle The all-pervading spiritual ’ether’, usually envisaged as violet in colour.

Akashic Records The ’recordings’ left in the Akasha by every event. Advanced occultists develop the gift of retrieving past events by ’reading the Akashic Records’.

Alexandrians Witches initiated by (or stemming from those initiated by) Alex and Maxine Sanders. An offshoot of Gardnerian witchcraft, though founded independently.

Amulet An object worn as a protective charm against evil. (See also Talisman.)

Anima The buried feminine elements in a man’s psyche.

Animus The buried masculine elements in a woman’s psyche.

Ankh The crux ansata or looped cross, Egyptian hieroglyph for ’life’. Widely used as an occult symbol of the Life Principle.

Aradia Widely used Wiccan name for the Goddess, derived from the Tuscan witches’ usage as recorded in C.G. Leland’s Aradia: the Gospel of the Witches (see Bibliography).

Arcana, Major and Minor The seventy-eight cards of the Tarot (q.v.) deck. The Major Arcana are the twenty-two ’trumps’; the Minor Arcana are the fourteen cards of each of the four suits. The word Arcana means ’mysteries’ (literally ’closed things’).

Archetypes Fundamental elements of the Collective Unconscious which determine our patterns of thinking and behaviour, but which can never be directly defined — only approximately, through symbols.

Arianrhod A Welsh Goddess-name much used by witches. The name means ’Silver Wheel’, referring to the circumpolar stars — also known as Caer Arianrhod (the Castle of Arianrhod), symbolic of the resting-place of souls between incarnations.

Astral Body The psychic ’double’ of the physical body, consisting of substance more tenuous than matter, but grosser than mind or spirit. (See also Etheric.)

Astral Plane The level of reality intermediate between the physical and the mental. It is the level of the emotions and instincts.

Astral Projection The transferring of consciousness from the physical to the astral body, so that one perceives and moves about on the astral plane while the physical body remains inert. It may be involuntary or deliberate.

Athame The witch’s black-handled knife. Its use is purely ritual (for which purposes it is interchangeable with the Sword) and it is never used for actual cutting (cf. White-handled Knife). It is always a personal tool, belonging to one witch.

Aura The force-field which surrounds the human body, the inner bands at least of which are Etheric (q.v.) in substance. The aura is visible to sensitives, who can learn from its colour, size and structure much about the person’s health, emotional state and spiritual development.

Banishing (1) Repelling an unwelcome psychic entity. (2) Short for ’banishing the Circle’, dispelling a Magic Circle after it has served its purpose. (3) Expelling a witch from a coven for an offence; he or she may apply for readmission after a year and a day.

Bealtaine, Bealtuinn, Beltane The May Eve/May Day Great Sabbat, normally celebrated on the night of 30 April. The original meaning is ’Bel-fire’, after the Celtic or proto-Celtic God variously known as Bel, Beli, Balar, Balor or Belenus. Bealtaine is the Irish Gaelic form, Bealtuinn the Scottish Gaelic, and Beltane the usual anglicized form. In Irish it also means the month of May, and in Scottish, May Day.

Black Mass A deliberate and obscene travesty of the Christian Mass for black magic purposes, which strictly speaking can only be performed by an unfrocked or corrupt priest. It has never been a part of genuine witchcraft.

Boaz The left pillar of Solomon’s Temple (I Kings vii:21 and II Chronicles iii:17), making a pair with the right pillar, Jachin. Together they represent the polarized forces of strength and mercy, active and receptive, etc. Boaz and Jachin appear repeatedly in Masonic, Cabalistic and Tarot symbolism.

Bodhisattva A human entity so highly developed that it no longer needs to reincarnate on Earth but chooses to do so in order to help mankind.

Book of Shadows A traditional book of rituals and instructions, copied by hand by each new witch from that of his initiator. Different forms are passed on by the various Wiccan traditions; the Gardnerian Book of Shadows has been mostly widely and publicly quoted and misquoted.

Boomerang Effect A popular name for the well-known occult principle that a psychic attack which comes up against a stronger defence rebounds threefold on the attacker.

’Burning Time’ A term used by some witches for the period of persecution of witches (actual or alleged) which reached its height in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Used in reference to England, it is in fact a misnomer; English witches were customarily hanged, not burned, though they were burned in Scotland and on the Continent.

Cabala, Qabala, Kabala The ancient Hebrew system of esoteric philosophy centring upon the Tree of Life (q.v.). Probably the biggest single influence on the Western occult tradition. Modern occult Cabalism is not identical with that of the old Rabbis, but its principles ’are the legitimate descendants thereof and the natural development therefrom’ (Dion Fortune).

Candlemas — see Imbolg.

Cernunnos, Cerunnos The only known name of the Celtic Horned God; it is much used by witches, in the Cernunnos form.

Cerridwen A Welsh Goddess-name, much used to represent the Mother or Crone aspects.

Chalice — see Cup.

Charge, The In Gardnerian/Alexandrian witchcraft and some others the traditional address of the Goddess to her followers, delivered by the High Priestess. The definitive Gardnerian form was written for Gerald Gardner by Doreen Valiente, incorporating his inherited material but replacing some which he had adapted from Aleister Crowley’s writings.

Clairaudience, Clair sentience, Clairvoyance The ability to be aware of events, facts or phenomena by psychic means. The term ’clairvoyance’ is loosely used to cover all forms of this; but strictly speaking it is clairvoyance when the impressions are received as visual images, clairsentience when they are felt as bodily sensations, and clairaudience when they are heard as words, music or other sounds.

Cone of Power The collective psychic charge built up by a coven at work, visualized as a cone whose base is the circle of witches and whose apex is above the centre of that circle.

Coven An organized group of witches, meeting and working regularly together.

Covenstead A coven’s normal place of meeting.

Craft, The The witches’ name for the religion and practice of witchcraft, and its followers.

Cup, Chalice One of the four elemental tools, representing the Water element.

Deosil In a clockwise or sunwise direction. (Cf. Widdershins.)

Divination The art of obtaining psychic information with the help of physical accessories such as Tarot cards, a crystal ball or a pendulum. It might be called ’clairvoyance using tools’.

Drawing Down the Moon Invocation of the Goddess aspect into the High Priestess by the High Priest.

Drawing Down the Sun Invocation of the God aspect into the High Priest by the High Priestess.

Ego The conscious part of the human psyche.

Elders The third-degree and second-degree members of a coven.

Elemental A primitive non-human and non-material entity, of the nature of one of the four Elements (q.v.). The term is also used for a human thought-form which, spontaneously by strong emotion or deliberately by mental effort, is split off from its human originator and acquires temporary quasi-independent existence. ’Created elementals’ of the latter kind can be given healing work to do; they are also sometimes used maliciously for psychic persecution.

Elements Earth, air, fire and water — plus spirit which includes and integrates them all. These are regarded as realms or categories of Nature — the basic modes of existence and action. They are not to be confused with the physicist’s table of elements, which the witch of course accepts in their relevant context.

Equinoxes — see Sabbats.

Esbat A coven meeting other than one of the eight seasonal festivals or Sabbats (q.v.).

Etheric Body A structure intermediate between the Astral Body (q.v.) and the physical body. It is an energy-network which links the physical body to the corresponding astral, mental and spiritual bodies, and thus literally keeps it alive.

Etheric Plane The energy-level, intermediate between the astral and physical, on which the Etheric Body (q.v.) functions.

Evocation The summoning of a non-material entity of a lower order of being than oneself. (Cf. Invocation.)

Exorcism The expulsion, by psychic means, of an unwelcome entity from a person or place which it is influencing or possessing.

Familiar An animal kept by a witch for the psychic help it can give; cats, dogs and horses in particular react very sensitively to negative influences, supplying early warning or corroborative evidence. Their human ’owners’ (or rather, partners) are careful to give them psychic protection in return. Certain kinds of deliberately created and maintained thought-forms may also be called familiars.

Festival One of the eight seasonal Sabbats (q.v.).

Fetch (1) ’The apparition, double, or wraith of a living person’ (Oxford English Dictionary). (2) A projected astral body or thought-form deliberately sent out to make its presence known to a particular person. (3) A witch (usually male) sent out by a High Priestess as a confidential messenger or escort; sometimes called the Summoner or the Officer.

Fivefold Kiss, Fivefold Salute The witches’ ritual salute, man-to-woman or woman-to-man, with kisses (1) on each foot, (2) on each knee, (3) on the lower belly, (4) on each breast and (5) on the lips — really eight kisses in all. It is only used within the Circle.

Gardnerians Witches initiated by (or stemming from those initiated by) Gerald Gardner or one of his High Priestesses. There are also many witches today who practise the Gardnerian system but whose initiation does not ultimately derive from Gardner’s coven, and it would be sectarian not to call them Gardnerians.

Gnome The traditional name for an Elemental (q.v.) spirit of the nature of the Earth element.

Golden Dawn An occult Order founded in London in 1887 by three Rosicrucians, which became a major influence in Western ritual magic. Its rituals (partly written by the poet W.B. Yeats, who was a prominent member) are basically Cabalistic, with elements of the Chaldean Oracles, the Egyptian Book of the Dead and Blake’s Prophetic Books. They were later published in full, under the title The Golden Dawn, by Israel Regardie (see Bibliography).

Great Rite In Wicca, the major ritual of male-female polarity, which is also the third-degree initiation rite. It can be either symbolic, in the presence of the coven, or ’actual’ — i.e., involving intercourse — in which case it is always conducted in private. In our tradition, only a married couple or established lovers may perform the ’actual’ Great Rite together.

Greater Sabbat — see Sabbats.

Grimoire A (usually mediaeval) book or ’grammar’ of magical procedures. The most famous is The Greater Key of Solomon the King, generally known as The Key of Solomon (see Bibliography under Mathers).

Hallowe’en — see Samhain.

Handfasting A Wiccan wedding ritual. (See Eight Sabbats for Witches, Section XIII.)

Hereditaries Witches who claim a continuous family tradition and practice of the Craft, from long before the current revival.

Herne A British God-name, the best-known manifestation of whom is Herne the Hunter, leader of the legendary Wild Hunt in Windsor Great Park. The name may derive from the same original as Cernunnos (q.v.).

Hexagram (1) A six-pointed star, formed by two interlaced equilateral triangles. It is generally called the Star of David in non-occult circles, but its use as an occult symbol is far older than its use as a badge of Judaism. It signifies the Hermetic principle of ’as above, so below’. (See Macrocosm.) (2) Any one of the six-line figures of the I Ching (q.v.).

High Priest (1) The male leader of a coven, partner of the High Priestess who is the overall leader. (2) Any second-degree or third-degree male witch. (The distinction is between a coven function and a personal rank.)

High Priestess (1) The female leader (and overall leader) of a coven. (2) Any second-degree or third-degree female witch. (The distinction is between a coven function and a personal rank.)

Hiving Off The process whereby two or more members leave their parent coven to form their own coven.

Holly King In the folklore of many parts of Europe, including the British Isles, the God of the Waning Year. At the Summer Solstice he ’slays’ his twin, the Oak King, God of the Waxing Year; and at the Winter Solstice the Oak King is revived to ’slay’ the Holly King in turn. Oak King and Holly King are each other’s ’other self’, in an eternal cycle of death and rebirth.

I Ching A Chinese system of divination involving sixty-four ’hexagrams’ or six-line combinations of unbroken (yang) and broken (yin) lines. It is one of the few categories of Eastern esoteric learning which transfer wholly satisfactorily to the West, without risk of cross-cultural confusion, and it is widely used here.

Imbolg, Imbolc, Oimelc The early Spring Great Sabbat, celebrated on 2 February. It is often known by the name of its Christian equivalent, Candlemas. The name in Gaelic means ’in the belly’ — the first stirrings in the womb of Mother Earth.

Incarnation The manifestations of a living entity into physical form; specifically, any one of the earthly lives of an immortal human Individuality (q.v.) in the continuing Reincarnation (q.v.) process.

Individuality The immortal, reincarnating part of a human being, consisting of the Upper Spiritual, Lower Spiritual and Upper Mental levels; contrasted with the Personality, which consists of the Lower Mental, Upper Astral, Lower Astral, Etheric and Physical levels, and which only persists for one Incarnation (q.v.), a new Personality being built up around the immortal Individuality for each Incarnation. (See also Reincarnation.)

Inner Planes Other levels of being and consciousness than the physical or the ’normal’ Ego-consciousness.

Invocation The summoning (or more properly, invitation) of a non-material entity of a higher order of being than oneself. (Cf. Evocation.)

Jachin — set Boaz.

Kabala — see Cabala.

Karma The ’spiritual bank balance’ carried by the Individuality (q.v.) from one Incarnation (q.v.) to the next. The literal meaning of the word is ’action’ or ’cause-and-effect’.

Karnayna Alexandrian (q.v.) form of the God-name Cernunnos (q.v.).

Keridwen — see Ceridwen.

Kernunnos — see Cernunnos.

Lammas — see Lughnasadh.

Left-Brain Function The linear-logical, word-and-number-using, analysing, basically masculine function of the left hemisphere of the brain, which also controls the right side of the body; balanced by the right-brain function, the intuitive, image-forming, synthesizing, basically feminine function of the right hemisphere of the brain, which also controls the left side of the body.

Left-Hand Path Generally used to mean black-magic working, but this is really a corruption of its original Tantric meaning (see note 5).

Lesser Sabbats — see Sabbats.

Lughnasadh The August-Eve Great Sabbat, normally celebrated on 31 July. Its name means ’festival of Lugh’, the Celtic God of Light. It is also sometimes called Lammas after its Christian equivalent, and it is associated with the harvest. Lúnasa is the Irish Gaelic name for the month of August, and Lunasda or Lunasdal the Scottish Gaelic name for Lammas, 1 August. The Manx for Lammas Day is Laa Luanys or Laa Lunys.

Macrocosm The Cosmos as a whole, in relation to the Microcosm, its detailed manifestation (the human being in particular). In accordance with the Hermetic principle ’as above, so below’, the Microcosm is of the same essence as the Macrocosm and reflects its nature.

Magic(k) ’The Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will’ (Aleister Crowley). Crowley added the ’k’ to distinguish true magic from the debased, escape-from-reality concept of magic, and many occultists have adopted this usage.

Magus In general, a male occult adept. In Wiccan usage, a second-degree or third-degree male witch.

Maiden In a coven, the Assistant High Priestess for ritual purposes, who may or may not be the High Priestess’s deputy in leadership. In earlier times, the title of Maiden was sometimes applied to the leader whom we would now call the High Priestess.

Manifestation The product on one level of being of a phenomenon or entity already existing on a higher level. Thus physical Nature is a manifestation of creative Divinity; the Earth itself may be regarded as a manifestation of the Mother Goddess principle; and on a much lower level, a seen ghost, or a poltergeist phenomenon, is a visual or physical manifestation of an entity or activity on the astral plane.

Measure In Wicca, the thread with which a first-degree initiate’s bodily dimensions are ritually recorded as a symbol of his or her loyalty to the coven.

Microcosm — see Macrocosm.

Neophyte, Postulant A newcomer to the coven, awaiting initiation.

Oak King — see Holly King.

Officer — see Fetch.

Oimelc — see Imbolg.

Pentacle One of the four elemental tools; an engraved disc representing the Earth’s element. It is normally the centrepiece of a Wiccan altar.

Pentagram A five-pointed star. An upright pentagram (i.e., with a single point uppermost) represents (1) a human being (astride with arms outstretched) or (2) the four Elements (q.v.) governed by the fifth, Spirit. An inverted pentagram (i.e., with a single point downwards) represents Spirit still subservient to the four Elements; it is generally seen as a black magic symbol, except when it is used as the symbol of a second-degree initiate, the implication there being that he or she is still on the way to full development.

Persona The ’comforting cloak’ of the Ego (q.v.); the self-image which the Ego builds up to reassure itself and to present to the world.

Personality — see Individuality.

Planes The various levels of being and activity — Spiritual, Mental, Astral, Etheric and Physical.

Postulant — see Neophyte.

Prâna The vital force of the Cosmos as it operates on the Etheric level; it permeates this and other solar systems, and every living organism is charged with a concentration of it.

Precognition Psychic awareness of future events.

Priest, Priestess Every initiated witch is regarded as a priest or priestess, the priest-function being seen as inherent in every human being who is prepared to activate it.

Projection The psychological mechanism of subconsciously crediting (or discrediting) another person with qualities or shortcomings which are in fact elements of one’s own psyche, so that one can confront them while avoiding the truth that one is really confronting oneself. (See also Astral Projection).

Psyche The total non-physical make-up of a human being.

Psychometry The psychic ’reading’ of a material object, and its associations and history, by handling it.

Qabala — see Cabala.

Reincarnation The process, generally believed in by witches and many others, whereby each immortal human Individuality (q.v.) is reborn to life after life on Earth until all of its Karma (q.v.) is worked out and balanced, and it is sufficiently highly developed to progress to a higher stage. (See also Incarnation, Bodhisattva.)

Right-Brain Function — see Left-Brain Function.

Right-Hand Path Generally used to mean white-magic working, as opposed to the Left-Hand Path of black-magic working; but these are really corruptions of the original Tantric meanings (see note 5).

Rune (1) A letter or character of the earliest Teutonic alphabet traditionally regarded as being magical. (2) A magical song or chant, as the Witches’ Rune (q.v.). The word rún in Old Norse and Old English meant ’whisper, secret counsel, mystery’, in Irish and Scottish Gaelic it still means ’secret, mystery;.

Sabbats The eight seasonal festivals celebrated by witches and by many others. In order through the calendar year, they are: Imbolg (q.v.) 2 February; Spring Equinox 21 March; Bealtaine (q.v.) 30 April; Midsummer Solstice 22 June; Lughnasadh (q.v.) 31 July; Autumn Equinox 21 September; Samhain (q.v.) 31 October; and the Winter Solstice or Yule (q.v.) 22 December. Imbolg, Bealtaine, Lughnasadh and Samhain are known as the Greater Sabbats, and the Solstices and Equinoxes as the Lesser Sabbats. The dates for observing the Lesser Sabbats may vary slightly in different traditions, and the actual dates of the Equinoxes and Solstices do vary, by a day at most, from year to year in astronomical fact.

Salamander The traditional name for an Elemental (q.v.) spirit of the nature of the Fire element.

Salt Used in many magical procedures, including Wiccan, as a kind of spiritual antiseptic, or purifying symbol.

Samhain The Hallowe’en Great Sabbat, celebrated on 31 October. In Celtic tradition, it is the start of the new year, and also of winter — Bealtaine (q.v.) being the beginning of summer; the pastoral Celts only recognized two seasons. Samhain is particularly associated with the contacting of dead friends. The origin of the words seem uncertain, though it may relate to the Gaelic verb sámhaim, ’to quiet down, become silent’.

Scrying Any form of divination which involves gazing at or into something (crystal ball, black mirror, pool of ink etc.) to induce psychically perceived visual images.

Self The true essence of the human psyche; the integrated individuality towards which all constructive psychic development strives.

Sephira (plural Sephiroth) Any one of the ten spheres on the Tree of Life (q.v.), the central concept of the Cabala (q.v.).

Shadow The buried, unconscious elements of the human psyche; everything except the Ego (q.v.) and the Persona (q.v.).

Shaman, shamaness A priest or priestess who communicates with the inner planes by self-induced trance. Originally a North Asiatic tribal word, it has come to be used to describe such functionaries in other cultures.

Sigil An occult seal or sign. It should be pronounced to rhyme with ’vigil’.

Skyclad The witches’ word for ’ritually naked’.

Solstices — see Sabbats, also Yule.

Soul-mates Individuals (q.v.) who are continuously involved with each other in successive Incarnations (q.v.), becoming rather like a pair of binary stars. Also known as twin souls.

Summerlands A spiritualist word for the Heaven which souls enter after death. Often used by believers in Reincarnation (q.v.) to denote the astral stage of rest after physical death, before the Individuality (q.v.) withdraws from all the lower levels to prepare for its next Incarnation (q.v.).

Summoner — see Fetch

Sword One of the four elemental tools, representing the Fire element — or in some traditions, the Air element.

Sylph The traditional name for an Elemental (q.v.) spirit of the nature of the Air element.

Synchronicity Jung’s term for ’meaningful coincidence’, an acausal connecting principle for which he brought forward much evidence. His discussion of the subject (see Bibliography) is of great interest to all occultists.

Talisman An object, similar to an Amulet (q.v.) but more specific and often constructive and not merely protective. It is designed for a particular individual and purpose, making the maximum use of appropriate symbols.

Tarot A pack of cards, the earliest known examples of which are about thirteenth century, used for divination and meditation. It consists of twenty-two Major Arcana or Trumps, each symbolizing an archetypal concept, and fifty-six Minor Arcana, divided into four suits of fourteen cards each — Cups, Wands, Pentacles and Swords, representing the four elements. Many designs are available nowadays, the most widely accepted standard pack being the Rider (or Waite) Deck. The modern pack of ordinary playing cards descended from the Tarot, all the Major Arcana having disappeared from it except the Fool, who survives as the Joker; and one court card (the Knight) having disappeared from each suit of the Minor Arcana; Cups have become Hearts, Wands Clubs, Pentacles Diamonds and Swords Spades.

Telekinesis The power of moving physical objects by purely psychic effort.

Temple A coven’s ritual meeting-place which is used for no other purpose; a desirable asset but not indispensable, since a Magic Circle may be cast anywhere.

Traditionals Witches who follow traditions which they (or their predecessors) were keeping in being before the Gardnerian (q.v.) revival. They overlap with the Hereditaries (q.v.).

Tree of Life The central glyph or diagram of the Cabala (q.v.). It consists of ten interconnected spheres of Sephiroth (singular Sephira), each representing a category of cosmic being and activity, from Kether (the Crown, pure existence) down to Malkuth (the Kingdom, physical manifestation). It also represents the involution from the ultimate Divine principle of Kether into material manifestation, and the evolution from Malkuth back to the source, enriched by the experience of the whole cycle. Any macrocosmic or microcosmic phenomenon or condition can be related to one of the Sephiroth, and the Tree is of great help in understanding their interactions.

Tuathal — see Widdershins.

Twin Souls — see Soul-Mates.

Unconscious That part of the human psyche not directly available to the conscious Ego (q.v.). It comprises the Collective Unconscious, which is common to the whole human race and which is the home of the Archetypes (q.v.), and the Personal Unconscious, which is all the buried elements of the individual’s experience. Constant improvement of communication between the Ego and the Unconscious is the aim of all psychic development, and the basis of all magical work.

Undine The traditional name for an Elemental (q.v.) spirit of the nature of the Water element.

Vampirism The draining of psychic energy from one individual by another.

Voiding the Coven The stage where a new coven refrains from working magically with the coven from which it hived off, until its own identity is firmly established.

Walpurgis Night — see Bealtaine.

Wand One of the four elemental tools, representing the Air element — or, in some traditions, the Fire element.

Watchtowers The four cardinal points, regarded as guardians of the Magic Circle.

White-handled Knife A ritual knife for use within the Magic Circle whenever actual cutting or inscribing is called for — this being forbidden for the Athame (q.v.).

Wicca The usual witches’ name for the Craft (q.v.). It derives from the Old English wiccian, ’to practise witchcraft’. It is a slight mis-derivation, since wicca in Old English meant ’a male witch’ (and wicce ’a female witch’). The actual Old English for witchcraft was wiccacrœft. But the present usage is now long-established and there is every reason why it should continue.

Wiccaning In Wicca, the ritual blessing of a newly born baby; it is the witches’ equivalent of a christening, except that it is not intended to commit the child permanently to any one path, since that should be the individual’s adult decision. (See Eight Sabbats for Witches, Section XII.)

Widdershins In an anti-clockwise direction, against the sun (cf. Deosil). This is a Teutonic word (Middle High German Widersinnes); the Gaelic equivalent is Tuathal.

Witch Queen A High Priestess from whose coven at least two other covens have hived off.

Witch’s Ladder A string of forty beads, or a cord with forty knots, used (like a rosary) as an aid to concentrated repetition without the need for actual counting.

Witches’ Rune A power-raising chant accompanied by a ring dance. The words used by Gardnerians and Alexandrians will be found Appendix B; they were composed by Doreen Valiente and Gerald Gardner together.

Yule The Winter Solstice Sabbat, celebrated on 22 December. Its central theme is a welcome to the reborn Sun.