Witches, and Wiccan's:
Welcome to lesson two. I’m going to get right down to the lesson. It will be kind of long, because I want to get the Wiccan part out of the way. Now I know a lot of you just want to hear about Witchcraft. Well, we can’t just hear about Witchcraft, without talking about Wicca. The main difference between the two is Wicca is only around 50 years old, and the Craft is older then dirt. But Wicca has done a lot for the Craft. Did you know if it was for Wicca, Witchcraft would not be were it is today? I know, I hate to say it, bad it is true. Wicca helped to get the Craft seen as a religion. Wicca has helped people understand Witches. People see, or hear the word Witch, and think "oh, fly on brooms, kill babies, have parties with satan." But, when they hear the word Wiccan, they say "oh, peaceful, nature based religion." I don’t like it this way, I really hate it, but people now, think we are the same thing. So in a way, when Gardner made Wicca into a religion, he did wonders for Witchcraft. But still, even if we have to fight to separate from Wicca, it has help us become more accepted. And yes, Wicca is a branch of Witchcraft. Just like a Kitchen Witch, or Strega, and ETC. Now this is how the whole Wicca, and Witchcraft deal was explained to me. Wicca is a branch of Witchcraft, so all Wiccan's are Witches too, but not all Witches are Wiccan's.
The 13 princables of Witchcraft
NOTE: THIS MAY HAVE TAKEN PLACE IN THE UNITED STATES AND MAY OR MAY NOT APPLY TO YOUR SIDE OF THE POND. BUT NONE THE LESS IT IS A VALID STATEMENT AND GIVES A LITTLE INSIGHT INTO THE AMERICAN VERSION OF WITCHCRAFT.
PRINCIPLES OF BELIEF
In the Spring Witchmeet of 1974, held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the Council of American Witches created and adopted a statement entitled "Principles of Wiccan Belief" in an effort to inform and educate both the general public and Witches in general. The text of the "Principles of Belief" follows:
The Council of American Witches finds it necessary to define modern Witchcraft in terms of the American experience and needs.
We are not bound by traditions from other times and other cultures, and owe no allegiance to any person or power greater than the Divinity manifest through our own being.
As American Witches, we welcome and respect all-affirming teachings and traditions, and seek to learn from all and to share our learning within our Council.
It is in this spirit of welcome and cooperation that we adopt these few principles of Wiccan belief. In seeking to be inclusive, we do not wish to open ourselves to the destruction of our group by those on self-serving power trips, or to philosophies and practices contradictory to these principles. In seeking to exclude those whose ways are contradictory to ours, we do not want to deny participation with us to any who are sincerely interested in our knowledge and beliefs, regardless of race, color, sex, age, national or cultural origins, or sexual preference.
We therefore ask only that those who seek to identify with us accept these few basic principles:
1. We practice rites to attune ourselves with the natural rhythm of life forces marked by the phases of the Moon and the seasonal quarters and cross-quarters.
2. We recognize that our intelligence gives us a unique responsibility toward our environment. We seek to live in harmony with Nature, in ecological balance offering fulfillment to life and consciousness with in an evolutionary concept.
3. We acknowledge a depth of power far greater than is apparent to the average person. Because it is far greater than ordinary, it is sometimes called "supernatural", but we see it as lying within that which is naturally potential to all.
4. We conceive of the Creative Power of the Universe as manifesting through polarity--as masculine and feminine--and that this same creative Power lives in all people, and functions through the interaction of the masculine and feminine. We value neither above the other, knowing each to be supportive of the other. We value sexuality as pleasure, as the symbol and embodiment of Life, and as one of the sources of energies used in magickal practice and religious worship.
5. We recognize both outer worlds and inner, or psychological worlds--sometimes known as the Spiritual World, the Collective Unconscious, the Inner Planes, etc.--and we see in the interaction of these two dimensions the basis for paranormal phenomena and magickal exercises. We neglect neither dimension for the other, seeing both as necessary for our fulfillment.
6. We do not recognize any authoritarian hierarchy, but do honor those who teach, respect those who share their greater knowledge and wisdom, and acknowledge those who have courageously given of themselves in leadership.
7. We see religion, magick, and wisdom-in-living as being united in the way one views the world and lives within it--a world view and philosophy of life, which we identify as Witchcraft or the Wiccan Way.
8. Calling oneself "Witch" does not make a Witch--but neither does heredity itself, or the collecting of titles, degrees, and initiations. A Witch seeks to control the forces within him/herself that make life possible in order to live wisely and well, without harm to others, and in harmony with Nature.
9. We acknowledge that it is the affirmation and fulfillment of life, in a continuation of evolution and development of consciousness, that gives meaning to the Universe we know, and to our personal role within it.
10. Our only animosity toward Christianity, or toward any other religion or philosophy-of-life, is to the extent that its institutions have claimed to be "the one true right and only way" and have sought to deny freedom to others and to suppress other ways of religious practices and belief.
11. As American Witches, we are not threatened by debates on the history of the Craft, the origins of various terms, the legitimacy of various aspects of different traditions. We are concerned with our present and our future.
12. We do not accept the concept of "absolute evil", nor do we worship any entity known as "Satan" or "the Devil" as defined by Christian Tradition. We do not seek power through the suffering of others, nor do we accept the concept that personal benefits can only be derived by denial to another.
13. We work within Nature or that which is contributory to our health and well-being.
The Witches Creed
The Witches’ Creed
By Doreen Valiente
Hear now the words of the witches,
The secrets we hid in the night,
When dark was our destiny’s pathway,
That now we bring forth into light.
Mysterious water and fire,
The earth and the wide-ranging air,
By hidden quintessence we know them,
And will and keep silent and dare.
The birth and rebirth of all nature,
The passing of winter and spring,
We share with the life universal,
Rejoice in the magical ring.
Four times in the year the Great Sabbat
Returns, and witches are seen
At Lammas, and Candlemas dancing,
On May Eve and old Hallowe’en.
When day-time and night-time are equal,
When the sun is at greatest and least,
The four Lesser Sabbats are summoned,
Again witches gather in feast.
Thirteen silver moons in a year are,
Thirteen is the coven's array.
Thirteen times as Esbat make merry,
For each golden year and a day.
The power was passed down the ages,
Each time between woman and man,
Each century unto the other,
Ere time and the ages began.
When drawn is the magical circle,
By sword or athame or power,
Its compass between the two worlds lie,
In Land of the Shades for that hour.
This world has no right then to know it,
And world beyond will tell naught,
The oldest of Gods are invoked there,
The Great Work of magic is wrought.
For two are the mystical pillars,
That stand to at the gate of the shrine,
And two are the powers of nature,
The forms and the forces divine.
The dark and the light in succession,
The opposites each unto each,
Shown forth as a God and a Goddess,
Of this did our ancestors teach.
By night he’s the wild wind’s rider,
The Horn’d One, the Lord of the shades,
By day he’s the King of the Woodlands,
The dweller in green forest glades.
She is youthful or old as she pleases,
She sails the torn clouds in her barque,
The bright silver lady of midnight,
The crone who weaves spells in the dark.
The master and mistress of magic,
They dwell in the deeps of the mind,
Immortal and ever-renewing,
With power to free or to bind.
So drink the good wine to the Old Gods,
And dance and make love in their praise,
Til Elphame's fair land shall receive us,
In peace at the end of our days.
An Do What You Will be the challenge,
So be it in Love that harms none,
For this is the only commandment,
By Magick of old, be it done.
Eight words the Witches’ Creed fulfill:
If it harms none, do what you will.
I have enclosed the 13 princables, and the Witches Creed, to clear up some things lesson one left foggy. So I hope this cleared some things up. And remember, if you have any questions feel free to ask me.
Blessed be, Elder RavenFire.
©All rights reserved-2007- The words expressed here are the sole property of Elder RavenFire, and may not be copied, reused or reposted without the consent of Elder RavenFire.
