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A Wiccan Bible (A.J. Drew) ▼ A ICC N W ▼ A BIBLE Exploring the Mysteries of the Craft from Birth to Summerland A.J. DREW New Page Books A division of The Career Press, Inc. Franklin Lakes, NJ a WB Title.p65 1 7/11/2003, 5:43 PM Copyright © 2003 by A.J. Drew All rights reserved under the Pan-American and International Copyright Conventions. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without written permis- sion from the publisher, The Career Press. A WICCAN BIBLE EDITED BY LAUREN MANOY TYPESET BY STACEY A. FARKAS Cover design by Cheryl Cohan Finbow Printed in the U.S.A. by Book-mart Press To order this title, please call toll-free 1-800-CAREER-1 (NJ and Canada: 201-848- 0310) to order using VISA or MasterCard, or for further information on books from Career Press. The Career Press, Inc., 3 Tice Road, PO Box 687, Franklin Lakes, NJ 07417 www.careerpress.com www.newpagebooks.com Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Drew, A. J. A wiccan Bible : exploring the mysteries of the craft from birth to summerland / by A.J. Drew. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 1-56414-666-9 (pbk.) 1. Witchcraft. I. Title. BF1571.D74 2003 299—dc21 2003053998 a WB Title.p65 2 7/11/2003, 5:43 PM Dedication For Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley, and Jason Baldwin; you have not been forgotten. For Steven Branch, Christopher Byers, and (James) Michael Moore; you have not been forgotten. For the seated Governor of the State of Arkansas, I beg that the principles founding this great nation not be forgotten by your state’s legal system. Acknowledgments Normally, I would have a much longer list of acknowledgments. It took a great many people for this book to manifest, but two people stood out so much, that their names have to appear by themselves. Thank you, Mother, for your eternal love. Thank you, Paula ‘Ravensfyre’ Newman, for your eternal friendship. Thank you both for the months of time you dedicated to the creation of this book. b WB dedi ack.p65 3 7/11/2003, 5:44 PM Contents Preface .............................................................................................................. 7 Introduction.................................................................................................... 11 Section One: The Beauty of the World, 17 Liber ab Nomen (Book of Name) ................................................................. 21 Liber ab Genesis (Book of Creation) ............................................................ 40 Liber ab Tres I (Book of Three, Part I) ....................................................... 52 Liber ab Exodus (Book of Departure) ......................................................... 65 Liber ab Quattor (Book of Four) .................................................................. 79 Liber ab Tres II (Book of Three, Part II) ..................................................... 97 Liber ab Planta (Book of Plants, Condensed) ............................................108 Section Two: The Paragon of Animals, 113 Liber ab Matrimonium (Book of Marriage) ................................................ 115 Liber ab Sol (Book of the Sun)....................................................................129 Liber ab Luna (Book of the Moon) ............................................................. 155 c WB Contents.p65 5 7/11/2003, 5:45 PM Liber ab Solemnitas (Book of Holidays) .....................................................171 Liber ab Anima (Book of Soul) .................................................................. 202 Liber ab Familia (Book of Familiars, Condensed) ......................................209 Section Three: In Apprehension, How Like a God, 227 Liber ab Gens (Book of Tribe)....................................................................229 Liber ab Arma (Book of Arms) ...................................................................243 Liber ab Mentis (Book of Mind) ................................................................. 252 Liber ab Mortuus (Book of the Dead) ........................................................ 260 Liber ab Clementia (Book of Humanity) ....................................................270 Final Word ...................................................................................................411 Endnotes .......................................................................................................415 Bibliography .................................................................................................419 Index .............................................................................................................425 c WB Contents.p65 6 7/11/2003, 5:45 PM Preface 7 Preface (Otherwise Known as My Last Ritual) am a creature of habit. I find things in this world that I like, and I do those things again and again because they make me feel good. These regular rituals are usually simple things. I meditate with my iguana on my lap or let my ferret run around my bedroom, her little butt running faster than her front I end until she trips over herself again and again. At night, I watch the O’Reilly Factor at 11 p.m. with my mother, and in the morning I buy a bottle of Mountain Dew on my way to work. In the course of writing this book, almost all of this has changed. My iguana and ferret died within days of each other, despite every effort to save them. It felt as if my heart had been ripped from my chest. I had fed my iguana Fred some grapes from Chili, and the next morning she was horribly ill. Then I fed a grape to Thumper never thinking that grapes from a grocery store could be poison. Shortly thereafter, she took ill. In my attempts to save them, each of these friends took their final breath after days of being stuck with needles and IVs. So not only did I kill them, but in my great effort to save them I caused them to leave this world thinking I was a monster. Right when I thought my heart couldn’t feel any more pain, the war in Iraq began. At the time, I assured my mother that the people of this great nation would rise to support its brave men and women. I was confident that despite politics and party lines, 7 d WB Preface.p65 7 7/11/2003, 5:45 PM 8 A Wiccan Bible despite opinions on the war itself, folks would realize combatants do not determine politics, and that in the United States military our soldiers follow the orders of the Commander In Chief without respect to political parties or leanings. I was wrong. In trying to extend the lives of Fred and Thumper, I extended their suffering. In assuring my mother that Americans would all rally and show support for their soldiers, I set her up for a fall. Now there is no more Fred to meditate with, there is no more Thumper to run around and make me laugh, and there is no more O’Reilly at 11 p.m.; he has been pre-empted for reports on the war. We all make mistakes and those mistakes are part of the people that we are. We make mistakes, we learn from them, and we move forward. We manage this because we cling to the good things in life. Even when we might not see those good things in the moment, we know that they are just right around the corner. I can deal with this because I still have my morning Mountain Dew. But it isn’t just soda that starts my day; it is the smiling face of the young lady who sells me that soda. It is all part of the ritual. We never really talk much, but one can begin to see the nature of someone’s soul, even from the smallest of exchanges. One day after I asked her how she was, she told me she was in pain because she thought her foot was broken. She laughed as she told me she called her father and he said if it was still broken when she got off work, that he would take her to the hospital. The next morning I asked her if her foot was still ‘broken’ and she said no. I told her that her father loves her a great deal. She said, “I know.” I think my morning breath of optimism is a high school student. If she is in college, I imagine she hasn’t been there long. I hate to admit it, but I have become old and jaded. So this last ritual—my morning Mountain Dew—does my heart good. It re- minds me of when I was young, before I became as jaded as I am. It is a good thing because if you believe in magick, then you know that this morning ritual marked me younger and less jaded. It reminds me that there is hope and that some children do continue to love their parents, even though it sometimes seems as if none do. Recently, she asked me what I do for a living. I refused to say. So what was origi- nally asked the way one might ask “How ya doing” has turned into a game. I am afraid that if I answer, I might not have that last daily ritual anymore, and right now I need it more than ever. I need the youthful optimism. I need something, anything, to tell me there is hope for this world. It doesn’t take much, just a cheerful face now and then, just one person who still loves the world no matter how ugly it seems at the moment. If I were to answer her question and end the game, she might misunderstand my answer. It is so easy to misunderstand and so hard to find the words that appropriately express my job. Should I tell her what I do for a living? In a broader sense of the question, should I tell you what I do for a living? If I tell her, she might think I am insane. Maybe she would rebuke me in the name of her god. It has happened so often that I have come to expect the occasional rebuking. If I tell you, you might also think I am a bit loopy. Pagan leaders might come out and say I am dangerous and ask the gods to protect the community from the likes of me. That, too, has happened. d WB Preface.p65 8 7/11/2003, 5:45 PM Preface 9 You see, the status quo doesn’t like people like me. The status quo wants you to just accept what you have been told and not question the world in which you live.
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