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Wicca Revealed: an Introductory Course in Wicca by Pino Longchild

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Wicca Revealed: an Introductory Course in Wicca by Pino Longchild Wicca Revealed: An Introductory Course in Wicca By Pino Longchild www.magickaschool.com Page 2 1/24/2007 Acknowledgements: A huge debt of gratitude goes to Deirdre Hebert who extremely generously volunteered to read and edit the entire manuscript (bar the exams). She made many grammatical corrections, a number of changes to cumbersome phrases, some factual corrections and suggestions on how to make some of the sections clearer. She has had a consistently keen eye for all these things that have slipped past my attention. I would also like to acknowledge those students at Magicka School who have written to me from time to time pointing out inconsistencies and things that were unclear in the courses online. © This work is copyright of Keith Broad, 2006. It may not be reproduced in any form (electronic or otherwise) whatsoever without the express written permission of the author. It is protected by international copyright law. Any infringement of this copyright will be followed up and, if necessary, with recourse to the law. www.magickaschool.com Page 3 1/24/2007 Preface The release of this text may not please everyone. Many who are on the courses at Magicka School like the idea that the lessons are released once a month and that students are encouraged to take an entire year over what amounts to the equivalent of a coven First Degree course. This e-book will be seen by some to negate the value of this approach as students can now download the text and go through the whole thing in a matter of days. And to be fair, this is, of course, a danger. However, those that do this will have gained little. Wicca is not a thing to be hurried and in a world of “instant everything” stands firmly against the mainstream of popular Western Culture. This book is not intended to allow students to crib and become witches in a week. Rather, it has been made available in the hope that it will provide a useful complimentary resource to the on-line course. No longer will students have to resort to printing off the web pages and re-format them in a word-processor. The book’s organisation also means that students will be easily able to revisit areas that they wish to look at again. I sincerely hope that Wicca Revealed kindles an aspiration to become a witch, but more than that I hope that through its emphasis on research projects and doing things for oneself that it will help to create witches who think for themselves and have excellent skills and knowledge. The original twelve lesson structure has been kept throughout. Most lessons contain a main topic as well as a research project and exercises. Footnotes can be found at the end of each chapter, as can any appendices. Relevant exams will be found right at the back of the book. It is hoped that at a later date an index will be added. Pino Longchild December 5th, 2006 www.magickaschool.com Page 4 1/24/2007 Contents Chapter One, P.9 General Beliefs, Practices and History General beliefs and Practices. History of Wicca. Different Traditions. Key Personalities. Research Project: Research a tradition. Exercises: The Tree. Pentagram visualisation. Notes Chapter Two, P.34 The Goddess and God of the Witches Wiccan Attitudes towards Deity. The Great Wheel of the Year. The Deities of the Witches. The Divine Feminine. The Divine Masculine. A variety of Goddesses and Gods. Research Project: Find out about a deity. Exercises: The Bowl. Casting a spell. Notes Chapter Three, P.58 Ceremonial Basics The Opening of the Temple. Preparing the space. The Altar. Casting the Circle. Consecration of the cakes and ale. Taking down the Temple. The Opening of the Temple, coven version. Research Project: Working on the Opening Ceremony. Exercises: Physical Exercise. The Will Notes www.magickaschool.com Page 5 1/24/2007 Chapter Four, P.85 Magical Tools and Garb Tools of the Trade. Consecration. Research Project: Tools and clothing. Exercises: The Candle. The Light Within. Projecting Consciousness Notes Chapter Five, P.108 The Art of Magic The Art of Magic. Basic Skills. Different Ways to Make Magic. A ten point magical key. More advanced magical work. Research Project: Organising magic effectively. Exercises: The Energy of Life. Fruit in the Hand. Notes Chapter Six, P.127 Esbats and Moon Magic Ideas for a structure. Just for covens. Games. Moon Magic. The Moon in history and religion. The Moon in astrology. The Art of Magic. Basic Skills. Different Ways to Make Magic. A ten point magical key. More advanced magical work. Research Project: Finding out about the Moon. Exercises: To see the aura. To sense the aura. Manipulating the aura to heal. Notes Chapter Seven, P.149 The Lesser Sabbats, Part One: The Solstices Midsummer solstice or Litha. Modern summer solstice celebrations. Midsummer solstice ceremony. Midwinter solstice ceremony. Making the solstice seasons special. Research Project: Solstice events. Exercises: The making of herbal charms. www.magickaschool.com Page 6 1/24/2007 Notes Appendices: Midsummer and Midwinter rituals for covens or families. Chapter Eight, P.177 The Lesser Sabbats, Part Two: The Equinox What is an equinox. Spring equinox. Relevant gods and goddesses. Elements form the Gardnerian Book of Shadows. Spring equinox ceremony. Autumn equinox or Mabon. Research Project: Studying the time of the equinoxes. Exercises: Psychic Balance. Developing intuition. Prediction skills. Psychometry. Notes Appendix: Designing Rituals. Chapter Nine, P.198 The Greater Sabbats, Part One: Imbolg and Beltane Imbolg. Imbolg ceremony. Beltane. Beltane ceremony. The Art of Magic. Basic Skills. Different Ways to Make Magic. A ten point magical key. More advanced magical work. Research Project: Finding out about Imbolg and Beltane. Exercises: Ritual baths. Chakras. Notes Chapter Ten, P. 220 The Greater Sabbats, Part Two: Lughnasadh and Samhain Lughnasadh. Lughnasadh celebration. Samhain. Party ideas. Remembering the dead. Samhain ceremony. The Art of Magic. Basic Skills. Different Ways to Make Magic. A ten point magical key. More advanced magical work. Research Project: Attitudes towards death Exercises: Choosing a Craft name. A new Wiccan tool. Notes Appendix: Making bread. www.magickaschool.com Page 7 1/24/2007 Chapter Eleven, P.240 Wiccan Beliefs about the Levels of Being Levels of Being. Kabbalah. Psychological theories. Occult and scientific viewpoints. Terms used in the Theory of Levels. First steps to traveling on the Astral Plane. The Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram. Research Project: The Archangels. Notes Chapter Twelve, P. 263 Self Dedication, Initiation and some Final Thoughts Final Choices. Dedication. Initiation. Preparation. Dedication and Initiation ceremonies. Controversial issues. Research Project: Looking forwards, looking back. Exercises: Housekeeping. Past, present and future. Notes Glossary, P. 279 Reading List, P. 292 Exam Questions, P. 299 www.magickaschool.com Page 8 1/24/2007 Chapter One: General Beliefs, Practices and History www.magickaschool.com Page 9 1/24/2007 General Beliefs, Practices and History “Pagan witchcraft is a fully developed, independent religion…it is a modern development which deliberately draws upon ancient images and ideas for contemporary needs.” Professor Ronald Hutton, The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft. Welcome to the Class! By the end of the main part of the lesson you will know about witches’ general beliefs and practices as well as the history of Wicca and Witchcraft and some of its key personalities and traditions. Continuing on, there is a research project for you to complete. There are also two meditative and self-transforming exercises for you to work on. On the next page there is a glossary of some of the terms used in the text. Please note that words that appear in the glossary are in bold type in the lesson. You will then find a reading list to help broaden your knowledge. Finally, at the end, there is a blessing. Witches, Wicca and Witchcraft: General Beliefs and Practices It is not easy to give definitions of the terms Wicca and Witchcraft that please everyone and this fact should be borne in mind throughout the course. For example, some see that the term "Wiccan" should be applied only to those who operate in covens, whilst many others feel solitaries can be considered Wiccan as well. Some feel the label Wicca applies to those who can trace the roots of their beliefs to Gerald Gardner and that Witchcraft refers to non-Gardnerian systems with quite different practices. Both groups can use the term "witch". Others use Wicca and Witchcraft quite interchangeably. It can be enough to drive you mad, particularly when you meet individuals who will tell you in no uncertain terms that their view is the correct one. However, the truth is that there are few hard and fast rules when it comes to this subject, and perhaps the safest option is to acknowledge that there is a debate over the use of terms. www.magickaschool.com Page 10 1/24/2007 For the sake of clarity, we should point out that in this course we generally use the terms Wicca, Witchcraft and the Craft interchangeably, although we make it clear when a tradition believes that it is not Wiccan and does not describe itself as such. We apply the term "Wiccan" to most coven witches and most forms of solitary practice; we also take a fluid approach to the religion of Wicca, believing very strongly that you should only do things that feel right to you. Inevitably though, there are other opinions and other ways of looking at things; at the end of the day you will have to make up your own mind and we sincerely hope that this course will give such inspiration, with regard to this and many other issues.
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