ALTAR CLOTH: A cloth placed upon an altar to enrich or decorate it.  Altar cloths originated in a time when all cloth was woven by hand, and embroidered cloth was a status symbol and its use a sign of an important occasion.  Altar cloths are often very beautiful, and sometimes include a wall hanging behind the altar as well.

ALEUROMANCY: A form of divination where papers with written answers are placed within dough balls and baked. Modern fortune cookies are a derivative of this.

ALLEGORY: Is the art of using easily understandable symbols to describe difficult or abstract concepts.  In this way for example, we describe the interaction of spirit and body, a complex and intangible concept, as the dance of Goddess and God -a concrete and easily understood image from which the higher concept can be extracted.  It is allegory which allows us to speak of "energy" as "light".  It is allegory which allows us to speak of the Universe as a Divine Web, connecting all things.  Allegory allows us to free ourselves from literality, and opens the door to abstract thinking.

AMULET: An object worn or carried to drive away negative energy or spirits. It is a protective object that is sometimes inscribed with runic or other magickal symbols.

ARADIAN: An Italian Wiccan tradition as examined in a classic book by Charles Godfrey Leland  caled the Vangelo Delle Streghe.

ARADIA: A popular goddess name in Wicca, of Italian origen.

AS ABOVE SO BELOW -The ancient maxim "As Above, So Below" is attributed to the Egyptian spiritual Master Hermes Trismegistus, whose Emerald Tablet and other works were the standard of traditional Hermetic teaching.  What is meant by this phrase is that all of creation, whether great or small, reflects the same Divine Nature, or plan.  As all things which exist are emanations of the Goddess and the God, all things naturally mirror and reflect their divine qualities.  For this reason the same Truth will be discerned in a galaxy of stars, and in a single grain of sand, if one is open to it.  It is ultimately on this principle that all forms of divination are based.

ATHAME: (pronounced: a-THA-may) The ritual blade used by most Wiccans. It acts as an extension of ones will, focusing energy to direct power during magickal workings. It is never used for cutting.

AURA: The field of Spiritual energy around the body.  The size, shape, and colours of the aura can tell many things about the persons physical and spiritual condition.

B.C.E. (Before Common Era). Few non-Christians see any relevance to idea of dating events from the supposed date of the birth of Jesus. So instead of using B.C., we prefer B.C.E. In practice it means the same thing.

BIBLIOMANCY: A form of divination where you let a book fall open, pointing with closed eyes to a spot, and finding significance from the chosen word or passage

BOLEEN: Another name for the White Handled Knife.

BOOK OF SHADOWS: A book in which spells, magickal workings, rituals, and personal notes are kept. Traditionally, every student copies their teacher's Book of Shadows in their "own hand of write" (own handwriting). The computer revolution has superseded this a bit nowadays. Gerald Gardner, the father of modern Wicca, published his Book of Shadows in the 1930's. It is his book that some people refer to as "The Book of Shadows".

BURRIN: Another name for the White Handled Knife.

CANDLE MAGIC -Candle magic is the art of using a candle to focus your energy and intent to bring about a desired result.  Usually the candle is lit and focused on for a period of meditation.  The candle may then be allowed to burn on, until it is consumed. As the candle burns the desired event is brought into manifestation.  Or the candle may be extinguished, and the ritual repeated at intervals, as every day for a set number of days.  In addition there are many other ways to use candles in the practice of magic.  Always remember that magic is  a tool of self improvement and transformation, and should be used with care and for the good of all.

CAKES & ALE / CAKES & WINE: Similar to Communion, a time to give thanks during ritual for all we have received and to remember to share what we have with others. Cakes can be biscuits or crackers or special breads baked for the ritual; ale may be an alcoholic beverage, juice, water, milk, or other special beverage. The cakes and ale are blessed before being consumed.

C.E. (Common Era). Few non-Christians see any relevance to idea of dating events from the supposed date of the birth of Jesus. So instead of using A.D. we prefer C.E. In practice it means the same thing.

CELTS: The Celtic people are believed to have originated in India. They had migrated into central or eastern Europe by around 700 BCE. They later spread through western Europe all the way to the British Isles.  Interbreeding with the pre-existing peoples of western Europe, the Celts developed a distinctive and highly mystical culture.  Absorbed by the Roman empire, Celtic culture had a strong influence on medieval Europe and consequently the modern world.  The Druids, the Celtic priesthood, have been a subject of fascination for subsequent generations, and are believed to be a major contributing strain to modern Wiccan thought.  The great Greek philosopher Pythagoras cited the Druids as a primary source for many of his teachings as well.

CERNE ABBAS -The Cerne Abbas Giant is a huge chalk carving in the English countryside.  The carving shows a naked man with a huge erect penis, carrying a club. It is believed to represent the Horned God, Whose attributes include the club or staff. Even though this particular example has no horns per se.  "Cerne" is believed to be a shortened form of "Cernunnos."

CHAKRAS: are the energy centers of the body, where body and Spirit most strongly connect.  There are thousands of Chakras in every part of the body, which are connected to each other by meridians, or energy pathways.  This is the basis of such systems of medicine such as acupuncture and shiatsu. These methods treat physical illness by applying stimulation to the Chakra points.  In general practice however, most people work only with the seven major Chakras which correspond to the seven spheres of existence and the seven bodies.  These chakrs are the Root Chakra, at the prostate in males and the paraurethral gland in females,  The 2nd Chakra, at the testicles in males and the ovaries in females, the Solar Plexus Chakra, roughly at the navel, the Heart Chakra, at the heart, the Throat Chakra, at the throat, the Third Eye Chakra at level of he pineal gland and the Crown Chakra, at or above the top of the head.

CHALICE: The ritual cup used in Wiccan ritual, said to be analogs to the Holy Grail and Magical cauldron of ancient mythology.  The Chalice represents the womb of the Goddess, from which all creation proceeds.

CHANT: A rhythmic song or set of words which can be used repetitively during ritual, magick, or for the mere joy of singing. Here are a few popular Pagan chants:

• We are a Circle within a Circle, with no beginning and never ending (written by Rick Hamouris)

• Earth my body, Water my blood, Air my breath, and Fire my spirit (origin unknown)

• We all come from the Goddess, and to Her we shall return, like a drop of rain, flowing to the ocean (written by Z. Budapest)

• We are one with the infinite sun, forever and ever and ever (Hopi Indian chant)

CIRCLE: The sacred space where worship and ritual occur. In the old days the Circle served the additional purpose of portable temple that could be erected in minutes, in a woodland grove under the full moon. If the persecutors turned up there was no physical evidence. The term can also be used to mean a Coven, Grove or working group (i.e., Raven Circle. The Circle of Oak).

CORRESPONDENCES: Correspondence is a teaching system which uses the idea of Sympathy to say that items which have the similar qualities may be represented by each other.  Thus the Direction of the East is said to correspond to the Element of Air, the quality of Thought, the Dawn of the day, the Spring of the year, the beginning of any project,  the Maiden Goddess (such as Aradia or the Greek Kore),  the Young God (such as Horus or the Green Man at Spring), and many other things.  Used in part as an aid to memory, the system of Correspondence illustrates the idea that "As Above, So Below" and is used at the heart of the system of Allegory through which many Pagan and Wiccan ideas are portrayed and transmitted.

COVEN: A group of 2 or more Pagans who worship together on a regular basis. The idea of covens having 13 members is a bit odd. Covens can be of any practical size, but the ideal is to have an even number (equal numbers of priests & priestesses).

CRONE -The Goddess in her aged form.  The Crone is represented by the Waning Moon, and rules over wisdom, understanding, magic, and learning, among other things.  People who do not possess wisdom often fear it, and thus the Crone Goddess is often feared as well.  She is the Goddess of death, who consumes all things, but only so they may be reborn.  The Crone is often equated with Primordial Deity, who precedes all creation.  In popular iconography the Crone is the "Halloween Witch" with her pointed hat symbolizing the upward spiraling cone of power, her broomstick for sweeping away old forms of existence, and her cauldron of transformation for creating new ways of being.

DEGREE: Typically, there are three degrees within the Wiccan system. A novice or seeker is takes First Degree Initiation following a year and a day of study. After this they are entitled to call themselves "Priest" or Priestess" Then they may progress through Second Degree to Third Degree. A Third Degree Witch is entitled to teach and to run his / her own coven. Some covens arrange thing differently.

DEITY: A god or a goddess. Different religions use different god & goddess names, or different deities, and these make up the PANTHEON of that religion.

DEOSIL: (pronounced: DAY-o-sil) Sunwise or Clockwise, the direction of the apparent movement of the sun across the sky, the direction of creation. Used in magick to raise power. When opening or casting Circle, the Priest or Priestess will commonly walk clockwise around the circle, symbolic of the cycle of life. Every time you turn in circle you should always move deosil, even if it means making an almost complete circle. The opposite of deosil is WIDDERSHINS. 

DIVINATION: Fortune-telling or future-telling by various means. There are literally hundreds of methods, some common, some less so, including: Tarot cards, Runestones, Scrying, Psychometry, Pendulum, Aleuromancy, and Bibliomancy.  Divination should be regarded as a very useful way to predict trends, dangers and opportunities. But be aware that the future is not fixed. A reading can influence ones actions and thus the outcome may change. If a reader tells you an accident is on the cards it dose NOT mean you have to go out and have that accident!  It DOES mean you need to take extra care NOT to have an accident.  

DOGMA: A rigid set of beliefs established by the priesthood of some religions. Followers of such religions are required to accept these beliefs without question. In Wicca we have no dogma. All our beliefs are open to debate and each Wiccan is free to believe whatever feels right for them within a very broad framework. For instance, most Witches believe in reincarnation. However many do not and they are just as much Wiccan as the rest of us.

ELEMENTS: Earth, Air, Fire and Water from which everything in the Universe is made. These are the metaphysical or magical elements. They should not be confused with the chemical elements of modern science. The elements have specific correlations within a Circle.

ESBAT: One of our minor or lesser rituals. These are usually performed at the New or Full Moons and are time of worship and spellcasting.

FENG SHUI: This is the ancient Chinese art of Geomancy based on the directions and the Asian system of five Elements.  Feng Shui is based on the idea that by allowing a free flow of Chi (spiritual energy), you can create a more harmonious living or working space, which will attract love and success into the lives of the people who use it. With this in mind Feng Shui is used to align the position of buildings, to decorate rooms and in general to divine the most auspicious place to put things.

GARTER: A band of cloth, leather, or metal, worn around the leg just above or below the knee, or on the arm just above the elbow, the Garter is an ancient garment still in use as an item of dress.  The Garter is used by Wiccan High Priestesses (and less often by High priests) as a symbol of rank.  There are many variations on exactly how a Garter should be made.  Perhaps the most famous example of the Garter from history comes from the reign of England's Edward III.  Tradition has it that a noblewoman, perhaps the Countess of Salisbury or the Fair Maid of Kent (consort of the Black Prince) dropped her Garter at a royal ball.  The King picked up the Garter, saying "Let none think ill of it," and proceeded to found the Order of the Garter in honour of the event.  It is believed that the lady was a Priestess of the Old Religion, and that in doing this the King extended his protection to her.  According to Margaret Murray there are many things to suggest the active promotion of the Pagan religion by England's Plantagenate dynasty.

GEOMANCY: The art of reading the Earth's energies and aligning ourselves and our works to take best advantage of them.  By aligning to the natural orientation and flow of energy in this manner, we add to the effectiveness of our workings. On one level Geomancy deals with the Earth's vortices and ley lines, delineating the energetic character of differing physical locations, and the nature of their connection to each other.  More commonly however the term Geomancy refers to interpretation by direction.  Geomancy has many uses, including the selection of auspicious locations for structures or events.

GERALD GARDNER, the father of modern Wicca. It was he, back in the 1930's who broke with the long held tradition of silence and secrecy. He realised that secrecy was a legacy of the Burning Times and realised it was now time to come out of the closet. He upset a lot of people, especially Traditional & Hereditary Witches who saw their secrets opened up to public gaze. But he saw beyond that in both directions. He saw our Pagan past, before the Romans invaded, when we lived free and unafraid in our own lands. And he saw our Pagan future, when we will enjoy these freedoms once again. And as he believed, so it became.

GODHEAD: The great oversoul of the Universe. Known in many languages and many different cultures, by many different names. The Godhead is the soul of nature. Nature is the body of the Godhead. The Godhead is a big idea, too big to work with on a daily basis without blowing our tiny human minds. So in Wicca we subdivided the Godhead into its male & female components: The God & Goddess. (Christians do a similar thing by breaking it up into Father, Son & Holy Ghost).

GOD: This word can be used (and often is) in two quite different ways. Firstly it is sometimes used as a synonym for "godhead" where this term is considered to be a bit of a mouthful. Secondly (and more correctly) it is used to refer to the  male deity. Some of his names include Pan, Herne, Zeus, Mithras, Osirus, Cernunnos,  Apollo, Hanuman, Wotan, or Odin. He is known as Brother, Lover, and Son. Sometimes known as the Horned God, not in reference to Satan (which does not have a place in the Wiccan lexicon) but with deer antlers as the Lord of the Hunt. Horns on a God (or a hero) have long been used as a symbol of power. The Christians only started putting horns on their Devil when they found out we worship a Horned God. It was part of their campaign of misinformation about us. 

GODDESS: The female deity. Some of her names include Aradia, Gaea, Isis, Brigid, Diana, Demeter, Astarte, Kali, Inanna, Lakshmi, and Hecate. Symbolic in phases of the moon - Maiden (waxing), Mother (full), and Crone (waning).

GREAT RITE: In Pagan symbolism the fertility of the Earth, on which our very lives depend, is a product of the sexual union between the God and the Goddess. We often echo this in our Sabbats by enacting the Great Rite. It can take one of two forms. The Symbolic Great Rite can be enacted by the priest thrusting his athame (ritual knife) into a chalice held by the priestess. The Great Rite can also be preformed in Actuality by the Priest & Priestess copulating in circle. When this happen in a coven, the other members leave the room because Wiccans are not voyeurs.

GREGORIAN CALENDAR: In 1582 Pope Gregory X111 introduced his Gregorian Calendar, wiping out ten days to make it astronomically correct. Another day was later dropped. This new calendar replaced the older Julian one. It is based on the supposed date of the birth of Jesus and divides all of history in half based on that date.  Pre-Christian dates must be calculated backward in this system, which not only makes Jesus appear to be the center of time, but also effectively veils pre-Christian history behind a wall of unwieldy calculations and an artificial sense of separation from modern events.  One alternative that has been proposed is the Correllian Calendar. It is cyclical, never using backward dates as such, and having no single "beginning" which might serve to divide time into "us" and "them". 

GROUNDING: A process of clearing and releasing excess energy back into the ground. This helps us to feel calm and connected and to think clearly. It is particularly important after ritual or other magickal work.

HANDFASTING: A pagan wedding, either legal or non-legal. Handfasting was a common term for marriage until the 1400s. There are two types of Handfasting vow: "For as long as love lasts" and "Until separated by death". The couple are free to choose which one they want. Handfasting is often used as a form of temporary marriage - if two wanted to join, often a Handfasting would occur, and after a term of a year and a day (traditionally) the couple could either renew vows and become legally wed or could break things off with no hard feelings on either side.  During a Handfasting, the couple is presented and their left hands are bound by a special cord. Such modern terms such as tying the knot come from this practice.