Basics of Wicca

Wicca

Aleister Crowley declared that magic was "the science and art of causing change to occur in conformity with will" There exists no dogmatic moral or ethical code followed universally by Wiccans of all traditions, however a majority follow a code known as the Wiccan Rede, which states "an it harm none, do what ye will" (a variation of the Thelemic abjuration put forward by Aleister Crowley: "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law; Love is the Law, Love under Will"). Law of Threefold Return which holds that whatever benevolent or malevolent actions a person performs will return to that person with triple force, or with equal force on each of the three levels of body, mind and spirit,^[44] similar to the eastern idea of karma. mirth, reverence, honour, humility, strength, beauty, power, and compassion.

The Wiccan Rede
 Bide the Wiccan Law ye must
In perfect love, in perfect trust.
Eight words the Wiccan Rede fulfill:
An ye harm none, do what ye will.
What ye send forth, comes back to thee,
So ever mind the Rule of Three.
Follow this with mind and heart
And merry ye meet, and merry ye part.

The Rule of Three states that whatever you send forth, whether positive or negative, will come back to thee threefold. Negative thoughts and actions are painful to all. Wiccans believe you should never harm another for that will anger the Lord and Lady and upset the balance of nature.

The Charge of the Goddess
Whenever ye have need of anything,
once in the month and better it be when the moon is full,
then ye shall assemble in some secret place,
and adore the spirit of me,
who am Queen of all Witches.
There shall ye assemble,
ye who are fain to learn all sorcery,
yet have not won it's deepest secrets;
to them I will teach all things that are as yet unknown.
And ye shall be free of slavery;
and as a sign that ye shall truly be free,
ye shall be naked in your rites;
and ye shall dance, sing, feast, make music and love, all in mine praise.
For mine is the ecstasy of spirit,
and mine is also joy on earth;
for my law is love unto all beings.
Keep pure your highest ideals;
strive ever towards them, let nothing stop you or turn you aside.
For mine is the secret door which opens upon the Land  of Youth,
and mine is the cup of the wine of life,
and the Cauldron of Cerridwen,
which is the Holy Vessel of Immortality.
I am the gracious Goddess,
who gives the gift of joy unto the heart of man.
Upon earth I give of the spirit eternatl:
and beyond death I give peace, freedom,
and reunion with those who have gone before.
Nor do I demand sacrifice;
for behold,
I am the Mother of all living
and my love is poured our upon the Earth.
I am the beauty of the green earth and the white moon among the stars,
and the mystery of the waters,
and the desire of the heart of man.
Call unto thy soul, arise, and come unto me.
For I am the soul of Nature
who gives life to the Universe.
From me all things proceed,
and before my face, beloved of gods and of men,
let thine innermost divine self be enfolded in the rapture of the infinite.
Let my worship be within the heart that rejoices.
For behold, all acts of love and pleasure are my rituals.
Therefore, let there be beauty and strength,
power and compassion, honor and humility,
mirth and reverence within you.
And thou who thinketh to seek for me,
know thy seeking and yearning shall avail thee not,
unless though knoweth the mystery;
that if that which thou seekest thou findest not within thee.
For behold, I have been with thee from the beginning;
and I am that which is attained at the end of desire.

The Fivefold Blessing
Blessed be thy feet, that have brought thee in these ways
Blessed be thy knees, that shall kneel at the sacred altar
Blessed be thy womb, without which we would not be
Blessed be thy breasts, formed in beauty and strength
Blessed be thy lips, that shall utter the Sacred Names.

Rules of Conduct

• To use the power you must feel it in your heart and know it in your mind
• Be careful what you do
• Be careful who you trust
• Do not use your power to hurt another. What is sent comes back.
• Never use the power against someone who has the power, for you draw from the same well.

Wheel of the Year

Sabbat	Northern Hemisphere	Southern Hemisphere	Historical Origins	Associations
Beltaine, aka May Eve or May Day	30 April or 1 May	1 November	Celtic paganism (see also Celts)	The full flowering of spring. Fairy folk.[68]
Imbolc, aka Candlemas	1 or 2 February	1 August	Celtic paganism (see also Celts)	First signs of spring.
Litha	21 or 22 June	21 December	Possibly Neolithic	Summer Solstice.
Lughnasadh, aka Lammas	1 or 2 August	1 February	Celtic paganism (see also Celts)	The harvest of grain.
Mabon, aka Modron[69]	21 or 22 September	21 March	No historical pagan equivalent.	Autumn Equinox. The harvest of fruit.
Ostara	21 or 22 March	21 or 22 September	Germanic paganism	Spring Equinox and the beginning of spring.
Samhain, aka Halloween	31 October	30 April, or 1 May	Celtic paganism (see also Celts)	Death and the ancestors.
Yuletide	21 or 22 December	21 June	Germanic paganism	Winter Solstice and the rebirth of the sun.

Infants in Wiccan families may be involved in a ritual called a Wiccaning, which is analogous to a Christening. The purpose of this is to present the infant to the God and Goddess for protection. Despite this, in accordance with the importance put on free will in Wicca, the child is not necessarily expected or required to adhere to Wicca or other forms of paganism should they not wish to do so when they get older.

Handfasting is another celebration held by Wiccans, and is the commonly used term for their weddings. Some Wiccans observe the practice of a trial marriage for a year and a day, which some traditions hold should be contracted on the Sabbat of Lughnasadh, as this was the traditional time for trial, "Telltown marriages" among the Irish. A common marriage vow in Wicca is "for as long as love lasts" instead of the traditional Christian "till death do us part".^[75]

Book of shadows: instructions on how to perform spells along with incantations and poems that are sacred to either the keeper(s) of the book or the spells themselves.It is not something you simply pick up, but instead something you create yourself and pass down through generations.

Following the article ‘Eating Christmas’ by Richard Borshay Lee

              Have you ever read the article Eating Christmas by Richard Borshay Lee? After reading this article I found myself utterly intrigued by the society of people he describes. They are completely different than what we consider ‘modern’ culture and embrace negativity within their lives because it helps to keep them humble in a way that will prevent a person from feeling superior to others. The Bushmen people of the Kalahari are truly remarkable in the way they represent themselves and take care of one another. They survived on very little food and were simply thankful they at least had clean water. They would criticize each other when one caaught big game and ridicule the effort put into it. They do this, not because they are trying to be mean or make each other feel bad, but to enforce humility because in a place like theirs, a life like theirs, they cannot afford to have someone feel more superior than the others. It could cause arguments, fights, or a war among the people. They ridicule each other for their own safety and to ensure that everyone coexists peacefully together. This is their way of creating an organic solidarity, a collective consciousness resting on the need a society’s members have for each other (1).  No one gets upset over these trivial remarks and everyone knows how to retort back or agree when it is needed. They exist with one simple rule, mechanical solidarity, in which all individuals perform the same tasks (1). In this way, no one feels more superior or inferior to anyone else. These people would be considered Gemeinschaft, a small community in which people have similar backgrounds and life experiences (1). It is because they are a small community of people and their ways of living are so unique that they must learn to work together in a way that we would consider ‘abnormal’.

            When this article, Eating Christmas, was written the Bushmen people relied on each other to hunt for game and take care of one another. Often times they couldn’t find much to eat and if a reporter came in, such as Richard Borshay Lee, they would feel that they were holding out on them. Their thought process was this, “Why should they come onto our land and live well, eat well while we can scarcely find food to feed ourselves?” I believe in the article Richard speaks of sharing on occasion, but if he got upset with them (and often times he did) he would refuse to give them anything. In one way, the Bushmen people disliked him because of this. But, at the same time they would not kick him out or get angry with him for fear of losing the food that they so needed, that at times he granted.

            After reading Richard’s article I started to do my own research on these people. As it turns out, most of them no longer live on their reservation and the one’s that do are not permitted to hunt. They are given government provided shares of food and if they are caught trying to hunt they get arrested and beaten. People invaded the Kalahari when they discovered diamonds in the reserve. They kicked the Bushmen out of their homes, which they then destroyed, closed down their school and health post and destroyed their only water supply. The ones who did not return to the reserve after this intrusion now live in resettlement camps on the outskirts of their original land. Many of them now suffer from alcoholism, boredom, depression, TB, and HIV/AIDS (2). Their unique societies and way of living are gradually being destroyed. They were even being refused access of their old borehole, water hole. To top off this atrocity that is being done to them, the government has created new boreholes for the wildlife only, while the Bushmen are suffering from dehydration. While the people of this land are searching for new water supplies and trying to dig up new boreholes of their own, visitors are sipping martinis at a swimming pool in a nearby camp.

            These are the indigenous people of southern Africa we are talking about here. They have been stripped of any rights that they originally had to their land and if caught disobeying the law set down they are arrested and beaten, often times killed. There are over 100, 000 Bushmen still living today but they are just barely getting by with the rations they are given and the little water supply they have found. I find this to be absolutely disdainful in my opinion and someone needs to do something about this. On the second article I read they were trying to collect money for the Bushmen people and writing letters to their government. However, I find this to be a worthless pursuit. Bushmen don’t need money, what will they buy except a ticket out of there? And the Kalahari government certainly isn’t going to listen to our inquiries when they won’t even take proper care of their own people. I don’t know what should be done. But, these people are being mistreated and abused and I see no reason why they should be.

References:

1. Richard T. Shaeffer (2012). Sociology. New York, New York: William Glass. 

2. Stephen Corry (2004). The Bushmen. Retrieved from http://www.survivalinternational.org/tribes/bushmen

                                               

           

Body Ritual among the Nacirema

First off, I’d like to say that it seems to me every culture started out much like the Nacirema still are today; brutal worshippers. For some unknown reason, people tend to think that in order to please they must first harm… and that everything comes at a price. The Nacirema are a fine example of just that. They celebrate in the traditional ways they have always supported; if anything they’ve gotten worse at it. They brutalize each other in order to ‘heal’ and except this pain as a necessity to live. Even when it’s possible they may die from it. While most people these days would find this way of life quite barbaric, we have to keep in mind that at one point we were all like this. This is called cultural universals, common practices and beliefs that all societies have had (1). The real question is: why? For this, I’m afraid no one has the answer. However, we can dig deeper into the rituals of the Nacirema and try to see the reasoning behind it.

The Nacirema are a North American group living in the territory between the Canadian Cree, the Yaqui and Tarahumare of Mexico, and the Carib and Arawak of the Antilles (2). While most of their time is spent economically as most people would; a portion of it is spent performing what they consider body rituals. They truly believe that without these rituals they would not survive long. They continue to perform them even though, it seems, most times their rituals are only making them worse. Every household has at least one shrine and the ones with more than one are usually the higher up people; the rich people. They are dedicated to their rituals and must visit their personal family shrine at least once a day. The main part of their shrine is a charm box which they keep all of the medicines they have ever used in, never to be used again for fear of what they may do. They believe the charm box itself will protect them by being there with all of its magical trinkets inside. If they are sick they visit the medicine man and herbalist with gifts for each. If they are sick to the point of dying then they visit the temple with a couple gifts; one for going in and one for going out. Without the gifts the medicine man, herbalist and temple people will not except you and will refuse to help. The medicine men, herbalists and temple people all have a separate language in order to perform these rituals, we would call this and argot (4).

The Nacirema are always covering their body completely, even from their life partners. The only time they show skin is when they visit the temple and are forced to strip naked at the door. The only time a woman may see her husband naked, or vice versa, is when they are entering the temple to heal. Women are subject to change; the Nacirema people have a fascination with ‘just the right size’ of breasts. Women are constantly making either their breast bigger or smaller to fit the clans view of perfect.  While for men it seems they are fine as they are. At times, the ‘perfect woman’ is born and she can make a living by traveling to nearby towns and accepting payment for being looked at. All excretory practices are done in the privacy of your own home, save when you are visiting the temple. Even bathing is an act you must do in secrecy. Conception is uncommon in the clan because they have certain times when the people are allowed to have intercourse and even then they have magical rituals they use to make sure the women don’t get pregnant. When a woman does become pregnant she must wear clothing so as to hide her stomach and when giving birth she has to do it alone. Casual logic is introduced here, the relationship between a condition or variable and a particular consequence (3). There’s no telling what the consequences would be if the Nacirema people were to stray even just a bit from the ‘norm’.  Ethnocentrism comes into effect here. Ethnocentrism is the tendency to assume that one’s culture and way of life represent the norm or are superior to others (1).

The Nacirema are a society that hasn’t changed much over the years. We don’t know where they originally came from, but they take their rituals seriously and may not understand how we survive without them. Cultural relativism, viewing people’s behavior from the perspective of their own culture, is introduced here (1). If we were to view them from our perspective I suppose we would conclude that their way of life is quite barbaric and shouldn’t exist anymore. However, if they were to view our way of life they would see as quite un-spiritual and lacking in every way. In order to consider both perspectives you have to keep an open mind. Personally, I wouldn’t want to live their life. But, if I were born into it I wouldn’t know any different and this life may seem ridiculous to me. Who you are and your views on life depend on how you were raised and where you come from. 

No matter how we look at it, the Nacirema are quite different than how we are now. But, if we to look at past civilizations we would find we are quite alike. We may view their lifestyle choices as barbaric and evil. But, they may view us the same way. If you are really getting into it, you will find that we all practiced the same way at one point or another. We all believed in magic and thought of the human body as a vessel that needed to be cleansed. We may have done it in different ways, but nonetheless we did it. We can’t judge this culture of people just because they kept up with their original views, whereas, we changed and forgot ours. In their eyes, we may have betrayed our very essence by forgetting who we were in the beginning and how we believed. We only know how we behaved back then by looking at artifacts. They know who they were, and who they are, by passing on their lessons from generation to generation. We may not understand it anymore, just as they don’t understand us. We thought it was time for a change and in many ways it has greatly helped us. But, in the process of changing… what is it that we have truly lost? Who are we really? These are questions people ask themselves on a daily basis but never think deeper than just their personal lives. It’s possible that by neglecting these acts ourselves and forgetting our original ways that we lost our way somewhere; that we lost who we were meant to be. In my opinion, we should not look down on the Nacirema people because of their ‘barbaric’ ways but, instead, celebrate the fact that at least some of us kept up with the way all people thought at one point in time. We may never know the reason behind this thinking. It’s possible it’s a natural instinct built inside us. Just as it’s possible it was something that should have never happened. Open minded views will get us through life and help us to appreciate what we know. It should also give us the inspiration to dig deeper into ourselves and our past and figure out just who it is we are.

                                                                                               

(1)   Richard, S. (2012). Formulating the Hypothesis. Sociology, 54.  

(2)   Horace, M. (2009). Body Ritual among the Nacirema. American Anthropologist, 1.

(3)   Richard, S. (2012). Formulating the Hypothesis. Sociology, 30.  

(4)   Richard, S. (2012). Cultural Variation. Sociology, 59.

In Search of the Spiritual

In the past few decades meditation has become a primary key in more than a few religions. It started out in Buddhism and has worked its way into Christianity. I can’t state for a fact the reason for the sudden change in religious views. However, I can say from personal experience that meditation really does bring out your inner God. I have been meditating for nearly 9 years now. It is something I grew up around, something my parents taught me at a young age. Other people didn’t understand what meditation does for me or how it helped me to keep a level head on my shoulders. It brings out the inner peace in someone. I guarantee if we taught every child on the planet to meditate that aggression, war, arguments, and disputes of any kind would just about cease to exist. I have never felt more calm or more connected than when I am in a meditative state.

“And everywhere we looked, a flowering of spirituality: in the hollering, swooning, foot-stomping services of the new wave of Pentecostals; in Catholic churches where worshipers pass the small hours of the night alone contemplating the Eucharist, and among Jews who are seeking God in the mystical thickets of Kabbalah. Also, in the rebirth of Pagan religions that look for God in the wonders of the natural world; in Zen and innumerable other threads of Buddhism, whose followers seek enlightenment through meditation and prayer and in the efforts of American Muslims to achieve a more God-centered Islam. And, for that matter, at the Church of the Holy Communion, described by the Rev. Gary Jones as "a proper Episcopal church in one of the wealthiest parts of Memphis," where increasingly "personal experience is at the heart of much of what we do."-Beliefnet.com
We may not be able to scientifically prove that meditation is enlightening to all just yet, but it seems to me it is definitely making an impact on the religious world.

                                                                                                                                                                Jessica Burnett