Pagan Glossary of Terms

Altar
An area or surface built or designed exclusively for magickal or religous workings and ritual.

Amulet
A natural object, often of stone or fossil used as a protection device to the holder.

Ankh
The most famous Egyptian hieroglyphic, the Ankh symbolizes life, love and reincarnation. It is often worn around the neck and is shaped like a cross with a loop on top.

Arcana
Half of a tarot deck which is divided into two aracanas: the major arcana consisting of the 22 trumps of importance and the lesser arcana of 56 suit cards that help to divinate the trump cards to a lesser degree.

Astrology
The belief and study of the effects of the movements and placements of planets and other heavenly bodies have on the lives and behavior of human beings.

Athame
The ritual knife often associated with the element of air and the direction of east, thought some traditions attribute it to fire and the south. The handle is traditionally black or of natural wood.

Balefire
A synonymous word of 'Bonfire', a balefire is a communal bonfire of the sabbats, most notably used at Beltane, Litha and Lughnassadh.

Bane
A negative force or energy. Another word for bad, negative, or in opposition.

Banish
The removal of negative energy or force. To rid the presence of unwanted entities.

Beltain (Bell-tain)
A grand sabbat also known as Walpurgis night, May eve, Roodmas, celebrates the symbolic union and mating of the goddess and the god. Often celebrated April 30 or May 1, the true occurrence is more often May 5-7th. A time of fertility and growth. A very important day to most Pagan paths.

Besom (Beh-som)
A witches broom used to sweep a sacred area and in effect, purify the sacred space. Legend comes from early fertility rites where besoms were 'ridden' over crops to enhance the coming bounty.

Bind
Restraining one's self or someone, using magick.

Bolline (Bowl-in)
A curved knife, often white hilted, used for the magickal gathering of herbs and other natural reagents. Where as the athame is a religious knife, the bolline is it's practical working sister.

Book of Shadows
A witches book of reference where all magickal date, information, times, aspects, formulas and spells are enscribed. One of the most important tools as recorded happenings cannot be forgotten. Also known as a grimoire.

The Burning Times
A reference of time between approximately 1500 B.C.E. and the 1600's where many millions of people were murdered by the Christian church simply because they were 'non-believers'. Their possessions and assets seized at death, the Christian church often profited on the killings of witches.

Cauldron
Often replaced by the cup or chalice in ritual, this tool is used for making brews or magickal potions. Its symbolizes the womb of the Goddess.

Celtic (Kel-tik)
An old subfamily of the Indo-European language family comprised of the peoples of England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany and some teutonic lands.

Censer
A ritual tool used for burning incense during spellwork or ritual.

Chalice
A ritual tool used in libation, this feminine principle tool represents the element water and the west.

Chakra
One of the seven major energy centers in the human body. These are at the third eye, head, throat, chest, navel, abdomen and groin.

Circle
Sacred space where all magickal rituals and workings are performed. The circle not only protects the practitioner from outside energies but contains the working energies within.

Consecration
Blessing an object (usually a ritual tool) to purify it and empowering it with positive energy.

Coven
A group of witches who work and rite together utilizing the greater empowerment of the sum of its members, as opposed to the power of those members added individually. Containing both male and female members, traditionally a coven has 13 members but may contain any number of members.

Dedication
The acceptance of the craft (of any way), as one's path and religion, followed by intense study to gain the necessary knowledge and preparation to be adept at this tradition.

Deity
Synonymous with a god, goddess or godhead.

Deosil (Jesh-il)
The working act usually in ritual or song of moving or dancing in a clockwise motion. This is used for positive works and is also known as "Sunwise".

Divination
Any method used to foretell or inform of the future. Many popular forms include Astrology, Runes, Tarot, tea leaves, the pendulum, scrying, meditation and many more. A common practice in one form or another with Pagans of any path.

Dowsing
A divination method using a pendulum or stick to answer questions similar to the popular "Ouija" board. Some forms of this include water finding where a dowser uses a forked stick or the like to find water underground.

Drawing down the Moon
Used primarily during an esbat to draw down the powers of the moon into a female witch. Very powerful when a sabbat and esbat conjuct.

Drawing down the Sun
Used to draw down the powers of the sun into a male witch. Very powerful on the Equinoxes and Solstices.

Element
The primary elements are earth, air, fire, water and spirit. Each of these 5 represents a point on the pentagram. The elements and their directions are extremely important in Pagan ritual.

Esbat (Es-bat)
From the french word, esbattre, meaning to frolic, the esbat is the powerful ritual time of the full moon. There are 13 esbats in a year, all known by moon names.

Evocation
The act of summoning the presence of spirits, dieties or elementals to your sacred space.

Familiar
Most commonly an animal, a familiar is a witch's working helper. Often advantageous to ritual, they can also become a liability and much thought should be given to taking a familiar.

God
The aspect of a masculine deity.

Goddess
The aspect of a feminine deity.

Handfasting
A Pagan or Wiccan marriage ceremony which traditionally takes place at a specified period of time depending on one's tradition.

Herbalism
The magickal and medicinal art of using herbs for the practitioner's use or benefit.

Imbolc (Im-Bolc)
Observed on February 2nd, Imbolc is the early spring sabbat which honors the virgin goddess as the young bride of the returning sun god.

Initiation
The tranformation of ones ideals and values into the ideals and values of a particular path. Please note one can be in dedication but is not yet initiated whilst an initiated is always in dedication.

Invocation
The drawing of an aspect of a diety into one's self using magickal ritual.

Karma
Karma follows the law of cause and effect. It is the belief that what one's actions do in this lifetime, will carry over to the next life and lives to come.

Libation
Drink or sometimes food, given to a deity, or spirit during ritual.

Litha (Lith-ah)
Also known as Midsummer, Litha is the summer solstice which honors the sun god at his peak of power.

Lughnassadh
The Pagan first harvest, or harvest of corn. Lughnassadh usually falls on August 1st/2nd (sometimes July 31st). It is the first of the harvests.

Mabon (May-bun)
The Pagan Thanksgiving, or second harvest. Mabon falls on the autumnal equinox, when the light of the year shifts toward darkness. It is a traditional time for feasting.

Neo-Pagan
Applies to the various movements incepted since the 1950's, when the British anti-witchcraft laws were finally repealed.

Ostara (Oh-star-ah)
Observed at the vernal equinox, Ostara represents life and balance.

Pagan
One who follows or practices an earth-based or nature-based religion.
A pagan is not always wiccan, but a wiccan is always pagan.

Pagan Rede / Wiccan Rede
Summed up as "An ye harm none, do what thou will".

Pendulum
A divination device consisting of a string attached to a heavy object such as a crystal or the like. Questions are divined by noting the motion of the pendulum during divination.

Pentacle
A pentagram surrounded by a circle and fashioned usually into a pendant. The pentacle is used in some covens to represent the element of earth.

Pentagram
Always seen with the apex (point) upwards, the pentagram is the five pointed star symbolizing western Paganism. It represents the elements of earth, air, fire, water and spirit and also creative principle over all creation.

Polytheism
The belief in the existence of multiple deites or godheads, as opposed to monotheism, where only a single god or godhead is revered.

Reincarnation
The belief that we all return, after death, to the earth in the form of another human body. A result of a major Pagan principle that energy never dies.

Ritual
A mental ceremony using a prescribed set of rites and tools to perform magickal acts or workings.

Runes
Both an alphabet and a divination tool, runes are a set of symbols used similiarly to tarot, although they can be used in a much broader spectrum of divination.

Sabbat
One of the days of Power. These are comprised of the eight solar festivals that celebrate the wheel of the year.

Samhain (Sow-in)
October 31, is the grand sabbat marking the beginning of winter and the Celtic new year. It is also a time strongly believed where the veil between the living and the dead is at its thinnest.

Scrying
A form of divination using mirror and bowls where the user "sees" images, pictures of thoughts themselves.

Sidhe (Shee)
The name generally applied to all the faery races of Ireland and Scotland.

Solitary
The practicing lone witch who worships without a coven.

Spell
A specific ritual designed to change one condition or thing. Also known as spinning, weaving, casting and spellcraft.

Talisman
An object empowered to protect its wearer. Note this differs from the amulet as it is empowered, not naturally protective as is the amulet.

Tarot
Divination using a set of 78 tarot cards which are laid out in such a fashion that the diviner interprets them to answer the question at hand.

Triple Goddess
The 3 aspects of the mother goddess in one, maiden, mother and crone. A symbol widely found throughout the civilized world. The representation of the triple goddess is the waxing, full and waning moon. )O(

Wheel of the Year
The never ending seasonal shift throughout the 8 sabbats or days of power. In Pagan mythos, the goddess turns the wheel bringing everything to season.

Wicca
Wicca represents an ancient religion of love for life and nature. Wicca stimulates the intellect, promotes a simple, practical way of life and, most importantly, is emotionally satisfying. Brought into the public eye in the 1950's by Gerald Gardner after the repeal of British anti-witchcraft laws, Wicca is now a strong, healthy and popular religion and movement.

Widdershins (Widd-er-shins)
The working act usually in ritual or song of moving or dancing in a counter-clockwise motion. This is used for banishing or negative works. This is the opposite of deosil.

Witch
A general word for Pagans worlwide although traditionally those of Anglo-Celtic, Celtic or Teutonic tradtions.

Yule
The winter solstice and the shortest day of the year, Yule is when the goddess gives birth to the god. This is also the Norse New Year.

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