To be a Witch

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=168 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <A HREF="id74.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Article Submission"><U><B><U>Article Submission</U></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id67.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Vengeance Article"><U><B><U>Vengeance Article</U></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id71.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Unicorn Article"><U><B><U>Unicorn</U></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id79.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Wiccan History"><U><B><U>Wiccan Article</U></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id70.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Craft Article"><U><B><U>The Craft</U></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id73.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="To be a Witch"><U><B><U>To Be a Witch</U></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id75.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Paganopolis"><U><B><U>Paganism</U></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id76.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Demonology"><U><B><U>Demonology</U></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id88.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Fairies"><U><B><U>Fairies</U></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id93.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Kissing under the Mistletoe"><U><B><U>Kiss/mistletoe</U></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Tannims Religion"><U><B><U>Home</U></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id61.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Web Rings"><U><B><U>Web Rings</U></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id58.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Moon Phases"><U><B><U>Full Moons</U></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id66.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="New Moons"><U><B><U>New Moons</U></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id65.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Native American Moon"><U><B><U>Native Moons</U></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id41.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Font Downloads Page"><U><B><U>Fonts Downloads</U></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id44.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Solstices"><U><B><U>The Solstices</U></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id97.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Submit your article"><U><B><U>Article Contest</U></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id106.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Book of Shadows"><U><B><U>Book of Shadows</U></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id103.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Magikal Exercises"><U><B><U>Magikal Exercises</U></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id105.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Elemental Exercises"><U><B><U>Elemental Exercises</U></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id107.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Psi"><U><B><U>Psi</U></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id108.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Principals of Magik"><U><B><U>Principals of Magik</U></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id109.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Incantations Invocations"><U><B><U>Incantations</U></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Totems"><U><B><U>Animal Totems</U></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id30.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Black Panther"><U><B><U>Black Panther</U></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id31.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Raven"><U><B><U>Raven</U></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id32.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Crow"><U><B><U>Crow</U></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id33.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Red Tailed Hawk"><U><B><U>Red-Tail Hawk</U></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id34.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Barn Owl"><U><B><U>Barn Owl</U></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id78.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Wolf"><U><B><U>Wolf</U></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id89.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Elk (Wapiti)"><U><B><U>Elk (Wapiti)</U></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id90.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Bear"><U><B><U>Bear</U></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Goddess"><U><B><U>The Goddess</U></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id12.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mielikki 1"><U><B>1</B></U></A><B>  |  </B><A HREF="id13.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mielikki 2 Images"><U><B>2</B></U></A><B>  |  </B><A HREF="id14.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mielikki 3"><U><B>3</B></U></A><B>  |  </B><A HREF="id64.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mielikki 4"><U><B>4</B></U></A><B>  |  </B><A HREF="id94.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mielikki at the Gates of Death"><U><B>5</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id16.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The God"><U><B><U>The God</U></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Cernnunos 1"><U><B>1</B></U></A><B>  |  </B><A HREF="id5.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Cernnunos 2 Images"><U><B>2</B></U></A><B>  |  </B><A HREF="id6.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Cernnunos 3"><U><B>3</B></U></A><B>  |  </B><A HREF="id57.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Cernnunos 4"><U><B>4</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id8.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Me"><U><B><U>Contact Page</U></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id63.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mielikki Mail"><U><B><U>Mielikki Mail</U></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id56.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U><B><U>Links Exchange</U></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://all.at/arcane" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://all.at/arcane"><U><B><U>ARCANE Images</U></B></U></A></div> <div> <B><U><IMG SRC="51d69660.gif" border=0 width="105" height="102" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></B></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FF3333" FACE="Copperplate Gothic Bold" ><B>Tannim's Religion</B></FONT>     </div> <div> <IMG SRC="03ef4010.gif" border=0 width="500" height="1" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> To be a Witch</div> <div> <B>To Be A Witch</B><B> </B></div> <div> <B>To be a witch is to love and be loved. </B></div> <div> <B>To be a witch is to know everything, and nothing at all. </B></div> <div> <B>To be a witch is to move amongst the stars while staying on earth. </B></div> <div> <B>To be a witch is to change the world around you, and yourself. </B></div> <div> <B>To be a witch is to share and give, while receiving all the while. </B></div> <div> <B>To be a witch is to dance and sing, and hold hands with the universe. </B></div> <div> <B>To be a witch is to honor the gods, and yourself. </B></div> <div> <B>To be a witch is to BE magick, not just perform it. </B></div> <div> <B>To be a witch is to be honorable, or nothing at all. </B></div> <div> <B>To be a witch is to accept others who are not. </B></div> <div> <B>To be a witch is to know what you feel is right and good. </B></div> <div> <B>To be a witch is to harm none. </B></div> <div> <B>To be a witch is to know the ways of old. </B></div> <div> <B>To be a witch is to see beyond the barriers. </B></div> <div> <B>To be a witch is to follow the moon.</B></div> <div> <B>To be a witch is to be one with the gods.</B></div> <div> <B>To be a witch is to study and to learn.</B></div> <div> <B>To be a witch is to be the teacher and the student.</B></div> <div> <B>To be a witch is to acknowledge the truth.</B></div> <div> <B>To be a witch is to live with the earth, not just on it.</B></div> <div> <B>To be a witch is to be truly free!</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Brief Craft Definitions</B></div> <div> <B>I am practitioner of a nature-based religion which recognizes the feminine in divinity and follows the seasonal cycles. I believe that the divine exists within myself as well as without, and therefore I feel a direct connection with the God/dess self. Witches come from all racial, socio-economic and religious backgrounds. </B></div> <div> <B>Wicca, like other Pagan religions, is a nature-based, Earth religion. Most Wiccans have these three core beliefs: </B></div> <div> <B>Polytheism, Pantheism, and Animism. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Polytheism is a belief in more than one form of the Divine, ie; many gods and/or goddesses. They tend to believe that all gods and goddesses are forms of the Lord and Lady, who are in turn aspects of the Divine. </B></div> <div> <B>Pantheism is the belief that the Divine rests in all things, so every person, every creature, every plant, every mineral, is sacred. </B></div> <div> <B>Animism is the belief that all natural things, animate or not, have some kind of life energy. Wiccans do not believe theirs is the one true religion: they see all positive, life affirming religions as just as valid as their own.</B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="29864440.gif" border=0 width="100" height="68" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <div> <U>About Wicca</U></div> <div> <B>Wicca is a relatively new form of Paganism, it was pretty much created in the 1930/40's by a man named Gerald Gardener. It was, of course, based on the old Pagan religions, and in particular the art of Witchcraft.</B></div> <div> <B>But who was this Gardener fellow?</B></div> <div> <B>In 1884, a man named Gerald Gardner was born in England. He spent most of his adult life in Malaysia. Gardner was extremely interested in folklore and magick and ancient beliefs. In 1938 he joined the Rosicrucian theatre at Christchurch where he met Old Dorothy Clutterbuck. Dorothy in turn introduced Gardner to her coven and initiated him. Through his exposure to eastern beliefs Gardner had come to believe in reincarnation. He believed that he would be born again and that he would be born with the same attraction to magick. </B></div> <div> <B>All of the witches Gardner met through Dorothy were old. He feared that when he was reborn there would be no one left alive who remembered the Celtic pagan and witchcraft tradition. So he set out to study and record the tradition. The first problem he had was that witchcraft was at the time illegal in England. The second problem he ran into was that Dorothy's coven no longer had a complete oral tradition of their beliefs.</B></div> <div> <B>Add to this the fact that there were most likely witch killings still in living memory (people were still alive who could remember) and that witchcraft was still against the law and the reasons for the rigidity of the tradition becomes clear. If you want to increase your followers but you need to ensure secrecy what do you do? Well, you make it hard for a new member to become privy to any important facts. You set up levels of access and initiations and oaths and tests. You cloak everything in mystery and secrecy. You make them work hard and hopefully that will screen out everyone who isn't serious. At the time, this was the only way people could celebrate being Pagan safely.</B></div> <div> <B>Gardner freely admitted that he had bits and pieces of a tradition & belief system and in order to make it work, in order to make sense out of the parts and create a whole, he borrowed. He borrowed from the Gnostic mass, the Masonic temple, Jewish Qabala, and eastern mysticism. </B></div> <div> <B>If you look at the elements of Wicca you can identify the influences. For example: the way we cast a circle, call the quarters, the watchtowers, and use a pentagram comes directly from the Gnostic mass. The masons gave us the three degrees, 'so mote it be', the oaths, and the importance of ritual tools. Those influences shaped the Wiccan tradition in other ways as well. Let us put this into context once again. The Gnostics and the Masons are members of a group called mystery religions. These are groups who basically blend Catholicism with magick or mysticism.</B></div> <div> <B>Basically, what Gardener did (with much help from Doreen Valiente, his High Priestess) was make Wicca safe. He began to show people that the stereotypical Witch was a false image, that REAL Witches did not worship a devil, kill or harm anyone. He published the Wiccan Rede and Law of Three, and many people came to see the truth about Witchcraft. Now however you feel about Wicca or Gardener, you should never forget that if Gardner had not taken this approach we would not have the degree of acceptance we enjoy now. So honour him for this if for nothing else.</B></div> <div> <B>Perhaps the most controversial of Gardener's creations was the introduction of worshiping 'skyclad,' ie; naked. To put this in perspective, we must remember that Gardener was born at the end of the Victorian era. A period when a fear of sexuality and nudity was raised to an obscene level. You weren't even supposed to be naked in front of your spouse. Taking off all your clothes and dancing naked would put you beyond the pale. I am talking blackmail material here. It was also most likely one of the ultimate symbols of stripping away society's convention. It bound a group together. Before he became a Witch, he was a member of a nudist club, and many of the new Witches he recruited were also members. But let's be realistic here. There are many things that prevent us from going sans clothing; one of the major reasons being climate. If it's winter, and minus five degrees, going skyclad is plain stupid. For solitaries, it can just be part of your ritual and coven-wise, choosing to go skyclad can be a symbol that your group is a family and has nothing to hide from each other, that you accept without judgment, but it is NOT a pagan requirement.</B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT></div> <div> <B>Deity</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Wicca is not all about performing magick and casting spells. While it does include these things, this is merely the science and art of witchcraft. Wicca is the religion, a spiritual path that is honored by many thousands of followers worldwide. Witches and Pagans worldwide practice their religions and honor the deities through ritual and spellwork.</B></div> <div> <B>The pagan concept of the Divine force known as God is different from the Christian concept. Paganism can be considered duotheistic, or honoring two gods or even polytheistic, where many gods and goddesses are revered. Most pagans worship all Divine forces in the Universe, and the balance of those energies, both male and female, in the form of the God and the Goddess (except in the Dianic tradition, which honors the Goddess exclusively) also known as the Lord and Lady in some traditions. </B></div> <div> <B>The Goddess is usually represented as the moon, and lunar energy, and as nature, e.g. Gaia and Mother Nature. She encompasses all that is the female, such as intuition, female mysteries, emotions, fertility, life, and nurturing. The God is represented as the sun, and is representative of masculine forces in the Universe, like aggression, protection, action and the driving force in nature, zest for life, the hunt, revelry. </B></div> <div> <B>The God and Goddesses have been known by many names through out the history of man and are called by many of those same names today. We may know the Goddess as Diana, Aradia, Artemis, Kali-Ma, Isis, Morrigan, Brigad, and Cerridwen. The God often is referred to as Apollo, Ares, Ra, Cernunnos and Pan. </B></div> <div> <B>The gods and goddesses within a certain culture are referred to as being in a certain pantheon. This simply means that gods in the Greek culture are in the Greek pantheon, the Celtic gods in the Celtic pantheon, the Egyptian gods, the Egyptian pantheon, and so on. Many covens, circles, groves and groups within certain traditions worship only deities within a certain pantheon. Eclectic Pagans, on the other hand, can borrow freely from all pantheons at different times, depending on the type of energy needed for the ritual or the spell they are trying to cast. It is best, however, not to mix pantheons within one ritual or spell, such as calling on a Greek goddess and a Celtic God, or two different goddesses, one Egyptian, one Roman.</B></div> <div> <B>Meditation</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The modern world in which we live constantly barrages us with so much mind clutter that it can be hard to hear yourself think. We live in an impatient and fast paced society. How uncommon is it for you to have 3 or 4 different things on your mind at once? A quick example would be for you to take a piece of paper right now and quickly jot down what else is on your mind. </B></div> <div> <B>Meditation allows us to quiet our minds, relax, focus and concentrate (depending on your intent). Our higher self or sub conscious mind can become a stranger to us if we can not reach a state in which we can communicate and listen to it. The benefits of meditation that many experience are a decrease in feelings of stress, improved concentration and a feeling of being more in touch with ones self. From a magickal stand point meditation is a necessity. After all, how effective is a spell or ritual going to be if while performing it, your mind is balancing your budget or making a grocery list at the same time? </B></div> <div> <B>Tips for Successful Meditation</B></div> <div> <B>In all forms of meditation it is imperative that you make sure that you will not be disturbed, or distracted. Turn off the phone, find a place where you will not be disturbed by people, pets or noise. I generally don't recommend meditating lying down for beginners as one can easily drift off to sleep. It's also not a good idea to try meditating after meals, as they tend to make you groggy. It's important not to pressure yourself into trying to get results. No two people have the exact same experience during meditation and it is not something that comes easily to everyone. You must be patient with yourself and not set lofty goals. Don't start off with pre conceived notions of what you are supposed to feel or experience during your meditation. The important thing is to keep doing it on a regular basis. Keeping a record of how you feel and anything you experience in also beneficial. </B></div> <div> <B>Methods and Techniques of Meditation</B></div> <div> <B>One popular form of meditation is done by sitting in a comfortable up right position either in a chair or on the floor, and focusing on an object, such as the flame of a candle. As I mentioned earlier, you will no doubt have all sorts of thoughts flying around in your head. The idea is to be aware of this and simply let them pass. Let go of them as you focus only on the candle flame. As you do this, you take deep, slow breaths. Your thoughts become fewer as you move deeper and deeper into a state of relaxation, breathing deeply and focusing only on the flame. Another way is through the use of guided meditation tapes. This method can also provide the beginner an added bonus as they incorporate visualization with meditation. In my experience in introducing friends to meditation, most found they started off with better results from tapes. The general response to my question as to why, was that they found that they could meditate for a longer period of time. There are a great many methods of meditation. These are just simple, effective ones to get you started. </B></div> <div> <B>How often should I meditate and for how long?</B></div> <div> <B>Meditation, ideally, should be done every day. Many people meditate twice a day. Typically in the morning and evening. Morning meditations can often create a sense of peace and clarity that can extend into your day. Evening meditations provide relaxation and help to melt away the various forms of stress caused by events that occur thought the day. It's best to do this around the same time every day. How long a person meditates depends on the individual. For beginners a good goal would be between 10 to 15 minutes at a time, slowly working to around 20 minutes to 1/2 an hour. If your schedule simply doesn't give you the opportunity to meditate 1/2 an hour twice a day, it is more beneficial to decrease the time as opposed to infrequent meditating for longer periods. The idea is to make meditation a regular part of your life style. </B></div> <div> <B>Visualisation</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>This is one of the most important qualities needed to perform a successful ritual or spell. Visualization and meditation enhance concentration. These three things are all necessary skills in Witchcraft and are what we use to strengthen our personal power. Visualization can change negative thoughts into positive ones, make goals into reality, and bring about great clarity of mind. These are the REAL powers of a Witch. These are the skills we use when we encounter problems in daily life. How we strengthen our mind and body to enable ourselves to perform powerful rituals, and yes, even the occasional spell or two. Sound too flaky or unimportant? Think of it this way. When a Witch performs a spell or ritual, it always has a clear intent. How effective do you think one would be if we couldn't CLEARLY visualize the purpose of it in our head? Not 'wish' for something or 'imagine it', but actually SEE it... in perfect detail. We visualize the result of our intent as we want it to be, and because we know how to visualize we can see it crystal clear. Visualization is not having a foggy image or vague intent in your head, but something so clear and tangible you can almost touch it. It is the most basic yet advanced technique that is used in Witchcraft and magick. Without it we wouldn't be able to even cast a circle. </B></div> <div> <B>Now that I've made the importance of it clear, the next logical step is to give you instructions on how to learn this important technique. The following are some very effective exercises from Scott Cunningham's book Wicca - A Guide For The Solitary Practitioner that can be used to practice and enhance your natural visualization capabilities. Just like meditation, visualization can take time to enhance. Everyone learns at their own pace. Don't set any preconceived notions of how fast you should be able to learn how to master these exercises. Take all the time you need and repeat each exercise until you are totally confident that you have mastered it. These exercises gradually increase in difficulty and may take quite a while to learn depending on the individual. Be patient with yourself. If you begin to feel frustrated doing any of these exercises stop and try again later. Remember to follow the relaxation and breathing suggestions in the first exercise during all of them. </B></div> <div> <B>Exercise one.</B></div> <div> <B>Sit or lie comfortably with your eyes shut. Relax your body, Breathe deeply and still your mind. Pictures will continue to pop into your head. Choose one of these and stick with it. Let no images intrude other than the one you've chosen. Keep all thoughts revolving around the image. Retain this picture for as long as you can, then let it go and end the exercise. When you can retain one picture for more than a few minutes, move on to the next exercise.</B></div> <div> <B>Exercise two.</B></div> <div> <B>Decide upon an image to hold and retain it within your mind. You might want to have it physically present so you can study it very closely first. Memorizing each detail - the way shadows play on it, its textures, colors, perhaps even a scent. You could start with something simple first, like a plain jar or an orange, or more complex such as a jagged amethyst geode or a detailed picture. After studying it thoroughly, close your eyes and try to see the object with the exact clarity. Don't look at the object again with your physical eyes but with your powers of visualization. When you can hold the image of a detailed object with perfect clarity in your mind for 5 minutes, move to the next exercise. </B></div> <div> <B>Exercise three.</B></div> <div> <B>Visualize something that you have never seen before. Make up a non existent thing...anything. Do this with your imagination and visualization. For example, imagine what a piece of fruit would look like from a distant planet like Jupiter. Perhaps a flower on Venus etc. Create a clear image of this object. Make it detailed, make it real. What colors does it have? How big is it? What shape is it? Remember that it is a real object in your mind. Turn it over in your mind so you can see it from all angles. Then let it vanish. When you can create and hold these non existent objects clearly in your mind for 5 minutes or so, move to the next lesson.</B></div> <div> <B>Exercise four.</B></div> <div> <B>This is the last and most difficult exercise. Hold a self created image (such as the one you made in the last exercise) in you mind with your eyes open. Work at keeping it visible, real, a palpable thing. Stare at a wall, look at the sky, or gaze at a busy street, but see that image there. Make it so real you can touch it. Try having it resting on a table or sitting on the brass beneath a tree. If we're to use visualization to create changes in the world, not the shadowy realm that exists behind our eyelids, we must practice such techniques with our eyes open. The true test of visualization lies in our ability to make the visualized object real and a part of our world. </B></div> <div> <B>Once you have mastered these exercises you will see the power it carries, and how important a tool visualization is to Witchcraft. Like meditation, visualization is something that needs to be done on a regular basis to keep up your strength in this area. Visualization has many benefits, it sharpens your memory, enhances your imagination and allows you to remember things with more detail and accuracy. These are not the only ways to exercise them. There are many books on this subject, but I encourage you to invent your own ones. Go out into nature and practice using nature as a focus. Test it. Find a colorful or interesting leaf or flower. Study it, see it in your minds eye and see how long it takes you to study it to notice all the details, how long you can keep the image in your mind, and how accurate your memory was once you open your eyes and see it again.</B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="http://fly.to/mellee/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://fly.to/mellee/"><U><B><IMG SRC="299fc520.jpg" border=0 width="252" height="82" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </td> </tr></table></body>