Terms used in Witchcraft

From "Spells and how they work" - by Stuart and Janet Farrar

AMULET: An object worn as a protective charm

ATHAME: (Pronounced ‘a-thay-me’): A witch’s personal ritual knife,black-handled. It is never used for actual cutting (the only traditional exception to this rule being a hand-fasting cake).

CENSER: One of the elemental tools, representing the Air element. See also Sword, Wand.

CHALICE, Cup: One of the elemental tools, representing the water element and the feminine principle.

COVENSTEAD: A coven’s regular place of meeting — or sometimes the area from which its membership is drawn.

DEOSIL: Clockwise, sunwise. Cf. Widdershins.

ELEMENTAL: (1) A simple non-material entity of the nature of one of the elements (q.v.). (2) A thought-form deliberately or unconsciously set up by concentrated will-power and/or emotion, by an individual or a group.

ELEMENTS: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water — plus Spirit, which integrates them all.

EVOCATION: The summoning of a non-material entity of a lower order than oneself. Cf. Invocation.

FAMILIAR: (1) An animal kept by a witch for the psychic help it can give, particularly in early warning of negative influences, to which cats, dogs and horses (for example) are particularly sensitive. (2) Sometimes used to describe an elemental (q.v.) in sense (2) above.

FETCH: (1) ‘The apparition, double, or wraith of a living person’ (Oxford English Dictionary). (2) A projected astral body or thought-form deliberately sent out to make its presence known to a particular person. (3) A witch (usually male) who acts as the High Priestess’s messenger or escort; sometimes called the Officer or Summoner.

FITH-FATH: Same as Poppet

GNOME: The traditional name for an Earth elemental.

GREAT RITE: The major Wiccan ritual of male-female polarity

GRIMOIRE: A (usually medieval) book or ‘grammar’ of magical procedures.

HEXAGRAM: (1) A six-pointed star, its two triangles signifying the occult principle of ‘As above, so below’. The same as the Star of David, but its occult use is older. (2) Any one of the sixty-four six-line figures of the I Ching, a Chinese system of divination also much used in the West.

HIGH PRIEST: (1) The male leader of a coven, working partner of the High Priestess who is its overall leader. (2) Any second- or third-degree male witch. (The difference is between a coven appointment and a personal rank.)

HIGH PRIESTESS: (1) The female leader of a coven, and also its overall leader. (2) Any second- or third-degree woman witch; see previous entry.

INVOCATION: The invitation of an entity of a higher order than oneself. Cf. Evocation.

MAIDEN: In a coven, the High Priestess’s principal female assistant for ritual purposes, who may or may not be her deputy in leadership. In earlier times, Maiden sometimes meant what we now mean by High Priestess.

PENTACLE: One of the elemental tools, representing the Earth element. A metal disc engraved with symbols, it is the centrepiece of the Wiccan altar.

PENTAGRAM: A five-pointed star, the points representing Earth, Air, Fire and Water, and the topmost point representing Spirit. For ‘white’ working, it is displayed with a single point uppermost (with the sole exception of the Wiccan second-degree sigil). ‘Black’ workers tend to display it reversed, with two points uppermost.

POPPET: A doll representing a particular person, used in healing or binding spells.

SALAMANDER: The traditional name for a Fire elemental.

SEPHIRA (sing.), SEPHIROTH (p1.): The ten spheres of the Cabalistic Tree of Life

SIGIL (pronounced to rhyme with ‘vigil’): An occult seal or sign, usually unique to an individual or entity.

SKYCLAD: The witches’ word for ‘ritually naked’.

SWORD: One of the elemental tools, representing the Fire element — or, in some traditions, the Air element — and the masculine principle.

SYLPH: The traditional name for an Air elemental.

TALISMAN: An object similar to an Amulet (q.v.) but designed for a specific purpose and usually for a specific individual.

TANTRA: An Eastern system of spiritual development through sexual energy.

UNDINE: The traditional name for a Water elemental.

WAND: One of the elemental tools, representing the Air element (see also Censer) or, in some traditions, the Fire element (see also Sword).

WHITE-HANDLED KNIFE: Used for any actual cutting or inscribing necessary within the Magic Circle; cf. Athame.

WIDDERSHINS: Anti-clockwise: cf. Deosil.

WITCH’S LADDER: A string of forty beads, or a cord with forty knots, used (as is a rosary) for concentrated repetition without the distraction of actual counting.

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