The Sacred Tradition Of Witchcraft
The Tradition of Witchcraft sees the aspects of the Divine All as separate and united as Goddess, God, and Both. The One who is All matches “all being from the One.” The forms of The Lord and the Lady are interlocked and interchangeable. Father Sky and Mother Earth/Sky Goddess and Earth God, Sun and Moon. Triple Goddess and Wed to the Triple Goddess. Threefold God and Wed to the Threefold God; Lord and Lady of the Greenwood; Lord of Abundance and Lady of Plenty; Queen of the Stars and King of the Universe; Creator and Creatrix Spirit and Matter; Life and Passage; and Cosmic, Dancers of Energy and Matter.
The Creative Forces of Nature are revered, with the Goddess and the God symbolizing the Universal Materials and Energies from which comes all existence. The God and the Goddess are equal and omnipresent, for They are found throughout the Universe, the Earth and all that dwell therein. Because it is the Spiral Dance of Rebirth that brings us back to the Source of our existence in the Goddess and the God, reincarnation and communication with spirits are accepted parts of the religion.
Knowledge is the gift of the Goddess and the God, learning through many lives on Earth and keeping close to Them. Magick is a natural means of working with natural energies to accomplish a goal, and this magick becomes part of natural life for the practicing Witch. Consciousness may be altered through visualization, meditation, ritual, music and dance to better commune with the Divine and effect the magick. Through Dedication, the pathway to communication is constantly open so altered states cease to be necessary for contact with the Divine in Nature, only inner stillness and balance.
Freedom of the individual and personal responsibility are key aspect of Witchcraft. The liturgy, may be created as needed or desired for the magick will naturally flow with the acceptance of oneness with the All and with self-responsibility in our living.
Immanence, interconnection and community are three core principles of Witchcraft. Because the God and the Goddess are manifested in all life, all existence is connected to be one living cosmos. The focus is on the growth of the whole through care for the Earth, the environment, and each other. The mythology of the Lord and the Lady revolves around two themes in the Wheel of the Year – that of Fertility and passage of the Seasons, and that of the Divine life Cycle of the God, often related in allegory to the changing of the seasons. Thus, the sacrificed go motif can be found in the Corn (Wheat) Cycle, wherein the God willingly gives His life-force into the crops at the tie of marriage that humanity may be sustained thus relating the Divine to life and Rites of Passage.
The Triple Goddess is the Maiden, Mother, and Crone (Matron), whose consort is the Horned God, the Creator, Destroyer (Hunter), and Lord of the Beasts. All Nature has both positive and negative aspects, and to be reborn one must first die. The Goddess is seen as both positive and negative aspects, and to be reborn, one must first die. The Goddess is seen as both life in Her form as Mother and as death in Her form as Crone, yet both are the same. Death is a natural passage to new life and is not feared or labeled as evil. With Nature there are both pleasant aspects and harsh aspects, but this is all part of the reality of the energy that flows in the Earth, the Universe, and the being of the Earth The transition of the spirit through incarnations is not feared, but understood and accepted as natural, for life is eternal, and all spirits are immortal.
Attuning to the God and the Goddess changes one forever-sparks new hope for the individual and for the planet. Personal destiny is in the hands of the practitioner. The Dark Aspects of the God and the Goddess-Lord of Shadows and Crone-as well as the Bright Aspects-Horned God and Maiden/Mother-are accepted. The Divine is both Creation and destruction; Abundant Nature and Destructive Nature. Since all life is joined in the Dual Deity, the Two Who are One, and to each other, life cannot be destroyed, only changed or moved into and out of the cauldron of life. The religion then is the worship or reverence of the Life Force represented in the Dual Deity as a Conscious Unity. This reverence may be expressed through ceremonies or rituals dedicated to cycles of fertility, of planting and harvest, and of solar and lunar phases.
The Esbats are Rituals of the Full Moon, New (Dark) Moon-Times to receive learning from the Goddess. The Sabbats are composed of four solar festivals, called the Greater Sabbats or the Cross-Quarters. These are the main focus of ritual in Witchcraft, along with Twelfth Night (Naming Day). The names by which the Lord and the Lady are addressed are not important, for They are One By whatever Names They are Known, and They dwell within . They give life to be lived fully and with enjoyment and we are reborn to learn until we are reunited with Them Because people are of the Earth, She should be revered. The Witch knows of the connection of all things, the immortality of life, and draws upon the Power of the Divine directly, or through the Elementals of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water or such spirits, devas, and Other People as may be helpful. The Elementals are the Kith and Kin of the Witch, for body and strength are of Earth, breath and thought are of Air, energy and drive are of Fire, and emotions and vital fluids are of Water. In Middle English speech as Weetch’ie–meaning Wise, and the use of that wisdom was called the Craft of the Wise–WicceCraft, from when comes the word Witchcraft. The Practice of the Craft as spirituality and holds th e word Witch as honorable and spiritual.
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