Cyber Cauldron

October 24th, 2011

Wicca is an earth-based Spiritual path, based on reviving the ancient pagan religions of pre-Christian Europe. Wiccan’s have a strong belief in the forms and forces of nature and that the divine source exists on all planes and is both male and female. Wiccan’s see aspects of life and nature as being sacred.

Wiccan’s will attempt to attune themselves to natural rhythms of nature and cycle of life so they can communicate with the divine form. Wiccan’s will use rituals and rites, which are a mix between ancient text and modern ceremonies as well as shamanic practices to achieve this commune with the divine force.

For Wiccan’s the divine form / force is divided in to two parts the two parts are considered to be equal and opposite (up-down / left-right / good bad / summer-winter etc.). These two halves created the balance in the universe and manifest as a Goddess(s) and God(s). By manifesting the power in two deities (Goddess and God), the natural balance of opposites, cause and effect are retained, e.g. Summer/winter, light/ dark, life and death etc

Although Wiccan’s may name their deities Wiccan’s believe that all goddess’s are but one goddess and all gods are but one god. The reason a Wiccan will call on a deity by name is to focus the aspect or nature of the persona that that aspect of the divine portrays. Wiccan’s believe that with the will of the divine and through magickal workings such as spells and rituals you can bend the unlimited source of energy to your will and desire.

The Wiccan path has no leaders, No laws saying what is right and wrong, No real religious text such as The Bible,The Qur’an ,The Torah,The Vedas ,The Book of Mormon ,The Guru Granth Sahib ,The Avesta ,The Zhuan Falun etc although there are hundreds of books on wicca.

Wiccan fall basically into two groups the Hedge Witch, which is a solitary practitioner, and those that belong to a formal group or coven. Covens normally consist of 13 member and they are normally presided over by a High Priest and Priestess who have had may years of experience and are respected as an Elder and teacher of the craft.

All Wiccans adhere to one overriding ethical precept as stated in the “Wiccan Rede”:

“Though it harm none, Do what thy wilt”.

For a more detailed view of this rule please read “And it Harm None”

And to insure that Wiccan’s work ethically and with an understanding that their actions have a consequence the have “The Three-Fold Law”.

Which basically is what you send out will return three-fold three times good three times bad. This means Alli Online that a Wiccan has to be responsible for their own actions and how the actions affect other people because of the backlash they will receive for causing harm

Wiccan’s celebrate 8 major rituals each year called “Sabbats”

There are 4 major and 4 minor Sabbats. The major Sabbats include: Imbolc (February 2nd), Beltane (April 30th), Lughnasadh (August 1st) and Samhain (October 31st), while the minor Sabbats are: Ostara (Spring Equinox, March 21st), Litha (Summer Solstice, June 21st), Madon (Autumn Equinox, September 21st), and Yule (Winter Solstice, December 21st).

The Sabbats are solar rituals marking the points of the sun’s yearly cycle, and make up half of the Wiccan ritual year. The other half is made up with “Esbats”, the Full Moon celebrations. There are 13 full moons each year symbolizing the goddess, wisdom and the inner self of the individual.

Anybody can be a Wiccan or Study Wicca and many people do. Since Wicca is a very personal and practical religion it can be moulded to suit an individuals needs spiritually and personally.

There are many different branches with in the Wiccan religion all with different rituals and rite but they all share the basic structure Wicca and Wicca is only one of many Pagan paths, And the one thing all these traditions share, is an overriding reverence for life, nature, and the environment, as seen through the Goddess and God.

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Originally posted 2010-06-24 08:59:04. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Eostre or Ostara Not Easter

June 3rd, 2011

As the wheel keeps turn we move towards the vernal equinox the point where day and night are equal (give or take) and our thought turn to planting new crops for the on coming harvests.

Ēostre or Ostara is as the Venerable Bede said the origin of the word is actually from Eostre, a Germanic goddess of spring. Eostre is a very obscure Goddess, and uniquely Anglo-Saxon Heathen. She is not mentioned at all in the Norse corpus, and there are only fleetingly in the Old English by Bede in De Temporum Rationale. Some scholars have even conjectured that she may not have even been a goddess but rather just the Germanic name for the celebration that took place around the time of Vernal equinox.

It is must also be noted that Typically, the Celtic peoples did not celebrate Ostara as a holiday, although they were in tune with the changing of the seasons.

It can be assured well as much as it can be, Eostre is Teutonic in its origin as Teutonic dawn goddess of fertility was known variously as Ostare, Ostara, Ostern, Eostra, Eostre, Eostur, Eastra, Eastur, Austron and Ausos.” Her name was derived from the ancient word for spring: “eastre.”

Since we know that the wheel of the year is made up and cobbled together by Gardener I am sure sometime with a bit of humour. I feel that Gardener Choose to call vernal equinox Ēostre or Ostara, as it is very similar to Easter and in some way claiming a Christian festival as having pagan roots as with Yule and Christmas.

[1]According to Bede, Eostre was the Saxon version of the Germanic goddess Ostara. Her feast day was held on the full moon following the vernal equinox — almost the identical calculation as for the Christian Easter in the west.

The symbology of Easter and Ēostre or Ostara are similar but one thing that has to be brought to mind is Ēostre or Ostara (Ostara feast day see [1]) is a fixed festival based on the position of the sun where Easter is a movable feast based on moon position and phase. Easter like Ēostre or Ostara come from Germanic words so share commonalties. Although their commonalties between Christian and pagan these come from other pagan passed such as Mithras and Horus. The story of the Roman god, Mithras, is similar to the tale of Jesus Christ and his resurrection. Born at the winter solstice and resurrected in the spring, with Horus there are many many more similarities.

It does not matter what you call the vernal equinox in the northern hemisphere it a time for renewal and rebirth. A busy time of planting and new life stock being born and balance or at the very least thing returning into balance within nature.

Also this is the time for mating and high sexual tensions and creativity each country would have their own festivals and own goddess of the spring and appropriate festivities many including eggs a common symbol and hares sacred to the goddess Freya both of which are symbols of fertility the egg because it holds life and the hare because of the rampant sex drive. (In medieval societies in Europe, the March hare was viewed as a major fertility symbol — this is a species of rabbit that is nocturnal most of the year, but in March when mating season begins, there are bunnies everywhere all day long. The female of the species is super-fecund and can conceive a second litter while still pregnant with a first. As if that wasn’t enough, the males tend to get frustrated when rebuffed by their mates, and bounce around erratically when discouraged. This bouncing gives us the saying as mad as a March hare).

Modern pagans Celebrate vernal equinox by acting out the roles of Spring God and Goddess, playing out courtship and symbolically planting seeds. Egg races, egg hunts, egg eating and egg painting

Although the Wiccan wheel of the Year celebrates Ēostre or Ostara at the vernal equinox other pagan paths will follow their own goddess and own festivals some of the goddess invoked during the vernal equinox include

Aphrodite from ancient Cyprus
Ashtoreth from ancient Israel
Astarte from ancient Greece
Demeter from Mycenae
Hathor from ancient Egypt
Ishtar from Assyria
Kali, from India

To name but a very few.

It is important to note that the northern hemisphere’s vernal equinox is in March while its autumnal equinox is in September. In contrast, the southern hemisphere’s vernal equinox is in September and its autumnal equinox is in March.

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