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by: Rick Johnson
PO Box 40451
Tucson, Az.
85717
RikJohnson@juno.com

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GARBAGE WITCH-- A derogatory term first heard on a message board to describe someone who was looking for a 'real witch', described himself as a 'warlock' and bragged how he could 'control people'. It refers to someone who wants to be a witch but hasn't taken the time to actually learn anything about the Craft and would rather get their information from second and third rate Disney movies. An ego tripper or a kid who really needs a reality check.
Garbage witches are resented by those of us who have studied and sacrificed and worked for years to earn the title "Witch'.

GARDNERIAN WITCHES-- ( c 1952) Celtic Witches who follow the Craft as interpreted by Gerald Gardner and Doreen Valiente in the 1950's.

GARTER-- A badge of rank among high ranking Witches. A true Garter shows a great deal about the wearer that few can read. Much has been made of the incident where the Countess of Salisbury dropped her Garter while dancing with Edward III. The king, to protect her from the Inquisition and to show that he was king of christians and Witches alike, placed her Garter upon his own leg and started the Order of the Garter, Englands most noble order of Knighthood. Garters are generally worn only by Witch Queens and Witch Kings and are made of specific materials which I will not mention here. The Garter has one buckle for each of the Covens that that Queen has produced. Thus a Garter with a number of buckles shows that that woman has a great deal of experience and should be treated with a great deal of respect simply because of the number of years that it takes anyone to advance in a Traditional Coven. Beware the Witch who wears a Garter with a dozen buckles but who is still in her 20's.

GASTROMANCY-- Divination by the sounds of the belly or by signs on the belly itself.

GATE-- See Doorway.

GATHERINGS-- See Festivals.

GEIS-- (Gaelic) A personal obligation or vow to do or not to do something. Compare with Taboo. When my wife forced me to move out of our home so she could move her married lover in, I made a geis to never enter that house again. I swore this by the Goddess and my life's blood and so cannot ever renege on that vow. You can be released from a promise, but not from a geis.

GENIE-- See jinn.

GEOMANCY-- Divination through the use of random figures in the dirt or sand.

GEORGIAN TRADITION-- ( c 1970) A new Tradition of Wicca formed by George P. in the 1970's when he moved from New Jersey to California.

GESITH-- (Saxon) A warrior. In Seax Wicca, a Witch.

GHOST-- The soul of a dead person that has not gone on to the Summerland and remains on the Earth for some reason.
The Goddess in not perfect (it is a really big universe) and accidents happen. Normally, when a person dies, the soul passes into the Tunnel of Light or is taken into the Tunnel of Light by the Horned God to the Summerland where that soul is prepared for it's next life. But sometimes this doesn't happen and the soul remains as a ghost. Here are a couple of these accidents from personal experience.

1. a) John C. was an athiest who believed that when you die, you end. One day as a student at the U of A, he decided to go to the local store so on the worst day of the monsoon season he holstered his handgun hopped onto his motorcycle and rode from his dorm room to the local Circle K on Speedway near Euclid. After leaving the store, he entered rush hour traffic when visibility was only three feet and was struck by a car and killed instantly. He died so suddenly that he didn't know that he was dead and his ghost wandered that section of Speedway for a couple of weeks trying to make someone see and hear him. Eventually he ran out of energy and was pulled into the Tunnel.
   As an aside, I had loaned John some of my armor and weapons for the SCA and saw no reason to burden his parents with demands for my property while they were still grieving and waited. Unfortunatly, his xian friends had no such ethics and immediatly after he died, they told them that John had some of their belongings and took whatever they wanted (including my stuff) while John's parents were still in shock and couldn't think straight.
2. b) April was a catholic who was married with children but began to cheat on her husband with a man who got her hooked on drugs. She got pregnant by him and had an abortion. Then she went hiking with this man to Seven Falls and 'fell' off a cliff and died. April KNEW that she had sinned and was damned to hell but was afraid to go and she KNEW that she didn't deserve to go to heaven so her soul remained as a ghost simply because she was terrified of the alternatives. I had to convince her that heaven and hell were simply astral planes and that reincarnation was the truth and so she was able to accept a third option and went through the Tunnel.
   As an aside, when I convinced her ghost to enter the Tunnel, she asked if she could wait until the funeral. I agreed (what choice did I have) but made her promise to enter it immediatly. During the funeral service, a huge wind came up, knocked over the flowers and messed up the service. April then entered the tunnel at that point. Her best friend was heard to say, "That's April, making a show to the end."

GIRDLE-- See Cord.

GIRDLE CORDS-- See Cord.

GLAMOUR-- (Gardnerian) A spell or charm that changes the appearance of anything. To hypnotise, to drug. See also fascination

GLYPH-- A magickal symbol that incorporates the name and birth date of the wearer. It is often worn as a protection.

GNOME-- An elemental life form composed only of Earth.

GNOSTIC, GNOSTICISM-- A system of religion that states that humanity may possess inner wisdom by direct revelation instead of waiting for some massiah to tell them what is going on. Christian Gnostism was destroyed by the more conservative xians around the 4th century c.e.

GOAT GOD-- The aspect of the Horned God of the Witches who was worshipped in areas where the goat was the primary meat source. He survived as the Greek Pan and by the Middle ages, the christian churches had used Him as propaganda to justify the extermination of the Wiccan Religion. The argument, according to christianity, was that the Witches worshipped a goat or a devil in the shape of a goat and so deserved to die. But, nowhere in the christian bible is a description of their devil that resembles the Witches God, nor is there any referance that Witches worship their devil. Well, the truth never stopped anyone from harming the innocent.

GOAT WITHOUT HORNS-- (Voodoun) A referance to human sacrifice.

GOD-- That divinity that is expressed in masculine form. See Horned God.

GOD/DESS-- A term used to refer to both the God and Goddess at the same time.

GODDESS-- That divinity that is expressed in femine form. See Great Mother Goddess.

GOD POSITION-- The position where the Witch stands feet feet together and arms crossed at the wrists over the heart. It is used to contain power or to symbolize the Horned God. Also called the Osiris position.

GODDESS POSITION-- The position where the Witch stands with feet apart and arms outspread. It is used to absorb energy (if done one way) and to represent the Goddess (if done in another manner). See Pentacle Position.

GODDESS RELIGION-- The religion that emphasizes the worship of any and all Goddesses from history to the exclusion of the male principle. They are generally pagan but not Wiccan and are intensely personal.

GOETIC-- That form of High Magick that deals with calling up and controlling non-material and non-divine entities which are defined as spirits, demons, etc.

GOLDEN SICKLE-- (Celt) A Tool of the Druids and certain Wiccans. It is the Symbol of Druidism as is the Athame to theWitch. It's most famous use is to cut the sacred mistletoe (viscum album) on Yule. This Mistletoe is not allowed to touch the ground and so is caught in a white cloth.

GOODSWARDEN-- The Witch who is assigned to keep the Coven Tools and supplies between meetings.

GOOFER DUST-- (voodoun) Dust from a graveyard or moss from a grave.

GOWDIE, ISOBEL-- A famous Scottish Witch who confessed in 1662 to a number of fancifal acts of magick. Although her contemporaries appear to have considered her to be demented, Monatgue Summers believed her and considered most of her claims to be true.

GRADES-- See Degrees.

GRAIL, HOLY-- The Cauldron of Celtic religion that includes the Cauldron of Cerridwen and the Cauldron of Dagda that is one of the Four Sacred Tools of the Tuatha de Dannan. It was combined with the xian myth of the cup that jesus drank from at the last supper to form the concept of a holy object that has been searched for for generations and not found simply because the seekers are looking for the wrong object. Instead of a beautiflly ornate golden cup, they should be looking for a bronze cauldron large enough to hold a curled up adult.
As the Cup is the modern Witches version of the Cauldron, the cup that catholics use during their masses is the modern xian manifestation of the grail.

GRANDMOTHER-- The goal of many Traditional Witches is to be descended from another Witch by birth or family. In my case I can cite my Great Aunt Hepsabar who was an Irish Witch who moved to Boston in the 1920's (according to family tradition). It is best for this descent if the Witch Ancestor is conveniently dead to preclude interrogation by the sceptical. In my case, my Great Aunt had the good graces to die before I was born. This has led to the joke of Traditional Witches being Initiated by a dead Grandmother without the intervening generation suspecting a thing. This was a fad in the 1970's among Traditionals Witches and is being revised in the 1990's by Eclectic Witches.

GRANTING OF THE BOON-- A request to the Goddess to grant a gift to the Witch.

GRAPHOLOGY-- The study of a personas personality and medical condition as expressed in their handwriting. I have a photocopy of my ex-wife's journal that she wrote during our divorce that shows so many characteristics of mental illness that people wondered why I married her. Had I been able to hire a graphologist for divorce court, I would have gotten a better deal.

GRAVATTIAN VENUS-- The oldest Goddess image found to date. She was first carved about 850,000 years ago.

GRAVEYARD DUST-- Dust from a grave or powder from the herb patchouli or leaves from the mullein (verbascum myrrha) plant.

GRAY MAGICK-- An obsolete term used by many people to denote any use of magick that is neither wholly good (white magick) or completly bad (black magick) but is ethically neutral.

GREAT BOOK-- See Book of Shadows.

GREAT CIRCLE-- A more complicated and ceremonial circle than the traditional Witches Circle. It is formed only for acts of great or high magick where safety is the prime consideration.

GREAT DAYS-- The Sabbats.

GREAT MOTHER GODDESS-- The Primary Diety worshipped by Witches. She is also called the Triple Goddess, the Moon Goddess, Mother Nature, The Lady and by many other names.

GREAT RITE-- A Wiccan Ritual of great importance. The actual or symbolic sex act used to celebrate the Gods and the creation of the universe. It must be done in a proper ritual manner with the proper visualizations or it becomes meaningless. Generally, it is done between married couples or lovers. I've seen Traditional Witches do even the Symbolic Great Rite wrong.

GREATER SABBATS-- Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane and Lammas. They were celebrated by the Celts and adopted by Witches after the Celtic migrations into Western Europe.

GREEK RITE-- This is not a wiccan term even though some use it to refer to pagans. Essentially, it is simple anal sex so-named because in ancient Olympian Greece, women had little power and were kept in 'harems' by their men. Greeks at that time believed that if a woman was not kept pregnant, her uterus would break free, travel about the body and strangle the woman's heart. Also, men would often prefer the company of their own gender and thus believed that there was nothing wrong with male homosexuality though lesbianism was, in their minds, evil.

GREEN MAGICK-- Magick that emphasises the herbal sciences for healing. See wortcunning.

GREEN WITCH-- A Witch who practices green magick.

GRIMOIRE-- The Book of Spells owned by a Witch and magickian. It is often incorporated with the Book Of Shadows.

GROCK-- 1) (Gardnerian) To watch a person while they are eating in the hope that they will offer you a place at the table with them. Cats and dogs are very good at grokking.
2) (CAW) To understand something completely and absolutely.

GROUND, GROUNDING-- To discharge energy into the earth. To tie oneself to the earth.

GROUND AND CENTER-- The process by which the Witch or Coven will balance their energies with each other and become attuned to the forces of Nature before any work or ritual. The process is similar to what physicists call phasing and synchronizing energy waves.

GROUP KARMA-- The karma that is developed by a group of people. Consider the group karma that has been created by the Nazi's or the KKK.

GROVE-- A natural location that is used for ritual, generally surrounded by trees. These trees may be natural or planted in a specific pattern. Druids prefer to worship in Groves instead of the Stone Circles which are preferred by Witches.

GUANOMANCY-- Divination by the bird dropping on the windshield of your car. This was originally created as a joke but I suspect that someone has probably learned to do it.

GUARDIAN-- The traditional apprentice to the High Priest and similar to the Summoner. However he was responsible for physically protecting the High Priest, the High Priestess and the Book of Shadows from xian attacks. Guardians generally remained behind to fight while the Coven escaped, and so usually died, hopefully by suicide before capture.

GUARDIANS-- See Lords of the Watchtowers.

GUIDED MEDITATIONS-- Stories that are designed to place the Coven into a trance-like state and allow them all to explore the same situation. Another term for them is Pathworking.
I personally love to do guided meditations for my Coven but am unable to undergo them myself. Ashleen O'Gaea invited me to attend a guided meditation workshop given by an Odinist and at the beginning of every meditiation, I fell asleep and woke up at the end. I did this so regularly and without anyone shaking me that they thought I was tancing. I wasn't, but for some reason my mind shuts down during these and I fall asleep only during the meditiation.

GWENKIN-- A cartoon Witch created by Rus G., founder of the Promethian Tradition and publisher of the Witches Annual and a real nice guy despite his misplacing one letter in his name. Gwenkin is everthing that we all want to be and aren't and I like to use her cartoons in my public Wicca classes.

GYROMANCY-- Divination by rounds or circles.
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To contact me or to request topics to be covered, send to RikJohnson@juno.com
by: Rick Johnson
PO Box 40451
Tucson, Az.
85717

Return to the Home Page.
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