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

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OBE-- See out-of-body-experience.

OBJECT LINK-- That object that is used by the Witch to enable the Witch to focus on the target of the magick according to the Law of Contagion.

OCCULT-- That which is beyond the range of everyday knowledge. The word literally means 'hidden' and has no negetive connotations.

OFFERING-- A gift to the Gods or a nature spirit in return for something given. An example is that when you harvest an herb, you leave something behind for the herb or it's deva to use.

OFFICER -- Those Witches who hold a position within the Coven.

OGHAM-- The alphabet developed by the Irish God Oghma. It is a series of lines across a base line and is used by some Witches as a cipher code or means of divination. It is also called Beth-Luis-Nion or Beth-Luis-Fearn after it's first three letters.

OIMELC-- See Imbolc.

OIMLEC-- See Imbolc.

OIMLED (SP?)-- See Imbolc.

OINOMANCY-- Divination by wine.

OLD HORNEY-- One of the nick-names for the Horned God. In Traditional Wicca, the Goddess is the Mother and is ALWAYS treated with respect. But the Horned God, though the father to the universe and possibly us as well, is treated with respect and mirth. We believe that the Horned God has a wonderful sense of humor and will often play jokes on people. I personally would not play naked leap-frog with the Horned God because the temptation for THAT kind of joke may be too hard for Him to resist.

OLD LINE -- See British Line.

OLD ONES-- See Lords of the Watchtowers .

OLD ORDER WITCHCRAFT-- ( c1955) A term used by some of those who used to work under 'Robert Cochrane' to refer to themselves and to differentiate themselves from the Gardnerian Witches who were becoming popular at that time.

OLD RELIGION-- See Wicca .

OMEN-- A sign that means something that is or will be important in a personal situation. For example, having a strange dog come up to you and be exceptionally nice to you as you are going to a job interview may be an omen that you will impress the personal director.

OMNI-BENEVOLENT-- (xian) The concept that anything and everything that a god does is good and cannot be evil. This is the established concept in monotheistic religions such as xianity where they pray to a just and loving god.
But if everything a god does is good, then the logical extension is that if that god is omnipotent, everything that happens must be good by definition. "Thank you god for only drowning three of my children in the flood and thank you god for making me live with the knowledge that my wife is screwing my best friend. Thank you god for giving me cancer and ruining my family with medical bills that they can never pay off. Thank you god for putting my family on the street because you, in your infinite goodness, have chosen to ruin my business. We thank you for your good works which we only perceive as evil because we are scum and deserve no better."
Pagans realize that the God and Goddess are not all good. They have their own reasons for doing what They do and even the Goddess may have PMS sometimes (She has, after all, as one of Her aspects, a Bitch Goddess) so sometimes it is best to just stay out of Their way. This also means that a flood happens and is neither good nor evil and She doesn't mean to wash away our home. She gave us a choice, told us that it was a flood plain and since we were stupid enough to build there, we obviously enjoy loosing all of our possessions. Not Her fault, but ours.
Now immediately compare this with Omnipotent.

OMNI-POTENT-- (xian) The concept that divinity is all powerful. Monothiestic religions tend to believe that their god is omnipotent whereas Pagan religions believe the opposite. To a Pagan and Wiccan, the God and Goddess are powerful, but limited. They want to help us but They need our help for Them to help. Thus to a Pagan, we tend to rely upon ourselves and call the Gods to assist our own efforts. And sometimes The Goddess blows it and mistakes happen. So we can take credit for our own efforts and blame for our own mistakes.
The logical argument used by Witches against omnipotence is thus: If the catholics are true and "not a feather falls from the wing of a bird that god does not brush it away", then EVERY action is directly caused by god. There is no free choice because omnipotence literally means ALL-CONTROLLING. There is no option for less. To have the potential for omnipotence and not use it is a contradiction for omnipotence. All or nothing.

Thus, the good you do is because god made you place that money in the can of that begger. God made you jump into that river to save that drowning child. God made you build your home in a flood plain where it will get washed away and he made the flood to wash it away. God made that rapist jump that woman and even is using one hand to hold the woman down while he pumps the rapists' hips up and down with the other. There is no free choice because god has already made it for you and is making you do what he has chosen for you to do.
Nor can there be a devil making you do bad things because god is making the devil do evil and making you follow him. The bottom line of this is that any god who can end all evil and poverty in the world with a single word and refuses to do so is not deserving of worship.
Now, immediately compare this with omnibenevolent.

OMPHILOMANCY-- Divination by the navel.

ONCE BORN-- An old Wiccan term for christians indicating that they seek to remove themselves from the Cycle of reincarnation and the Earth Herself and as a term of derision to show that the christian is only on their first incarnation and therefore not as enlightened as a Witch who has the experience of many lifetimes.

ONIROMANCY-- Divination by dreams.

ONOMATOMANCY-- Divination by names.

ONYCHOMANCY-- Divination by the finger and toe nails.

OOB-- See out-of-body experience.

ORACLE-- 1) A shrine built to and dedicated to a god or Goddess who is known for fortelling the future.
2) Anyone who can fortell the future with any accuracy. Many oracles work in an Oracle but some travel.

ORAL TRADITIONS-- The majority of religious and magickal teachings cannot be written down simply because we do not know how to write this information. To understand this better, consider Dance. You can read every book on the shelf about Ballet but you will NEVER be a ballerina by reading the books and doing what they or your inner guides tell you to do. Or take karate. No book can tell you how to break a board with the side of your hand. I can teach you this in person in 10 minutes but if you try from a book, you will break not the board, but your hand. Or take magick. No book can describe how to channel energy.
BUT, an accomplished teacher can teach you these things by talking to you, showing you and correcting your mistakes as they happen. Then you can do a pliet, break an board or heal an illness.
Books are designed to hold basic facts like what does Foxglove look like and is used for. They are there to add to your knowledge, not replace a teacher.
This is why Witchcraft is called an oral tradition because we don't know how to write it down and must pass the majority of the information on person-to-person. Also oral teachings.

ORAL TEACHINGS-- See oral traditions.

ORNITHOMANCY-- Divination by birds. See alectryomancy.

OSIRIS POSITION-- See God Position.

OSTARA-- A Lesser Sabbat in Wicca that occurs on the Spring Equinox or around March 21. Fertility and spring are celebrated at this time.

OTHERWORLD-- Another term for that place that lies beyond our material world. It is often used by Eclectic Witches to refer to the Sidhe or Fairy World and sometimes the Summerland.

OUT-OF-BODY-EXPERIENCE-- An incidence of astral travel.

OUTLIER-- A menhir that is outside a Stone Circle and is apparantly related to it either as a Ley Line recharger or as a sighting sone.

OWL TIME-- The 13th hour which was between midnight and one a.m.
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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.
Return to the Miscellenous Page.
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