This page is for definitions of common Pagan terms
Athame (ATH-aah-may): The ritual knife often associated with the element of air and the direction of the east, though some traditions attribute it to the fire and the south. The knife was traditionally black-handled, but many modern Pagans now seek handles of natural wood.
Balefire: The traditional communal bonfire of the Sabbats. The name is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word boon meaning a "gift" or "something extra". The modern word "Bonfire" is synonymous with bale-fire, though it often has no religios significance.
Bards: The bards(bardoi) were a class of Druids who were the poets and singers who kept alive valuable oral traditions through song. These songs could also be used as a magickal spells to curse or bless.
B.C.E.:"Before Common Era". This is a designation scholars often use to denote dates synonymous with B.C., but without the biased religios implications.
Bealtaine:(BEEL-teen, BALL-tayn'eh, BELL-tayn) This Sabbat, celebrated on May 1, is rife with fertility rituals and symbolism, and is a celebration of the sacred marriage of the Goddess and the God.
Besom:(BEE-sum) The witch's broomstick. European folklore has witches riding their brooms through the sky, which many feel is an uninformed explanation of astral projection. As a tool, the broom is used to sweep a sacred area, ground a circle, or to brush away negative influences. Besoms were often mounted and "ridden" over crops in fertility rites.
Book of Shadows:(Also called "Book of Lights and Shadows")Book of Shadows is the spell book, diary, and ritual guide used by an individual witch or coven. Some say the name came from having to hide the workings from church authorities, and others say it means that an unworked spell or ritual is a mere shadow, not taking form until performed by a witch.
Book of Mirrors: A Book of Mirrors is a diary/journal for the practitioner. It is intensely personal, even moreso than the BoS. From what I know BoM's are NEVER shared with others. The BoS may sometimes be shared.
Burning Times: The time from the Spanish Inquisition through the last outbursts of persecution and witch killings in the mid-nineteenth century( though murderous persecutions began as early as the 12th century). Figures vary on how many were killed during this hysteria, estimates range anywhere from 50 thousand to as many as 9 million.
Cauldron: Linked to witchcraft in the popular mind, this is a primal Goddess image used like a chalice or cup.
C.E.:"Common Era". This term is often used by scholars to denote time which is synonymous with A.D., but without the religios implications.
Chalice: The chalice or cup as a ritual tool represents water and the west, and it is also representative of the feminine principle of creation
Charging: The act of empowering an herb,stone, or other magickal object with one's own energies directed towards a magickal goal. Charging is synonymous with enchanting or empowering.
Circle: The sacred space wherein all magick is to be worked and all ritual contained. The circle both contains raised energy and provides protection for the witch, and is created and banished with her/his own energy.
Cone of Power: The ritual raising of a cone of energy within the circle by an individual or by a coven. When the energy reaches it's peak, it is released to do its work.
Coven: A group of witches who whorship and work together. A coven may contain any number of witches, both male and female, but the traditional numbers of members is 13, which reflects the thirteen moons in the solar year, or 3 persons for each season plus a priest/ess.
Drawing Down the Moon: Ancient Pagan ritual enacted at the Esbats to draw the powers of the full moon, in her aspect as Great Mother Goddess, into the body of a female witch.
Drawing Down the Sun: This is a lessor-known and lessor-used companion ritual to the above, in which the essence of the Sun God is drawn into the body of a male witch.
Grimoire: (Greem-WARR) A book of magickal spells and rituals.
Handfasting: Pagan marriage, traditionally contracted for a specific period of time depending on one's tradition. It is renewed only if both parties agree.
Herbalism: The art of using herbs to facilitate human needs both magickally and medically.
Invocation: The act of drawing the aspect of a particular deity into one's physical self.
Libation: A portion of food or drink ritually given to a deity, nature spirit, or discarnate.
Magick: Spelled with a "k" to differentiate it from the magic of stage illusions. The best definition of magick was probably invented by infamous ceremonial magician Aleister Crowley: "Magick is the science and art of causing change to occur in conformity to will." Magick is work, and work is forbidden at the Sabbats.
Pagan: Generic term for anyone who practices an earth or nature religion.
Pantheism: The belief in many deities who are really one because they are all merely aspects of the single creative life source.
Pentacle: A pentagram surrounded by a circle and carved on a circlet of wood or other natural object.
Ritual: A systematic, formal, or informal, prescribed set of rites whose purpose is to imprint a lasting change on the life and psyche of the participant.
Solitary: A Pagan who works and whorships alone without the aid of a coven.
Spell: A specific magickal ritual designed for the purpose of obtaining, banishing, or changing one particular thing or condition.
Threefold Law: It states that any energy released by the witch ,either positive or negative, will return to the sender three times over.
Warlock: An antiquated term often misused in reference to a male witch. Warlock used to mean "oathbreaker".
