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

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TABARD-- A simple robe that is little more than a sheet with a neck hole cut in the center. It is often used as a person's first robe until they can make or buy a better one. Some Covens use a tabard over their robes to denote specialty, rank or as tradition.

TABOO-- A set of acts or words that are forbidden by religion or culture. They are generaly unwritten but still enforced. For example, one Taboo in Wicca is the killing female animals or people, another is the identification of another Witch without their permission.

TALISMAN-- An object of power. Aggressive active charms that are charged to produce a desired goal. Compare with amulets. They are generally made by the magickian and are one time affairs after which the energy is gone and they need to be ritually recharged or destroyed.

TAN-- (Celtic ) A fire, usually a ritual bonfire. Also teine.

TANTRA-- (Hindu) a form of meditation or magick or prayer which is characterized by sexual relations as a means of power and enlightenment.

TAPPING ENERGY-- A process whee the Witch will collect energy from an external source and focus it throgh their own body.

TAROT-- A set of cards used for divination or meditation or magick. They are generally credited as being developed in the 15th century and based on an old card game called Tarrocci. Many modern people reinterpret the Tarot and so produce entirely new decks each year. Many are quite beautiful and some of these actually work.

T.A.W.N.-- See Tucson Area Wiccan Network.

TEACHING-- Any field must have some manner of passing on knowledge and experience to the newer people. For Wicca, that means that if you wish to become a Third Degree in a Traditional Coven, then you must be aware that someday you will have to teach others. There are meny ways to do this from a classroom to on-the-job-training to simple read-and-do. However, every teacher must realize that people are different. What worked for you may not work for someone else and so teaching methoids must be fluid. It is also important to remember that everyone is unique and perceives the universe in a unique manner.
I am reminded of an incident that takes place in many police academys. It is day one and the classroom is filled witheager young people ready to learn how to be a cop. The instructor is giving a dull speech when suddenly someone enters the room, kills the instructor and leaves. The students are, of course, shocked and are wondering what to do but noone calls for help usually. Then the instructor stands up, calls the room to silence and orders everyone to quietly write down a complete description of the incident. When done, he reads them to the class. Even though all saw the exact same incident, some state that the killer was a man, some a woman, some black, some white. Some state that the weapon used was a hand gun, some a rifle, some a knife.
Reality trip! All people perceive the universe uniquely and what you say to a room is one thing. BUT each person will hear a different message. This is normal and must be considered by all good teachers.

TEINE-- (Celtic ) See tan.

TELEKINESIS-- Mind over matter. The ability to move or alter matter with the mind alone.

TELEPATHY-- Mental communication between two people. According to Kogan who did a lot of research on this for the KGB, telepathy is a radio wave of about 100 km wavelength.

TEMPLE-- That place that has been made sacred for the performance of a religious ritual. See Covenstead.

TENETS-- The beliefs, doctrines and principles of Wicca.

TETRAGRAMMATON-- (Hebrew) Literally, "four letters". It refers to the secret name of the Jewish god which was so sacred that it was known only by the high priest of the major temple and spoken only once a year. Because the Hebrew alphabet had no vowels, the name was written with only consonents thus making it impossibe to know how it was actually pronounced. These four letters being J, V, H, V have been pronounced anywhere from 'jehovah' to 'yahwey'. Unfortunatly, the only person who knew the actual pronounciation was killed when the Romans burned the major Jewish temple in 64 c.e.
Ceremonial magickians use the tetragrammaton as a sigil.

THAUMATURGY-- 'Low magick' using simple rituals and spells that is generally used to ease your everyday life.

THEALOGY-- See theaology.

THEAOLOGY-- The study of the Goddess. Generally used by Pagans to refer to Pagan Theology. Compare to Theology which is literally the study of god.

THEBAN-- One of the old magickal alphabets. It was first published by Barret in The Magus in the 1600's but I have seen a version that claims to date back to the mid- 1200.s. Any referances or evidence of this will be appreciated. Theban is unoficially considered to be the 'official' alphabet of Wicca.

THELEMITE-- A follower of the magickal philosophies and practices of Aleister Crowley.

THEOLOGY-- The study of religion. Pagans use it to refer to the study of patriarchial religions like christianity. See Theaology.

THEOMANCY-- Divination by revelation of the spirit or by religious writings of the gods. Some referances state that this is 'pretending' to divine.

THERIOMANCY-- Divination by beasts or animals.

THEURGY-- 'High Magick' using mental disciplines to establish contact with divinity.

THEYN-- (Old English) A pagan Priest. Compare with Theowe.

THIRD EYE-- The pineal gland which appears to be related to many psychic abilities.

THIRTEEN-- The sacred number in Wicca. It relates to the number of Witches in a Traditional Coven or the aproximate number of Full Moons in a year. In reality, it is a prime number which is still usable, neither being too large or too small.

THOUGHT FORM-- A thought or desire that takes tangible shape and exists almost independently of it's creator. See familiar.

THREE-FOLD LAW-- The Law of Nature that refers to the idea that all that you do, good or ill, will return to you Three times as strong. Traditional Witches often say that it will return once in kind, once in spirit and once in need. Because of this Law and the Wiccan Rede, it becomes apparant that no Witch with any intelligence will take the consequences of casting a curse upon another. Rather, by doing blessings, you are not only helping others but, ultimately, yourself as well. There is a mathematical formula for this, as well as all laws of magick, and goes E{s} => 3E{r}* where anything in brackets{} is a subscript.

THREE-FOLD NATURE-- This refers to the idea that each person or object is composed of three parts; the physical body, the mind and the soul.

THUMB SCREW-- A device used by the Inquisition to induce a suspect to confess. In all of it's myriad variations, it resembled a small vice that was placed around the suspects thumb or finger (ten chances to confess). The crank was then turned so the vice would close and eventually crush the bones in the finger.
I own a thumb screw and during my public classes, I show a slide of a thumbscrew and use mine to crack a walnut during a description of it's use, the effect on the class as the sound of the nut/finger cracking is visceral.

THURIABLE-- See thurible.

THURIBLE-- A large wide incense holder, generally with a broad open top and no chains. Thuribles are usually left on the Altar. Compare with the censer which is similar but generally smaller and can be carried around the Circle. Also thuriable and turrible.

TINCTURE-- An herbal infusion made with alcohol or apple cider vinegar.

TOAD-- The toad was, like a cat, one of the traditional pets of a Witch. Although we in the 20th century find this distasteful, in reality the toad makes a good pet. It is loyal, friendly and eats bugs. Witches who had toads and cats around the house didn't suffer from the bubonic plague that exterminated the xians who were busy exterminating both the cat and toad.

TOOLS-- The working implements of Wicca. They must be ritually made and cleansed before they can be used. The process of preparing Tools is so complex in Traditional Covens, that no one other than their owner is allowed to use them. Also, any misuse will invalidate the Tool, thus forcing the Witch to start over from square one.

TORGY-- A form of goetic magick that calls only upon 'angels'. It is derived from the Key of Solomon. It is generally believed to be a form of magick that doesn't work and therefore, those who practice it are considered to be fools. Also turgy.

TORTURE-- Any means of cooersion used by the authorities to force a false confession out of a suspect. If there are no bones broken, the confession was said to be 'without torture'. Yelling, lieing, slapping, enforced wakefullness, denial of food or water, rape and sticking with an ice pick are not legally considered to be torture so are still used today by the police (well, except for the ice pick and maybe rape).

TOTEM-- An animal or object that is sacred to a specific religion, person or group. The black stone in the kabba is a totem for islam, the cathedral at Reims is a totem for catholics and the Sacred Well at Glastonbury is a totem for Witches.

TRADITION-- An organized subgroup within Wicca where the members follow the same working system as interpreted by one person. Compare with Types.

TRADITIONAL WITCHES-- Witches who can trace their system of Wicca through a number of generations of Witches or Covens. They generally follow the same basic ways and beliefs as those who Initiated them thus having a tie to the past. Any new ideas that enter the Coven MUST fit the pattern in order to form a cohesive whole. Compare with Eclectics.
Generally, in Britain, Traditional is based upon the Coven which compares with Heriditary which is based upon the individual. In America it is based upon a method of working.
Be aware that what an American calls a Traditional Witch, an English will call Revisionist.

TRADITIONS-- A means of differentiating one way of working with another. Generally, Wicca is a skeleton upon which you place the flesh of your own mythos. Although most Witches are of the Celtic Traditions (Alexandrian, Gardnerian, Sheban, etc), other Covens will choose Egypt for their mythic source (Thebans) or feminist mythos (Dianic, Feminists) or whatever ancestors from which that Witch is derived. This is complicated by some famous Witches (Gerald Gardner, Alexander Sanders, Gavin & Yvonne Frost, etc) who have reinterpreted the religion and thus changed it. To understand this, read how lutherian christianity came to be. The situation is comperable.
Gardnerian, Alexandrian, Sheban, Welsh, Faerie, Dianic, Feminist, Georgian, Promethian, etc. are different Traditions. Most Traditions die after one or two Covens, thus showing that it was not a viable adaption. Others become sucessful and grow, thus proving the talents and channeling abilities of the founder.

TRANCE-- A sleep-like state where the body processes slow and the mind is set free.

TRANSMIGRATION-- See Reincarnation.

TRANSVECTION-- Levitation or astral projection.

TRILITHON-- A gateway formed of two upright stones and capped by a stone lintel. They symbolize the doorway to another world.

TRIPLE GODDESS-- In Wicca, it is believed that the Goddess manifests Herself in three aspects, each of Whom is symbolized by a phase of the Moon. The maiden (Waxing Moon) is also the Virgin but not 'virgo intacta' because She is sexually active, but not yet pregnant. The maiden refers to Her being independant of all male control and completely free to be Herself. The Mother (Full Moon) is when She has been impregnated by theHorned God at imbolc and can now marry at Beltane now that She has proven Herself to be fertile and He has proven Himself virile. The Corne, (Waning Moon andNew Moon) refers the the Goddess after She has given birth to the Sun-God/Horned God at Yule and may now grow old and wise with knowledge and experience. In some Traditions the Crone is called the Hag and may be considered to be a bit of a Bitch at times so it is wise to give to Her all possible respect.

TROLL-- 1) A person who joins a coven of Witches for the sole purpose of discovering their secrets for their own use.
2) A person who joins a coven for the purpose of causing trouble within that coven or the Craft.

TUATHEAL, TUATHAL-- (Gaelic) See widdershins.

TUCSON AREA WICCAN NETWORK-- ( c 1988) One of the many local networks of Witches and Pagans that have popped up around the country. TAWN puts on a number of small public rituals, one Major public Sabbat in September and an open Cauldron-Luck each month. In an effort to attract the wider neo-pagan community, TAWN is changing its name to Tapestry.

TUM-- See inch.

TUMULUS-- (Latin) 'To swell'. An archaic term for a Barrow.

TUNNEL OF LIGHT-- That doorway into the Summerland that appears when you die. In most cases you can see it but for those who are afraid to die or who do not know that they are dead, the tunnel is behind them and therefore, unseen.

TUPHRAMANCY-- Divination by ashes.

TURRIBLE-- See thurible.

TURTLE POSITION-- In Wicca a kneeling foetal position with the back bowed up. A sign of submission.

TRYOMANCY-- Divination by the coagulation of cheese.
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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

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