psychic test: wicca

The Sun cycles are the Quarter and Cross-Quarter holidays. TheQuarters are the Equinoxes and the Solstices and the cross quarterdays are the holidays that fall approximately half way between thequarters. These celebrations are called the SABBATS. There areeight Sabbats the psychic test witches celebrate: Yule, Imbolc, Eostara,Beltaine, Litha, Lammas, Mabon, Samhain. Other religions,classified as Pagan sometimes celebrated several of theseholidays. They also have celebrations unique and peculiar totheir religion.These festivals are called "The Wheel of the Year" and theysymbolize the continuity of the world and time. The sabbats areimportant to us. They symbolize our dependence on the land, adependence that many city dwellers have forgotten. Thesefestivals are often celebrated in larger communities, all thecovens of a geographical area getting together to celebrate. Thecovens celebrate the moon cycles. These are called ESBATS. Eachcoven picks it's celebration time according to how they wish towork. There are Waxing Moon covens, Full moon covens, Waning mooncovens and Dark Moon covens. A coven is a small gathering ofindividuals (2 to 15 is the usual number) that meets regularly onthe moon cycle. Often they are very close friends. Covens have avery variable cycle. Some gather once for a specific reason andnever again. Others stay viable for many years and even go intogenerations. There are some very long-lived covens in theCalifornia Bay Area and the Massachusetts area.A Circle is a gathering of members of different covens and peoplewho are solitairy. Circles gather on a regular schedule, butdon't have a regular attendance. Instead, a circle serves as across-pollinating discussion group where all can share theirexperiences and traditions.Witches don't go looking for converts. We don't want them. Noone can "convert" to Witchcraft. Witchcraft is a state of mindand a path through life. Thouigh it can be learned, it can onlybe learned by those who are ready to change their patristic,authoritarian models to the newer, consensual based models.Witchcraft is a very cozy home and community centered religion.New people who still tread the old path destroy the sense ofcloseness that we all treasure.People who are witches, are witches. People who are really readyto live the Wiccan life will find us. When the time is right forthe witch to find witch-folk they will see one of the manyposters, journals or books that are on display in just about everybookstore in America. Some people call us and complain about howhard it is to find witches. we just laugh good-naturedly. Weknow that when they are meant to find us, they will. It hasnothing to do with superstition of psychic powers or any odd-ballconcept like that. Simply, if a person is busy with too manytasks, clues that are present all around them will be discarded orignored from information overload. Integrating into a newreligious community is hard. A person can't do that andhalf-a-dozen other things at once. Once they are ready, time-wiseand emotionally, they will suddenly see that sign about "women'sspirituality" or "A Waxing Moon Circle" or the book or newsletterthat they've passed by millions of times before.We live by several truisms or rules. The greatest is known as theWiccan Rede: "Eight words the Wiccan Rede Fulfill; An ye harmnone, do as ye will.""An ye harm none." Translated into modern English: As long as whatyou do harms none. Well, what does NONE mean? How about, no onein our church, or of our race, on our planet, in the universe.Well, clearly this rede calls for a judgement call. Witches don'thave comfortable rules to abide or ignore. We examine our actionsand try to make sure that the harm isn't there As I say it is ajudgement call. "Do as you will?" What is will? It is not want,but will. It is the Ego vs the Id. In effect will isn't, "I wantsome chocolates because I'm feeling shitty." It is, "I willmyself to be whole, fit and productive."Other of our "pieces of wisdom" include:* A ban on accepting money for instructing in the Craft.* A ban on identifying other members of the Craft.* Respect for the aged.* A ban on touching another person's Craft tools (sacred objects).* Respect for everybody's personal, physical, and emotional space.Belief as in "faith is not a part of the Craft. Belief impliesthe need to take something as true on no rational evidence. Inthe Craft we do not "believe" in Goddess and God or in Apollo orHelios or Demeter or Hecate. The words are symbols that key ourconscious and unconscious to the reality of our cyclical life. Itisn't necessary to "believe" in Mabon, the Harvest Home. FallEquinox is a reality and so is the major harvest. To say, atYule, that the sun king is born, implies no mystical belief thatsomewhere a Goddess or woman is giving birth to a mystical child.It is a statement that the nights have reached their longestextent and from now until Summer Solstice we shall see the sunmore each day.Wiccans in general feel that the earth is a fragile ecosystem thatshould be supported in many ways. they are often involved ascitizens in nuclear banning movements, vegetarianism, organicfarming, trying to bring consumerism down, trying to strive for asociety that is not as hierarchical as the one we live in now.They look for voluntary cooperation and consensus more thananything else.Witchcraft is a religion that has no established dogma, noavatars, no prophets, no "holy writ handed down from on high" or"divinely inspired". We have no centralized organization and noway to control who calls themselves witches. Marion, a goodfriend in the South once said, "A witch is as good as her word."In the patristic Western religions prayers are offered up to a Godfor favors, healings, good fortune, and not uncommonly for badfortune to befall those identified as enemies. In the Craft we donot pray to a Goddess or God. We do a series of different kindsof work known as spellcasting to help ourselves. When we haveproblems we need to identify what the problem is and the possiblesolution in our minds and souls by the use of many stimuli thatwill help us remember what our "will" was in this particularproblem. Things we use vary from candles to be lit, oils madewith scents, stones to remind us, flower beds, clothes, kerchiefs,paintings, poems, songs, anything that can trigger our consciousand subconscious to deal adequately with problems that come up indaily life.