This is by no means all the words, terms, and tools used but is a good start.
Dictionary of Terms and Tools used by various Pagans
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a certain word.
This is by no means all the words, terms, and tools used but is a good start.
Aboriginal: The native pagan tradition of particulair region. Usually thought of as Australian.
Akasha: The fifth element. Often the center of the pentegram. The all powerfull that is of everything. The original energy, the birthing of the other four elements.
Alchemy: A specific form of magic using chemical and incatations with the ultimate formual and spell being the ability to turn lead into gold.
Alexandrian Witches: Modern Witches who follow the teachings and use the Book of
Shadows composed by Alex Sanders. This tradition combines the teachings of the Hebrew
Kaballah and those of Anglo-Celtic witchcraft.
Alignment: to make in a line or to merge with, to be in balance. Often refering to planets
coming into alingment with each other or other astonomical bodies
Amulet: A magically charged or blessed object which gathers or repels certain types of
energies depending on what the aumulet was charged to do. Has a specific purpose.
Aspect: A part of a larger whole like the Triple Goddess being the maiden, the lady and
the crone.
Asperger: used to sprinkle water or oils in rituals it has holes or fingers so it will
lightly sprinkle
Astral Plane: Depending on cultural views the Astral plane consists of several levels, one
of which we enter while dreaming. The astral plane is at a different vibrational level
than our reality so we can travel to it at will during times of astral projection.
Astral Projection: To project and walk on the astral plane - often refered to as Out
of Body Experiences.
Astral Temple: The place of ritual working that is created in the astral realm, or
imagination, be repeated intense acts of
visualization and meditation. The true temple of which the material temple is only a
reflection.
Astrology: The art of revealing the future behavior and lives of people at a given time
and place on Earth, by the placement and
movements of astronomical objects such as stars and planets. Not all witches use
astrology.
Athame:/Asthame/Arthana: This is a ceremonial knife, usually a daggar with two edges. Your
asthame is used in ceremnoy and for all things associated with cutting for making spells,
or preparing materials such as herbs. Used to cut and cast a circle for magical purposes.
The chalice being feminie the knife being masculine the knife is dipped in chalice for
representation of both sexes. Also used to direct and point power in a direction.
Balefire: A fire lit for magical purposes, usually outdoors. Balefires are traditional on Yule, Beltane and Midsummer.
Bane: That which destroys life: poisonous, dangerous, destructive, evil. The term also
includes negative habits as well as threats of all kinds.
Beltane: A Wiccan/Pagan festival celebrated on April 30th or May 1st (traditions vary).
Beltane is also known as May Eve, Roodmas, Walpurgis Night, Cethsamhain, etc. Beltane
celebrates the symbolic union, mating or marriage of the Goddess and God, and links
in with the approaching summer months.
Binding: The action to magickally restrain someone or something.
Book of Shadows: The rules and rituals of witches. A magical diary. A collection of
spells.
Censer: An incense burner.
Chakras: Seven major chakras, 6 inside and one outside the body, that are energy points
with specific meanings and atunements to the phsyical body. Using chakra centers can
increase power or cure phsyical ailments.
Chanting: Rhythmic saying of words, like a short song
Corn Dolly: A figure, often human-shaped, created by plaiting dried wheat or other
grains. It represented the fertility of the Earth and the Goddess in early European
agricultural rituals and is still used today. Corn dollies aren't made from cobs or husks;
corn originally referred to any grain other than maize and still does in most
English-speaking countries except the United States.
Curse: A conscious direction of negative energy twoard a person, place or thing. Contrary
to popular belief, curses are rare and usually have no effect. Also known as psychic
attack.
Coven: A group of Witches or Wiccans with a system of hiaracry and inition. To practice in
a group
Craft: Witchcraft
Directions: North, South, East and West
Divination: Runes, tarot, astrology for example - the art of telling from use of tools.
The magickal art of discovering the unknown through interpretation of seemingly
random patterns or symbols, including the use of tools such as clouds, tarot cards, flames
and smoke. Divination contacts the Psychic mind by tricking or drowsing the Conscious mind
through ritual and by observing or manipulating tools. Many practitioners of Natural
magick perform divination before a ritual to gain a true insight into the condition.
Divine Power: Spirit, 'God', the ultimate force, ULEK, life force, unconditional
spiritual love of All
Druidism: Ancient Celtic order of bairds, educated priests that kept studies and religion
not in written but in verbal stories
Earth Power: The energy that exists within stones, herbs, flames, wind, streams and
other natural objects. In magick, Earth power is combined with personal power.
Elements: Air, Fire, Earth, and Water. The four elements of the directions
Elemental Spirit: Thought of as elemantal Fae spirits like the Earth (Gnome) Water
(Undine), Fire (Salamander) and Air (Sylph)
Empowerment: Taking control over your life including the responsibility for all actions.
It is doing, walking the talk.
Enchant: To chant words of power or majic, to cast a magical spell, use of
recited words often so quickly or quietly they sound mumbled.
Energy: A general term for the currently unmeasurable (but real) power that exists
within all natural objects and
beings--including our own bodies. Ancient Hawaiians knew it as "mana" and it has
been given many other names. This energy ultimately stems from the divine source of all
that exists. It is the powerhouse, the fuel, of all forms of Magick, spirituality, and
religion.
Evocation: To purposly call up spirits or energy forces
Familiar: Usually an animal in phsyical form that is a spirit of friendship and
assistance in that body of the phsyical. This can be bird, cat, dog, or other animals
Fate: Destiny perhaps. The end to part of the path - an outcome
Gardnerian Witches: Wiccans. These are the modern witches who follow the wiccan teachings
created by Gerald B.
Gardner.
Gods - Goddesses: Immortal energy/spirits/entities who control and have power over lesser
forces.
Grimoire: Like a Book of Shadows. Contains ritual information, formulas, spells, herb
information, and how to prepare and use ritual equipment.
Grounding: To be connected to the earth, grounded within yourself. To be one within the
self, empowered and full of energy. Some take grounding to extreme to temporarily
shutting down Psychic awareness.
Handfasting: A Pagan wedding / ceremony of love and commitment to each other.
Heptagram: A star of seven points drawn with a single, unbroken, reflecting line. Its
points are related to the seven traditional planets of astrology.
Hexagram: Shield of David/Jewish symbol. Often used to invoke and expel powers and spirits
of the seven planets. Formed by overlapping two equilateral triangles
High Magic: Ceremonial magic involving the actions of gods or spirits. The Greeks called
it theurgy, which literally means "god work".
Higher Self: Your truw spiritual self. The Christ consciences. The purest part of
you without pretense. The real you, not who you may think you are.
Humors: Four elemental qualities (blood, phlegm, choler, and melancholy) that make up the
human body. When in balance you are healthy - imbalance creates sickness.
Initiate: A person who has undergone, or is about to undergo, the primary rite of entry
into a pagan organization.
Intelligence: Benign spirits of considerable energy usually said to reside in the other
world
Invisibility: Some hold that shifting your vibrational level will make you
invisible. Ability to see angels, spirits, Fae, gnomes and such are from being able to
shift to thier vibration or them allowing a shift to your vibration.
Invocation: A prayer
Kahuna: A practitioner of the old Hawaiian philosophical, scientific and magical system.
Karma: In Sanskrit karma means "action", Hindu philosophy. Karma is cause
and effect. Sooner or later, in this life or another each good action is repaid by
good and each bad action by bad.
Lamen: Originally a plate of metal upon which magic names or symbols were inscribed,
usually worn around the neck during ritual.
Lucid Dreaming: OBEs - controling your dreams or to have an out of body experience. To travel on the astral plane
Magical Name: A name given to an initiate, or chosen by the one who is self-initiated, to signify the death of the old life and the birth into the magical life.
Magickal Voice; A strong, sure voice, free of doubt and insecurity. In some cases, the
magickal voice may also be a forced, powerful whisper.
Meditation: A state of mind and body to allow spiritual and phsyical control and
connectivity.
Natural Magick: The practice of using personal power in conjunction with earth power to
cause needed change.
Magick is a positive, loving, transformitive process.
Ogham: A magical alphabet of the Celts composed of 20 letters called fews, each standing
for a different kind of tree. Made up of short vertical or diagonal strokes set against or
across a horizontal line.
Pagan: Followers of a nature-based religion.
Pendulum: The motions of a pendulum, a small weight at the end of a short length of thread
or fine chain, are sometimes used to communicate with spirits, to check out the balance of
the chakras, and to gauge energy flow.
Pentacle: A symbolic diagram, usually circular in shape, that is inscribed, painted or
engraved with a five pointed star
(pentagram). It is used as a symbol for protection.
Pentagram: A five pointed star, always drawn with one point upward. An interlaced five
pointed star. Also called the pentalpha because it can be formed by five capital A's.
The pentagram is rich in symbolism: the five senses, the elements combined with
Akasha; the hand, the human body, the element of Earth and money, among other things. It
has been used in magick, ususally for protection, for at least 2,000 years. Today it is
often also frequently associated with Wicca. Through misinformation or the transmission of
outright lies, the pentagram is sometimes believed to be a symbol of Satanism. It has
never possessed this symbolism, and still doesn't, save in the minds of those that would
twist and pervert its true meaning for their own benefit.
Personal Power: The energy that sustains our bodies. We first absorb it from our
biological mother within the
womb, and later from food, water, sunlight and other natural objects and sources. We
release personal power
during physical movement, exercise, sex, conception, childbirth, emotion, thought and
Magick.
Projective Hand: The useful or talented hand, usually the one used for writing, through
which personal power is
sent from the body during magick.
Receptive Hand: The opposite of the projective hand, through which outside energies are
absorbed into the body
during magick.
Reflexology: Using the merdians and minor chakra points, by massaging certain points
on the hands or feet, therapeutic effects are assumed for the internal organs and other
parts of the body that are connected to these points via the nervous system.
Reincarnation: The rebirth of human souls into other bodies, either human or animal, after
death.
Ritual: From Pagan practices to Catholic mass it is a formalized series of actions
both mental and physical by which magical potency is released and directed toward the
fulfillment of a specific desire.
Runes: Angular glyphs used both as magical symbols and as letters of writing by the
ancient peoples of northern Europe.
Sabbat: A gathering for the purpose of worship. A major religious celebration.
(French)Sabbat from (Latin)Sabbatum from (Greek)sabbaton from (Hebrew)shabbath
"rest". A day of rest and worship. Esbat is a romance-language word meaning
'sabbath'. We differentiate between major events, calling them Sabbats; and minor events,
calling them Esbats; but the actual meaning of both words is the same. The original source
of this word is found in two major passages in the Jewish scriptures. In Exodus 20:10 it
is sanctified because Yahweh had rested on the 7th day of creation, but probably more
important is Leviticus 23:2 in which the Sabbath is set aside as a special day devoted to
gatherings for worship. However, it isn't clear why a religion that started in
Northwestern Europe is using a Hebrew term.
Sacred Circle: The Scared Circle is basically the same construction of a circle for worship practices that has been used by almsot every pagan cultrue through the spans of time. The circle is a power symbol as it shows there is no begining and no end, that life is a cycle, always changing but always continuing. Celtic Paganism is the second oldest spiritual concept that is still practiced today; with a principle of 'everything being one' with no seperate dieties concept of ULEK being the first. In both thoughts that have lasted thousands of years, the circle is extremely important. The Medicine Wheel used by Native American's is basically the same construction as the Pagan Sacred Circle. There are common elements that all pagans use such as the four directions and the center of power within a circle. A circle is a place of power and to some a place of protection. Although most pagans do not beleive in 'evil', protection is seen as a place of grounding so that during spirit work you always have a safe home base where you can re-enter this reality and have time to re-adjust to the vibrations of reality.
Scrying: The process of gazing at or into an object ( a pool of water, flames,
reflections) to still the conscious mind
and to contact the psychic mind, to create psychic awareness.
Shamanism: A higher developed practioner of a nature based culture who communicates with
the spirit world, animal world, and this phsyical world using herbs and symbols to help
others - generally in health issues of the mind, body, and spirit.
Shape-Shifting: Ability to assume the forms of animals or other human beings with the soul
while it is astrally projected from the body. Shape shifting into your animal totem allows
greater understanding of the lessons.
Skyclad: Naked. Sweat lodges and some ceremonies are done natural, being clad only by the
sky
So Mote It Be: An affirmation that ends many chants and magickal rhymes. This has been
in common usage for
many years. A transliteration might be: "So must it be."
Spirits: Self aware beings that lack a physical body consiting only of energies.
Symbol: A sign or object that represents something
Synchronicity: Carl G. Jung used to describe the meaningful coincidence of events that
have no discernible casual
connection. Luck is an example of synchronicity.
Tarot: A set of divining cards, most commonly 78 in number
Third Eye: The sixth chakra. An imaginary eye located on the forehead between the eyebrows
Transmutation: The work of alchemy, changing of base things no precious things,
Base metal is transmuted into gold,
common liquid into the elixir of life, and the ordinary soul into the soul of an
enlightened being.
Unmanifest: The unknowable source of existence. It is deity stripped of all attributes,
equivalent to the Tao of the Chinese philosopher Lao-tse, the Unground of Jacob Boehme,
and the Ain Soph of the Kabbalah.
Virtues: The magical potency or efficacy of herbs, stones, animals, and other things
impressed upon them through the stars at the time of their creation by the deities.
Visualisation - The practice of imagining a place, person, thing, or event with unusual
clarity and intensity. The process of forming mental images. Magickal visualization
consists of forming images of the practitioner's need during ritual. Visualization is also
used to direct personal power and other forms of energy for various purposes during
magick.
Wicca: A tradition of witchcraft created in 1900s by Gerald B. Gardner. Anglo-Saxon
word meaning "wise one".
Witchcraft: A religion centered around the dual worship of the Goddess, a female supreme
deity, and a God, a male supreme deity. Witches venerate the life forces in nature and
seek to be in tune with natural cycles. Witchcraft is not Satanism.
Wita/Witta: Pronounced Weed-ah. The witchcraft tradition of Celtic Ireland/Scotland. The
term Wita is a Gaelicised version of the older Anglo-Saxon word Wicca. The term Witta is a
Gaelic-ised version of the older Anglo-Saxon word Wicca.
Wizard: A name sometimes applied to male Ceremonial Magicians, but rarely to pagans unless
they are part of the secretive Elven tradition which uses this label freely. From Middle
English wys wise, a wise man. One skilled in magic. A very clever or skillful person.
Notice that the root meaning wise is wys, not wicca. It has nothing directly to do with
witches (though we might hope otherwise). The modern usage of "the long-haired geek
who can perform miracles with the computer network" is entirely in keeping with the
historical meaning.
Womanspirit: A feminist tradition of the craft which focuses exclusively on female
deities.
Word of Power: A word or name, often unintelligible, that is supposed to carry magic
power.
World Tree: The great tree at the axis of the world that was believed in shamanism to hold
up the heavens with its branches and provide the framework for the entire universe.
Warlock: An incorrect term for a male witch used mostly by popular culture.
Whether this is incorrect depends on how you define witch. Warlock is from Middle English
warloghe, from Old English waerloga one that breaks faith, the Devil from waer faith or
troth + loga to lie. In later usage it means a man practicing the black arts. The original
meaning was oath breaker and was used as a title for Satan or a human who broke his word.
It later became associated with witches because witches were thought to consort with
Satan. This, of course, is incorrect by modern standards.
Zen: Buddhist tradition where connection with divinity and total inner-peace is attained
through an altered state of consciousness and a lack of distracting thoughts.