In Wicca, we seek to strengthen our bodies, minds, and souls. We certainly live full, productive, earthly lives, but we try to do so while harming none, the antithesis of competition, intimidation, and looking out for number one.
The soul is ageless, sexless, nonphysical, possessed of the divine spark of the Goddess and God. Each manifestation of the soul (i.e., each body it inhabits on earth) is different. No two bodies or lives are the same. If this wasn’t so, the soul would stagnate. The sex, race, place of birth, economic class, and every other individuality of the soul is determined by its actions in past lives and the lessons necessary to the present.
This is of utmost importance in Wiccan thought: we decide the lay of our lives. There’s no god or curse or mysterious force of fate upon which we can thrust the responsibility for the trials in our lives. We decide what we need to learn in order to evolve, and then, it is hoped, during incarnation, work toward this progress. If not, we regress into darkness.
As an aid in learning the lessons of each life, a phenomenon exists that has been called karma. Karma is often misunderstood. It is not a system of rewards and punishments, but a phenomenon that guides the soul toward evolving actions. Thusly, if a person performs negative actions, negative actions will be returned.Good brings good. With this in mind, there’s little reason to act negatively.
Karma means action, and that’s how it works. It is a tool, not a punishment. There’s no way one can “wipe out” karma, and neither is every seemingly terrible event in our lives a byproduct of karma.
We learn from karma only when we’re aware of it.Many look into their past lives to discover their mistakes, to uncover the problems inhibiting progress in this one. Trance and meditation techniques can help here, but true self-knowledge is the best means of accomplishing this.
Past-life regression can be a dangerous thing, for much self-delusion exists here. I can’t tell you how many Cleopatras, King Arthurs,Merlins, Marys,Nefertitis, and other famous persons of the past I’ve met walking around in high-top tennis shoes and jeans. Our conscious minds, seeking past incarnations, easily hold onto such romantic ideals.
If this becomes a problem, if you don’t wish to know your past lives, or lack the means to discover them, look at this life. You can learn everything of relevance about your past lives by examining this life. If you’ve cleared up problems in previous existences, they’re of no concern to you today. If you haven’t, the same problems will reappear, so look at this life.
At night, study your day’s action, noting both positive, helpful actions and thoughts, as well as the negative. Then look at the past week, the past year, the past decade. Refer to diaries, journals, or old letters if you’ve kept them to refresh your memory. Do you continually make the same mistakes? If so, vow to never repeat them in a ritual of your own design.
At your altar or shrine, you might write such mistakes on a piece of paper. Your entries could include negative emotions, fear, indulgence without balance, allowing others to control your life, endless love-obsessions with men or women who are indifferent to your feelings. As you write these, visualize yourself doing these things in the past, not the present.
Then, light a red candle. Hold the paper in its flame and throw it into a cauldron or some other heat-proof container. Scream or shout— or simply affirm to yourself—that such past actions are no longer a part of you.Visualize your future life devoid of such harmful, limiting, inhibiting behavior. Repeat the spell as necessary, perhaps on nights of the waning moon, to finalize the destruction of these negative aspects of your life.
If you ritualize your determination to progress in this life, your vow will vibrate with strength. When you’re tempted to fall into your old, negative modes of thinking or action, recall the ritual and overcome the urge with its power.
What happens after death? Only the body dies. The soul lives on. Some Wiccans say that it journeys to a realm variously known as the Land of the Faerie, the Shining Land, and the Land of the Young.
*
This realm is neither in heaven nor the underworld. It simply is—a nonphysical reality much less dense than ours. Some Wiccan traditions describe it as a land of eternal summer, with grassy fields and sweet flowing rivers, perhaps the earth before the advent of humans. Others see it vaguely as a realm without forms, where energy swirls coexist with the greatest energies—the Goddess and God in their celestial identities.
The soul is said to review the past life, perhaps through some mysterious way with the deities. This isn’t a judgment, a weighing of one’s soul, but an incarnational review. Lessons learned or ignored are brought to light.
After the proper time, when the conditions on earth are correct, the soul is reincarnated and life begins again.
The final question—what happens after the last incarnation?
Wiccan teachings have always been vague on this. Basically, the Wiccans say that after rising upon the spiral of life and death and rebirth, those souls who have attained perfection break away from the cycle forever and dwell with the Goddess and God. Nothing is ever lost. The energies resident in our souls return to the divine source from which they originally emanated.
Because of their acceptance of reincarnation, the Wicca don’t fear death as a final plunge into oblivion, the days of life on earth forever behind them. It is seen as the door to birth. Thus our very lives are symbolically linked with the endless cycles of the seasons that shape our planet.
Don’t try to force yourself to believe in reincarnation. Knowledge is far superior to belief, for belief is the way of the uninformed. It isn’t wise to accept a doctrine as important as reincarnation without a great deal of study to see if it speaks to you.
Also, though there may be strong connections with loved ones, be wary of the idea of soul mates, i.e., people you’ve loved in other lives and are destined to love again. Though your feelings and beliefs may be sincere, they aren’t always based on fact. In the course of your life you might meet five or six other people with whom you feel the same tie, despite your current involvement. Can they all be soul mates?
One of the difficulties of this concept is that if we’re all inextricably tied up with other persons’ souls, if we continue to incarnate with them, we’re learning absolutely nothing. Therefore, announcing that you’ve found your soul mate is rather akin to stating that you’re not progressing on the incarnational spiral.
*
One day you may know, not believe, that reincarnation is as real as a plant that buds, flowers, drops its seed, withers, and creates a new plant in its image. Reincarnation was probably first intuited by earlier peoples watching nature.
Until you’ve decided for yourself, you may wish to reflect upon and consider the doctrine of reincarnation.
*
These are Celtic terms. Some Wiccans call this place Summerland, which is a Theosophical term.
*
I realize I’m in dangerous water here again. Still, I’ve met many, many people who’ve made such announcements—only to tell me privately, “Boy, was I wrong.”
MOST
SHAMANIC
AND
magical religions utilize some sort of initiation ceremony whereby an outsider becomes a recognized member of the religion, society, group, or coven. Such rites also mark the new direction that the initiate’s life is taking.
Much has been made, publicly and privately, of Wiccan initiations. Each Wiccan tradition uses its own initiation ceremonies, which may or may not be recognized by other Wiccans. On one point, how-ever, most initiates agree: a person can be a Wiccan only if she or he has received such an initiation.
This brings up an interesting question: Who initiated the first Wiccan?
Most initiation ceremonies are nothing more than rites marking the acceptance of the person into a coven, and her or his dedication to the Goddess and God. Sometimes “power is passed” between the initiator and neophyte as well.
To a non-Wiccan, the initiation might seem to be a rite of conversion. This isn’t the case. Wicca has no need for such rites. We don’t condemn the deities with which we may have attuned before practicing Wicca, nor need we turn our backs on them.
The initiation ceremony (or ceremonies, since in many groups three successive rites are performed) is held to be of utmost importance to those Wiccan groups still practicing ritual secrecy. Surely anyone entering such a group should undergo an initiation, part of which consists of swearing never to reveal their secrets. This makes sense, and is a part of many coven initiations. But it isn’t the essence of initiation.
Many people have told me that they desperately need to undergo Wiccan initiation. They seem to believe that one cannot practice Wicca without this stamp of approval. If you’ve read this far, you know that such isn’t the case.
Wicca has been, up until the past decade or so, a closed religion, but no more. The inner components of Wicca are available to anyone who can read and understand the material. Wicca’s only secrets are its individual ritual forms, spells, names of deities, and so on.
This needn’t bother you. For every secret Wiccan ritual or Goddess name there are dozens (if not hundreds) of others published and readily available. At this moment, more Wiccan information has been released than ever before. While it once may have been a secret religion, today Wicca is a religion with few secrets.
*
Still, many cling to the idea of the necessity of initiation, probably thinking that with this magical act they’ll be granted the
secrets of the
universe
and
untold power.
To make things worse, some particularly narrow-minded Wiccans say that the Goddess and God won’t listen to anyone who isn’t an athame-carrying member of a coven.Many wouldbe Wiccans believe this.
It doesn’t work this way.
True initiation isn’t a rite performed by one human being upon another. Even if you accept the concept that the initiator is suffused with deity during initiation, it’s still just a ritual.
Initiation is a process, gradual or instantaneous, of the individual’s attunement with the Goddess and God. Many of the Wicca readily admit that the ritual initiation is the outer form only. True initiation will often occur weeks or months later, or prior to, the physical ritual.
Since this is so, “real”Wiccan initiation may take place years before the student contacts a Wiccan coven or teacher. Is this initiation less effective or less genuine because the person hasn’t gone through a formal ritual at the hands of another human being? Of course not.
Rest assured, it’s quite possible to experience a true Wiccan initiation without ever meeting another soul involved in the religion. You may even be unaware of it. Your life may gradually shift in focus until you realize that you notice the birds and clouds. You may gaze at the moon on lonely nights and talk to plants and animals. Sunset might bring a time of quiet contemplation.
Or you may change as the seasons change, adapting your body’s energies to match those of the natural world around you. The Goddess and God may sing in your thoughts, and you may perform rituals before actually realizing what you’re doing.
When the Old Ways have become a part of your life and your relationship with the Goddess and God is strong, when you have gathered your tools and performed the rites and magic out of joy, you are truly of the spirit and can rightly call yourself “Wiccan.”
This may be your goal, or you may wish to stretch yourself further, perhaps continuing your search for an instructor. This is fine. But if you never find one, you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing that you didn’t sit around waiting for the mysteries to fall into your lap. You’ll have worked the old magic and talked to the Goddess and God, reaffirming your commitment to the earth for spiritual evolvement, and transformed the lack of physical initiation into a positive stimulus to change your life and mode of thinking.
If you contact a teacher or coven, they’ll probably find you’re a student worthy of acceptance. But if you discover that you’re not suited to their style of Wicca, or if your personalities clash, don’t be crushed.You’ve still got your own Wicca to fall back upon as you continue your search.
This can be a lonely path, because so few of us follow the Old Ways. It’s disheartening to spend your time reverencing nature and watching the earth suffocating under tons of concrete while nobody seems to care.
To contact others of like mind, you may wish to subscribe to Wiccan publications and start correspondence with Wiccans around the country.
Continue to read new books as they’re published on both Wicca and the Goddess. Keep up on the happenings in the Wiccan world. Collect and write new rituals and spells. Wicca need never grow stale.
Many wish to formalize their life within Wicca with a self-initiation ceremony. I’ve included one in section II for those who feel the need for it. Again, this is simply one way to do this. Improvise if you so desire.
If you decide to invite friends and interested people to join your rites, don’t make them hang back and watch while you play “priestess” or “Witch.” Involve them.Make them a part of the rites and magic. Use your imagination and practical experience to integrate them into the rituals.
When you feel an insurmountable joy in watching the sunset or the moon rise, when you see the Goddess and God in trees marching along mountains or streams meandering through fields, when you feel the pulsating energies of the earth amidst a noisy city, you have received true initiation and are linked with the ancient powers and ways of the deities.
Some say, “Only a Wiccan can make a Wiccan.” I say only the Goddess and God can make a Wiccan. Who’s better qualified?
*
Some groups simply write their own “secret” Book of Shadows and restrict access to it. This does, indeed, ensure that it’s secret—but not older or better than any other.