The Solitary Wiccan's Bible: Finding Your Guides, Walking the Paths, Entering New Realms, Practicing Magic

INTRODUCTION

This book uses the metaphor of a solitary pilgrim walking a path and discovering natural and spiritual truths along the way. We have written it so that people from all walks of life, of every color, and of every religion may understand the basics of this new mundane and spiritual path.

We have tried diligently to use clear and concise language so that everyone may understand what changes can manifest in their lives when they walk the pilgrim path of Wicca with open eyes, open hearts, and open minds. The purpose here is not to enlist but to inform.

SOLITARY OR GROUP

When seekers enroll as students in the School of Wicca, for various reasons 95 percent of them are solitary seekers and practitioners. Some are incarcerated; some are captive in family situations without the freedom to deviate from orthodox beliefs. Some feel that their job would be at risk if their interest in Wicca became known. Most enrollees live in small apartments in cities. All of this means that we have a good deal of experience counseling people who have had to follow their spiritual path alone and in semisecret circumstances.

Yes, it is indeed wonderful when you can work with even one other person, and exhilarating when you can join with a group of like-minded individuals to thrash out matters of belief and practice. But the reality is that most people exploring Wicca are doing it on their own. Nevertheless, when books began to appear on solitary practice, screams of anguish were audible within the community. People shrieked, Solitary is not the right path! It's not Wiccan!

Well, we have news for the self-appointed Wiccan fundamentalist religious police. Wicca is a solitary path, a path to understanding and to awareness. It has never been anything else. The reason is quite simple: The awareness and the growth that you experience are inside you. They are not inside someone else, nor are they out there. They are your own growth and development—entirely personal, entirely empirical. Have someone else do your spiritual growth for you? You might as well pay someone to do aerobics on your behalf.

ALONE TOGETHER

The seeker on a pilgrim path treads it alone. He may have a companion. He may meet a group in the hostel at night where, at least in the early days of the pilgrimage, evening activity consists largely in comparing the basics: the foot salves. Yet he is alone in his search for enlightenment.

It is the same in Wicca. It's great to compare methods of working and ritual, to grasp the underlying truth of a particular ritual system—but it is only the outward symptom of being on the path. It is not the internal growth, understanding, and awareness that we all need and seek.

If you go to Spain and travel the ancient pilgrim path to Santiago de Compostela deep into the country, you begin to notice others walking in the same direction. Their attire shows both their dedication to the path and a wide range of nationalities. Those who are learned in the ways of pilgrims carry a staff and wear a broad-brimmed hat, hiking boots, and a voluminous cloak. Everyone bears the outward sign of the pilgrimage: the cockleshell. When you get to the nightly rest stops, they are often full to overflowing; the scattered few have become a crowd.

In the same way, out in the real world you may have seen only a few people wearing a pentagram and may have come to believe that only a handful of like-minded people think as you do. When you go to a Pagan/Wiccan festival, suddenly you see hundreds if not thousands of pentagrams. Here, too, you see a wide variety of costumes worn by people from every stratum of society and every ethnic background.

Wicca is the fastest-growing spiritual path in the Western world. At last count well over a half million adherents were willing to be recognized. It is quite probable that another half million still linger in the broom closet, unwilling to face the rigors of coming out. However many there are, it is a very large number. All these people have come home to Wicca. This means that we are a larger body of believers than are many sects within the Christian cult.¹

You may have sensed that your ideas of the reality in which we all live are different from conventional ways of thinking, and perhaps you have been regarded as a little odd. Within Wicca you can surely find someone with ideas similar to your own. Nowadays in every city, town, village, and hamlet there are like-minded people with whom you can talk. This does not necessarily mean that you would join or form a group, but in time of need there is a support group out there who can help. If for personal reasons you are still deep in the broom closet, then we encourage you to go incognito to one of the hundreds of festivals around the world, where you find that there are other seekers.

YOUR GUIDES

Everyone who sets out to explore a new road through life needs a guide or a mentor. This book is your mentor. Your authors have the experience to guide you on a true path. We have lived by and taught the principles of Wicca for a total of more than eighty years. In that time we have formally taught more than fifty thousand students, and we have counseled by mail and e-mail more than five million querents around the world.

In 1968 we founded the Church and School of Wicca in an effort to correct widespread misinformation about Wicca. Attacked because of fear in the Christian community, we have successfully defended our spiritual path against bombers, bullets, the IRS, postal inspectors, and prison authorities. In a minor triumph in 1986 a federal appeals court declared the Craft to be a legitimate religion.² The School of Wicca has been gathering information for more than thirty-five years. Not only have we gathered information, but in addition we have asked our students to perform various tests. The Church now possesses the largest body of knowledge on Wicca in the world. From that vast databank, we have written twenty-seven books and eight lecture series.

Gavin was initiated as a thirty-second-degree Witch³ in 1951, and is one of the few Western Witches to wear the old-fashioned spirit-through-fire scar on his wrist.

Yvonne too is an initiated Witch (1968) and is an accomplished healer who has healed many people and animals, both privately and before TV cameras.

Your authors are thus uniquely qualified to guide you in following your Wyrd, your Inner Light. When we founded the Church and School in 1968, there were no books on Wicca. No one had used the word Wicca as a name for an alternative spiritual path, let alone proposed to define or articulate what the name might signify. Yes, we owe a great debt to those who went before, but in general we had to start on our pilgrimage without a guidebook.

In our very first popular published book⁴ we said that any positive spiritual path should be acceptable to Wiccans. That may have been an error. Its effect has been that many people call themselves Wiccans without any knowledge of the underlying spiritual precepts or tenets of the Wiccan path.

Today instead of the empty shelves of yore where books on the Craft might have stood, we see a mushroom cloud of books. Many of them, unfortunately, appeal to those who read the popular press, promising enlightenment on a fast-track, instant basis—what we call drive-through or tour-bus Wicca. Of course that suits many who have fallen into the instant-gratification Buy now, pay later syndrome.

Sometimes we think of that cloud of books as resembling a hot-air balloon. The balloon boasts pretty pictures on its tissue-thin envelope, but there is no substance behind the envelope, only hot air. Most of those writers are merely trying to portray their single epiphanies or—worse—ones they have only read about. However, when we see the balloon floating free with its pretty pictures, we may look past it to see the Moon and the celestial vault. Then we realize that beyond the pretty pictures lies the glorious vault of the heavens and truth, waiting to be explored.

Scholars are gradually producing more worthwhile works, especially on the historic aspects of this alternative spiritual path. As the Wiccan community gains more respect with the general public, slowly a literature of Wicca is being produced that does not insult its readers with unsubstantiated claims and factual errors.

THE SKEPTICAL WICCAN

Often Wiccan wisdom is not susceptible to scientific analysis. Much of it is of an intuitive, nonevidential nature. Herein lies a great problem for the newcomer, because Wicca has been a magnet for thousands of mountebanks, scam artists, sexual predators, and a range of other selfish individuals, each with their own agenda. Wicca is bedeviled by charlatans—yet the writing of even charlatans may occasionally conceal a hidden truth. We cannot warn you too emphatically that at all times you need, as Yvonne says, to keep fresh batteries in your bull-shit detector. Don't shift your thinking mind into neutral just because you hear someone gasp the word occult. Stay skeptical.

Wicca accepts the majority of spiritual beliefs—provided those beliefs are on a positive developmental path that harms none. Precisely because of its wide acceptance of such a range of beliefs, there is no Wiccan Better Business Bureau. When you hear fabulous claims, ask yourself, Cui bono? (Whom will this benefit?) Remind yourself too of another useful Latin phrase, caveat emptor (Let the buyer beware).

There are at least three sources against which you can check and verify the validity of assorted claims.

1. Historic writing. There is an amazing amount of occult writing on Wiccan-type experiences. Some of it dates from ancient Sumeria, Babylon, and Egypt; some from the Roman period; and some from more modern sources. In our experience, if the claimed procedures and facts are in general agreement with the ancient writings, then their validity is strengthened. When the claims diametrically oppose older work or demand that you simply subordinate your rational mind to the allegations of another individual, you should treat them with the utmost skepticism, especially if they are based on a single person's ipse dixit (believe it because I say it) experience.

Between these two extremes fall procedures that wrench around the historic material until the manipulator can claim an ostensible fit. Here it may simply be that two descriptions, each valid in its own way, are written from entirely different world-views; or it may be that this is indeed new and valid information. We often see descriptions of a new and different system that, when analyzed, turns out to be a repackaging in modern terminology of an older valid experience.

2. Modern-day experiences reported by observers from around the globe who are not selling a new system but have genuinely discovered a better way. An interesting phenomenon in occultism is what Brad Steiger has called the seed cloud of ideas. Writers experience this phenomenon all the time. They get an idea, but they sit on it and write the story perhaps months later—only to learn that someone else has recently published the identical plot line. Scientists, as well, find that suddenly the same research is being carried out in two labs continents apart.

3. The School of Wicca constitutes a remarkable source of occult and Wiccan material. Having taught more than fifty thousand students worldwide and receiving hundreds of thousands of letters every year, we can see patterns. Not only that, but when we have an idea, we can assign a large number of students to test its validity. As an example of this, when there was a question on casting circles, our students cast nearly five thousand circles. The feedback from that work has led to some very solid occult (and perhaps scientific) results for specific sizes and constructions. Because students ask us endless questions on the validity of ideas they have heard, we must perforce know what we are talking about and must be able to present valid backup for our claims.⁵

WHAT IS WICCA?

We are often asked, What is the difference between Witchcraft and Wicca? Writers (including ourselves) tend to use the two words interchangeably. Wicca is simply a modern spiritual path that has been called witchcraft by fulminating Christians. We do have a few tenuous links to the old-time Witches; but those links are indeed difficult to prove, since most who were burnt were Christians.

In 1968 Yvonne and I published a set of tenets and precepts in The Witch's Bible. At that time there were no other (public) Wiccans, or at least none who had announced themselves. Four years later in Minneapolis, some six hundred leaders gathered and put together the Principles of Wiccan Belief. That manifesto is reproduced in appendix one. Unfortunately it does not tell clearly what Wicca is. Today a definition might be simplified into: a new positive spiritual path based not on one tradition, but on a composite system derived from diverse sources.

We alternative people value diversity, and we gain strength through diversity. Just as the diversity of the United States gives it its great inner strength, so the diversity among Wiccans means that we continually progress as new ideas are formulated, discussed, and found valid. No two Wiccans are likely to agree on the fine details of their beliefs.

Because of this acceptance of diversity, you can make your own system of Wicca that is biased in any way you please—provided only that it is positive, harming none.

The Church of Wicca's own definition of Wicca can be found in appendix two. It, too, allows you wide latitude in the structure of your personal belief system. The one statement that became a byword in the early days and is still maintained as a truism is: I have the one and only right and true path—for me! A corollary of the statement means that a genuine Wiccan does not ever criticize another's belief system, provided the system is positive.

Another question is, Are you pagan? The answer here is, "It depends on what you mean by pagan. If you mean one who honors nature and her god-esses,⁶ the answer is ‘Yes.' If you mean one who makes love to a pasture, the answer is ‘No.'"

Let this book serve as your guide for a journey into Wicca.

CHAPTER ONE

THE PILGRIMAGE OF WICCA

The pilgrim sets out on a journey of outward and inward discovery and returns forever changed, eternally empowered and inspired. We invite you to take such a pilgrimage into Wicca. If you are a true pilgrim, we promise that you will return similarly changed and reinvigorated, with a new way of looking at the world and yourself.

The pilgrimage we propose will be based on the ancient symbology of the Pentagram enclosed in the triple circle. As you cross the circles you will move from the Wilderness through the Home realm and the Astral realm, to achieve the central Spiritual realm. This may be likened to moving from outside a cathedral, through the nave, past the altar rail, and then into the sanctuary behind the altar. The circles are a Wiccan church.¹

Your reason for taking such a pilgrimage must be a real force in your life; for as you proceed you may face dangers that range from the derision of family and friends to actual physical danger from those who cannot rise above infantile programming. The latter group grows smaller with each passing year, but it still exists. You will not face psychic danger because the methods we recommend have been extensively researched and have proven safe.

A SUMMER WALK

In high summer, Biarritz in the south of France still retains reminders of the glitz of its famous past. It still embodies Western materialistic society. This is your starting place.

A few kilometers south and back into the mountains lies another tourist-trap town, St-Jean-Pied-de-Porte. Here avoiding the main road we can find an inconspicuous path that leads away from the superficial tourist souvenirs and the bargain-hunters' paradise. As you walk that path, a few kilometers out of town the world abruptly changes. You are on the old pilgrim way to Santiago de Compostela, where hundreds of thousands of pilgrim feet have trodden. The air is quiet.² The sky is near, and snow-capped mountains rise splendidly in the distance.

Paradoxically, the pilgrim path to Compostela that you tread today is newly refurbished with fresh markers and signposts, with a new surface to walk on; so it is now difficult to get lost or to wander into byways. We can't help feeling that in some ways this has made the pilgrimage less meaningful. The path used to be very much like exploring Wicca: You could wander off, later unexpectedly rediscovering it. Likewise, the vast array of information available today on Wicca sometimes tempts you into byways, and at other times points you back to the true pilgrim path.

This book is an attempt to introduce you to another realm of the reality where we all exist—an attempt to remove you from the glitz of modern life, back into nature and back to a world where you depend on yourself, not on the amount of money in your wallet.

Imagine yourself as a pilgrim. You start in the same condition as the souvenir hunters in St-Jean-Pied-de-Porte, overwhelmed by the variety, the clamor, the garish colors, and, yes, the tawdriness of much that is on offer. With persistence you find the path you seek. As you walk from France over the Pyrenees into Spain, you see much cast-off detritus of civilization. First it's candy wrappers and empty aluminum cans. Then these diminish and you start to come across heavier artifacts that pilgrims have decided not to carry up the slopes.

You, too, discard ideas, assumptions, and thought patterns—the detritus of busy stuff that you find no longer necessary or relevant. The various parts of your life shift in their order of importance. The pilgrim often finds that the most important things in life are his shoes. You, too, may suddenly find that apparently small things are now of great importance. The clamor of the world fades into insignificance beside the pain of muscles unaccustomed to climbing hills. A blistered heel replaces concern over how to pay off the credit card charges; reading an esoteric text overrides the impulse to watch the Super Bowl. All this may happen to you before you get to the first overnight hostel less than ten miles along your way. Similarly, Wiccan pilgrims often enjoy their first epiphany within hours of setting out on this metaphorical journey.

Think now what can happen to you as you walk the rest of the almost five hundred miles toward your shining goal, Compostela, the symbol of a new life of awareness. The pilgrimage takes you over rugged terrain, through lonely mountain passes, along rushing rivers, and among the temptations of modern towns with their easy life. You meet people who have taken the tour bus and walked a few miles on the path. They tell you they know now what it means, and they may believe their own claims; but they delude themselves.

YOUR SPIRAL PILGRIM PATH

The chart of your pilgrimage, like an ancient map, shows areas labeled Terra Incognita³ and Here Be Dragons. The path we have chosen for you does not venture into unknown territory, and it assiduously avoids dragons. It is based on the Wiccan symbol of a pentagram enclosed in a triple circle. Though today you are probably outside the outer circle, soon you will pass inward to traverse the other circles. Passing each circle marks for you a new level of understanding. It is customary to mark each passage with a ritual, which some call initiations. With our aid you can construct for yourself suitable and memorable solitary rituals.

At some phase of your development pilgrimage you may want to experience working with another person or a group. Groups will not usually accept solitary initiations as valid reasons for admitting a stranger. If that is true of the one you propose to join, you will either have to submit to the group's rituals, stay solitary, or form your own group. Later in this chapter we discuss compromise initiatory paths offered by the directors of the Church of Wicca that will admit you to some of our circles.

After you pass the circle barriers (the metaphorical mountains) in chapter three, we lead you around the points of the Pentagram to end at its center, which is Deity. This path can never be direct: There are no shortcuts. Many Wiccans liken it to a spiral of development. It should grow in you as does the natural spiral contained in such things as the nautilus shell or the ram's horn you might find beside the road.

LAYERS OF MEANING AND AWARENESS

As you study Wicca you find that many things have layers of meaning not apparent to the outsider. Very soon now, as you investigate the triple circle, you will perceive layers of new meaning. In many mundane experiences and sayings you will find hints of the old ways.

In 1816 Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote the following verse as a part of his mystical poem Kublai Khan:

Weave a circle round him thrice,

And close your eyes with holy dread,

For he on honey-dew hath fed

And drunk the milk of Paradise.

Here you see that in 1816 people were certainly acquainted both with the triple-circle symbol and with the use of mead (a fermented honey wine)—yet an outsider reading Kublai Khan would regard the verse as just a pleasing rhyme. Within Wicca itself, similarly, there are often hidden meanings whose significance is apparent only to the initiate.

THE SIX DIRECTIONS

Any time you look around, you can gaze in hundreds, if not thousands, of different directions. In Wicca we normally think of the cosmos around us as capable of being defined in six mundane (physical) directions plus Time. These six directions are the four points of the compass familiar to everyone, along with Up and Down. Time itself is thought of not as a direction but rather as a dimension.

As an illustration let's look closely at the East. To a Wiccan, East means new beginnings. This ancient association is universal because the Sun rises in the east to begin another new day. In Europe, East is also the direction of air and of sylphs (the elementals of air). In the Greco-Roman pantheon, it would be Venus and Aphrodite, who are associated with creation. When you think of air, do you have in mind the air you breathe? Is it a gentle breeze? Is it a hurricane? Is it the humid air of summer, or the dry, cold air of winter? Is it life itself? Possible associations are nearly endless. The levels of meaning go on and on. When you face east to honor air in all its forms, you could probably honor it in at least a hundred ways. Thus you can see that many meanings may be assigned just to East.

There are meanings behind meanings, all hidden behind ordinary mundane words. Table 1 shows some of the layers of meaning that Wiccans associate with the six directions.

TABLE 1. BASIC MEANINGS OF THE SIX DIRECTIONS

As you exchange ideas with other Wiccans, you will find they may have slightly different interpretations of the hidden meanings of East. This lets you both reconsider your own ideas and break away from stereotyped thinking. Diversity leads to reflection, which should lead to discussion and growth. Regrettably, inevitably, you will meet a few people who have closed minds; these individuals descend too quickly into personal attacks on anyone whose ideas vary from their own.

The directions given in the table with their associations are typical, but not cast in concrete. Too many Wiccans continue thoughtlessly to use traditional European associations, even those who work south of the Equator in the antipodes, where at least north and south should be interchanged. There are more subtle problems in