Tag: mysteries
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Cakes and Wine: The Witches’ Communion
The ritual of Cakes and Wine (also called Cakes and Ale or the Simple Feast) seems like it was ripped directly from the Christian Eucharist. And to a certain extent, it was. The early practitioners of Wicca were brought up in the Church of England, where weekly Communion is a hallmark of the faith. But…
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Revealing the Mysteries: Open-Sourcing the Craft
Wicca is an experiential religion. For a long time, this meant that people didn’t talk about the mysteries central to its practice. There are a variety of arguments for this. First, some people believe that talking about the Mysteries, or the experiential truths that practitioners become aware of through practice and initiatory rites, cheapens them…
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The Summerland: Understanding the Wiccan Afterlife
Paganism in general isn’t concerned with the afterlife. We know there is a life after death, and another, and another, in the cycle of reincarnation. But Wiccans have the concept of a place of rest between lives, called the Summerland. But what is the Summerland, and how can you rest there and also reincarnate? Body,…
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The Three Great Mysteries: Uncovering the Secrets of Magick
The Second Degree Initiation ritual in the Gardnerian Book of Shadows contains a priestly monologue in which the initiate is instructed about the Mysteries of Life: “For there be three great mysteries in the life of man — love, death, and resurrection in a new body — and magic controls them all. To fulfill love…
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The Fivefold Kiss: Understanding the Controversial Blessing
The Fivefold Kiss is a blessing ritual first seen in the Gardnerian First Degree Initiation. It involves the priestess or priest (of the opposite gender polarity of the initiate) to kneel and kiss five points on the initiate’s body: the feet, the knees, the groin, the breast, and the lips. He then kneels at her…