Simple Wicca

PRAISE FOR SIMPLE WICCA

"Simple Wicca is a concise, easy to read and understand introduction to Wicca for both potential Wiccans and the curious. Michele Morgan has pulled together the essential elements of Wicca in a book that demystifies and opens new doors to knowledge and growth."

—Edain McCoy, author of Making Magick and Celtic Myth & Magick

"A lyrical, joyous, magickal glimpse into the heart of a spiritual path that has an ancient soul yet is forever young. Simple Wicca tells us what it feels like to reach out and touch the hands of the old gods of nature and what it is to know wonder again."

—Amber K, Priestess of Wicca, former National President of Covenant of the Goddess, author of True Magick and Covencraft

This edition first published in 2008 by

Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC

With offices at:

500 Third Street, Suite 230

San Francisco, CA 94107

www.redwheelweiser.com

Copyright © 2000 by Conari Press.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC. Reviewers may quote brief passages. Originally published in 2000 by Conari Press, ISBN: 1-57324-199-7.

Cover design: Kristine Brogno

Text design: Claudia Smelser

Cover photography: David Swain

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Morgan, Michele.

  Simple Wicca/Michele Morgan.

   p. cm.—(A Simple Wisdom Book)

  ISBN 978-1-57863-418-7

 1. Witchcraft. I. Title. II. Series.

 BF1566.M715 2000

 133.4'3—dc21

00-029499

Printed in the United States

MV

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials Z39.48-1992 (R1997).

To Mom and Dad . . . for believing

SIMPLE WICCA

Foreword by Judika Illes

Introduction

one Out of the Broom Closet: The Wiccan Philosophy

two Yesterday, Today: The Traditions of Witchcraft

three Heaven, Earth, and the Powers That Be: The Gods and Goddesses of Wicca

four A Year in the Life: The Wiccan Days of Celebration

five The Witch's Moon: Lunar Celebrations

six Casting the Circle: Sacred Space and Magical Tools

seven Elemental Magic: Working with Various Energies

eightWords of Power and the Power of Words: Creating Spells

nine The Structure of Ritual

ten The Rites

eleven Full Circle

To Learn More

Websites for the Wiccan Community

Acknowledgments

Index

FOREWORD

Let's time travel backwards a few centuries.

Imagine yourself standing beneath a beautiful star-lit sky whispering your wishes to the moon. Imagine yourself at midnight, dancing atop some fragrant tree-covered hill.

Do you prefer daytime to night? No problem. Just envision yourself ambling through a sunny, gorgeous, fertile field, not far from a flowing river, knee-deep in aromatic foliage, your basket overflowing with berries and wild roses and plants bearing mysterious, evocative names like love-lies-bleeding, life-everlasting, and queen of the meadow.

Here's another scenario: envision yourself standing on a wild, wave-tossed shore, exhilarated by the powerful winds of an on-coming storm. Alternatively, imagine yourself watching the sun rise over some long-ago Midsummer's Day, hoping for a glimpse of fairies returning to their mounds after their all-night revels.

No need to limit romantic fantasies to the outdoors: envision yourself within your very own dimly-lit home (pre-electric lights, of course!), secretly performing ancient, arcane, spiritually potent and beloved but unfortunately now long-forgotten magic rituals. The key word in that sentence—and the unspoken word in every one of those other scenarios, too—is secretly. (There's also another unspoken word inherent in each scenario but we'll save that one for later.)

Let's revisit those fantasies, shall we, adding just a bit more detail. Once again, envision yourself at home just a couple of centuries ago, performing those beloved, long-cherished rituals yet unable to completely maintain your focus because one ear is permanently cocked listening for an unwelcome knock at the door.

Imagine yourself sliding discreetly into your seat at church on the attendance-mandatory Feast of Saint John, the newer, official, safe name for Midsummer's Day, hoping no grass stains on your clothes betray secret nocturnal celebrations, hoping that no one notices that you've arrived late, thus exposing yourself to suspicion, gossip or worse. Imagine yourself slipping home silently after any of those outdoor adventures praying that you fail to catch the eye of any betraying neighbor.

Imagine having to weigh the risks of dancing under the full moon, of being observed taking sensual pleasure from wind and waves, of enjoying cherished rituals in the privacy of one's own home. Envision yourself constantly torn between the desire for spiritual fulfillment, joy and fun and the equally crucial desire to just blend in, be obedient and safe. Doesn't sound as romantic anymore, does it?

Remember those beloved, long-cherished rituals celebrated secretly at home? Exactly how secret, you ask? Time travel backwards again with me for a minute. Envision yourself longing to share those rituals with your children, passing them down the same way you learned them, from parent to child over literally countless generations but simultaneously afraid to do so, terrified of endangering your children with potentially fatal knowledge, terrified of betraying yourself through revelation of your clandestine, forbidden activities. Here's the dilemma in a nutshell: how do you keep old, precious rituals alive while simultaneously keeping your kids (and yourself) alive, too? Which do you choose? It's no accident that so many of those age-old, once-cherished rituals are now lost and forgotten, dead and gone.

These visions of the past are not fantasies but stark reality, a reminder of what life used to be like for a long time for a lot of people, especially women but men too and children of both sexes and all ages. For centuries, just a few hundred years ago, magical practices (or anything construed as such) along with pre-Christian religions and spiritual traditions were outlawed and harshly punished to varying degrees in virtually every European nation and colony. Neighbors and family members were rewarded for reporting rebellious backsliders and non-conformists to authorities.

Let's put this into perspective: it's no exaggeration to speak of time-traveling back only a couple of centuries to experience these terrors. Although the witch-craze had dissipated by the 18th century, the two women generally acknowledged as the last to be officially, hence legally, executed as witches were burned in Posen in 1793, only slightly over two hundred years ago. The French Revolution was in full swing. George Washington was sworn in that year for his second term as president. Hardly the distant Dark Ages.

From the modern perspective, those scenarios from the past seem so innocuous, don't they? Romantic but harmless activities: dancing around at night; exulting in the feeling of wind on your skin; hoping for a glimpse of the supernatural. Don't underestimate them. These were revolutionary acts, acts of subversion, acts that honor and affirm the rights of individuals to believe and behave as they choose.

And, oh yeah, in the midst of genuine life-threatening danger, people defied oppression to have fun. Fun is the other unspoken word inherent in every one of our initial time-traveling scenarios. During a long era when fun, pleasure and laughter were suspect (I kid you not nor do I exaggerate. Remember the Puritans. Remember Savonarola.), people risked their lives to experience joy and to personally connect with the divine.

From our comfortable and so much safer vantage-point in the 21st century, it is vital to understand that those initial romantic episodes encountered during our time travels were all that was once required to be persecuted, perhaps killed, as a witch. That's all it might take to land in deep trouble.

Here's the point: it is crucial to recall that alleged witches weren't just hunted for casting malevolent spells. You didn't actually have to actively follow any sort of Pagan path to run afoul of the law. Nor were only old, unattractive people persecuted as witches: young, beautiful, graceful, kind people were persecuted, too, healers as well as hexers. No need to dance in a graveyard, gathering stinging nettles at midnight to be branded a witch.

Some may find it comforting to believe that witch-hunting was all about stopping anti-social people from casting hexes or about eliminating people who tortured newts and toads or who hoarded poisonous herbs with dangerous intent. Some may feel safer believing that what is now labeled witch-hunting was really nothing other than suppression of the less savory aspects of ignorant folk culture. Others believe that no such thing as 'witchcraft' even existed; it was all just rabid misogynistic persecution of women or that maybe our ancestors were too unsophisticated to truly comprehend the phenomenon of the crazy cat lady so they just called it 'witchcraft' and killed cats and women alike. Still others believe that, in fact, it was a religious war but that really only a very small core of hard-line Pagan hold-outs was targeted by the Church. All these theories may help create a sense of distance from the victims, an illusion of safety as if you yourself could never have been a target or that with just a little behavior modification, safety could be ensured.

If you subscribe exclusively to any of these theories, think again. Better yet, read some witch trial transcripts, like those of the Italian women arrested by the Inquisition for the crime of dancing and feasting at all-night masquerades held for the purpose of honoring the feminine divine as well as for pleasure and fun. (Because of the masks, people could claim that they didn't recognize any of their co-revelers, similar to the demands for anonymity practiced by clandestine resistance cells during a war.)

Those little time travels may serve us as romantic fantasies but they were once daily reality for many. Nightly reality, too, as witchcraft has traditionally celebrated the joyful mysteries of night, rather than inciting fear of darkness.

Those scenarios are more than little fluffy fancies. They are testament to the undying human drive to resist and defy oppression, sterility and bullies. They are testament to our undying craving to appreciate, acknowledge and directly experience Earth's sacred pleasures and mysteries, regardless of danger.

Because those scenarios are not mere fantasies. Yes, many ancient rituals have fallen by the wayside over the centuries, dead, gone and forgotten but many others survive. One thousand years ago, people celebrated the summer solstice by dancing around Midsummer's bonfires; they celebrated this year, too.

Traditions survived because someone dared to dance on moon-lit hilltops. Someone kept gathering plants, memorized their lore and was brave enough to share that knowledge so that it would not be lost.

Courageous people dared celebrate Earth's annual, seasonal rhythms, what modern Wicca calls the Wheel of the Year. They reveled in the sensual pleasures of life and venerated the inherent