Traditions Dictionary

HINDUISM: The main religious and social system in India. Hinduism has various sects with the commonality of the belief in reincarnation, polytheism and an ordained caste system as its social base.

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TRADITION: A specific religion that falls in a larger religious category (eg: Greek Orthodox>Catholic>Christian or Alexandrian>Wicca>Pagan).

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BUDDHISM: The religion based on the doctrine of Gautama Buddha that asserts suffering is inseparable from existence and that enlightenment is achieved by the inward extinction of the self and of the senses. Buddhism is the predominant religion of eastern and central Asia, and is represented by many different sects.

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CHRISTIANITY: The doctrine of faith based on the acceptance of Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah and the Son of God (Yahweh/Jehovah) in accordance with the New Testament in the Bible. Christianity encompasses religions including Roman Catholic, Anglican, Baptist, Morman and Fundamentalist Christian sects.

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ISLAM, ISLAMISM: The monotheistic religious doctrine as revealed by the Muhammad, the Prophet of Allah. There are many sects of Islam and believers are called Muslims.

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PATH: Spiritual and/or moral beliefs.

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ÁR NDRAÍOCHT FÉIN (“Our Own Druidism”): A Druid Fellowship founded in 1983 by P.E.I (Isaac) Bonewits, former Archdruid of several groves in the Reformed Druids of North America.

Ár Ndraíocht Féin is an American based neo-pagan Druid religious fellowship. It has no direct links to the ancient Druids but is a reconstruction of Druidic and Indo-European pagan rituals and religions. It integrates religion with alternate healing arts, ecology-consciousness, psychic development and artistic expression. It is organized in groves, many of them named after trees. They have eight seasonal High Days (celebrated on the same dates as the Sabbats) and they conduct regular study and discussion groups in addition to a wide range of artistic activities.

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JAINISM (Sanskrit, jainas: "saint"): A major religion originating in India that has some similarity to Buddhism. Jainism does not recognize the authority of the Veda and its philosophy includes belief in the eternity of matter, the periodicity of the universe, the immortality of human's and animal's minds. It stresses non-violence and Jains are particularly known for avoiding harming any living thing.

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AGNOSTICISM (Greek, agnostos: "unknowable): The religious doctrine that asserts that it is impossible to know whether there are Deities or anything beyond physical/material phenomena. It is different from Atheism which asserts that Deities do not exist.

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AQUARIAN TABERNACLE CHURCH (ATC): A Wiccan church founded in 1979 by Pete "Pathfinder" Davis as a coven dedicated to providing religious services and support to the larger Wiccan community. The ATC became the first Wiccan church with full legal status and recognition by the governments of three nations: Canada, Australia, and the U.S.A.

The Aquarian Tabernacle Church teaches a positive, life-affirming spirituality that is is a non-dualist, non-racist, non-sexist, non-exclusivist, bi-polar, and ecologically oriented and is a faith dedicated to the preservation of Holy Mother Earth, the revival of the worship of The Old Gods in a modern context, the achievement of the fullest of human potentials and the creation of a peaceful world of love, freedom, health and prosperity for all sentient beings.

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NEO-PAGAN (Latin, neo: "new "): A term often applied to both revivalist and reconstructionist Pagan religions in order to identify their modern adoption, or foundation, by their practitioners.

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OCCULT ("hidden, concealed"): Secret, esoteric; term used for magick and other esoteric arts and sciences, such as astrology or alchemy.

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BASILIDEAN: A Gnostic sect founded by Basilides of Alexandria, who claimed to have received his esoteric doctrines from Glaucus, a disciple of the Apostle Peter. The system had three grades: material, intellectual, and spiritual and it possessed two allegorical statues, male and female. The doctrine had many points of resemblance to that of the Ophites and Cabala.

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NEW AGE: A system of beliefs that combines metaphysical practices with a structured religion.

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SHAMANISM: The oldest system of healing and magick in the world, probably as old as mankind itself. Shamanism is the art of functioning comfortably in two realities; the ordinary reality of the everyday, waking world, and the non-ordinary reality of the shamanic state of consciousness attained through an ecstatic trance. The primary purpose of shamanism is the healing of body and mind, but it is also used for divination and to ensure prosperity for communities. Shamanism is found in some form in every culture in the world.

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AMERICAN TRADITIONAL WICCA: The groups that have no initiatory connection to Gardner or Sanders, but who have based their rituals and practices on what has been published about the Gardnerian and Alexandrian Traditions; they therefore follow a Wiccan practice based upon Gardnerian or Alexandrian without having initiatory lineage.

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MAGICK: Consciously focusing will (thought), form (physical) and emotion(desire) to effect change. Technically speaking, any conscious act is a magickal act. Magick is neither good nor evil, positive nor negative. The practitioner, not the energy form, determines the path and outcome it will take.

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ANCESTOR WORSHIP: The belief inherent in some religions, such as Shintoism, that asserts the continued existence of the deceased and the influence that the living descendants have upon their existence. Descendants have an obligation to support their ancestors through their actions and reverence.

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BON: The native Tibetan religion that was later merged with Buddhism and Tantrism

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ANALOGETICISTS: Those who follow the teachings of Ammonius Saccas, named for their use of analogy and correspondence in the interpretation of myths and symbolic legends.

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