The Odyssean Tradition of Wicca was founded by Richard and Tamara James in 1979, along with other members of their coven. The name of the tradition was inspired by Homer's Odyssey, and is meant to emphasize a belief in life as a "spiritual journey"[3]. The tradition grew out of the James' creation of the Wiccan Church of Canada, with which the tradition is still closely associated. While the Jameses and their coven members had background ...

See also:

Odyssean Wicca, Odyssean Wicca - Origins and history, Odyssean Wicca - Practices, Odyssean Wicca - Ranks and degrees, Odyssean Wicca - Relationship with other traditions, Odyssean Wicca - Notes and references

Read more here: » Odyssean Wicca: Encyclopedia II - Odyssean Wicca - Origins and history

See also:

Alexandrian Wicca, Alexandrian Wicca - Origins and history, Alexandrian Wicca - Practices, Alexandrian Wicca - Ranks and degrees, Alexandrian Wicca - Relationship to other traditions, Alexandrian Wicca - Notes and references

Read more here: » Alexandrian Wicca: Encyclopedia II - Alexandrian Wicca - Origins and history

The "Coven of the Blue Star", established in Philadelphia in 1975 by Franque D "the Wizard", gave birth to both the name and the original membership of what would eventually become the Blue Star tradition. In 1980, on its membership application to the Covenant of the Goddess, the coven described itself (with tongue in cheek) as practicing "Great American Nontraditional Collective Eclectic Wicca". Tzipora Klein, who had joined the coven in 1977, and her then-husband Kenny Klein, left on a folk music tour after the 1983 release of their ...

See also:

Blue Star Wicca, Blue Star Wicca - Origins and history, Blue Star Wicca - Practices, Blue Star Wicca - Ranks and degrees, Blue Star Wicca - Relationship to other traditions, Blue Star Wicca - Notes and references

Read more here: » Blue Star Wicca: Encyclopedia II - Blue Star Wicca - Origins and history

Wicca is a Neopagan religious movement found in many different countries, though most commonly in English-speaking cultures. Wicca was first publicised in 1954 by a British civil servant named Gerald Gardner after the British Witchcraft Act was repealed. He claimed that the religion, of which he was an initiate, was a modern survival of an old witch cult, which had existed in secret for hundreds of years, originating in the pre-Christian Paganism of Europe. Wicca is thus sometimes referred to as the Old Religion. The veracity o ...

Including:

• Wicca - Definition
• Wicca - History of Wicca
• Wicca - Origins
• Wicca - Later developments
• Wicca - Beliefs and practices
• Wicca - Morality
• Wicca - Discrimination and persecution of Wiccans
• Wicca - United States
• Wicca - Wiccan traditions
• Wicca - Notes

Read more here: » Wicca: Encyclopedia - Wicca

Blue Star Wicca is one of a number of Wiccan traditions created in the United States in the 1970s based loosely on the Gardnerian and Alexandrian traditions. It continues to be practiced today in areas of the United States (including Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Washington, and others), as well as having members in the United Kingdom and Canada. Blue Star Wicca - Origins and history. The "Coven of the Blue Star", established in Philadelphia in 1975 by Franque D "the Wizard", gave birth to both the na ...

Including:

• Blue Star Wicca - Origins and history
• Blue Star Wicca - Practices
• Blue Star Wicca - Ranks and degrees
• Blue Star Wicca - Relationship to other traditions
• Blue Star Wicca - Notes and references

Read more here: » Blue Star Wicca: Encyclopedia - Blue Star Wicca

Cernunnos in Celtic polytheism is the deified spirit of horned male animals, especially of stags, a nature god associated with produce and fertility. As a "Horned God", Cernunnos was one of a number of similar deities found in many ancient cultures. Cernunnos - Origins. Cernunos is known, from archaeological sources such as inscriptions and depictions, to have been worshipped in Gaul, Northern Italy (Gallia Cisalpina) and the southern coast of Britain. The earliest known probable depiction of Cernunnos was ...

Including:

• Cernunnos - Origins
• Cernunnos - Etymology
• Cernunnos - Iconography
• Cernunnos - Medieval traces
• Cernunnos - Neo-Paganism
• Cernunnos - Wicca

Read more here: » Cernunnos: Encyclopedia - Cernunnos

Alexandrian Wicca is a tradition of the Neopagan religion of Wicca, founded by Alex Sanders (also known as "King of the Witches"[1]) who, with his wife Maxine Sanders, established the tradition in the 1960s. Alexandrian Wicca is similar in many ways to Gardnerian Wicca, and receives regular mention in books on Wicca as one of the religion's most widely-recognized traditions^Including:

• Alexandrian Wicca - Origins and history
• Alexandrian Wicca - Practices
• Alexandrian Wicca - Ranks and degrees
• Alexandrian Wicca - Relationship to other traditions
• Alexandrian Wicca - Notes and references

Read more here: » Alexandrian Wicca: Encyclopedia - Alexandrian Wicca

Celtic Wicca is a synthesis of Wicca with Celtic or Celtic-inspired traditions. Some Celtic Wiccans claim that the tradition is an ancient practice, which originated in the British Isles and has not been attributed to one teacher. Other Celtic Wiccans, and most mainstream scholarship, views Celtic Wicca as derived from Wicca combined with elements from attempted reconstructions of ancient Celtic religions. Wicca as established by Gardner contained Celtic elements, along with elements from many other cultures. Celtic Wicc ...

Read more here: » Celtic Wicca: Encyclopedia - Celtic Wicca

Watchtower may refer to: Watchtower (fortification), is a type of fortification Watchtower (movie), the name of a 2001 movie Watchtower (band), is also the name of a progressive metal band Watchtower (Wicca) is originally part of the system of Enochian Magic but later came to be associated with the Golden Dawn and the ritual workings within Wicca ie. Calling the Watchtowers The Watchtower, a magazine published twice a month by the Jehovah's Witnesses All Along the Wat

Read more here: » Watchtower: Encyclopedia - Watchtower

The Charge of the Goddess is a traditional inspirational text sometimes used in Neopaganism and Wicca. Doreen Valiente, a student of Gerald Gardner, originally wrote a Charge in verse, and later in prose: the prose version is the one known today. It has since been modified and adapted by many others, and is in the public domain. The original text of the prose version is found in Eight Sabbats for Witches by Janet and Stewart Farrar. See The Rebirth of Witchcraft by Doreen Valien ...

Read more here: » Charge of the Goddess: Encyclopedia - Charge of the Goddess

Wica or WICA may refer to: Wica, Wicca as originally spelled by Gerald Gardner. Seax-Wica, a Wica tradition founded by Raymond Buckland. Witches International Craft Association, established by the Rev. Dr Leo Louis Martello probably in 1970. Witchcraft Information Centre and Archive, established by Leo Ruickbie in 1999. Other related archives1970, 1999, Gerald Gardner, Raymond Buckland,

Read more here: » Wica: Encyclopedia - Wica

Zsuzsanna Budapest (b. 30 January 1940) is the pen name and religious name assumed by ZsuZsanna Ernese Moukesay, an American author of Hungarian origin, who writes on feminist spirituality and Dianic Wicca. Zsuzsanna Budapest - Biography. Zsuzsanna Emese Budapest was born in Budapest, Hungary, on January 30, 1940. Her mother, Masika Szilagyi, was a medium and a practicing witch who supported herself and her daughter with her art, as a sculptress. Masika's themes celebrated the Triple Goddess ...

Including:

• Zsuzsanna Budapest - Biography
• Zsuzsanna Budapest - Books
• Zsuzsanna Budapest - External link

Read more here: » Zsuzsanna Budapest: Encyclopedia - Zsuzsanna Budapest

Coven or covan was originally a late medieval Scots word (c1500) meaning a gathering of any kind according to the Oxford English Dictionary. It derives from the Latin root word convenire meaning to come together or to gather, which also gave rise to the English word convene. The first recorded use of it being applied to witches comes from a much later date from 1662 in the witch-trial of Isobel Gowdie which describes a coven of 13 members. The word coven remained largely unused in English until 1921 ...

Including:

• Coven - The Coven in modern Wicca
• Coven - Covens in literature and popular culture
• Coven - Covens in a Sanguinarian context

Read more here: » Coven: Encyclopedia - Coven

Alexandrian Wicca, in similarity with other traditional Wiccan practices, emphasizes gender polarity. This emphasis can be seen in the sabbat rituals, which focus on the relationship between the Wiccan Goddess and God. As compared to Gardnerian Wicca, Alexandrian Wicca is "somewhat more eclectic", according to The Encyclopedia of Modern Witchcraft and Neo-Paganism[3]. Maxine Sanders notes that Alexandrians, as opposed to "a few fuddy-duddies" take the attitude "If ...

See also:

Alexandrian Wicca, Alexandrian Wicca - Origins and history, Alexandrian Wicca - Practices, Alexandrian Wicca - Ranks and degrees, Alexandrian Wicca - Relationship to other traditions, Alexandrian Wicca - Notes and references

Read more here: » Alexandrian Wicca: Encyclopedia II - Alexandrian Wicca - Practices

As mentioned above, Odyssean Wicca was inspired at least in part by the Gardnerian, Alexandrian, and Continental traditions. Blue Star Wicca has a special relationship to the Odyssean tradition, as a "sister" or "cousin" tradition[3][4]. Odysseans have an increased amount of exposure to other ...

See also:

Odyssean Wicca, Odyssean Wicca - Origins and history, Odyssean Wicca - Practices, Odyssean Wicca - Ranks and degrees, Odyssean Wicca - Relationship with other traditions, Odyssean Wicca - Notes and references

Read more here: » Odyssean Wicca: Encyclopedia II - Odyssean Wicca - Relationship with other traditions

Scholar Ronald Hutton records comments from British practitioners of Gardnerian and Alexandrian Wicca that distinctions between the two traditions have blurred in the last couple of decades, and some initiates of both traditions have recognized initiation within one as qualification for the other[7]. Author Vivianne Crowley often trains her students in both traditions[3]. In the United States ...

See also:

Alexandrian Wicca, Alexandrian Wicca - Origins and history, Alexandrian Wicca - Practices, Alexandrian Wicca - Ranks and degrees, Alexandrian Wicca - Relationship to other traditions, Alexandrian Wicca - Notes and references

Read more here: » Alexandrian Wicca: Encyclopedia II - Alexandrian Wicca - Relationship to other traditions

Alexandrian Wicca shares with other traditional Wicca systems the belief that "only a witch can make another witch"[4]. The process through which an individual is made a witch is called "initiation". As in Gardnerian Wicca, there are three levels, or "degrees", of initiation, commonly referred to as "first", "second", and "third" degree. Only a second or third degree witch can initiate another into witchcraft, and only a third degree witch can initiate another to third degree. A third de ...

See also:

Alexandrian Wicca, Alexandrian Wicca - Origins and history, Alexandrian Wicca - Practices, Alexandrian Wicca - Ranks and degrees, Alexandrian Wicca - Relationship to other traditions, Alexandrian Wicca - Notes and references

Read more here: » Alexandrian Wicca: Encyclopedia II - Alexandrian Wicca - Ranks and degrees

Blue Star is unsual for having a five-part rank system, as opposed to the three degree system of most initiatory Wiccan traditions. Dedication is the first rite of passage within the Blue Star tradition, and indicates a commitment to a Pagan spirituality generally and a loose commitment to the tradition specifically. Those who have been through this ceremony are referred to as "Dedicants". Neophyte marks an intermediary step between Dedication and Initiation, and indicates both a level of facility with Blue Star p ...

See also:

Blue Star Wicca, Blue Star Wicca - Origins and history, Blue Star Wicca - Practices, Blue Star Wicca - Ranks and degrees, Blue Star Wicca - Relationship to other traditions, Blue Star Wicca - Notes and references

Read more here: » Blue Star Wicca: Encyclopedia II - Blue Star Wicca - Ranks and degrees

Blue Star remains a predominantly initiatory coven-based tradition in the model of the Gardnerian or Alexandrian traditions, but a number of "solitary" practitioners exist. Blue Star practitioners are known primarily for an unusual (amongst traditional Wiccans) focus on music in their ritual and liturgy, the importance placed upon a ritual feast, and for initiatory tattooing[1]. The use of a septegram as a symbol, instead of a pentagram, is also unusual. Blue Star and the Fa ...

See also:

Blue Star Wicca, Blue Star Wicca - Origins and history, Blue Star Wicca - Practices, Blue Star Wicca - Ranks and degrees, Blue Star Wicca - Relationship to other traditions, Blue Star Wicca - Notes and references

Read more here: » Blue Star Wicca: Encyclopedia II - Blue Star Wicca - Practices

The barrier is fragile and sensitive to things passing through it. Leaving or passing through the circle often weakens or dispels the barrier. Most Wiccans agree that animals do not disturb the circle and can pass freely through it. Although dogs have been known to acknowledge the boundries of the circle and will not enter. In order to leave a circle and keep it intact, Wiccans believe you must cut a door in the energy of the circle. Using the athame, an archway is "cut" in the circle, at whic ...

See also:

Magic circle Wicca, Magic circle Wicca - Other Purposes, Magic circle Wicca - Maintaining the Circle, Magic circle Wicca - Closing the Circle, Magic circle Wicca - Origins of Circle Casting

Read more here: » Magic circle Wicca: Encyclopedia II - Magic circle Wicca - Maintaining the Circle