Wicca Glossary: Terms of the Craft Explained

A

Alexandrian: The tradition of initiatory Wicca founded in England in the 1960s by Alex Sanders and his wife. It is built on the Gardnerian rites and is now generally regarded as part of the same family. See the traditions of Wicca.
Altar: The table or chest on which the working tools are laid during a rite. It usually stands at the centre of the circle or towards the north.
Athame (a-THAY-mee; in America often ATH-uh-may): The witch's black-handled knife and the most personal of the working tools. It is used to cast the circle and to direct power, and never to cut anything. The word reached the Craft from French manuscripts of an old handbook of magic, the Key of Solomon.

B

Beltane: The Greater Sabbat kept on May Eve, 30 April, at the beginning of summer. See Beltane.
Besom (BEE-zum): A broom of twigs bound to a staff. It is used to sweep the circle clean before a rite, and a couple traditionally jump over one at a handfasting.
Blessed be: The customary greeting and farewell among witches. The words are taken from the rites.
Book of Shadows: The handwritten book of rites kept by every Gardnerian initiate, copied from the book of their initiator. See the Book of Shadows.
Burning Times: A name used in the Craft for the period of the European witch trials, roughly 1450 to 1750. The phrase goes back to Gerald Gardner, who wrote of the burning time. It is something of a misnomer for England, where convicted witches were hanged.

C

Cakes and wine: The blessing and sharing of wine and small cakes with which every circle draws to its close. See cakes and wine.
Candlemas: The English name for the Greater Sabbat at the beginning of February, also called Imbolc. See Imbolc.
Cauldron: An iron pot, standing for the womb of the Goddess and for rebirth. It is used at certain Sabbats to hold fire, water or flowers.
Censer: The vessel in which incense is burned. It represents the element of air, or in some covens fire and air together.
Chalice: The cup that holds the wine. It stands for the element of water and for the Goddess.
Charge of the Goddess: The address of the Goddess to her people, spoken by the High Priestess. The best known version was written by Doreen Valiente in the 1950s. See the Charge of the Goddess.
Circle: The consecrated space, traditionally nine feet across, within which all Wiccan rites are held. It is cast at the beginning of a rite and closed at the end. See the circle.
Cone of power: The power raised by a coven within the circle, imagined as a cone rising from the circle's edge to a point above its centre, and released towards its purpose at the height of the working.
Cords: Lengths of coloured cord, one of the eight working tools. They are used in initiation and in some kinds of magic.
Coven (KUV-en): A group of witches who work together under a High Priestess and High Priest. Traditionally it has no more than thirteen members. See the coven.
Covenstead: The place where a coven regularly meets, most often a room in the home of its High Priestess.
Craft, the: The everyday name among initiates for Wicca, religion and practice together. Sometimes expanded to the Craft of the Wise.
Craft name: The name a witch takes at initiation and is known by within the circle. The people who write for this site are identified by their Craft names.
Cross-quarter days: The four festivals that fall midway between the solstices and equinoxes: Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane and Lammas. In the Craft they are the Greater Sabbats.

D

Degree: One of the three grades of Gardnerian initiation. See the three degrees.
Deosil (JESS-il): Sunwise, which in the northern hemisphere means clockwise. It is the direction in which the circle is cast and in which witches normally move within it. The word is Gaelic. Its opposite is widdershins.
Drawing Down the Moon: The rite in which the High Priest invokes the Goddess into the High Priestess, who may then speak as the Goddess to the coven. See esbats and the moon.

E

Eclectic: Describes Wicca practised without lineage or initiation, drawing on published sources and personal inspiration. Most Wiccans today are eclectic.
Elder: An experienced initiate of the third degree, especially one who has led a coven and stepped back. Elders are consulted, not obeyed.
Elements: Earth, air, fire and water, with spirit as the fifth. See the elements and the quarters.
Esbat (ES-bat): A coven's regular working meeting, held at or near the full moon. The word was introduced by Margaret Murray from a French source and is related to an Old French verb meaning to frolic.

G

Gardnerian: Belonging to the tradition of Wicca that descends by initiation from Gerald Gardner. See What Is Gardnerian Wicca?
Great Rite: The rite of the sacred marriage of the Goddess and the God, and the central mystery of the third degree. It is almost always performed in token, by the lowering of the athame into the cup.
Greater Sabbats: Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane and Lammas: the four festivals that were kept by Gardner's coven from the beginning.

H

Handfasting: A Wiccan wedding, in which the couple's hands are bound together with a cord. See rites of passage.
High Priest: The man who leads a coven beside the High Priestess. He is an initiate of the second or third degree.
High Priestess: The leader of a coven, who represents the Goddess in its rites. She is an initiate of the second or third degree, and in Gardnerian custom hers is the final word.
Hiving off: The founding of a new coven by initiates who leave their mother coven with its blessing, as bees leave a hive.
Horned God: The God of the witches: lord of the wild, of death and of rebirth. See the Goddess and the God.

I

Imbolc (IM-olk): The Greater Sabbat at the beginning of February, also called Candlemas. The name is Irish. See Imbolc.
Initiation: The rite by which a person is admitted to a coven and to the priesthood of the Craft. See lineage and initiation.

L

Lammas: The Greater Sabbat at the beginning of August, the feast of the first harvest. The name is English and means loaf-mass. See Lammas.
Lesser Sabbats: The two solstices and two equinoxes. They were given equal standing with the Greater Sabbats in 1958.
Lineage: The chain of initiations that connects an initiate, through their initiator and their initiator's initiator, to the founder of the tradition.
Lughnasadh (LOO-nuh-suh): The Irish name for the festival at the beginning of August, which the Craft in England more often calls Lammas.

M

Magic: The raising and directing of power to bring about change. Some writers spell it magick, following Aleister Crowley. We use the ordinary spelling. See magic.
Maiden: The deputy of the High Priestess, who assists her in the rites and may take her place when needed. The title refers to the office and not to the holder's age.
Mighty Ones: The guardians of the four quarters, who are called to witness and protect the circle. Also called the Lords of the Watchtowers.

O

Oathbound: Covered by the oath of secrecy taken at initiation. Oathbound material may be shared only with initiates of the appropriate degree. See secrecy and the oath.
Old Religion: An affectionate name for the Craft, dating from the time when it was believed to be a direct survival of ancient paganism.
Outer court: A coven's training circle for those who have not yet been initiated. It meets clothed and uses no oathbound material.

P

Pagan: A follower of one of the modern religions inspired by pre-Christian belief or by reverence for nature. All Wiccans are pagans. Most pagans are not Wiccans.
Pentacle: A disc of metal, wood or wax engraved with the pentagram and other signs, on which things are consecrated. It stands for the element of earth. The word is also used loosely for a pentagram in a circle, worn as a pendant.
Pentagram: The five-pointed star drawn with a single unbroken line. Point upward, it is the emblem of the Craft, its points standing for the four elements and spirit.

Q

Quarters: The four cardinal points of the circle, east, south, west and north, each associated with an element and marked with a candle.

R

Rede: An old word for counsel or advice. The Wiccan Rede is the line "an it harm none, do what ye will". See the Wiccan Rede.

S

Sabbat: One of the eight seasonal festivals of the Craft. The word comes from the literature of the witch trials. See the Wheel of the Year.
Samhain (SOW-in, the first syllable as in cow): The Greater Sabbat kept on 31 October, the feast of the dead. The name is Irish. Gardner called it November Eve. See Samhain.
Scourge: A small whip of soft cords, one of the eight working tools. It is a symbol of discipline and of the willingness to suffer in order to learn, and its use is light and symbolic.
Skyclad: Naked for ritual: clad only by the sky. The word is a translation of a term for certain Indian ascetics. See the circle.
So mote it be: The words that seal a spell or invocation, meaning so must it be. The phrase is medieval English and reached the Craft by way of the fraternal lodges.
Solitary: A witch who practises alone, by choice or by circumstance. See solitary practice.
Summerland: The place of rest and renewal where the dead are said to abide between lives. The name was borrowed from the Spiritualists.
Sword: The working tool of the coven as a whole, as the athame is the tool of the individual witch. It may be used to cast the circle.

T

Threefold return: The belief that whatever a witch sends out, for good or ill, comes back threefold. See the Wiccan Rede.
Tradition: A family of covens sharing a body of rites and a common descent, such as the Gardnerian or the Alexandrian.

V

Vouch: To confirm, as one initiate to another, that a third person is a properly made initiate of the tradition. Vouching is how lineage is checked in a religion that keeps no public register.

W

Wand: A slender rod of wood, used to invoke where the athame would command. It is the gentler of the two.
Watchtowers: The four quarters of the circle thought of as guarded stations, each with its guardians. The term comes from Elizabethan ceremonial magic.
Wheel of the Year: The cycle of the eight Sabbats. See the Wheel of the Year.
White-handled knife: The working knife of the Craft, used within the circle for any cutting or carving that the athame may not do.
Wica: Gerald Gardner's spelling, and his name for the people of the Craft collectively. It is still used in that sense among Gardnerians.
Wicca: The modern pagan religion of witchcraft. In Old English the word meant a male witch. See What Is Wicca?
Wiccaning: The rite in which a child is presented to the gods and placed under their protection. It does not commit the child to the Craft.
Widdershins: Against the course of the sun, which in the northern hemisphere means anticlockwise. The word is Scots. Movement widdershins is used sparingly and for particular purposes.
Witch: In the Craft, an initiate, of either sex. A male witch is a witch, and is not called a warlock.
Witch Queen: An honorific for a High Priestess from whose coven others have hived off. It is little used in Britain today.

Y

Year and a day: The traditional least interval between a seeker's acceptance for training and their initiation, and between one degree and the next.
Yule: The Lesser Sabbat of the winter solstice, around 21 December. See Yule.