Pagan_NH is a newsgroup offering a structured central forum for the beginner and expert alike. This FAQ (frequently asked questions) explains some of the more common ideas behind pagan_nh and Wicca in general. I would like to thank alt.religion.wicca.moderated for the basis of this FAQ... ____________________________ Questions: 1. Introduction 1.1 What is pagan_nh@yahoo.groups? pagan_nh@yahoogroups.com is a newsgroup created on May 8th 2005. The newsgroup caters to a diverse group of people of all ages and backgrounds who are interested in pagan religions and traditions in New Hampshire. It provides a forum to hold discussions and exchange ideas in a moderated environment. 1.2 What is a moderated newsgroup? A moderated newsgroup offers a particularly structured environment for participation in discussions by its members and guests. The environment is administrated by Moderators who uphold the newsgroup's charter for the benefit of all participants and readers alike. 2. Basic Orientation 2.1 How is Wicca related to Paganism? Wicca is one specific religious branch of the various religions and practices which fall under the umbrella of Neo-Paganism today (Neo meaning new). Paganism covers such belief structures as Drudism, Shamanism, Nordic and Celtic beliefs and Oriental mysticism to name just a few. Paganism often involves many of the Old (pre-Christian) Gods. A way to summarize the relationship between Wicca and Paganism is that all Wiccans are Pagans, but not all Pagans are Wiccans. Paganism & Wicca offer a way of worship of the sacred as immanent in nature & focuses on attunement and understanding of the forces of nature and our involvement and interaction with these forces. While pagan_nh emphasizes the pagan experience, there are similar usenet newsgroups devoted to wicca. 2.2 What were "the Burning Times?" The term "the Burning Times" is commonly used to refer to period of the Witch Hunts and inquisitorial trials in Europe, roughly between 1550 and 1750, during which time nearly 100,000 witchcraft executions were documented and an unknowable number of undocumented deaths occurred. The term itself is a somewhat inaccurate reflection on this period of fear and religious persecution due to the fact it does not illustrate the many thousands of people, predominantly women, who were hanged, drowned, pressed, beaten and tortured to death. Whatever the method or number, however, the victims of the Witch Hunts are perceived by many Wiccans today as martyrs, with the lessons of social intolerance and religious terror being clearly highlighted. 3. Pagan Beliefs and Practices 3.1 What god(desse)s do pagans worship? Although some pagans focus on particular gods from particular world mythologies, Pagans may worship many god(desse)s by many different names. Most worship some form of the Goddess and God. Such duo-theistic forces are often conceived as embodying complementary polarities, not in opposition. In some traditions worship of the Goddess is emphasized, although in others the Goddess and God are seen as complementary co-equals. The Goddess and God may be seen as associated with certain things (such as the Goddess with the earth or moon, God with sun and wildlife, etc), but there are no hard and fast rules. Some traditions worship the Goddess alone while others see Divinity as essentially beyond human understanding, with "Goddess" and "God" simply a convenient shorthand. 3.2 What are Pagan ethics, the "Rede" and "three-fold law?" Pagan ethics are seldom codified in a legalistic way, but may be informed by some common expressions such as the "Rede" and the "three-fold law." According to most versions of the three-fold law, whatever one does comes back to one thrice-multiplied, in amplified repercussion. One short version of the Rede states "An it harm none, do what you will." Often "none" is interpreted to include the doer themself in analogy to the "golden rule" of other faiths. There are no universal proscriptions regarding food, sex, burial or military service and Wiccans, as a rule, discourage proselytization (attempts to convert others to a different religion). 3.3 What are "dedication" and "initiation" in Pagan religions? These things mean different things in different traditions. Usually "dedication" ceremonially marks the beginning of pagan study, while "initiation" may mark full membership in a coven/tradition (such as after "a year and a day") or may indicate elevation in skill or to special clergy status. Some traditions look on all initiates as co-equal clergy, while others have grades or "degrees" of initiation, which may be marked by distinct sacramental ceremonies, duties or expectations within the tradition. Some people claim that "only a Witch can make a Witch," whereas others say that only the Goddess and God or demonstrated skill can make a witch. 3.4 What is the Wheel of the Year? Pagans speak of the year as a wheel, signifying the cycle of the seasons that turns endlessly. During the pagan year, there are eight holidays known as the 'Sabbats'. Four of these are considered 'minor' Sabbats and are celebrated on the solstices and equinoxes. The remaining four, known as the 'major' or 'high' Sabbats marking the beginning of a new season, on or about the first of February, May, August and November of each year. The names of the major Sabbats may vary between traditions, but are generally known as: Northern Hemisphere Samhain (Winter) : 1 November-31 January Imbolc (Spring) : 2 February-30 April Beltane (Summer) : 1 May - 31 July Lughnasadh/Lammas (Autumn/Fall) : 1 August-31 October Southern Hemisphere Samhain (Winter) : 1 May-31 July Imbolc (Spring) : 1 August-31 October Beltane (Summer) : 1 November-31 January Lughnasadh/Lammas (Autumn/Fall) : 2 February-30 April Many pagans also celebrate the "Esbats", rituals for worship in accordance with a given moon phase (such as the full moon), the dates of which vary from year to year. 3.5 What tools do I need to perform a ritual? This varies, depending on the tradition and individual belief, and what the ritual is for. Rituals may be held at "Sabbats" or "Esbats" or to mark life transitions such as births, coming-of-age, marriages/handfastings, housewarmings, healings, deaths or other rites of passage. Some ritual items are common to almost every tradition, such as the athame (ritual knife) and chalice (ritual cup). Others may be used by some traditions but not others: bells, brooms, candles, cauldrons, drums, incense, jewelry, special plates, pentacles, scourges, statues, swords, staves, wands and various robes and cords. Usually a ritual will involve some sort of creation of sacred space (casting a circle), invocation of divine power, sharing of dance/song/food or wine and a thankful farewell and ceremonial closing. 4. General Questions 4.1 A Pagan Dictionary Athame: A blunt double evenly-edged knife, usually with a dark handle Balefire: a ritual bonfire Bolline: A ritual knife, usually with a light handle Book of Shadows (BoS): a witch's personal notebook of spells, rituals, and magical lore, also called a "grimore" Chalice: Large cup Charge: to transmit personal power into an object; also a speech given by an individual on whom the Goddess or God has been invoked. Charm: A charged object; an amulet is a charm said to ward off specific energies, and a talisman a charm to attract them Cone of Power: A force of etheric energy produced in ritual Coven: a group of initiated witches traditionally of 13, but can be of 4 upwards, which meet regularly. Craft, the: witchcraft, the Old Religion, Wicca Deasil: clockwise, or sunwise, in ritual, the path of positive energies Divination: the art of discerning the unknown through tarot cards, crystal gazing, black mirrors or the like. Drawing down the Moon: Invoking the full moon aspect of the Goddess into a Priestess. Can also be used at different phases of the moon. Drawing down the Sun: Invoking the Sun aspect of the God into a Priest. Elementals: Conscious beings who inhabit the etheric energy fields of the four elements. Elements: "building blocks" of the universe : earth, air, fire, water and in some traditions a fifth element spirit, akasha or ether. They represent energy in different states. Esbat: Celebration of the full moon, occurring twelve or thirteen times a year. Familiar: an animal with which one may feel kinship, often in a magical partner relationship. Great Rite: A symbolic or actual act of ritual sex performed between a High Priest and Priestess. High Priest: Any male who has received the second degree of initiation. Within a coven the chief male priest will be referred to as the High Priest. High Priestess: A female who has received the second degree of initiation. Within a coven the chief female priestess will be referred to as the High Priestess. Initiation: A ritual designed to precipitate permanent changes in consciousness and spiritual growth. Invocation : a prayer at a coven gathering asking higher powers to make themselves known. Magic/magick: the art of changing consciousness or reality by nonphysical means, using either earth power or personal power (divine?) Magic circle: the boundary of a sphere of personal power, within which rituals are held. Monotheism: The Doctrine that there is only one God. Neo-Pagan: a practitioner of a contemporary nature religion, such as Wicca. Occult: (Literally - Hidden) A term used for magic and other esoteric arts and sciences. Despite modern misuse, occult does not mean evil. Old ones, the: Aspects of the deities that are invoked as guardians during rituals, also called the mighty ones Pagan: from Latin for "country dweller" - a member of a pre-christian, magical polytheistic religion. Pantheism: The belief that god is everything and everything is god, everything is an aspect of the divine (therefore denying the personality of god) Pentacle: Five pointed star enclosed in a circle Pentagram: Five pointed star Polytheism: Belief in or worship of a multitude of goddesses and gods, or at least, more than one god. Ritual: A ceremony designed to produce certain spiritual and magical effects. Sabbat: one of eight seasonal festivals Scrying A form of divination which uses a crystal ball, black mirror or bowl of clouded water to aid clairvoyance. Skyclad: Ritual nudity Spell: a ritual invoking magic for helpful change Tradition: a denomination, or path, of Wiccan religious practice. Watchtowers: The four cardinal points which are associated with the four elements and act as guardians of the circle. Wicca: a neopagan nature religion Wiccan: An initiate of Wicca Widdershins: counterclockwise: many shun this direction as negative, but others use it to disperse negative energies or to undo a magic circle after a ritual. Witch: A practitioner of witchcraft. Some witches are initiates of Wicca, but others do not practice the religious side of witchcraft. 4.2 Is a pagan the same thing as a Witch? The short answer is no. Many cultures have a negative word like "witchcraft," often viewing it as a malevolent, supernatural tool used by the weak, old or malicious. Some people use the term "witchcraft" to cover more general skills, such as counseling, the occult and herbcraft. Some pagans call themselves "Witches," capitalizing it as a gesture of solidarity with the victims of the Burning Times, but this is a personal decision. Although many pagans today may cast spells and practice magic/k, these are not considered an integral part of paganism by all. Paganism is not traditional folk magic and all magic is not necessarily pagan, anymore than all people who pray belong to any particular religion. 4.3 Is a Warlock a male witch? Not necessarily. "Warlock" means "oathbreaker" and relates to an individual who has broken the oaths that he/she has undertaken during initiation within their coven, not simply a male who practices Witchcraft or is an initiate of paganism. 4.4 Do all Pagans practice magic/k? That depends on what one means by magic. The occultist Aleister Crowley helped re-popularize archaic spellings such as "magick", terming this "the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will." Others may think of magic as folk parapsychology or see the changes wrought as primarily changes in consciousness. Ceremonialists may distinguish between the "high magick" of ritual observance and the "low magic" of practical spells (such as for protection and health). Almost all pagans, however, have some sort of ceremony or psychological practice to better attune themselves with divinity, encouraging insight and a sense of efficacy. Others may cast love spells or other curses but no, we don't do it for strangers on the net and no, we don't confuse this with stage magic. 4.5 Where can I get a Book of Shadows? The Book of Shadows (or "BoS") is sort of a customized reference book for Wiccans, containing useful information such as myths, liturgical items, one's own writings or records of dreams and magical workings. According to Gerald Gardner, such a book should be handcopied from teacher to student but in practice not every Wiccan has a "book of shadows" and few are exactly alike. Sometimes only initiates are allowed access to a tradition's book, or it may be called by a different name, such as "mirror book," "magical diary" or "grimoire." There are many "books of shadows" available in print and on-line (leading to the "disk of shadows" or even "directories of shadows" several megabytes large). If you'd like to copy from these sources for your personal use, you may assemble your own book, but please observe copyright laws in your newfound enthusiasm. 4.6 What is a coven and how do I join one? The coven is the basic, cellular "congregation" for some Pagans, but is often very formal, selective and closed, aiming for an ideal of "perfect love and perfect trust" among members. Many pagans begin in less formal ways such as attending festivals, public rituals, classes or more open groups (often called "circles"). Many probably begin and continue practice as "solitaries," whether before, after or while a member of a coven. Solitary practice is a valid "tradition" in the Craft, but some good places to find other Wiccans are on the net, at public Pagan events or through occult, political or "new age" bookstores. 4.7 How do I learn more about Paganism? Reading is a great way to glean more information about Paganism and its various traditions and practices. Visit your local book store or library and see what they have available. If for some reason you have trouble obtaining books through local shops, there are mail order bookstores around which you can purchase via the internet or by mail. There is a recommended reading list and mail order companies listed at the end of this document. Unfortunately, books can't answer questions that might arise, which is were resources like this newsgroup come in very handy. You may also like to get in contact & get involved with groups in your area and attend gatherings or festivals to meet like-minded others. This is generally known as networking. 5. Newsgroup Moderation Pagan_NH is currentlymoderated by deathlynx@yahoo.com. This may change in the future to include other people. 5.1 General guidelines Pagan_NH is an ecumenical and diversified news group accepting posts from authors of any race, sex, sexual orientation, age, or religious creed so long as the posts are relevant to Wicca and follow the rules for posting to the news group. The terms "Wicca" and "Paganism" are elusive at best, and there will be no discrimination of posts due to differing opinions of what these terms actually mean. While posts should be Pagan orientated, those non-Pagans who post to the newsgroup on spiritual and magickal matters are welcomed as long as their posts are relevant. Each post should include a subject line that is relevant to the post's message. A message that is commercial in nature and Pagan orientated should contain the prefix [AD] in the subject line, denoting an advertisement. Notices and decisions of general decisions regarding the running of pagan_nh will be posted on the newsgroup with the [ADMIN] tag, within one week of their occurrence. Certain types of posts are not appropriate, and will not be tolerated. Inappropriate posts include (but are not limited to): spamming, commercial advertisements that are not relevant to pagan interests, Ad Hominem attacks (generally known as 'flaming'), Intolerance and religious preaching (including superiority of one path or tradition over another), and trolls. These posts will be rejected, and not show up on the arwm newsgroup. 5.2 How does the moderation system work? All posts to pagan_nh sent by a user will firstly go to the moderator. The moderator will do one of two things with the post; it will be then forwarded to the newsgroup. if not approved it will not appear. If your post does not appear please appeal to the moderator with an email with [appeal] in the title. 5.3 I can't see my post in the Group. What happened? Once your article has been received by the moderator, messages are queued until they have time to do the actual moderation. This may result in a short delay in the actually processing and moderation of messages. Generally your article will appear, assuming the article does not violate the Charter in some manner, in which case it will be rejected with a brief note explaining why. Once your post has been approved it is injected into yahoo.groups from the moderation site and propagated to the rest of usenet from there, and is susceptible to all the rules of the way usenet operates as a whole. 6. Resources 6.1 Introductory books on Wicca and Magic * Stewart Farrar - What Witches Do: A Modern Coven Revealed * Aidan A. Kelly - Crafting the Art of Magic * Doreen Valiente - Witchcraft for Tomorrow * Margot Adler - Drawing Down the Moon * Starhawk - The Spiral Dance * Scott Cunningham - Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner * Silver Ravenwolf - To Ride a Silver Broomstick * Raymond Buckland - Complete Book of Witchcraft * Vivianne Crowley - Wicca: the Old Religion in the New Millenium * Rae Beth - 'Hedge Witch', or in some countries ie: the USA - 'The Wiccan Path' * Michael Howard - Practical Magic * Don Kraig - Modern Magick 6.2 Wiccan/Neo-Pagan Umbrella Organizations * Covenant of the Goddess (CoG): PO Box 1226, Berkeley, CA 94704 USA http://www.cog.org/ * Pan Pacific Pagan Alliance: PO Box 823, Bathurst, NSW 2795 Australia http://www.summit.net.au/pppa/ * Pagan Alliance (NZ) P.A.N.Z, P O Box 33 Petone Wellington New Zealand * The Pagan Federation: BM7097, London, WC1N 3XX United Kingdom http://www.paganfed.demon.co.uk * Pagans for Peace: PO Box 2205 Clearbrook BC V2T 3X8 Canada * The Witches Voice Inc: PO Box 4924, Clearwater, Florida 33758-4924 USA http://www.witchvox.com * Church of All Worlds (CAW) - has "Nests" around the world http://www.caw.org/ * Wiccan Church of Canada-Ottawa Temple, P.O.Box 57026 Ottawa Ont. K1R 6P0 Canada - also has temples in Toronto and Hamilton http://www.wcc.on.ca/ * Witches Against Religious Discrimination PO Box 5967 Providence RI 02903 USA 6.3 Other Organisations * ACLU - American Civil Liberties Union - many affiliates in USA http://www.aclu.org/ * Military WARD, PO Box 2610, McKinleyville CA 95521-2610, USA 6.4 Established Wiccan/Neo-Pagan Periodicals * Pagan Dawn (Pagan Fed, UK) BM Box 7079 London WC1N 3XX United Kingdom http://www.paganfed.demon.co.uk/pagandawn/pf_pd.html * Pagan Times - The Editor, PO Box 823, Bathurst, N.S.W. 2795. http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Thebes/4320/pagantimes/index.html * Green Egg: PO Box 1542, Ukiah, CA 95482-1542 USA http://www.greenegg.org/ * Circle Network News: PO Box 219, Mt Horeb WI 53572 USA * From the Heart/h Pagan Parenting 728 Derrydown Way Decatur GA 30030 USA * Quest: BCM/SCL Quest, London WC1N 3XX UK * PanTheology: PO Box 300 ACT 2601 Australia 6.5 Contact/Networking Publications * Ace of Rods: BMC Akademia, London WC1N 3XX United Kingdom * GRAIL Directory: GPO Box 1444, Canberra City 2601 ACT Australia 6.6 Other Internet Resources http://www.brewich.com/org/srp/srpfaq.html soc.religion.paganism FAQ http://www.teleport.com/~rain/ - The Rain Puddles ftp://ftp.teleport.com/users/rain/ Rain's FTP FAQ http://www.avatarsearch.com/index.html - Occult search engine http://paganprofiles.com A good way to find people in your area ------