Dictionary of Magic Terminology

In this section you will find a convenient glossary of words commonly used in the practice of Wicca, Witchcraft, and other branches of magic. Understanding the meaning of these words will prove helpful in your studies as you continue to learn how to use magic.

A
Adept: An individual who through serious study and accomplishments is considered highly proficient in a particular magical system.

Aether: The fifth element, which consists of "empty space" where no other elements exist.

Alchemy: A branch of magic developed in the Middle Ages which involves chemical reactions and scientific processes.

Altar: A special, flat surface set aside exclusively for magickal workings or religious acknowledgment.

Amulet: A magically charged object which deflects specific, usually negative energies. A protective object.

Ankh: An Egyptian hieroglyphic widely used as a symbol of life, love, and reincarnation. It is a cross with a looped top.

Arcana: The two halves of a tarot deck. The Major Arcana consists of 22 trumps, the Minor Arcana consists of 56 suit cards (sometimes called the lesser or lower Arcana).

Aspect: The particular principle or part of the Creative Life Force being worked with or acknowledged at any one time.

Asperger: A bundle of fresh herbs or a perforated object used to sprinkle water during or preceding ritual, for purification purposes.

Astral Plane: A place which is generally conceptualized as an invisible parallel world which remains unseen from our own solid world of form.

Astral Projection: The process of separating your astral body from your physical one to accomplish travel in the astral plane or dream time.

Astrology: The study of and belief in the effects the movements and placements of planets and other heavenly bodies have on the lives and behavior of human beings.

Athame: A cleansed and consecrated ritual blade. Usually double edged, and black handled. It is never used to cut anything on the physical plane.

Aura: The life-energy field which surrounds all living things.

Automatic Writing: Form of divination where the channeler uses a pen, paper and an altered state of consciousness to receive messages.

B
Balefire: A fire lit for magickal purposes, usually outdoors. They are traditional on Yule, Beltane, and Midsummer.

Bane: That which destroys life, which is poisonous, destructive, dangerous.

Banish: To magickally end something or exorcise unwanted entities. To rid the presence of something.

Bells: Often used as ritual tools. They can be used to invoke directional energies, to ring in the sunrise on a Sabbat, to invite seelie fae, or to frighten away unseelie fae and baneful spirits.

Besom: A witch's broom.

Bilocation: A phenomena in which someone is in two places at once.

Bind: To magickally restrain something or someone.

Blood of the Moon: A woman's menstrual cycle. Should this cycle occur over a Full Moon or New Moon, she is far more powerful than during any other time of the month, as long as she acknowledges this strength within herself.

Book of Shadows: A witch's book of spells, rituals, magickal lore. Much akin to a magickal cookbook.

Boline: A white-handled knife, used in magick and ritual for purposes such as cutting herbs or piercing a pomegranate.

Burning Times: Refering to the period of witch trials that occured from around 1000 C.E. through to the 17th century.

C
Call: Invoking Divine forces.

Cauldron: Used for the distilling and fermenting of magickal potions. It is associated with the element water.

Censer: A heat-proof container in which incense is burned. It is associated with the element air.

Ceremonial Magick: A highly codified magickal tradition based upon Kabbala, the Jewish-Gnostic mystical teachings.

Chakras: Twelve vortex areas for mana found in the human body. Their are seven major chakras and five minor chakras.

Chalice: A ritual tool. It represents the female principals of creation.

Channeling: A New Age practice wherein you allow a discarnate entity to borrow your body to speak to others either through automatic writing or verbally.

Chaplet: A crown for the head usually made of flowers and worn at Beltane.

Charging: To infuse an object with your personal power.

Charms: An amulet or talisman that has been charmed by saying an incantation over it and instilling it with energy for a specific task. Also refers to a working that adds magical properties to something.

Circle: Sacred space wherein all magick is to be worked and all ritual contained. It both holds ritual energy until the witch is ready to release it, and provides protection for the witch.

Cleansing: Removing negative energies from an object or space.

Collective Unconsciousness: Term used to describe the sentient connection of all living things, past and present. See also Akashic Records.

Coming of Age Ritual: At age 13 for boys, and at the time of a girl's first menses, Pagan children are seen as spiritual adults. The ritual celebrates their new maturity. Generally this is the age when they are permitted membership in covens.

Cone of Power: Psychic energy raised and focused by either an individual or group (coven) to achieve a definite purpose.

Conscious Mind: The analytical, materially-based, rational half of our consciousness. The part of our mind that is at work while we balance our checkbooks, theorize, communicate, and perform other acts related to the physical world.

Consecration: The act of blessing an object or place by instilling it with positive energy.

Coven: A group of witches that work together in an organized fashion.

Covenstead: The meeting place of a coven, often a fixed building or place where the witch can feel safe and at home.

D
Dark Magic: Magic that is considered by most to be highly unethical.

Days of Power: See Sabbat. They can also be days triggered by astrological occurrences - your birthday, a woman's menstrual cycle, your dedication/initiation anniversary.

Dedication: The process where an individual accepts the Craft as their path and vows to study and learn all that is necessary to reach adept ship. It is a conscious preparation to accept something new into your life and stick with it, regardless of the highs and lows that may follow.

Deosil: Clockwise, the direction in which the shadow on a sundial moves as the sun moves across the sky. Deosil is symbolic of life, positive magick, positive energies.

Dirk: Ritual knife of the Scottish tradition.

Divination: The magickal art of using tools and symbols to gather information. This can be on people, places, things and events past, present, and future.

Divine Power: The unmanifested, pure energy that are created and controlled by deities. The ultimate source of all things.

Dowsing: The divinatory art of using a pendulum or stick to find the actual location of a person, place, thing, or element.

Drawing Down the Moon: A ritual performed during the Full Moon by witches to empower themselves and unite their essence with a particular deity, usually the Goddess.

Drawing Down the Sun: Lesser-known and lesser-used companion ritual to Drawing Down the Moon in which the essence of the Sun God is drawn into the body of a male witch.

Duality: The opposite of polarity. When used as a religious term, it separates two opposites such as good and evil and places those characteristics into two completely separate God-forms.

E
Earth Magick: The energy that exists within stones, herbs, flames, wind, and other natural objects.

Earth Plane: Metaphor for your normal waking consciousness, or for the everyday, solid world we live in.

Elements: Earth, air, fire, water, and the various permutations of each of them. The building blocks of the universe. Some consider light or darkness as core elements, and some include a fifth main element- spirit or aether.

Elementals: A spirit beings associated with one of the four elements.

Eleven: Secretive tradition of the craft which works closely with elemental beings.

Enchantment: A spell which grants some form of power to an object.

Eostre's Eggs: Colored, decorated eggs of Ostara; named for the Teutonic Goddess Eostre.

Esbat: A ritual usually occurring on the Full Moon and dedicated to the Goddess in her lunar aspect.

Evocation: To call something out from within, or to conjure out energy and the elements.

F
Fae: Beings of a natural affinity that inhabit the otherworld. Divided into seelie and unseelie courts.

Faerie Burgh: Mound of earth which covers a fae colony's underground home.

Familiar: An animal that has a spiritual bond with a witch; many times a family witch. Familiars can also be entities that dwell on the astral plane.

Fascination: A mental effort to control another animal or person's mind. Also known as "mind-bending". Often considered unethical.

Folk Magick: The Practice of projecting personal power, as well as the energies within natural objects such as herbs, and crystals, to bring about needed changes.

G
Grain Dolly: Figure usually woven at Imbolc from dried sheaves of grain collected at the previous harvest. The dolly is traditionally burned at Yule and a new one made the following Imbolc.

Great Rite: Symbolic sexual union (also sacred marriage) of the Goddess and God that is enacted at Beltane in many traditions, and other Sabbats in other traditions. It symbolizes the primal act of creation from which all life comes.

Grimorie: A magickal workbook containing ritual information, formulae, magickal properties of natural objects and preparation of ritual equipment. Often used interchangeably with Book of Shadows.

Grounding: To disperse excess energy generated during magickal work by sending it into the earth. It also means the process of centering one's self in the physical world both before and after any ritual or astral experience.

Grove: Synonymous with coven.

Guardians: Ceremonial magicians use the Guardians of the Watchtowers or Four Quarters. Some witches use them, too.