User:AQu01rius/Wicca
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Contents |
[edit] Wiccan Project
[edit] Tarot cards
The typical tarot cards are 78-card deck with two distinct parts. The first part consists 21 cards without suits, along with a 22nd card called "The Fool". These cards are known as the major arcana, or "greater secrets".
The second part consists of 56 cards, which is divided into 4 suits with 14 cards each. These are considered as the minor arcana, or "lesser secrets".
Tarot cards are usually seen as a mean of divination in many parts of the world, generally as a tool for accessing the unconscious. Tarot cards, when shuffled as a deck and laid out in one of a variety of patterns, are often believed to show a person's thoughts and desires, to show events that have taken place in a person's past or that are presently happening, to answer a question, or to reveal possible future events.
[edit] Cauldron
A cauldron is a large metal pot for cooking or boiling over an open fire, commonly attached to a hanger with the shape of an arc. In Wicca witchcraft, the cauldron is probably the tool most associated with, and is steeped in magical tradition and mystery. a cauldron is often placed at the centre of a sacred circle, and used to contain items that will be set alight during a ritual. Traditionally, a cauldron was also used by witches to prepare their potions, an notable example is the weird sisters in the Shakespearen play "Macbeth". The cauldron is the container in which transmutation, germination, and transformations may occur. It is symbolic of the womb of the Goddess (similar to Chalice), and is the manifested essence of femininity and fertility.
In ancient times, the cauldron was used as a cooking vessel and for brew making. Traditionally it was made from cast iron, it rests on three legs and has an opening smaller then its widest part.
[edit] Crystals
The Wiccans believes that some crystals have energies that associate with chakras, which increases psychic awareness and psychic powers. These crystals are used for healing, grounding and draining away negative energy and in some cases, to increase fertility.
The clear quartz is used to boost the energies of the other stones. The presence of sodium in clear quartz is said to create smokey quartz, which is usually used for healing. This crystal is useful in helping dissolve negative energy produced by the mind. Balancing and cleansing of the meridians and subtle bodies is enhanced.
[edit] Chalice
The Chalice is one of the four elemental tools of witchcraft and represents the elements of Water. A chalice itself is a goblet intended to hold drink. It is a symbol of containment and often represents the womb of the Goddess. The base is symbolic of the material world, the stem symbolises the connection between man and spirit and the rim or opening symbolically receives spiritual energy.
The chalice can be made of any material, in times of old - Horns, Shells and Gourds were used to hold sacred liquids during ritual, and then in later times - Silver became the preferred material, having long been associated with the moon and the Goddess. The chalice is used to hold the blessed water and wine during ritual. It is traditional in many covens to pass the chalice around all members, who then take a drink as a token of unity.
[edit] Incense
Incense is also often used in Pagan rituals to represent the element of air. A wide range of essential oil fragrances are also used in spell and ritual for two purposes. First, incense is believed to create a magickal atmosphere that is appropriate for the invocation of deities and spirits often present around the Pagan altar. Second, burning the incense is believed to release the large amount of energy stored within natural incense so that it can be used by the mage. The use of "perfumed", "dipped", or synthetic incense is generally avoid during magickal workings, since such artifical materials are believed to not contain the energies useful for magick.
[edit] Broom
Brooms have long been connected with witchcraft, almost universally portrayed as medieval-style round brooms and associated with female witches. The broom is a ritual tool of the witch, sacred to both Goddess and the God. The God - through its symbolic phallic shape, The Goddess - through its three-piece make up, the stick, brush and binding cord being symbolic of the triformis aspect of the Goddess. Representing the Element of Air, brooms are utilized in the purification of areas. They are used to sweep ritual circles clean of negative energy. The high priestess or high priest walks clockwise, traces the cast circle and sweeps with the broom a few inches off the ground.
[edit] Sword
The sword is an optional Witchcraft tool. The use of the sword comes mostly from British ceremonial magick and isn’t part of most Witchcraft traditions. The sword is considered to be a phallic tool and therefore of masculine element and male energy. The sword corresponds with the planet Mars.
A sword can be used for most of the same purposes as an athame, but is more formal. Witches that use a sword reserve the use of the sword for highly formal occassions. The sword is not an ordinary, everyday Witchcraft tool.
[edit] Wand
In Wicca and Ceremonial magic, practitioners use wands for the channeling of energy—they serve a similar purpose to the athame although the two have their distinct uses. While an athame is generally used to command, a wand is seen as more gentle and is used to invite or encourage. Though traditionally made of wood, they can also consist of metal or crystal. Practitioners usually prune a branch from an Oak, Hazel, or other tree, or may even buy wood from a hardware store, and then carve it and add decorations to personalize it; however, one can also purchase ready-made wands. In Wicca the wand usually represents the element fire, or sometimes air.
[edit] Crystal Ball
A crystal ball is a crystal or glass ball believed to aid clairvoyance, which is a noun from late 17th century French [clair (clear) & voyant (seeing)] - is defined as a form of extra-sensory perception whereas a person perceives distant objects, persons, or events, including perceiving an image hidden behind opaque objects and the detection of types of energy not normally perceptible to humans (i.e. radio waves). Typically, such perception is reported in visual terms, but may also include auditory impressions (sometimes called clairaudience) or kinesthetic impressions.
[edit] Runes
The Runic alphabets are a set of related alphabets using letters (known as runes), formerly used to write Germanic languages before and shortly after the Christianization of Scandinavia and the British Isles. The Scandinavian variants are also known as Futhark (or fuþark, derived from their first six letters: F, U, Þ, A, R, and K); the Anglo-Saxon variant as Futhorc (due to sound changes undergone in Old English by the same six letters).
[edit] Chakra pendant
?
[edit] Pentacle
The pentacle is a traditional tool of the craft. It is an amulet used in magical evocation, usually a round solid disc often made from stone, wood or cooper on which the symbol of a spirit or energy being evoked is drawn. On the disc is engraved or painted an up-right five pointed star enclosed inside a circle called the Pentagram. A disc decorated in this manner then becomes called a Pentacle. The pentacle is normally the centerpiece of the alter on which objects are placed to be consecrated or charged, such things as amulets, charms and tools are placed on it, as is the salt and water for blessing. The pentacle represents the elements of Earth and is sometimes used to summon the Gods and Goddesses.
