Part 24 (1/2)

Medicine Wheel: A concept central to all Native American magick. The wheels link the celestial, human and natural cycles. Also known as the Circle of Power.

Morphic resonance: The spreading of goodwill and positivity, through magick and good deeds, to increase the benign energies of the Earth and cosmos.

Mother G.o.ddess: The giver of all life and fertility and mother of the animals, wors.h.i.+pped by hunter-gatherer societies since paleolithic times. In the shamanic religions in Siberia and Lapland, the Mother of the Herds is still a central icon of power. During the neolithic period, the Mother G.o.ddess was the bringer of fertility to the land as well as to animals and humans. Gradually, she came to be seen as the wife of the great Sky G.o.ds. She survives in the form of Mary in the Christian religion.

Mutable: The mutable signs of the zodiac are Sagittarius, Gemini, Virgo and Pisces, as when the Sun enters them the seasons are about to change. Those born under them are correspondingly versatile and ready to compromise.

Oimelc: See Imbolc.

Ostara: The Celtic festival of the spring equinox.

Pentacle: A ritual item, symbol of the Earth, consisting of a flat, round disc, engraved with a pentagram.

Pentagram: A five-pointed diagram, one of the most sacred geometric forms in magick. Each of the five points represents one of the five elemental powers. The uppermost, single point is symbolic of Spirit, or Akasha.

Poppet: A featureless doll made of cloth that is filled with herbs and used in healing or as a talisman to attract love or fertility. It may also be made of clay and used as a focus for positive magick to being health or happiness to the person represented by it.

Power hand: The hand you write with, used to transmit a.s.sertive and creative energies. See also Receptive hand.

Quarters: The four segments of a magical circle. Each is a.s.sociated with specific archangels, colours, crystals, herbs, incenses, ritual tools, etc.

Receptive hand: The hand you do not write with. Used for receiving energies. See also Power hand.

Rede: A rule or moral code. The Wiccan Rede states: An [If] it harm none, do what you will', and so ensures all magick has a positive intent.

Sabbat: One of eight special days of the year on which Wiccan celebrations are held - the solstices, the equinoxes and the Celtic Fire festivals.

Samhain: The Celtic Fire festival of the new year, celebrated at the end of summer.

Scrying: Seeing magical images in a reflective medium, such as a crystal ball, mirror or a natural moving source of inspiration, such as fire, water or clouds. The word 'scry' comes from the Anglo-Saxon word descry, which means 'to perceive dimly'.

Shamanism: Possibly the oldest spiritual practice in the world, continued today in communities as far apart as India, Australia, j.a.pan and China, Siberia and Mongolia, in Africa, among the Bedouins in the Middle East and in North, Central and South America.

Sky-clad: Naked.