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Here's a list of common terms used in Wicca/Witchcraft. All of these definitions (since I'm horrible at making my own definitions make sense) are from Scott Cunningham's Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner.

If you have a word/definition that you would like to add, please feel free to post.

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Akasha: the fifth element, the omnipresent spiritual power that permeates the universe. It is the energy out of which the elements formed.

Amulet: a magically charged object that deflects specific, usually negative energies. Generally, a protective object. (Compare with talisman).

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

Athame: a Wiccan ritual knife. It usually had a double-edged blade and a black handle. The athame is used to direct personal power during ritual workings. It is seldom (if ever) used for actual, physical cutting. The term is of obscure origin, has many variant spellings among Wiccans, and an even greater variety of pronunciations.



Balefire: a fire lit for magical purposes, usually outdoors. Balefires are traditional on Yule, Beltane, and Midsummer.

Bane: that which destroys life, which is poisonous, destructive, evil, dangerous.

Beltane: a Wiccan festival celebrated on April 30 or May 1. Beltane is also known as May Eve, Roodmas, Walpurgis Night, Cethsamhain. Beltane celebrates the symbolic union, mat-ing, or marriage of the Goddess and God, and links in with the approaching summer months.

Besom: broom.

Bolline: the white-handled knife, used in magic and Wiccan ritual for practical purposes such as cutting herbs or piercing a pomegranate. Compare with athame.

Book of Shadows: a Wiccan book of rituals, spells, and magical lore. Once hand copied upon initiation, the Book of Shadows is now photocopied or typed in some covens. No one "true" Book of Shadows exists; all are relevant to their respective users.



Censer: a heat-proof container in which incense is smoldered. An incense burner. It symbolizes the element of air.

Charge, To: to infuse an object with personal power. "Charging" is an act of magic.

Circle, Magic: see magic circle.

Circle of Stones: see magic circle.

Conscious Mind: the analytical, materially based, rational half of our consciousness. The mind at work when we compute our taxes, theorize, or struggle with ideas. Compare with psychic mind.

Consecration: The act of conferring sanctity. In Wicca, tools used in religious and magical rites are consecrated with Energy during specific rituals.

Corn Dolly: a figure, often human-shaped, created by plaiting dried wheat or other grains. It represented the fertility of the earth and the Goddess in early European agricultural rituals and is still used in Wicca. Corn dollies aren't made from cobs or husks; corn originally referred to any grain other than maize and still does in most English-speaking countries except the United States.

Coven: a group of Wiccans, usually initiatory, and led by one or two leaders.

Craft, The: Wicca. Witchcraft. Folk magic.

Grimoire: a magical workbook containing ritual information, formulae, magical properties of natural objects, and preparation of ritual equipment.



Handfasting: a Wiccan, pagan, or Gypsy wedding



Imbolc: a Wiccan festival celebrated on February 2, also known as Candlemas, Lupercalia, Feast of Pan, etc. Imbolc celebrates the first stirrings of spring and the recovery of the Goddess from giving birth to the sun (the God) at Yule.

Initiation: a process whereby an individual is introduced or admitted into a group, interest, skill, or religion. Initiations may be ritual occasions but can also occur spontaneously.

Invocation: an appeal or petition to a higher power(s), such as the Goddess and God. A prayer. Invocation is actually a method of establishing conscious ties with those aspects of the Goddess and God that dwell within us. In essence, then, we seemingly cause them to appear or make themselves known by becoming aware of them.

Mabon: on or around September 21, the Autumn Equinox, Wiccans celebrate the second harvest. Nature is preparing for winter. Mabon is a vestige of ancient harvest festivlas that, in some form or another, were once nearly universal among peopls of the earth.

Magic: the movement of natural energies (such as personal power) to create needed change. Energy exists within all things--ourselves, plants, stones, colors, sounds, movements. Magic is the process of rousing or building up this energy, giving it purpose, and releasing it. Magic is a natural, not supernatural, practice, though it is little understood.

Magic Circle, The: a sphere constructed of personal power in which Wiccan rituals are usually enacted. The term refers to the circle that marks the sphere's penetration of the ground, for it extends both above and below it. It is created through visualization and magic.

Magic Knife: see athame.

Meditation: reflection, contemplation, turning inward toward the self or outward toward deity or nature. A quiet time in which the practitioner may dwell upon particular thoughts or symbols, or allow them to come unbidden.

Megalith: a huge stone monument or structure. Stonehenge is perhaps the best known example of megalithic construction.

Menhir: a standing stone probably lifted by early peoples for religious, spiritual, or magical reasons.

Midsummer: the summer solstice, usually on or near June 21, one of the Wiccan festivals and an excellent night for magic. Midsummer marks the point of the year when the sun is symbolically at the height of its powers, and so, too, the God. The longest day of the year.

Mighty Ones, The: beings, deities, or presences often invoked during Wiccan ceremony to witness or guard the rituals. The Mighty Ones are thought to be either spiritually evolved beings, once human, or spiritual entities created by or charged by the gods to protect the earth and to watch over the four directions. They are sometimes linked with the elements.



Neo-Pagan: literally, new-pagan. A member, follower, or sympathizer of one of the newly formed pagan religions now spreading throughout the world. All Wiccans are pagan, but not all pagans are Wiccan.



Old Ones, The: a Wiccan term often used to encompass all aspects of the Goddess and God.

Ostara: occurring at the spring equinox, around March 21, Ostara marks the beginning of true, astronomical spring, when snow and ice make way for green. As such, it is a fire and fertility festival, celebrating the return of the sun, the God, and the fertility of the earth (the Goddess).

Sabbat: a Wiccan festival.

Samhain: a Wiccan festival celebrated on October 31st, also known as November Eve, Hallowmas, Halloween, Feast of Souls, Feast of the Dead, Feast of Apples. Samhain marks the symbolic death of the sun God and his passing into the "land of the young," where he awaits rebirth of the Mother Goddess at Yule. This Celtic word is pronounced by Wiccans as: SOW-en; SEW wen; Sahm-hain; SAHM-ain, SAV-een, and other ways. The first seems to be the one preferred by most Wiccans.

Scry, To: to gaze at or into an object to still the conscious mind and to contact the psychic mind. This allows the scryer to become aware of possible events prior to their actual occurrence, as well as of previous or distant, simultaneous events through other than the normally accepted senses. A form of divination.

Shaman: a man or woman who has obtained knowledge of the subtler dimensions of the earth, usually through periods of alternate states of consciousness. Various types of ritual allow the shaman to pierce the veil of the physical world and to experience the realm of energies. This knowledge lends the shaman the power to change her or his world through magic.

Shamanism: the practice of shamans, usually ritualistic or magical in nature, sometimes religious.

Simple Feast, The: a ritual meal shared with the Goddess and God.

Spell: a magical ritual, usually nonreligious in nature and often accompanied by spoken words.

Spirits of the Stones, The: the elemental energies naturally inherent at the four directions of the magic circle, personified with the Standing Stones Tradition as the "spirites of the stones". They are linked with the elemtents.



Talisman: an object, such an amethyst crystal, ritually charged with power to attract a specific force or energy to its bearer. Compare with amulet.

Tradition, Wiccan: an organized, structured, specific Wiccan subgroup, usually initiatory, with often unique ritual practices.

Trilithon: a stone arch made from two upright slabs with one lying atop these. Trilithons are featured in Stonehenge as well as the circle visualization in The Standing Stones Book of Shadows.



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Yule: a Wiccan festival celebrated on or about December 21, marking the rebirth of the sun God from the earth Goddess. A time of joy and celebration during the miseries of winter. Yule occurs on the winter solstice.



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Okay, it's been added. smile

This is going to sound like a silly term to define, but if you don't ask, you dont get, right?

Could you define the term "Wiccan Mysteries" please?

I didn't know that. Thanx. ^_^ heart