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WEB WEAVING: Networking with other magickal people
through conversation, in writing, or by computer to gather
information to mutually assist each party in their studies and
life goals.
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WHEEL OF THE YEAR:
One full cycle of the seasonal year, beginning with the Samhain
celebration.
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WHITE-HANDLED KNIFE:
("Bowl-in"
or "Bowl-een")
A normal cutting knife, with a sharp
blade and white handle. IT is used within Wicca to cut
herbs and fruits, to slice bread during The Simple Feast and for
other functions - but never for sacrifice. Sometimes
called the Boline.
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WICCA:
A contemporary Pagan religion with
spiritual roots in Shamanism and the earliest expressions of
reverence of nature. Among its major motifs are: reverence for
the Goddess and the God; reincarnation; magic; ritual
observances of the Full Moon, astronomical and agricultural
phenomena; spheroid temples, created with Personal Power, in
which rituals occur.
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WIDDERSHINS:
Anti-clockwise motion, usually used in
the Northern Hemisphere for negative magickal purposes or for
dispersing negative energies or conditions such as disease.
Southern Hemisphere Witches may use widdershins motions for
exactly the opposite purposes; namely for positive ends, for the
reason stated in the entry under Deosil. In either case,
widdershins and deosil motions are symbolic; only strict,
close-minded traditionalists believe that accidentally walking
around the altar backwards, for instance, will raise negativity.
Their use in Witchcraft stems from ancient European rituals practiced
by peoples who watched and reverenced the Sun and Moon in their
daily revolutions. Widdershins motion, within ritual
contexts, is still shunned by the vast majority of Witches,
though others use it once in a while, for instance, to disperse
the Magick Circle at the end of a rite.
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WITCH:
Anciently, a European practitioner of the
remnants of pre-Christian folk magick, particularly that
relating to herbs, healing, wells, rivers and stones. One
who practiced Witchcraft. Later, this term's meaning was
deliberately altered to denote demented, dangerous, supernatural
beings who practiced destructive magick and who threatened
Christianity. This change was a political, monetary and
sexist move on the part of organized religion, not a change in
the practices of Witches. This later, erroneous meaning is
still accepted by many non-Witches.
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WITCHCRAFT: The craft of
the Witch-Magick, especially magick utilizing Personal Power in
conjunction with the energies within stones, herbs, colors and
other natural objects. While this may have spiritual overtones,
Witchcraft, using this definition, isn't a religion. However,
some followers of Wicca use this word to denote their religion.
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WORKING,
Magickal: The process of using magick to reach a desired
positive goal.
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