The Wiccan Mystic takes the foundational ideas of Wicca and explores them in depth. Learn about what constitutes a mystery religion and how Wicca fits the pattern. Discover the living mystical core of Wiccan practice and strengthen it in your own exploration of this exciting magickal path. Establish strong thinking skills to help you empower your spiritual life and open up new vistas for exploration. Tap into your individual direct relationship with the Divine and feel new joy come into your life. The Wiccan Mystic presents proven ways to help practitioners develop a sophisticated, mature, yet surprisingly simple spiritual depth. Learn to grow your relationship with your chosen gods and goddesses to new levels of intimacy. Discover how magick can be an integral part of an ecologically sound, profoundly ethical, and spiritually based life.
Table of Contents
Dedication
Introduction
- What This Book Will And Won’t Do For You
- Wicca In Context
Chapter 1: What Is A Mystery Religion? What Is A Mystic?
- Characteristics Of A Mystery Religion
- Mystery Religions Of The Past
- Modern Mystery Religions And Related Groups
- Wicca As A Mystery Religion
- Characteristics Of A Mystic
- Descriptions Of A Mystical Experience
- Results From A Mystical Experience
- Mystics In History
- Mystical Occultism
- Mysticism In Wicca
Chapter 2: Initiation, And Being An Initiate
- Initiation: What’s It All About?
- Two Types Of Initiation
- The Occult Initiate As Mystic
- Characteristics Of A Mystical Initiate
Chapter 3: Wiccan Mysteries And Magickal Spirituality
- Is Wicca A Mystery Religion?
- Mysteries In Wicca
- Categorizing Magick
- What Are Thaumaturgy And Theurgy?
- Thaumaturgy And Theurgy In Wicca
- Why Both Are Important
Chapter 4: Sources Of Inspiration
- Historical And Other Sources Of Inspiration
- Separating The Wheat From The Chaff: Critical Thinking Skills For Pagans
Chapter 5: Wiccan Philosophy And Ethics
- A Wiccan Mystical Philosophy
- A Wiccan Mystic’s Ethical Path
Chapter 6: Magickal Theory
- Theories Of Magick
- Keys To Mystical Magick
Chapter 7: Wiccan Mystics In Community
- Solitary Work
- Group Work
- Tutelary Deities
- Helpers (Familiars, Spirits, Tools)
Chapter 8: Wiccan Mystical Ritual
- Inducing A Mystical Experience
- Wiccan Ritual Structure
- Goals
- Divination
- Evocation And Invocation
- Dedications And Devotions
- Making The Experience Concrete
Conclusion: Living A Mystical Wiccan Life
- The Path Onward
- Advanced Doesn’t Have To Mean Complicated
- Finding Your Calling
- Growing Towards Elderhood: Being A Role Model
Appendix I: Wiccan History
- A Timeline Of Events Relevant To Wicca
Appendix Ii: Guided Meditation Or Pathworking
- Basic Pathworking Structure: Beginning & Ending Scripts
- A Selection Of Pathworking Journeys: “Middle” Scripts
Recommended Resources
- General Reference
- Mystery Religions
- Mysticism
- Wiccan Basics
- Intermediate To Advanced Wicca
- Magickal Basics
- Wiccan, Pagan, And Magickal History
- Trance And Altered States Of Consciousness
- Guided Meditations And Pathworking
- Devotions And Worship
- Group Work And Community
Endnotes
Index
About The Author
Excerpt
I grew up on a farm in eastern Ontario, Canada. It was an idyllic childhood for me. I spent many hours wandering the fields and forests, playing in the hayloft, participating in the cycle of life that is ever-present when you help care for animals. My family was nominally Presbyterian although we stopped going to church regularly except for Christmas-time when my dad would sing in the choir. My parents raised us to be curious and independent. I always felt a special connection to the natural world so Wicca was a natural fit for me when I discovered it in my early teen years.
The moon goddess with Her phases and the Lord of the green wild were presences I knew were there because I could sense Them. I used to go off into the forest by myself and worship Them in exuberant dance. Stones and trees would call out to me. The wind was my friend and seemed to come when I called. I’d sit for hours in silent communion in places I considered holy.
Years later when I went to university I started actually meeting with other Wiccans and assorted Pagans and had a chance to discuss openly what I had been reading on my own and what I had learned from my own experience. I wasn’t alone in my belief that the world was suffused with the Divine presence and that we could identify with the Divine and see ourselves as very much a part of that whole.
Some of the Wiccan authors I read, and some of the Wiccans who I subsequently met and spoke with, talked about these things obliquely as sacred Mysteries, and at times insisted that the Mysteries could not be verbalized. They also told me that these Mysteries were reserved for those who had been formally initiated into established Wiccan traditions. “Only a Witch can make a Witch,” I was told.
I knew this was not true.
Other Wiccans spoke in poetic ways about things that I understood instinctively even though the language used could never be anything more than a pale reflection of the reality it was trying to explain. Yet I, and others I knew, had felt these same things! The Divine touches even those without benefit of formal initiations. I knew the Moon when I stood naked in Her silver light when I was fifteen years old those many years ago growing up on the farm. The Green Man of the wildwood played with me, whispering in my ear, when I was a child climbing the trees. The Lady Brigid, a goddess of my genetic heritage, was with me when I helped bring the cows in for milking, when I fed a calf from a pail. I knew these things before I ever met other Wiccans in the flesh. Others too have felt their lives touched by the Divine and many of them are like me and have come to consider themselves Witches, Wiccans, or Pagans of some variety.
Wicca is often called a modern Mystery Religion. Yes, it most definitely can be. The reasons why that label might or might not fit may surprise some people. The key question we need to ask ourselves is what we mean by Mystery. Is it really about formal rituals of acceptance into specific groups and refusing to talk about certain things? Or is it about something else entirely: a very tangible experience of connection with the Divine?
Because we have an opportunity to choose our attitude and focus our intentions in the present moment, the world and our own personal lives are a reflection of our thoughts. It is our 360 degree review on how we think. Put simply, our job is to fully
Our culture has taught us to believe in many ideas which aren't actually real. Exposing these illusions allows us to recover the power to live our lives according to our deepest desires.
