Wiccan Rituals and Spells

In this article, you will learn the guiding principles of Wiccan magic and its main rituals and spells.

The Wicca is a recent religion (created in the middle of the twentieth century), with spiritual philosophy, codes of ethics, concepts, rituals, and own deities. It is a modern religion based on the ancient traditions of witchcraft. The British author Gerald Gardner is considered, by most specialists, the creator of the Wiccan thermos and the great promoter of this movement. In this article, you will learn the guiding principles of Wiccan magic and its main rituals and spells.

Wiccan magical practices are linked to cosmic energies. Everything is energy and everything takes shape in life and in earthly things. In a cycle where negative energy enters, Wicca concepts are corrupted and their practices rejected by the true followers of this current. In the natural world, there are positive energies and negative energies. Wiccan spells and rituals exist to ward off negativity and protect the person from toxic influences brought by people who "feed" on their spirit, their soul, and their positivity, resulting in imbalances, illnesses, and other negative personal manifestations. Before initiating a ritual or spell, followers of Wicca are obliged to carefully evaluate all the possible results of their thoughts and actions, seriously considering the eventual consequences. The intuition, the binding to the natural world, and the will to do good on behalf of all join the goodness of the heart because only when life and the world are seen through the eyes, heart, and spirit are achieved understand what Wicca is.

Ethics in Wiccan Magic

As in many other religions, the sense of good and evil, light and shadow, is also present in this religion. Wiccan spells and rituals follow a series of precepts that are intended to ensure that their practitioners do them in an ethical and responsible way. In the Wiccan religion, the gift of magical power is a gift from the Lady and the Lord and, therefore, should be used only to practice the common good and should never be abused. Every action performed, magical or mundane, has consequences and generates effects, not only on the person who casts the spell but also on others. No act is inconsequential. In the practice of Wicca magic, this foundation guides all the rituals and spells of its practitioners. Before a practitioner engages in Wiccan magic or spells, they must be fully aware of their effects. General orientation is for the person to ask themselves: "If this spell reaches me, can I live with its inevitable consequences? Is there something negative, for me and others, that can happen as a result of what I am for??". All actions of Wiccan magic follow a code of ethics based on the fundamental principle of this religion: do no harm to anything or anyone. For that, the practitioners of this religion believe that everything they do will be returned to them in triplicate in this life or the next. It is about the Triple Law or the Law of Three. In addition to these fundamental rules, there is the notion of individual responsibility. Each person is solely responsible for their actions and, therefore, must be prepared to accept the consequences and deal with them.

Wiccan worship the Goddess and her Consort, the God

The Wiccan cult follows two natural divinities: the Goddess and her consort, the God. Ancestral figures are linked to the cult of nature and the forces of the natural world and are expressed throughout the natural world: in the trees, in the rain, in the flowers, in the sea, one in the other, and all creatures of nature. This results in the idea that "all things" on Earth should be treated equally, as manifestations of the divine. Life must be honored and respected in all its many manifestations, both visible and invisible.

The Goddess

The main archetypes of the Goddess of the Wiccans are two; one of them is like the "Mother Earth" or the "Mother Goddess." She is the first on all the Earth, the mystery, the mother who nourishes and gives all life. She is the power of fertility and generation; the uterus and also the grave that receives it, the power of death. Everything comes from Her, and everything must return to Her. The second archetype associates the Goddess with the "Moon," which, in turn, is associated with the monthly cycles of bleeding and fertility of women. The woman is the earthly Moon; the Moon is the cosmic egg, wandering in the womb of heaven whose menstrual blood is the rain that fertilizes and the dew that refreshes, the one that governs the tides of the oceans, the first womb of life on Earth. Therefore, the Moon is also the "Lady of the Waters."

The God

The consort of the Goddess, the God, is represented under two archetypes. The first is like "The Horned," or God of the forests, which represents the indomitable nature of all that is free. He is generally identified with the Greek God Pan, represented as the hunter-gatherer of pre-agricultural societies. In prehistoric societies, men went out to hunt and collect fruits and berries. But the death of animals was associated with Man's need to feed himself. It was a matter of survival, of collecting and hunting what was available to them in nature to obtain energy to live. These societies appreciated the goods they collected from natural life with rituals, respecting the spirit of the prey. Through magical rituals, they returned vital energy to nature. His second archetype is that of the "Lord of the Harvest," "The Sacrificed," associated with the celebration of the cycles of nature. He is both the bright sun, the energizing and light-giving force, and the darkness of night and death. Each Goddess, each God, is a way of knowing and experiencing the cycle of birth, growth, death, and rebirth. The God and Goddess of the Wiccans have many names. Any of its names or aspects can be used as a focus for meditation.

The Wiccan Initiation Ritual

Initiation is the most important passage ritual in the Wiccan religion. It is about the ritual in which the person is presented to the Gods. It represents the moment when, in fact, he becomes a Wiccan. Before initiation, the person goes through a period designated as "dedication." During that time, the apprentice sorcerer was responsible for studying the Wiccan religion. When the person sincerely feels in his heart that Wicca is his way, he is considered ready for the initiation ritual. However, traditionally the "dedication" time is one year and one day. This is because for the apprentice to be convinced of his choice, he needs, at least, to turn the wheel of the year one complete turn. The Wiccan council is considered the main dogma of Wicca. It is a simple and benevolent moral code. It has some variations in the way of saying it, but the meaning is the same. Some forms are: "Do what you want, if you harm no one", "without harming anyone, do your will", "do what you want as long as you do not harm anything or anyone," and "do what you want if nothing wrong causes ". The Triple Law complements the Wiccan advice. Do not harm anyone because "everything you do will be returned to you multiplied by three in this life or the next."

Wiccan Rituals and Spells - Celebrating the Cycles of Nature

In addition to the initiation ritual, the Wiccan religion observes other rituals. We will talk about those that are considered common practices for a follower of this religion. Wiccans revere the gift of nature of divine creation, celebrating the cycles of the sun, the Moon, and the seasons of the year. The Celebration of the Cycles of Nature and of the death of 21 rituals is held every year and is intimately associated with nature and respect for all beings and things. These rituals consist of 8 Sabbats, which make up the so-called Wheel of the Year, and 13 Esbaths, or Full Moon rituals.

The Myth of the Wheel of the Year

Passionate, the Horned God, changing form and face, always seeks the Goddess. In this world, the search arises on the Wheel of the Year. She is the Great Mother who gives birth; he is like the divine Child of the Sun at the winter solstice. In the spring, he is a sower and a seed that germinates with the growing light, green as the new shoots. She is the initiator who teaches him the mysteries. He is the young bull; she the seductive nymph. In the summer, when the light lasts longer, they come together, and the force of their passion sustains the world. But the face of God darkens as the sun grows weaker until, finally, when the grain is harvested, he also sacrifices himself so that everyone can be nourished. She is the harvester, the grave on Earth to which all must return; during the long nights and days that darken, he sleeps in her womb; in his dreams, he is the Lord of Death who rules the Terra de la Juventud, beyond the portals of night and day. Her dark grave becomes the womb of rebirth, because, in the middle of winter, She gives birth to Him again. The cycle ends and begins again, and the Wheel of the Year turns uninterruptedly (STARHAWK, 2010, p.72 ).

The 8 Sabbaths - The Wheel of the Year

Sabbaths are the festivals that celebrate the myth of the Wheel of the Year. Four Sabbats correspond to the equinoxes and the solstices and mark the path of the sun through the sky. The other four celebrate the seedling, planting, and harvest cycle, occurring on fixed and defined dates in intermediate months to the first. As the seasonal calendar of the northern hemisphere is opposite to that of the southern hemisphere, the commemorations are adapted to the season of the year of each one of the places.

The 13 Esbaths - The Rituals of the Full Moon

The Esbats celebrate the lunar aspect of the Goddess, and there are 13 because, in the year, there are thirteen Full Moons. In our solar calendar, with 12 months, two Full Moons occur each month. But, in the lunar calendar, which was the first to be used by the primitives, that does not happen since it is divided according to the cycle of the Moon, with 13 months of 28 days each. Unlike the Sabbaths, the theme of the Esbaths can vary according to the person who performs them. Wiccan followers also revere the spirits of the elements Earth, Air, Fire, and Water, which collectively manifest all forms of creation. From these four essential elements, they understand the rhythms of nature and integrate us into the rhythm of their own lives.

The Practice of Natural Magic

For Wicca, magical powers are latent in all people. Each one of us has the potential to become a witch (understood in this religion as someone who seeks to do only good for all, who respects the laws of nature and lives in communion with it, and who practices a life according to the values purer). The magical powers are natural and mysterious powers that inhabit the inner mind. What witchcraft does is create an environment favorable to the manifestation of these powers through magical rituals and the symbols that accompany them. All this requires, above all, responsibility. The Wicca believes that the magical powers must be used exclusively for doing good, for the good of all. Magic is the art of transforming consciousness at will". Each person creates their own reality through their actions and thoughts. Spells only work if the person believes in their ability to get things done and to make them happen. Wicca's magical ingredients are honesty, self-discipline, dedication, and conviction. "A spell is a symbolic act performed in an altered state of consciousness, with the aim of generating the desired change. To make a spell is to project energy through a symbol" (STARHAWK, 2010, p.191).

Who can be a Wiccan?

In truth, any person can initiate this religion if he feels, in his heart, that this is his path. Wiccans call this the moment of "awakening to the call of the Goddess ." Followers of this religion are tolerant of everyone else, as long as they do not persecute other people or violate the principle of "Do no harm to anything or anyone ." Each person is free to find his way and his spiritual guides according to the religion with which he best identifies. That makes Wicca a religion free of prejudices and open to diversity. She also believes that "once a witch, you will always be a witch." Believers in reincarnation, if, in past lives or in the present, a person turned or becomes a witch so that it will be forever.