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C A U L D R O N A N D C A N D L E #23 -- May 2002 A Publication of The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum website: http://www.ecauldron.com/ mailing list/board: http://www.ecauldron.com/fregmb.php delphi forum: http://forums.delphiforums.com/CUSTOM7999/start newsletter: http://www.ecauldron.com/cnc/ With a little help from The Witches' Thicket website: http://www.cros.net/soraya/ delphi forum: http://forums.delphiforums.com/thicket/start In this Issue: [00] Note: Apologies For The Short Issue [01] Editorial: Rede and Fluff [02] Poem: Water [03] Article: Solitary Wiccan Beltane Ritual [04] Review: Magical Use of Thought Forms [05] Review: Witchcraft and the Web [06] Review: Making Talismans [07] Review: Spells for Teenage Witches [08] Review: Life's A Witch [09] Article: Why A Knife? [10] Support The Cauldron When You Buy at Amazon.com [11] Newsletter and Forum Info (Including How To Subscribe/Unsubscribe) +++ Submission Deadline for next issue: June 25, 2002 +++ Guidelines: http://www.ecauldron.com/cnc/submissions.php [00] ========= ========= PUBLISHER'S NOTE: APOLOGIES FOR THE SHORT ISSUE ========= by Randall Sapphire ========= As you have probably noticed, this issue is both early and smaller than normal. Your editor had a last minute opportunity, assuming all goes as planned, to spend some time with his fiancee during the first week in May. As it has been over 5 months since we saw each other, we jumped at the chance. Unfortunately, we be meeting during the time I would normally be producing the Cauldron & Candle. At first, I planned to cancel the May issue, but I remembered that Moonsongstress' Beltane ritual would be completely useless in June. So I decided to put her ritual, some reviews, and a couple of submissions that did not appear to need much editing together and call the result the May issue. To be honest, you are getting what I could put together in a few hours. Proofreading is even less accurate than usual. Please accept my apologies for the problems with this issue. [01] ========= ========= EDITORIAL: REDE AND FLUFF ========= by Osthein ========= I hear people saying "But I don't follow the [Wiccan] Rede" with a certain vehemence these days. Which is entirely reasonable when it is in response to yet another appearance of that well-known stereotype, "all Pagans are Wiccans and therefore follow the Rede as moral law" (frequently found in combination with "all Christians are Fundamentalists and therefore incapable of rational thought.") But every so often the sub-text seems to be a third stereotype, just as offensive as the other two: "all followers of the Rede are mindless fluff-bunnies with the academic rigor of a lobotomized newt." It's usually the short version that's meant: "An it harm none, do what ye will" and in that form it is central to my own moral and ethical understanding. I certainly don't consider myself fluffy (nor incidentally am I Wiccan). So what's going on here? First of all the Rede gets inverted, from positive to negative, from endorsing harmless action to forbidding that which is harmful. The two are very far from being the same thing. My understanding of the positive statement is that it throws the onus back on me to work out what constitutes right action, telling me by way of guidance, and then only implicitly, that I need to take into account any harm I may cause. If I'm sure there's none, then I have a "green light" from the Rede, but for the rest I have to be mindful and attentive to the results of my actions, and prepared to take responsibility for the consequences. One of the things that most appeals to me about it, is that it doesn't offer a simplistic rule for life's far from simple choices. Phrased negatively, the implication is different, not least because the class of totally harmless actions is far smaller than that which does some scathe. Indeed if taken literally it would be impossible to successfully follow, as is often pointed out. Things die that I might eat, and there is no escaping the fact. When I got my job the other applicants missed out, and so on. If harmlessness is the law one must forever fall short. One obvious way out of this impasse is to take the word "rede" in its true meaning of advice or counsel, as distinct from rule or law. Following advice and obeying law are very different propositions. I prefer to think of it in the form of positive counsel myself, but whether in accordance with that, as negative law always imperfectly adhered to or as advice against doing harm, I maintain that the person who endeavors to live as harmlessly as possible is the antithesis of fluffy. Of course it depends on what is meant by "fluffy" in the first place. Sometimes I think the definition amounts to "more optimistic than the speaker likes" and then really merits little more than a dismissive shrug by way of response. To me it signifies a determined blindness to all that is unpleasant, a deliberate refusal to acknowledge the harsher aspects of reality, whether it be in daily life, human nature or the attributes of the Gods, in the face of any and all evidence to the contrary. To focus on the positives, refusing to dwell on darker things is an optimistic choice; to deny the negative exists is fluff. Personal gnosis may lead one to relate to Hecate in the aspect of a Mother Goddess; claiming from beneath the avalanche of primary sources that She was worshiped as playful maid, loving mother and dear old granny - in short, was always and absolutely nice - ever since the Neolithic, is purest lobotomized newt and understandably draws down howls of derision. But one who would live as harmlessly as possible must have a continual, meticulous awareness of harm, even (especially) potential harm. That path requires that action be scrutinized in a perpetual cost-benefits analysis, to find the least damaging way. The blindness of the fluff-bunny just will not work here. What I think does happen is a range of other stratagems, of varying intellectual honesty, to gain some maneuvering room after casting the Rede as a negative law. Some rely on restricting the scope of "none". It may be limited to sentient beings, removing any angst about eating plants or digesting millions of intestinal bacteria (depending of course on one's definition of sentience.) So perhaps only humans count, or one's co-religionists -- or even just friends and family...? It seems to me that some value scale is inevitable, else how to weigh the death of the trodden ant against my need to walk around? But narrow the scope too far and all credibility must be lost. Others make harm the focus, often in my view sensibly, since I have seen its meaning expand to take in practically any impact on anything that isn't obviously and actively beneficial, and moreover explicitly requested in advance. This is the context in which one sees the particularly obnoxious practice of using the Rede to beat others around the head in choruses of smug self-righteousness. But again, the plea of "not really harming" soon loses credence if taken too far. Then there's the trick of limiting the applicability of the whole, usually only to magic: magical workings must be harmless, what is done by mundane means falls under no such stricture. This changes the Rede from a moral or ethical precept to a mere procedural rule. To then claim to live by it qualifies as sloppy thinking even if not full-blown fluff. The latter is clearly evident though in claims that no witch/Pagan would ever harm anyone because they all follow the Rede in everything that they do. (Except day-to-day living, which is quite a different thing -- isn't it?) Is it via the less honest of these equivocations, originating I believe in a fundamental misunderstanding of the word "rede" itself, that the taint of fluffiness had attached itself to those who claim to follow it? [Osthein is an assistant moderator on The Witches' Thicket.] ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ SEND A PAGAN POSTCARD You can send a Pagan Postcard from the menu of any of our web pages at http://www.ecauldron.com/. If you haven't tried our postcard site, give it a try. It has quite a few nice features. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ [02] ========= ========= WATER ========= A Poem by Moonsongstress ========= Streams bubble and play from her lips and out Of the tips of her fingers. Green-blue clarity is Made from death and decay as I beat my breast With the scourge of all my guilt. She seeps into My soul like a torrent of tears, clearing away the Dirt and detritus left in the river by life used up. Spent I lie, as the waters wash the blame away. With the blue of scented lavender, my senses Are filled as I float softly weightless through the Long, lost clouds. Her salty tears weep my body Clean as they seep from the eyes of the Earth And I taste them, and then drink their goodness Into the center of my soul, kissing the cooling, Wetness with eyelashes mirroring the emotion. Fathoms down I lie, as life's cradle shines blue Above my head and the womb of creation holds Me in the thrall of healing. Thick with whetting Sensation I stretch out into the dark and find Nothing but flowing space surrounds me. Time Passes, currents cool and warm and I know the difference. Life holds that knowing in her arms. I heal and grow. Stretching my branches slowly Into the green and blue, carefully feeling a way With roots hardening from soft sap to solid rock In as much time as it takes. Still I drink her in, Breathing the cool liquid through my pores and Thirsty veins. Spreading her living essence from Earth's heart to mine she comes to my embrace. Copyright (c) MoonSongstress 2001 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ CAULDRON AND CANDLE WEB SITE The Cauldron and Candle now has its own web site where we store our back issues for easy reading. http://www.ecauldron.com/cnc/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ [03] ========= ========= WICCAN SOLITARY RITUAL ========= BELTANE RITUAL OF INTEGRATION AND ABUNDANCE ========= by Moonsongstress ========= [Visit Moonsongstress' web site for more of her material: http://www.moonsongstress.com] ===== ===== Tools for the Ritual ===== * Pink and apple green altar cloths * Beltane incense - a heady scent such as ylang ylang or copal * Golden God candle * Silver Goddess candle * White altar candle * Quarter candles and corresponding stones * Matches, taper and snuffer * Vase of flowers in full bloom * Simple feast - Turkish delight or chocolate and mead * Three ribbons 18 inches long, one each of red, green and white * Two lengths of silver thread, each 6 inches long ===== ===== Preparation ===== At the beginning of the ritual mentally cleanse and sweep the area moving deosil. Set up the quarter candles and stones symbolizing the elements of the quarters. Decorate the altar with its cloths, and then the candles. Place the golden God candle to the right back of the altar and the silver Goddess candle to the left back. The vase of blooms is placed before the God candle. The white altar candle goes at the center back of the altar between the Goddess and God candles. The three ribbons are placed at the front of the altar. Place the items for the simple feast to one side. Take a shower or splash your face with water for purification. Sit quietly and meditate for a while, then ground and center. Feel the warm glow of sunlight on your skin. ===== ===== The Ritual ===== The ritual is begun. Moving deosil, light the Goddess, God, altar and quarter candles and incense. Cast the circle in warm sunlight. Call the quarters and spirit center. Invoke the Goddess and God. Bid them all Hail and Welcome. Feel the warm glow of sunlight on your skin. The wheel turns once more and the silver thread of time turns to gold as Beltane comes with the rush of warmth and plenty we have long desired. Easy abundance is here as the Earth sighs softly under the gaze of the loving, benevolent sun. His life-giving rays caress her fertile skin as loving warmth rains down gently upon her welcoming curves. My Goddess and God, here I stand, alone in this time and place and yet I am not alone. Solitary but eternally connected to the teeming life that buzzes all around me. Quietly in this place I mark with joy this time of abundant life before rejoining the melee. Space and silence are here for me now just as the colorful spin of life will greet me when I rejoin the dance. A lone life here in this place, but made up of many parts. As creatures meld in the accepting fires of laughing spirit in this time of warmth and plenty, so will I take with love the different parts of my being and meld them with acceptance and joy into one complete life in this ritual. Feel the warm glow of sunlight on your skin. Take the red ribbon in your hands and lift it up. This red ribbon represents my physical body. Here I lie in my humanity, full of magnificence and imperfection. My physical needs and wants are here in this ribbon. I accept them and with them I accept myself in all my physicality. I am a child born of the physical and it is good that this is so. Kiss the red ribbon and place it back on the altar. Feel the warm glow of sunlight on your skin. Take the green ribbon in your hands and lift it up. This green ribbon represents my emotions. Here I lie in my deep need, full of embracing warmth and vulnerability. My emotional needs and wants are here in this ribbon. I accept them and with them I accept myself in all my emotion. I am a child born of emotion and it is good that this is so. Kiss the green ribbon and place it back on the altar. Feel the warm glow of sunlight on your skin. Take the white ribbon in your hands and lift it up. This white ribbon represents my spiritual body. Here I lie in my questing spirit, full of quiet exploration and distrust. My spiritual needs and wants are here in this ribbon. I accept them and with them I accept myself in all my spirituality. I am a child born of the spirit and it is good that this is so. Kiss the white ribbon and place it back on the altar. Feel the warm glow of sunlight on your skin. These three ribbons are all parts of my being which I accept and love. Singly they are worthy to be part of me but together they will become stronger than they could ever be alone. A single part may be strong but its true strength is found when it works in harmony with others. Take the three ribbons and one of the silver threads. You are now going to braid them together. I bind these ribbons together into a braid of strength and beauty, held in place by silver thread. The braid is my living being with all its parts integrated and accepted. The silver thread is the connecting flame of deity in which all life rests - Goddess and God, living and life binding my being in wholeness. Take one end of each of the ribbons and bind them together with one of the silver threads. You should now have the three ribbons loose at one end and bound together at the other. Place the ribbons on the altar with the bound end away from you and the loose ends towards you. Braid the three ribbons together as you would braid hair. Take the loose end of the ribbon on the right and bring it over the one in the middle. It now becomes the one in the middle. Take the loose end of the ribbon on the left and bring it over the one in the middle. This one now becomes the middle ribbon. Continue until the braid is complete and then bind the end with the second silver thread. Feel the warm glow of sunlight on your skin. Lift the finished braid to the altar. My Goddess and God, I bring this braid to you in its completeness. It represents my life and being. Woven in love and effort its disparate parts have been brought together to make a thing of beauty and strength. I declare that I will weave the parts of my life and being together into such a thing of wholeness, beauty and strength, many hued and held with the silver thread of deity. I ask for your blessing on it, confident in your manifest abundance. Proceed with the simple feast to ground yourself. ===== ===== The end of the Ritual ===== Address the Goddess with thanks, love and dedication. May I listen for and hear you, May I look for and see you, May I reach for and touch you, May I wait for and find you. Teach me what I need to know, and what I am now ready to know. Your blessings are abundant, bless me abundantly. Thank the spirits of the quarters and center, and also the Goddess and God. Ask them to go if they must but stay if they will. Bid them all Hail and Farewell. Open the circle. The circle is open but never broken. The ritual is ended. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ DONATE TO HELP SUPPORT THE CAULDRON'S WEB SITE If you like The Cauldron and have a few extra dollars, please donate via the Amazon Honor System and help us pay the web site bills. http://www.amazon.com/paypage/P3903JRFVQVDN ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ [04] ========= ========= REVIEW: MAGICAL USE OF THOUGHT FORMS ========= Reviewed by Randall Sapphire ========= Magical Use of Thought Forms: A Proven System of Mental & Spiritual Empowerment Author: Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki & J.H. Brennan Trade Paperback, 256 pages Publisher: Llewellyn Publication date: December 2001 ISBN: 1567180841 US Retail Price: $14.95 Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1567180841/thecauldron As both Delores Ashcroft-Nowicki and J.H. Brennan are respected writers in the ceremonial magick field, I've been looking forward to receiving a review copy of Magical Use of Thought Forms. It finally worked its way to near the top of my review pile, so when no one was looking I pulled it out of the stack and put it on top. One thing almost all systems of ceremonial magick have in common is the use of thought forms created by the magician's manipulation of the astral plane. Many other forms of magick, such as Wiccan magick, use similar techniques, often under much different names. Magical Use of Thought Forms concentrates on this basic magickal task/technique. The first third of this book talks about the nature of reality and introduces the astral plane through a variety of folklore, legends and science. While this section is very useful for the complete beginner, I found it somewhat repetitive and even a bit boring in places. The case studies are interesting, but really could have used some source references. The fourth chapter attempts to bring quantum mechanics and relativity into the picture. Unfortunately, many of their observations are drawn from an incomplete understanding of current quantum mechanical theories. I'm not faulting the book for this because about the only people who have a correct understanding of quantum theory are those physicists working in the quantum field. The second part of Magical Use of Thought Forms discusses the astral plane from a magickal perspective. This part of the book begins the serious training one needs to successfully use thought forms. Those expecting shortcuts to power will be disappointed here. The authors are of the old school and believe that work, effort, and time are required to perfect skills. The authors intermix theory and practice nicely in this section. The third section contains most of the material on actually using thought forms in magickal operations. Many readers will be tempted to skip ahead to this part of the book to read about all the interesting things like creating guardians, a memory palace, and an astral homunculus. However, those who do so will not be equipped to attempt these procedures successfully, unless they are already well-trained magicians. There are a number of appendixes with their own magical procedures. These range from the standard Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram to a reconstructed ritual for creating a golem. The first appendix, "The Starborn," is code for a set of web pages designed to allow those with a computer to experiment with Brennan's idea that astral space and cyberspace are somehow connected. Pathworking via the web? It's certainly an interesting idea. It's hard to summarize the Magical Use of Thought Forms. This book tries to take the reader from complete beginner to fairly advanced practitioner in about 250 pages. I'm not sure it succeeds. I'm not sure any single book shorter in length than the Bible could. However, this book covers a great deal of material in a competent and understandable manner. The understandable part is important as good books on this subject are often hard to understand. Despite a few flaws and problems (ignore the quantum mechanics, please!), this is a book that most beginning magicians could probably benefit from -- if they are willing to work for their success. This review is available on our web site at http://www.ecauldron.com/bkmuotf.php [05] ========= ========= REVIEW: WITCHCRAFT AND THE WEB ========= Reviewed by Daven ========= Witchcraft and the Web: Weaving Pagan Traditions Online Author: M. Macha Nightmare Trade Paperback, 250 pages Publisher: ECW Press Publication date: December 2001 ISBN: 1550224662 US Retail Price: $16.95 Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1550224662/thecauldron Well, I got this book not long after its publication, and it's taken me this long to review it. That's because of the amount of information available in this book. I have been online for about 3 years now, and sporadically online since the Witches' Voice came online in 97, however, in all that time there has not been a more needed reference on the Online Pagan Experience. This book is a comprehensive look into the Pagans on the Internet, how they interrelate, who they know, some of the groups available for the novice, some netiquette, some advice and some information. There is a mini web directory that has a lot of online favorites of most Online Pagans in it, such as The Witches' Voice, Drak.net, and The Church of All Worlds. All of these organizations have been cornerstones of the online pagan experience (called hereafter OPE). Macha looks to have done her homework. She had a mailing list set up expressly to research the OPE and to ask questions on. She solicited the opinions of the online pagan and it did not seem to matter if you had 30 years or 30 minutes experience. She got all kinds of responses from the community as well. She mentions many major sites, email newsletters, groups, cybercovens, and other societies (and I was chagrinned to find out just how close I came to being in several of these at the same time she was actively looking for thoughts). Apparently unique to this work is her list of references. Most of it is made up of Internet Sites, with their full URL's listed out. Now, if what I have said above confused you and you don't know what that jargon means, Macha takes the time to explain the "in" terms to the novice so they can understand the concept from a working level. She may not say that the URL is a "Universal Resource Locator" and how those URLs operate in theory, but she does say that the URL is the address of the website and the webpages, that without a URL, you can't read the information. She points out anecdotal evidence that we are more widespread than first imagined, mainly because we have the opportunity to be out of the broom closet and still be anonymous at the same time. She offers thoughts on what happens next and where we go now and points out that Pagans at least are using the Web as it was intended to be used as. It's the biggest Pagan library imaginable. While everyone else seems to be concerned with piddling around with this new technology and finding out what the limits are, posting webpages and telling everyone about themselves and their cats, Pagans seem to be more inclined to use the awesome research abilities of the Web and compile that information into usable pages that give accurate information to those who come looking for it. My only qualm is that the book is a little hard to get through. It helps if you have a computer right there in front of you while you are reading the book, but it's not necessary. I do appreciate her thoughts about online rituals. It's good to know that I'm not insane in my perceptions of what happened. Regardless of whether or not you like the Internet, no one can afford to be ignorant of the net, nor can they afford to be technophobic about computers. The Craft of the Wise is moving out of the shadows and into the light of cyberspace, fully able to hold it's own now with any group or religion out there. Christianity may have a lock on our airwaves and be censoring what we can and can't see on our televisions, but we Pagans have a lock on the Internet and we will be coming in on that DSL connection that the Christians have to their house. I give this book 4 1/2 stars out of 5. Good work Macha. This review is available on our web site at http://www.ecauldron.com/bkwatw.php [06] ========= ========= REVIEW: MAKING TALISMANS ========= Reviewed by Randall Sapphire ========= Making Talismans: Living Entities of Power Author: Nick Farrell Trade Paperback, 224 pages Publisher: Llewellyn Publication date: September 2001 ISBN: 0738700045 US Retail Price: $14.95 Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0738700045/thecauldron According to Nick Farrell, a talisman is an object that stores and radiates magickal energy to create change. His new book, Making Talismans, is a short course in the creation of talismans within the Western Magical Tradition. In his preface, the author tells of his first attempt, when he was seventeen, to make a talisman to attract money using the information in a small pamphlet he found in a secondhand bookstore. After carrying it around for 6 weeks without acquiring any money, he realized that it wasn't working. I suspect that little pamphlet was not nearly as complete as this book. Making Talismans packs quite a bit of information into a relatively short, well-illustrated book. The book begins with a short explanation of what a talisman is and the magickal theory of how talismans work. The second chapter is a brief history of talismans in the Western Magickal Tradition from their use in ancient Egypt to their use by the Golden Dawn and its successors. The third chapter begins the material on actually making talismans with a discussion of cabalistic names of power. The fourth chapter is a digression from the ceremonial magick tone of the rest of the volume. It discusses the use of Pagan deities instead of cabalistic divine names. The next three chapters cover the talismanic use of angels, planets, and colors respectively. The last three chapters cover the actual creation and consecration of a talisman. The chapter on drawing talismans explains the various shapes that can be used and what to draw on those shapes. Three types of talismans are covered: basic and advanced talismans that draw power from the heavens and geomantic talismans which draw their power from the Earth. The chapter on consecrating talismans details three consecration rituals: a simple ritual using a shamanistic approach, a ceremony for a modern magickal lodge, and a more complex ritual created from Golden Dawn practices. The last chapter explains how to tell if a talisman is actually working and what can be done to correct errors that may prevent one from working. Making Talismans is a wonderful collection of information on talisman creation collected in a single, easy to read volume. Unfortunately, while this book provides the reader with a lot of raw information, it gives very little instruction on how to turn all of that information into a talisman for a specific purpose. This book really could have benefited from a chapter of case studies in talisman design showing how one gets from a specific need to a talisman designed to help that need. Raw information is great, but beginners may need more help than Making Talismans provides in actually using that information. This review is available on our web site at http://www.ecauldron.com/bkmtleop.php [07] ========= ========= REVIEW: SPELLS FOR TEENAGE WITCHES ========= Reviewed by Mellee ========= Spells for Teenage Witches Author: Marina Baker Paperback, 95 pages Publisher: Kyle Cathie Ltd Publication date: 2000 ISBN: 1856263975 US Retail Price: $12.95 Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1856263975/thecauldron This elegantly designed book is a fantastic resource for simple, effective spells. Created with the needs of teenagers in mind, Spells for Teenage Witches has 95 pages of handy spell and ritual ideas. Baker begins with an introduction to magick and some basics of witch practice. These pages are easy to read and full of practical guidelines, influenced by Wiccan practice. There is, however, very little discussion of any ethics pertaining to spell casting. Next is the spells section itself. This contains 49 spells, covering everything from exam revision to period pain. The spells are beautifully set out (can you tell I bought this originally for aesthetic appeal?) and use simple ingredients and chants. The correspondences are basic but serve their purpose. The book ends with a few pages on celebrating Wiccan sabbats (but doesn't include the equinoxes), all very nice ideas although some of the info provided is a bit off - i.e. she refers to Yule as one of the greater sabbats and Samhain as a lesser, when in fact it is the other way around (as far as I'm aware). All in all, I'd say Spells for Teenage Witches was a very useful book for teen witches needing spells, especially those interested in Wicca, whether as a straight out source or as inspiration for creating personal spells. This review is available on our web site at http://www.ecauldron.com/bksftw.php [08] ========= ========= REVIEW: LIFE'S A WITCH ========= Reviewed by Mellee ========= Life's A Witch: A Handbook for Teen Witches Author: Fiona Horne Paperback, 250 pages Publisher: Random House Australia Publication date: November 2000 ISBN: 1740510224 Only Available in Australia Amazon Link: none Fiona Horne has been a practicing Wiccan Witch for fourteen years, and Life's a Witch is her third book. The previous two were beginners guides/memoirs, and sold well. This book is aimed at the younger generation, because Horne feels there is a lack of material available especially for teens. The writing style is very simple and colloquial, and Horne pulls it off without sounding condescending. There are about 250 pages in the paperback, so it's well sized. Horne starts off with the basics of modern Wiccan Witchcraft, defining what a Witch is and what Witches do. She includes questions from teens, and her replies make for interesting reading. The part that makes this relevant to teens follows, and includes ideas on dealing with witchyness at school and home. Horne also discusses peer pressure issues, such as teen sex and drugs, in an ethical, magickal way - something I haven't seen before in this kind of book, and was impressed by. There is also an interview with an Australian teen Witch (the founder of the NightStar Teen Pagan Network) that I think all teens will enjoy, followed by a contribution section, where the art, poetry and spells submitted by other teens are provided. Her Tips section is a practical and fun guide to living as a teen Witch, and leads on to the chapter about magickal correspondences. Situated throughout the chapters are spells and rituals related to whatever topic is being discussed. The emphasis is on doing, rather than reading. All spells are made up with easy to obtain ingredients. (Thank Gods for someone who understands how hard it is for a 13 year old to get hold of esoteric herbs!) All the spells are sensible and well written. There are a few points I'd like to make: 1. Horne fails to distinguish between Witches and Wiccan Witches. 2. The book is a beginners guide for younger teens. 3. There is focus on practice rather than theory, with little discussion on why Wiccan Witches do these things and what they believe. 4. Because it was written by an Australia, the correspondences tend to be for the Southern Hemisphere. (I think this is a good thing, but then I live in New Zealand.) 5. The insights and anecdotes are what make this book special, so those who are looking for a straight guidebook will be disappointed. Overall, Life's a Witch is a good book for the teen who is interested in practicing Wiccan-based Witchcraft and already understands some of the theology behind it. As opposed to other writers who have taken the basics of Witchcraft and dumbed it down for teens, Horne has specifically targeted issues that affect teens daily, and done so in an easy to read, informative manner. I give the book a four out of five, and recommend it to teens aged 13-18. This review is available on our web site at http://www.ecauldron.com/bklaw.php ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ UPCOMING REVIEWS Here are a few of the books we'll be reviewing in future issues: INVOKE THE GODS, MAGIC OF QABALAH, CRAFTING THE BODY DIVINE, CANDLEMAS, CHARTING YOUR SPIRITUAL PATH WITH ASTROLOGY, MODERNWICCAN CD-ROM. Reviews often appear on our web site first, so check there for new reviews if you can't wait for the next issue of the newsletter. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ [09] ========= ========= ARTICLE: WHY A KNIFE? ========= by Sine Silverwing ========= Most Wiccans, and many related forms of Neo-Paganism, include the athame, or dedicated ritual knife, as a required part of the tool kit. Did you ever wonder why the significant tool of Wicca is a knife? Why isn't it a wand? Or a crystal? Or a chair? Weapons are a subset of tools that are used specifically for fighting and killing. The athame is a tool, and a weapon because it is a knife. Its uses are all designed around the fact that it is a blade, and its task is to cut, to divide, to destroy wholeness and create separateness. The athame is the tool we use to cast a sacred circle, because it cuts away a piece of mundane reality, sets it apart and separates it from ordinariness. The very first tool that humans created was a blade. That was what differentiated us from the animals: the ability to see the blade hidden in the rock, and the skill to get it out. Maybe that's what the Arthurian story about the sword in the stone means: to reveal the elegant weapon hidden in the dross of the rock is the visual for the earliest humans who looked at a rock and saw the potential for a blade in it. The weapon helped make our survival and cultural development possible: the simple blade evolved into axes, sickles, spears and, eventually, swords. It is the original, basic tool that we used to make all the others. The iron blade, and ultimately the steel blade, is the culmination of native ability and human skill. It combines all four elements [earth = the ore and the coal used to smelt it, the hammer that shapes the blade; air to fuel the fire of the forge; water to quench the blade and temper it] and human intellect, to acquire the skills, and human imagination, to see the blade in the mind, first, and then to create that image in metal, a substance that exists in nature only in potential. The sword is beauty and elegance with the undisguised threat of death; the use of the sword is strength and skill and dedication and grace all combined with the willingness to kill. Especially in western Europe and its descendent cultures, the sword is a weapon of nobility; since only nobles were historically allowed to own them, their possession implied nobility. Noblesse oblige [the obligation of nobility] means that those with the means to do so must protect those who do not: those with money must help the destitute, those with strength of arms must protect the helpless from those who would prey upon them. I think that the blade symbolizes all the contradictions that make us human: we are animals, but we are more than that. We develop wonderful beautiful things like the Sydney Opera House and the Golden Gate Bridge...and technologically amazing ways to kill, like the laser-guided missile with the TV camera on board. We can fly...and we can rain down death on our fellows. We can dam up rivers and make electricity and power a city...and destroy the life of the river. We love one another and we love our Gods...and we kill our loved ones and in the names of our gods. Everything that makes us noble and godlike can, and often is, twisted out of true to become base and ignoble. Swordplay can be a dance...or murder. DDT made the Panama Canal possible...and almost cost us our hawks and eagles. I realize that these examples are simplified...but I really think that this is the answer: the blade, because it has two sides, and because the edge, when used, divides one into two, is the ultimate symbol of people vs beasts, civilization vs barbarism, culture vs wilderness...and the inherent dynamic tension in a duotheistic religion like Wicca. If all this talk about weaponry and violence sounds strange in a faith that holds the Rede and the Law of Returns as the primary moral guideposts, one should recall that there is no prohibition in Wicca against self-defense, and sometimes the best defense is a good offense! What use of the blade as the primary symbol means is that we are prepared to defend ourselves, and that we take responsibility for our own actions. It is hard to deny who wielded a blade! A bullet may come out of a crowd, but if someone stabs you, you generally know who it is. One must be willing to risk one's own life and safety in order to attack using a blade, since it puts you within reach of your victim. Also, if you kill with a blade, you will know it: you will feel the blade bite, feel it puncture through the body wall, feel the edge grate against bone... and you will see the pain you cause, smell the bowels you cut, feel the slick stickiness of blood on your hands, hear the cries of agony and fear. You will see the life escape the mortal remains, and see that transition between a living being and a pile of meat and bones...and you will know that the responsibility is yours. You can't pretend, even to yourself, that you didn't do it. Wicca is based on you taking responsibility, not any outside force slapping you with accusations; culturally, Wicca is a 'guilt' society as opposed to the 'shame' society we live in, which seems to sanction the 11th Commandment: Don't Get Caught. The blade's use implies wisdom and learning, both to make it and to wield it well. Practical firearm use can be taught in an afternoon; to use the sword well is the dedication of a lifetime. We should keep this in mind, for the practice of magick, with the athame or without, also requires the dedication of a lifetime to achieve proficiency and skill. [10] ========= ========= Cauldron Info ========= SUPPORT THE CAULDRON WHEN YOU BUY BOOKS AT AMAZON.COM ========= If you wish to purchase books or other items at Amazon.com, you can help fund The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum's web site by using this link to access Amazon.com when you make your purchases: http://www.ecauldron.com/fradambooks.php Just use this link to go to Amazon.com via our web site and almost every purchase you make that visit will earn The Cauldron a small amount to help pay for our web page -- at no extra charge to you. You can also use the Amazon link on the menu of every Cauldron web page and not have to remember this long link. Unlike the Amazon link listed in some prior issues of this newsletter, you can simply visit this site and save the link in your bookmark list. If you then use this bookmarked link every time you wish to visit Amazon.com, any purchases you make while there will help fund The Cauldron's web site. [11] ========= ========= NEWSLETTER AND FORUM INFO ========= (Including how to subscribe and unsubscribe) ========= Cauldron and Candle is a free publication of The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum with assistance from our sister form, The Witches' Thicket. The Cauldron and The Thicket aim to publish this newsletter once a month and often actually succeed in doing so. We tried to publish it twice a month for a while, but real life interfered too often. 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