[Cauldron and Candle Illo]

Cauldron and Candle
Issue #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

With a little help from The Witches' Thicket
website: http://www.cros.net/soraya/
message board: http://forums.delphiforums.com/thicket/start


Return to Cauldron and Candle Archive

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.]


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[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


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        where we store our back issues for easy reading.

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[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.


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[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]
=========
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[11]
=========
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Merry Meet, Merry Part, Merry Meet again!

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