forgotten knowledge
Occult Dictionary
Absorption: An antipsi talent for absorbing the power out of psychic energy fields, including those around other beings. See Tapping and Vampire, Psychic.
Achromatics: The “colors” black, grey and white; used occasionally to refer to moralistic schools of occultism.
Active Ritual: One in which those persons raising and focussing the psychic energies are not the main targets intended to be changed.
Active Talent: A psychic talent that involves the discharge of energy or data from the agent to the target.
Adept: A master in the practice of the Magical Arts.
All Hallow's Eve: October 31st. One of the eight Pagan great festivals. Also called Samhain, Feast of the Dead. A time to remember and honor those who have passed, and to celebrate the beginning of the dark half of the year.
Altar: A table used in magical practice and Pagan worship.
Amulet: Charms, tokens, or fetishes carried or worn for protection, or to bring certain things such as good luck to the wearer.
Astral Body: The energetic double (one of the "four bodies" of man), that can be released from the body to travel at the sender's will, or during sleep.
Athame: An athame is a knife used in magical rituals & ceremonies to direct energy. It is never used for cutting.
Aura: The energy field around all things, both animate and inanimate. The colors of the aura can reflect a person's mood, health, and more.
Baculum: A witch's wand.
Balefire: A ritual fire, kindled without the use of metals.
Ban: To inhibit something, or to magically curse.
Bane: Used to denote destructive qualities, or to kill; used often in the folk names of herbs; for example wolfsbane, henbane.
Banish: To excommunicate someone or an energy. The opposite of invoking.
Beltane: April 31st. A Pagan festival welcoming the Spring, love, and the marriage of the Wiccan God and Goddess. Also called May Eve and Walpurgistnacht.
Besom: A witch's broom. Used to magically sweep away negativity from a magical ritual site.
Bind: To cast a spell on someone, also to magically restrain a person from doing something.
Boline: A Boline is a sickle-shaped magical tool. Also, a white-hilted consecrated knife which is used to collect herbs or do magical cutting or engraving. Also spelled bolline.
Book of Shadows: A book of spells, conjurations, and information kept by a witch in their own handriting.
Cabala: A body of Jewish theological and philosophical learning commonly used as the basts for the Western Ceremonial Magick Tradition. Also spelled Kabbalah, and Quaballah.
Candlemas: February 2nd. A Pagan festival honoring the return of light and warmth. Also called Imbolc, Oimelc or Brigid, the latter being the Goddess who is celebrated by many at this Sabbat.
Censer: A container for burning incense. Usually a large dish with sand in it to absorb the heat from the incense charcoal. Can also be the type suspended from chains so that it can be carried to consecrate or purify an area. Also called a thurible.
Chalice: The magical cup used for libations, and in some Traditions, the communion vessel.
Charm: A set of spoken, written or chanted magical words, also an object carried for it's beneficial magical influence (stones, herbs, etc.)
Cingulum: A witch's and magician's girdle-cord. Worn around the waist when in ritual garb. Often one's measure is indicated by knots of the cord.
Cone of Power: The force raised from the assembled members of the Coven working in the Circle for a specific purpose previously decided upon.
Conjuration: The act of summoning up a non-physical being.
Contact: A non-physical being who acts as a guide or instructor.
Coven: A group of witches banded together under a Priest and Priestess who meet at regular intervals for worship and magical work.
Covendom: The area watched over by a coven.
Covenstead: The meeting place of a coven. Sometimes called a Temple.
Cowan: An outsider, someone who is not a follower of the Old Religion, used in much the same way as Jewish people use the word "gentile". A non-witch or non-pagan.
Cromlech: Welsh word for a structure of stone, often used as a Grove, or magical circle. Also called a Dolmen.
Dagdyne: A witch's magical sewing needle.
Deosil: Sunward; clockwise; the direction to dance in to invoke positive energies.
Divination: The act of looking into the future, or seeking unknown information. Tools such as runes, tarot cards, black mirrors, or crystal balls are usually used.
Elemental: Nature spirit of one of the four elements.
Elements: The four basic manifestations of matter; Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. Some include a fifth element; Spirit or Ether.
Elf Fire: Fire used to light a Balefire; produced without the use of metals. Also called needfire.
Esbat: Pagan ritual meeting at the time of the full or new moon.
E.S.P.: Abbreviation for Extra Sensory Perception.
Evil Eye: Laying a curse upon a person by looking at them.
Evocation: A magical demand that some spirit appear.
Exorcism: Magical purifying operation; also, a ritual to drive out evil spirits.
Familiar: A fetch created by a witch to do a witch's will, or a witch's pet animal that helps them with magical operations.
Fascination: Casting a spell on someone when in close contact, by using the willpower only.
Fetch: A semi-tangible energy being created by the witch or magician to do the bidding of it's creator.
Fith Fath: Gaelic for a small image of clay or wax formed in the image of a specific person for the purpose of magic. Also known as a poppet, or Voodoo doll.
Glamor: Using one's willpower to magically alter ones own appearance as seen by others when in close contact. This can include invisibility.
Grove: A Coven or group of Pagans or Witches gathered for the purpose of worship or spellcasting.
Grimoire: A book of magical rituals and conjurations.
Hand-Maiden: The female assistant to a High Priestess.
Hexagram: Six-pointed star or six-sided figure used in Talismanic Magick.
High Priest: Male co-ruler of the Coven, a representative of the God.
High Priestess: Female co-ruler of a Coven, representative of the Goddess.
Incantation: A spoken charm. Also called a cantrip.
Invocation: Calling down of Higher Powers through ritual, usually into a person, such as the High Priest or High Priestess.
Lammas: August 1st. A Pagan festival celebrating the coming harvest. Also called Lughnasad, after the god Lugh, who is honored by many at this time.
Ligature: The cord used in the magical binding of a person.
Linking: The tying together of symbols and their powers.
Mabon: The Autumn Equinox, named after the God Mabon.
Magic: The Art of bringing about changes in the physical world by the use of the powers of the mind; bending reality to one's will.
Magus: A master magician; one who has truly mastered the Art.
Measure: Length of cord used to measure a witch's height, etc., at the time of their initiation. Sometimes the cingulum is used for this purpose.
Midsummer's Eve: The Summer Solstice, falls between June 21st-25th. Pagan holiday honoring the Sun God.
Necromancy: Magically calling up the dead.
Ogham: Old Celtic alphabet using slash marks, vertical or diagonal, carved against a running line. Pronounced "Oh'-um". Mythololgically said to have been invented by the God Ogma.
Ostara: The Spring Equinox. Pagan celebration of the return of Spring. Named after the Goddess of Spring. Also called Eostre.
Pact: A binding oath of the written type between a Pagan and their Coven/Grove.
Pentacle: A five-pointed star, representing the five elements of Earth, Air, Fire, Water, & Spirit. The term pentacle can also refer to a plate used in magical ceremonies with the five-pointed star painted or engeraved upon it.
Penatgram: The symbol of the five-pointed star within a circle. It stands for various things, among them the five elements (Earth, Air, Fire, Water, & Spirit), and man. It can be drawn upon the air with energy, or upon objects. It is commonly used in its various forms to banish, purify, invoke, or protect.
Poppet: A doll made of clay, wax, wood, or even cloth to represent someone for the use of spellcasting.
Psychometry: Reading energy vibrations by holding an object.
Runes: The letters of the ancient Germanic alphabets, such as the Elder Futhark. They are used in magic and divination. The word "rune" is also commonly used by modern Pagans to mean any magical alphabet or symbol, as well as a chanted poetic incantation.
Sabbats: Pagan's meeting at the times of the eight Festivals; the quarter and cross-quarter days.
Samhain: October 31st. One of the eight Pagan great festivals. Also called All Hallows Eve, Feast of the Dead. A time to remember and honor those who have passed, and to celebrate the beginning of the dark half of the year.
Scry: The practice of divination by gazing into a crystal ball, or black mirror.
Seal: Symbolic representation of an entity, physical or non-physical.
Servitor: An assistant or servant, although in the magical world, the servitor is not usually held against it's will. A semi-permanent thoughtform created by a magical practitioner that helps them achieve their goals.
Siderite: Lodestone (magnet or meteorite.
Sigil: Old word for Seal.
Stang: Pagan staff, forked at one end. Represents the World Tree and the Horned God.
Summoner: The male assistant to the High Priest, and gatekeeper and guardian of the Coven.
Sword: Used to refer to any magical sword used by a Pagan, Witch, or Magician, in conjuration or Ceremonial work.
Sympathetic Magic: Magic that makes use of the rule that anything owned or used by a person retains a magical link to him even when separated from that person. Or performing symbolically what you would like the outcome of the magic to be.
Tabard:A type of ritual robe. A garment worn over a robe, consisting of two rectangular pieces of cloth fixed together at two of the short ends, and worn something like a poncho.
Talisman: Objects which perform specific tasks, and are often inscribed with magical symbols.
Thoughtform: A living spiritual being created by humans. It could be a magical person's helper, or a being created by the belief in it from masses of people.
Thurible: A container for burning incense. Usually a large dish with sand in it to absorb the heat from the incense charcoal. Can also be the type suspended from chains so that it can be carried to consecrate or purify an area. Also called a censer.
Vibrations: Energy radiations produced by all things.
Voodoo: The remains of several African Religions brought to the New World by slaves and combined with Catholicism. Similar to Santeria, Brujeria, and Spiritismo. Sympathetic magic plays an important role in Voudoun magic.
Vortex: The whirling forces of the Cone of Power.
Walspurgistnacht: See Beltane.
Wand: A magically charged stick used to summon beneficial spirits where the Athame would be inappropriate.
Warlock: "Oathbreaker" in the Scots dialect. Applied to a male witch in the time of the Protestant reformation. May possibly have come from "warrock" or "warrick" - Scots dialect for "to bind", and referring to the male witch who bound the candidate in preparation for her initiation.
Wicca: Old English word for "Male Witch"; ancestor of the present word witch, also spelled wych, wycche, wyth, vytch, etc. Originally pronounced "wich'-uh". In modern use, the Religion of Witchcraft, pronounced "wik'uh".
Wicce: Old English for a female witch. Pronounced "wich'-eh".
Widdershins: Anti-sunwise; counter-clockwise.
Witch: Initiated male or female member of the Old Religion; a practioner of Witchcraft.
Wizard: A practitioner of Magic, usually male. Not a Witch. The word Wizard comes from the Old English Wysart, meaning Wise One.
Wraith: An old term sometimes used to denote the Astral Body, when seen as an apparition of a living person, or a ghost.
Yule: The Winter Solstice, the longest night, approximately Dec.21st-25th. One of the Eight Festivals, also called Jul, and Christmas. Yule marks the middle of Winter, after which the days start getting longer. The Festival of the birth of the Pagan Sun God.
Zener Cards: Cards used in most of the early ESP experiments, developed in the Parapsychology Laboratory at Duke University.
Zombie: (1) Someone supposedly raised from the dead by a Vodun magician, possibly never really dead at all but rather drugged, who is used as a slave. (2) Someone who has joined a repressive “cult” movement, lost their own personality and other intellectual faculties, and is used as a slave. Easily identified by the characteristic “glazed eye” look and inability to continue their conversation if interrupted several times in mid-partyline.
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