Lady Bridget © 1998
Note: This list has been published in Scott Cummingham's "Wicca for the Solitary Practitioner", and was also accessed through a British Traditional Source. I do not know who the original author of this list is, but the comments that follow are my own.
- Know yourself.
- Know your craft.
- Learn.
- Apply knowledge with wisdom.
- Achieve balance.
- Keep your words in good order.
- Keep your thoughts in good order.
- Celebrate life!
- Attune with the cycles of the earth.
- Breathe and eat correctly.
- Exercise the body.
- Meditate.
- Honor the God and Goddess
- Know yourself.
- As far back as Socrates, and most likely much farther, this
was advice best followed. If you don't know what you want, you
are not likely to get it. Consequently if you don't know what
makes you happy, you are not likely to find your happiness. You
also need to know your own strengths and weaknesses.(back to top)
- Know your craft.
- Wicca is a craft, hence the term Witchcraft, the Craft of
the Wise. This is not something you learn from reading a few books,
although they can point you in the direction your path can take. This
is something you will learn by living it. Know what you want to study
- understand your spiritual path.(back to top)
- Learn.
- Learn everything you can, everything you have an interest in.
You don't have to master every subject completely, but a thorough
knowledge of many subjects will help you grow spiritually, and be
open minded about subjects you don't know anything about. (back to top)
- Apply knowledge with wisdom.
- This is perhaps one of the hardest to practice. Put it this way:
You can read a dozen books, but until you put into your life what you
have read, it is useless to you. Also, the wise person will use their
common sense regarding whatever it is print, and especially on the
internet. One person's "truth" is not necessarily truth for all; only
you know in your heart of hearts what rings as "truth" for you.
Knowledge is power, but without wisdom, you will not be able to have
control over that power. (back to top)
- Achieve balance.
- Is this like "moderation in all things"? YES! Your time cannot be
totally consumed by something without the rest of your life suffering
the consequences. We have a tendency, most of us, to dive into a new
area with total concentration, and that can be wonderful, as long as
we don't ignore everything else. Women are usually pretty good at
this, since we have to balance husband's needs, children's needs, and
job needs all at once. What most often suffers, though, are our own
needs. Many times we all feel as if we are too rushed, and pulled
into many different directions at once. Try to balance your life
so that you feel invigorated instead, and so you also enjoy what you
are doing. (back to top)
- Keep your words in good order.
- Have you heard that "A witch is only as good as her word"? It comes
from a time when the person's word was their bond, and it still is
as important today. When you say a thing, you make it so. Why does
your magick work? Because you say "So mote it be", and your words
and your will have that power. When you don't keep your word, you
are breaking that bond. Be very careful HOW you speak,
what you say, negatively or positively, is what you bring into manifestation.
Another reference to this is found in the Christian Bible, in Genesis,
where it says "In the beginning was the word". Words have power, which is
recognized many religions.(back to top)
- Keep your thoughts in good order.
- "Energy follows thought" is another Wiccan saying. Again, what you
think, thought often enough, you bring into manifestation. Every single
invention started out as a thought. Think about it! Positive thinking and
positive affirmations can make a difference in your life. (back to top)
- Celebrate Life!
- Life is meant to be joyful! The whole earth is alive, and so are
you! Think about all the senses you have, and all the sensations you
feel, and how fantastic that is! We are linked to all life, everywhere.(back to top)
- Attune with the cycles of the earth.
- Be aware of the seasons, and the phases of the Moon. Wiccans do
this by celebrating the Esbats and Sabbats. Everything runs in cycles,
our bodies, the animals, and the plants. Gardners know that timing is
important in planting, not just with the seasons, but also with the moon.
You can even do such things as trimming your hair more effectively by
utilizing the moon's cycles. (back to top)
- Breathe and eat correctly.
- Breathing is very important to life, and to proper magick, to
energy raising, not to mention, your health. Breathing deeply from
the diaphragm should be mastered. Also breathing in through the
nose and out through the mouth, especially during meditation, or
other forms of energy control and conciousness control. Eat to live,
don't live to eat. Eat what is a proper diet for you, and not until
you are stuffed. Eating the wrong foods, and eating too much
of anything, will inhibit your ability to do much except take a nap! (back to top)
- Exercise the body.
- This is so important, and gets ignored so much in our techno-pagan
society. Exercise relieves stress, tones muscles, burns fat, and
adds years to your ability to enjoy life. This is the physical vessel
your soul has incarnated into, at least take care of it! And while
we're on the subject, along with exercising, drink plenty of water,
at least 6-8 glasses a day. This will flush out the toxins that
are caused by stress, as well as by other factors. (back to top)
- Meditate.
- This concept one of the most misunderstood by many students
today. What people think of when they see this word, is perhaps an
Indian Yogi sitting in the Lotus position and chanting "om". While
that is one valid way to meditate, there are many others, including
mediation through concentrating on an object, a thought, your own breath,
your own body rhythms, or concentrating on nothing at all. Other ways
to meditate are to dance, to move the body, as in T'ai Chi, or Sufi
Dancing, or just in exercises such as walking, when you are being at
one with your body and not thinking about anything at all. Another form
of mediation is by doing a skill over and over, something repetative,
to the exlusion of all other thoughts, except the total concentration
on the skill you are doing. Many people who say they can't meditate,
or have trouble with it, are only aware of one kind. There are so
many different ways to do this, that there is a method to suit each
person. (For more information, get the very small book "How To Meditate"
by Lawrence LaShan.) (back to top)
- Honor the God and Goddess.
- Since God/Goddess dwell within ourselves, while we are honoring
them, we must also show honor to ourselves, and to others. Try this
simple exercise: the next time you are standing in line somewhere,
try to see the God and Goddess in each person in line with you.
Really look at them and see their innate deity. This is one that
may take practice, but when you really see it, it will have impact.
We are all divine, we are all God and Goddess both. (back to top)
Wicca Menu