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Green Witchcraft
Creed of the Green Witch
The Sacred Tradition of Green Witchcraft
The Goddess & the God
Family Practice
The Litany
The Rules of Conduct
The Three Styles of Green Witchcraft
Sabbats: The Wheel of the Year
Quarters & Cross-Quarters
Calendar of Observances
Ground & Center — Grounding
Ritual Components — Ritual Robe Colors
Craft Names — Names of the God & Goddess
Symbols & Signs — The Magical Container
Basic Tools — Basic Materials
Altar Arrangement
Magical Pointers
Alphabets — Coven Terms — Craft Terms
Creed of the Green Witch
I Acknowledge the Unity of the Divine, symbolized by the Divine Androgyne, aspected as female and male, Goddess and God, form and energy, lunar and solar powers, honored during the Wheel of the Year at Esbats, Sabbats, and sacred days.
I Acknowledge the immanence of the Divine, whose Spirit resides in all things and worlds, creating a unity of All in Oneness and kinship through the Goddess and the God.
I Acknowledge that the Elementals Earth, Air, Fire, and Water are extensions of the Goddess and the God, both external and indwelling kith and kin, connecting all through Spirit.
I Acknowledge the immortality of the individual spirit, comforted by the God in Underworld, refreshed by the Goddess in Summerland, choosing incarnation by form, place, and soul purpose.
I Acknowledge that the God lovingly demonstrates the life cycle in His yearly passage through the Sabbats. He is born as the Oak King of the Goddess as Mother at Yule; cleansed and carried by the Crone into the arms of the Mother at Imbolc to be nourished by the milk of Her love. At
Ostara, the Goddess transforms as Maiden and joins the God that They may walk as the Lady and the Lord of the Wild Wood to awaken the Earth from the sleep of Herself as Crone of Winter.
The God and Goddess unite at Beltane to bring renewal to the Earth, and at their Litha wedding, the God shows His face of wisdom and age, turning from Oak King to Holly King as He begets Himself of the Goddess. At Lughnassadh, the God enters into the Goddess aspected as Mother Earth, filling Her abundance with the life essence of His solar energy. He enriches
the vines and barleycorn with the essence of His Spirit at Mabon. He enters into Underworld, leaving the Goddess alone as Mother-to-be and Crone through Autumn and Winter, while He leads the Wild Hunt as the Horned Hunter, gathering the dead to His realm. He rules Underworld as the Lord of Shadows, where He offers rest, solace, and release of burdens to spirits at
the end of each incarnation. At Samhain, the God passes His Spirit through the Goddess, making thin the veil between the worlds by their union of shadow and light, turning the Tomb of the Crone into the Womb of the Mother. At Yule the God as Sage offers His blessing and farewell to the children of the world, then turns His face to join them as the Infant Oak King
reborn. Through the Wheel of the Year is the path of perfect love and perfect trust in the Divine demonstrated, that we may walk with the Goddess and the God in the bond of love.
I Acknowledge the three great Mysteries: the Ancient God as Father and Son; the Maiden Goddess as Mother and Crone; and the Union of Tomb and Womb for the eternal cycle of Life Immortal.
The Sacred Tradition of Green Witchcraft
The Green Tradition of Witchcraft sees the aspects of the Divine All as separate and united as Goddess, God, and Both. The One who is All matches
all being from the One. The forms of The Lord and the Lady are interlinked and interchangeable: Father Sky and Mother Earth/Sky
Goddess and Earth God; Sun and Moon; Triple Goddess and Wed to the Triple Goddess; Threefold God and Wed to the Threefold God; Lord and Lady of the Greenwood; Lord of Abundance and Lady of Plenty; Queen of the Stars and King of the Universe; Creator and Creatrix, Spirit and Matter; Life and Passage; and Cosmic Dancers of Energy and Matter.
The Creative Forces of Nature are revered, with the Goddess and the God symbolizing the Universal Materials and Energies from which comes all existence. The God and the Goddess are equal and omnipresent, for They are found throughout the Universe, the Earth, and all that dwell therein. Because it is the Spiral Dance of Rebirth that brings us back to the Source
of our existence in the Goddess and the God, reincarnation and communication with spirits are accepted parts of the religion.
Knowledge is the gift of the Goddess and the God, learning through many lives on Earth and keeping close to Them.
Magic is a
natural means of working with natural energies to accomplish a goal, and this magic becomes part of natural life for the practicing Green Witch. Consciousness may be
altered through
visualization, meditation, ritual, music, and
dance to better commune with the Divine and effect the magic. Through Dedication, the pathway to communication is constantly open, so altered states cease to be necessary for contact with the Divine in Nature, only inner stillness and balance.
Freedom of the individual and
personal responsibility are key aspects of Green Witchcraft. The
liturgy may be created as needed or desired, for the magic will naturally flow with the acceptance of oneness with the All and with self-responsibility in our living.
Immanence, interconnection, and community are
three core principles of Witchcraft. Because the God and the Goddess are manifested in all life, all existence is connected to be
one living cosmos. The focus is on the growth of the whole through care for the Earth, the environment, and each other. The mythology of the Lord and the Lady revolves around two themes in the Wheel of the Year—that of
Fertility and Passage of the Seasons; and that of the
Divine Life Cycle of the God, often related in allegory to the changing of the seasons. Thus, the
sacrificed god motif can be found in the Corn (Wheat) Cycle, wherein the God willingly gives His life-force into the crops at the time of marriage that humanity may be sustained, thus relating the Divine to life and Rites of Passage.
The Triple Goddess is the Maiden, Mother, and Crone (Matron), whose consort is the Horned God, the Creator, Destroyer (Hunter), and Lord of the Beasts. All Nature has both
positive and negative aspects, and to be reborn, one must first die. The Goddess is seen as both life in Her form as Mother and as death in Her form as Crone,
yet both are the same. Death is a natural passage to new life and is not feared or labeled as evil. With Nature there are both pleasant aspects and harsh aspects, but this is all part of the reality of the energy that flows in the Earth, the Universe, and the beings of the Earth. The transition of the
spirit through incarnations is not
feared, but understood and accepted as natural, for
life is eternal, and
all spirits are immortal.
Attuning to the God and the Goddess changes one forever—sparks new hope for the individual and for the planet. Personal destiny is in the hands of the practitioner. The
Dark Aspects of the God and the Goddess—Lord of Shadows and Crone—as well as the
Bright Aspects—Horned God and Maiden/Mother—are accepted. The Divine is both Creation and Destruction; Abundant Nature and Destructive Nature. Since all life is joined in the Dual Deity, the Two Who Are One, and to each other, life
cannot be destroyed, only changed or moved into and out of the cauldron of life. The religion then is the worship or reverence of the Life Force represented in the
Dual Deity as a Conscious Unity. This
reverence may be expressed through
ceremonies or rituals dedicated to
cycles of fertility, of
planting and
harvest, and of
solar and lunar phases. The Esbats are
Rituals of the Full Moon, New (Dark) Moons—times to receive learning from the
Goddess. The Sabbats are composed of
four solar festivals, called the Lesser Sabbats or the Quarters, and
four agricultural festivals, called the Greater Sabbats or the Cross-Quarters. These are the main focus of ritual in the Green Tradition, along with Twelfth Night (Naming Day). The names by which the Lord and the Lady are addressed are not important, for
They are One by whatever Names They are known, and
They dwell within. They give life to be lived fully and with enjoyment, and we are reborn to learn until we are reunited with Them. Because people are of the Earth, She should be revered. The Green Witch knows of the connection of all things, the immortality of life, and draws upon the Power of the Divine directly, or through the Elementals of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water, or such spirits, devas, and Other People as may be helpful. The Elementals are the Kith and Kin of the Green Witch, for
body and strength are of Earth,
breath and thought are of Air,
energy and drive are of Fire, and
emotions and vital fluids are of Water. In olden days, The People learned in the ways of the Old Religion were called Wicce—voiced in the Middle English speech as
Weetch’ie—meaning Wise, and the use of that wisdom was called the
Craft of the Wise—
WicceCraft, from whence comes the word Witchcraft. The Green Tradition of Witchcraft sees the
Practice of the Craft as spirituality, and holds the word Witch as
honorable and
spiritual.
The Goddess & the God
Because the Divine is One, the aspects of the Divine may interchange roles. Either the Lady or the Lord may represent the Sun, Moon, Grain, Harvest, Waters of Life, Universe, Sky, Earth, Life, Death, Passage, ...