BASIC PRINCIPLES OF THE CRAFT part 2 (New Pagans)

by Ash, Thursday, November 05, 2009, 18:20 (265 days ago) @ Ash

5. We know that everything in the universe is in movement or vibration and is
a function of that vibration. Everything vibrates; all things rise and
fall in a tidal system that reflects the motion inherent in the universe
and also in the atom. Matter and energy are but two poles of one
continuous phenomenon. Therefore the Witch celebrates, harmonizes with,
and makes use of the tides of the universe and of life as expressed
through the cycle of the seasons and the motion of the solar system.
These ritual observances are the eight great Festivals of the Year,
referred to as the Wheel of the Year. Further, the Witch works with the
forces and tides of the Moon, for this body is the mediator of much energy
to our planet Earth and thus to ourselves.

6. Nothing is dead matter in the universe. All things exist, therefore all
things live, though perhaps in a different manner from that which we are
used to calling life. In view of this, the Witch knows that there is no
true death, only change from one condition to another. The universe is
the body of Godhead, and therefore possesses one transcendant
consciousness; all things partake of the consciousness, in varying levels
of trance/awareness.
a) Because of this principle, all things are sacred to the Witch, for all
partake of the one Life.
b) Therefore the Witch is a natural ecologist, for Nature is part of us as
we are a part of Nature.

7. Astrology can be useful in marking and interpreting the flow and ebb of
the tides of our solar system, and thus of making use of those tides;
astrology should not be debased into mere fortune-telling.

8. Throughout the development of the human race, civilizations have seen and
worshipped many and various attributes of the Divine. These universal
forces have been clothed in forms which were expressive to the worshipper
of the attribute of the Godhead which they expressed. Use of these
symbolic representations of the natural and divine forces of the universe,
or godforms, is a potent method for contacting and utilizing the forces
they represent. Thus the Gods are both natural and truely divine, and
man-made in that the forms with which they are clothed are products of
humanity's striving to know the Godhead.
a) In keeping with the Law of Polarity, these god-forms are brought into
harmony by the one great Law which states: All Gods are one God. All
Goddesses are one Goddess. There is one Initiator. This law is an
expression of our understanding that all of the forces of the universe,
by whatever ethnic god-form is chosen to clothe and relate to whichever
force, can be resolved into the fundamental polarity of the Godhead,
the Great Mother and the All-Father.
b) It is the use of differing godforms, of differing ethnic sources or
periods, which is the basis of many of the differences between the
various Traditions of the Craft. Each Tradition uses the forms, and
thus the names, which to that Tradition best express and awaken an
understanding of the force represented, according to the areas of
emphasis of the Tradition.
c) Because we know that differing names or representations are but
expressions of the same divine principles and forces, we require our
members to swear that they will never mock the names by which another
honors the Divine, even though those names be different from and
seemingly less expressive than the names and godforms used by our
Tradition (for to the members of another Tradition, using it's names,
ours may easily seem equally less expressive).