OCCULT DICTIONARY

H-Z

Hand-Maiden: The female assistant to a High Priestess.

Hedgerider: A term for a person who travels into the otherworld to work with the spirits while also remaining aware in this world. Shamanic type work. The hedge represents the boundary between the physical and the spirit realms.

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.

Medium: Someone who has the ability to hear, and even see those who have passed on. They often relay messages from the deceased to their living loved ones.

Midsummer's Eve: The Summer Solstice, falls between June 21st-25th. Pagan holiday honoring the Sun God.

Necromancy: Magically calling up the dead. Also working with, and communicating with spirits of the dead. Not to be confused with a medium who also speaks with spirits. A medium does not request tasks of the spirits the way a necromancer does.

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.

Pagan: Someone who believes in more than one God. Usually a pantheon of many Gods and Goddesses. A Pagan may or may not practice magic.
There are many traditions under the Pagan umbrella, just as there are many demoninations under the Christian umbrella.

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 engraved 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.

Personal Concerns:A person's hair, nail clippings, spit or other bodily fluid. Less desirable, but still considered a ersonal concern would be the person's clothing, especially if it's unwashed to contain the body oils.

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: A type of witch's 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.

Taglock:A personal item from someone, preferably biological to create a link to them. Things such as hair, nail clippings, a piece of their clothing, etc. Most often used in making a doll of the person.

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. Thoughtforms are also the energies which surround us that are created by our thoughts.

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. In old Norse it means a male witch.

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.

Wildcrafting: The recognition and harvesting of herbs in the wild.

Witch: A practitioner of witchcraft (which could be someone in any religion), or an initiated male or female member of Wicca.

Witchcraft: The craft of the witch. Using energies from nature, spirits, the Earth and/or Universe in order to do magic and spells. This is a practice, and not a religion.

Wizard: A practitioner of Magic, usually male. Not a Witch. The word Wizard comes from the Old English Wysart, meaning Wise One.

Wort: In witchcraft means herb. This word is also used differently among brewers.

Wortcunning: Working with the magical and medicinal properties of herbs. Also frequently includes wildcrafting.

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.