Mythos in Wicca
This is a term designating the underlying spirituality of Wicca reflected in the seasonal rites of Nature, along with the metaphors linked with the lunar reverence. The essence of this mythos is based upon theWheel of the Year, which designates the sabbats of the Wiccan religion. The Wheel possesses the foundation of the Wiccan belief in ever-returning cycles, an aspect also linking the Wiccan belief toreincarnation. Death and the survival of the soul or spirit are important elements of the Mystery Teachings contained within the Old Religion.
Since Wicca is essentially an agrarian Mystery Tradition every aspect of plowing, planting, growing, and harvesting has symbolic meaning in the journey of the soul. These agricultural Mystery Teachings are involved with loss, return, death, and rebirth. The death and rebirth concepts are perhaps best depicted in the ancient myths of Demeter and Persephone that illustrate the foundation of the Wiccan concepts to the descent of the Goddess into the Underworld. This mythos is found in the early civilizations of Mesopotamia. The Agricultural Mysteries are also involved with transforming and changing the states of consciousness. (see Altered States of Consciousness) Such involvement stems from ancient times when psychotropic plants such as hallucinogenic mushrooms and fermented liquids were used. This branch of the Mystery Tradition is often referred to as the Fermentation Mysteries, and includes as well the Harvest Mysteries. The latter symbolically reveals the ancient mysteries through a variety of myths of slain and resurrected gods.
The Slain God or Divine King is an integral part of the Wiccan mythos and Mystery Tradition. He is closely connected with the life cycle of the plant kingdom and shares the characteristics related to planting and harvesting. The blood of the Slain God/Divine King possesses the same vital life-giving principle, as does the seed. Therefore, the mythos states that all must be returned to the soil so that life and abundance will fill the coming year.
The Wiccan mythos also includes the seasonal cycles of Nature known as the waxing and waning tides of the earth. These are the growth and decline forces that are often personified as mythical figures. In many Wiccan Traditions these figures are the Oak King and the Holly King. Other Traditions use an older, more primal set of figures, the stag and the wolf. Which ever is the case, the mythos is one of life and death. The one figure supersedes the other in an ever-repeating cycle. As it is seen with the Oak King and the Holly King, one figure slays the other during the solstice. The stag and wolf are slain by exterior factors representing the forces of Nature.
In the classic Wiccan Mythos there are various myths connected to each of the eight sabbats. At the Winter Solstice the new sun is born. At Imbolc the sun god reaches maturity and is purified as he prepares to encounter the Goddess. The Spring Equinox marks the return of the Goddess from the Underworld. At Beltane the God and Goddess meet to begin their courtship. The Summer Solstice marks their wedding and finds the Goddess pregnant from their union at Beltane. Lughnasadh marks the fullness of the Harvest, and the sun god becomes the Harvest King, the Slain God. The Autumn Equinox begins the descent of the Goddess into the Underworld in search of the Slain God of the Harvest. At Samhain they meet again in the Underworld, unrecognized at first. There they fall in love anew and exchange their mysteries. He gives to the Goddess the necklace of rebirth and she teaches him the mystery of the cauldron of rebirth. A.G.H.
Since Wicca is essentially an agrarian Mystery Tradition every aspect of plowing, planting, growing, and harvesting has symbolic meaning in the journey of the soul. These agricultural Mystery Teachings are involved with loss, return, death, and rebirth. The death and rebirth concepts are perhaps best depicted in the ancient myths of Demeter and Persephone that illustrate the foundation of the Wiccan concepts to the descent of the Goddess into the Underworld. This mythos is found in the early civilizations of Mesopotamia. The Agricultural Mysteries are also involved with transforming and changing the states of consciousness. (see Altered States of Consciousness) Such involvement stems from ancient times when psychotropic plants such as hallucinogenic mushrooms and fermented liquids were used. This branch of the Mystery Tradition is often referred to as the Fermentation Mysteries, and includes as well the Harvest Mysteries. The latter symbolically reveals the ancient mysteries through a variety of myths of slain and resurrected gods.
The Slain God or Divine King is an integral part of the Wiccan mythos and Mystery Tradition. He is closely connected with the life cycle of the plant kingdom and shares the characteristics related to planting and harvesting. The blood of the Slain God/Divine King possesses the same vital life-giving principle, as does the seed. Therefore, the mythos states that all must be returned to the soil so that life and abundance will fill the coming year.
The Wiccan mythos also includes the seasonal cycles of Nature known as the waxing and waning tides of the earth. These are the growth and decline forces that are often personified as mythical figures. In many Wiccan Traditions these figures are the Oak King and the Holly King. Other Traditions use an older, more primal set of figures, the stag and the wolf. Which ever is the case, the mythos is one of life and death. The one figure supersedes the other in an ever-repeating cycle. As it is seen with the Oak King and the Holly King, one figure slays the other during the solstice. The stag and wolf are slain by exterior factors representing the forces of Nature.
In the classic Wiccan Mythos there are various myths connected to each of the eight sabbats. At the Winter Solstice the new sun is born. At Imbolc the sun god reaches maturity and is purified as he prepares to encounter the Goddess. The Spring Equinox marks the return of the Goddess from the Underworld. At Beltane the God and Goddess meet to begin their courtship. The Summer Solstice marks their wedding and finds the Goddess pregnant from their union at Beltane. Lughnasadh marks the fullness of the Harvest, and the sun god becomes the Harvest King, the Slain God. The Autumn Equinox begins the descent of the Goddess into the Underworld in search of the Slain God of the Harvest. At Samhain they meet again in the Underworld, unrecognized at first. There they fall in love anew and exchange their mysteries. He gives to the Goddess the necklace of rebirth and she teaches him the mystery of the cauldron of rebirth. A.G.H.
Creation Myth as Written by E.HUghes
In the Beginning, there was Spirit.
Time passed and as Spirit grew and aged, and it soon bore a daughter.
The Goddess.
In her youth she created the cosmos. Everything from planets to stars to galaxies to everything in between. Her creations were her only company and so she soon began to focus on her smaller, but no less powerful creation; Earth.
The Goddess placed onto it women made in her image to be her daughters and loyal servants. They were to guard her future creations and to put their magick to good use.
And so they did.
Her loyal daughters served her loyally in their short lives. They healed one another, celebrated together, and practiced together. They were truly of one mind.
But still, their Goddess grew lonely again.
So, with the aid of her daughters, the Goddess gathered energy and power, and stored these up for quite a time. Until, during the days following the Winter Solstice, the Goddess gave birth to her son; The Horned God.
As she began her first life with him, and witnessed him mature and grow, until he was a man himself, and she in later maiden aspect.
The Witches, her loyal daughters began to perish one by one, and though bound by sisterhood, they were each lonely and longed to pass on their knowledge to future generations. The Goddess and God noticed this problem.
Thus began a new era of creation.
The God created the male witches, with the help of the Goddess. They resembled the goddess in look to a degree, but took on a look of masculinity that they clearly took on from the God.
The Witches were once again happy.
They grew as a people, and their societies progressed. Each new witch had something to give and pass on whether it be by thought or opinion, or whether it be by the passing on of newfound knowledge. They grew in power, yet most never deviated from their belief in the Mother and the Father.
The next to be borne was humanity.
There came a time when it soon became clear that the world was far more vast than what the witches needed. The Mother and Father saw this and seized the opportunity to create again.
And so they created the first humans.
Both male and female, they took after the witches in form and physical body, but their magical powers were sealed away so tight that the idea of never -straying in deity worship for their creators fell on flat ears.
The Witches were to guide the humans, to teach them the ways of healing, worship, and love.
The humans took to these in unimaginable ways. In the millenias that would follow, they pursued healing and worship to new levels. New fields of studies evolved, new religions began…
Those religions would show the Mother and the Father in new ways, dividing their personas up and giving their aspects new meaning.
Yet the only thing the humans did not seem to permanently understand was love.
Yes, occasionally a human would come forth with the idea that one should ‘love thy neighbor’ and such, but it would usually soon become a less ‘important’ doctrine to their religions or beliefs.
By that time, the witches had divided themselves in devotions to one pantheon or another, choosing to serve deity in that particular way as opposed to the old one.
Hundreds of years passed and progress was lost.
A time of darkness and dis-enlightenment passed over the world. Progress that had been made was lost, and by that time humanity had already turned against the Witches.
It became such that it was monotheism against polytheism. Pagan priests and priestesses were killed by hanging, burning, drowning, or some other horrific death.
It was either convert or go into hiding. So the Witches went into hiding. After all, the Mother would not want us to waste our lives fighting a losing battle. So we settled into a waiting game. Pass on knowledge, study pagan history and myths, and simply continue to pass it on, usually via the only safe way back then; by word-of-mouth.
Time progressed as it was known to do, and time showed the deaths of many innocent people killed in the name of God. Humanity turned against itself; in their desperate desire to seek out and slay witches, they instead killed off the people they wanted to ‘save’ from the Witches.
Though they did in fact kill some witches, it is important to note that the majority were not in fact witches that we know of. Many were killed simply because someone pointed a finger at them or they bore a birthmark or an unsightly scar. Many victims were ill as well, as any tumors or mental issues were considered signs of witchcraft and therefore to them, a sign of the Devil.
There is no Devil.
Lines between black and white are blurred as are the lines between true life and death.
To the Witches, life does not truly end. Yes, your body does die, but after it does, you are simply reborn anew. Ready to learn and live again.
The Summerland. The endgame as it is.
When the witches began to pass on after living with and among the humans, the Goddess and the God created a place that would be a safehaven for their creations. A place they would call home after achieving their best.
They would first go through many a lifetime until they reached the stage that was known to the Hindu’s as Nirvana. Enlightenment, roughly.
Of course, the witch could choose whether or not to live again after that stage, but quite a few grew tired after living and dying for so long.
Those few had served the God and Goddess well and were rewarded for it.
For the Summerland takes on its version of reality by each witch. It shifted and moulded anew after every new arrival, but never changed so much that it became unpleasant to the elder witch spirits.
The Summerland; the place known as ‘Paradise’.
The Witches progressed into new millenias. They grew, they changed. The were born anew. The experienced many a revival, but not one so strong as the ‘New Age Movement’.
It grew out of the birth or pagan religions such as Wicca. The New Age Movement appealed to many with its free thinking- no ‘right way’ beliefs.
This appealed to many, and melded itself into religions such as Wicca.
Wicca became very individualized and unique to each practitioner or believer such as the Witches, though not exclusive to Witches.
And so we have been brought to today, 2015.