THE HISTORY OF CELTIC WICCA

Celtic Wicca (Church of Wicca)

 source-(http://www.pagans.org/wicca/branches/branches.html

The Church of Wicca was founded by Gavin and Yvonne Frost. They offer correspondence courses in their brand of Wicca, which is sometimes called Celtic Wicca. The Church of Wicca has just recently begun including a Goddess in their diety structure, and has been very patrofocal as Wiccan traditions go. The Chuch of Wicca terms itself "Baptist Wicca"

*The Frosts call their tradition of Wicca Celtic. To me it seems more of a mixture of high magic and eclectic Wicca, with a smattering of Celtic thrown in. For instance, they use three circles, one within the others, made of salt, sulphur and herbs with runes and symbols between them instead of just one circle. They also insist on a white- handled athame and will not have a black handled one, whereas all the other traditions I have heard or read about use a black handled one. It seems to me the Wicca they practice and teach should not be called Celtic at all; but since a lot of it is made up or put together by them from other traditions they should also give it a made-up name; say Frostism. If you DON'T have to pay for the course, and have some extra time, it would probably be worth reading just for comparison. [*From Circe, who took their correspondence course.]

The Frosts have always been rather more public than most traditions (advertising their course in the Enquirer and similar publications) which has earned them heavy criticism in less public Craft groups.

Woodland Celtic Wicca

Celtic Wicca today is a very powerful blend of religious thought, philosophy, and magic derived from many sources both old and new. Celtic Wicca refers to all variations of Wicca which derive the majority of their mythology and ritual from Celtic Druidical sources. The other attributes which are common to Celtic Wiccan Traditions are intensive study and use of elemental and tree magic; deep respect for fairy folk, tree spirits, elementals, our ancestors and all of nature; and preserving the importance of traditional Celtic values such as honor, courage, truth, strength, wisdom, hospitality, generosity, inspiration, and eloquence.

The Church of Woodland Celtic Wicca views deity as a triple God and a triple Goddess. They go through a life cycle from youth through old age to teach the value of the special talents of both young and old as well as to help us stay in tune with the cycles of life and the seasons. The names and archetypes are ones traditionally used by Celtic people in Ireland such as Brigit, Danu, Morrigu, Angus, Lugh, and the Dagda.

The Woodland Celtic tradition was founded in 1991 in Texas by students seeking a Celtic Wiccan path with emphasis on Irish mythology and archetypes. Unlike traditional Wicca, it has very little use of Cabbalistic practices and instead focuses on modern evolutions of Celtic religious practices.

Celtic Wicca

Celtic Wicca today is a very powerful blend of religious thought, philosophy, and magick derived from many sources both old and new. Celtic Wicca refers to all variations of Wicca which derive the majority of their mythology, seasonal celebrations, and ritual symbolism from Celtic Druidical sources. It is important to remember that even in classical anthropological definitions of Celtic Cultures, (there is no one homogenous Celtic culture) they were defined by language, religious beliefs, art, technology, methods of warfare, and societal beliefs and practices rather than any sort of bloodline or genetic makeup. Being a Celt is a matter of heart and soul, courage and honor, practice and beliefs, not genes. This has proven to be deeply moving spiritual approach for many who feel a deep connection to the ancient Celtic Gods and Goddesses and those that worshipped them. Unfortunately we have limited and unreliable sources of information about many aspects of Celtic society, culture, and religion.

Most, if not all, of our sources of information about historical Celtic religion and society are somewhat questionable. The stories, songs, poems, and myths that were written down were usually recorded by Christian (albeit sympathetic) monks who had limited understanding of the real significance of some points and a had a pressing need to alter myths to appear to be heroic histories rather than religious teachings in order to avoid the ill will of their superiors. Songs, poems, and folk tales are difficult to sift through for details, but they are often the best sources of information in spite of the fact that most of them were heavily paraphrased or even directly altered by these same Christian monks. Some minstrels have kept these tales and songs as an oral tradition, but oral traditions often change over time and even they were subject to revision at times by well meaning minstrels and Bards who had converted to the new religion of Christianity.

The "classical sources" such as Julias Ceasar and Pliny the Elder had obvious problems with cultural ignorance, cultural egocentrism, and often had a specific axe to grind politically. In fact the single most common reason for any book to be written or published in the Roman Empire was to build support for a particular political leader or political view including those books or articles written about Celtic Druids. As for indisputable archeological remains, they are limited and most of them are post Roman and/or Christian influence since the Celts rarely made religious objects out of materials that would last many centuries prior to that time period. In addition to that, archeologists are usually guessing as to what something was actually used for or the degree of it’s importance in religious practices.

The oldest artifacts actually point primarily to solar worship with occasional possible connection to the horse Goddess representing the Goddess of the Land. While that may point to classical worship of Mother Earth and Father Sky, that form of Celtic worship and religious belief is what we have the least information about, and the fewest myths to explain it to us today. The oldest myths available today revolve around a life cycle (one year long) related myth pairing the Goddess of the Land with the Solar God's representative in the form of a seasonal/annual vegetation God and his rival the God of the animals and evergreen plants. Even this mythic life cycle through the year of the Oak and Holly Kings is subject to enormous differences of interpretations.

As a result, we have to look for consistent patterns and sift the truth from among the many contradictory sources. If anyone states that you must absolutely believe their theories about what the Celts practiced or believed about anything for an absolute certainty, I would regard anything they said on any subject with skepticism. While I feel we should try to educate people away from such false beliefs in a homogenous and universal Celtic Culture with clearly defined beliefs, I believe that direct confrontations with such ignorant statements, especially in front of their students, are rarely useful. Out of compassion for their genuine beliefs (true or otherwise) and their feelings, I try to phrase my disagreement as a personal opinion and make a sincere effort to avoid expressing my opinions by anything so abrasive as say - laughing hysterically. (at least until I can get out of the room!)

So what sources do we actually use to create religious rites, rituals, and teachings that help us to connect to the Gods and Goddesses of our ancestors? First let me say that I teach students to study and respect the work of historical scholars including those found in Asatru, Troth, and Druidism. We also make use of research by Caitlin and John Matthews, and all the anthropological texts we can find. I find such sources a wealth of information about our Celtic heritage. I realize that works by Asatru and Troth scholars are rarely about specifically Celtic topics, but they often give great insight into the practices and teachings that were common to both cultures. The discussions of Seith Magick and Freya cults are especially of interest as they were a major influence on early Wiccan teachings, rituals, and magickal practices.

I suppose the only real way to know what happened would be if you were standing there in a previous lifetime and could now recall vivid memories from a specific ritual you attended. Even in that case, it would only make certain what happened with a single Celtic tribe in a given county, in a given year. While Celtic religious teachers were very strict about memorization and precise ritual repetition to attempt to preserve mysteries intact, to presume that religious and cultural practices were universal or unchanging over many centuries or unchanged by the blending of cultures with conquered people is preposterous. Regional deities, beliefs, and practices have been absorbed into the culture quite often when Celts conquered the people of a new region, and the Celts were a nomadic people. In the mean time, we will evaluate what information we have in a humble state of prayer and inner reflection to sift for patterns of real significance and wisdom that can carry us from our past into an enlightened future. We also attempt to develop new wisdom and new research to rediscover what has been lost.

When all else fails, we find a quiet place (like the base of an old Oak) and drop into a deep meditation after asking our personal patron/matron deity for guidance ( as well as the old Oak and possibly ancestors) in the matter, then consider their guidance to be right for us regardless of what others prefer or practice. This often produces results which we had previously not been exposed to that are later found to match quite well with what the Druidic orders we most respect have been using (but not always publicizing) for many years. As seeking guidance from the "Awwen" (divine inspiration) which comes from deities, ancestors, nature spirits, and even actual forces or specimens of nature is a primary goal of many Druidic paths, this should not have surprised me, but I was often surprised by how closely our answers from such differing beings and sources matched those of Druidic orders I had no previous contact with.

Some of the attributes which are common to most Celtic Wiccan Traditions today are intensive study and use of elemental and tree magick; deep respect for fairy folk, trees and tree spirits, elementals, and all of nature. It also means making a sincere effort to teach and preserve traditional Celtic values such as honor, courage, truth, strength, skill, respect toward elders and ancestors, loyalty to one's leaders, hospitality to guests, respect toward hosts, generosity (especially to those in need), wisdom, craftmanship, artistry, eloquence, and the powerful and sacred nature of poetry and music. The great heroes, heroines, kings, and queens of the Celts were as noted for their skill as musicians, poets, singers, dancers, artisans, eloquent speakers, and wise leaders as they were for their strength, courage, and skill at arms. Not only that, but the progression of primary champion of the Tuatha de Danaan shows an increasing emphasis on the eloquence and wisdom over time until the final champion, Ogma, was portrayed as leading a dozen kings behind him with a golden chain from his tongue attached to each of their ears. In other words, the idea of peace through diplomacy and kind words was eventually honored above simply "crushing the enemy" as in the old days. Of course even Ogma still was portrayed as wearing the skin of a lion (strength) and carrying a large, powerful, oaken club in case all else failed.

Some people make pronouncements about ancient matriarchal societies, especially among the Celts, without doing much research to back up their statements, but we try to be a little more scholorly where possible. Although there is still much debate about evidence of Celtic Matriarchal societies, the women were apparently treated with much more respect than they often are today. Celtic women were capable of becoming warriors, blacksmiths, priestesses, military generals, and/or rulers in their own right in some areas. They also were clearly matrilineal in many areas meaning that the mother was the line of descendancy, heredity, and inheritance because the Celts were too practical to assume anyone knew for sure who the father of a child was, but the mother one could always be certain about. In such areas, the heir to the throne was often the son of the king's sister, or failing that, the man that married the daughter of the king's sister (or that married the last queen in the event of a kings death without an heir) became the new king. One advantage to this approach was that people in royal courts were less paranoid about fidelity of spouses because it had no effect on inheritance of the kingship.

Celtic Wicca today is a combination of Druidism, Hinduism (ethics and philosophy), pre-Celtic Fairy Faith, and many other sources including the ancient, Proto-IndoEuropean tribal religions. The basic concepts of worshipping the creative entities as a Goddess, Mother Earth, (the goddess whose physical manifestation is literally our planet Earth) and a God, Father Sky, (The God of the Sun, storms and winds) through ritual practice is as old as religion itself. In Celtic Myths that still are available, this often focused more on a romantic triangle between Mother Earth and two Gods, The Oak King (God of agriculture, deciduous trees, and annual plants) who is also sometimes called the Sun King, and the Holly King (the Horned God of evergreen plants, animals, death, and the hunt) who compete for her attention in an age old contest that is a representation of the changing seasons which bring about such powerful changes in mother Earth every year.

The pentagram, a five pointed star usually surrounded by a circle, is a symbol of virtue and self restraint which has come to be accepted as the primary religious symbol of most branches of Wicca today. Celtic Wicca often uses it even though it's origins are probably not Celtic. Some say it's use stems from Sumerian traditions that speak of the Elder Gods as being visitors from a star system in the pleides constellation. When asked where they were from, the Gods simply pointed to the stars of that constellation. This might be one of the mythic sources of the pentagram as a symbol of our covenant with the Gods and Goddesses to guard the ancient portals against destructive forces from this or any other realm who may try to destroy or subdue this world. There are many other theories that are equally valid including the fact that a pentagram is a common symbol of protection in Kaballa, but even Kaballism is a Jewish form of mysticism that can probably trace it's original roots all the way back to Sumerian Mysticism in the land their forefather Abraham originally came from.

Today Celtic Wicca uses the upright (a single point upwards) pentagram as a symbol of adherence to the Wiccan Rede. This is essentially the same five pointed star that the Freemasons chose to put on most of the national symbols of the United States of America. They realized that it represented spirit maintaining control over the other four elemental energies of earth, air, fire, and water (which can represent human passions, desires, and emotions) within as well as without. This does not imply that we try to subdue natural forces, but rather seek to find ethical means of guiding them both without and within. We use the original interwoven form of this star as a symbol of our certain knowledge that people can and should use the will of their spirit not only to lead elemental forces for constructive purposes, but also to channel all natural urges and emotions into healthy avenues of expression. We don't try to always suppress sexual urges, anger, etc., because that is unhealthy and self destructive. Instead we give our passion to our mate (or the healthy search for one), our anger to injustice, our fear to wise precautions, our sadness to our mother Goddess who soothes it and uses the energy for healing, and our loving joy to all the world!

Separation of life energies into seven distinct elements was also taught and practiced by the Proto-IndoEuropean tribes. Such elemental energy separations were implied in Sumerian Mythology and many other early civilizations, but the credit for this idea is usually given to the Indo-European descendants, the Greeks, who publicly discussed such mysteries at length. The Celts, also descendants of these same Indo-European tribes, appear to have kept the original beliefs in the seven elements of earth, sea, stone, cloud, wind, sun, and the Gods or spirit, but due to their love of teaching things in sets of threes, they often spoke in terms of sea, land and sky. In other works such as poetry about the realms of elemental forces energies are separated into 5 divisions of fire, air/wind, water/ice, earth/stone, and spirit. Spirit may be thought to include Humans, animals, plants, and even non-physical beings such as Deities, ancestral spirits, or nature spirits. Today Druids and Celtic Wiccans use systems of 3, 5, 7, or 9 elements, but the basic principle and magickal uses for all of them are the same. Woodland Celtic Wicca even honors the wisdom and mystical significance of these numbers in our reading requirements for students as an example of how much we believe they help to awaken and stimulate healthy growth.

Sumerian and Egyptian mysticism had a direct influence on Celtic Druids as their explorers and colonists traded culture with Celts near their borders, but the full degree of this influence is unknown. The earliest written accounts of a spring ritual mating of the God and Goddess, while inhabiting the bodies of a priest and priestess to ensure fertility and prosperity for the year was in Sumeria and the pentagram as a ritual symbol is often believed to have originally come from there. The Greeks were often neighbors to the Celts and were always very interested in Sumerian and Egyptian mysticism, so this was probably one of the major sources of such cultural exchanges.

Druidism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Elusinian, Orphic, Roman Mysteries and many others, developed concepts of reincarnation from their ancestral, Proto- IndoEuropean religions. Reincarnation was viewed as a means of learning and growing until no further lessons from this environment were required. The Druids generally taught that it was much more likely to be reborn in a direct descendant. It is uncertain whether this implies some form of belief in genetic memory or whether they simply thought it would provide a more convenient and familiar environment for the soul to continue their education. It is also possible they believed souls would simply want to reincarnate into a body that would bring them back into close proximity with those they had developed loving kinship with before making direct descendants an obvious and convenient choice. What many people choose to overlook is that surviving myths imply that only unusual or very special or important people were believed to reincarnate although this may be simply an erroneous impression caused by minstrels focusing their stories around the lives of important and exciting people to thrill audiences. Druids also believed in transmigration into animals or trees at times even after having lived a human life although this was usually not by choice.

Many modern Wiccans believe that transmigration would be counterproductive in most cases (there are exceptions to everything), but consider it likely that plant or animal forms may have been used as a stage of growth for developing for the spirit prior to the first human incarnation. This does not mean that a soul that has been severely damaged or has strongly deviated from the path of growth toward enlightenment may not benefit at times by reincarnating into a form where a simpler set of lessons would be available until they are ready for the more complex lessons again. In the mental health field I have encountered more than a few whose soul felt shredded in some way, usually by severe childhood abuse or intentional destruction such as the brainwashing of modern gangsters used to protect the drug trade. I have also encountered others who were simply born without the normal conscience required to participate as a human in a way useful to their own learning experience or that of others.

Buddhism is an evolution of (descended path from) Hinduism and most anthropologists believe that they both evolved from the same pre-historic Indo- European religions as Druidism, so there should be no surprise that we have much in common with them. I am proud to say that modern Wiccans accept what wisdom they can learn from many sources including Buddhist and Hindu teachers. The more I learn about Hindu teachings of Dharma, Karma, and the worship of many Gods and Goddesses that are connected and spring from a single divine source, the more convinced I am that Hindu teachings have directly or indirectly contributed nearly as much to what is modern Wicca as the teachings of the ancient Celts.

It is worth mentioning that Gerald Gardner, the man usually credited with developing the first system of spiritual practice to use the label "Wicca", spent much of his early life living in Malaysia surrounded by these faiths, that his Golden Dawn teachers were fascinated by Eastern teachings, and that "Old Dorothy" who taught him witchcraft was actually a Theosophist heavily indoctrinated in Eastern spirituality especially Hindu philosophy and theology.

According to The Farrars and Doreen Valiente, "Old Dorothy" was a very real person, but she was actually a young, rebellious, rich girl who mixed Theosophy with old witchcraft. According to Doreen Valiente (Gerald Gardner's last Wiccan High Priestess), Dorothy was born and raised in India by a British military officer where she apparently encountered many teachers of Eastern philosophy and became a follower of the Theosophists who blended Eastern and Western spiritual teachings. Apparently she and a large group of hedonistic young rebels from the wealthy classes living in the New Forest area got together to practice nude ritual, tarot reading, and sex magick on a regular basis under the tutelage of an old, illiterate, yet highly experienced and traditional Anglo-Saxon Witch by the name of George Pickengill. Initiation in that old form of witchcraft (not Wicca) always involved sexual union with the high priestess Dorothy, or the high priest George (depending on the initiate's gender), and the priest and priestess apparently performed sex magick with each other at most other forms of ritual. Old George was apparently the controlling high priest of this and eight other groups each led by young women. While not all forms of local Witchcraft operated in this way, his did and he apparently liked it that way. He was also clever enough to use a local myth about how outside invaders (or other harmful forces) would never overcome that area so long as 9 local covens under 9 different women maintained regular traditional practices in honor of the old Gods.

Gerald Gardner apparently really did study with them for some time, but he wanted to develop something that focused more on deep spiritual practices rather than the power of magick using intoxicants and/or sex to boost the effects. Apparently Gardner took what he learned from this group and blended it with many other sources to produce something he felt would be an effective spiritual path and labeled it "Wicca". This appears to be the real birthplace of the Wiccan path. Many people claim it comes from older sources, but have so far been unable to substantiate such a claim, and It seems Gardner coined the use of the term "Wicca" to refer to his particular approach to Witchcraft regardless. For this reason he often questioned use of the term "Wicca" by anyone not following his teachings and formally initiated directly into his line. While I grant that a person who develops a new term to refer to something truly new should be able to define the term, Gardner lied about the antiquity and source of his form of Witchcraft so much that this right typically granted the founder of a new faith became lost in the birth pains and evolution of the path. While sexual initiation continued for some time, it soon became optional, due to the insistence of Doreen Valiente, and is now almost unheard of in most traditions including our tradition of Woodland Celtic Wicca. We permit it only when the initiator is already handfasted (married) to the initiate which is a very rare situation.

In 1940 the socio-political climate of England among the occult community was that people who did not claim to practice religious or magickal traditions that were thousands of years old were laughed at, scorned, and treated as crackpots. As such he did what many others with good new ideas were doing- he lied about it. He felt he needed to lie extensively about the origins and antiquity of these practices in order to get others to take him seriously. This is unfortunate, but we should allow ourselves to respect the great genius of Gardner's work and simply put aside his unfortunate belief that lies were necessary back then. We need to respect our spiritual ancestors by accepting his great gift without continuing to cloud the truth about it today. Every major change since then has been a series of rebels seeking better ways to persue their spiritual path than what was taught by their somewhat dogmatic instructors before them. According to the Janet and Stewart Farrar and Gavin Bone, Wicca is a religion of staunch individualists with a long tradition of rebelling against their own traditions and creating new ones that are more spiritually satisfying than those that came before.

In the areas of philosophy, ethics, and reincarnation, Hinduism and the ancient Vedic scriptures are a more direct and far older source for what we teach than any other that can be documented. Even the oldest dates ascribed to the poetic rendering of the "Charge of the Goddess" in Aradia are quite recent compared to these ancient texts. Besides, the full original form of the "Charge of The Goddess" given by Aradia in Leland's book "Aradia", would be considered completely unacceptable to Wiccan ethics or how they interpret the Wiccan Rede, but Hindu teachings of ahimsa (non-harm) are in perfect accordance with them.

 

Source-http://www.woodlandceltic.com/celticwicca.html

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