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Crafting Wiccan Traditions: Creating a Foundation for Your Spiritual Beliefs & Practices

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Manufacturer: Llewellyn Publications
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Blaze Your Own Spiritual Trail

Would you like to embark on a transformative journey unlike any other? In this comprehensive guide, award-winning author Raven Grimassi shows you how to craft a Wiccan tradition that is imbued with your unique signature.

Based upon your core beliefs, you can design a spiritual system that best reflects your personal needs. Choose a patron deity, work with egregores, create a Book of Shadows, conduct rituals to honor gods and goddesses—the possibilities are endless.

Perfect for the solitary or group practitioner, this book will help you craft a coherent and empowering traditional structure that is based on strong Wiccan foundations, yet entirely your own. Call forth the power of Wiccan mythos as you explore the sacred circle, ritual and magical correspondences to nature, initiation rites, the eight Sabbats, and the Wheel of the Year.

Pioneer your own spiritual tradition—and take the first step on your personalized path to the divine.

DESCRIPTION:

Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 299.94
EAN: 9780738711089
ISBN: 073871108X
Label: Llewellyn Publications
Manufacturer: Llewellyn Publications
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 264
Publication Date: 2008-02-01
Publisher: Llewellyn Publications
Studio: Llewellyn Publications


SIMILAR ITEMS:

• The Witches' Craft: The Roots of Witchcraft & Magical Transformation
• The Study of Witchcraft: A Guidebook to Advanced Wicca
• The Temple of High Witchcraft: Ceremonies, Spheres and The Witches' Qabalah
• The Wiccan Mysteries: Ancient Origins & Teachings
• Spirit of the Witch: Religion & Spirituality in Contemporary Witchcraft


CUSTOMER REVIEWS:

Customer Rating:
Summary: Make Your Tradition Special
Comment: I enjoyed this book because of the concept. I was surprised at the amount of material that Grimassi covers for this process. The contents of this book puts it all together to show you how it's done.

Tradition is the foundation of our spiritual system. Each person sees the Wiccan path as a personal path. Gardner did it, Buckland did it, even Grimassi did it; establishing a system of spirituality that worked for them, and enabling it to work for others.

Raven Grimassi presents a "system" here to establish your own Tradition. In it he also includes all the trappings and tools and beliefs and reasons to do so. It is a complex method, with all the basics, all the elements and all the workings that we may want to include.

The discussions on establishing a tradition are well worth the read. Realize that by establishing a tradition, you will then be passing it along, and this will mean setting up a coven, working a teaching plan, examining all the basic beliefs and all the tools that will be associated with it.

This is by no means as simple as it sounds. While the spirituality can be simple, establishing a Tradition requires putting together many of the elements that are included in this book. I did find that there was a lot of "stuff" that the individual can sort through and eliminate if it will not be appropriate to their own personal Tradition. This may simplify the task, but it still requires more than just getting an idea.

Grimassi included all the bits and pieces that someone may want to include, or wonder if it should be included, and then allows the individual to decide what to incorporate, what fits the Tradition. The individual then chooses the elements of their tradition based on how close to the original traditions they want to be.

Overall, a good book for those looking to establish their personal beliefs into a system and maybe pass it along to family, friends or others interested in their way of spirituality. This is quite a volume of work, and one which will be appreciated by many. boudica
Customer Rating:
Summary: Positive and self-empowering
Comment: Crafting Wicca Traditions is written in a positive and self-empowering manner. The author lends his decades of experience by way of suggestions and guidelines for the reader interested in creating his or her own personal approach to Wicca. Grimassi also points out areas of caution drawn from his own experiences, which are offered as wise safeguards.

One of the strongpoints of this book is its suggestions for organizing ideas and applying beliefs. On page 20 the author recommends thinking about our personal views regarding deity and how we want to apply this to our own system. Grimassi also suggests that we apply our own ethics, and our appreciation of the sacredness of life, to the formation of a personal practice of Wicca. This is helpful in mapping out our theology and the ethics that conform to the spiritual foundation of our practices.

On page 21, Grimassi advocates researching the tenets and philosophies of the ancient culture associated with the region we want to root our tradition to; in other words, is the tradition Celtic, Germanic, Greco-Roman, etc. If so, Grimassi suggests being well read and well informed while creating your system's foundation, beliefs, and practices. One point that is carried throughout the book is to evaluate what you want to incorporate into your system and what you don't want to include. As Grimassi points out, there is as much ancient folly as there is ancient wisdom.

One of the things I enjoyed in this book is the author's way of helping think things through. Each chapter provides the opportunity to examine our beliefs and to modify them with new information and insight. Unlike most books on Wicca, this one strikes a balance between dogma & doctrine and the airy-fairy notion that anything and everything can be mixed into the cauldron. Careful introspection, sound reasoning, and clear thinking is what the author of this book promotes in Crafting Wiccan Traditions.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Why is this book so scary?
Comment: Grimassi states that "You will find it useful to consider the basic belief system...consider...your concepts of deity, the sacredness of life, reincarnation, an afterlife, codes of ethics and behavior" (p 20). By which I take it we are free to consider life not sacred. And if life isn't sacred, then there certainly is plenty of give and take in everybody's ethics and behavior.

This scares me. Grimassi posits a world without right or wrong. If I were sick and in a hospital, he would be the last nurse I would want to see coming at me with a shot of...something.

And how can anyone seriously suggest we can choose whether or not to believe in reincarnation?? Surely it is simply true or not, no deciding about it.

But in the black, blank universe Grimassi posits what is truth or falsehood? Just another choice we make. In fact, he says, "Before deciding upon the beliefs or views for your tradition" (p 21) he wants us to think about the various pagan myths our distant relatives once believed in.

Anyone one out there from the area of the Mayans or Aztecs? They used to yank the still beating hearts out of their vast legions of victims' chest before they sat down to eat the remains. Anyone out there from India? We can certainly hope you don't want to follow the Thuggee cult. They murdered people so they could steal their money. And then there is the latest country to try and return pagan gods to their belief system: Hitler's Germany.

The ancient world was not a pretty place. Certainly it was not a moral place.

Grimassi says, "Once your deity structure is in place, the next step is to outline the various worlds over which the deities exert influence" (p 160). Now wait, is he suggesting that all of the gods and pagan myths out there are all true, all at once? Don't they all contradict one another?

There is no right and wrong for Grimassi, no inherent sacredness of life, and plus any old thing you choose to believe in, perhaps even the tooth fairy, can be real.

I disagree. Grimassi's relativism is wrong.













Customer Rating:
Summary: Remarkable
Comment: This book is an exceptional work, and a refreshing one. Chapter one is titled The Enchanted World view. It presents the foundational teachings that are at the core of Wicca. Some examples are the Goddess & God, magical & mystical realms, sacred space, and a look at various "other worlds" connected to Wicca by ritual and magic.

Chapter two is titled Building Your Own Tradition. It contains models that outline the concept of deity, the use of myth & legend, ritual structure & purpose, and much more. The chapter outlines training formats and aspects of operating a coven.

Chapter three is titled Finding Your Pantheon. In this chapter, Grimassi offers an overview of Wiccan theology, which covers the reflection of the divine as it relates to Wiccan agricultural themes, celestial themes, and Otherworld themes. This chapter also looks at the idea of the triple goddess nature and triple god nature. Additionally the chapter presents information on the use of patron deities, as well as using titles for Wiccan deities in place of specific cultural names.

Chapter four is titled Weaving the Wheel of the Year. This chapter alone made the book for me. It covers the internal themes behind the eight sabbats or "Wheel of the Year" in Wiccan beliefs and practices. In this chapter the author brings an understanding of the relationship between the Goddess and God through each phase of the seasonal rites. Of particular interest to me was the section of "light and shadow" which talked about the lunar and solar aspects of the Wheel of the Year.

Chapter five is titled Creating Rituals. Covered in this chapter are things like circle casting, and the role of lunar and solar themes within Wiccan ritual. Sabbat models are also presented as a foundation upon which to create rites. Highlighted in this chapter is the Moon Goddess Cycle (of the year) and the Sun God cycle (of the year). This helps create a deeper understanding of the role of the Equinox and Solstice themes in Wiccan ritual. The chapter concludes with an examination of ritual components and structures that raise energy within Wiccan rituals. This section is excellent.

Chapter six is titled Ritual Patterns. It seemed to focus more upon folkloric elements like the Oak & Holly King, Child of Promise, Green Man and Harvest Lord. However the last half of the chapter does turn to a very informative presentation of ritual themes through seasons and helps with a deeper understanding of why these things are important mechanisms for Wiccan rituals.

Chapter seven is titled Initiation and Metaphysical Aspects of Wicca. The author presents information regarding "dedication" and "initiation" along with useful tips about degree systems in Wicca, as well as the "coven offices" for formal structure. This chapter also talks about the value of tradition, which is something left out in most contemporary Wicca books. The last half of this chapter delves into mystical aspects of other dimensions and how this relates to ritual function. An example of this in the rite of "Drawing Down the Moon" is provided.

Chapter eight is titled The Book of Shadows. It provides suggestions on functional formats, and offers a suggested "order of appearance" for sections in the Book of Shadows. This chapter is nicely illustrated and presents symbols, ritual tools, ritual gestures & postures, altar set-up, and more.

Chapter nine is titled The Correspondences, and that is pretty much what it presents. It contains a wide variety of ritual and magic correspondences grouped in categories of things like herbs, minerals, planetary influences and so forth.

Chapter ten is titled Crafting the Patterns. Essentially this chapter looks back at what the author wanted to convey throughout the book, and is helpful for readers that don't actually read books from cover to cover, or those who like to jump around. It's a light chapter but does a nice job of tying things together. However, to actually benefit from the material in this book requires the effort of reading it thoroughly.

The rest of the book is appendice material, and although it provides myths & legends that are available elsewhere, it's nice to have them in one volume. The appendices also offer up suggested ritual structures for group and solitary work.

Overall I found Crafting Wiccan Traditions to be an artful blend of basic and intermediate material. That being said, readers that prefer the sappy sugar-sweet books of popular mainstream variety will probably be disappointed with Crafting Wiccan Traditions because it's not written in that style or for that audience. It will also likely disappoint those readers who were never able to move beyond the limitations of Scott Cunningham's books.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A well crafted argument for tradition
Comment: I found this book to be very helpful in organizing and clarifying my thinking about my spiritual practice in two ways. First, Grimassi emphasizes the advantages of following a tradition with his concept of the Momentum of the Past. That is, over the centuries the beliefs and practices of past generations have created an "eitheric pathway" (my term) that eases access to, and enhances the spiritual power of those that follow it. A scientific equivalent to this concept is that of morphogenic fields, from the biologist, Rupert Sheldrake, in his book "The Presence of the Past". Grimassi delineates the essential points of the tradition using his tradition as an example. It takes some effort and thought to connect a personal eclectic practice to his tradition, but then, I consider that the fun part. Secondly, Grimassi's delineation of the essential points of a tradition is very clear and well laid out. A personal practice can easily be compared to his to see any differences. For following a tradition makes it easier to see where my practice may be unbalanced or where I have blind spots. Over centuries a tradition builds a wisdom that is impossible to put into words. Also a tradition includes parts of the human psyche that I would much rather not look at in myself. That is why so much of the New Age is shallow and ephemeral. People take a little of this because a friend said it is so spiritual, and a little of that because it's "cute". And soon you have a lot of nothing, a hodgepodge of odds and ends, a vanilla pudding of empty spiritual calories. Now if you think tradition is irrelevant and oppressive, then I would not buy this book. But if you are willing to look deeper at what the past has to say, then I would highly recommend it. Yes, it duplicates a lot of material from his earlier books, but the emphasis is different. It stands alone on its own merit.

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