Wicca and Paganism for Beginners – every day sayings
Getting to know the Wicca world? This page helps you understand what other witches are saying. In the process you will understand how wicca rituals are built up a bit better as well.
Hello and Goodbye – how to greet a pagan friend
To say hello you can say:
Bright Blessings
or
Merry Meet.
To say goodbye you can say:
Merry Meet, Merry Part and Merry Meet Again.
It basically means: ‘Nice to have met you, take care and hope to see you again soon’. This can also be said when talking to God and Goddess at the end of ritual.
Blessed Be.
As the Christians would say, ‘God Bless’ or ‘Amen’. This is said more often than the Christian Amen. It can be said sometimes at the end of Rituals, Spells or even used to end an email to a fellow Wiccan friend!
I’m going to Circle
As Christians would say, ‘Im going to church’ (Taking part in a ritual of their faith) Wiccans say ‘I’m going to circle’. They mean the same thing.
By the power of three, so mote it be
This is a reference to a Wiccan version of the law of Karma – if you put energy into something, it will get back to you three times more. It’s not a universal Wiccan belief – one way of interpreting it is to not take it literally that you get back three times what you put in. An alternative interpretation is that you will get it back as often as you need it to, to learn your lesson. See also what wikipedia has on the topic more on the meaning of the threefold law.
Sayings used often during rituals
In Perfect Love and Perfect Trust.
You give/take/send whatever your subject or objective maybe, with Perfect Love and Trust. This saying can be used when doing Magick or used in a Ritual.
Blessed Be.
As the Christians would say, ‘God Bless’ or ‘Amen’. It is sometimes said at the end of Rituals, Spells.
So Mote It Be.
Sometimes said at the end of spells. It confirms what you have said in your spell, ‘so it shall be’
As I Will It, So Shall It Be or alternatively: As I Wish It So Mote It Be
Basically the same thing: you are stressing that what you just did will really happen.
Merry Meet, Merry Part and Merry Meet Again.
Although this simply means ‘Nice to have met you, take care and hope to see you again soon’ it can also be used to close a ritual by taking leave of the God and Goddess at the end.
As Above And So Below
As Above And So Below is a variation on the old Hermetic Axiom ‘As above, so below’. The original meaning is that everything is connected and what happens below is reflected in the stars (astrology) and vice versa.
In Wicca it means everything is in balance and you would not want it any other way.
Bide the Rede… Respect the Creed…. And Bliss will come your way…
Give perfect love and you’ll get perfect trust, when you live the Witches Way!
Pagan and Wiccan abbreviations
You would close and email with the following abbreviations to shorten the greetings
BB : Brightest Blessings or Blessed Be
MM: Merry Meet
MMA: Merry Meet Again
An it harm none, do what ye wilt.
From what I’ve seen and studied over the years, Jesus was in fact a pagan, that’s what got him killed!
actually, jesus was a *judean*. essentially, a member of a *jewish tribe*
all the talk of ‘gentiles’ in the bible? gentle = non-judeans
jesus had a major hate on for them, as well, and talked a *lot* of crap about them.
Sure, but Christianity does contain a lot of pagan customs. Easter eggs, Christmas tree… Even the fact that Christianity has a solar calendar, while Judaism (like Islam) has a lunar calendar, is a pagan import.
That’s because when Christianity was coming to light, they were crucifying the pagans, and stealing their traditions. Christmas was only a pagan holiday, made up to be their own. If you really look into when Christ was born, it was closer to Aug or Sept. That’s why when people research it, it looks like Christianity and paganism is similar, cause the Christians took it as their own, and killed off pagans.
Actually the Christian were trying to convert pagans so they started using some of their Holidays as Christians Holidays to win them over! In the Celtic regions!
Completely agree with your history.
*Nazarean.
Judea was further south.
Actually, it was the Romans who intergrated the pagan customs into christianity. Only one of the apostiles was Roman (Paul who came After Jesus died). It was a way to to control the early christians. They were killing the the christians in colosiums etc.. The romans created the catholic religon.. Jesus was not Roman. He was a Nazerene. I see it as the Romans couldn’t control these early christians so just took over their religion. It was the Roman catholics who did all the atrosities. I grew up in a non-domination christian church. We did not celebrate the holidays. We were taught where these “christian holidays’ came from. It actually created an open curiosity about the pagans. I now honor the pagan customs as they were meant.
Exactly! I don’t understand how ppl don’t understand that!
True!! He had no formal religion and spoke of “abnormal” concepts, was very New Age for the time, etc. He fit the Pagan stereotype really well. He totally wasn’t Christian lol. Plus he kept telling folks not to follow him.
Jesus was not a pagan , he died because it was written in prophecy. And he died for the sins of all of the people in the world even though we didn’t deserve it. Don’t spread falsehood about Jesus
Wow truly? What makes you come to that conclusion?
sorry to but in. Christianity has the pagan customs because it assimilated them. when they invaded the countries with very pagan basis – i.e more tribal / indigenous… and being careful to hint at less tech-advanced. in order to help the “native / pagans” the Christians had a great idea… we will share their customs and help them to use their customs to celebrate within our religion. this made it easier to convert the pagans to Christianity… if you notice the religions where Christianity didn’t take hold don’t have that history. with great respect, the Muslim ancestry for example tended to just take over your country then basically not go away until you went away or submitted, they had no interest in your old ways… Christians had the brains to assimilate and accumulate… it has nothing to do with what anyone ever called Jesus believed or worshipped… Jesus, born in Nazareth and linked back to Jerusalem by his Jewish parents would definitely have been Jewish ! … Im not much of a school swat, and I may be wrong, but I am pretty sure I am right.
Religions always mix – Muslims in Indonesia and India (and together they host the majority of Muslims world wide) – also traditionally practice a religion that is much mixed with local traditions.
Al…you are so right…many times I have tried to explain this to Christians… So much to say on this, but you have covered the basics…This also is why the Catholics have a deity or function for every day of the year…An old Roman trick…please the populace and they will accept the rule…Merry Meet…???
Religions may mix, but it is most obvious in Christianity. As someone who has studied religion, Muslim and Judaism maintain much of their history and do not bend to accept the beliefs of others. If that was the case then the Jewish faith and Muslims would accept Jesus and celebrate a part of his life and the New Testament, they do not recognize him other than stating he was a prophet (but obviously not of consequence). Additionally, if one looks at the Christian (Catholic before the split) calendar Christmas did not become a set date in December until some time late in the game. It was set close to the winter solstice to pull in the pagans and have a festival of light. Easter His Resurrection, celebrates Ostara (goddess of spring/rebirth/fertility). Brigid was a goddess in Ireland that had a huge following, she was made a saint (Catholic) in order to pull in her followers to fold. Hope some of this helps clear the air. Christianity has pulled in more of other faiths/practices than Judaism or Muslim. If assimilation was fully practiced there would not be so many issues with what is right or wrong. There is doctrine and that is the foundation of all faiths. Christianity just gives more wiggle room in some areas.
Jews do not recognize Jesus as a prophet. Muslims do.
Other than that – it’s true that Muslims and Jews don’t officially mix religions in the way that Christianity incorporated some Pagan stuff. However, in practice things are different. The reason Hanukkah is such a big deal in Judaism is in part because it’s close to Christmas. In Islam Sufism has been HUGELY impacted by the religions in India – which is one reason why sufism is under attack from fundamentalist Muslims.
Religions change – and that is a good thing. Even so called fundamentalist religions are – when you look at them closely – highly modern constructs.
If you peel the onion right back the base of all religions is Mother Earth and Her yearly cycles…each religion has a way of celebrating each cycle…they just choose to call their figurehead by a different name…the influence of Man/humans greed and want for power is what bends and twists religion into something distasteful and unrecognisable…
Deb…as you wrote…a lot if wiggle room…yes…that is why the ” Catholic ” faith splintered…many did not agree on the assimilated practices… these behaviors and faith differences are called Dogma…Just a word or two to add to your most worthy comment…Blessed be…???
The Catholic Church added pagen symbolism and holidays to subdue the mostly pagen Roman population.
There are Messianic Jews that still follow the the Jewish customs and dietary rules and don’t consider them anything but Jewish but believe that Jesus was the Messiah and he will come again.
I live in Syracuse New York. I’ve been studying Wiccan faith for 5 years. At first, I wanted to cause harm against my ex husband who divorced me after 30 years. Totally against the Wiccan rede. I lost my home, car, husband, friends. Power of 3. I want to find a group, not a coven to commune with. Much like a church. I’m like a sponge. I want to soak up as much knowledge as I can. I’m a solitary but it can get lonely sometimes.
My advice is: do try a coven – or go back to an ordinary (perhaps an alternative) church. Coven by coven the difference is in the people: so see if you can find something locally and just meet the people who organise it. If there is a connection, go ahead with it. If it feels off, try somewhere else.
Try to find a Unitarian Universalist church that has a CUUPS group. https://www.uua.org/
I would highly suggest that you check out http://www.MeetUp.com. There you will find open groups on everything from Wicca, Meditation, Book Clubs, Motorcycle enthusists, etc. There very well may be a pagan group in your area and if not for $10/month you can start one of your own. Also, if you have any metaphysical shops near you they likely have classes and courses (usually for a fee) that you can take to learn more about a particular subject. Of course if you go to a large bookstore like Barnes and Noble and spend a few hours in the Pagan/Wiccan area you are likely to see someone else browsing the section which would give you a great opportunity to introduce yourself. You know they are interested in the topic and maybe they have information on different groups or meet ups that you could attend.
Solitary witch, here.
You are right to recognize that “combat magic” has too much blow-back thus, Do No Harm (my rede).
I have found fellowship with a Unitarian Universalist society near me. They like “knowledge sponges” and you may even find another witch or two among them.
Blessed be.
Jesus was born and died as Jew and Mohammed wasn’t a Muslim either … equals to “Nobody is a prophet on his own earth”
Be blessed, I am an ex muslim and I converted myself to Wicca because I love it, do you have an idea how can I join a coven via internet because I live in a muslim country and I feel lonely… Merry Meet
Merry Meet, I’m alone also. I do have a Soul Family/Tribe on fb we are a very close group.
I am an eclectic, transmitter, solitary earthbound empathic Wicca witch. There are some really great groups, yes it’s not the same as being part of a coven but it’s more like family. Which is always the greatest. You have your greatest strength from your Soul family or tribe. I was glad I was accepted in the one private Soul family. Also as I said there are lots of groups on fb they always are sharing different things and explaining things cause I’m like a sponge too I soak up whatever I can. Blessed Be Merry Part till we Merry meet again
How would you thank you?
“Well Met” is also an ancient greeting often used by pagans and wiccans that dates back to before 1529. That’s the earliest written form of it found.
I use “blessed be the path you walk” or “well met” depending on the conversation and person. The second it a lot more casual to say.
Any old religions are more or less cultural customs that intertwined and influenced each other depending on what was popular at that century. The horoscope. The judgement at death by a supreme creator to determine everlasting destruction vs the paradasaic land of the dead with family and crops (vine and fig tree). Light vs darkness. Horas, immaculately birthed son of ISIS Vs Set sparing in the wilderness and in some versions healing people and performing miracles. The 32 commandments against man in the book of Maat recycled as the ten commandments. The countless recycled names and stories. Every religion has roots in Egypt but the Israelite Jewish nation brought most of Egyptian culture with them and the Roman Catholic church definitely took advantage to mold their ideology for their purposes as well. Everyone was out worshipping trees, etc. all the way back to the Babylonian god Tamuz. I reccomend “the Egyptian Book of the Dead – the Complete Papyrus of Ani” and a tacky archeology show called “the Naked Archeologist” on amazon prime. It helps fill in some of the customs and history.