"We come spinning out of nothingness, scattering stars... the stars form a circle, and in the center we dance." — Rumi (13th century)
Freemasons celebrate the squares and angles; Wiccans celebrate the Circle.
True, Freemasons have a seldom-mentioned concept about squaring the circle, and the point in the circle, but no one stops to think about it very much.
Witchcraft ("Wicca") is called the Craft, just as Freemasonry is. Many, including author and word-shaman Robert Anton Wilson, have suggested that perhaps Masonry and Witchcraft are simply opposite sides of the same (circular) coin.
I have long loved this short poem by Robert Frost: "We dance round in a ring and suppose / But the secret sits in the middle and knows."
Awakened Woman magazine recently published an article about the mysteries of the Circle titled "Dancing the Circle." Enjoy.
This article is co-published at SacredFems.com.
Wicca | Freemasonry | Circle | Robert Anton Wilson| Robert Frost | SacredFems.com | Sacred Fems | BurningTaper.com | Burning Taper
The Ritual Similarities Between MODERN WICCA & FREEMASONRY
ReplyDeleteThey both have a foundational system of three degrees, with some forms of Wicca offering higher degrees after achieving the third degree.
Both are secret societies because they both keep their membership rolls secret, and secrets are kept from the general public by both "religions."
Both usually meet in secret, with the exceptions for the purpose of rare openly public events.
Both have ceremonial initiations to pass a candidate from one degree to another, of which include sworn oaths.
Both have ceremonial form of purgings & purifications of the ritual area before commencing any ritual work.
They both have the candidates remove all secular clothing, remove all metal(i.e. jewelry, etc.), and hoodwinked(i.e. blindfolded, etc.) with ropes ceremonially tied around them(the form of the tying varies).
Both groups have the candidate stand in the Northeast corner of the "temple" in the first degree.
Both groups challenge the candidate by piercing their naked chest with a sharp impliment(witches utilize the sword, while Masons use the point of a compass).
They both challenge the candidate by asking for secret passwords.
Both have the candidate lead in a circular walk(or "walking around") of the temple while hoodwinked.
Both have the candidate(while hoodwinked) endure being picked up, carried around, spun around, being pushed or struck from one person to another. It is supposed to create an "altered state of consciousness in the candidate."
Both have the ceremonial un-hoodwinking of the candidate, after he/she has taken the oath, before lighted candles which are supposed to bring "illumination."
Both explain to the new initiate the "working tools" pertaining to that degree & each tool's use is taught to the initiate.
Both groups, in the higher degrees, bring the candidate through a "from-death-to-rebirth" ritual in which he/she acts the part of a hero/heroine of the craft.
Thank you, Brother, for that illuminating comparison of Wicca and Freemasonry. Fascinating.
ReplyDelete— W.S.
it is a neat topic of discussion.
ReplyDeleteespecially in lodge.
Kudos, Tubulcain420. All of this is so very facinating. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteA topic in lodge? You're kidding?! If you brought up the similarities between Wiccans and Masons in a Georgia Blue Lodge, you'd be found hanging from a bridge by morning.
ReplyDeleteI was "dealt with" in part for simply lecturing about Wilmshurst's Masonic pseudo-mysticism.
— W.S.
I was "dealt with" in part for simply lecturing about Wilmshurst's Masonic pseudo-mysticism.
ReplyDeleteWell, yeah! You brought it up while the ice cream was melting on the pie!
I lectured on manly p halls lost keys of freemasonry while in the east, a past Lodge Education Officer came up to me and stated my pieces should not be more than 5 minutes because brothers tune out after that!
ReplyDeletewell it did not change till I was out of the east. I kept em comming. Lectures by CC Zain on ancient masonry, the laudible pursuit, etc.....
but I was "dealt with" for other reasons and don't go back now.
Five minutes on anything other than who's sick, paying bills, or self-congratulatory praise is about all my Blue Lodge could handle, too.
ReplyDeleteFunny, the very same men who would tell me my lectures were too long would sit on Sundays in their churches and listen for hours to a holy-roller stomp and scream.
I once went the funeral of the brother of one the men who gave me grief for going long on lectures. That funeral was still going strong, with two preachers working in tandem, when I walked out after two hours.
— W.S.
what are ya gonna do?
ReplyDeleteSince the Wiccan rituals were written by Aleister Crowley, and Crowley was influenced by Masonry, it's easy to see how the similarities came about.
ReplyDelete