BALEFIRE - Usually an outdoor fire or bonfire lit for traditional pagan
Holidays such as Yule, Beltane or Midsummer. The fire is used for magickal purposes as well as celebrations and devotions.
BANE - Anything which causes harm, pain, illness, or destruction. Banes can be caused by hexes or curses. They can also be caused by hauntings and possessions through angry or evil spirits.
BANISH - To drive someone or something away with magick.
BELL - Altar or ritual tool used for beginning or ending a ritual or ceremony. Bells are often used in ritual work to invite, call or invoke spirits to participate.
BELTANE - Springtime sabbat of the pagan calendar that takes place on the first day of May. Beltane is the day of the year when the God inseminates the Goddess with His divine seed. Their union is reflected in the heightened fertility of all creatures in nature during spring. Other names for Beltane include Walpurgis Nacht, Celt Samhain, May's Eve, and Roodmas. See Beltane for more information.
BESOM - A ritual broom, usually round. Represents the element of water.
BI-LOCATION - The act of being in two places at once. Being alive but projected astrally to another dimension while sleeping is an example of BI-location.
BIND - To restrain someone or something with magick.
BLOOD OF THE MOON - The 28-day cycle of a woman's menstrual cycle. This cycle of the moon corresponds to the moon's 28-day cycle of waxing and waning.
BOLEEN - Another name for a Boline.
BOLINE - A curved ritual knife used for carving magickal tools and cutting and preparing ingredients for magickal workings, celebrations or devotions. The handle is often white in contrast to the black handle of the athame. Also called a boleen, boline or burrin, this tool is associated with the masculine side of nature because it is used for mundane and preparatory ritual actions.
BOLLINE - Another spelling for Boline.
BOOK RELIGIONS - An idea that pagan religions differ from most organized religions because the main doctrines of organized religions are written down in entirety and therefore "fixed". Pagan religions are fluid and ever changing because nature and our experiences with her are ever changing. Principles first discussed by Orpheis Caroline High-Correll.
BOOK OF SHADOWS - Term coined by Gerald Gardner in the late 1930's
to refer to a Wiccan's book of spells, rituals and correspondences. Many traditions utilize this practice though a witch may or may not choose to write his or her magickal information in a book. In ancient times, witches were rarely able to write their information down for fear it would be found and their lives would be endangered. Instead many witches passed their information down from parent to child by word of mouth using ancient rhyming and rhythm techniques to remember incredible amounts of information. Unlike grimoires that were relatively safe in the hands of wealthy members of the aristocracy, books written by poor witches were more likely to cause harm to their owners than help them.
BURNING TIMES - Historical reference to the time period during the Dark Ages when millions of men, women and children were tortured, mutilated and killed because of suspected anti-Christian, witchcraft and devil worshipping practices. Most of the people killed were not witches at all but merely innocent Christians caught up in the false accusations and social unrest that characterized this era.
BURRIN - Another name for a Boline.
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