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Why Wicca Is Not Celtic v.3.2

by Iain Mac an tSaoir and Dawn O'Laoghaire

The two systems, Wicca and Celtic, and in particular Gaelic, contradict each other on several points. These contradictions are enough, as a whole, to form a severe dissonance between the two religions. In Celtic religion, there are three basic spheres. These are the Sky, the Sea and the Land. Each of these has a ruling body. For the Sky, the Sun, for the Sea, the Moon and for the Land, the Earth.

By careful study of the ancient texts, as well as the language itself, we see that the Sun and the Moon are feminine. They are sisters to each other. Though, in some lore, there are traces of evidence that some people believed that, while the Sun was feminine, the Moon was masculine. In Gaidhlig the names of both luminaries are feminine, and in invocations and spells they are both addressed as feminine beings. Yet they can change gender according to which of their attributes is brought to the fore. The nurturing, warm Sun who promotes growth is feminine, the light, as personified by Lugh, is masculine, and the scorching Sun just before Harvest is represented by Balor. This contrasts sharply with Wicca, which is based wholly on a Feminine Moon and Masculine Sun.

Wicca is a religion whose philosophical foundation is Neo-Platonic dualism with a Goddess and a God as archetypes. Not only is Celtic religion vastly different in that it is truly polytheistic, totemistic, animistic, and zoomorphic, but the very processes of reason upon which the whole of the Celtic worldview is based is founded on a tripartite cosmology. In Celtic understanding the world has three independent and free spheres, Sky, Land and Sea. The three realms are both the legs of the cauldron of the world, as well as the three parts of the Tree of the World.

The next area of difference regards ethics. The basic ethical statement of Wicca is called 'the Rede.' The Wiccan rede states, "An It Harm None, Do As Ye Wilt." The nature of the Rede is untenable to Celts. The whole morality of Wicca is "harm none". While it is a theoretical statement, it is one with little real life practice. This is because it's a rule that must be broken just to survive and, as a result, leaves interpretation and application to individuals, and common sense, isn't.

Such statements as are typical of the Rede are not a part of the Celtic paradigm, in which we find a heroic morality. In real life, the term "harm none" is typified by the moralities of Wicca, Christianity, and others where the primary imperative is to not hurt others. Heroic is typified by the Celtic and Norse religions primarily, though other examples exist. Heroic morality is summed up by the Gaelic hero Caelte as, "truth in our hearts, strength in our arms and fulfillment in our tongues". Heroic morality is rooted in concepts of personal honor, responsibility and fulfillment of duty. These are all traits of the Heroic morality, but like the Tao, it is an intangible concept that cannot truly be adequately defined.

Because Wicca and traditional Gaelic spirituality arise out of different analytical perspectives, their moralities -- the "scripts" they create for their adherents -- are radically different. Wicca is a religion that is based on a logical extension of Jungian analysis (and yes, Jung was big into religion) -- thus its sole ethic "Harm none and do what thou wilt" tends to reflect a personal, individualistic practice. Traditionalist Celts living a "heroic" morality focus on heroism, personal honor, tribal honor and duty to the tribe and "Do what you wilt" is the last thing on their mind. That which honor and duty call for is at the opposite end of the spectrum from that which the individualistic bent of Wicca would call.

The vision conceived and portrayed by Wicca, of what comes after this life, is limited and vague. Celtic religion, on the other hand, has a complex and intricate conceptualization of the otherworld. In fact, OtherWorld's interaction in this world is, in many ways, the pivot point of Celtic religion.

Wicca is primarily an invocatory/ecstatic religion that revolves around special rituals. The 'formularies' used by Wicca can be traced back through the lodges of ceremonial magic, and especially the work of Alister Crowley. In Celtic religion, the tenets are votive in nature and stress ethics and morality, only secondary importance is placed on ritual. To Celts, life itself is ceremony, with every thought, word and deed being spiritually significant and magical.

The very foundation of Gaelic culture was the home. The hearth was the cornerstone of the spirituality of the people. In Gaelic religions great emphasis is placed on the sanctity of the home, and strength of the family. Families, to traditional Celtic peoples, include people who have adopted each other. The individuals are encouraged to walk in strength and to fulfill their responsibilities to their families. These components are not found in Wicca.

In Wicca, sacred space is ritually 'created.' To traditional Celtic sensibilities, both blessing the salt and not blessing the salt are superfluous arguments. This is because, to the Celtic mind, humankind can make neither the Gods, nor Their creations, any more or less perfect.

In traditionally based Celtic religions all space is sacred. The Land is the Goddess of Sovereignty, the Mother of the peoples living there, and holy unto Herself. Sacred space is omnipresent, it is the history of a place or some other distinguishing thing that causes certain places to see different religious uses. What is done at a site depends on the natural predisposition of an area or its history. That the ancestors saw things in this way is established through such literary evidence as the Dindsenchas (a book of place histories).

Related to the concepts of the land is that, the Gods that Celts took with them into a new land (Sky Gods/Gods of the People), mated with the Land Gods already in that land. Out of those unions came the oldest Gaelic families, out of which came later Gaelic families. What this means is that the Celts saw the Gods as their relatives. Hence we see one of several manifestations of ancestor veneration. Wicca has no component for venerating or developing a relationship with the ancestors, or the Goddess of the land or other land spirits of the lands in which a people live. These are big items in traditional Celtic religions.

Wicca is an initiatory mystery religion. Gaelic and other traditional Celtic religions are inclusive, with very few initiatory elements. Within Wicca there are various degrees and levels, each having its own mystery, each mystery being revealed by someone in authority. While the scope of this article is not designed to explore religious functionaries in pre-Christian Celtic cultures, in Celtic religion, the declarations of the Gods are found in the Order of Nature. The revelations are from the Gods themselves, and in general, each person with sincerity seeks to understand the natural world (which includes the "supernatural" world) around them and their place in it. There is also the concept of interacting with the natural world as co-inhabitors of the world.

As briefly touched on earlier, Wicca uses the classical elements as a fundamental concept. Celtic religions traditionally do not use the classical elements (air, fire, water and earth) in any way. Some point to the inclusions of the four mythical cities of the Tuatha De Danaan, as recounted in the Lebhar Gebhala Erenn as proof of, or a model of, the use of the elements of the later Greek elements. These folk attribute the four treasures that came from those cities as symbols for those elements. However, scholars tend to think that these may have been included as they were by Christian monks to bring things more into line with the Roman concepts as typified by the Roman Vulgate.

Some will argue that the floor plans of sacred sites support the concept of the use of directions in conjunction with the four elements. First, such associations would be speculation only. Secondly, these floor plans are of the square temples that are found primarily on the continent. This floor plan was carried over to the isles with the Romans, and is found as a part of Romano-Celtic culture. The majority of insular temples were round. Typical of this genre is the important ritual structure at Emain Macha. Archaeological diggings has shown that the site was based on five concentric rings (perhaps associated with the same five circles placed around a newborn) of oak posts, with an opening to the west. Circular sites aren't plagued with such concerns as which side faces which direction. Indeed, the sitting arrangement of the five kings at Tara, indicate an association with the directions, but these need to be addressed within the framework of the culture. This framework would be winds, or 'airts', not the four Greek elements. The airts are still to this day what are associated with the directions, as shown by some of the incantations recorded in the Highlands by Carmichael. The Greek elements were only associated with the Four Treasures in the late 1800's, by the work of the Golden Dawn, of which Yeats was a member.

If we want to address the Four Treasures, we must recognize exactly what is being stated in the texts. Of those treasures, one was the Sword of Nuada and the other the Spear of Lugh. Lugh did not come with the Tuatha De Danann when They came into Ireland. Lugh showed up later on, just prior to the second battle of Maig Tuired. According to the lore, Lugh's Spear was forged by Goibiu. In that battle Nuadh was killed, and it was after the battle that Lugh took the kingship. Hence, by seeing that Nuadh was gone, and Lugh ascended, Nuadh's solar symbol (the sword) was replaced by Lugh's solar symbol (the spear). This helps us to see that the significant number involved is 'three'.

Also as stated, in Celtic culture there are the basic spheres of Sky, Sea and Land. These three realms are three parts of the cosmology of most Indo-European peoples, and are not the equivalents of "earth, wind, fire and water" of the Hellenistic Greek world that has filtered down to the modern era through the ceremonial magical lodges.

The Sky, which is related to Fire, is the realm of the gods of culture, light/enlightenment, order, permanence, purity, and the skills (The Tuatha De Danann). The Sea, which is the realm of the watery Underworld, is associated with chaos, decay, and death through which comes renewal and rebirth (the Fomorri). Regarding water proper, it is through the sacred wells (direct conduits to OtherWorld), from the Waters of Heaven (which maintains during the rule of the truthful king), that the water which encircles the Earth, sustains and maintains the people of the Land. It is here on the Land where humans physically exist, living in contention on the 'plain of sorrow', caught betwixt the above and the below.

The closest thing to an elemental system amongst the Gaelic Celts is what are called the dhuile, as such is defined as 'elements' in Gaidhlig. These are anywhere from seven to eleven, usually nine, items. These range from sun to lightning to rock. The dhuile are a way of understanding the relationship of the person to the cosmos, with each item found in the cosmos relating to a part of the person. Wicca has nothing along these lines. In addition, the fertility nature of Wicca addresses the land Gods almost exclusively. When Gods of the other realms are named, they are usually outside of the place held for them in their traditional pantheons. In Celtic theology, each is held and venerated in their traditional capacity. As far as the directions are concerned, the overwhelming evidence shows that in traditional celtic religion, the directions have always been associated with the winds. Not only is evidence found in texts which record folklore and custom, such as the Carmina Gadelica, but also in texts far more ancient such as the Senchus Mor, the Saltair Na Ran, and the Hibernica Minora. (X)

Wicca places little emphasis on mythology. Yet in Celtic religion, mythological stories are a central feature. These, in fact, form the core of magical practice, teaching and what ritual exists (manifested commonly in 'passion plays'). In Wicca there is no clear teaching of what is required to break past the cycles of rebirth. In fact, within Wicca there is no such concept at all. Yet in Celtic religion, the requirement can be clearly and concisely stated. To fulfill one's duty, to always be honorable and to stand for the truth come what may, while understanding *why* what is honorable is considered so. Students of Aristotle can clearly see the concepts of "personal excellence" within materials from various celtic cultures.

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