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Index of The Tree

A Seax-Wican Book of Shadows

Greetings and welcome to my own journal of rites, ceremonies and things that I think are important!  I have worked on this for quite a long time, and it is a pleasure for you all to see this.

I hope this document helps you all out in your quest for knowledge and information, as this information has helped me in my studies.  We all are a part of a cycle of sharing of knowledge and learning's to the other generations that will come after us.  Even if you bookmark my site and everything in it, I hope that you print it out so to share it with those who do not have computers.

It's not that big, really. (Update Oct 1, 2002  Well, okay, maybe it really IS that big.  Sorry.)

One thing that slapped me upside the head when I was doing this section was this:  I have moved beyond many of these ceremonies and rites for now.  Learning does that, you leave the comfortable behind to find other things that make you feel comfortable now.  So, I have grown beyond the teachings of Raymond Buckland and learned some greater truths on my own.  Because of that, I don't necessarily do the rites and rituals described in here any longer.  However, I do still retain the knowledge and still work within these parameters when I do a ritual.  Mostly, I "wing it" when I do a ritual.  I let the Spirit move me as to what comes next, and what I should be saying or doing.  Usually it's a more accurate guide for what I want to express.

Originaly I had a copy of Buckland's Rituals here, whole and complete, taken almost completely (with a little tweaking) from the book. I had assumed this was alright since he says in a couple places in his books that the rituals in the Tree are freely available to all. I took that to mean that it was alright to copy his rituals and to republish them.

Some friends helped me see the error of my ways in that.  While Seax-Wica is not a tradition that keeps it's rituals a secret, I also don't think that what I did was right. I violated my own rule from above (my copyright statement) and I'm NOT excusing myself at all.

I want to republish the rituals I use here, but since they are clones of Buckland's I can't without running into problems. When I get time enough to write my own, I will include those. Until then, what is below is either my own work, work of those who I have permission to republish it, documents in which I have obeyed their requests as in their copyright statements, or unatributed works that I can't find the authors on, or who I cannot contact for one reason or another.

(Update 5-27-2005) I just managed to secure permission from Raymond Buckland to republish The Tree's rituals (and ONLY the rituals) here.  I have noted Buckland's Copyright on the appropriate pages and note that the deities are different from the original publication.

You see, Seax-Wica is not an oath-bound tradition.  We are open with our rituals and knowledge.  There are some sections included in his book that I did not copy to put into my copy of the Tree, and I suggest that you go out and get a copy for yourself if you are interested in such things.  It will at least show you what other people do, and how they do it.

For a brief introduction to Seax-Wica as it is practiced by many (including me) you may be interested in seeing an article I wrote for The Witches' Voice.

In "orthodox" Seax-Wican tradition, The god is Woden and the goddess is Freya.  I know they sound like they came out of the myths of the Norse, but the Saxons basically developed from the Norse.  However, since I am more comfortable with the Celtic Deities, I chose Herne as the God, and Rhiannon as the Goddess.

As to why it's called "The Tree"?  Well, books are made out of wood, pulped wood, and Raymond decided that "Book of Shadows" was too chilling and reminiscent of an older time when we had to hide, so he decided to call this book something that sounded nicer, and was more iconoclastic than the "Book of Shadows", hence, The Tree.  Doesn't that just SOUND better?

It has also been brought to my attention that Buckland may also have been invoking the World Tree, Yggdrasil in an attempt to bring more of the ancient spirituality to the tradition, along with invoking Saxon mythology. See, the Saxons were basically (from my understanding) the later form of the Norse. They came from the same basic ethnic groups, and developed into the Swiss, the Germans and the Saxons. I think. I'm not an expert in this field, so I could easily be wrong. Don't take my word for it.

All of this information can be found in my own Book of Shadows at home. And it is what I plan on passing on to my daughter.

Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction.

— E. F. Schumacher

You may use this article for your own personal Book of Shadows without asking. Make sure you cite where you got it, however.