[Bruna]

VII. ANALYSIS OF THE MYTH OF THE WHEEL OF THE YEAR

A. The rituals of the eight Solar Holydays, the Sabbats of the year,
are derived from the Myth of the Wheel of the Year.

1. The cycle of the Goddess which occurs on a monthly basis is
contrasted to the slower cycle of the God, which takes a full solar
year to complete.

a. The Goddess reveals Her threefold aspects as--

(1) Maiden

(a) She is the Virgin, Patroness of birth and initiation.

(2) Nymph

(a) She is the sexual temptress, lover, siren, and
seductress.

(3) Crone

(a) She is the dark force of life, which demands death and
personal sacrifice.

b. The God changes -- from Son to Brother to Lover, and eventually
becomes His own Father.

(1) He is the eternal sacrifice who is eternally reborn into a
new life.

(a) All things are divine as manifestations of the Goddess.

(b) The death of the grain in the harvest, or the death of a
deer in the hunt, was considered to be a divine sacrifice
freely made out of love so that life might go on.

VIII. EXAMINATION OF THE ALL AS TWO GREAT FORCES

A. The view of the All as an energy field polarized by two great
forces is common to almost all traditions of the Craft.

1. These forces have been named Female and Male. And Goddess and
God.

a. Which in their ultimate being are aspects of each other.

(1) It is important to separate the concept of polarity from our
culturally conditioned images of female and male.

(a) The Female and Male forces represent a difference, yet
they are not different in essence.

(b) They are the same force, flowing in opposite, but not
opposed, directions.

2. The Female force is seen as the Life-giving force.

a. It is the power of manifestation, of energy flowing into the
world to become force.

3. The Male force is seen as the Death-giving force.

a. This is death in a positive rather than a negative way.

(1) Death is seen as the Force of Limitation that is necessary
to provide a balance to unbridled creation.

(a) It is the force of dissolution, of return to
formlessness.

b. Each principle contains the other.

(1) Life breeds death and feeds on death.

(2) Death sustains life and makes evolution and new creation
possible.

c. They are opposing halves of a complete cycle.

(1) They area each dependent upon the other.

4. Existence is sustained by the on/off pulse, the alternating
current if you will, of the two forces in perfect balance.

a. Unchecked the life force is a cancer whereas the death force
becomes unbridled war and genocide when allowed to go unbalanced.

(1) When held in balance they are in harmony and work to renew
and sustain life.

(a) We see the effects of this balance in the changing cycle
of the seasons, and in the ecological balance of the natural
world.