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Internet Book of Shadows, (Various Authors), [1999], at sacred-texts.com
Some Thoughts on the Evolution of Wiccan Ritual
By: Paul Hume
Undoubtedly (insofar as anything in this mish-mash of magick can be
undoubted (g)) the "convergent evolution" thing has a place in the
development of the various trads.
ie. hitting on similar manifestations of one True Thing. An algorithm
stays the same, no matter how you code it.
Some of the interesting divergences, f'rinstance...
The Quarters: Always a lively discussion (g). Air's in the East.
No, it's in the North, etc. The traditional post-GD attributions stem
fgrom a system attributed to Egypt, and Egyptian climate. The
traditional Wiccan ones make sense in the context of Northern Europe,
esp. Britain. (At least the Brit-Trad ones do).
The ceremonial (solar variety) magician concentrates on the Equinoxes
and Solstices as his major milestones in the wheel of the year,
whereas Wicca sticks with the Cross-Quarters as their main events.
Again, the solar calendar is an Egypto-Sumerian bugaboo, and more
important to agricultural peoples (or so it is suggested) whereas the
Cross-Quarters fit the rhythm of birth and growth in herd animals, and
thus suggest a tradition that evolved in the herding cultures of the
early Celts and Britons (who did not succumb to the siren song of
agro-economy until much later).
How rigorous these arguments are is open to dispute - they may just be
attempts to correlate anthropology and tradition. But they suggest
areas of emphasis that separate the two paths, and suggest further the
different aspects of Reality that drive them.
Paul
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