Free Wicca by Scott Cunningham

are all rituals shared with the Goddess and God alone. Deities don’t stand on ceremony; they’re as unpredictable and flowing as nature herself.
    If you wish to gather with friends for your rituals, do so only with those who are truly in tune with your feelings concerning Wicca. Snickers and wandering thoughts will do nothing to further your Wiccan progress.
    Also beware the love interest—the boyfriend or girlfriend, husband or wife who takes an interest only because you’re interested. They may seem to be genuine, but after a while you may realize they’re not contributing to the rituals.
    There are many wonderful aspects to coven workings; I’ve experienced them. Most of the best of Wicca can be found in a good coven (and the worst in a bad one), but most people can’t contact covens. They may also lack friends who are interested in practicing with them. This is the reason why I’ve written this book for solitary practitioners. If you wish, continue searching for a teacher or coven to train with while working with this book and other Wiccan guides. If you do meet someone, you’ll be able to approach them with a practical knowledge of Wicca from personal experience, rather than mere book learning.
    In spite of the emphasis placed on initiations and group workings in the vast majority of books on Wicca, solitary Wicca shouldn’t be viewed as second best to the real thing. There are far more individuals worshipping the Old Ones today than there are coven members, and a surprising number of these work solo out of choice. Save for a few group meetings I attend each year, I’m one of them.
    Never feel inferior because you’re not working under the guidance of a teacher or an established coven. Don’t worry that you won’t be recognized as a true Wiccan. Such recognition is important only in the eyes of those giving or withholding it, otherwise it is meaningless.
    You only need worry about pleasing yourself and developing a rapport with the Goddess and God. Feel free to write your own rituals. Break off the handcuffs of rigid conformity and the idea of “revealed books” that must be slavishly followed. Wicca is an evolving religion. A love of nature and the Goddess and God are at its heart, not unending tradition and ancient rites.
    I’m not saying that traditional Wicca is bad. Far from it. Indeed, I’ve received initiation into several Wiccan traditions, each with their own rituals of initiation, sabbat and esbat observances (see chapter 8, “The Days of Power”), names for the Goddess and God, legends and magical lore. But after receiving these “secrets” I’ve come to realize that they’re all the same, and the greatest secrets of all are available to anyone who takes the time to view nature as a manifestation of the Goddess and God.
    Each tradition (expression) of Wicca, whether passed down or intuitively performed, is akin to a petal of a flower. No one petal constitutes the whole; all are necessary to the flower’s existence. The solitary path is as much a part of Wicca as is any other.
    * One of these that usually isn’t stated is the most obvious: people like to look at naked bodies. Some unscrupulous persons form covens with the sole purpose of practicing social nudity. Such groups, it is readily apparent, aren’t promoting the aims of Wicca: union of the Goddess and God and reverence for nature. I hasten to add that the majority of covens that practice ritual nudity aren’t of this type.
    * I realize that this is a heretical statement. Many Wiccans become quite angry when I suggest this. Such a reaction is the product of traditional Wiccan training. I feel, however, that wearing clean street clothing during ritual is no more absurd than is doning the ubiquitous, hot, and uncomfortable robes that so many Wiccans seem to love. To each their own.

7
The Magic Circle and the Altar
    THE CIRCLE, MAGIC circle, or sphere is a well-defined though nonphysical temple. In much of Wicca today, rituals