We Hold These Sacred Truths Dear
We hold the Pagan faith, which tells us that divinity is inherent within all things and of all things and the divine is the omnipresent force of the universe. We may believe this force is called “Goddess”, “God”, “Deity”, “Nature” or “All That Is”; by whatever name the goal is the same, to gather as coven and community in order to foster a deep, personal and profound relationship with the divine. To this end, we seek to have a better understanding of ourselves and our interconnectedness with all things.
We hold, the ancient Pagan pantheons and indigenous folk religions as sacred
reservoirs of divine guidance, personal development, mentoring and ritual significance. In doing so we believe that we can harness the archetypal wisdom inherent in the human experience. It is our intention to do this with the utmost respect to this ancestral knowledge, always being cognizant of cultural appropriation and the historical position of all beliefs and practices. It is our purpose to give modern relevance, meaning and purpose to the legacy of the ancestors.
We hold the belief that religion is dynamic, and should always change to meet the ethical standard of the time. It is our understanding that all religions have elements of syncretism (a merging or blending of beliefs and practices from diverse and often contradictory traditions). Because we honor the inherent sympathy of all things we honor all religious traditions as having a valuable perspective on life and as a part of the greater mysteries of the divine.
We hold that Magic is Everywhere! The energy of the Earth is in constant motion and that this is energy is the essence of magic and science. All things upon the Earth have magic and wisdom. Magic is healing, transformative and offers us a personal connection with the divine and a deeper understanding of ourselves. To understand these forces better we look to the guiding principles of the Hermetic Laws that state:
Law of Mentalism: All is Mind
The universe is not the physical, solid world that we believe it is, all things exist within the universal, infinite, living mind of The All which is Pure Spirit.
The truth of the universe is oneness, separation is an illusion, and there is a unity of all things.
Law of Correspondence: “As Above, So Below; As Below So Above”
We live in a world of multiple planes of existence (i.e.: physical plane, spiritual plane), which lay beyond our knowing; to better understand the planes outside our awareness, we must look to better understand our own plane (through self-knowledge and self-mastery)
The key to understanding the hidden secrets of nature; solving the paradox.
Action or energy on one plane effects and corresponds to action or energy on another plane
To better understand the purpose of life, look to the cycles of nature, the seasons of birth, death and rebirth.
Law of Vibration: “Nothing rests; everything moves; everything vibrates.”
The Scepter of Power
Everything that exists results from varying rates of vibration – from invisible forces to entire galaxies – everything vibrates with energy.
States of Matter: Solid, Liquid, Gas – all made up of molecules that are in motion at different speeds (gases moving the fastest, solids moving the slowest).
Law of Polarity: “Everything is dual; everything has an opposite and opposites are identical in nature but different in degree”
Magic is the art of shifting polarities (healing)
Light/Dark, Good/Bad, Sick/Well, Love/Hate, Male/Female (not under moralistic interpretation)
Everything is on a continuum; all extremes meet, and we realize all polar opposites are twin poles of the same energy.
Law of Rhythm: “Everything flows, out and in; the pendulum swing manifests in everything; the measure of the swing to the right is the measure of the swing to the left – rhythm compensates.”
The Ebb & Flow between polarities; a continuous, even, shifting; tides, a rise and fall – it is the pendulum swing that manifests everything.
Working with first sensing the energy and then shifting the energy.
The meaning of the ebb and flow is always balance trying to manifest itself – all is a measured motion (not chaotic motion).
All is matter and energy, constantly shifting and moving in cycles of life and death. We watch the sun and moon, the seasons and the tide. We feel these rhythms in our bodies as we sleep and wake, as we work and rest, as we mourn and rejoice, as we love and lose, as we live and die. The cosmos is a dance; it is a symphony. We honor this cosmic rhythm by attuning ourselves to the rhythms of nature, adding our unique rhythms and choreographies to the whole.
Law of Cause & Effect: “Every cause has its effect; every effect has its cause.”
There is no coincidence – no chance events.
Everything happens according to law, everything happens for a reason
Nothing exists outside The All, all is subject to The All and none can truly comprehend The All since none but The All can comprehend its own nature and being.
Nothing escapes law – all is caused by something else and all things have a consequence.
Law of Gender: “Everything has its masculine and feminine principles.”
The Generative Principle; co-creation is manifest throughout the universe.
Gender, as symbolic of the polarities of creation, manifests on all planes; a projective and receptive polarity from which all things are created.
Unity of Creation: all things come together through generation and regeneration; sexual procreation is only the manifestation on the physical plane.
We hold that the Earth is sacred! We look to nature, to her seasons, to her elements, to her plants and animals for truth and understanding, for guidance and wisdom. We look to the Earth herself to share her secrets, and mysteries, and we hold ourselves as stewards in service of the Earth, to protect her and share her wisdom.
We hold that we are all co-creators of the world and as such it is our responsibility to be careful and cautious with our words, deeds and attitudes towards ourselves, our fellow beings and the Earth Herself. To act with deliberate malice towards others is to act against the law of the Earth, which is love unto all things. All have agency in the creation of reality. To honor this gift of agency is to dare to expand beyond the status quo; courageously striving to reach our full potential, while empowering one another and our communities to do the same.
We hold, that the natural forces of the world manifest themselves through our
appreciation of the basic elemental energies of the Earth; Earth, Air, Fire, Water and Spirit. It is the interplay of these elements that creates balance in the fabric of the cosmos.
We hold, that the purpose of life is the evolution of the human soul through
reincarnation, transformation and healing. It is through divine design that we gain the wisdom of the soul and the compassion to love unconditionally. To join and not separate, to integrate and be made whole, to seek balance and support the world and its inhabitants in this journey towards understanding the true will of the divine.
We hold that each of us has responsibilities to care for ourselves first, then coven, community and the world beyond. Our responsibility for the well-being of others is no-more-than and no-less-than the responsibility we owe to ourselves. We are responsible for the cultivation of our health and happiness, and to protect these needs. We honor this truth by cultivating an ethos of self-care, appropriate boundary setting, and healthy interdependence through balancing self needs and community support and action.
We hold that diversity is sacred! In the spectrum encompassing an infinite array of thought, feeling, experience, and conviction; we view differences as vast gradients of possibility between polarities. With this understanding we recognize that difference and conflict are opportunities to learn, that there is no singular universal truth (only the Universal Truth of All That Is), and that unity is not the consequence of sameness but rather the result of compassion and love. We will honor this conviction by creating a culture of mediation, hospitality, and acceptance.
We hold that social justice is sacred! Believing that divinity is found in the arch of justice set in motion by the Gods themselves, we set the work of our collective evolution towards unity as a sacred task. As such our rituals, classes, and groups offer postmodern philosophy and critical thinking skills as the foundation upon which we fight to dismantle systems of oppression, cultivate humanitarianism, and stand in solidarity with all oppressed people. Holding ourselves accountable for creating safe space for all, and dedicating ourselves to anti-racism work.
We hold that the Divine is Connection. Community is the web by which we are
intimately connected to one another, to other creatures, the Earth, the past and future, and the cosmos. This connection is inherent, and we are whole when we live in awareness of the many threads of this cosmic web that bind us all together. We will honor this connection through word and deed, recognizing that the consequences of our individual and collective choices ripple through the threads of our cosmic web.
We hold our guiding ethic to be one of high-responsibility towards the collective of humanity, embedded in the inherent worth of all. To this end we seek to cultivate an ethos of “power-with” rather than power over others; which we fulfill by fostering a sense of belonging, self-efficacy, and empowerment for all. Always seeking to offer support, nurturance, productive challenge, compassion, unity, empathy and understanding as sacred acts.
We hold that emotional intelligence is vital to the healthy development of all, we honor both the shadow and the light within each of us, seek to cultivate emotional healing, transformation, and empowerment as foundational to personal growth, deepening our connection with the Great Mysteries, and to the cultivation of magical attunement.
We hold open, honest, direct, authentic and transparent communication as necessary for developing trust within the closed coven. Thus it is our intention to seek fair resolution and wisdom within conflict and misunderstanding; growing in compassion and understanding for others while also challenging each other where internal growth and new perspectives are needed.
We hold education as sacred! Learning, growing and developing our potential is a lifelong pursuit, and that teaching others is a privilege not to be taken lightly. As a teaching coven, our primary objective as educators is to make ourselves obsolete; we teach not to advance our own agenda but to nurture and empower a new generation of Pagan leaders, who in turn will go on to teach new leaders.
We hold that the purpose of ritual is to bring us together in the spirit of Perfect Love & Perfect Trust. That we may elevate each other, the Earth, and the Divine. Celebration, magic, joy and laughter are the keystones of our rituals, as are spiritual development and community.
Whether we define ourselves as Wiccans, Witches, or Pagans; we, the fellowship of the Cornucopia Coven, hold these above truths to be Sacred.
So Mote It Be!