Pagan ABCs

Altar- To change, deform, or rearrange.

Black Magic - Magic used by those with much pigmentation in their skin.

Centering - In the case of public rituals, this practice in done to alter the alignment of text on flyers.

Circle - A term used by techno-Pagans when refering to circle-dot mode, the storage of binary units using a code of plane figures with a bounding edge equidistant from a fixed point where some of these figures have dots, and some do not.

The Craft - A movie made in 1996 by Sony Pictures which stars Robin Tunney.

Cove - A small sheltered bay, creek, or inlet of the sea.

Coven - Referring to or being cove-like.

Discord - The appropriate musical notes to be played at dis time in the ritual.

Esbat - Spanish for "it is a flying mammal."

Flying - Something which witches do. Recent surveys show that TWA is the most favored method, though some traditionalists stick with smaller single-engined airplanes.

Glossary - A place where they add gloss to ceramics.

Grounding - When all young children who have misbehaved during the ritual are sent to their rooms for the weekend.

Hain - Sam Hain, founder of a successful company which makes underwear.

Handfasting - During protests, this is done to ensure the difficulty of ones removal by use of handcuffs.

Incense - When capable of reasonable judgement, when acting sensible.

Jack-o-lantern - In the Pagan playing cards, it is the card of the suit of lights (traje de luces) higher than a ten but lower than a queen.

Karma - An old Star Trek term from the original series which stands for Klingon and Romulan Military Alliance.

Lammas - Animals of south America of the family Camelidae.

Magick - An art made popular by David Copperfield and Harry Houdini.

Nine - The most Pagans you can fit in a standard phone booth in Iowa City. (Trust me on this one)

Orgy- The ending often used by technopagans at the end of their URL.

Pentagram - A five sided cracker.

Quest - What deities send you on when they are bored and have nothing better to do.

Rowan - A term used on slave ships when the slaves have rested long enough and need to continue rowing.

Sabbat - Of or relating to hydrogenated organic compounds. The term comes from the French chemist Paul Sabatier.

Skyclad - A material similar to nickel-clad, though with ozone instead of nickel.

Spell - A turn at work, a shift.

Talisman - Opposite of Shortisman.

Underwear - See Hain.

Virginity - Sorry, no Pagan I've talked to seems to know what this is.

White Witch - A Caucasian member of the Wiccan religion.

Witch - Pronoun, what one or ones of several things pointed out. Used as a relative in a subordinate clause representing a noun or noun phrase in the principal sentence.

Xerox - The easiest and quickest way to go from a monotheistic religion to a polytheistic one. Though it may cost you ten cents.

Yorkshire - A place where they make a type of bread, perfect for rituals, though they call it pudding.

Zygurmist - The one who devotes his or her life to studying, in order to make rituals more fun.