Glossary - exWitch Australia (formerly 'Born Again Pagan')

ARCANUM

The Card 'The Devil' from the Major Arcana of a typical Tarot Deck

The Card 'The Devil' from the Major Arcana of a typical Tarot Deck

In general the term means anything hidden, the plural 'arcana' being applied to all the Esoteric wisdom of occult lore.

The word is also used to denote anyone of the twenty-two picture cards (the Major Arcana) of the Tarot pack.

The Great Arcanum is the great secret that was supposed to be behind all alchemical and magical attempts. "God and Nature," Eliphas Levi wrote, "alike, have closed the Sanctuary of Transcendent Science so that the revelation of the great magical secret is happily impossible." Elsewhere he stated it makes the magician "master of gold and light."

see also: TAROT

PLEASE NOTE:
One of the major problems with 'defining' Paganism and/or its beliefs and practices is that it is an 'organic' movement, in that it is undergoing constant change and re-evaluation from within, and as such any 'one-size-fits-all' approach to understanding Paganism will be found wanting.

Due to the very 'organic' nature of Paganism, and the many differing Paths and Traditions within it, in many cases no one definition may be universally accepted by all Pagans. Therefore, where such cases of possible conflicting and/or contradictory meanings of certain terms occur I have endevoured to give not only the generally accepted meaning, but also any major 'variations' in belief and/or practice.

Christians who believe this difference in meaning of certain key terms, beliefs and practices to be unique to Paganism need to remember that such conflicts also arise within the Body of Christ - the Church. Take for instance the differing practices amongst Christians concerning Baptism and the different attitudes towards women in the clergy.

- Jean-Luc