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

BELL, BOOK AND CANDLE

A phrase related to the Roman Catholic Church's excommunication ritual. It once denoted heretics and witches but can apply to others as well. In the early days of the Church to be excommunicated placed a person in a perilous position. The person was denied the Sacraments, the fellowship and protection of the Church, and often regarded as a social outcast which often led to drastic consequences.

The rite is equivalent to a curse, and involves a bell, the Holy Bible, and a candle. There is a sentence which the priest reads:

We exclude him from the bosom of our Holy Mother the Church, and we judge him condemned to eternal fire with Satan and his angels and all the reprobate, so long as he will not burst the fetters of the demon, do penance and satisfy the Church.

The priest then closes the Bible; rings a bell, which symbolizes a toll of death; and extinguishes the candle and throws it down to symbolize the removal of the person's soul from the sight of God.

The excommunication ritual has presently lost the dreaded fear it once carried because the Catholic Church no longer holds the life and death power over people as it once did. Most Protestants consider themselves excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church anyway.

It would seem a rather pointless exercise to this writer at least, as the occultists, Wiccans and witches who the Catholic Church considers devil-worshipping reprobates probably could not care less whether they are excommunicated or not because many feel they are following the so-called "old and true religion" of witchcraft.

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