DUOTHEISM: The Wiccan belief system states that there are only two divine beings, A "god" and a "goddess". The many different gods and goddesses worshipped by our European ancestors, or anyone else on
earth for that matter, are thought to be "aspects" or "manifestations" of these two beings. Thus "All Gods are one God,
and All Goddessses one Goddess". This divine reductionism is referred to as "Duotheism", and it is not a Traditional Witch Belief. It is, in fact, a very modern belief. Furthermore, many Wiccans believe this "God" and "Goddess" to be themselves aspects of an unknowable divine unity, or a great being sometimes called "The One"... leading us essentially straight to a new version of Monotheism, well suited to ease the consciences of the usually ex--christian converts to Wicca.
Our European ancestors were Polytheists. They believed in many Gods, or in local Gods. This is true for most Traditional Witches. There are some beliefs now (and in ancient times as well) of some divinties being "greater" than others, almost to the philosophical point of transcendence, and universal power. This sometimes appears in Traditional Craft as well, but in the form of mysteries, and not everyday devotion, or new-agey monotheism.
BOOK OF SHADOWS: In Wicca, maybe the "BOS" is a real thing, but in the Old Days, amongst Traditional practicioners of the Secret Craft, to have written evidence of what you were doing was a death sentence if you were caught. Also, most people back then were quite illiterate. The Old Craft was mostly passed down orally, and if it was written down, it would have been written down sparingly.
ETHICS The Wiccan religion has a "Rede" or a "golden rule" which forms the basis of Wiccan ethics�it states "As long as you harm none, do as you will". This is a good suggestion, and basically a re-wording of the Judeo-Christian "golden rule". However, the Traditional Craft has no such rule. Ethics in the Old Craft are completely ambiguous and situational.
Wiccans treat this "Rede" as though it is an immutable cosmic law, when in reality, the word "Rede" is Anglo-Saxon for "advice", not "law". But to the Wiccan religion, it is an unmovable piece of dogma.
This whole issue turns out to be another New-Age Wiccan (and modern human) denial of the darkness inherent in nature, which I will discuss later. Harming and Hurting, these things exist in nature�and we humans are part of nature. Thus, they are part of us. You harm plants and animals to eat them. You harm bacteria in the water you drink. Life feeds on life. The Traditional Craft is very family and Faith oriented, and if someone threatens the family, or the faith, then stopping that threat is first and foremost. If that means harming someone, that's what Traditional Witches will do, and there is no ethical injunction against it. The Craft, and the power it invokes, is not "good" or "bad"�it is both. There is a time and a place for both. This is hard for New-agers to understand, but it is simply the way of things. To deny either side of yourself, or of nature, is to move away from the central mystery: that of wholeness.
HOLYDAYS The Wiccan calendar is divided into eight Sabbats, or Holydays�the four Celtic Festivals, the two solstices, and the two equinoxes. Unfortunately, this is a very modern development. The Celts, for instance, did not observe the Solstices or equinoxes in pre-christian times. There is every evidence to suggest that the native Britons, (who far preceded the Celts' coming to the Isles) did, but the Ancient Celts did not have an eight-fold calendar. They didn't even have four seasons�only a Summer and a Winter. Gerald Gardner, again, influenced by other occultists, especially, in this case, by the
romantic "revivalist" druids of England, brought this invented "eight sabbat" concept into Wicca.
In Traditional Witchcraft, the Holy Days that are celebrated are different from region to region, and from Tradition to tradition, and from person to person. An agriculture-based tradition may follow tides of planting and harvesting, and celerate harvest festivals, while another tradition may celebrate solar tides. Point is, the holy days are always timed by tides of nature, and are different depending on where you go. The four old Celtic dates of Samhain, Bealtain, etc, may still be followed in some places, but if they are, the solstices and equinoxes tend not to be.
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