(^298) A Wiccan Bible
Note: Do not confuse with the East Euro-
pean Baba. They share similar names but are
separate figures.
Befana, La—Female—Mediterranean
(Also known as La Strega, La Vecchia, Saint
Befana)
‘Unexpected’ (see note)—Italian Witch who
flies down chimneys and brings presents to chil-
dren on Twelfth Night. The Italian story is that
when the three wise men were on their way to
welcome the Christian savior to this world, they
passed La Befana and invited her along. She
declined because she wasn’t much for new fad
religions and because she had better things to
do, like cleaning her house. But then she had
second thoughts. Although she didn’t much
agree with the Three Wise Men’s opinion that
the child was supremely sacred, he was none
the less a child and thus sacred. She tried to
catch up with them, but got lost. Feeling so
sorry she missed the child’s birthday, she
spends the year getting ready for First Night
when she flies down the chimney and gives
presents to the deserving children whose birth-
day she missed. If she discovered that the chil-
dren were undeserving and thus had wasted
her valuable time, she instead places a rock or
unburned lump of coal. In her story we see a
wonderful cite supporting my belief that there
is no reason to rob the cultural holiday typi-
cally known as Christmas from our Wiccan
children. After all, here we see that Santa was
once a Witch. Note on her name: The etymol-
ogy of her name is often cited as ‘Epiphany,’
which is a Christian term for the January 6th
feast celebrating the divinity of Jesus. How-
ever, the word far predates its Christian use
and originally meant something more in order
of a sudden and unexpected manifestation of
divinity without reference to pantheon.
Begochiddy—Male—North America
Native American supreme god of the Navajo.
Behanzin—Male—African
Animal association: Fish
West African patron god of fishermen.
Bel—Male—Middle East/Mediterranean
(Also known as Bol)
Wife: Beltis
Animal associations: Cattle (especially Bull),
Snake
Ancient Syrian (pre-Islam) sky and Su-
preme God. Forms a sacred triad with Aglibol
and Yarhibol.
Beli—Male—Central Europe
(Also known as Bile, Belenus, Belanos)
Wife: Don
Holiday: Bealtaine
Celtic patron of metalworkers, especially
creators of magickal tools. Also patron of
sheep, cattle, and the folk who tend them. He
is the father of the beloved Dagda and one of
the male fertility gods that has managed to
work his way into Wicca despite the goddess
predomination. Of course he came in a rather
hidden way. You see, although very few people
realize it, the fertility Sabbat of Bealtaine is
named after him. His name has had several
changes as it moved from tribe to tribe. Some
of those names have been based on a root word
meaning ‘Shinning one,’ others have meant
‘Sacred tree.’ Beli was chiefly a god of Sum-
mer. The beginning of his reign was marked at
Bealtaine and ended at Samhain. When this
principle was followed, Bealtaine was some-
times called Cetsamhain, which literally means
‘opposite Samhain.’ While this might sound
strange considering the modern Pagan way of
splitting the Light and Dark half of the year at
the Fall and Spring Equinox, one should re-
member that the Celts were not overly inter-
ested in the Solar Days. As such, that which
we now consider fixed Sabbats actually moved
around on the Wheel of the Year quite a bit.
Belit-ili—Female—Middle East
(Also known as Baalat, Belili)
Animal association: Dog
Plant association: Willow
Babylonian patron and protector of new-
born children who is probably the origin of the
story of Lilith. More accurately, her Canaanite
name was Baalat or Ballet, which later became
z WB Chap 17.p65 298 7/11/2003, 6:04 PM
barré
(Barré)
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