#Alexandrian Witchcraft

[vox-magica]

At the crossroads ...

... So how did I end up here? The crossroad is a mystical and liminal place where the soul is sold, pacts are made, and witches meet the devil himself.

I do know that witchblr isn`t a real thing anymore, but yet here I am trying to blog again.

I was in awe of witchcraft since my early childhood and because of Charmed the witchcraft movement did arrive in Germany in the early 2000s.

I loved witchcraft as much as I loved books so naturally I dragged my mom to my favorite bookstore when I saw the spellsbooks in the window. She bought me my first book about modern witchcraft.

From there all began and I was practicing eclectic wiccan stuff, which I started to dislike after a few years. Where were the witches in the woods? Not the love and light ones, but the ones that helped the hero if he approached her the right way, but ate him whole when she disliked him. The ones that cursed and claimed their power and used it how they saw fit.

Here on Tumblr, I learned about traditional witchcraft with its folkloric elements and the darkness, power, and spirits I was missing in the eclectic forms of Wicca. So I read and learned a lot through the books of Gemma Gary, Paul Huson, Robin Artisson, and many other brilliant authors.

I formed a practice out of things I learned and bonded with the spirits of the land. But what I was still craving was the real-life community of witches I could practice with.

After reading Thorn Mooney's fantastic book "Traditional Wicca" I was reminded that Wicca in its traditional form was anything but love and light. That the Threefold law wasn't a real thing the Wiccan Reed meant something different.

After searching for a while I found a Gardnerian Coven, which wasn't the right fit. And I was a little disappointed, because what I found there wasn`t the community I hoped for, so I left.

After having struggles in my career and getting a big fat burnout, I saw a post from an Alexandrian Highpriestess in a Facebook Group. She was building a study group, which eventually should become a Coven. I shot in the blue ... and what should I say? I am an Initiate in her Alexandrian Coven and here I am ... an Alexandrian Witch working with spirits and in League with the Devil. Combining two paths that are contradictory for the most, but are complementary for me!

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

ARCANE PRACTICES IN ALEXANDRIAN WITCHCRAFT -- UTMOST DEVOTION IS KEY.

PIC INFO: Spotlight on witching couple Alex and Maxine Sanders during a ritual displaying the Adoration of the Goddess, 15 Clanricarde Gardens, London, England, c. 1970. 📸: Stewart Farrar.

Source: https://alexandrianwitchcraft.org/image-of-maxine-and-alex-sanders-with-cup.

[darksideofaquarius]

Maxine Sanders

[traegorn]

Watch or listen to the latest episode of BS-Free Witchcraft right now!

[elhoimleafar]

Forms of Traditional Witchcraft saying you can't have a coven just made by men, run in the same direction of "you can't have a whole coven made by women".

Are you saying independent women need to have a man in their circle to "complement" their sacred space?.

And this goes in the same direction as "you can't have a trans/non-binary person in the circle". Are you saying that these minorities don't have the right to put in practice a Craft made and carried by minorities?.

English is not my first language, so explain this as if I were in primary school.

[tyetknot]

King of the Witches - A Review | Chapter 1 - The Young Initiate

King of the Witches Chapter One – The Young Initiate

Introduction | 1 - The Young Initiate | 2 - A Magic Childhood | 3 - The Haunted Hill | 4 - Call Down The Spirits | 5 - Bewitched

This chapter of the book has Sanders’ story of how he entered the world of witchcraft. As I said in my notes on the Introduction, King of the Witches was published in 1969, which places it well within the time period in which people would routinely make outrageous claims about being members of some secret hereditary tradition of witchcraft which just happened to bear shocking similarities to what Gerald Gardner was doing. So we will have to take an awful lot of what Sanders says here with a grain of salt.

No, bigger than that.

Bigger.

OK, that might be enough.

Alright, so. One major problem with this book is that dates of birth are almost never given and we are rarely told what year events happen in. I will do my best to note this when I feel it’s important but please be aware that errors may have crept in.

We are given a little history of Alex’ family and their circumstances – his father was a musician and an alcoholic who worked as a day labourer and his mother was a cleaner. Research on my part, as these details are not given in the book, tells us that he was born in 1926 under the name Orrell Alexander Carter and was apparently unaware that Carter was his legal name until later in his life (he used the name Alexander O. Sanders for his first marriage at the age of 22). The events in this book apparently happened when Sanders was seven years old, which places it at some time in 1933. From the description given they come across as fairly poor. Not much is told of their family life, although Sanders’ mother

“regaled them with stories of their paternal great-grandfather who had been captain of a tea clipper. (She never mentioned that he had been captured by Chinese pirates and buried alive.)”

This comes across as an example of inventing a colourful past and there will be more of this to come, I assure you. Giving names is the sort of thing that would be helpful here, you know? Ancestry research cited below suggests that this would be John Carter (1839 – 1909) who was listed as a ‘seafaring man’ and died in Liverpool. I suppose someone could have rescued him after the Chinese pirates buried him.

His maternal grandmother was Mary Bibby (nee Roberts) who was, according to the book, 66 when Alex was 7. If this were correct then she would have been born in 1867, and the book implies that she died at the age of 74 in 1941. We are told that she was born in Bethesda, north Wales, but the ancestry report tells us she was born in Bangor which was fairly close by. We are further told that “as a girl she had been in service with Lord Penrhyn”, who based on the dates would have been Edward Gordon Douglas-Pennant, 1st Baron Penrhyn (held title 1866 – 1886) or his son, George Sholto Gordon Douglas-Pennant, 2nd Baron Penrhyn (held title 1886 – 1907) – Penrhyn Castle is located in Bangor.

Recent (2018) genealogical research suggests that the dates Sanders gives are spurious, and tells us that Mary Bibby (1875 – 1907) passed away before she could raise her own children (Sanders’ mother Hannah Jane Bibby was born in 1903 and died in 1970), let alone instruct Sanders in witchcraft in 1933. Now, Alex Sanders was not alone in having a conveniently dead grandmother who was secretly a witch, but his story is definitely weirder than most of the others, which we will now proceed to.

Most of you will already know this, but for those of you who don’t: Sanders, at the age of seven, had been sent to his grandmother’s for dinner, as his mother was working. He walked in the back door (without knocking, which is something I had hitherto only found to be acceptable among rural Newfoundlanders) and was greeted by a strange sight:

“The sight that met his eyes in the kitchen dumbfounded him. An old, old woman, with wrinkled belly and match-stick thighs, stood in the centre of the room surrounded by a cloth circle on which curious objects had been placed.”

According to his account, he had interrupted her during a magical ritual of some variety. Sanders claimed that she had forced him to strip his clothes and swore him to secrecy, then nicked him on the scrotum with a sickle-shaped knife (her bolline?), telling him that he was “one of us now”, making him a witch. She tells him that she will teach him magic, and as they dress and put the ritual items away she tells him the history of the cult, which happens to neatly match the spurious history given in the Introduction.

There are two things that stick out to me here: one is the fact that this initiation ritual contains an element that is attested to nowhere else, the drawing of blood from the genitals. Now, this chapter closes with the statement that this ritual was “a pale replica of those once carried out in Sparta when males were emasculated so as to become priests of the Moon Goddess.” This is very clearly a reference to Gardner’s earlier form of the Charge of the Goddess which says that “At mine Altars the youth of Lacedaemon in Sparta made due sacrifice.” Doreen Valiente removed this line from her more well-known re-working of it, because it contradicted the later statement “nor do I demand aught in sacrifice” and because it is actually backwards: Sparta was in Lacedemon. The reference here is presumably to the cult of Cybele whose priesthood would sometimes castrate themselves, although Cybele isn’t really a lunar deity.

The other interesting point is the cloth circle with ritual tools laid upon it. Generally speaking in Wiccan ritual practice the ritual tools are laid upon the altar, be that a raised table or a cleared spot on the ground, but they are not customarily spread about the ritual space. The only time we see this, or the cloth circle, is in publicity photos of Sanders doing rituals with his initiates. The circle in the photos is taken from The Art of Drawing Spirits Into Crystals from Barrett’s The Magus. Jimahl diFiosa writes about this in more detail in A Coin For The Ferryman (pub. 2010, rev 2022). I am pleased to see someone else draw this connection.

His grandmother tells him that she was taught magic by her grandmother. Unfortunately the ancestry report available does not go back far enough to provide her name – we know that Mary Bibby’s mother was Emma Roberts (c.1849 – 1909). Someone may investigate further at some point. He says that her grandfather was a stagecoach driver who left her some furniture, but again, no name is given.

Sanders is told that he will get his own athame when get gets older and expresses an interest in his grandmother’s crystal ball but is told that mishandling it will make it cloudy. The chapter closes with a foreshadowing statement that misuse of witchcraft will backfire and cause harm, a statement that he was the most recent in a line of witches dating to the 1400s, and finally, that he was under the impression that “he and his grandmother were the last two witches left unburnt.”

Would you believe that my initial notes on this chapter took up only one page of a small notebook? There’s a lot to unpack here, and it’s only 1933, with lots of Sanders’ life left to go.

I will say that a genealogy report commissioned by Maya Sanders was invaluable for my analysis of this chapter. A link to it may be found here.

[matheus-gurgel]

[macmorrighan]

What's Wrong With Robert Graves?

Why are Witches and Pagans so hard on Robert Graves and practically denounce everything he's ever written? It's certainly become verboten in some circle amongst the Craft to cite his book, The Greek Myths (despite its storied use amongst contemporary Classicist), nor the classic academic treatise, The Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology for no other reason than he wrote the Introduction! Nevertheless, as a Witch, I must contend with the view that amongst my own kind--due to guilt by association--every book attached to Robert Graves is now viewed as highly suspect and dubious, which is (if you'll pardon the pun) gravely unfortunate.

As a matter of fact, in the criticisms of Graves, I wonder how many of us have overlooked the subtitle of The White Goddess (UK: Faber & Faber/U.S.: Creative Age Press, 1948), which quite clearly calls it a work of "poetic myth." The term, "mythopoetic" is an adjective defined as: Relating to the making of a myth or myths, i.e. Relating to or denoting a movement for men that uses activities such as storytelling and poetry reading as a means of self-understanding.

What's wrong with that? Contribution to one's myths are a wonderful thing. Unless one feel otherwise. I would argue that the strengths of Graves's The White Goddess have been overshadowed by pedantic critics that insist its misinformative. But, from my perspective, it teaches one how to look at folk-lore, archaeology and mythology from a different perspective that I (and others) have personally found invaluable.

Sure, one might belittle the Archetype of the Lunar Triple-Goddess of the Maiden-Mother-Crone as an invention; but rather, it has contributed greatly towards Pagan myth-making and it should be celebrated for that, rather than shunned. Although this should not be cited, as it has been publicly misappropriated, usually as an excuse to denounce the Wica/ "Wicca" as an utterly modern religion with no roots in the past.

We should not, therefore, be quick to pass judgement onto the late English poet and Classicist, Robert Graves (1895-1985 C.E.), as the alleged provocateur who contrived the modern lunar archetype of the Triple-Goddess as Maiden, Mother and Crone since this archetype may be interpreted as a mere reaction to human longevity. Throughout the Greco-Roman world there were numerous Triple Moon-Goddesses, virtually none of whom can be described as older in appearance than the median age of women, which was an average of twenty-five years (Carrieri, Maria Patrizia and Diego Serraino. "Longevity of Popes and Artists Between the 13th and 19th Century." International Journal of Epidemiology, 34:6 (December 2005): pp. 1435-1436.). As a matter of fact, ancient Triple Moon-Goddesses chiefly depict three women of a similar age, which should come as no great surprise since the difference in age between an unmarried female, a bride or mother (if she survived childbirth), and a woman nearing the end of her typical life-expectancy was quite narrow. This is how these ancient goddesses would have been conceived in the popular imagination of antiquity. In fact, Graves seems to have been well aware of this detail when writing his historical novel, The Golden Fleece (Cassell, 1944), in which he describes the fashion in which the Old Religion is practiced on the Spanish island of Majorca:

Maiden, Nymph and Mother are the eternal royal Trinity on the island, and the Goddess, who is worshipped there in each of these aspects, as New Moon, Full Moon, and Old Moon, is the sovereign deity.

As a result, Graves has merely brought to light what was self-evident, thus demonstrating how a contemporary culture would have viewed this archetypal goddess in his own day (and in ours). Remember that between the decades of the 1930s and 1950s, which spanned the years of WWII, one was considered elderly if they had reached the age of forty (Philip Heselton: pers. comm.), which is scarcely how one might define a crone in our own day.

This evident knowledge is underscored by the fact that Graves wrote The White Goddess in response to a conversation with his friend, the English historian Alan Hodge (1915-1979 C.E.), regarding the psychological process of poetic inspiration. Graves then acquainted himself with the works from noted scholars of his day that were especially en vogue, albeit some of which have not aged particularly well in retrospect: The Mabinogion (Bernard Quaritch, 1877), quoted at length, by Lady Charlotte Guest (1812-1895 C.E.); The Golden Bough (Macmillan & Co., 1890), which was meticulously researched by Sir James Frazer (1854-1941 C.E.) [and for more research consult this phenomenal essay]; Celtic Researches (Privately Printed, 1804), an imperfect and somewhat speculative treatise by Edward Davies (1756-1831 C.E.); the ideas of his friend, the anthropologist W. H. R. Rivers (1864-1922 C.E.), who was a proponent of the "mother-right" or matriarchal theory; The Witch-Cult in Western-Europe (Oxford University Press, 1921) by Margaret Alice Murray (1863-1963 C.E.), which Grevel Lindrop—Emeritus Professor of Romantic and Early Victorian Studies—described as "scholarship blended with myth-making" (Lindop, Grevel. "The White Goddess: Sources, Contexts, Meanings." Graves and the Goddess: Essays on Robert Graves’s The White Goddess. Eds. Ian Firla and Grevel Lindop. Selinsgrove: Susquehanna University Press, 2003: p. 31), whilst English historian Steven Runciman (1903-2000 C.E.)—who wrote the Foreword to The Witch-Cult when it was reissued in 1971 by Oxford University Press—stated that Murray "has always had solid evidence to back her claims" (Murray, Margaret A. The Witch-Cult in Western Europe. 1921. FWD. Sir Steven Runciman. Reprint, New York: Barnes & Noble, 1996: p. 5), which is not to detract from Murray’s more unfortunate suggestions (e.g., that blue bonnets were worn by the High Priest of the Coven as a headdress); and the masterful trove, The Secret Languages of Ireland (Cambridge University Press, 1937), edited by noted Irish archaeologist, Dr. R. A. Stewart Macalister (1870-1950 C.E.), which was reissued due to its importance amongst the field of Celtic Studies.

It is untenable to imagine that religions do not naturally flux in response to such obvious changes as human life-expectancy, social and political changes. Even the early Christians likely would have affixed in their minds a younger image of the Abrahamic god than that which has swept the popular imagination in our current century. The same is also true of the modern image of the Ancient Greek god, Zeus, who is often portrayed in film and on television far older than he actually would have been perceived by the Ancient Greeks themselves. Even the Virgin Mary of the Christians was probably thirteen or fourteen years of age when she gave birth to the Christ, which was the age when Hebrew maidens became marriageable ('The Blessed Virgin Mary.' The Catholic Encyclopedia. New Advent. Web. 13 March, 2023). This may explain why observant Catholics who witness visions or apparitions of the Virgin Mary often describe her resembling a very young maiden.

Therefore, it is my position, that Robert Graves may be forgiven for his axiomatic contribution to the theology of contemporary Witchcraft, and therefore updating the public imagery and understanding of this Archetypal goddess. Yet again, this should not be interpreted, as it has, that Graves directly inspired our concept of the Triple-Moon Goddess through a book that is now lauded as "disingenuous"; and thereby misappropriated as supposed "evidence" that the Wica/ "Wicca" is a fabricated religion by Gerald Gardner that amounts to us virtually LARPing or Cos Playing the fantasies of Margaret Murray under the auspices of "religion."

CODA: It's not as though Graves concealed his speculations and inventive outlooks, which means that we are projecting our misplaced resentment and insecurities onto Graves. As a matter of fact, personal responsibility is one of the hallmarks of the Craft. Indeed, one of the empowering things about the Craft is that is demands personal responsibility and introspection as a code of ethics, rather than a series of divinely ordained proclamations. So, if one feels that Graves had duped or cheated them, then they clearly hadn't read Graves carefully since he was fairly open about this fact. Therefore, any enmity expressed towards Graves and his legacy is best explained the personal projections and insecurities of those witches and pagans who accepted The White Goddess more seriously than the author did.

Graves quite clearly states that he copied his information on Ogham from Roderick O'Flaherty (rather then inventing it himself), and then on the succeeding page he states that he contacted Dr. Macalister who was then the greatest living scholar on Ogham who told Graves not to accept O'Flaherty's ideas "seriously." Graves then writes, "I pass this caution on in all fairness, for my argument depends on O'Flaherty's alphabet, and Dr. Macalister is a very broad back for anyone to shelter behind who thinks that I am writing nonsense"; and how his [Graves's] argument "began with an assumption." Therefore, the fault is our own to shoulder; not his--and we must take responsibility for our own role in this.

Honestly, I see nothing objectionable with people regurgitating Graves anymore than someone doing the same with Ovid and Hesiod. There are many variants of a given myth, which are simply an elaboration onto that which came before--indeed, the Craft follows this pattern. But the strength of The White Goddess is its ability to inspire others in looking at the world, myths and folklore with new eyes filled with wonderment, to enquire philosophical thought, and to make meaningful additions to old myths for a new era. It very much encourages philosophical thinking! The kind that I think any Sagittarius would deeply appreciate.

Of course, one might have a problem with any of this only if they believe that embroidering upon myths is wrong and makes us look foolish to the uninitiated. I do not. If the Craft is a rebirth, then it's core myths "damn well" (to quote an interjection of Doreen Valiente) should have evolved, which should be expected! That is why the MMC Archetype is a benefit to the craft, rather than a deterrent. Anyone who feels shame because the craft isn't a mirror image of an ancient religion--because that is the litmus test being used by historians with which to judge us--clearly don't understand how thriving religions work! Graves just pointed out what should have been axiomatic to us all in terms of the Lunar Triple-Goddess. This isn't to say that there are no examples in antiquity that mirrors the Craft! There are actually a great many historic shards if one knows where to look. But accepting them means accepting that what you thought was true about ancient paganism is much more blurry than you or some scholars have realized. The Old Religion, however, has adapted to meet new social and political stresses on society and the marginalized.

References:

The White Goddess, by Robert Graves

The Pagan Heart of the West, by Randy P. Conner

Lindop, Grevel. "The White Goddess: Sources, Contexts, Meanings." Graves and the Goddess: Essays on Robert Graves’s The White Goddess. Eds. Ian Firla and Grevel Lindop

Carrieri, Maria Patrizia and Diego Serraino. "Longevity of Popes and Artists Between the 13th and 19th Century." International Journal of Epidemiology, 34:6 (December 2005): pp. 1435-1436.

The Witch-Cult in Western Europe, by Margaret A. Murray

"The Blessed Virgin Mary." The Catholic Encyclopedia. New Advent. Web. 13 March, 2023.

[dragonkibbleiinmycauldron]

Greetings!

I am a novice witch who's still finding his footing in Witchcraft and Wicca. My influences come from Hermeticism and the Western Esoteric Traditions. I consider myself a Neopagan, and I'm drawn to Alexandrian Wicca.

This blog is less a personal grimoir and more an image board of thoughts, reflections, witch aesthetic and research.

About me

Gay Gemini ♊️ in his thirties. I love being out and about with my husband and two great dogs. I'm a firm believer in self growth and a practitioner of meditation and yoga. Also got a foot/paw in the furry fandom.

Blessed be!

[darkforestfae-tea]

How Studying Witchcraft Changed Nature

This ended up being way longer than I was anticipating.

Grab a tea or coffee (I’m a both girl, depends on the mood!) and a snack and buckle in! I promise it’s worth the read. 

₊‧ʚ・︵︵ ₊˚๑ ᕱᕱ ꒱✦ ₊ ︵︵・₊﹆ɞ‧₊ CHILDHOOD ₊‧ʚ・︵︵ ₊˚๑ ᕱᕱ ꒱✦ ₊ ︵︵・₊﹆ɞ‧₊ I’ve always loved nature. Being outside, playing outside as a kid, it was always so magical. Growing up me and my friends would go into these woods that were behind my grandparents house and just hang out literally all day. I remember we would clear out this small spot by the creek and just sit and read books or just talk. I remember once we brought a pot and a box of Mac and cheese and tried to start a small bonfire to cook it. yes the fire was contained and safe. We knew fire safety. There was this one fallen tree that landed perfectly to create a bridge crossing over the creek. We called it the “Bridge to Terabithia” I know I’m aging myself here.

₊‧ʚ・︵︵ ₊˚๑ ᕱᕱ ꒱✦ ₊ ︵︵・₊﹆ɞ‧₊ Religious Searching

₊‧ʚ・︵︵ ₊˚๑ ᕱᕱ ꒱✦ ₊ ︵︵・₊﹆ɞ‧₊

When I started researching around religiously, I came upon Bohemian Christianity first. I was raised in a household that was predominantly Christian, but it wasn’t for me.

Upon further researching, I decided that route wasn’t for me either. It was slightly better; I was interested in the history of the Romans but it was all still heavily involved with Christianity.

Absolutely no hate on either religion, it’s just not for me.

₊‧ʚ・︵︵ ₊˚๑ ᕱᕱ ꒱✦ ₊ ︵︵・₊﹆ɞ‧₊ Stumbling Forward

₊‧ʚ・︵︵ ₊˚๑ ᕱᕱ ꒱✦ ₊ ︵︵・₊﹆ɞ‧₊

Not long after deciding I was going to keep looking, I stumbled onto Wicca. I don’t exactly remember how- this was when I was 16, so 12 years ago. I want to say I was looking up nature based religions to see what came up.

I started out just reading whatever I could. I’d lay in bed scrolling through articles on my phone when I was supposed to be sleeping. I’d get books about Wicca & watch YouTube channels. I took notes before I discovered what a Book of Shadows or a Grimoire even was.

I knew grimoire but only from pop culture.

₊‧ʚ・︵︵ ₊˚๑ ᕱᕱ ꒱✦ ₊ ︵︵・₊﹆ɞ‧₊ Was Wicca what I was searching for?

₊‧ʚ・︵︵ ₊˚๑ ᕱᕱ ꒱✦ ₊ ︵︵・₊﹆ɞ‧₊

I loved almost every aspect of Wicca. I loved the nature based, how the deities were, simply put, just personifications of the elementals & nature. I loved how relaxing it was. I loved how everything was green… and white.

Now I’m not one to use the terms “white magic” or “black magic”. Or good and bad. Chaotic or Orderly. This was one of the things I didn’t like about Wicca. I don’t believe magic is only good or only bad. I believe there is just- magic. A balance.

Another thing I wasn’t a huge fan of was honestly the Wiccan Rede. As a poem itself, it was nice. I liked the way it read. I liked what it stood for. However, there is a lot of Wiccan practitioners that are taking that rede to the letter and if you research it a certain amount you will find that some Wiccan don’t even use the Wiccan Rede and there’s definitely different eclectic versions, but a high majority balances off of that we can read, and it gave me impressions of the Bible with Christianity.

I also am not bashing on Wicca. I’m not bashing on the rede. I wanna make that clear.

I followed Wicca for almost 6 years. I studied the different types. I studied the Celtic Wicca and the British traditional Wicca, even though I’m not British and I studied the Gardenarian & the Alexandrian. And eventually just the Eclectic Solitary. I then realized that what I am following could be classified as an eclectic solitary Wiccan. or I could not use Wiccan at all in the title and it wouldn’t make a difference because what I wasn’t what would traditionally be called “Wicca”.

₊‧ʚ・︵︵ ₊˚๑ ᕱᕱ ꒱✦ ₊ ︵︵・₊﹆ɞ‧₊ Still Following Nature

₊‧ʚ・︵︵ ₊˚๑ ᕱᕱ ꒱✦ ₊ ︵︵・₊﹆ɞ‧₊

During all of my religious searching I was still sticking to what I knew and what I enjoyed. I went on nature-walks on a weekly basis. I gathered things I found from outside to use on my altar (which was a windowsill at the time- and currently.)

When gathering things from outdoors on my walks, it wouldn’t be any specific item. I didn’t go out and say “I need to find a pinecone today. My altar needs a pinecone.” Instead I let it speak to me.

I very distinctly remember this one item I gathered. I was walking along this wilderness trail in my hometown, and I was looking up ahead of me mostly, as it was a rocky terrain and I didn’t want to trip. I had an urge to look down suddenly, and when I did I spotted this leaf. It was bright red, and it was the only one that was that color. It was perfectly preserved- no hungry bug holes, or rips or tears. I decided to pick it up and carry it with me for the remainder of the walk.

Generally I would gather things during the walk, and then at the end of the trail, go over what I gathered and see which ones I should bring home. The ones I didn’t end up keeping I left at the base of a tree for the Guardians to keep, along with something from my bag. As long as it was nature friendly.

Before researching witchcraft I was never had that intuition with nature. That random pull to look, or stop, or keep going.

I never stopped to feel the trees, the breeze, the rocks. The energy that pulled through them. That got me started on Energy work.

₊‧ʚ・︵︵ ₊˚๑ ᕱᕱ ꒱✦ ₊ ︵︵・₊﹆ɞ‧₊ Energy Work

₊‧ʚ・︵︵ ₊˚๑ ᕱᕱ ꒱✦ ₊ ︵︵・₊﹆ɞ‧₊

Energy work, when starting, is difficult. You have to have a grounded state of mind, and balanced energy points to really grasp control. as someone who suffers with depression believe me this was no easy task.

I am planning on making some Energy Work projects specifically, so I won’t go too in depth here. But I highly suggest sitting with your back to a tree, and just seeing if you can feel it. Try to sync your breathing or your own energy flow with that of the tree.

₊‧ʚ・︵︵ ₊˚๑ ᕱᕱ ꒱✦ ₊ ︵︵・₊﹆ɞ‧₊ I Found Home

₊‧ʚ・︵︵ ₊˚๑ ᕱᕱ ꒱✦ ₊ ︵︵・₊﹆ɞ‧₊

Eventually I found home. I found where I felt the most comfortable. And some may argue and say it’s still Wicca, or it’s this label or that label. But to me, it’s just mine. And It’s just Nature.

And if I never would have stumbled upon Wicca & Witchcraft & Paganism I never would have found the difference it can make with how you view the natural world around you.

Thank you so much for reading! This took me a few days to put together and I am so happy of how it turned out.

if you read all of it, leave a comment of your favorite thing about Nature, or your favorite thing to collect! I’d love to hear them.

— All pictures from Pinterest.

Thank you for Reading! I absolutely love sharing my knowledge & learnings with others. I try to make posts a few times a week! & they are all organized on my profile.

Until we cross paths once more! Best wishes to all you wonderful witches! Warm regards, Tea.

꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦

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[thewitcheslibrary]

Closed Practices

Please make sure that you do additional research, this post is just the basics of closed practices! - if you arent part of the culture that practices or you arent invited to practice a practice listed, then dont practice it! - it is not for you and can be considered cultural appropriation

What is a closed practice? There have been many damaging misconceptions regarding what constituted a "closed practice" in spirituality. Simply described, a closed practice in witchcraft and the occult is one in which you can only participate if you were born into it or underwent an initiation procedure. One of the most popular misconceptions about closed practices is that if you were not born into the group, you would never be allowed to practise. This can be true in a number of situations, but there are certain exceptions. It is critical to remember that these practices remain locked until the individual has been verified and the authorised start process has been completed.

There is always a cause for some religions to be closed. Some reasons may include that it is founded on specific cultural values and beliefs that would never be understood by outsiders who were not truly immersed in the community. Brujería and Santería are examples of this. 

Closed Communities and Race Locked Spirituality:  

While it is critical to analyze specific practices within some religions, it is even more vital to address, on a larger scale, how entire communities can be closed. Differentiating between closed communities and closed practices reduces the likelihood of gatekeeping and reinforced marginalization. Some closed communities include the Amish, the Roma, Judaism (along with their type of mysticism, Kabbalah), Hoodoo, and Haitian Vodou. A reason a variety of communities may close their practices is that they are deemed as “race locked”, indicating that these communities were created as an attempt to unify together during times of hardship, with their beliefs formed around their shared experiences. 

Region Locked religion: While some religions are closed because they are "race locked," others are closed because they are "region locked". This indicates they are closed since they are based on variables unique to the place. Many of these numbers are based on local factors that would make little sense to someone from another place. This is why some (but not all!) minor Shintō sects are considered closed. 

Poached practices:

Because of the huge quantity of misinformation propagated by uneducated internet users, there has been a significant surge in Native cultural appropriation and improper usage of Indigenous spirituality. There are other holy Indigenous rituals that are considered closed, like white sage smudging and the usage of palo santo. To survive, marginalised groups were traditionally mistreated and even punished for their beliefs, therefore these communities had to keep their religion hidden from outsiders. As restricted practices such as smudging gain popularity, the quantity of holy plants intended for Indigenous groups gets depleted. The colonizer's economic gains harm not just the environment, but also the purity of Native practices. Exploring safe, effective, and courteous alternatives to smoke cleaning are an excellent method to express direct gratitude to people who sacrificed their livelihood for spiritual freedom

Closed cultures:

Many Native American cultures

Many African cultures

Saami (in Finland)

Closed religions:

Shinto (Some branches of Shinto practice are open, although they should be approached with caution, while some are completely closed. Jinja Shinto would be the most visible example of an open denomination.

Druidism (proper not neo)

Gardnerian and Alexandrian Wicca

Haitian Vodou

Hawaiian

 African Vodou

Hinduism (There are open and accessible Hindu denominations, as well as closed sects. Some "open sects" are quite troublesome, thus one should proceed with caution when considering joining a Hindu sect. Dharmic law is part of what makes this difficult to traverse, so proceed with caution.

Hopi

Inuit

Judaism (You must earn the right to be called Jewish)

Raastafari Movement

Tribal (almost all)

Voodoo (Dependent on the group which you decide to learn from) 

Voudon

Zoroastrianism *some of these you can be invited to practice, but please research into which ones you can and can't. I as the author do not know much about these practices, as I don't personally practice them. People who do practices will have more correct answers*

[vox-magica]

When you don’t do what was promised to the spirits and they hide your keys. And you find find them finally in the coat pocket, that you literally put inside out a few times, just in time, so you don’t come late for work!

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

"THE LADY OF THE MOON, MY BRIDE -- ASTAROTH HER NAME..."

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on a photograph of vocalist Kip Trevor of Leicester's occult rock band BLACK WIDOW, and famous British Witch, Maxine Sanders, engaged in a live onstage ritual. The photo was later used as the picture sleeve art for the rare Japanese 45 vinyl pressing of "Come to the Sabbat/Way to Power" on CBS Records/Sony, c. 1970.

"The Lady of the Moon, my bride -- Astaroth her name, Side by side we wove the spells that drove mere men insane, "Get thee hence and scour the world -- seek and you shall find," Read my books, yes, learn from, and Power you shall gain."

-- "Way to Power" (1970) by BLACK WIDOW

Source: www.picuki.com/profile/rise_above_records_and_relics.

[blackcrowing]

hi) I used to be a wiccan, I moved on from it because it no longer felt freeing and I didn't feel connected to it anymore, but I never knew it's something bad? could you please direct me to some good info about it?

There... is a lot going on with it to be entirely honest with you, probably more than could possibly be addressed in just one post of any kind. But I would say the core problems with it as a religion are centered in its founding, ie. that it was essentially completely made up by an English man in the 1940/50s. To make a very long story short, he was basically an amature anthropologist (the concept of anthropology interested him, but he had no formal training. which even if he did anthropology at the time was EXTREMELY colonistic in its applications). So he took aspects of many many different cultures, found similar belief structures in them, and decided to squish them together to make his own "ancient, secret practice." (The wheel of year is an example of this that is ESPECIALLY irksome to Celtic based polytheists.) Thus, Gardnerian Wicca was born.

Because it was pretty rigidly patriarchal (while saying how liberating and equal it was, which was standard for occult groups of the time) there was a backlash and Dianic Wicca grew out of that. They tend to have the most influence on butchering complex deities down to two dimensional figure heads, removing them from their cultural context completely and misappropriating them, causing great confusion to new polytheists looking for information. You're likely to see hundreds of blogs/articles/whatever if you look up say, Morrighan, that claim she is a triple goddess (in the maiden, mother, crone sense), and corresponds with other goddess like Freyja and Hecate. These statements remove her from her cultural context and are likely to set the blood of any one who genuinely studies her on fire.

There was also the Alexandrian Wicca, which set off the common mixing of the terms 'Wicca' and 'witchcraft' causing great confusion among lay-peoples and beginners that all witchcraft is Wiccan. This grew the concepts that are now popular in eclectic witchcraft books like the threefold law and again flattened and erased MANY folk practices as they got absorbed with little or no context into "Wiccan Witchcraft." See anything Silver Ravenwolf has ever written for an example.

Lastly (that I know of but honestly I can guarentee I have miss many many things even in this rather lengthy response) there was the W.I.T.C.H. movement, a semi feminist/occult... thing... which further muddied the waters and is more than likely responsible for the ideas people have in the community about male practitioners of magic and male polytheists, hell even some male deities.

Also I think this all continues to be a big problem because not only are people getting pulled into Wiccan framing when it comes to the occult inadvertently (because it has leaked into every "new witch" book that exists) but MANY folks out there when confronted about their appropriative behavior don't learn from that conversation, instead they double down on why its actually ok for them to "smudge" or why its actually ok that they misapproprate complex deities and treat them like collectable playing cards.

TLDR: Wicca perpetuates cultural erasure in witch/occult/magic circles and is in many ways responsible for problematic themes in those circles and when it comes to lay-peoples understandings of what those circles contain and believe. And they tend to defend their colonialist mindset whenever challenged on it.

[woolandcoffee]

I have been starting to dig into Ed Fitch's Grimoire of Shadows this week, and it really is a lovely book. There is a lot of genuinely valuable information in here, and there's no denying that it has earned its place in the history of the modern pagan movement. Yet, as I read it, I can't help but imagine how this book would be received by the current witchblr community. There are a lot of "problematic" elements in A Grimoire of Shadows. To begin with, Fitch treats Wicca as an ancient religion that has been underground for centuries prior to resurfacing in the 1900s. He uses the terms "Wicca" and "witchcraft" interchangeably. He leans into gender essentialism, including discussions of male-female "working pairs." If someone picked up A Grimoire of Shadows expecting to find a book that reflects modern values and understanding, they would be sorely disappointed. They may even be tempted to write a tumblr post, or a Goodreads review, warning others to stay away, maybe even denigrating Fitch for perpetuating harmful ideas.

But that wouldn't be the whole story. A Grimoire of Shadows was written during the middle of the twentieth century. It reflects the common understanding of Wicca at the time. It shows us how those early Wiccans saw themselves, their religion, and their place in the world. And perhaps even more importantly than that (though my gods, as though that isn't important enough), A Grimoire of Shadows was one of the first widely available books on Wicca that was intended to help people start practicing without first being initiated into a Gardenarian or Alexandrian coven. A Grimoire of Shadows compiles what is known as the "Outer Court" of Wicca. This is the information that is freely available to anyone, as opposed to the "Inner Court" which refers to secret information that only initiated members of a lineaged coven may obtain. As Aidan Kelly put it, in a 2012 Patheos article, Fitch's tradition established in A Grimoire of Shadows "created a form of Witchcraft that was Gardnerian in all but a few oath-bound details." This book then helped serve as one of the foundational works of the Pagan Way, an organization formed by Fitch and several other prominent members of the modern pagan movement, which in turn played a key role in shaping modern neo-Paganism. Therefore, A Grimoire of Shadows is important because it is so foundational to what came after. It is a critical text for understanding the history of the modern pagan movement, the shaping of both current neo-Paganism and neo-Wicca. It is important, at least in part, because of the out-dated ideas, not in spite of them.

I think there is a tendency for some modern practitioners - especially those who are new to modern paganism - to write off older books (particularly if they are written by older Wiccans). And to a certain degree, I do kind of get it. If you don't have a solid understanding of the history of the modern pagan movement, which many practitioners new and old alike do not, and if you're caught up in the throws of purity culture, then confronting these older books can be daunting. Perhaps its easier to write off Wicca as a whole instead of grappling with the difficult topics presented by these historical texts. But I think that's a mistake. Sure, there's a lot in A Grimoire of Shadows that I would never incorporate into my modern practice because it is outdated, based on misinformation, or just simply doesn't mesh with my 21st century morals and values. But its important to me that I understand the history of the modern pagan movement, and the thoughts and ideas that came before where we are today. For example, today we know that Wicca is not an ancient religion stretching back to the stone age that was forced to go underground. But those ideas clearly animated and inspired the original Wiccans and modern pagans, and I can see why. It's a provocative idea, its a good mythos, and even though it is fundamentally untrue, there is a kernel of something powerful there. What would it be like to create a religion with an eye towards the values of our deep ancestors? What would it be like to create a religion based on relationship to the earth? What could we make?

Anyways. I'm enjoying this book immensely, and am overjoyed to add it to my library. If you're someone who is interested in the history of the modern pagan movement, then A Grimoire of Shadows is absolutely worth your time.

[tyetknot]

I thought you were joking when you said that the Farrar's books were outdated but holy shittt, even for 1970s wicca/witchcraft those guys were like full gender heterosexual white magic ye harm none thing, I was also seeing their interview were christian kids interview them, and boy it is hard to watch, but on to my question kskk, do you know if they changed later down?,like Janet seems to be okay sometimes,I can't find anything of them on their "controversial views" except their later polyamorous relationship (wich come to think of it I would love to hear their gender rationale on that), and also, how do you personally (if you do so) reconcile this type of author?, like there is no doubt that they are important in craft history, but now they kinda do more harm than good.

Hi Anon! I'm sorry if you've been waiting for a bit, you know how Tumblr is.

So one thing it's important to remember is: back in the 1970s and 80s a religion where women run the show was very progressive. Feminism got bolted onto Wicca pretty quickly once it hit the American West Coast and Starhawk wrote The Spiral Dance. Things like worshipping a goddess who didn't need a man around to tell her what to do were really unusual for the time. All this hippie-dippy shit like being naked in your rituals and such was far out, man, not like those totally square and boring Christians.

The problem is that, like many older people who were once cool and progressive, they just kind of stopped where they were in the 70s and 80s and didn't really......well, progress past that point. This leads to things like statements like that one in A Witches' Bible where they think that actually gay people are perfectly OK in ritual (this was a bit of a controversial point at the time) as long as they act like their biological gender, which is hilarious to us in 2024 because they obviously conflate being gay with being trans in some bizarre fashion. This was progressive for the time. It comes across as incredibly ignorant today. And of course, if their ideas did change, well, the book is already out there, people are reading it, and you can't go back in time and change something that's already been published. You can add notes or amendments to further editions, but I don't believe they ever did that, and Stewart Farrar died in the early aughts.

I find the polyamory thing to be pretty cringe, NGL, because I am a judgmental and suspicious piece of shit and think that an awful lot of the time polyamory is a tool used to make younger women sexually available to older men - good Lord, the age difference between Stewart and Janet - and that's very distasteful.

In my opinion the Farrars are probably the stodgiest and most conservatively-written books you'll find from that time period, and they're a good example of what coven-based Alexandrian Wicca looked like at that time, but there were a lot of more relaxed writers out there at the time and LOTS more a few years later. My primary complaint with A Witches' Bible is rather specifically that asinine Oak King / Holly King thing which they made up entirely and then ineptly shoehorned into the Wheel of the Year, where it just doesn't fucking work, and then everyone else just kind of went with it. No! It sucks and is bad, don't do it!

Do I think they do more harm than good? No, I don't. I think that anyone fairly new to Wicca shouldn't read this book first thing out the gate because it sets a lot of very unrealistic expectations, and because it's pretty old - Eight Sabbats for Witches was published in 1981, which makes it a few years older than me, and The Witches' Way in 1984, which makes it a year younger than me, and TBH there's much newer and fresher material being published every year. I would much sooner recommend someone like Thorn Mooney to new person interested in traditional Wicca.