TRADITIONAL WITCHCRAFT – A PERSONAL VIEW
Michael Howard
Today the popular image of witchcraft in the mass media and in books and magazines is largely defined by ‘Wicca’. This was a form of neo-pagan witchcraft created by a retired civil servant Gerald Brosseau Gardner (1884-1964) in the 1940s. Gardner was initiated into a coven in the New Forest seventy years ago in 1939 and Wicca is now established worldwide as a post-modern, neo-pagan ‘nature religion’ with a spiritual emphasis on Goddess worship. Modern witchcraft, however, did not begin with Gardner and it has a hidden history before Wicca. From the 1800s onwards there were several revivals of witchcraft in Britain based on historical precedents. These drew on the recorded beliefs and practices of the medieval witch cult and rural cunning people or folk magicians, revivals of classical paganism, ceremonial magic, diabolism and neo-druidic sources and were also influenced by Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry. Today such forms of pre-Wiccan traditional witchcraft are variously known as ‘Traditional Craft’, the ‘Old Craft’, the ‘Elder Craft,’ the ‘Sabbatic Craft’, the ‘Cunning Craft’, ‘The Nameless Arte’, and ‘The Crooked Path’.
There is plenty of evidence from historical sources, folklore accounts, court cases and, later, newspaper reports in Britain of the activities of so-called ‘cunning folk’ and other practitioners of magic who were popularly regarded as witches. In popular terminology and belief they were variously known as ‘white witches’, ‘wizards,‘ ‘sorcerers’, conjurors’, ‘pellars’, ‘planet readers’ (astrologers), and ‘hedge doctors’ (herbalists). These magical practitioners operated widely in both the rural and urban areas of the British Isles and were consulted by all levels of society from farm labourers to the owners of large country estates and the wealthy middle-class in towns.
These so-called ‘witches’ offered a wide range of services to their clients. They were popularly believed to possess the Second Sight, or the ability to foresee the future, exorcise ghosts and banish spirits and poltergeists, cast spells to attract love and money, locate lost or stolen property and missing people using divination or by consulting spirits, and heal sick animals and humans using the ‘laying on of hands’ or herbal remedies. Most importantly, as far as their clients were concerned, they could counter the malefic spells cast by so-called ‘grey’ or ‘black’ witches. In some cases the cunning man or wise-woman even acted for the general population and the authorities as unofficial witch-finders. However, all these type of witches were believed to be able to cure and curse, hex and heal.
Although there are obvious similarities with some of the modern magical practices carried out by Wiccans, most of the methods and techniques used by the old-time witches bear little resemblance to those used by the neo-pagan witches who appear today in the press or on television. Often the cunning folk practised dual faith observance and the charms, amulets, prayers and incantations they used invoked Jesus, the Virgin Mary, the Trinity and the company of saints. Psalms were used for magical purposes as spells and they still are in some modern traditional witchcraft circles. With the coming of the new religion of Christianity and the suppression of the ancient paganism objects such as crucifixes, saints’ medallions, the host and holy water were widely used by folk magicians because they were believed to possess ‘virtue’ or magical energy and inherent healing power.
Christian symbolism was used in folk magic rituals involving psychic protection, counter-magic and healing. Many of the old pagan charms were Christianised and some of the saints took on the earlier attributes of pagan gods and goddesses. Sacred springs previously dedicated to goddesses for instance were re-dedicated either to the Virgin Mary or to female saints such as Winifrede or Bride. Healing charms replaced the names of pagan deities such as Woden, Loki and Thor with those of God, Jesus and the Holy Ghost. Many of the grimoires used by witches and the practitioners of folk magic also contained Judeo-Christian symbolism.
Some modern traditional witches still follow dual faith observance using the psalms for magical purposes, working with the company of saints and employing Christian imagery, symbolism and liturgy, often in a heretical and subversive way. This is akin to similar practices that can be found in vodou, hoodoo, Santeria. Macumba, ju-ju and obeah in North and South America and Africa. In common with the witches and cunning folk of the past the modern traditional witch can also both cure and curse as the need arises.
A considerable amount of the old paganism survived in the popular belief in the Good Folk or faeries. There are many historical examples of witches and cunning folk travelling into a ‘hollow hill’, or mountain or visiting a prehistoric burial mound to meet the ‘Queen of Elfane’ (‘elf home’ or Faeryland). Some mortals entered into ‘faery marriages’ with so-called demon lovers and in return they were instructed in healing and divination techniques, herbalism and given the Sight. These gifts were passed on down the generations such as in the case of the famous hereditary ‘fairy doctors’ or physicians of Mydffai in South Wales, who received their herbal knowledge from a local ‘Lady of the Lake’.
This knowledge of magical charms, herbal remedies and secret plant lore was passed down in families either orally or by the medium of written texts. Many of the cunning folk and witches of the 18th and 19th centuries were literate people and several of the most famous cunning men or wizards were doctors, schoolteachers or even clergymen. Grimoires such as the medieval Key of Solomon and books on magic, fortune-telling and astrology were freely available. They could be purchased mail-order from booksellers in London who specialised in the occult and pornography. In the 19th century several astrological and occult magazines were also published and gained a wide popular readership. There is also evidence of hand-written grimoires or magical manuals known as ‘Black Books’ circulating among witches and magicians. These were similar to the modern Wiccan ‘Book of Shadows’, except that instead of neo-pagan seasonal rituals they contained spells, charms and recipes for herbal remedies.
Because it was widely believed that certain of the cunning folk could ‘smell out’ malefic practitioners of the magical arts, several of the famous cunning men were credited with being able to locate or even control the witches living in their neighbourhood. It was only a short step from this belief to the idea that some of these ‘masters of witches’ or ‘witch masters’ might secretly be the leaders of the local coven. According to Victorian folk tales, such covens or covines met in the remote countryside at full moon to worship Old Hornie (the Devil) and practise their evil spells against God-fearing folk who were tucked up in bed. These may have been romanticised accounts, but there is evidence that solitary cunning men and wise-women did meet up with others in their locality to practice magic, swop recipes for spells and exchange occult knowledge. It is logical that to avoid prying eyes such clandestine gatherings would be held at lonely spots in the countryside and on the nights when the moon gave the most light.
What of traditional witchcraft today and the differences between it and modern Wicca? Unlike the average Wiccan, the traditional witch prefers to work outdoors rather than in a cosy, centrally heated, suburban sitting room. For that reason they do not go ‘skyclad’ (naked), preferring robes or cloaks with hoods. This is why traditional groups are sometimes called ‘robed covens’. As one would expect from the fact that they usually work outdoors, the genii loci or ‘spirits of place’, the wights or earth spirits of the land, are very important in their magical workings.
The mystical concept of the enchanted or sacred landscape is important because, although all forms of traditional witchcraft have similarities, they also relate to the region they are practised in and this creates local differences in practice and belief. Many traditional witches regard themselves as the human stewards or guardians of ancient sites such as stone circles, standing stones and burial mounds. They will frequently work their rites on or near the prehistoric trackways that mark the ‘spirit paths’, ‘ghost roads’, ‘corpse roads’, or ley-lines that crisscross the British countryside between these natural ‘power centres’. While they recognise the magical power inherent in the fauna and flora, traditional witches are less likely to be sentimental about the environment then Wiccans. Traditionals recognise that nature can be ‘red in tooth and claw’ and that natural laws are based on ‘the survival of the fittest.’
Unlike Wiccan covens that are ruled by a High Priestess with her High Priest as consort and initiation is always male to female or female to male, traditional covines are led by a male leader known as the Magister, Master or ‘Devil’. He can initiate both men and women into the Craft. This is because sexual polarity is not such an important aspect of Traditional Craft and for that reason many traditionalist groups are known as ‘knowledge covines’. The Magister sometimes has a male deputy called the Summoner who is responsible for organising the dates, times and places for the meetings. The female leader is known variously as the Magistra, Mistress, Maid, Lady, Dame, or Queen of the Sabbat Some groups also have a Verdelet or Green Man whose task is to teach the other coveners the secrets of the magical powers and healing properties of herbs, trees and plants. Other roles within the covine can include the Scribe, Seer and the Mistress of the Robes.
Within the operative or magical practices of traditional witchcraft can be found the concept of spirit flight (astral projection) to the Witches’ Sabbath, sometimes using the sabbati unguenti or ‘flying ointment’ made from narcotic plants. Techniques of psychic vision, trance, mediumship, ‘true dreaming’ and spirit possession are also used to contact the Otherworld in ways that are allied to ethnic forms of shamanism. Elementals and spirits are summoned and there is communion with the realm of Faerie, the use of familiars, fetches (the witch’s astral double) and spirit guides, shapeshifting into animal form, divination, necromancy, and wortcunning (healing with herbs and plants).
Traditional witches approach divinity in either a duotheistic or polytheistic way. The deities or spirits revered in Traditional Craft are the ‘twilight gods’, chthonic ones associated with the powers of life and death, creation and destruction. They are also often the ones that orthodox religion describes as the ‘powers of darkness’. This is why historically the witch has always been regarded as a social outcast and a religious rebel. The witch goddess has both a bright and a dark aspect. For that reason she is sometimes associated with the waxing and waning of the moon or the full and dark moon and also with fate and the underworld. She can be personified mythologically as Dame Hecate, Diana, Frau Holda, Habondia, Lilith, and Titania or the Queen of the Faeries.
The horned god of the witches is also dual-faced as the Lord of the Wildwood and the Green Man in his summer aspect and the Lord of the Wild Hunt and Lord of Death in winter. In mythic terms he can be represented as Herne, Wayland, Puck or Robin Goodfellow, Tubal-Cain, Silvanus, Lucifer or Azazel, and Oberon or the King of Elves. He appears in animal form as a stag, bull, goat, ram or a black dog. Some traditional witches prefer not to associate their deities with any ancient mythology. Instead they refer to them obliquely in generic terms as the Old Ones, the Owd Lad and Owd Lass, the Old Man and the Old Woman, the Lord and Lady, the Horned One, Old Hornie, the Devil, the Old Dame, or even just Him and Her.
Although a few traditional and hereditary witches (those belonging to a family tradition) have come out of the shadows in recent years they are far more reluctant than Wiccans to seek publicity. They are not likely to appear on daytime television wearing crushed velvet robes, carrying a ram’s skull on a stick, waving swords and covered in occult bling. They usually live in rural areas and they often look surprising normal, wear ordinary clothes and blend into the background. Because they possess a fund of knowledge about the constellations, fauna and flora, ancient and local history and the weather, ordinary people may just think they have a keen interest in country matters, nature and folklore.
Wicca obviously attracts many people today, especially those seeking a trendy ‘green’ political form of spirituality that worships nature. However those who follow modern traditional witchcraft are not ‘nature worshippers’, and some do not regard themselves even as ‘pagans’. Many do not believe the Craft is a religion per se, and certainly not a ‘nature religion’. Instead they regard it as a mystery cultus offering an ancient heritage of forbidden wisdom and occult (hidden) knowledge. It is a mystical path that leads to spiritual enlightenment and ultimately to gnosis and union with the Godhead. As such it represents a bright lantern shining in the dark for those dedicated seekers who want to contact the ancient Mysteries in the modern world.
Michael Howard has been the editor of The Cauldron witchcraft magazine since 1976.(www.the-cauldron.org.uk) He is the author of over thirty books and his latest publications are Welsh Witches and Wizards (Three Hands Press USA 2009), Modern Wicca: From Gerald Gardner to the Present (Llewellyn USA January 2010), West Country Witches (Three Hands Press USA Summer 2010) and Children of Cain: A Study of Modern Traditional Witches (Three Hands Press USA 2011).
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