If you have been a student of witchcraft and Wicca for any length of time, by now you’ve heard a timeworn and banal tale that goes something like this: Witchcraft was illegal in Britain until 1951, when the Witchcraft Act of 1735 was repealed and replaced by the Fraudulent Mediums Act. This lifting of the law enabled Gerald Gardner and others –but mainly him — to be more open and birth modern pagan witchcraft into the public awareness. All of... Read more
Exploring local folklore and landscape can reveal many things, not least of which is an adventure into the enchantment of the world, touching history and local tradition. Often, we allow our everyday lives to govern our actions and thoughts and we become creatures of habit, following the same routes and patterns of behaviour. This inevitably means that we can move about our days and miss those opportunities for entering the mythic and enchanted world that lies just within a breath... Read more
Magic in the Modern World: Strategies of Repression and Legitimization, edited by Edward Bever and Randall Styers Magic in the Modern World is a collection of essays from leading figures and experts in the field of academic and practical study of magic, both its history and with particular reference to modernity. Brilliantly edited and collated by Edward Bever, Professor of History (State University of New York) and Randall Styers, Associated Professor of Religious Studies (University of North Carolina), these two... Read more
First published in 2013, By Moonlight and Spirit Flight: The Praxis of the Otherworldly Journey to the Witches’ Sabbath was written by the traditional witch Michael Howard, forming a part of publisher Three Hands Press‘ ‘Occult Monograph’ series. The 2019 publication is, therefore, a second edition of this compact and thorough exposition of the witches’ sabbath. The design of the book is of a standard one would expect from Three Hands Press, with good quality paper of a nice thickness, while featuring superb and... Read more
Recently, I made a blog post that gained some traction on social media, got seen by John Beckett who wrote an original piece and things took on a life of their own after that. Within the Traditional Witchcraft and broader Witchcraft communities, the pieces were both well received. Jason Miller wrote a rebuttal of John’s article, whilst BJ Swain took a more measured approach in his considered and well presented piece, and things escalated as the poison chalice that is social media... Read more
Pope Innocent VIII issued a papal bull in 1484, entitled ‘Summis desiderantes affectibus’ (desiring with supreme ardour). In this bull, the pope responded to Heinrich Kramer – a deranged misogynist who would soon be expelled from Innsbrook by Bishop Golser for his distasteful behaviour in persecuting women. The bull acknowledges the existence of witchcraft, and authorises inquisition in northern Germany which allows Kramer to pursue his madness with fervour. Golser ordered Kramer out of the diocese on 1486, prompting the... Read more
Has modern witchcraft forgotten the Witch? Modern witchcraft is many things — ask a dozen witches and you’ll get two dozen definitions. It’s religion, it’s folk magic, it’s nature worship, it’s seasonal veneration, it’s pagan, it’s Christian, it’s healing, midwifery and rude medicine, it’s alchemy and astrology, it’s basic herbalism, poison mastery, diabolism, it’s goddess worship, it’s hedge-riding, it’s fairyland. Many an apologist has sought to sanitise, make palatable or explain the misunderstandings of witchcraft, where the green fingered old... Read more
Tubal Cain, tutelary deity of the craft coterie bearing his name [Clan of Tubal Cain], has a place now in modern Traditional Witchcraft, possibly originating out of a comment in The White Goddess by Robert Graves. In this part of The White Goddess, Graves is talking of the “love-chase” (The Case Song transcribed from the famous trial of Isobel Gowdie) and the transformative procession that takes place between the “Divel” and “Our Lady”. Here, the Divel may be taken to... Read more
Green Man, Earth Angel: The Prophetic Tradition and the Battle for the World Soul, by Tom Cheetham, SUNY Press Series in Western Esoteric Traditions, 2005. Tom Cheetham is a writer whose area of special interest incorporates the imagination in philosophy, religion, psychology and the arts, taking in a broad field while pursuing the common thread to tease out a work of enchantment. Fellow of the Temenos Academy in London and Adjunct Professor of Human Ecology at the College of the... Read more
The death of the Queen of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth realms on Thursday 8th September marked an historical occasion and a seismic shift in the lives of many – most particularly, those of us who reside in the ancient bounds of Britain. There has been a great deal said since the news was announced and following the Proclamation of King Charles III on the morning of Saturday 10th September, and much is yet to be said. There remains... Read more
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