groupprofile

WhiteStone

Firstly, it is important to understand that a true old witch would have the Horned God at the forefront of their workings. This deity is still considered controversial by many, even in today’s so called liberated thinking and practices. The old practitioners traditionally referred to the Horned God as "old Hornie" as an affectionate term.

The attraction of the feminist based or druid pagan doctrines of the Goddess caused many to turn their backs on many of the old practices, with the resulting loss of secrecy and mystery that made Witchcraft so special to many. The old artes are being watered down and sometimes completely ignored. The New Age has swept in casting all the old ethics asunder. The Satanists worship a figment of the imagination of misguided Christians. Yes, there is a need to re-establish the old pagan religions with its participants choosing their deities from whatever traditions they choose - but this not the practice of Witchcraft. Sadly it appears that true Witchcraft is perched on the precipice doomed to disappear forever.

Old witches saw themselves as servers of the Horned God and called on Him to enhance their femininity, sexuality and with whom to work their Magick. Through Him they met and joined with the empowerment known as the triplicity. The old Covens accepted the legacy of the Horned God and many of the rituals were related to Him and not mistakenly to the Green Man or the John Barleycorn aspects of Nature. The Horned God was also depicted in effigy as the fawn, buck or stag. The dark hounds could and would be summoned to pull miscreants back into order or enemies into disarray.

Some Covens meet primarily at the Major Sabbats, which could be at the time of the Four Celtic Fire Festivals, or more traditionally at the signs of seasonal changes. The monthly Full Moon Esbats are also strictly observed. These workings take place with very little of the rituals being written down (it is too dark to read in a rainy dark wood at midnight) The rituals are instinctive and performed with the absolute minimum of regalia, anything could and would happen. Only a few Coven records are maintained. It still always pays to remember the first principle of Magick "talking about rituals and magic weakens their power". The newly conceived ideas of the Books of Shadows would have been a godsend to the old witch hunters and would have been difficult to produce as most involved in the old faith of yore would have been illiterate.

A typical Old Craft Altar is a forked stick (Staff) with the Circle being indicated on the ground with an appropriate wooden wand, (any metal in the Circle grounds out the energies). Twin Circles were used including quite an elaborate square. Meetings are held at any local places of power. Covens still work "with mutual agreement" of local farmers.

The Tradition of the Horned God.

There is an old magical maxim that says, “nothing can exist without its opposite”. Therefore every positive must have it’s negative, as you cannot have an up without a down. In the nuclear theories it is stated that matter exists because there is anti matter. It is said that evil originates in the human heart, and is found nowhere else in the universe.

These teachings reveal that there is no such thing as a separate "devil" typically portrayed as the ridiculous cloven-hoofed, goat-headed humanistic devil invented by the early Christians somewhere during the 5th or 6^th centuries. This Christian conceived bogeyman was fervently believed in by many poor, misguided unfortunates, into whose heads this concept was so vigorously thumped into. This extraordinary and almost “children’s story book" depiction of the devil was based for the most part on the innocent and ancient Greek god Pan, combined with the Hebrew domestic goat. The goat in those far off days was considered to be an "unclean" animal and, therefore, a symbol of negative attributions. Early Hebrew writers called the personification of nature and natural forces (not evil) seirizzim which is a loosely translated Hebrew word for “goat.”

If we examine the name Satan, this is another name that is attributed to the so-called "Prince of Evil" which is again, an ancient Hebrew word meaning "enemy" or "adversary, in the Bible this word is usually applied to a human enemy or oppressor and only in three cases is the name used to denote an evil spirit. (Zech.iii, Chron.xxxi, and a confusing dialogue in Job I,2) The legend states that Satan was originally an angel who was cast out of Heaven, due to his refusal to give absolute obedience to the God. This story is not referred to in the bible at all, but actually originates with John Milton's poem “Paradise Lost". This poem was published in 12 books in 1667, and Milton's sources were almost certainly "The Week of Creation" by Du Bartas (1544-1590) and St. Avitas (died 523 ad) who wrote in Latin "The Creation", the Fall and the Expulsion from Paradise. The former day Christian church avidly seized upon these writings and created the archetypal antichrist.

In the middle ages and for some time afterwards, various people compiled great lists of individual demons, such as those of the Clavicula Salomonis, or "Key of Solomon” which claims to be the book of the biblical king Solomon, but, as reasoned out by A.E. Waite in his Book of Ceremonial Magic, published by Rider & Co. Waite argues that these writings are unlikely to date back much further than the fourteenth or fifteenth century

Another bogey-man is derived from the Latin word for "light" which is "lux" and for "carry" it is "ferre", this gives us the name luxiferre or Lucifer": in the earliest sources, Lucifer was indeed a high angel, the light-bearer, and was nothing to do with "Satan" or the devil at all: however, through centuries of applied church darkness, the name "Lucifer" has come to be accepted as basically a negative concept, and so we have been deprived of this appropriate name. The name Lucifer also appears in the book called Aradia Gospel of the Witches by Charles Leland, which was written in the 1800s. The Gospel of the Witches is a book based on the friendship between the author and a practicing Italian hereditary witch or strega called Madellana. This book tells the story of the female Messiah Aradia whose parents were the Goddess Diana and her brother Lucifer and the tie in to the la vecchia religione or the old religion.

Aradia The Gospel of the Witches is probably the source document for much of the modern day style of Witchcraft and from which originates the popular Charge of the Goddess, to be seen now on posters and even on the world-wide web. Enough said.

The Old Ways are strewn with pitfalls, any form of bad judgment and mortal emotions can cause a catastrophe of sometimes, epic proportions. Very few modern Covens practice these old Rites today because the Old Ways are close to extinction and if allowed, mortals will rule the earth into the total extinction of all humanity.

Arguably then, if asked "if Witches worship the "Devil" it is a reasonable reply to say "Yes" but with the proviso that it is the Christian definition of the word that portrayed the beloved Horned God as such.

AN OLD CRAFT RE-INITIATION

A Witch reborn, I had always known, and longed to restore my faith
I knew I had not fitted, with the things that happened here today
Give me back the feeling that thrills, from my forehead to my toes
Put me back on the path that leads, back to the Witches way

So we met that night on the beacon, in bare majesty, Novice to become Witch
On that rain lashed night I felt no cold, this working was for Him
The pleasure and the pain of a thousand years, raced through all my senses
My credentials were all in order, the recent past was fast growing dim

Saying the Witches Oath; acknowledging Him as my true God,
Protector of all, whom I invoke, I worship, obey and love.
Horned Master give me purpose, in the freedom of naked beauty
Hear this sacred Oath, as I raise my Cord, to the moonlit sky above

From Immortal to mortal, now Immortal to Immortal
My Magical cycles are again in tune with the Moon.
Watch and ward against treachery, with all the powers of Witchery
All will be tested and for some, it will be far too soon

The old magic is renewed, and once again I bear the mark,
Until, upon the hill, dancing will, join with Him again.
I am complete and reunited, with my Lord, the Master of all the witches
Our dancing naked bodies, glistening with the earth, sweat and rain.

I AM BLESSED

Oh how I yearn for thee great master
Thou who makes my heart beat faster
With thee I have ridden the great ride
You now always with me at my side

When the darkness is at its greatest
Great white moon at its fullest
Yet again I will ride with thee
At coming sabbat by yon tree

Astride and away! May never come the day! Bess