“... ‘witchcraft’ has
become static and remote from its original purpose, which was to enlighten the
follower spiritually”
- Robert Cochrane
When Robert Cochrane wrote about the concepts of
witchcraft in his day and time in his 1964 article in Pentagram #2 with the
title ‘Witchcraft Today’ his diagnostic is remarkably similar to what we find
today. He writes: “it would appear the
Craft has rapidly become an escape hatch for all those who wish to return to a
more simple form of life and escape from the ever-increasing burden of
contemporary society. In many cases the Craft has become a funk hole, in which
those who have not been successful in solving various personal problems hide,”.
He continues this article with emphasizing the
mystical dimension of witchcraft, the realization of truth as opposed to
illusion. He assumes that any student of the Craft is ultimately seeking Truth
and thus sees ‘magic’ as a by-product of the search for Truth, “it is an after-thought upon a much larger
issue,”.
These ruminations lead to him questioning the purpose
of the witch in our day and age and his instance that witches need to offer
something valid to the world they exist in.
50 years later not much have changed except for a
greater interest in ecology, which is a great thing in itself, because without
our world we would not be as dramatically stressed in the anthology SerpentSongs. This crossover between witchcraft and ecology is important, but what can
we say about the witch itself as a seeker of Truth?
As Cochrane wrote 50 years ago, it is often today, ‘an
escape hatch’ and thus illusion is favored in place of Truth. But this is only
natural because even our modern concept of truth is an illusion. Today truth is
used to affirm facts, and thus we are entering the courtrooms of justice –
which is not really Truth’s best friend. Veritas was the Mother of Virtue and a
daughter of Saturn choosing a holy well as her white and quiet abode. This
imagery in itself says that virtue is the child of truth and truth itself is
elusive as it moves around in dark waters hidden from sight. Truth is about the
realization of Mystery – and its integration. The integration of Truth is made
possible by virtue. For Plato virtue was made possible by prudence (with its
ability of using rational foresight), justice (the ability of discernment),
courage (to know when to entertain a fight and when to retract) and temperance
(the ability to measure ones actions).
This sounds wonderful when we read it, but when it
comes to apply this in action, so many of us chose illusion and vice. We run to
our escape hatches’ and hide with our suffering and unresolved issues and
strike out to anyone who come to our threshold with the water and fire of
truth. This might be the ways of the 21st Century man, but this is
not the way of the witch, unbridled by time and moral...
For the witch there are no escape hatches or funk
holes it is always about accepting the snakes and doves on the path and make
sense of each step of the road until he next crossroad. It is a humbling path
of no escape and those of us who have caring guides on our track will find
opposition necessary for effectuating needed humility. I don’t believe in the
antinomian image of the witch, I believe the witch is lawless because for the
witch any normative ethic or moral directive is bound in what is effective for
a society and bound in the temporal, but this is a challenge and not an enemy.
The witch will find agile ways for moving around in society, yet preferring the
cave of mystery. And it is exactly the rest in the cave that enabled the witch
to be what he or she became to be... and by this empowered to move around
silently, powerful and measured in society.
The witch will recognize truth from the mouth of
children, drunkards and masters, because it will always be a call to virtue and
these summoning will enable our track to be trod more effective and with a
greater illumination. A witch will seek spiritual illumination constantly and
will bow to no one, but Truth – because a witch possess the prudence and
temperance necessary to discern and make measured and wise judgments - and upon
this courage is forged. Not only this, but it was these people that enabled a
succession of these profound Truths
The wonderful magical powers attributed to the witch
are mere reactions of the knowledge of Self bound in Truth. The witch was, is and should always be a
force defining boundaries and thresholds – and the greater the knowledge of
thresholds and boundaries grows so does the wisdom for breaking them and to
break through with worth and virtue in the land, age and time the witch
functions.
This is what is expected from the witch in
contemporary society, it is someone who has been made wise by Nature who
stretches forth and marks its footprints in the world. The witch can only act in this way if she or
he has been made wise by the trials and ordeals on his or her path that have
constantly demanded a death of illusory egos in favor of solving personal
problems and issues. Witchcraft might seem obscure, a dark light on the world,
but the witch was once broken into bones, dust and memories and had to rebuild
itself into a memory of past, now and whatever lies onward in the embrace of
truth. The witch of truth will abhor the funk hole, reject illusion and stand
strong in the confrontation of eternal Truth, if it flogs you or kisses you it does not matter, for the witch if it is fair or foul, it will always be a
blessing...