“How tame we have become. How polite about our witchcraft. In our desire
to harm none we have become harmless… a witch is what you find at the end of a
pointed finger. “
- Peter Grey
-
And indeed, how tame the Craft have become and should it be tame and
civilized? Should the Witch be noticed by its docile presence in the world and
its adherence to laws forged in a society in dismay of nature? If so, what is
the point of this Craft and Art that mesmerizes the bohemians and free spirited
ones in search of their Self?
I took notice a few weeks ago that a spokesman of Traditional Wicca here
in Brazil circulated a denounce of animal sacrifice in the name of the ‘old
gods’ – excepting African and Afro derived tradition from this – encouraging
people to go to the authorities when they witnessed such heinous acts.
Apparently some pagan and neo pagan groups had given blood and meat to their
gods instead of wine, water, flowers and bread which evoked terror in this spokesman
for the ‘old faith’.
Well, this might not be much, but what does it represent? Let us break
down this denounce, and please leave out favour or disfavour of animal
sacrifice, and entertain me in this.
Here we have a spokesman for an entourage stating they are doing
witchcraft, practicing the ‘old religion’, but as far as old customs are
concerned they are being seen by the very same spokesman of the very same old
faith as uncivilized and abusive – hence the need to be reported to the civil
authorities, so, here we find the ‘old ways’ becoming law-abiding and civilized,
preferring the tame in place of the untamed – and thus the Craft sees its end
in the shape of religion.
Nothing against religion, for those who needs it, but when I read this,
I was thinking, is this really something ‘a witch’ would say? And naturally the
answers to this question have consequences on the matter, because a statement
like this will naturally eradicate any understanding of Nature and the peasant
craft bound in families of the Craft, leaving the person speaking such shallow words
as an ignorant of his own claims to the pedigree only a Witch will know,
understand, live and enact.
Yes I know….
Witchcraft is relentlessly difficult to define…
… and in this difficulty of definition advantage is taken in defining it
in whatever way soothing for ones sentiments, sentimentalism or agenda by
hungry ghosts vested like Saints and Masters.
Truly witchcraft has is some respect lost its teeth and claw today in
favour of many sorts of gnosis that makes the witch an understanding
participant in the cosmos, which I personally believe is important, because it
expands the essential substance of the witchblood into all eight directions of
creation. These forms of gnosis benefit the witch immensely, but a witch is
still a witch and the proof of the witch rests in the blood.
Yes, I say blood, and I mean blood, because this turbulent outlandish
breed, the dwellers on the outside is not of this world and this should be
testified in any witch mythology in existence amongst serious conclaves, covens
and families the practice the Craft. A witch is always born and never made; the
blood is always quickened and never given. When Robert Cochrane wrote, ‘what I have
I hold’, it was this he meant, at least in one layer of this sentence that goes
deeper than what it seems.
This thing you hold is what is ‘in your blood’, it is about a particular
pedigree that today can be seen amongst non-conformists, philosophers, fabulists
as much as amongst curandeiros and peasant healers, because what it always
comes down to is that what we call by the name ‘Witchcraft’ is a Natural art. The
witch knows how to speak and converge with spirits of nature and how to use and
manipulate these mysteries to heal, bless and curse – just like any other pret savan
or countryside priest who have a deep rapture with land and Nature. But because
these individuals are so submerged in the natural world they of course
Witchcraft in the hands of priests became heresy, because the wild and
untamed realms of nature was detriment to the order and greed the Church had set
for its own increase of power and following. Heresy was a problem in the Church
since its founding, leading to the council of Nikea in 325 that established the
‘true doctrine’, which was exercised as a dogma and from this schisms and fractions
were established and continued throughout the centuries.
I will not go into the beautiful dynamic between peasantry and monks,
clergy and aristocrats throughout history, just point out that when a group of
people stand up and elect a ‘true doctrine’ that later becomes a demand to keep
or lose your life as in the 12th Century Crusades and the 10th
Century mission in Scandinavia as a few historical remembrances of what happens
when doctrine becomes dogma.
Now, whenever a coalition of people sit down united by a common idea,
bond, background or legacy this can be caused by a variety of interests, causes
and concepts. But no matter cause and direction what always happens is what we
call ‘group think’. This is a positive psychological process that unites two or
more people in a common ideological field, but the consequence of group think
when it is about a cluster of people within a greater field of participants is
that a process of inclusion and seclusion happens. This is an almost stupidly
simple process of pointing fingers, just like we do in any democratic election.
But the Witch is not a democrat per se and he or she is defined by your
pointed finger. So the one a cluster of people sees as being on the outside
will indelibly live that fringe and rift of existence where the Witch gains
perspective – and understanding, what we can call gnosis through metanoia to
invite in such values here.
Because what is the witch and what is its legacy? Serbian myths speaks
about dragons from heaven descending and mating with women and Western legends
speaks of how ‘the Serpent’ mated with Eve and how Lilith together with Samael
produces a unique pedigree of beings. No matter the myth, a certain fire,
something sulphuric is present in the very blood of witches, a memory of their
legacy. And as Lilith was expelled to the Red Sea breeding thousand devils a
day, in the same way the Witch is recognized in its similar exile and
condemnation today. A witch will never bow down to social order, unless it is n
harmony with the natural order. She or he will become a rebel, because the
witch is not about gathering the world into a single unity but to guard and
protect its family and its mysteries. This is why any request made to a witchcraft
conclave of joining them is looked upon with some scrutiny, because witches don’t
gather in orders and councils, federations and governments, unless chaos is the
intent of acceptance.
Because the Witch is not comfort, but solace, the Witch is the breath of
death and hope given at the same time. It is the invitation to leave
everything, but yourself behind as any council or federation is left burning in
dogma. The Witch is not tamed or validated, he or she knows who she or he is
and holds what it holds.
When Witchcraft turns into councils defining the ‘right doctrine’, they
cease to be witches and becomes despots with some sort of agenda because to
restrain what was born free is its own heresy in opposition of the dogma that
any federation or council establishes. When this happens the conclave of people
appointing one another to be those who know better will become a social force
and not a natural one and when this happens we are no longer speaking of
spirituality or witchcraft, but of law and religion.
At least for me, from my many encounters with the True Craft, I will say
that the Craft is not for the one who conforms and seek to rule, but for the
one who in fearless abandonment seeks to drink from the pulse of the world,
seeing it as its own rhythm. And from this pulse; love, respect, generosity,
concord and profound understanding of what moves everything visible to us is
understood in a humble enigma of participation and solace, yet always from the outside
of the worlds fences and never ever tamed… because a Witch is not of this
World, but from the Otherness you find at the end of a pointed finger.