The Starry Cave

Or;  Why this broom is not taking flight… “Witchcraft is something like gardening, something like cooking; it is a little bit of everything starting off with the basic ingredients. We are the stew or potage in the cauldron, the roots, the trunk, the leaves and the tree. It is dependent on ourselves how we flourish or wither with the winter’s storm.” – Robert Cochrane (quoted from Shani Oates: The Star Crossed Serpent) To define traditional witchcraft, a term Robert Cochrane coined, is not an easy task – and making a historical study of its key personage is quite hopeless unless you have access to the total array of the many legacies intended to be studied. Traditional Witchcraft is always followed by an unwritten history – its shadow where truth lies and blossom only amongst those sworn to protect the truth and its light. This factor alone makes the kind of historical account Howard attempts to present here impossible – at best biased and distorted. In ‘The Children of Cain’,...

An interview with Shani Oates, Maid of The Clan of Tubal Cain. In the Isle of Albion midlands, in the shires around Derby that gave birth to D.H. Lawrence the landscape and taverns throbs in memories and history. As we walk the countryside Roman and Saxon remains abound everywhere as we walk the limestone caves at Cresswell Craggs where mound and hill is covered with archangels who drapes the landscape in celestial breath with their golden petals. Here we also find numerous burial mounds from the Bronze Age and quite a few stone circles. It is a magical land, vibrant with blood and memory. Derbyshire is also where the botanical genius Erasmus Darwin (yes, Charles’s grandfather) was born and founded here the Lunar Society and gave the world books like ‘The Botanic Garden’ and ‘The Temple of Nature’ – books many have unfortunately forgotten. This is also the haven of Shani Oates, the Maid of The Clan of Tubal Cain – and it is here in the comfort of her own enchanted garden that w...

Recentemente, Robert Cochrane, Magister do  Clan of Tubal-Cain , atingiu o status de ícone na Arte, e numerosas histórias circularam sobre as circunstâncias de sua morte. A versão geralmente aceita parece ser de que ele teria se suicidado ritualisticamente usando Beladona no Solstício de verão em 1966, em um resgate da morte do Rei Divino, um sacrifício voluntarioso para a remissão de seus próprios erros, daqueles do seu próprio povo, e para assegurar a fertilidade de seu domínio. Que retrato essa idéia do ‘suicídio ritual’ de Cochrane nos traz? Talvez vejamos uma figura de túnica, prostrado no círculo ritual, lábios escurecidos, olhos fixos em alguma visão no além, dedos ainda prendendo o chifre com a bebida envenenada, para sempre paralisados? Que imagem você tem da cena? A morte de um bruxo aparentemente automartirizado gera miríades de perspectivas contrastantes. Algumas destas perspectivas podem servir para cristalizar um efeito altamente glamouroso que age como um veículo ...

Pathos, Prospect & Pilgrimage   Lilium Umbrae Cuveen is sworn to allegiance by blood and troth to the Maid and Magister of The Clan of Tubal Cain. We have taken the shadow and the lily to speak for us. A mystery from within, but still aside, that rides upon the scales of Hydra as she is mirrored from Draco. Here we find the raven that drinks the chalice of first blood. The mystery repeats in an enigmatic variation upon timeless truths. As above so below – as the poles support each other and gives stability in its fluid flow of light such are mother clan and all daughters. From the starry pyre at the circles heart the blood flew and flows in truth and troth to the ideals of honour and beauty! This shall be our pilgrimage, upon the scales of the serpent to be as one in blessed diversity that always manifests the hunger of union. The Dragon's Road The Dragon is father of wis...