Tag: Cornwall

The Becoming
Explination · Witchcraft

The Becoming

MorghaineLeave a comment

VERY important part of the Traditional Witches’ practice, is what we call ‘the Becoming’. It is a trance-like state, not infused by drugs, though sometimes natural means, mostly plants from the Nightshade family can be used, with caution, though the Becoming is an essential state of mind, in combination with ‘gathering Sprouse’, a Cornish word for ‘the power of the Red Serpent, AKA the Magical Power that infuses the Earth. This is not something just drawn from the Earth fort our own benefit. The Law of Receiving and Giving is of the utmost importance. Some choose a shortcut by summoning Spirits, but in the Old Ways it’s a way of respect and a long road of patience and hardship to undergo as a means go discipline and hard work. I feel that any shortcut will never gain any benefit. The most powerful witches and wizard acquired their strength without any shortcut.

https://paleoleap.com/nightshades/Without the God of Witchcraft, in Cornwall Bucca, nothing can be accomplished. Hallowing the land and the creature therein, is to hallow Bucca, Who is intrinsically connected to the soil and its magic. Everything, visible and invisible is connected to the Bucca or The Cornish Devel. Traditional Witchcraft is therefore not an easy road to succes, and one of the ways in acquiring the necessary power is ‘the Becoming’. I certainly would recommend the Book: Traditional Witchcraft, a Cornish Book of Ways by Gemma Gary. A lot can be said about that, but those who seek shall find.

Traditional Witchcraft vs Wicca
Witchcraft

Traditional Witchcraft vs Wicca

MorghaineLeave a comment
Traditional Witchcraft vs Wicca

HERE have been a few articles and YouTube videos that claim that ‘Traditional Witchcraft’ is ‘the original religion that was introduced by Gerald Gardner’. This is a misleading and incorrect conclusion, based upon the fact that ‘the original forms of western witchcraft had died out because of the witch-hunts’. Now there are several reasons that this was never the case:

  • During the Witch-hunts that formally began with the introduction of the Maleus Malificarum (the Hammer of the witches by Heinrich Kramer & Jacob Sprenger). Scholars found out that there were no ‘real witches’ persecuted, but rather old and suspected women that did not fit the required role of submissive women and thus were suspected of being witches. Most of the were christian
  • Those men and women that didn’t conform to standard church doctrine, they also could be priests, ministers and/or were from other denominations.

Those witches, wise ones, druids, folk healers and pellars (a Cornish term for those who can provide counter curses) where still held in high regard and were protected by those who needed their services, some of them were persecuted, but quite a number escaped and survived.

The notion that the original form of witchcraft died out and thus Wicca is the only remaining form of western witchcraft that remains until today is therefore totally wrong. Families and individuals that kept their traditions survived because of secrecy and still exist in UK regions like Cornwall, Devonshire, Dartmouth, Exmoor, Wales, Scotland etcetera.

Other forms of magic like Rootworking (Hoodoo/Voodoo) Shamanism, Gipsy Witchcraft (Romania etc), Guna Guna (Indonesia), Seidr (Scandinavia) survived the wheel of time.

Now I notices a number of articles and videos where people suggest and claim that ‘Gardnerian Wicca in its original form is Traditional Witchcraft. One should study books, among those published by Troy Books Uk to see that Traditional Witchcraft is still alive and kicking

There’s nothing like forbidden knowledge
Witchcraft

There’s nothing like forbidden knowledge

MorghaineLeave a comment

IT was monotheism, in all of its controversies, that gave way to ‘holy’ scriptures that forbade humankind to acquire any kind of knowledge outside of the parameters that clergy prescribed. What is: many scripture passages, like the Garden of Eden story, that warned humankind to gain knowledge. Now that’s only an explanation that men in power used to subdue the masses that were held in ignorance. A littoral explanation of, mainly, fundamentalistic christianity, ignoring the huge amount of interpretations commonly known within Judaism. All for the upholding of christian dogmatics, hermeneutics and theology.

Then cane the Middle Ages, with the, still held in high esteem, Maleus Malificarum , which set the tone for persecutions of ‘so called’ witches, the majority of them being christian, women or just being a persona non grata, old or demonized simply for not fitting in.

Yes, the wise ones, healers, expellers (pellets in Cornish), wayside witches and folk magicians were always there. Just as everywhere else the good had to suffer because of the bad ones, but just look at church history that killed around 600 million innocent people.

The clergy raised there finger, working about, what the deemed to be ‘forbidden knowledge’. A lot of these ‘forbidden books’ are still under lock and key within the Vatican. But many of these books like the Picatrix, the Red Dragon, the lesser and greater key of Salomon, the Kymbalion, the works of Abramelin the Mage, High Magic by Eliphas Levi and later works, inspired by the former, by Aleister Crowley, Anton Szandor LaVey (like the Satanic Bible ao), Michael W. Ford, found there way into the bookshelves and practice of many.

With the popularized Wiccan movement also came works from the Clan of Tubal-Cain and books about Traditional Witchcraft (British from the publisher Troy Books UK and books about the American Appalachian Witchcraft. People can find out Magic for themselves without restriction.

Seeing is NOT believing
Witchcraft

Seeing is NOT believing

MorghaineLeave a comment

ITCHCRAFT is not something you have to believe in to make changes your life. Believing is something monotheistic religions invented to keep people from using their intellect and ‘sixth sense’. You have to believe in their non-sense, one of these believes is that witchcraft and magic(k) are bad. It is bad for their income and power-hunger to control the masses. In the days before christianity witchcraft and magic was the realm of healers, wise ones and those who acquired knowledge of cattle, farming, hunting, to lift curses of to cast them. People knew their way to the Wise, the Pellars, the wayside witches, the wizards, the druids and shamans.

Now Traditional has never been eradicated by all means, because, in the UK for example, in regions like Cornwall, Devon, Dartmoor, Exmoor, Wales, Scotland (mostly Celtic regions), Witches were and are always present, despite of christianity who wanted to eradicate magic folk. Also in the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Romania, the Americas, folk magic and other forms of magic never died out, it was preserved.

You don’t need faith for it to work, it simply works, but you have to be cautious of the charlatans, who make use of superstitious believes. Nowadays I encounter a lot of fakers who want to earn money and take advantage of superstitions, they are the worst of all. It’s not, by any means, prohibited to ask money for services, as long as they really help, but saying “I sense something about you, do you want a reading?”. I usually say: “no, I can do my own readings”. If I need any, I can use a witch friend whom I trust.

All the bad religions ask for some kinda blind faith, we don’t, because, like I said before, I simply works.

Why secrecy in Traditional Witchcraft
Explination · Witchcraft

Why secrecy in Traditional Witchcraft

MorghaineLeave a comment

O many people, especially Wiccans, why Traditional Witchcraft isn’t really open to the outside world about the practices. No, for the most part that’s completely true, on the other hand there are a number of books on Traditional Witchcraft available now like The Crooked Path and The Witch Compass, an ever growing number of books at Troy Books UK and Scarlet Imprint. I also recommend visiting The Museum of Witchcraft and Magic in Boscastle, Cornwall UK. If you are a Wiccan you should notice that there are so many differences, like the wind directions and their associated Elements, and also many other focusses and associations. When you’re interested never consider to be eclectic about, for example, laying the compass in combination with the Wiccan wind directions; this is not compatible and can result in catastrophic magical repercussions, because of the spirits, creatures and divinities that are bound to these individual associations.

I don’t want to scare you, but for that you need to be educated, because this knowledge is important, and also education and guidance is needed if you are new and unfamiliar. Sometimes you need to rethink and redefine all the aspects. Traditional Witchcraft goes way back before christianity. Also there I nothing like ‘black’ or ‘white’ witchcraft; you could say that no duality applies when is comes to Traditional Witchcraft.

Working with herbs and plants is a exact science, but also the rituals surrounding ebats and sabbaths, the attributes necessary, invocations, spells, charms, energies, spirits, divinities, earth- and sky creatures, the place, time etcetera. You can’t also expect to be an expert on every matter, every Witch, Wayside Witch, Wise One, Pellar, to name a few designations, is a specialist of some sort, but some of us are more or less familiar with more than one specialization.

You have to go on a path to find the ones that are willing to help you on your path, and the one whom you chose of the one who chose you will help and instruct you, but we are careful and will test you before laying things on the table. Secrecy is therefore a must. In chemistry you aren’t trusted with sulfur and other hazardous chemicals if you aren’t educated in how to used them, you could get hurt or hurt others. That’s why secrecy and carefulness is a vital ingredient.

What does Witchcraft mean?
Witchcraft

What does Witchcraft mean?

MorghaineLeave a comment

tymologically speaking the word Witch means: someone who has knowledge, from the Germanic/Anglo-Saxon ‘Wit’, what ‘question, quest or a thing (ding) that needs to be answered’ means. Also the Germanic word ‘wet’ what ‘law’ of ‘outcome of a (legal) matter’ means.

When someone had a burning question, or something that needed to be answered as a law about a matter, they went to the ‘ding’, a wise one usually set under an oak- or other holy tree to speak out on the matter, the one who was the spokesperson (woman or man) than decided on the ‘wit’. So that’s why that wise one was called a witch or wizard, both fro the same root word ‘wit’

Knowledge was transferred from parent to child or if the child was unfit to another family member of a student. That took years.

One thing was knowledge of wisdom in various matters like fertility, cattle, crops, scrying, counseling the spirits, ancestors etc. There were family ‘covens’ or ‘groves’, circles, but in traditional witchcraft we often find solitary practitioners with are specialists in matter. We also provide solutions to determine if someone is cursed at provide a counter curse. Specialist in counter curses are called ‘pellars’ in Cornwall and neighboring regions.

There is nothing like ‘black’ or ‘white’ magic, because that’s a dualistic concept that is alien to the Old Craft.

What is Traditional Witchcraft
Witchcraft

What is Traditional Witchcraft

MorghaineLeave a comment

N the 1950’s Gerald Gardner introduced Wicca to the world as a new revival of Witchcraft. In 1950 the Witchcraft Act of 1735 1) was abolished, and Gardner thought the time was right to proclaim Witchcraft still existed and proclaimed to be a witch. By then Wicca became a new religion , with many modern branches.

But not only christianity became furious about the open proclamation of witchcraft out in the open. Witches were always around, in counties like Cornwall, Dartmoor, Exmoor, Essex and Sussex, but remained in the shadows and protected by secrecy and those who still hired them for many a reason.

Cecil Williamson, the founder of the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic (first on the Isle of Man and later in Boscastle in Cornwall, was a a representative of the Old Arte not very pleased with the openness about Witchcraft, as ages of persecution passed and the Arte survived because of secrecy.

Nowadays both Wicca and Traditional Witchcraft gain popularity as the role of the church is waining and people are returning to the Old Ways.

NOTE

1) https://archives.blog.parliament.uk/2020/10/28/which-witchcraft-act-is-which/