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Witches & Seeresses
- Details
- Category: Spellwork & Magick
- Written by Michael Night Sky
photo by Joe Dunne, © 2003
Witches & Seeresses
Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone on Returning to the Roots of Witchcraft
The magical career of Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone stretches back to the formative years of the Witchcraft revival. Together with her husband Stewart Farrar (who died in February 2000), Janet has authored groundbreaking books on Witchcraft and the Occult since 1971. Gavin Bone joined Janet and Stewart in 1993, and has worked with Janet ever since. The trio have written eleven books on Paganism, the most recent being Progressive Witchcraft (New Page, 2003).
Janet was initiated into Alexandrian Wicca by the tradition's founders, Alex and Maxine Sanders, in 1970. While in the coven she met Stewart Farrar, her future husband and coauthor. The couple started to move away from orthodox Alexandrian Wicca in the mid '70s. When Eight Sabbats for Witches was released in 1981, Janet and Stewart were accused of “giving away the secrets” by some British Traditional Witches.
Their new mode of working (which they term Progressive Witchcraft and which they point out is not a “tradition") differs from British Traditional Wicca in several important ways, including embracing polytheism and placing emphasis on personal connection with deity rather than on ritual.
Janet and Gavin are active members in The Aquarian Tabernacle Church and have links with several covens in North America, Oceania, and the EU. Their current work focuses on Spiritism and Trace Prophesy, and they travel widely, offering workshops on various occult topics. They also teach online through the College of the Sacred Mists.
Michael Night Sky What are your thoughts on the origins of the Witch and Witchcraft?
J&G From a historical viewpoint, the witch has been with us from the moment we looked up at the sky and wondered about our place in the universe. All ancient magic was really about survival and communing with the spirits of nature, be it to fend off the “evil” forces which caused disease, or to communicate with and request the assistance of the spirits of animals to help in a successful hunt.
Modern witchcraft — commonly known as Wicca — has become an amalgam of diverse practices, including European shamanism, professional priest/esshood, and Ceremonial Magick. We feel it is time to “get back to our roots” which is what our main work is today.
Seeds of Light in the Darkness
- Details
- Category: Crafts
- Written by Ruby Sara
The Gift of Bees in the Season of Candlemas
Some say that unto bees a share is given Of the Divine Intelligence, and to drink Pure draughts of ether; for God permeates all – Earth, and wide ocean, and the vault of heaven – From whom flocks, herds, men, beasts of every kind, Draw each at birth the fine essential flame. — The Georgics, Virgil
There is a serpent that lives in the earth. Quietly slumbering now in the season of snow and dream, she breathes in and out the white bees from her great mouth, and shifts just so in the heartbeat darkness at the center of the spinning planet. Imbolc, the season of singing in our winter sleep; season of hope and feast of light. Candlemas, the coming of Bride, the advent of snowdrops and milk, poetry and fire. Starlight. The moss beneath the cold, the cold mixed with melt, the cold so sweet it electrifies the mind with memories of red fruit and blackberries. A stag with butter-yellow candles arrayed on his holy tines. Prophecy and purification.
Rediscovering the Runes
- Details
- Category: Runes
- Written by Henry Lauer
Article by Henry Lauer
'Web of Wyrd' by Willow Arleana
A additional artwork by Sarah Lawless
Rediscovering the Runes
Runes are mysterious — literally so, for "mystery" is the root meaning of "rune." As a Heathen, runes form an important part of both my spiritual and magical life. The symbols and their complex interrelationships open doors into a deeper horizon than that which ordinary consciousness affords. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Norse myth of Odin's winning of the runes. The story goes that for nine nights he hung from the World Tree, delirious, starving, and wounded, until with a shriek he took up the runes and ended his ordeal. Odin embraced mystery, the fabric from which all reality is woven, and captured that infinitely inexpressible thing in just a handful of characters. This story reflects both the intensity of rune magic, and the richness that a broader grounding in history and mythology affords to our use of the runes.
Earth Her Body
- Details
- Category: Earth Wisdom
- Written by Sierra Black
Earth Her Body —
The Path of Pagan Permaculture
Permaculture is the conscious design and maintenance of agriculturally productive systems which have the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems. — Graham Bell, The Permaculture Way
Permaculture has been permeating our Pagan culture for many years. From Austin to Montreal, Witches and activists practicing earth-based spirituality are using the systems taught in permaculture design courses to organize everything from their farms to their finances.
Starhawk has been a prime mover of this movement, with her Earth Activist Training melding Pagan spirituality with permaculture design. (See our interview with her directly in the magazine.)
