Paganistan: Notes from the Secret Commonwealth
In Which One Midwest Man-in-Black Confers, Converses & Otherwise Hob-Nobs with his Fellow Hob-Men (& -Women) Concerning the Sundry Ways of the Famed but Ill-Starred Tribe of Witches.
Great Herne Would Horn
If you don't know Dorothy Edwards' 1981 The Witches and the Grinnygog, you're in for a treat. (For those of you who didn't grow up speaking Witch, a Grinnygog is a “Himmage” of the Horned God.) Even the 1983 BBC children's miniseries version has its moments.
One of the best is this old Witch song, half-remembered by their contemporary descendants among families of the Old Blood.
Both the book and TV versions are incomplete, so I put the pieces together along with some of my own. Just add round dance and voilà: a sweet little power-raising chant for your next coven meeting, singable to the tune of the show's title song.
Don't quite understand it all? That's by design. (Hint: "horn" here is a verb.)
That's witching for you: always leave room for mystery.
Great Herne Would Horn
Great Herne would horn
'fore us was born;
flash green and grin the round:
the blade of stone is found.
Up besom, fly:
'tween Earth and Sky,
weave feet and trip the round
our spell ere she be downed.
Dorothy Edwards, The Witches and the Grinnygog. London: Faber and Faber, 1981
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