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.
Black Plaid, or: A Deed Without a Name
What makes something truly distinctive?
The newly-designed Witches' Blood tartan, the world's first official Witch plaid, is largely black, with red and gray “piping.” From a distance, aptly enough, this reads as undifferentiated black.
In this, the witches' tartan is unlike other clan tartans, which are, of course, designed to be identifiable from a distance.
(In the warrior-driven Indo-European world, where plaids are an immemorial tradition, it's always best to know who is coming at you before they get within striking range.)
I think of the legendary thief who had his fingerprints removed with acid. Ironically, of course, the fact that he now lacked fingerprints gave him the most distinctive fingerprints in the world.
It's a nice, witchy twist to the tale. The mysterious Witches' tartan distinguishes itself by its very lack of distinction: this for the Craft known also as the Nameless Art.
What is't you do?
A deed without a name.
Coda
Not this year, but some year, at a party, someone will say, and ask—as someone always says, and asks: Nice kilt. Which clan?
And truly, truly, I will fight to keep the glee from my voice as I tell them:
It's the Witch tartan.
Let us call it: facts on the ground.
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