My Little Demon

I have just recently started talking with folks about the fact that I "meddle with the Goetia." It seems and* daemonic sorceress? Sure! Why not?

this is surprising information for folks -- even for people who know me fairly well. Priestess of Aphrodite *

Natalie and I have both written about familiars, especially spirit (non-coropreal) familiars. As I wrote in one of those posts:

The word "angel" comes from the Greek ἄγγελος pronounced "angelos", which means messenger. "Demon" also comes from the Greek --  δαίμων pronounced daímōn, meaning nothing more or less than "spirit."  Neither was inherently benevolent, nor was the other malevolent. Can they be? Sure. I bet you can be nasty, too.

I went on to say that we feel that spirit conjuration (what can rightly be called "demonic conjuration") is a long-standing practice in the sort of sorcerous witchcraft that is practiced by people like us. Check out the American Folkloric Witchcraft blog for a better idea of the Craft we practice.

So, here we are, contacting helpful spirits through our talking board, and specifically getting in touch with the spirits who want to work with us. In a session by myself, I first spoke to the spirit I simply call "S." I learn right away that she is a spirit of the Goetia. I learn relatively soon that this spirit had been with me as a teenager as my beloved cat. I piece together that the spirit I had seen in my living room (and the black ghost cat my entire family and some roommates have seen) is also her. And I learn in the last month or so that she is included in Dee & Kelley's Enochian (angelic magick) tablets as one of the "Daughters of the Daughters of Light" -- listed there simply as S.

She's been with me since I was 17, and I have felt her presence for a very long time. She has taught me so much about Spirit (and about daemons, specifically). She has been a partner to Natalie and I as we undertook a hefty writing project -- The Witches' Key: The Sorcery of Solomonic Magick. This book is "the Goetia on the Goetia." (I'm working on formatting it now, and Natalie is working on illustrations. I'd like to have it done by the end of the summer, but that might be a stretch. Let's say: done by Samhain.)

I'd love to write and talk more about spirits here, for those who are interested. Expect a post or two on the topic as I continue working on this project.

We are fleshy spirits. Spiritual beings having a human experience.

R - Robert Cohrane #paganblogproject

Robert Cochrane is the pen name of Roy Bowers, a British Cunning Man who was working his craft around the same time that Gerald Gardner was writing about Wicca. In fact, Cochrane was the one who coined the name "Gardnerism" or "Gardnerianism" for the form of Craft that Gerald was promoting. (The term came up in "The Pentagram" and other sources where Cochrane showed some disdain for the ceremonial-influenced Craft that Gardner was telling the public was "family heritage.")

Cochrane purported himself to be a member of a Craft tradition that had been handed down since the 17th Century, and he resented the false or watered-down version that he felt Gardner was presenting.

Glaux and I have always been drawn to the work and writings of Cochrane. In fact, it was one of the points of attraction for us. She had been trained within a reculed Gardnerian line, and my former HPS had a similar background. However, my HPS went from Gardnerian Wicca in the 60's and 70's to Druidry in the 80's and 90's, and she finally landed in a 1734 offshoot known as Roebuck  in the late 90's. I met her in 1998, at a time when she (my HPS) had formed her own Trad that was based on each of these lines of training, along with what we called Dragon Craft. While we always knew that we were "close cousins" to Roebuck/Ancient Keltic Church, it wasn't until I read the book written by the co-founder of that Trad that I realized we were really a sort of daughter coven  -- though a bastard, since my HPS hadn't taken her initiation with that group before striking out on her own. (The book is Forge of Tubal Cain by Ann Finnin. I highly recommend it.)

Okay, so back to Robert Cochrane.

He carried on correspondences with several people and wrote several articles that have become something like canon within Trad Craft circles. Doreen Valiente was the Maid of his coven for a period, in her search for authentic craft. That coven is called Clan of Tubal Cain, and it is still functioning today, decades after his death. Shani Oates is the current maid. (You should also read her book, Tubelo's Green Fire, if you have an interest in this type of Craft.)

His work has had a great influence on modern practitioners of Traditional Craft. His correspondence with Joe Wilson was a major influence in Wilson's establishment of the 1734 Tradition, which is an American adaptation of British Family Craft. From there, several Craft Traditions have sprung up, including Roebuck, which I mentioned earlier as a source of my own training.

The Mohsian Tradition, Blue Star, the work of Peter Paddon, Raven Womack, Robin Artisson, and of course American Folkloric Witchcraft are all influenced by Robert Cochrane and the writings that he gave the world.

Cochrane died by his own hand at the Summer Solstice when he was 35. He ingested belladonna -- some believe as an intentional ritual sacrifice.

Q - Qayin (Kain, Cain) #paganblogproject

All Gods are not one God. The Ancients didn't see it that way, and I am  not trying to put forth that claim, either. And yet, there are Gods -- great, ancient spirits (daemons ... δαίμων) who are so closely related in myth and religion that we can't mistake their relation. Just as a Red Thread connects us to the Witchfather who brought the Cunning Fire to humanity, so too does the Red Thread connect many of the beings from whom mankind has sought wisdom.

This is my and Natalie's experience with Azazel (who is called a demon -- literally, a "spirit"-- and an angel -- "messenger"), Qayin/Cain and Tubal Cain, as we've expressed at our American Folkloric Witchcraft blog. Very directly, in our communications with the Witchfather, he uses these names of himself almost interchangeably, and we have come to use them the same way.

There are other sources of information, though, that inform our understanding of Qayin-Azazel, and we'd like to share them.


Melek Taus

"Melek" means "king" or "angel" and "taus" means "peacock." The peacock angel is the central figure, the benevolent and creative demiurge, of the Yezidis. He is seen as repentant after the fall from God's grace, his tears quenching the fires of hell.

Though the Yezidis would disagree, others in the Arabic world (particularly those practicing Islam), equate melek Taus with Lucifer or Satan. Kabbalistically, Yahweh rules in the heavenly/spiritual kingdom of Kether, and Melek Taus (Lucifer/Azazel) rules in the earthly kingdom of Malkuth.

Within the sacred text of the Yezidis, the Black Book, specific reference is made to Azazel, equating the Peacock Angel with Azazel. There are several versions of this book extent from the Middle Ages, copies transcribed online.

Alchemical Symbol for Antimony

Azazel and Alchemy


We have touched on Azazel before, but there are some specific and noteworthy things to share about Azazel's connection to alchemical lore.

Enoch reveals to us that Azazel shares with humanity "all the metals and the art of working them...and the use of antimony." As it turns out, antimony (or stibium), was critical to the alchemical process of creating the Philosopher's Stone. This same element was called kuhl (or kohl) by the ancient Arabs. (You might also recall references to women decorating their eyes with this substance, and that art also being taught by Azazel. This may, in fact, have been a veiled reference to the alchemical process and not to cosmetics at all.)

Sir Roger Bacon tells us that when antimony is processed with vitriol, it is reduced to a "noble red oil" with all of the lesser sulfur having been purified out of it in the process. Red, then, is Azazel's color.

It is doubly his color when we consider that man is made from red clay, according to Middle Eastern tradition, and that Azazel is master of the material world from which man is made.



Lucifer


Oh my Holy Goat, there is so much that needs to be said about Lucifer in relation to the Witchfather. There is so much dross to sift through, so much misinformation that has been propogated about this one figure over the millenia, to reach the golden kernels of wisdom.

For now, let's keep it very simple, shall we?

Lucifer is the "light-bearer." He is Qayin in the East, the Morning Star. He is the torch-bearer of wisdom, inspiration, the Divine Spark, the Cunning Fire.

He is "Prometheus" (literally, "fore-sight"), who rebelled against God (the Gods) to give Fire (the Cunning Fire) to mankind and fell from Divine Grace.


Utu/Shamash

The Nephilim, the "Fallen Angels" or spirits who descended into the material realm to interact with and guide mankind, were first seen as the "Shining Ones" or Gods of Sumerian lore. We've mentioned them before, and we'll write more about them in future posts, but for now, I'd just like to make the connection between Utu/Shamash and Azazel.

It's not a new connection. We're not the first to have made it, by any stretch. You can read this account, for starters. (There's lots of information there about goetic daemons and their counterparts in other lore.)

Utu is the Sumerian name, while Shamash is the Babylonian name for the Sun God of justice,law and salvation. He is linked in a triad with the Nannar-Sin (the Mood God) and Ishtar (the fertility-Earth Goddess, who incidentally is represented by the planet Venus, the Morning and Evening Star).

Ishtar and Shamash are divine twins.

*** This entry is re-posted from an entry I made to the American Folkloric Witchcraft blog. Interested in Qayin? Read more.

J - John Barleycorn Must Die #paganblogproject

One way to think about the Year Wheel is to look at the balladry figure of John Barleycorn. The stations of his life, as marked in the verses of the song below, are the Sabbats -- at least the ones dealing with planting and harvesting.

John Barleycorn Must Die!

---

There were three men came out of the west,
Their fortunes for to try.
And these three men made a solemn vow:
John Barleycorn must die.

They've plowed, they've sown, they've harrowed him in,
Threw clods upon his head.
And these three men made a solemn vow:
John Barleycorn was dead.

They've let him lie for a very long time,
Till the rains from heav'n did fall.
And little Sir John sprung up his head,
And so amazed them all.

They've let him stand 'till midsummer's day,
Till he looked both pale and wan.
And little Sir John's grown a long, long beard,
And so become a man.

They've hired men with scythes so sharp,
To cut him off at the knee.
They've rolled him and tied him by the waist,
Serving him most barb'rously.

They've hired men with the sharp pitchforks,
Who pricked him to the heart.
And the loader, he has served him worse than that,
For he's bound him to the cart.

They've wheeled him 'round and around the field,
'Till they came unto a barn,
And there they've made a solemn oath,
On poor John Barleycorn.

They've hired men with the crabtree sticks,
To cut him skin from bone,
And the Miller, he has served him worse than that,
For he's ground him between two stones.

And little Sir John in the nut-brown bowl,
And the brandy in the glass.
And little Sir John in the nut-brown bowl,
Proved the strongest man at last.

The Huntsman, he can't hunt the fox,
Nor so loudly blow his horn,
And the Tinker, he can't mend kettle nor pot,
Without a little Barleycorn.

You can hear a snip (or, rather, 3 snips -- I swear it isn't a re-mix) of my favorite version of this song at PayPlay. While most versions of this song sound like dirges, this particular version relays what I feel is the joy of spring and the celebration of harvest. Yes, the words are "John Barleycorn Must Die," but I suppose I like singing these lines with a big toothy grin.

Cords as Markers of Admission

I actually wrote this for the American Folkloric Witchcraft blog last year, but since I'm trying to play catch-up, I thought I could borrow ...

One of the Robert Cochrane (Roy Bowers) "writings" that  you'll want to read is titled "On Cords." It first appeared in issue 3 of The Pentagram in March 1965. In it, he discusses two aspects or uses of the traditional Witch's Ladder.

The first is the piece of magical craft that we'll be covering soon. It involves using the cord for spellwork.

The second use of cords is that of the devotional ladder. While many of us will make and use multiple devotional ladders for trance and meditation work related to a variety of focal objects, a great many Witches receive their first ladder as a cord (or set of braided cords) that marks their admission to a curveen.

The cords are usually a length of silk or wool rope, braided yarn, or upholstery cord, whose thickness, length and color vary by tradition. They are versatile, as they are used for cinching ritual robes, indicating rank or degree, measuring the circle, and sometimes for binding blood flow in certain circumstances. When used to control blood flow, they may also be called the cingulum.

Cords used as a cingulum help alter consciousness and they are often employed in initiation rites. There are a few different ways to tie the cords to act in this capacity, but the most common is shown below. However they are used, a cingulum should be administered with care to avoid causing damage or harm.

Cords can also be used as a meditational or trance tool in much the same way as a Catholic rosary. Because they are usually braided and knotted, often with multi-colored fibers, they bind together symbols and imagery that is important to the Witch who wears them. Meditating on a particular knot, strand, or other element of the cord will produce a focused experience on the symbol set contained therein, while working through all the knots (climbing the ladder) produces a transcendent state.

The Spiral Castle Tradition uses a specific progression of cords as markers of admission to the curveen. Each strand of cording that we use is made of a 3 hand-braided strands of wool yarn.

Greening -- single green cord -- This cord represents new growth, the beginning of the learning process and the budding interest of the green Witch in the curveen and Tradition. The purpose of the ritual is to form a magical link with loose bonds between student and cuveen and to establish the beginning of a learning period of at least three months. The Green Cord serves as a physical reminder of that link. Aside from interested adults coming to the Tradition, children of the curveen are eligible to wear the Green Cord (and thereby to acknowledge their relationship to the Craft of the Family) at the Age of Reason. This cord is cut and burned at the time that a Witch progresses to Adoption.

Adoption -- single red cord -- This cord represents the umbilical cord, the blood of birth, and the fire of Tubal Cain. It is a manifestation of the Red Thread. The purpose of the Adoption Rite is to forge a formal magical link between the student and the coven and to establish a formal training period of at least a year and a day. Again, the Red Cord serves as a physical reminder of the link between the Witch and the curveen, but it also reminds her of her link to all Children of Qayin. Children of the Family may be adopted within the Craft at the Age of Puberty.



Raising -- single black and single white cord braided together with existing red cord  -- This set of cords is the final set that a Witch within our Tradition will use. The cords are fashioned so that there is a loop on one end, and a long set of tails on the other where the cords remain unbraided. The knot that hold the loop fast is the White Goddess knot. The knot closest to the tails (which somewhat resemble three flails of a scourge) is the Black Goddess knot. A knot is tied in the middle of the braided section -- the Tubal Cain knot. A Raised Witch is a full member of the curveen and Trad, and she wears the most potent symbols of our Craft when she dons her cords. Children of the Family are eligible for Raising, provided that theire knowledge and practice of the Craft is sound, at the Age of Majority.