


                                                                            1701
          


                            AphroditeofferedHelen, mostbeautifulofall Humans.She
          won and thus caused the Trojan War. Eros was the primordial god of in-
          stinct. When Aphrodite appeared  he adapted himself and joined  forces
          with  her. At this time the sexes became distinct. Aphrodite's kingdom
          was the place of desire. Young girls  were said to pass from the place
          of Artemis (chastity and games) to the place  of Aphrodite, where they
          become women.  Considered by some to be  an affliction or madness that
          women must bear. She represents female lust and passion, and demonstr-
          ates its potential for destructive effect. Young girls gave their vir-
          ginity to the Goddess by living in her temples and offering themselves
          to passing strangers.

          ARTEMIS (DIANA)-Daughter of Zeus  and Leto. The huntress, she  is seen
          as the  forever young  goddess. She  is proud of  her shapeliness  and
          keeps  her virginity to protect it. She  was a warrior, joining Apollo
          to kill Python and other exploits. Anyone who offended her or tried to
          win  her  virginity paid  dearly.  They were  killed,  transformed, or
          mutilated. She defended  modesty and punished illicit  love and exces-
          ses. She  avenged rape. She also  took out her anger  on those virgins
          who gave in  to love. She  did not  mind marriage, but  when a  virgin
          married  she was  to give  up all  the things  of childhood,  toys and
          dolls, locks of hair, etc., leaving them on her altar.

          ATHENA (MINERVA)- Daughter of  Zeus and Metis. Metis was  swallowed by
          Zeus, and  when it was time for Diana's birth, he had Hephaestus crack
          open his skull  and she came forth  in full armor shouting  a war cry.
          Also a  virgin Goddess, she  lived among men  without fear due  to her
          warrior's skills. She was  the protectress of Odysseus and  other men.
          She was a warrior who used strategy, ambush, cunning, and magic rather
          than brute force. Her shield bore the head of a gorgon and she paraly-
          zed  her  adversaries and  made  her  companions invincible.  She  was
          against  excess, both  in war and  every day  life. She  taught men to
          control their savagery  and to tame nature.  Was the initiator of  all
          skills. Taught  Pandora  to weave,  trained  horses and  invented  the
          chariot.  She was  the patroness  of blacksmiths  and  carpenters. She
          built the first ship and the boat of the Argonauts.

          CYBELE- Was born  as Agditis,  a hermaphrodite monster,  from a  stone
          fertilized by Zeus. The Gods  decided to mutilate him(?) and made  the
          Goddess Cybele  from him. Her love for  Attis, a human shepherd, drove
          him  insane and he castrated himself for her. Her priests were eunuchs
          dressed as women.  It is from the temple of  Cybele that the reference
          in  the Wiccan Charge of the Goddess to "At mine Altars, the youths of
          Lacedæmon in Sparta made due sacrifice.", comes.

          DEMETER  (CERES)- Daughter of Cronos (Saturn) and Rhea, the Goddess of
          corn and grain. Demeter  bore Persephone. She renounced her  duties as
          goddess and  began a fast  and went into  exile from Olympos  when her
          daughter was abducted into the underworld until her daughter should be
          returned to  her. She caused the  spread of the knowledge  of the cul-
          tivation of corn.
                          During herexilethe earthbecamebarren untilZeusdemanded
          that Hades  return  Persephone.  She had  eaten  from  a  pomegranate,
          however, and was forever bound to the underworld. As a compromise, she
          was allowed to rise up into the world with  the first growth of spring
          and  return to the underworld at seed sowing in fall. And so the Earth
          is  barren in the winter,  while Demeter mourns,  and becomes fruitful
          again when Persephone is  released. Demeter made herself known  to the
          children  of Eleusis,  who  raised her  a  temple and  instituted  the



                                                                            1702
          

          Eleusinian  mysteries. In  Sept.-Oct., the  candidates  for initiation
          purified  themselves in the sea,  then processed down  the sacred path
          from Athens to Eleusis. The rites remain secret, but involve a  search
          for a mill for grinding  corn, and a spiritual experience.  During the
          rites, men women and slaves were all treated as equal.

          ERINYES,  THE- Alecto,  Tisiphone,  and Megaara.  They were  born from
          drops  of blood  that fell from  Uranus's severed  Penis, and  did not
          recognize  the  authority of  the gods  of  Olympos. They  hounded and
          tortured their victims,  driving them mad. Also  called the Eumenides,
          The Good Ones, to divert their wrath. Assimilated by the Romans as the
          Furies. They were implacable and demanded punishment for every murder.
          To them murder was a stain. The murderer had to be banished and driven
          mad before purification could  occur. They were blind and  carried out
          their punishments indefinitely.

          HARPIES-  Greek  genii/spirits-  Daughters  of  Thaumes  and  Electra:
          Nicotho  or swift-footed, Ocypete or swift of flight, and Celaeno, the
          dark one.   Were either  women with wings or  birds with the  heads of
          women.  Called the  'hounds of  Zeus' and  seized children  and souls.
          Skillful at torture, they could pester a victim into madness.

          HERA  (JUNO)- Daughter  of  Cronos (Saturn)  and  Rhea brought  up  by
          Oceanus  and Tethys. Married Zeus. It  was claimed that each year Hera
          regained hervirginity by bathing in the spring of  Canathus. According
          to  some traditions Hephaestus, Aries, and Hebe (Youth) were conceived
          by her alone without male assistance.   As Zeus'  legitimate wife, her
          fury at his infidelities was boundless,  and she took vengeance on his
          lovers and any  progeny of  the affair without  distinction. Zeus  was
          often reduced  to hiding or disguising his children to protect them.

          HESTIA/VESTA- Daughter  of Cronos  (Saturn) and  Rhea. Goddess  of the
          hearth,  she had the privilege of retaining her virginity forever. Her
          symbol was  the fire,  which was  never allowed to  go out.  The young
          bride and  newborn child were  presented to  her and  she was  invoked
          before each meal.   Her temple in Rome was served  by the young vestal
          virgins.

          MOERAE (PARCAE)- The Three Fates. Atropos, Clotho, Lachesis, daughters
          of  Zeus and Themis.  The first spins a  thread symbolizing birth. The
          second unravels it,  symbolizing life's processes, and  the third cuts
          it, symbolizing death.  They too  were blind and  ruled destiny.  They
          were  also symbols  of a  limit which  could not be  overstepped. Were
          connected to their sisters, the furies, who punished crime.

          MUSES- Nine daughters  of Zeus and Mnemosyne  (Memory). Calliope ruled
          epic poetry, Clio ruled history,  Polyhymnia mime, Euterpe the  flute,
          Terpsichore dance, Erarto lyric  art, Melpomene tragedy, Thalia comedy
          and  Urania astronomy. They delighted the Gods and inspired poets. The
          Muses created  what they sang about.  By praising the gods,  they com-
          pleted  their glory, by boasting of valiant warriors, they wrote their
          names in history.
                        Theywerecelebrated bythe Pythagoreansasthe keepersof the
          knowledge of harmony.



                                                                            1703
          


          NEMESIS-  Daughter and Night.  Ruled over the  distribution of wealth,
          looked after  balance, took revenge on arrogance  and punished excess,
          including  excessive happiness,  riches and  power. Moderation  in all
          things was her creed.

          NYMPHS-  Daughter of  Zeus and  usually part  of a  greater god(esses)
          entourage.   Not immortal, though  long lived. Mostly  lived in caves.
          Were  dark powers  whose  beauty alone  could  lead to  madness.  Were
          seducers of many of the gods. Were considered secondary deities.

          THETIS- Daughter of the old man of the sea. Very  beautiful. Mother of
          Achilles.  Saved Zeus from a plot to overthrow him and  was an ally of
          Hera. Saved the Argonauts as they passed between the clashing rocks.



                                                                            1704
          

                                 Against The Witch Hunters 
                                       Robin Culain

              "All this has happened before. And all this will happen again. But
          this time it happened to ..."
             
            Well, us.
             
              Thebeginning of Sir James Barrie's PeterPan must echo what many of
          us are  feeling, as  we watch a  new and loosely-knit  conglomerate of
          yellow  journalists,  right-wing  eco-spoilers  and   Evangelical  and
          Fundamental  Christians move slowly towards a Witch hunt for the 90's.
          Our  spiritual ancestors faced similar problems in many times and many
          lands.
             
              Recall the Priestesses  of Eleusis,  last of an  ancient line,  in
          decline, falling  at last  to the  stratagems of  Theseus and  his new
          Attic  Gods. Recall  the Etruscans,  their vision  of sexual-political
          balance  overpowered by  the might  and organization  of the  husband-
          headed Roman empire. And most tender to the touch, recall the agony of
          the middle ages, as the Catholic, then Protestant churches consolidat-
          ed their grip on the rural  population, killing six million alleged or
          actual Witches in the process.
             
              The hunt is in a beginning stage and beginnings are important. The
          formal focus  of the television specials,  Redbook articles, diatribes
          in the LaRouchite New Federalist, "Occult Crime" seminars and newspap-
          er articles is some thing called  "Satanism", which bears little or no
          relationship to Wicca and Neo-Paganism.
             
              In fact, media "Satanism" bears little resemblance to any histori-
          cally  verifiable  Satanism. It  is  neither  classical Egyptian  Set-
          worship",  Romantic  Ceremonial Satanism  a  la  Huysmanns nor  modern
          Egoist flamboyance per La Vey. Sometimes it's heavy  metal sullenness,
          drugs  and violence, but that's  usually only for  starters. The heavy
          metal boys, we're usually told, are just dupes of the Great  Conspira-
          cy. And  when you get down  to the real stuff,  the genuine complaint,
          it's  generally  the stuff  of horror  movies  and nightmare  -- baby-
          eating, virgin-sacrificing bloodsucking monsters!
             
            All this has happened before. And all this will happen again.
             
              There's a limited range of things that can be  used to stir up the
          anger of  a populace against a group, or deaden moral sensitivity to a
          persecution. It pretty much boils down to baby-eating, virgin-sacrifi-
          cing and bloodsucking.
             
              This  has been the century of Hitler's Holocaust. but the Russians
          who butchered entire Jewish  villages in the Pogroms, the  inhabitants
          of  York who slaughtered  nearly every Jew  in the city  in the 1100's
          didn't merely think the  Yiddim dressed and talked funny.  The accusa-
          tions were the  same. By Jesus, those Jews ate  babies! They were just
          like Satanists, with one exception.
             
            You could find the Jews.



                                                                            1705
          

           
              There probably aren't any "Satanists" as portrayedin the articles,
          seminars and diatribes. If there are, they're certainly not Neo-Pagans
          or  Wiccans. But  in  the lucrative  atmosphere  in which  the  press,
          missionaries and so-called "Crime Advisers" publicize and proselytize,
          the word "Witch" creeps in every third sentence.
             
              Naturally,we Witches and Neo-Pagans have spent a certain amount of
          effort pointing out that  we love children like anybody  else, have no
          particular attraction to virginity,  and tend, in the most  extreme of
          our diets,  to vegetarianism. In short,  we have tried to  educate our
          detractors and the media to our harmlessness.
             
              This tactic is true, andthis tactic is good, but I thinkthat if it
          becomes our primary response to persecution we will ultimately fail to
          endure.
             
              Imagine a Witch inthe Middle Ages in front of aCatholic or Protes-
          tant  tribunal. In  some cases she  has been  denounced by  a business
          competitor,  or an envious rival  in love, or  a spiteful neighbor. In
          other cases she has been brought  to the dock by an expert in  "Occult
          Crime" -- the traveling Witch Finder.
             
              She stands bound before her Inquisitors,plain or pompous depending
          on their  religious persuasion. Perhaps  there's a  crowd around.  She
          tries to  educate them to the  simple fact that she's  a worshipper of
          the  Old Gods,  loves children  like anybody  else, has  no particular
          attraction to virginity, and tends, in  the most extreme of her diets,
          to vegetarianism.
             
              They, in turn, accuse her of worshipping a living fiend, blighting
          the cattle, and eating babies.
            
            She doesn't stand a chance.
             
              Now  picture another scene, one  that has not  occurred often. She
          stands before those assembled, and  begins, shall I say, to  point out
          some facts. She  points out  the medieval physician  with the two  per
          cent  live delivery rate who  wants the local  midwifery practice shut
          down. She points out the priest and bishop who are terrifying the once
          fun-loving populace into  penury and pestilence with  the twin threats
          of damnation and  the noose.  She denounces the  Christian nobles  who
          will brook no interference with their  rule, least of all from the old
          Nobility of the land.
             
              She'd  be shut up in short order, but  in a different way, for she
          would  be addressing the real issues. The nonsense about babies, Black
          Men and cattle was then,  and is now nothing more than  a smoke screen
          to mask real and significant religious and political differences. It's
          all a cheap trick, a coward's cheat, a way of throwing muck until some
          sticks. It is only used when the real terms of debate cannot stand the
          light of day, and it works only if we permit it!

              Our situation is in no way as dire as that of our  ancestors. Only
          now have things moved to the stage where one group, the far-right  and
          sometimes farcical Limonites, actively  bait Wiccans and Neo-Pagans as
          being  "as bad  as  Satanists". And  unlike our  ancestors, we  have a
          freedom of speech they could only dream of. We will not be silenced if
          we speak, certainly not at this time.
             



                                                                            1706
            

              So let's  not waste our opportunity!  Whenever the "Witch-Hunters"
          bait us  or attempt to smear us with their cannibal taunts, let's find
          out what the real agenda is, and address it. Make the Lyndonite defend
          himself against whipping up the population against a minority religion
          as  Hitler stirred hatred against the Jews.  Make the entire La Rouche
          crew explain their suicidal environmental policies, and their editori-
          al statement that "the worship of Mother Earth does indirectly lead to
          mass  murder ..."  Engage them  on the  real issues  -- just  what the
          worship  of the Mother really  means, and what  people are really like
          that scapegoat innocents and despise nature!
             
              Likewise with the "Occult Crimewatch". Ask them about theirsources
          of revenue.  About their religious  agendas and connection  with Evan-
          gelical  missions. Ask the if  they support religious  freedom, and if
          non-Evangelical religious belief, in their opinion, is a hazard to the
          public.  Ask them, if you can corner  them into a frank reply, what on
          earth  they are  doing  lecturing hate  to  police officers  sworn  to
          protect all the public, Christian and Pagan!
             
              The media  deserve the same.  Let's not spend  more than a  breath
          denying lurid charges. Instead, ask them why they are sensationalizing
          and  smearing a  legitimate  religion to  make  sales. Inquire  as  to
          whether the German  press in  the 30's  had a  responsibility for  the
          slanders  on the Jews that they printed.  Ask them how they'll feel if
          harm  comes to  one Pagan  woman  or man,  girl or  boy through  their
          negligence, indifference to non sensational fact and search for sales.
             
              In every case  we have an opportunity to turn  the tide, by coming
          right out  with  our real  differences  in front  of the  public,  and
          insisting that  the terms  of  debate be  on genuine  issues. We  must
          refuse  to be  backed into  a defensive  posture, denying  ever wilder
          charges.
             
              Instead let us bring our active  advocacy and love of our Gods, of
          Mother  Earth, of our families and  children and ourselves to the fore
          in every debate.  We must require our opponents  to bare their genuine
          beliefs and  motives, and contrast them  clearly with our  own in full
          view. We must sharpen the terms of debate so keenly that no person can
          leave the  scene without having to  make a clear and  conscious choice
          about what they value and believe is right.

              There's  no point in lecturing  to the Cardinal.  The audience for
          every debate is not the Witch  Hunter, it is the neutral observer. Let
          them see the love of  the Earth, and contrast it to  nearsighted greed
          and poverty  of emotion.  Let them see  the love of  the Old  Gods and
          contrast it to a cringing fear  of the Father's judgment. Let them see
          generosity and intelligence and refusal to be sacrificed, and contrast
          them to venality, cunning and  scape goating. In every debate,  let us
          rise to the  height of our capability, and let our   opponents have it
          in the Values -- right where it hurts!

           



                                                                            1707
          

                                     Charging Crystals 
                                        Ian Kesser
             
              Crystals,as many of you know, are extremely useful for practition-
          ers  of the Magickal arts. They can be used to channel power, to store
          power, to  heal, and many other  ways. Due to space  considerations, I
          have chosen to limit myself to the charging aspect in this article.

              Thefirst and most important part of charging a crystal is choosing
          the crystal itself. For most general uses, Quartz is the best one. For
          specific use,  there are many others.  I have found that  Diamonds are
          useful  in storing Good energy, and Zircons (my birthstone!!) for Evil
          energy. If you have a specific  purpose in mind, please consult one of
          the many fine tables of crystal affinities.

              The next step, and also important, especially the first few times,
          is to  prepare yourself  for the  actual channeling  of energy.  In my
          case,  music helps, as  well as  pranayama and  other forms  of breath
          control. The first one I used is simple
            .
              Pranayama, simply,  is control  of  breath. Most  forms amount  to
          hyperventilation or  subventilation. The one  I used first,  and still
          use, is this:  take four  quick inhalations, filling  the lungs.  This
          should be over the space  of about one and a half seconds. Then exhale
          in four  short bursts, again  over one and  a half seconds.  Repeat as
          necessary. The  first few times this  is done, I  recommend you desist
          after  about one minute. Over the course  of time, this can and should
          be  increased, but  until you  are used  to the  effect this  gives, a
          shorter time is suggested.

              Now that you're in  the mood, take the crystal  in your right-hand
          (left hand  for those of you who are lefties). Visualize a door within
          the heart of the crystal. Until this visualization is firm and steady,
          wait. Then open  the door. Behind it you should see a store of diffuse
          energy,  which varies  with the  type of  the crystal.  Some crystals,
          usually the inferior ones, have little or nothing back here. These are
          generally not good to use.

              Close the door, but keep it in mind. That was just to check on its
          energy.  Decide which energy  you wish it  to house.  Usually only one
          will be  needed, such as for talismans and storage of energy for later
          use, but  in some cases, such  as a divination tool,  more is suggest-
          ed/required. DO NOT TRY THIS ON YOUR FIRST ATTEMPT! YOU WILL FAIL! The
          energy you  will be handling  is powerful,  and trying to  handle more
          than one world  at a time  is strenuous. Trying  to handle all  three,
          plus  personal and other energies, is  straining to the limit. As with
          all other bodily  systems, an  ability used beyond  its capacity  will
          overload and break or refuse to perform, as  with a man trying to lift
          300lb barbells on his first try at weight lifting.

              For general use, I  find nature's energy is best  for multipurpose
          storage. Those in the  Church of Set would probably  find differently,
          as would those in the Church of Christ. Use what you  feel comfortable
          with.



                                                                            1708
          


              Now, the  fun part. For the three major energies, I find there are
          certain ways of drawing them tat are easiest on the practitioner.  For
          Good energy, try it like this: Form a cone with the base connecting to
          your skull in the  region just between and above your eyebrows. "suck"
          the energy  (visualize it as you  will, I use a  light, golden yellow)
          into the cone, then through a tube into  your brain. The visualization
          on this is a bit tricky, but it can be done.

              For  Nature's energy, visualize a "hose" going down into the Earth
          from the base of your spine. This hose should ideally connect with the
          center  of the  Earth,  but some  people  simply cannot  conceive  the
          distance involved with that, and can therefore not visualize it. Go as
          deep as you can, with time, you should improve. I "see" this energy as
          a ruddy, glowing red, as with magma. Use what works.  Draw this energy
          up the tube, then through your spinal column into the brain.

              Now, the Evil energy. This is trickyfor me, but here's how I doit.
          Place the feet  together (if they already are, so  much the better! It
          means this  isn't uncomfortable for you, as it is for me.) and visual-
          ize a  siphon, with the hose  connecting to a cone  connecting to your
          feet, about two inches in diameter,  one inch on either foot. Then, on
          the other end,  a hose entering a  black, inky void(or whatever  color
          you perceive evil  energy to  be). One last  connection: another  hose
          running from that  area of your feet to  the previously mentioned area
          in the  skull. This aligns nicely  with the Chakra theory,  to which I
          subscribe, in that a Chakral spinal-type column connects all the major
          power  centers of  ones body.  If you  know this  system, so  much the
          better! Draw  the energy through the  siphon(sometimes visualizing the
          bulb on  the siphon  squeezing  helps) into  the feet,  then into  the
          skull, then into the brain.

              Other objects  you wish to  draw energy  from, use the  door anal-
          ogy/visualization given above( for powerful things such as  the Tarot,
          I see it as a  gate more than a door. Again, whatever  works for you),
          and draw from  your use hand. If you plan on  using that object again,
          take only  a token  amount of  energy, and DON'T  FORGET TO  CLOSE THE
          DOOR!

              Personal  energy: This  varies so  much with the  individual! Some
          people draw from  their auras, some  from the Chakras,  some from  the
          Astral Body. Just use  the method you feel most  comfortable with. For
          those of you who have no preference, or no knowledge of such things, I
          use the Astral approach.  I draw a bit of the substance  of the Astral
          body,  generally the feet, into the brain.  After I finish all else, I
          "spread out" the  Astral body to make up for  this loss. Astral bodies
          DO heal.

              Well, that's most of it. Draw  the energy you need, then draw from
          the crystal. Take it in  your use hand again, open that door, and take
          out the energy, and bring it to  the brain. Generally, I use the  hose
          again, connecting to  that spot in  the skull, but this  one generally
          runs INSIDE  y body, such  as along the arm  bones, then up   the neck
          bone. Mix the energy up. If it helps, visualize a  cosmic Cuisinart or
          whatever. If it  won't mix, like oil and water,  you have failed. This
          crystal will not  hold this  energy. Give  up, put  back the  crystals
          power,  ground yourself(later...),  and try  again later  with another
          energy.



                                                                            1709
            

              Once you've achieved  the mix, refill the  crystal. Sometimes, the
          energy won't go back in. This usually means you've put too much of the
          energy you're using in,  and not enough  of the crystal's own  energy.
          Bring it back to the brain, and remix. How  do you refill the crystal,
          you  ask? Switch hands on the crystal,  then visualize that handy hose
          again, but this time flow backwards, through the door. There will come
          a  point, especially early  on in your  practice, that  the crystal is
          full when you have energy  left over. Slam that door and  ground your-
          self(later...), don't  overfill it!  Doors have their  bursting point,
          and that's a wonderful way to destroy a good crystal.

              OK,  it's later. You've finished the job at hand (Applause, you've
          earned it!)  but have  all this  energy left! There  are many  ways of
          grounding energy, use  the one you are comfortable  with(I know I keep
          saying  that, but it bears  repeating. Don't do  anything against your
          Will). The one  I use  is simply grounding  it. Take that  handy-dandy
          all-purpose  hose again,  connect it  to the  base of  the spine,  and
          thence into  the  Earth. Flip  the switch  to reverse,  and push  that
          energy out! Be careful not to let out yourself as well!

            That's it. I hope you find this helpful to you.



                                                                            1710
          

                                     Tarot Divination 
                                         Tuppence
            
                Not long agoan on-line friend told methat he saw no reasonto use
          the  Tarot in divination; in fact, he felt that no one should use them
          for divination as this was a profane use of the cards. He preferred to
          use the cards solely for contemplation.
            
                At the time Idid not feel inclinedto respond to thisnarrow view,
          but after a night  of thinking about it, I  was prompted to write  the
          following in defense  of Tarot  Divination (and I  don't mean  fortune
          telling!)
            
             Divination:
             
              1) The art or  practice that seeks to  foresee or foretell  future
              events or  discover hidden  knowledge usually by  means of  augury
              (divination from omens) or by the aid of supernatural powers
                  2)Unusual insightor intuitiveperception (thesedefinitions from
          Webster's)
             
                According to theBrotherhood of Light there are fourmain uses for
          the Tarot:
             
              1) Science of Vibration
              2) Divination by cards
              3) Divination by number
                  4) Spiritual Science (themethod of putting the resttogether to
          develop a philosophy)
             
             Is it wrong to USE the cards?
             
              1) Playing cards is fun! Without such use perhaps Tarot would long
              ago have  died as other  games have faded  from use. Chess  may be
              considered to be a child's game or a highly developed intellectual
              discipline. The same is true of using the Tarot card's.
          
              2) Have you  ever played Taroc? It is a very interesting game like
              bridge  using the  Major Arcana as  Trumps...in profane  decks the
              court cards and majors may have two heads (to be read either up or
              down.) Some versions of the game have certain mystical aspects.
          
              3) In  studying the  history of the  Tarot you  will see that  the
              decks (except those belonging  to aristocrats who had hand-painted
              decks made for  them by  great artists)  used long  ago were  very
              primitive and  made from wood  cuts. We have  come far  from those
              crude  representations...but  the  ideas expressed  in  the  Tarot
              remain the same - they are still there in those early decks.
             
              4) Where  did the Tarot come from? We have only theory and conjec-
          ture:
             
              a) Ancient Egyptians
                    b) They always have existed buthave been revived from timeto
          time
              c) Gift of Divine Origin
              d) etc.



                                                                            1711
          

             It's validity and usefulness are what count
             
              a) it works when used
              b) it contains Universal symbology and archetypes found elsewhere
              c) it is numerically correct and  corresponds with ancient systems
              of wisdom (especially to the Qabala)
             
                10 = sephiroth (ace through 10 in the Minor Arcana)
                22 = paths (22 Major Arcana cards)
                4 = elements (four suits)
                (etc.)
             
                  The Tarot is MUCH  MORE than mere pictures on  pasteboard. The
          pictures  on the Tarot cards  are physical symbols  for spiritual con-
          cepts. One definition I use for the Tarot is as follows:
             
                  Asymbolic representationof ArchetypalForces and/orBeings which
          have always  existed and have been  identified and passed on  to us by
          ancient initiates  and which provide  a focus for  us to use  in self-
          initiation,  spiritual  development,  and  the  perception  of  hidden
          wisdom.
             
              A few notes regarding the above........
             
              1)  Jung says of Archetypes that they exist for us at birth...they
              emanate from the collective unconscious....they are NOT self-crea-
              ted or generated.
          
             2) Aleister Crowley says in his book the Book of Thoth:
          
           "Each card is, in a sense, a living being." "It is for the student to
             build these living stones into his living Temple."
             
             "...the cards of the Tarot are living individuals..."
             
                  "Howis he to blendtheir life with his? Theideal way is that of
          contemplation. But this  involves initiation of such  high degree that
          it  is impossible  to describe  the method  in this  place. Nor  is it
          attractive  or suitable  to most people.  The practical  everyday com-
          monplace way is divination."
             
            3) In Magick without Tears he says:
             
                  "...theTarot itself as a whole is an universal Pantacle...Each
          card,  especially this is true of the  Trumps, is a Talisman; ...It is
          evidently an Idea far too vast for any human mind to comprehend in its
          entirety. For it is 'the Wisdom whereby He (God) created the  worlds.'
          "
             
              As regards these Lively Forces:
             
              1.  These  Forces  can  communicate  with  us...or  rather we  can
              interpret  their  currents  through  our   subconscious  intuitive
              minds....this is  one use of divination  (and contemplation). This
              is the level, as Jung says, at which we are all connected.
           
              2.  These Forces can  be directed  by us  Magickally if we  are so
              trained. First we must master divination; then direction.
          



                                                                            1712
          

              3.  The Tarot  is a  Magickal Weapon  In  the hands  of a  trained
              initiate the mere  placement of  one card between  two others  can
              alter  the  forces involved  and  affect  physical (and  ethereal)
              reality.
          
              4. The  Tarot is  a philosophy  as well,  with an Ancient  Message
              about the Soul's journey.
             
              5. Yes, the Tarot is useful to study and contemplate....the colors
              and symbols  are specifically  designed and arranged  to stimulate
              things within us (forces, archetypes, subconscious).
          
              6.  The  Major Arcana  are especially  sacred  to us  because they
              represent the Paths, Steps,  Forces which are necessary for  us to
              rejoin the Godhead and attain enlightenment.
             
                  I maintain that the best wayto understand that the Tarot cards
          are  ALIVE and ACTIVE FORCES  is to USE/HANDLE/EXPERIENCE  them and so
          Divine (and perceive)  what they are all about. The  cards are a focus
          for our minds upon  forces which are ever-changing and  evolving (even
          as humankind is evolving).
             
                  We are fortunate that modern printing is  so good and that the
          Tarot decks and books which we have today are easily  available to us.
          This was  not always the  case for our  brothers and sisters  in times
          past. Today  one can afford  to smile  and say: "I  only need  to con-
          template  the cards to understand them." But  there is more to the use
          of  the cards in  Divination than many  have been taught;  for it is a
          mysterious process.
             
                  Just as one muststudy and practice upon amusical instrument to
          become a  virtuoso, so too  the Tarot  takes many years  of study  and
          practice to use  correctly. One  must be  well developed  spiritually,
          emotionally, and  intuitively, or (as  in music)  naturally gifted  to
          make full and accurate use of the cards in divination. In the hands of
          a gifted Diviner or Initiate the Tarot is a formidable  weapon. It can
          even talk and spell out sentences! Hence the Hebrew letters correspon-
          dence to the Major Arcana. However, since  we do not all learn in  the
          same ways....the Tarot may not be the DIVINATORY METHOD for everyone.-
          ..although everyone can learn from it and should study it.
             
              Other methods which may suit:
             
              a) Astrology
              b) Numerology
              c) I Ching
              d) Pendulum
              e) Runes
              f) etc.
             
                  Ashumankind evolves spiritually (and in other ways) so too the
          Tarot  evolves. Take  for  example the  reconstruction of  The Chariot
          (Arcanum VII) and The Devil (Arcanum XV) cards by Levi. He gave them a
          new  presentation based upon his advanced knowledge at the time. Also,
          note how  The Lovers (Arcanum VI)  has changed from earlier  decks. It
          still has the  same basic meaning,  but the  symbols have changed.  No
          longer  are there  two  women...one good  one  bad...with the  man  in
          between...now  it is two  people with an  Angel above them.  New Tarot
          decks continue to be made as our knowledge and understanding evolves.
             



                                                                            1713
              

                  A noteon The Book ofThoth, Aleister Crowley's Tarotdeck, is as
          seen by him from the Astral Plane. This is why it is so different from
          many  decks; why it is so striking;  and, why the energy felt has such
          strong effects upon many people.
             
                  Some cardscome and go....thereare morecards on theastral plane
          than we have on the physical....between the cards, above and below the
          cards are others...as with the Quaballa.
             
                  When workingwith the Tarot ifone is in aMagickal State (Asana,
          etc.) and  reads the cards it is a  Magickal or Divine (hence the term
          divination)  operation. I take the  forces into myself  when using the
          cards thus they affect me and I them.
             
                  Because ofthis knowledge, I respect the Tarot as a Living Thi-
          ng/Force and I do  not bother it with profane questions. I treat it as
          a Magickal Weapon  and thus  with care and  respect. Fortune  telling,
          while not wrong, is the profane use of the cards.
             
                  Contemplationof thecards isuseful; withoutDivination, however,
          one could not experience the forces within them in the same way. Also,
          there are hidden uses for the Tarot. The Tarot is indeed a Teacher. It
          is also  a door, a  gateway, an  entryway into other  realms which  is
          partly how it was used  in Egyptian Initiation Rites. We may use it in
          some of the ways listed below:
             
              1) Scrying/meditation
              2) Ritual (invocation and evocation)
              3) Works/spells
              4) Talisman use/focus
              5) Divination
             
                  Some of the goals of initiates(after perfecting divination and
          the Tarot's philosophy) are 1) to read with a blank deck  and to use a
          spread with no set meanings, and 2) to develop one's own Astral Deck.
             
                  Magick (in Theory and  Practice), Crowley's famous book, calls
          Divination an important branch of Magick, and defines it thusly:
             
               1. "We postulatethe existence of intelligence's, either within or
              without the diviner, of which he is not immediately conscious. (It
              does not matter to the theory whether the communicating spirit so-
              called is an  objective entity or a concealed portion of the divi-
              ner's  mind.) We assume that such intelligence's are able to reply
              correctly - within limits- to  the questions asked."
          
               2. "We postulate that it is possible to construct a compendium of
              hieroglyphs sufficiently  elastic  in  meaning  to  include  every
              possible idea, and  that one or more of these  may always be taken
              to represent any  idea. We  assume that any  of these  hieroglyphs
              will  be understood  by the  intelligence's with  whom we  wish to
              communicate in  the same  sense  as it  is by  ourselves. We  have
              therefore a sort of language...."
          
               3. "We postulate that the intelligence's whom we wish to  consult
              are willing, or may be compelled, to answer us truthfully."



                                                                            1714
              

                  He goes on to discuss divinationas shown in some of the quotes
          below:
             
                  "In a system of  divination each symbol stands for  a definite
          idea."
             
                "As regards theHoly Quaballa, based as it ison pure number, (it)
          evidently  possesses  an infinite  number  of  symbols.  Its scope  is
          conterminous with existence itself; and it lacks nothing in precision,
          purity, or indeed  any other perfection. But it cannot be taught, each
          man must  select for himself the  materials for the main  structure of
          his system."
            
                "It is always essentialfor the diviner to obtainabsolute magical
          control over the intelligence's of the system which he adopts."
            
                "Experienceis the only teacher. One acquires what one may almost
          call a new sense. One feels in one's self whether one is right or not.
          The diviner must develop this sense."
            
                "In order to divine without error,one ought to be a Master ofthe
          Temple. The  faintest breath of  personal preference will  deflect the
          needle from the pole of truth in the answer."
            
                "One mustprepare oneself by generalpurification and consecration
          devised  with the object  of detaching oneself  from one's personality
          and increasing the sensitiveness of one's faculties."
            
                "The muscles with which hemanipulates the apparatus ofdivination
          must be entirely independent of any volition of his. He must lend them
          for the moment to the intelligence whom he is consulting."
            
                (note:one of the first steps indivination is the invoking of the
          Angel HRU)
           
                "He must have succeeded in destroying the tendency of the ego to
          interfere with the object of thought. He must be able to conceive of a
          thing out of all relation with anything else."
            
                "He  should allow the question entire freedom to make for itself
          its own proper links with the intelligence directing the answer."
            
                "Hemust sink his personality in that of the intelligence hearing
          the question propounded  by a stranger to whom he  is indifferent, but
          whom it is his business to serve faithfully."
            
                "He should exhaust the intellectual sources ofinformation at his
          disposal, and  form from them his  judgment. But having  done this, he
          should  detach his mind from what it  has just formulated, and proceed
          to concentrate  it on the figure as a whole,  almost as if it were the
          object of his meditation."
            
                "The concluding operation istherefore to obtain a judgmentof the
          figure,  independent of all intellectual  or moral restraint. One must
          endeavor to apprehend it as a thing absolute in itself."



                                                                            1715
          

            
                "Divination is in one sense an art entirely separatefrom that of
          Magick; yet it interpenetrates Magick at every point. The  fundamental
          laws of  both are identical. The  right use of  divination has already
          been explained: but it must be added that proficiency therein, tremen-
          dous as is its importance in furnishing the Magician with the informa-
          tion necessary to his strategic and tactical plans, in no wise enables
          him  to  accomplish the  impossible.  It is  not  within the  scope of
          divination to predict the  future with the certainty of  an astronomer
          in calculating the  return of a comet. There is  always much virtue in
          divination."
            
             "One must not assume that the oracle is omniscient."
            
                "The Magician ought therefore to make  himself master of several
          methods of  divination; using one or  the other as the  purpose of the
          moment dictates.  He should make a point of organizing a staff of such
          spirits to suit various occasions. These should be 'familiar' spirits,
          in the strict sense; members of his family."
            
                "Divination ofany kind is improper inmatters directly concerning
          the Great Work  itself. In the Knowledge and Conversation  of his Holy
          Guardian Angel, the adept is possessed of all he can possibly need. To
          consult any other is to insult one's Angel."
            
                "Although the adept is in daily communication with his Angel, he
          ought to be  careful to consult  Him only on  questions proper to  the
          dignity of  the relation. One  should not  consult one's Angel  on too
          many details, or indeed on any matters which come within the office of
          one's  familiar  spirits. One  does  not go  to  the King  about petty
          personal trifles. The romance and rapture of the ineffable union which
          constitutes  Adeptship must  not be  profaned by  the introduction  of
          commonplace cares."
            
                Thus wemay use Divinationfor those worthy questionswhich we need
          answered but cannot find out in any other way...either through our own
          research or by the contacting of  one's Holy Guardian Angel. If we can
          attain  the necessary magickal states  discussed above and  if we com-
          plete the  necessary study and work  which he suggests, we  can become
          masters of Tarot Divination.



                                                                            1716
          

                         The Dangers Of Magical Thinking In Magick 
                                          Nihasa 
            .
              Magicalthinking is a psychological term for making a naive assump-
          tion of cause and effect  without consideration of intervening mechan-
          isms. In plain English,  it is the assumption that if  I do THIS, then
          THAT will  happen even  though I  have no idea  how or  why. Prominent
          examples  of magical  thinking can be  found in  Economics (if  we cut
          taxes  on the Corporations, they  will invest more  money in upgrading
          their  production facilities and create more jobs) and Politics. It is
          typical of the world-view of very  young children, who have a somewhat
          simplistic model of How-Things-Work.
            .
              To many outsiders,most Magick seems to bebuilt on this basis...so-
          me guy mutters some weird words and waves his hands and expects to get
          a lot  of money  soon (sounds  like a  Management Consultant, come  to
          think of it), or to make it rain, or to be rid of an enemy. Then  they
          shake their heads, call the Magick-users children or  worse, and go on
          with their lives.
            .
              Within real Magick-use, this  sort of sloppy thinking can  lead to
          anything  from  disappointing  'fizzles'  to  disastrous  misfires  of
          spells. Our  cultural heritage's are  filled with "monkey's  paw" type
          stories of the results of ill-thought-out Magick use. While dilettante
          New  Agers are more  likely to blindly  'cookbook' a spell  or ritual,
          some of us have been known to skip a few steps in the process as well.
            .
              Just think of the consequences of invoking Diana or Aphrodite in a
          ritual  designed to "keep those foolish women in their place." (Anyone
          remember "Good-bye, Charlie"?)
            .
              While I am not saying thatyou need to understand thephysics/chemi-
          stry/etc. of  each step down to  the subatomic level, I  am suggesting
          that  you think  through  each step  and  each mechanism  (and  likely
          consequences)  of any major working BEFORE you perform it. A black-box
          understanding  (detailed  knowledge of  the  inputs and  outputs  of a
          mechanism and  the relationship between them  without an understanding
          of the internal details  of the mechanism) is  usually enough for  mot
          purposes. For instance, if invoking or  evoking a deity, make sure you
          know  the strengths,  weaknesses, character,  and personality  of that
          deity. If  using herbs (ingested or  in balms or incense)  be sure you
          know the pharmacological  and combinational effects  of each. Most  of
          all, when  going for a long-term  effect think of the  ecology of that
          effect: where it can come  from and what it may causelater.  You can't
          always anticipate  all side  effects, and  you certainly can't  always
          avoid them,  but with a  bit of work you  can give yourself  a shot at
          handling them.
            .
              Do a  reality check before  you start a  working. If you  just pay
          attention to  the beginning (the ritual  or working) and the  end (the
          desired effect) and leave the rest to wishful thinking, you are asking
          for trouble.
            .
              NOTE:  The above  is an excerpt  of a  1988 seminar  on Magick and
          Psychology: Insights and Interactions.
             .



                                                                            1717
          

                                  Satanism As Media Hype 
                                       News article:

            From the Phoenix Gazette 24 June, 1989
                SCAPEGOAT: Satanism scareis mostly hype, experton cults says....
          by Michelle Bearden

              Judging  by Satan's popularity in news accounts and police reports
          these days, you'd think Satan had been elected to Congress  or won the
          Pulitzer Prize. But  it's not true, says J. Gordon Melton, director of
          the Institute for  the Study  of American Religion  in Santa  Barbara,
          Calif. and one  of the country's  leading experts  on cults. In  fact,
          there is no surge at all  in Satan's popularity. "The only surge we're
          seeing  is the  spread if  mis-information," Melton  says. "Malicious,
          suspicious, and ritualistic acts are being attributed to satanism, and
          people are buying into it."

              Melton has launched a one-man crusade to get what he considers the
          truth out to  the public. Using  an extensive survey  he completed  in
          1986 as his guide - "The Evidences of Satan in Contemporary America" -
          Melton makes his case frequently before groups and in interviews. Most
          misinformation regarding satanism comes out of police agencies, Melton
          maintains.  That's because, in the absence of true satanic groups, law
          officials have to blame "something concrete," he says.

              "What  we've got is creation of imagination, paranoia, and general
          ignorance,"  Melton says.  "We've got  wild speculation  and  jumps in
          logic. What we don't have is the truth. One story perpetuates another,
          and,  before  long, 'experts'  in  police  departments are  conducting
          seminars on a topic they don't really understand."

              At the Phoenix Police Department,  police spokesman Andy Hill says
          the  agency  analyzes every  incident that  has satanic  overtones. He
          blames a majority  of these crimes  on "kids  caught up in  experimen-
          tation." "It's  safe to say  that most  of it  isn't hard-core.  We're
          usually dealing with copycat  crimes," he says. " I  wouldn't consider
          satanism a  big problem here in  Phoenix. We know it  exists, but it's
          more underground than anything else."

              According to Melton, onlythree established satanic cults exist:The
          Church of  Satan, a San Francisco based  group headed by founder Anton
          LaVey; a splinter group, the Temple of Set, also in  San Francisco and
          headed by Michael  Aquino; and the Church of Satanic Liberation in New
          Haven, Conn., led by  Paul Douglas Valentine. Total membership  in all
          three  groups is "probably less  than 3,000," Melton  says. Those fol-
          lowers are the true  satanists, and their numbers haven't  varied much
          in the last two decades, he says.
              Many of the acts blamed on satanism are committed by teenagers who
          are bound together b drugs and violence rather than demons. While they
          may use  satanic imagery in their  deeds, Melton says they  are "play-
          acting" the role  of worshipping  the Prince of  Darkness. "It's  true
          we're hearing a lot of satanic references in today's music, but that's
          pure commercialism," he says. "Just because your teenager gets wrapped
          up in certain rock'n'roll doesn't mean he's into the occult."

              Someof the conclusions that support Melton's studies to combat the
          theory of international satanic conspiracy include:



                                                                            1718
          

            * The existence of a large  number of nonconventional religions, such
              as  cults, that  have  nothing to  do  with occultism,  much  less
              satanism.

            * The growth of witchcraft as a new religion and how it is   confused
              with  satanism.  Melton  labels  contemporary Wicca  as  a  nature
              religion that places great emphasis upon the preservation  of life
              and non- violence.

            *  Reports of cattle  mutilations, which  ignore the  facts that most
              are mistaken observations of predator damage.

            *  The  discovery of  common  symbols,  such  as  an inverted  cross,
              pentagrams, and  bloody altars,  which lead investigators  to con-
              clude that satanic activity has taken  place. However, no evidence
              of any  conspiracy involving the kidnapping  and transportation of
              children for ritual purposes has emerged.

            * Fantasies of people who make  "confessions" of their involvement on
              satanic cults.Typically, they cannot supply independent corrobora-
              tion of the stories.

              Moreover,a good portion of the mis-information on satanism - which
          Melton says is really a "parody of religion" - comes  out of evangeli-
          cal Christian publishing houses. With that bias, "it;s easy to see how
          misinformation breeds," he says.

                Melton contends that opensatanic groups pose no publicthreat. If
          there is cause for concern,  it would be the small, ephemeral  satanic
          groups, mostly consisting  of young adults  or teenagers and  possibly
          led by psychopaths  or sociopaths.  "These are the  groups that  cause
          immediate  danger to  themselves and  society at  large. That's  where
          police  should  be  concentrating their  efforts,"  he  says. "In  the
          meantime, we've got  to get out of this satanic  mentality and get our
          labels straight."



                                                                            1719
          

                   Why I Don't Believe The "Survivors" Of Occult Groups 
                                    by Rowan Moonstone

              Recently onthis echo, several people have taken Pagans to task for
          naysaying the  Christian sources dealing with  former practitioners of
          various occult disciplines. I have researched this area thoroughly for
          the past  five years. I've bought  or read all the  Christian books on
          the subject that I can get my hands on. I have over 1,000 clippings in
          the files dealing with this subject, I've got over 100 audio tapes and
          20 videotapes on this subject, and I've got reams of Christian litera-
          ture, and police training material to  draw from. In addition to this,
          I grew up as a Southern Baptist and was a Sunday School teacher at the
          age of 16. I know whereof I speak when it comes to Christian sources.

              I've also  been a Witch for nigh on to  8 years now, and have net-
          worked with other Pagans all across the country, attended festivals in
          various states, and subscribed to many Pagan publications both in this
          country and abroad. I've read  many books on modern and ancient  Pagan
          religions, and can  furnish a complete bibliography  for anyone that's
          interested.

              After a concentrated search through this material, I must conclude
          that most of  the allegations  of the "survivors"  are fabricated  and
          insupportable.  In the  rest of  this report,  I will  give documented
          reasons why I believe this to be true.

              6-17-82 -Province Victoria Bulletin - "A misunderstanding appeared
          to be  the root of  a satanic scare  in Victoria this  weekend, police
          sources said Wednesday. Police, hospitals and human resources ministry
          workers had gone on the alert following a report that  a satanic group
          was  planning Tuesday  to  sacrifice a  human  baby. The  report  came
          through the  child abuse prevention  HELP line in  Vancouver. Victoria
          police said they had traced the source of the report to a church group
          in  Vancouver.  The group  apparently had  heard rumors  of a  rise in
          satanic activities in Victoria and had prayed that no atrocities would
          occur. Somehow someone interpreted  that to mean that a  sacrifice was
          actually  planned, police  said. That was  the report that  got to the
          HELP  line. However, Tuesday passed peacefully with no evidence of any
          satanic activity. "
            
              5-4-86 - New York  Times-" Derry Knight told an  astonishing story
          about his  membership in  a secret  Satanic  cult called  the Sons  of
          Lucifer and his heroic efforts to take over the leadership of the cult
          to free himself and  2,000 members from the coils of the  devil. As he
          told it, it was an incredibly dangerous  mortal struggle he was waging
          against  the most  evil forces  in the  universe, personified  by some
          prominent politicians,  including Viscount Whitelaw, the  deputy Prime
          Minister, who were, he  said, the secret masters of  Britain's Satanic
          orders ... In little  more than a year, before Mr. Knight's activities
          aroused the suspicions of  Bishop Eric Kemp of Chichester,  who called
          in  the police  fraud squad,  the support  group contributed  at least
          $313,000  to the  anti-Satanism  struggle. A  jury that  convicted Mr.
          Knight April  25 of 19  counts of fraud heard  that much of  the money
          raised by Mr. Baker had been spent by his supposedly struggling friend
          on call girls, fast cars,  and a life of dissipation."



                                                                            1720
          


              January 1988 New York Folklore"Satanism, Where are thefolklorists?
          by  Phillips Stevens, Jr. p 12 (  Mr. Stevens is referring to a murder
          of a 13-year  =old girl in this incident) "While  preparing me for the
          taping of some commentary  to be aired locally following  the National
          Geraldo Rivera  TV special on  Satanic cults  on October 25,  1988, an
          investigative reporter  for a Buffalo  TV station was  discussing That
          incident [the murder].  There were 13  people at that party,  he said,
          the  murdered girl being the 13th. Since  the murder, six of the party
          goers had committed suicide.....I  noted that it was strange  that six
          suicides  with such a  factor in common  had not been  reported in the
          news;  how did  he know  the details?  The mother  of the  most recent
          suicide had told him. ...I advised him to wait and check out the facts
          before airing this story; he called me a few days later saying no, the
          other suicides could not be confirmed."

              1-19-89 Joplin Missouri  Globe News (front page) -  "Jasper County
          Sheriff Bill Pierce said he had no figures available on  how much time
          and money that department  has spent investigating claims. He  cited a
          November case as an  example of the fruitless searches  that have been
          undertaken  because of  claims  eventually  fount  to be  false.  ...a
          Blytheville, Ark. woman told authorities there she had watched satanic
          cultists cut  the stomach of an infant, pour gasoline on the baby, and
          set  it on fire....After agreeing to take a polygraph examination, the
          woman  admitted the story  was false. She  told deputies she  made the
          false accusations to get attention."

              3=6=89 - HoustonChronicle - "A Houston -area womanwho claims to be
          a  former satanic priestess and  has told audiences  she witnessed the
          ritualistic murder of an 8-year-old Tomball girl has left law enforce-
          ment officers  frustrated in their attempts to investigate her allega-
          tions. 'We have  no homicide to link  it to. Why she  would make those
          claims and  then be  hesitant to  talk with  authorities is  reason to
          question  her motives,'  Harris  County Assistant  D.A. Casey  O'Brien
          said"
            
              The previous three messages should tell you why I don't believe in
          the  hysteria being  generated.  If anyone  wants  to see  the  entire
          articles that these quotes were taken from, send a SASE  with 3 stamps
          to P. O. Box 1842, Colorado Springs, Co 80901. BB Rowan
            
           



                                                                            1721
          

                             "22 Commandments" For The New Age 
                                       Ann Waldrum 

            1. You shall learn of Honesty  and attempt to heal your fear of  it,
              to use this in daily living.
            2. You  shall learn  to Love  Unconditionally--beginning with  your-
              self.
            3. You shall help all people  in your worlds come to physical  heal-
              ing.
            4. You shall dwell  on things of high and pure  energy in others and
              self to change Earth.
            5. You will  learn and practice  Pure Service  -- unconditional  and
              with love energy.
            6. You will release  Judgment into the Void--You will  see, identify
              and choose for yourself Only.
            7. You will  Recognize One God  --the God  that corresponds to  your
              vision.
            8. You will destroy no  one in any way -- through  gossip -- through
              killing  their gifts  -- discouraging  self love  by injuring  the
              physical body by foreign substance -- incorrect foods -- incorrect
              labor.
            9.  You will  use your  mind in  the way  the Source  prepared -- by
              faithfulness of prayer -- by study and spiritual growth.
            10. You will learn self discipline so that you respond to  the Earth
              with wisdom.
            11. You will take full  responsibility for your own life  -- blaming
              no other.
            12. You will seek  to learn about your God --  seeing the Connection
              clearly.
            13. You  will  be  known for  your  Gentleness, your  Loyalty,  your
              Kindness, according to your beliefs.
            14. You will grow in Peace  by change of attitude and  understanding
              of others.
            15. You  will learn to  respond and act  from the Highest  Center of
              Inner God -- the Love Response.
            16.  You will learn to Love All Mankind by seeing the Highest in all
              people without exception.
            17.  You  will promote  the healing  of  Mind, Body,  and  Spirit by
              teaching and living the belief in Man's Divinity.
            18.  You will show  faithfulness in your study  of yourself and your
              persona (masks) in order to Free All Parts of Self.
            19. You will Live your life as ordained by your faithfulness  to the
              Truth, as you understand the Truth.
            20. You will Speak in Love, Honesty and Wisdom.
            21. You will Think in Love, Honesty and Wisdom.
            22.  You will  live  in Moderation  (Balance) in  All Areas  of your
              life.



                                                                            1722
          


                Theforegoing was delivered on July 20, 1989, through the trance-
          mediumship  of  Carla Neff  Gordan by  the  Spirit Guide  "Mary." Mary
          stated that these ideas will also be released through other mediums in
          six different areas of  the world. In preface to  these "Commandments"
          Mary said the following:

                "Youare a loving,connected community oflike-minded souls assist-
          ing  through our inner connection. You are becoming a profound  source
          of awakening for  your world. These rules are to  open your hearts, to
          teach  you self-love,  to calm  your emotion  to help  you to  live in
          reality that you have wished. To grow, first you must  become a source
          of  service. There  must  be a  difference in  earth because  you have
          walked  here. Now is  the time of  shifting your energy  into a higher
          place through  unconditional love. A part  of your purpose  is to heal
          the earth  through holy, or  wholeness, relationships. You  will begin
          now."

            



                                                                            1723
          

                        Risk Assessment Within The Craft Community 
                                     By Weyland Smith


                  There seems to betwo schools of thought within the "Craft Com-
          munity"  concerning the dangers faced by Pagans in general and witches
          in particular.  One school thinks that we  are now in the  Age of Aqu-
          arius  and that all  danger has passed.  The other camp  seems to feel
          that we  are beset  with  dangers and  that our  only  safety lies  in
          remaining "the hidden  children of the Goddess", telling no one of our
          religious faith (including our  fellow practitioners), and being ready
          to fly or fight on a moment's notice. Who's right? Do we know? Have we
          even tried to find out?

                On theone hand, we live in a countrywith a Bill of Rights. Times
          have  certainly changed  since  witchcraft was  a  hanging offence  in
          Massachusetts. People have been known to proclaim their faith and live
          unmolested. On the other hand, there are about 3 million people in the
          United States who profess themselves to believe that the Bible  is the
          literal word  of God. If Leviticus says "Thou shalt not suffer a witch
          to live.",  then there should be  3 million people out  there ready to
          drag me out of my house and kill me.

                Fortunately, the answer  does not  lie with  either extreme  and
          therefore our reaction should  likewise avoid either extreme position.
          We live  in a world  beset by  dangers. We could  be in a  traffic ac-
          cident.  We could  have  our house  burglarized.  Our child  could  be
          abducted on the  way home from school. We could  be struck by lighten-
          ing. Do we stay  home, guard the house and family and avoid living? Of
          course not!

                What we DOis to act in sucha way as to recognize therisks we run
          and to minimize them. We try to live in reasonably safe neighborhoods.
          We keep  good locks on our  doors. We drive defensively  and wear seat
          belts.  We teach our children to run from threatening situations. This
          isn't paranoia, just good sense.

                  Is thereany danger that we as witches and pagans might be sub-
          jected to another  violent suppression? Any Jew with an  eye to recent
          history would tell  you that of course there is!  Is that danger great
          here  in this  country? Not  at  present, but  we do  live in  a world
          subject  to  rapid changes.  Within  my lifetime,  people  of Japanese
          extraction in this country  were summarily rounded up and  shipped off
          to  remote camps.  This action  was contested  all the  way up  to the
          Supreme Court to no avail.



                                                                            1724
          

             
             So what should we do?

                Well for a  start, recognize  that there is  SOME residual  risk
          whenever anyone  takes an  ethical position.  We must  understand that
          this risk is present whether we think it should be so or not. Further,
          we must each decide what level  of hazard we are personally willing to
          run and to  which we would  subject our families.  Finally, we  should
          avoid doing anything which might subject ourselves and those around us
          to  risks when such risks are avoidable. Especially, we should respect
          one another's right  to manage his own dangers. Just  because I choose
          to take a risk doesn't give me the right to endanger you!

                Should wereturn to living ourlives under perpetual cover?I  hope
          not. But I do respect the individual rights of my brothers and sisters
          of  the Art to  each make that  decision on  their own. It  is on this
          middle  ground  where I  suggest we  should all  try  to live  for the
          present.

            



                                                                            1725
          

                            Supreme Court And Peyote (Articles) 

                The following 13 messages,  retrieved from PeaceNet, discuss the
          recent Supreme Court ruling  permitting states to prohibit sacramental
          use of peyote.
             
                Supreme Court Continues Chipping Away At Citizen's 1st Amendment
          Rights, Part 1.
            
                Excerpts fromthe following articledetailing the April17th ruling
          by the US  Supreme Court which decided that Native  Americans could no
          longer use peyote in their religious practices:
             
                  "For all practical purposes,a majority of the SupremeCourt has
          eliminated  the Free Exercise clause  of the First  Amendment from our
          Bill  of Rights,"  said  American Jewish  Congress Executive  Director
          Henry Siegman.
             
                "The court's decision in the peyote case can have the  most far-
          reaching consequences  for all religions, but  primarily for religious
          minorities," continued  Siegman. "It is precisely  such minorities the
          Bill of Rights sought to protect,  for it is they who are particularly
          vulnerable to the depredations of momentary and localized majorities."
             
                  Dr.Robert L. Maddox, executive directorof Americans United for
          Separation of Church and State,  said the "Smith" ruling is  cause for
          concern...
             
                "We  are concerned," he continued, "that this ruling will have a
          negative effect on minority religions. Mainstream faiths will probably
          have  little  difficulty getting  the  exemptions  they need;  smaller
          groups with less political influence will  have a tougher time of  it.
          That is unfortunate. Religious freedom should  not be left to the whim
          of state and federal lawmakers.

                "No one wants anarchy in the name of religion," headded, "but do
          we really want more  and more government regulation of  religion? What
          bothers  us  most is  the movement  away  from individual  liberty and
          toward statism--whatever the government wants, goes."
             [2]
                The following article appeared in the June 1990 issue of "Church
          and State", a publication of Americans United for Separation of Church
          and State, 8120 Fenton St., Silver Spring, MD, 20910, and is reprinted
          here w/permission.
             



                                                                            1726
          

          The Day 'Sherbert' Melted 
          by Rob Boston 
             
             
                  Discarding A 27-Year-Old Test For Religious Liberty Cases, The
          Supreme Court  Says  Government  May  Restrict  Religiously  Motivated
          Conduct
             
                Alfred Smithconsiders himselfapolitical; he's noteven registered
          to vote. But, in light of what the Supreme Court did April 17, the 70-
          year-old Oregonian is ready to jump into politics in a big way.
             
                The highcourt ruled 6-3 thatday that Native Americansdo not have
          a constitutional right to  use the drug peyote during  their religious
          ceremonies. Smith, one  of the  plaintiffs who helped  bring the  case
          before  the nation's highest court, is angry  enough to take his fight
          to the polls.
             
                "I'm encouraging all peopleto register and vote thisyear," Smith
          said. "This  is the time for it.  I have never voted  before because I
          don't care to  condone the system, but  I have made a stand  here with
          this case."
             
                The  political route Smith proposes  may be one  many members of
          minority  religions are forced  to take in  the future, thanks  to the
          Supreme Court's decision  in the "Employment Division v.  Smith" case.
          The justices' ruling marks an abrupt shift in free exercise jurisprud-
          ence, granting government broad new powers over religious practices.
             
                What makes the "Smith"decision so significant is thatin reaching
          it  five justices voted to abandon the court's doctrine of "compelling
          state interest,"  a move with far-reaching  implications for religious
          liberty.
             
                In a nutshell, the 27-year-old doctrine says that the government
          can restrict religious freedom only when it proves there is a compell-
          ing interest to do so and  that there is no less intrusive alternative
          available to achieve the  state's goals. The judicial rule grew out of
          the  1963  "Sherbert v.  Verner" decision  and  is usually  called the
          "Sherbert" Test.
             
                Inthe recent peyote case the court rejected the "Sherbert" stan-
          dard in  favor of  a much narrower  test, holding that  government may
          offer religiously  based exemptions from generally  applicable laws if
          it chooses, but it is under no constitutional obligation to do so.
             
                Wrote Justice Antonin Scaliafor the majority, "We havenever held
          that an individual's religious beliefs excuse him from compliance with
          an  otherwise valid law prohibiting conduct that  the State is free to
          regulate."

                Scalia went on to  say that applying the doctrine  of compelling
          state  interest in the peyote  dispute and similar  cases would create
          "a  private right to ignore generally applicable laws [which would be]
          a  constitutional  anomaly." Rigorous  application  of the  "Sherbert"
          approach, he said, would be "courting anarchy."
             



                                                                            1727
          


                Later in the opinion, Scalia admitted that the ruling will force
          minority  religious  groups to  seek  relief from  oppressive  laws by
          lobbying elected officials, and some may fail in their efforts. But he
          excused this as unavoidable. "It may fairly be said," observed Scalia,
          "that leaving accommodation to  the political process will place  at a
          relative disadvantage  those religious  practices that are  not widely
          engaged in; but that  unavoidable consequence of democratic government
          must be preferred to a  system in which each conscience is  a law unto
          itself  or in  which judges  weigh the  social importance of  all laws
          against the centrality of all religious beliefs."
             
                The  court majority  acknowledged that judicial  exemptions from
          neutral laws have  sometimes been granted for  religious reasons. But,
          Scalia argued, such exemptions have generally been granted in conjunc-
          tion with another constitutional right--such as free speech. He called
          these examples  "hybrids" and  implied they are  special cases.  Other
          than that, said Scalia,  the only legal disputes where  the "Sherbert"
          analysis has  been applied consistently and  usefully are unemployment
          compensation rulings, such as the line of  decisions approving jobless
          benefits for  workers who  are fired  for refusing  to  work on  their
          sabbath.

                Ironically the  "Smith" case involved just  such an unemployment
          controversy.  It started  in 1984  when Smith,  a Klamath  Indian, and
          another man,  Galen W. Black, a non-Indian, were fired from their jobs
          as  drug counselors after the agency they  worked for learned the pair
          had  used the  drug peyote  during ceremonies  in the  Native American
          Church.

                The Council on Alcoholand Drug Abuse Prevention Treatment(ADAPT)
          had a policy stating that  all employees must be drug free.  Smith and
          Black thought  an exemption would be  made for their religious  use of
          peyote, a mild hallucinogen derived from some cactus plants, but ADAPT
          officials saw things differently: Both men were dismissed.

                  When Smithand Black subsequently appliedfor unemployment bene-
          fits, they  were  turned down.  Officials  with the  state  Employment
          Dvision said the  two had been fired for misconduct  and therefore did
          not qualify. The duo took the case to the courts.
             
                Fouryears later the OregonSupreme Court ruledthat the ceremonial
          use of peyote is permissible under  state law and is even protected by
          the  First Amendment. The Supreme Court's recent action overturns that
          decision.
             
                The "Smith" majority drew upon  a somewhat unusual alignment  of
          justices. Scalia, Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justices Anthony
          Kennedy  and Byron  R. White  were predictable  allies. All  four have
          argued  for a  narrower  reading of  the  First Amendment's  religious
          liberty clauses.
              
                Justice John Paul Stevens, however, provided the key fifth vote.
          Stevens, often  thought of  as a member  of the court's  liberal wing,
          favors a strict separationist reading of the Establishment Clause, but
          has argued  in past cases  for a  less expansive reading  of the  Free
          Exercise Clause.
             



                                                                            1728
             

                Justice Sandra Day O'Connor concurredin the "Smith" outcome, but
          wrote  a separate dissent that accused  the majority of going too far.
          "Although I  agree with the result  the Court reaches in  this case, I
          cannot join  its opinion,"  asserted O'Connor.  "In  my view,  today's
          holding dramatically departs from well-settled First Amendment jurisp-
          rudence, appears unnecessary to resolve the question presented, and is
          incompatible with our  Nation's fundamental  commitment to  individual
          religious  liberty." The free exercise of religion, O'Connor added, is
          a  "preferred constitutional activity,"  entitled to "heightened judi-
          cial scrutiny." The "Sherbert" Test, she continued, has worked well to
          "strike  sensible balances  between  religious liberty  and  competing
          state interests."

                Justices Harry A. Blackmun, William  J. Brennan Jr. and Thurgood
          Marshall indicated  agreement with  O'Connor's opinion, although  they
          said  they  would have  gone further  and  upheld the  Native American
          Church  members' claim. The  court's liberal wing  criticized the maj-
          ority for "mischaracterizing this  Court's precedents" and engaging in
          a  "wholesale  overturning  of  settled law  concerning  the  Religion
          Clauses of our Constitution."

                Wrote Blackmun, "One hopes that the Court is aware of the conse-
          quences, and  that its result is not a product of over-reaction to the
          serious problems the country's drug crisis has generated."
             
                The  justice insisted that ritual peyote use by Native Americans
          could be tolerated  without jeopardizing the nation's campaign to curb
          drug abuse. He  noted that  the federal government  allowed the  Roman
          Catholic Church to employ sacramental  wine at masses during  Prohibi-
          tion.

                  Said Blackmun, "Ido notbelieve the Foundersthought theirdearly
          bought freedom from religious persecution a 'luxury,' but an essential
          element  of liberty--and  they  could not  have thought  religious in-
          tolerance 'unavoidable,' for they drafted the Religion Clauses precis-
          ely in order to avoid that intolerance."

                Even though the case dealt with the sensitive issue of drug use,
          several  religious organizations  had sided  with the  Native American
          Church members, most notably the American Jewish Congress, which filed
          a friend-of-the-court brief in support of Smith and Black.

                "For all practical purposes, a majority of the Supreme Court has
          eliminated  the Free Exercise clause  of the First  Amendment from our
          Bill of Rights," said AJC Executive Director Henry Siegman.

                "The court's decision in the peyote case can have the most  far-
          reaching consequences for all religions, but primarily for   religious
          minorities," continued  Siegman. "It is precisely  such minorities the
          Bill of  Rights sought to protect, for it is they who are particularly
          vulnerable to the depredations of momentary and localized majorities."

                Three  weeks after the  decision the AJC  and an extraordinarily
          diverse  coalition of  religious and  civil liberties  groups  filed a
          petition for  rehearing before the  Supreme Court. The  petition urged
          the justices to hear the case again so the organizations will have the
          opportunity to address their  free exercise concerns in friend-of-the-
          court briefs.



                                                                            1729
             

                Groups joining the  AJC include: the Baptist  Joint Committee on
          Public  Affairs, the National  Council of  Churches, the  National As-
          sociation of  Evangelicals, People  for  the American  Way, the  Pres-
          byterian  Church  U.S.A.,  the  American Civil  Liberties  Union,  the
          Christian Legal Society, the American Jewish Committee, the Unitarian-
          Universalist  Association, the  General Conference of  the Seventh-day
          Adventist Church, the Worldwide Church of God and the Lutheran Church,
          Missouri  Synod. Americans United  for Separation of  Church and State
          also signed the petition.

                Attorney OliverS. Thomas of theBaptist Joint Committee saidit is
          important that religious  and civil liberties  groups have the  oppor-
          tunity  to express  their  views to  the  court. He  said the  court's
          abandonment of the "Sherbert" Test could have a wide impact.

                "Taxation ofchurch assets, regulationof church schoolsand child-
          care centers, zoning and other land-use questions are all areas of the
          law  where we've  relied upon  the compelling  state interest  test to
          provide  churches with  exemptions,"  Thomas told  the Baptist  Press.
          "With a stroke of his  pen, Justice Scalia has overturned 27  years of
          legal precedent and  made the 'first  liberty' a constitutional  step-
          child."

                The Rutherford  Institute, a  conservative legal aid  group that
          frequently litigates  free exercises cases,  was also dismayed  by the
          ruling. Said Institute President  John W. Whitehead in a  press state-
          ment, "Justice Scalia's  opinion rejects the notion that free exercise
          of religion  is a preferred  right. Rather,  in most situations  it is
          valid only when coupled with another constitutional right.

                "Armed  with this opinion, a state may draft a law that violates
          religious liberty,  claim it  is `religiously  neutral' and  those af-
          fected by it may have no recourse under the Constitution."

                Constitutional scholars wereparticularly amazed that themajority
          in the peyote case  relied heavily on "Minersville School  District v.
          Gobitis," a  1940 Supreme Court  decision that said  Jehovah's Witness
          children  in  public schools  could be  forced  to say  the  Pledge of
          Allegiance.  "Gobitis" was  overturned three years  later in  the "Ba-
          rnette" decision and has been roundly criticized ever  since as one of
          the court's biggest mistakes.
             
                    Observed Douglas Laycock, law professor at the University of
          Texas, "The court  repeatedly quotes "Gobitis" without noting  that it
          was  overruled in "Barnette," and  without noting that  it triggered a
          nationwide outburst  of violence  against Jehovah' s  Witnesses. Until
          the opinion in this case, "Gobitis" was thoroughly discredited."

                But not all courtwatchers were chagrined by the ruling. Jules B.
          Gerard, a constitutional law professor at Washington University in St.
          Louis, told Religious News Service  there has been a lot of  overreac-
          tion. Gerard  said the decision  "overturns very  little" and  accused
          those who have protested it of "hysterical talk."

                Bruce Fein,  a conservative  constitutional  scholar, went  even
          further,  applauding the ruling in a column in "The Washington Times."
          Fein  wrote, "It  is both counter-intuitive  and contrary  to American
          political experience to suppose the "Smith" ruling portends an epitaph
          for  religious tolerance  and  accommodation  in generally  applicable



                                                                            1730
          

          legislative enactments. And  when religion must yield  to secular law,
          the former continues to prosper."
             
                Fein went on to saythat religions can drop fundamentaltenets and
          still survive, pointing out that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-
          day  Saints  (the  Mormons) in  1890  dumped  its  support for  plural
          marriage after the  Supreme Court  refused to allow  the practice  for
          religious reasons.
             
                  Conservative columnist  George Will also was  pleased with the
          "Smith" decision.  "A central purpose of  America's political arrange-
          ments is the subordination of religion to the political order, meaning
          the primacy  of democracy,"  he observed.  "The  Founders, like  Locke
          before  them, wished to tame and domesticate religious passions of the
          sort that convulsed Europe....Hence, religion is  to be perfectly free
          as  long as it is perfectly private--mere  belief--but it must bend to
          the political will (law) as regards conduct."
             
                However, Dr.  Robert L. Maddox, executive  director of Americans
          United  for Separation of Church and State, said the "Smith" ruling is
          cause for concern.
             
                "If a majority ofthe justices did not believe theNative American
          Church members  had a valid  claim, they could  have rejected  them by
          relying on  the doctrine of  compelling state interest,"  said Maddox.
          "But  a majority chose to  go much further,  effectively weakening the
          protection the court has extended to religious free exercise.

                "We  are concerned," he continued, "that this ruling will have a
          negative effect on minority religions. Mainstream faiths will probably
          have  little  difficulty getting  the  exemptions  they need;  smaller
          groups with less political influence will  have a tougher time of  it.
          That is unfortunate. Religious freedom should  not be left to the whim
          of state and federal lawmakers.
             
                "No one wants anarchy in the name of religion," he added, "but d
          we really want more  and more government regulation of  religion? What
          bothers  us  most is  the movement  away  from individual  liberty and
          toward statism--whatever the government wants, goes."
             
                The decision  has already  had a  practical consequence  for one
          minority  faith. Just six days after the "Smith" ruling, the justices,
          by a  7-2 vote,  ordered the Minnesota  Supreme Court to  reconsider a
          recent decision it made exempting an Amish group from complying with a
          highway safety law.

                Members of theOld Order Amish had protesteda state law requiring
          them to display orange safety triangles on their horse-drawn  buggies.
          The Amish said  the bright  symbols violated their  belief in a  plain
          lifestyle. The  Minnesota high court  agreed in  1989, but now  may be
          forced to reverse the "State v. Hershberger" decision  in light of the
          "Smith" ruling.
             
                In Eugene, Ore.,  meanwhile, Al Smith has  no more faith  in the
          courts. After  joining about 100 people  in a protest of  the decision
          that bears  his name at a Eugene federal building April 20, Smith told
          reporters  he  is  backing  proposed legislation  suggested  by  state
          representative Jim



                                                                            1731
             

                Edmunson of Eugene thatwould allow Native Americans touse peyote
          in religious rituals in Oregon. If that fails, Smith  said, the Oregon
          Supreme Court  could decide Native American peyote  use is permissible
          under the state constitution.
             
                Smith told"Church & State" heis also working withNative American
          groups  in the  United States  that are  considering filing  a protest
          before the International  Court of Justice (commonly called  the World
          Court) in The Hague, Netherlands.
             
                "The UnitedStates is saying theoriginal people of thisland can't
          worship," Smith told Church & State. "We  were worshipping a long time
          before the white man ever set foot on this turtle island. 

                "The issue  is not dead, by no means," continued Smith. "I'm not
          giving up; I have committed no crime. It's not  a crime to pray in the
          old way."
             
                KOYAANISQATSI ko.yan.nis.qatsi(from theHopi Language) n.1. crazy
          life.  2.life in turmoil. 3. life out of balance. 4. life disintegrat-
          ing. 5. a state of life that calls for another way of living.

             __________________
            
                Excerpts from the following article analyzing the effects the US
          Supreme Court  ruling on the Native American Church's use of peyote as
          being illegal:
             --------------------------------
            
                  Native American churchmembers stripped oftheir rights underthe
          Constitution are now subject to the will of the legislative  branch of
          our  state and federal governments.  Not an enviable  place for Indian
          people;  as  a distinct  racial  and religious  minority  Indians have
          always had an uphill  struggle in the halls of Congress  and elsewhere
          to have their rights recognized and respected.
             
                  The legislativebranch ofany governmentis anexceedingly unusual
          place for individuals  to look  to have their  rights under the  First
          Amendment vindicated. Courts are traditionally looked to as protectors
          of these rights, against  majoritarian legislatures. Justice O'Connor,
          in  a separate  concurring  opinion which  joined  the result  of  the
          majority but sharply criticized  its method, reasoned that  "the First
          Amendment  was  enacted precisely  to  protect  those whose  religious
          practices  are not  shared  by the  majority and  may  be viewed  with
          hostility."

                As a result of "Smith," minority religions,  in Justice Scalia's
          opinion, may be at a disadvantage in the political arena. But that is,
          in his  estimation, "an unavoidable consequence  of democratic govern-
          ment," preferable  to "a system in which each conscience is a law unto
          itself." Justice Scalia had  to strain to defend his  decision, citing
          the need to prevent "anarchy" in our democratic society. Indian

                people simply want to be left alone in our societyto worship the
          god of their choice. Is that  asking too much? The Court's decision in
          "Smith" strips Indians of their pride and integrity, and makes many of
          them criminals in  the eyes of  the law. Only  history will judge  the
          Court's decision in "Smith;" but for now the remote specter of anarchy
          may very well have been the preferred choice.



                                                                            1732
          



                                                                            1733
          

             ------------------------

                The following article appearedin the Spring 1990 issueof "Native
          American  Rights  Fund  Legal Review",  a  publication  of  the Native
          American Rights Fund,
                1506 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80302, andis reprinted here w/permis-
          sion.
             ------------------------
             
          Supreme Court Deals Devastating Blow to Native American Church 

          by Steve Moore 
             
             
                On Tuesday, April 17,1990, the United States SupremeCourt struck
          a gut wrenching blow to the  religious lives of many of this country's
          Native Americans,  in a decision which invites the return to an era of
          religious  persecution one  would  hope a  presumably enlightened  and
          tolerant society such as ours had  left behind. In the case of "Oregon
          Department  of Employment  v. Alfred  Smith," Justice  Antonin Scalia,
          writing  for a five member  majority, and describing  the First Amend-
          ment's Free Exercise Clause as little more than a "negative protection
          accorded to religious belief," held that a member of a religious faith
          may  not challenge under the free  exercise clause of the First Amend-
          ment  to  the  United  States Constitution  a  legislature's  criminal
          enactment of otherwise general application which produces infringement
          on  a particular religious practice. In the "Smith" case this amounted
          to a  challenge to the constitutionality  of an Oregon drug  law which
          the Court Interpreted as a general criminal prohibition on all uses of
          the drug peyote, considered  by Indian members of the  Native American
          Church as an essential sacrament, the physical embodiment of the Great
          Spirit.
             
                The Native  American Church,  which claims over  250,000 members
          nationwide, and additional Indian  practitioners in Canada and Mexico,
          and  which can be traced  back archaeologically several thousand years
          in North America,  was not absolutely destroyed  or driven underground
          by the Court's action. The Court did not go so far as to rule that any
          state  or  federal law  exempting  the religious,  sacramental  use of
          peyote was an unconstitutional establishment of religion, at the other
          end of the  religion clauses of  the First Amendment.  In the  Court's
          terms,  a  peyote exemption,  while  constitutionally  *permitted*, is
          neither constitutionally  *required* or  *prohibited*. A kind  of con-
          stitutional limbo-land for the Native American Church and its members.

                In real terms the decision leaves the fate ofthe peyote religion
          to the whim of majoritarian  legislatures and Congress. Eleven  states
          currently have  exemptions on the statute books  protecting the relig-
          ion;  another twelve tie their exemption to a federal Drug Enforcement
          Agency  regulation which  rests on  questionable foundation  since the
          decision. A small handful of states,  notably California and Nebraska,
          in which are  located some of  the largest Indian and  Native American
          Church populations,  have based  their protection on  court decisions.
          The  others,  and the  federal  government through  Congress,  have no
          statutory or  common   law protection.  Indian reservation  lands will
          provide some  safe  haven from  possible prosecution,  given the  par-
          ticular  Public Law 280 configuration in any given state, but problems
          of transportation  of the sacrament  into Indian country  through "il-
          legal" territory will reduce peyote  ceremonies to complex and danger-
          ous liaisons.



                                                                            1734
             

                Native American church members strippedof their rights under the
          Constitution are now subject to the will of the  legislative branch of
          our  state and federal governments.  Not an enviable  place for Indian
          people;  as a  distinct  racial and  religious  minority Indians  have
          always  had an uphill struggle in the  halls of Congress and elsewhere
          to have their rights recognized and respected.
             
                The legislative branchof any government is anexceedingly unusual
          place for  individuals to look  to have their  rights under the  First
          Amendment vindicated. Courts are traditionally looked to as protectors
          of these rights, against majoritarian legislatures. Justice  O'Connor,
          in  a separate  concurring  opinion which  joined  the result  of  the
          majority but sharply criticized  its method, reasoned that "the  First
          Amendment  was  enacted precisely  to  protect  those whose  religious
          practices are  not shared  by  the majority  and  may be  viewed  with
          hostility."

                A  noted scholar of Indian law and philosopher, Felix Cohen, was
          quoted several decades  ago as  saying: "Like the  miner's canary  the
          Indian marks  the shifts from fresh air to poison gas in our political
          atmosphere; and our treatment of Indians, even more than our treatment
          of  other minorities,  reflects the  rise and  fall in  our democratic
          faith " Cohen's  words become  even more prophetic  after the  Court's
          decision in "Smith."  The "Smith"  decision may  perhaps portend  even
          greater persecution  for other  forms of Indian  religious expression.
          Examples  which come  to mind  include: the  wearing  of long  hair by
          Indian  students in public schools, and by Indian prisoners in federal
          and state prisons; missing school on a regular basis for cultural/rel-
          igious  ceremonial purposes; the taking of game by Indians out season,
          when not otherwise protected by treaty; burning wood to heat rocks for
          sweat- lodge ceremonies, when  burning is otherwise outlawed by  local
          ordinance during times of high pollution; and body piercing as part of
          the Sun Dance  ceremony. If  these forms of  religious expression  are
          otherwise prohibited by general criminal laws, the First  Amendment no
          longer  provides a basis from which to claim protection from religious
          infringement. As with peyote  use, reservation boundaries will provide
          a buffer  from the application of  state law, except  where Public Law
          280 legitimizes intrusion.
             
                As a  result of "Smith," minority religions, in Justice Scalia's
          opinion, may be at a disadvantage in the political arena. But that is,
          in his  estimation, "an unavoidable consequence  of democratic govern-
          ment," preferable to "a system in  which each conscience is a law unto
          itself." Justice Scalia had  to strain to defend his  decision, citing
          the need to prevent "anarchy" in our democratic society. Indian people
          simply  want to  be left alone  in our  society to worship  the god of
          their choice. Is that asking too much? The Court's decision in "Smith"
          strips  Indians of their pride and   integrity, and makes many of them
          criminals in the eyes of the  law. Only history will judge the Court's
          decision in  "Smith;" but for  now the  remote specter of  anarchy may
          very well have been the preferred choice.



                                                                            1735
          


          Statement From Pacific Northwest Church Leaders 
                           Who Support Indian Religious Rights 
             
            Re: Employment Division, State of Oregon v. Al Smith, Galen  Black,
          88-1213 
             -----------------
            
                  The recentU.S. Supreme Court decisionregarding the sacramental
          use  of peyote in Native  American religious rites  is unfortunate and
          deeply  disappointing. We  support the  right of  Native Americans  to
          practice their religion  as they  have for centuries.  We concur  with
          Justice  Harry Blackmun,  who  writing  for  the dissent,  called  the
          decision  a  "wholesale  overturning  of settled  law  concerning  the
          religious clauses  of our Constitution." The  decision jeopardizes the
          fundamental right of all citizens to exercise freedom of religion free
          from government  restraint.  We  will  continue to  work  with  Native
          Americans to help them protect their religious rights.
             
          The Most Rev. Raymond  G. Huthausen Archbishop of Seattle  Roman Cath-
          olic Archdiocese of Seattle

          The Right Rev. Vincent W. Warner, Bishop Episcopal Diocese of Olympia

          The  Most  Rev. Thomas  Murphy,  Coadjutor  Archbishop Roman  Catholic
          Archdiocese of Seattle

          The Rev.  John Boonstra, Executive Minister  Washington Association of
          Churches

          The Rev.  Calvin D. McConnell, Bishop United  Methodist Church Pacific
          NW Conference

          The  Rev.  W.  James Halfaker,  Conference  Minister  Washington-Idaho
          Conference United Church of Christ

          The  Rev.  Lowell  Knutson,  Bishop NW  Washington  Synod  Evangelical
          Lutheran Church In America

          The Rev. Dr.  William B.  Cate, President Director  Church Council  of
          Greater Seattle

          The  Rev.  Gaylord  Hasselblad,  Executive Minister  American  Baptist
          Churches of the Northwest

          These church leaders issued an apology to  Indians that was carried in
          the Winter 1988 NAF Legal Review



                                                                            1736
          

                              Channeling For Fun And Prophet 
                                    Farrell J. McGovern
             
            
                Channelling is one of the more popular parts of what is call the
          "New Age".  It is also one  of the most controversial  aspects of this
          movement.
             
                To properly channelsomeone, be itMarylin Monroe, AliesterCrowley
          (I have been told this doesn't  work well...) or Devine, one must know
          something of  this person. The  easiest way  is by reading  about this
          person. Autobiographies are the best, of course, but biographies, news
          reports, or even old photos are  almost as good. You need some connec-
          tion...
             
                InPagandom, and Wicca, popular beingsfor channelling are various
          aspects of the God and  the Goddess. Again, one  must know as much  as
          possible  about the  Lady or  Lord that  you are  going to  bring into
          yourself for the enjoyment, edification and education of the others in
          the Circle with you.
             
                The  most popular source of information on Gods and Goddesses is
          again in  books. Since there are  many aspects of deities,  there is a
          great deal of literature  about these beings. Most of  this literature
          that is over a couple of hundred  of years old is usually in the  form
          of Fables or Epics, which have more literary content than reality. One
          could easily call these works Docu-dramas, but they are still fiction.
             
                "But..." I hear you ask,"How can they channel these beingsif all
          they know about  them is fictional?"  Well, there seems  to be  enough
          consensus  on certain deities, but not on all. But these rituals work,
          as  anyone  who has  attended the  beautiful  "Drawing Down  the Moon"
          ritual of Wicca.
             
                So  it seems to  me that the  idea of a  "consensual reality" is
          created from the energies that all these people put into their concept
          of whatever  God or  Goddess they  believe in. There  are hundreds  of
          thousands, maybe  even  millions of  people who  believe in  Cerwdwin,
          Eris, Hecate, Cherenous, and others. But...are there not also millions
          of people who believe in Captain James T.  Kirk? Arthur Dnt? Catwoman?
          Batman? Smurfs?.....or even Peewee Herman?
             
                Imaginesome Circle performing the DrawingDown The Moon ceremony,
          and due to a lack of concentration by the priestess, she channels, not
          Athena, but  Marry Tyler-Moore?!?!?!? Or the  priest channeling PeeWee
          Herman?!?!?!
             
                Weshall leave the furtherexploration of thisto some experimental
          coven...but please!  If you manage  to channel Papa  Smurf....we DON'T
          want to hear about it!



                                                                            1737
          

                         Bibliography Of Magick In Science Fiction 
                                     Magenta Griffith 

             Abbey, Lynn     Daughter Of The Bright Moon
                             The Guardians

             Anderson, Poul  Operation Chaos
                             Mermaid's Children

             Blish, James    Black Easter

             Bradley, Marion Z    Darkover  series,   especially  The  Forbidden
          Tower

             Crowley, Aleister    Diary of a Drug Fiend
                                  Moonchild

             DeCamp, L. Sprague &      The Complete Enchanter, Wall of Serpents
             Fletcher Pratt

             DeLint, Charles      Moonheart

             Eddings, David       Pawn of Prophecy
                                  Queen of Sorcery
                                  Magician's Gambit
                                  Castle of Wizardry
                                  Enchanter's Endgame

             Farrar, Stewart      Omega

             Fortune, Dion        Sea Priestess
                                  Moon Magic
                                  Winged Bull
                                  The Goat Foot God

             Garrett, Randall     Too Many Magicians
                                  Murder and Magic
                                  Lord D'Arcy Investigates

             Heinlein, Robert A   Stranger in a Strange Land
                                  Waldo & Magic Inc.

             Kurtz, Katherine     Deryni Rising
                                  Deryni Checkmate
                                  High Deryni
                                  Lammas Night

             LeGuin, Ursula K     A Wizard of Earthsea

             Lovecraft, H. P.     The Shadow out of Time
                                  At the Mountains of Madness
                                  The Strange Case of Charles Dexter Ward

             Miesel, Sandra       Dreamrider

             Norton, Andre        Witch World Series

             Paxton, Diana        Brisingamen



                                                                            1738
          

                     Bibliography Of Magick In Science Fiction (cont.) 
                                     Magenta Griffith 


             Sky, Kathleen        Witchdame

             Tolkien, J.R.R       The Hobbit
                                  Lord of the Rings

             Walton, Evangeline   Island of the Mighty
                                  Song of Rhiannon
                                  Prince of Annwn
                                  The Children Of Lyr
             Wilson, Robert Anton &     Illuminatus! Trilogy
             Robert Shea

             Zelazny, Roger  Chronicles of Amber
            



                                                                            1739
          

                            Modified Assyrian Protection Spell 

          Ban! Ban! Barier That None Can Pass,
          Barrier Of The Gods, That None May Break,
          Barrier Of Heaven and Earth That None Can Change,
          Which No God May Annul,
          Nor God Nor Man Can Loose,
          A Snare Without Escape, Set for Evil,
          A Net Whence None Can Issue Forth, Spread for Evil,
          Whether It Be  evil Spirit, or evil Fiend, or  Hag-Demon, or Ghoul, or
          Robber-Sprite,
          Or Phantom, or Night-Wraith, or Handmaid of the Phantom,
          Or Evil Plague, or Fever-Sickness, or Unclean Disease,
          Or That Which May Do Harm in Any Form or Fashion
          Which Hath Attacked the Shining Waters of Ea,
          May the Snare of Ea Catch It;
          Or Which Hath Assailed the Meal of Nisaba,
          May the Net of Nisaba Entrap It;
          Or Which Hath Broken The Barrier
          Let Not the Barrier of the Gods,
          The Barrier of Heaven and Earth, Let It Go Free;
          Or Which Reverenceth Not the Great Gods,
          May the Great Gods Entrap It,
          May the Great Gods Curse It;
          Or Which Attacketh the House,
          Into a Closed Dwelling May They Cause It To Enter;
          Or Which Circleth Round About,
          Into a Place Without Escape May They Bring It;
          Or Which is Shut In By the House Door,
          Into a House Without Exit May They Cause It To Enter;
          With Door and Bolt, a Bar Immovable,
          May They Withhold It;
          Or Which Bloweth In at the Threshhold and Hinge,
          Or Which Forceth a Way Through Bar and Latch,
          Like Water May They Pour It Out,
          Like a Goblet May They Dash It to Pieces,
          Like a Tile May They Break It;
          Or Which Passeth Over The Wall,
          Its Wing May They Cut Off;
          Or Which Lieth in a Chamber,
          Its Throat May They Cut;
          Or Which Looketh In at a Side Chamber,
          Its Face May They Smite;
          Or Which Muttereth In a Chamber,
          Its Mouth May They Shut;
          Or Which Roameth Loose In an Upper Chamber,
          With a Basin Without Opening May They Cover It;
          Or Which at Dawn is Darkened,
          At Dawn To a Place of Sunrise May They Take It.
           
          Out With You! Spirits of Fear, Spirits of Death!
          Give Way to the Sun and the Moon!
          For This is a Place Made Safe!
          Bright Blessings and Peace Upon Us!
          And All Who Reside Here,
          Let None Enter Here Unbidden,
          Keep Harm and Fear Far from This Place,
          May God and Goddess Bless Us!
          So Mote It So!
          So Mote It Be!



                                                                            1740
          

           
           
                "This should be performedon the night of the full moon, and is a
          very intricate spell. All portals and doorways should be open, includ-
          ing  closet doors and windows, Then, as  you start, close every closet
          and cabinet door, making the sign  of the banishing pentacle with your
          wand, your athame,  or your hand (a stick of  patchoili incense may be
          substituted). Music should be light. Use a goodly amount of commanding
          incense  as well as patchouli  and sandalwood. Once  you have done the
          closets and cabinets, go from window to window outlining the banishing
          pentagram on  each one, and close  AND LATCH each window.  Remember to
          close  and latch your fireplace, as well, perhaps burning some incense
          there. Once  the windows are  secured, do inside doors,  then when you
          reach the entry ways, state the last ten lines. If performed  correct-
          ly, you will  notice the  difference in atmospheres  from the  outside
          compared to the  inside, the moment you walk into  the house or apart-
          ment."
             --Avon, Sysop, Sanctuary BBS
           
              Okay,  that's how I got it. Here's what happened when we performed
          it.
           
              I had pulled one of my partners intothis with me, and we did itthe
          night after the full moon, being as how we didn't get home in time the
          night OF the full moon (being across town and having to stay the night
          as our friends were very tired). We also didn't use patchouli incense,
          as I dislike  it, opting  for sandalwood instead  with the  commanding
          incense. Several times, though I had talked to said partner about what
          to do  when I was speaking, I still had  to pause in the recitation to
          tell him what to do. So, there were breaks in  concentration. WITH ALL
          THIS,  we still got an  apartment that feels  much happier. This buil-
          ding, just since we  moved in a year and  a half ago, has seen  an axe
          murder on the lower floor, a shooting on the upper floor where we are,
          two  police break-ins  on drug  raids, several  shootings in  the back
          alley, and two stabbings on the sidewalk near the building. Bad vibes.
          Now it's better.

            Here's the downfalls--if you can call them that.
           
              This is supposedto, at least how I interpretit, clear out EVERYTH-
          ING in your house to start fresh. We had a ghost  cat before. We still
          have her now. Also, we now have two dark brown, heavily fanged...THIN-
          GS...hovering  in my  kitchen,  worshipping my  fridge. You  think I'm
          kidding. I'm not. Scared the hell out of me when I first noticed them;
          eventually, I broke down  and went into the kitchen. When  they didn't
          attack,  I moved near the fridge.  "It's a refrigerator," I said. They
          gave  back a sort  of sub-vocal "Wow..."  I opened said  fridge. "It's
          still a fridge," I said. They looked in; seemed even more impressed. I
          have NO idea  why. Also, once I looked down  from my computer, feeling
          watched, and noticed  another dark brown thing, all rags  and big feet
          and big  eyes.  His whole  being radiated  shock and  surprise when  I
          looked down; again, I  caught a sort of sub-vocal "WHAT??!!??", and he
          vanished. Poof. That's been  it, but it's interesting. Did  these slip
          in due to the changes or due to the lack of concentration?  No harmful
          thing is in this apartment now; of that I'm sure. So how are these new
          residents explained?

            Anyway, that's it. Hope you have fun with it... :>
           



                                                                            1741
          

                                      Rosicrucianism 
                                      Julia Phillips

              Esoteric Legend: the Rosicrucians were founded by Pharoah Thothmes
          III  in the fifteenth century  BC. The Holy  Roman Emperor Charlemagne
          was said  to have founded a  Rosicrucian lodge at Toulouse  in the 9th
          century AD, and in 898 AD a second lodge was founded. Around 1000 AD a
          group of  heretical Catholic  monks established the  first Rosicrucian
          college  which flourished  until the  16th century.  It has  also been
          claimed that the Brotherhood of the Rose Cross was founded by Templars
          after their order was disbanded by Pope Clement.

              Historical story: The Fama Fraternitatis appeared in 1614 (written
          in 1610), describing the foundation and purpose of the Society (Broth-
          erhood) of the  Rose Cross. This  related that a  Father CRC, born  in
          1378, a German, poor but from a rich and noble family, made a pilgrim-
          age  to Jerusalem.  He remained  at  Damascus through  ill-health, and
          studied there. He later travelled  to Damcar, where he was trained  by
          the Arabs, and translated the book  "M" into the Latin tongue. He then
          travelled to  Fez, and after  two years to  Spain, where meeting  with
          ridicule, he returned to Germany.

              After five years he calledthree of his bretheren to him,bound them
          by an oath, and then founded the "Fraternity of the  Rose Cross". They
          later initiated another four  members, and decided to spread  the word
          to other  countries. Their by-laws were that they should heal the sick
          without  charge; wear the clothes  of the country  they visited; every
          year upon a certain date should meet, or be represented, in the "House
          of the Holy Spirit"; each  should search for a worthy replacement  for
          when  he dies;  that the letters  R.C. would  be their  mark; that the
          Order would  remain secret for  100 years. It  was later also  decided
          that burial places would be kept a secret.

              It is known thatJohann Valentin Andreae, a Germantheologian, wrote
          at least one of the so-called Rosicrucian documents, but  how much can
          be laid at his door  is not known. It is also an esoteric legend (with
          some  grounds in  fact)  that whilst  an  historical character  called
          Andraea did in fact exist, that the Rosicrucian writings attributed to
          that  person were  in fact the  work of  Sir Francis  Bacon. The three
          major objects of the Rosicrucian Fraternity are:

              1)  The abolition of all  monarchical forms of  government and the
          substitution therefor of the rulership of the philosophic elect. (This
          demonstrates that  the Rociscrucians  are, in fact,  Platonic, despite
          their proclaiming themselves Christians.)

              2) The reformation of science,philosophy and ethics. (Materialarts
          and sciences are shadows of the divine wisdom; only by penetrating the
          mysteries of nature can man attain reality and understanding.)

              3)  The discovery of the  Universal Medicine, or  panacea, for all
          forms of disease.
           
              In 1646 Elias Ashmoleand astrologer William Lilly foundeda Rosicr-
          ucian lodge in London  based upon a utopian ideal of the creation of a
          new Atlantis.

                                                                            1742
     

                                 SPRING EQUINOX 1990 


     Circle cast by the HP
      
     Old God:       HP
     Young God:     Priest
     Earth:        Priest
     Air:               Priest
     Fire:          Priestess
     Water:             Priestess
      
     Everyone else may choose to take the role of an animal of their choice. 
      
     Young God is blindfolded and bound (three cords), and stands in the middle
     of the circle. Everyone else holds hands, and circles around deosil
     chanting: 

     Io Pan! Io Pan! Io Pan Pan Pan! 

     until HPS changes the chant to the Ekos; finish arms up.

     HPS and Priestess make an archway, which everyone else passes through,
     moving as their chosen animal, chanting, "chop, chop, chop, chop etc."
     Every so often, HPS and Priestess drop their arms around one person, and
     whenever they "capture" one of the four elements, they hold them and the
     chanting stops. A riddle is then asked by each of the elements:

     Air: What is whispered on the wind?
     Fire: What is the kiss of fire?
     Water: What is the secret of the serpent?
     Earth: What lies at the centre of the labyrinth?

     If Young God answers satisfactorily, a cord is removed. The blindfold is
     removed last. When the blindfold has at last been removed, HP will step
     forward to present the wand to arm the Young God. 

     HP says:

     "You are now come to your manhood, and must be armed. Will you accept the
     wand, this symbol of your power?"

     Young God: "I will"

     HP: "Then you must take it from me!"

     And so saying, runs away. Young God catches him, and they fight for the
     wand. Young God wins, and holds the wand aloft in triumph.

     Young God and HPS then perform cakes and wine.

                                                                            1743
     

                                     BELTANE 1987 

                              Coven of the Serpent's Eye


     Declamation:                            Rufus Harrington
     Invocation of the Young God:            Prudence Jones
     Invocation of the May Queen:            Rufus Harrington
     Responses to the invocations:           Paul Greenslade and
                                             Jacky Salter
     The Blessing of Love:                   H. Rider Haggard
     The Union of God and Goddess:           Rufus Harrington and
                                             Julia Phillips
     The Beltane Charge:                     Julia Phillips


      Temple set up as follows:

     Altar set up, and ritual weapons as usual
     One extra sword
     One extra chalice of wine and dish of cakes
     Candles and incense
     Maypole in the centre of the Temple
     Green Cord

      Roles:

     HPS#1               Blessing the Union
     HPS#2               Invocation to the God
     PS#1                The May Queen
     PS#2                Swordbearer
     PS#3                Swordbearer
     PS#4                Handmaiden
     HP#1                Declamation, invocation to the May Queen and 
                         Blessing the Union
     HP#2                The Young God

         Casting the Circle:

     All present will be purified and consecrated, and the circle will 
     be cast by the HPS and HP.

     The HPS and HP will ask everyone to assist in the invocation to 
     the quarters. Those who have athames should collect them from the 
     altar at this point. After the Northern Quarter has been invoked, 
     the group should all face centre while the HPS performs the 
     invocation to Spirit.

     This completes the casting of the circle.

                                                                            1744
     


         THE RITUAL

     The ritual will commence with a meeting dance. Everyone should 
     link hands (male/female as far as possible), and move slowly in a 
     deosil motion following the chants initiated by the HP and HPS. 
     When she feels the time is right, the HPS will break the circle, 
     and lead everyone in a meeting dance, where each man and woman
     kiss as they pass. When everyone has greeted one another, the 
     circle will be re-formed by the HPS, and finish with the EKO 
     chant. 

     HP#2 and PS#1 will stand at the maypole, facing the altar.
     HPS#2 will stand at the altar facing them, and the rest of the 
     group will seat themselves around the maypole in a horseshoe 
     shape, with the end nearest the altar left "open". HP#1 will read 
     the declamation:


          Deep within the dream of silence
          Blood and passions born beyond,
          Gather at the serpent's calling,
          Echo to its siren song.

          For deep within the cauldron's darkness
          Two hearts ache to join as one,
          Must answer to the serpent's laughter;
          Dance within its spiral song.

          For blood is called, and passions gather:
          Drum beat rhythms call the blood
          To dance the paths of passion's power,
          To sing for joy, for life, for love.

          Within the shadows of a clearing
          Deep within the silent green,
          Revealed through a veil of moonlight,
          Caught beside a crystal stream.

          A woman from the land of beauty
          Dances in the silver light,
          Entranced within a web of silver
          Woven by the serpent's light.
          The serpent's laughter, song of shadows,
          Echoes through the spinning web,
          Weaving dreams with songs of silver,
          Calling sacred fires long dead.

          Within her body, flames awaken
          Beauty and her passions need
          Power and a desperate yearning,
          Calling to the serpent's seed.

                                                                            1745
     

          Within the ancient forest shadows,
          Roots and boughs that weave and dream,
          re-echo to the serpent's laughter,
          Weaving webs of dancing green.
          
          The serpent's song now calls the Hunter;
          Beast Lord, Master of the Woods.
          Calls the Stag Lord from the shadows,
          Woodland's Master, Lord of Love.

          She dances now, her passions spiral,
          Calls her love into the night;
          He flies upon the wings of laughter,
          Led on by her silver light.

          Flesh and sinew, man and muscle,
          Loins that ache now hear her call.
          She hears the Hunter's horn of power,
          Hears his cry and hunting call.

          The Stag Lord stalks within the clearing,
          She turns to flee, but cannot run.
          Transformed she spreads herself for passion,
          Calling with her silver song.
          
          Both their bodies rage with passions,
          Beasts now dance within their blood.
          Their eyes now flash with love's own lightning
          As flesh now kindles warm for love.

          Her thighs remember mothers' movements,
          Moments from her mother's birth,
          Cries of silver golden laughter
          Plough within the fertile earth.

          Their song and cry a single moment,
          Pain, and yet a single joy,
          As Earth unites a single sunlight
          Lust fulfilled, reborn as joy.


         HPS#2 will now perform invocation to the Young God:

     God of the meadow, God of the hill,
     God of the sap and of our true will:
     Thee I invoke as Spring awakes,
     Thee I invoke as the blossom breaks.

     Come young God, come come with the fire,
     Lissome and leaping, alive with desire.
     Come with the pipe and come with the drum,
     With the heartbeat's pounding, come God come!

                                                                            1746
     

     O seeker of joy, O hunter of pleasure,
     Come enter the ring, tread the pagan measure.
     Be here in Thy servants, be here in Thy Priests,
     Be here in the flesh, and join in the feast!

     Io Pan, Io Pan, Io Pan Pan Pan, etc.

     Young God responds:

          "Response"

     HP#1 will now perform the invocation to the Goddess as May Queen:

          "Invocation to Goddess"

     May Queen Goddess responds:

     I who am the fragrant spring air,
     And the soft breeze that refreshes the earth;
     The cool spring rain, the sudden shower
     That nourishes the earth.
     The source of all joy and love,
     The Goddess of all new beginnings,
     Answer your call,
     And once more I walk upon the earth.
     Seek for me; I am all around you.

     HPS#2 will now acknowledge the arrival of the God and Goddess:

     Spring has sprung!
     The God has made the world seem young again.
     The blossom blows,
     The Goddess lets the world know joy again.

     May Queen now breaks away from the God, and he must chase and capture her.
     (Anything spoken at this point should be spontaneous). The group should
     form a spiral from the maypole, going out to a circle, leaving a space
     between each person for the May Queen and Young God to pass in and out in
     their "love chase". While this goes on, the group should play tambourine,
     bodrhun, bells and Abo sticks in a lively rhythym. The God should event-
     ually capture the Goddess through his realisation that hunting is not the
     way to her heart!They should embrace and kiss, and then kneel to receive
     their crowns: PS#2 and PS#3 will collect these from the altar, and place
     the crown of flowers on the Goddess' head, and the crown of leaves upon the
     God's head. PS#2 and PS#3 should then collect the swords from the altar,
     and stand either side of the altar holding the blades of the swords down.
     PS#4 should collect a bouquet of flowers, and present these to the Goddess.
     The God and Goddess should now lead PS#4 and the rest of the group around
     the Temple in a simulation of their journey to the Blessing of their Union.
     At a given signal, PS#2 and PS#3 will stand in the North, and make an
     archway with their swords through which the God, Goddess and Handmaiden
     will pass. As they do so, HP#1 says:

                                                                            1747
     

          Hail to our King and Queen!
          For love fulfills an ancient law,
          Born before the Gods and Men,
          Decreed of old when all was still.

     HPS#1 and HP#1 will be standing at the altar, and the God and Goddess will
     kneel to receive the blessings of their predecessors (ie, the God and
     Goddess of the previous cycle). The Goddess will hand her bouquet to the
     Handmaiden, who will replace it upon the altar. 

     HPS#1 reads the Blessing of Love:

     Love is like a flower in the desert.
     It is like the aloe of Arabia that blooms but once and dies;
     It blooms in the salt emptiness of life, and the brightness of its beauty
     is set upon the waste as a star is set upon a storm.  It hath the sun above
     that is the spirit, and about it blows the air of its divinity.

     There is only perfect flower in the wilderness of Life:
     That flower is love!

     There is only one fixed light in the mists of our wanderings:
     That light is love!

     There is only one hope in our despairing night:
     That hope is love!

     All else is false. All else is shadow moving upon water. All else is wind
     and vanity.
     Who shall say what is the weight or measure of love?
     It is born of the flesh, it dwelleth in the spirit. From each doth it draw
     its comfort.
     For beauty it is as a star.
     Many are its shapes but all are beautiful, and none know whence that star
     rose, or the horizon where it shall set. 
     And I say unto you, that every man and woman is a star, and therefore,
     every man and woman is love.

                                                                            1748
     


         HP#1 and HPS#1 perform the Blessing of the Union. HP#1 says:

     Dancers to the Gods of Love,
     We bless you in these sacred signs:

     [Perform blessings, loosely bind hands with cord]

     Spread your blessing on the land,
     Fulfill with love the ancient law:
     Fruit and corn for man and beast,
     And love for evermore.

     [remove cord]

     HP#1 and HPS#1 assist the God and Goddess to rise with a kiss.
     PS#2 and PS#3 replace their swords upon the altar, and pick up a dish of
     cakes and a chalice of wine. They hand the wine to the God, and the cakes
     to the Goddess, saying:

          Please bless this food and wine into our bodies, bestowing 
          health, wealth, love and compassion, and that deep joy which 
          is the knowledge of Thee.

     They step back while the God and Goddess bless the wine and cakes. The "Io
     Evohe" chant is initiated by HPS#1 and HP#1, and everyone else joins in.
     (Note: this is a joyful celebration of the good things of the Earth which
     the God and Goddess provide for us, so the chant should be lively.) The
     Handmaiden then steps forward to receive a cake, and a sip of wine. She is
     followed by PS#2 and PS#3, and then the rest of the group ending with HPS#1
     and HP#1, who take the wine and cakes, and offer them to the God 
     and Goddess, then replace them upon the altar. 

     The God and Goddess now embrace around the maypole, and everyone 
     takes a ribbon (male/white, female/red) to dance around. Minstrel 
     now plays the maypole dance, and everyone begins: men go in a 
     widdershins direction, female in a deosil one. The dancers go 
     under the first person, over the next, under the next, and so on 
     until the ribbons are used up. The dancers must then unwind the 
     maypole, so everything is reversed (tip: keep watching your own 
     ribbon!)

                                                                            1749
     

         After the dance has ended, Young God and May Queen are released from
     the Maypole (!), and they read the Beltane Charge:

     YG        I am the burning flame of inspiration
               Bringing light and life to the world:

     MQ        I am the burning flame of love
               Which creates light and life in the world:
               
     YG        I am the rushing stream, sweeping all before me:

     MQ        I am the deepest ocean, taking all within me:

     YG        I am the swiftest wind that carries the seed:

     MQ        I am the gentlest breez which kisses the land:

     YG        I am the mighty mountain which caresses the stars:

     MQ        I am the smallest leaf which falls in the forest glade:

     YG        I am He! The Lord of Life and Death;
               The Keeper of the Gates, the Hunter and the hunted:

     MQ        I am She! Queen of the darkness and the light;
               Guardian of the Veil, the Mystery of Creation:

     YG/MQ     Together we stand, and in the power of our love
               shall the wheel turn.

     They now perform Cakes and Wine - servers step forward to assist.



     The Feast


         TO END THE RITUAL



     HPS#1 READS THE BLESSING PRAYER



     All take their athames, and support the HP and HPS as they thank, and bid
     farewell to the Quarter Guardians.

     Formal Grounding of the Power.

     All present make their farewells to each other, and leave the Temple.

                                                                            1750
     

                             C A N D L E M A S   1 9 8 7 

                              Coven of the Serpent's Eye
      
      
     Declamation:                  Rufus Harrington 

     Invocation of the Mother:     Paul Greenslade 

     Response of the Mother:       Adapted by Prudence Jones from an original by
     Vivianne Crowley

     Invocation to the Crone:      Rufus Harrington 

     Response of the Crone:        Julia Phillips 

     Welcome to Spring:            Mike Pinder 

     Welcome to the Virgin:        Prudence Jones 

     Dance of the Elements:        Prudence Jones and Julia     Phillips 

     Initiate's Ceremony of        Adapted by Julia Phillips from 
     Illumination:                 traditional Gardnerian source 

     Charge of Brigid's Fire:      Adapted by Rufus Harrington  
      
      
         Temple set up as follows:
        
     Veil across northern quarter 
     Altar set up, and ritual weapons as usual 
     Candles and incense 
     Cauldron in centre of Temple 
     Brighid Doll 
     Sistrum 
     White silk veil for Virgin  
     Wrist and ankle bells for each Priestess 
     Large white candle, placed in cauldron 
     Symbols of the elements: 

     One athame (or dagger)        } 
     One wand                      }   These should be placed ready One chalice  
                     }   upon a small altar, 
     One pentacle                  }   adjacent to the main altar 
     One black egg                 }  
      

                                                                            1751
     

         Roles:
      
     HPS-1               Goddess - Crone Aspect 
     HPS-2               Goddess - Mother Aspect        
     PS-1                Goddess - Virgin Aspect        
     HPS-3               Spirit 
     HP-1                Declamation and Invocation to Crone 
     HP-2                Invocation to Mother           
     PS-2                Eastern Quarter (Air) 
     PS-3                Southern Quarter (Fire)              
     PS-4                Western Quarter (Water) 
     PS-5                Northern Quarter (Earth) 
      
     (Note: it is essential that the first six roles be taken by experienced
     initiates only) 

         Casting the circle:
      
     All present will be purified and consecrated, and the circle will be cast
     by the HPS. 

     The HPS will ask everyone to assist in the invocation to the quarters.
     Those who have athames should collect them from the altar at this point.

     After the Northern Quarter has been invoked, the group should all face
     centre, while the HPS performs the invocation to Spirit. This completes the
     casting of the circle. 
      
         THE RITUAL

     PS-1 will go behind the veil, and put on the white silk veil. 

     HPS-1 and HPS-2 will stand side by side in the centre of the Temple. PS-2,
     3, 4, and 5 will take up their positions at the cardinal points of the
     Temple, and the Priests will stand between the Priestesses, ensuring
     polarity. HPS-3 will stand in front of the main altar. 

     HP-1 will read the declamation: 

     Child  of the Spinning Serpent, 
     Daughter of the morning star; 
     Startled from the depths of silence 
     Wakens vision's Silver Star. 
                               
     Starting cold from depths of nightmare, 
     Shadows passing on the land; 
     Tears of silver, iced and shining 
     These she sheds upon the land. 
      

                                                                            1752
     


     For deep within the night of vision 
     There the coiled serpent stirs, 
     Calling from the cauldron's darkness, 
     Singing with the song of stars. 
      
     For there she sees a frozen river, 
     There beholds a land of ice, 
     And sees an ancient mother mourning, 
     Tears that quickly turn to ice. 
               
     And sees herself, the youthful virgin, 
     Reach that river; frozen, cold, 
     Shining in the crystal moonlight 
     Seeming like a silver road. 

     Across the waters, there the mother; 
     Ancient Queen of the Shining Night; 
     Standing in the silver darkness 
     Lit by icy crystal light.  


     Reaching out across the darkness, 
     Silver arms across the ice, 
     Two hands touch above the waters, 
     Reach across the frozen night. 
      
     But now the serpent song of starlight 
     Calls across the cauldron's night; 
     Their hands a bridge across the silence, 
     Darkness shatters into light. 

     As sunlight calls across the waters 
     Rising from the shining east, 
     Cries of joy that echo terror 
     Crack as silent ice release. 
      
     Now hear the cry of mourning mothers; 
     Hear the joy of pain released: 
     Dull ache deep within the waters 
     Calling to the stirring beast. 
      
     For now behold the icy rivers 
     Touched by sunlight, turned to blood; 
     See the waters flowing freely 
     Through the gates of land and love. 
      

                                                                            1753
     

        
     HP-2 will move forward, and perform the invocation to the Mother aspect of
     the Goddess upon HPS-2: 


     I call to you, Mother of all, 
     Queen of our most secret dreams. 
     From dark and starlit heavens, 
     And deep within the fertile earth: 
     Come to us crowned in glory - Come! 
     I invoke you, and call upon you; 
     By the fertile earth and pregnant moon: 
     Come! Descend upon the body of Thy Priestess. 

     HPS-2 responds: 
      
     I am thy Goddess: 
     Before the beginning of time was I. 
     I made the mountains into peaks, 
     And laid with soft green grass the valleys and the meadows. 
     Mine was the first foot which trod upon the earth, 
     And where I walked there sprang forth flowers. 
     Mine was the voice which gave rise to the first song, 
     And the birds listened, and heard, and made return. 
     In the beginning of time 
     I taught the sea its song, 
     And mine were the tears  
     That gave forth the first rains. 
      
     Listen and hear Me! 
     For it was I who gave birth to you, 
     And in the depths of my earth 
     You will find rest and rebirth. 
     I will spring you forth anew, 
     A fresh shoot to greenness. 
      
     Fear Me; Love Me; Adore Me! 
     Lose yourself in Me. 
     For I am the cup of the wine of life: 
     I stir the senses; 
     I am the power. 

                                                                            1754
     

      
     HP-1 will now perform the invocation to the Crone aspect of the 
     Goddess upon HPS-1: 
      
     Ancient Mother born of silence, 
     Silver Queen of spiral ice; 
     Hear the serpent's song of starlight 
     Call across the cauldron's night. 
      
     A name, a call, a key of shadows; 
     An ancient song from an ancient dream 
     Echoes deep within the darkness, 
     Calls Thee from the depths unseen. 
      
     For now I see Thy crystal spiral, 
     Now I see the crystal web, 
     Shining in the cauldron's darkness, 
     Bringing life and bringing death. 
      
     And now I call upon Thee, Ancient Mother, 
     To descend upon this the body of Thy servant 
     and Priestess. 
      
     HP-1 bows down before HPS-1 
      
      
      HPS-1 responds: 
      
     Who calls to the Queen of the Night? 
      
     (HP: "A worshipper") 
      
     Who calls to the cutter of the thread? 
      
     (HP: "The Spinning Serpent") 
      
     Who calls to the Mother of the Serpent? 
      
     (HP: "A lover") 
      
     Who calls to the Mistress of the Spiral Castle? 
      
     (HP: "Life itself") 
      
     If that man has not fear in his heart, let him stand and face me 
     now. (HP rises) 
      
     You have called, and I have answered, and now I shall teach thee 
     a mystery: That if that which thou seekest, thou findest not 
     within thee, thou wilt never find it without thee. For behold, I 
     have been with thee from the beginning, and I shall be with thee 
     at the end. Blessed Be. 

                                                                            1755
     

      
     HP-1 returns to his place in the Temple. The Mother and Crone 
     will now "arm" each of the female guardians with the relevant 
     elemental weapon: The Crone will take an athame from the altar, 
     hand it to the Mother, who will present it to the Eastern 
     guardian. The wand will be given to the Southern guardian, the 
     chalice to the Western guardian, the pentacle to the Northern 
     guardian, and the black egg to Spirit.  
      
     Crone and Mother will now approach the veil: the Crone will part 
     the veil, and say: 
      
     As the white eagle of the north is flying overhead, 
     And the browns, reds and golds of autumn lie in the gutter, dead. 
     Remember then that summer birds with wings of fire flaying, 
     Came to witness spring's new hope, born of leaves decaying. 
     As new life will come from death, love will come at leisure: 
     Love of love, love of life, and giving without measure 
     Gives in return a wondrous yearn of a promise almost seen. 
     Live hand in hand, and together we'll stand 
     On the threshold of a dream. 
      
      
     During this, the Mother leads the Virgin to the centre of the 
     circle, and on the last line, all three stand hand in hand. 
      
     Then the Mother unveils the Virgin saying: 
      
     Welcome Virgin to Life! 
     Welcome Virgin to Spring! 
     Let life spring from thine heart, 
     And out thine eyes. 
     Let joy behold the dawn. 
      
      
     The Crone now instructs the Priests to turn away, as they may not 
     witness this stage of the female mysteries.  
      
     The Priestesses start to slowly circle deosil about the circle in 
     The Dance of the Elements. While this is going on, the Mother and 
     Crone will explain to the Virgin the significance and power of 
     each of the elements. 1755Note:1755 This is an integral part of the 
     ritual, but cannot be written as it is performed spontaneously by 
     the Mother and Crone. The format is basically as follows: 
      
     Mother: I give you the power of your intellect 
     Crone:  I give you the power of beginnings 
     Mother: I give you the power of decision 
     Crone:  I give you the freedom of air 
      
     and so on, remaining with each element as long as desired. 
      

                                                                            1756
     

     On command from the Crone, the Dance will cease, and each 
     Priestess will return to her respective position. Now, the Mother 
     will take the Virgin to each Priestess in turn, starting with the 
     East, where she will be presented with the elemental weapons. 
     (ie, armed with her potential). After each presentation, the 
     Virgin will replace the weapon on the altar, to signify her 
     understanding and acceptance of this knowledge. Both Virgin and 
     Mother will return to the cauldron, where the Crone will present 
     the Virgin with the Bride Doll, which she will accept, and place 
     upon the altar. She then returns to the centre, and looks into 
     the cauldron, where she now finds a sistrum, which she picks up 
     and shakes joyfully shouting "Bride is Come, Bride is Welcome!" 
      
     This is the cue for the Priests to face centre once more. HP-1 
     starts playing the Bodrhun, and HPS-3 leads the dance. The Mother 
     and Crone link hands around the Virgin in a symbol of protection. 
     Everyone chants 1756"Bride is Come, Bride is Welcome"1756 as the dance 
     increases in tempo, and then HPS-3 will initiate the Witches' 
     Rune when she feels the time is right. The dance will finish with 
     arms held aloft, and then the Virgin will break out from between 
     the Mother and Crone, and take the cauldron candle to the altar, 
     where she will light it from one of the altar candles. 
      
     She will turn to face the group while HPS-3 leads the Initiate's Ceremony
     of Illumination.

     The virgin now returns to the East, where she reads The Charge of Brigid's
     Fire. 
       
     I am She of the golden hair, Queen of the white hills, Rider of 
     the white swan, and now stand at the threshold of my glory.  
     I bring with me three gifts of fire: the first is the flame of 
     Inspiration that is kindled within the heart of the seeker. 
     The second is the flame of purification; the cleansing flame of 
     truth. The third is the flame born of the fires of love that 
     brings the seed of hope to all life. 
      
     Virgin now performs cakes and wine with a Priest of her choice. 
      
     The feast. 
      
      
         TO END THE RITUAL
      
     All take their athames, and support HPS-1 as she thanks, and bids 
     farewell to the Quarter Guardians.  
      
     Formal grounding of the power. 
      
     All present make their farewells to each other, and leave the 
     Temple. 



                                                                            1757
          

                                         IMBOLG 1992
                                               JULIA PHILLIPS


            Temple in darkness, apart from the Yule log in the centre. Brigid in her bed on the

            small altar. Lots of unlit candles in sand pots around the room. All enter as usual,

            and the Circle is cast in the normal manner. After the central invocations, HP says:



            Awake O Earth from your slumbers! Awake O Sun and restore the Earth! Mother - we are

            in darkness.



            HPS picks up a jug of water, and pours it into the cauldron saying:



            The waters are broken. The ice melting towards Candletime. Blood has been along the

            track, but now the ways are clear of death. Old and grey I was, but here in the

            mystery of the waters I am renewed. For I am the one you sought, but could not find.

            For I was singing to my child unseen, beneath the hills of birch and rowan.



            HPS takes the asperge, and all circle around her chanting the Witches Rune. She

            asperges each person as they pass, and on the last round, hands each person a white

            candle. When everyone has a candle, the circling stops, and HPS lights the main

            candles and says:



            The darkness of winter is passing: the Earth awakens once more from its slumbers;

            the Virgin walks among us again, and brings Her blessings upon the land and upon our

            lives.



            Priest and Priestess step forward and remove the cover from Brigid's bed, revealing

            the Virgin. Everyone shouts:



            Brigid is Come! Brigid is Welcome!



                                                                                           1758
          

          HPS takes a light from the Yule log and says:



            Let the inner light bear fruit in our own lives, even as the Earth bears the first

            flowers.



            I am Brigid: She of the Golden Hair; Queen of the White Hills, and rider of the

            White Swan. I bring three gifts of fire. The first is the flame of creation; of the

            poet and artist; of the lovers' passion for union with the beloved. The second is

            the flame of purification and testing, the flame of truth. With this flame all dross

            and weakness are made clear and cleansed from thee, so thou become like a true and

            tested sword. The third is the greatest of all, for it is the healing flame born out

            of the love that gives all, the maker of peace and harmony. But I do not give these

            gifts one by one; I give them as a whole in the form of the growing Sun.



            Everyone then lights their candle from the Yule log, and starts to circle deosil,

            lighting the candles around the room as they go, chanting: 



            Thus we banish winter, thus we welcome spring;

            Say farewell to what is dead, and greet each living thing.



            When all the candles are lit, everyone places their candle in a sand pot, and the

            chanting ceases.



            HPs and HP bless cakes and wine.



                                                                                           1759
          

                                    S A M H A I N   1 9 8 6 


                                         Coven of the Serpent's Eye



            Declamation written by Rufus Harrington
            Invocation to Horned God written by Doreen Valiente
            Response of the Horned God written by Paul Greenslade
            Consecration of the seeds written by Jim Kitson


                 Temple set up as follows:

            Veil in northern quarter
            Cauldron in centre, with charcoal blocks ready lit
            Stereo ready with taped music
            A dish of corn seeds on the altar
            One pot of earth for each person 
            Pomegranate on altar
            Candles, incense and ritual weapons as usual
            Floor tom-tom drum

                 Roles:

            HPS                      The Goddess
            HP                       The Horned God
            Priest                   To consecrate the seeds 
            P or PS                  Ritual drumming


                 Casting the circle:

            The Circle will be cast by the HPS
            The HPS will invoke the quarters: while she does so, each person 
            should face the quarter being invoked, and direct power to the 
            quarter with their athame (or other if they have no athame). The 
            group should all face centre, forming a circle after the 
            invocation to the northern quarter, and hold both arms aloft 
            while the HPS calls upon the Lord and Lady to join with the 
            celebrations. This completes the casting of the circle.
            .pa

                 The Ritual:

            HPS wearing black silk robe and veil stands at the altar, 
            facing the group, who are seated. 1759The HP reads the declamation:1759


            Iced legions of the damned
            Call and dance the songs of madness;
            Hollow hills re-echo to the silent cries of night,
            For dancing flames now turn to shadows,
            Winds and madness call the night,
            And just a single light in darkness
            Stands before the veil to fight.



                                                                                           1760
          


          And so the Goddess stood in darkness,
            Tear stained cheeks lashed by rain,
            Turned to face the veil of darkness,
            Turned to face the world of pain.
            Alone, an outcast, branded traitor;
            She it was who killed the land.

            To save the land from age and darkness,
            To save the land from fear and death,
            For love of life she sought to conquer,
            Sought to stay the hand of death.

            But in her love and in her madness
            She summoned death into the land;
            Summoned death to fight the darkness,
            Thus it was destroyed the land.

            Cracked silver lightning; shattering darkness,
            Revealing eyes, and visions born beyond.
            Iced visions of light,
            Echoes of dying laughter chill and cool the blood.
            Storm clouds tearing sky and screaming,
            Battles fought at heaven's gate,
            Fly upon the winds of madness,
            Seek the silver key of fate.

            HPS:   SILENCE!     An end must be made!

            For there are three great events in the life of man:
            Love, Death and resurrection in the new body, and magic
            controls them all.
            For to fulfil love you must return again at the same
            time and place as the loved one, and you must remember
            and love them again. 
            But to be reborn, you must die and be ready for a new
            body; and to die you must be born, and without love
            you may not be born, and so is formed the spiral of
            creation, and this is all the magics.
                                                    

            The group now stand, and when everyone is facing the HPS, she assumes pentagram
            position. The ritual drummer takes his position, and the Priest who is taking the
            role of the Horned God switches on the music tape, blows out the northern quarter
            candle and moves behind the veil. Silence while the tape of "The making of Bloduedd"
            is played, as this is the invocation the the Goddess in her transformation aspect.
            (Note: the tape is allowed to continue playing, as this is the only item on the
            tape, the remainder being blank.)  
            The HPS turns to face the altar, and holds aloft the sword. As she does so, the
            drummer plays a steady rhythm. The HPS moves to the centre of the circle, facing the
            veil; the group arrange themselves behind her, all facing the veil. The HPS points
            the sword at the veil, and the group hold aloft their arms for the invocation to the
            Horned God.



                                                                                           1761
          

               HPS says:


            By the flame that burneth bright O Horned One,
            We call Thy name into the night, O Ancient One!
            Thee we invoke by the moon led sea,
            By the standing stone, and the twisted tree.
            Thee we invoke where gather Thine own,
            By nameless shrine, forgotten and lone.
            Come where the round of the dance is trod,
            Horn and hoof of the goat foot God!
            By moonlit meadow and dusky hill,
            When haunted wood is hushed and still,
            Come to the charm of the chanted prayer,
            As the moon bewitches the midnight air.
            Evoke Thy powers that potent bide,
            In shining stream and secret tide,
            In fiery flame and starlight pale,
            In shadowy hosts that ride the gale.
            And by the fern brakes, fairy haunted,
            Of forests wild and woods enchanted;
            Come O come to the heart beats drum,
            Come to us who gather below,
            When the pale white moon is climbing slow,
            Through the stars to the heavens height,
            We hear Thy hooves on the wings of night!
            As black tree branches shake and sigh,
            By joy and terror we know Thee nigh.
            We speak the spell Thy power unlocks,
            At solstice, sabbat and equinox.
            Word of virtue, the veil to rend,
            From primal dawn to the wide world's end!

            (As the invocation proceeds, the drummer speeds his rhythm to suggest the sound of
            hoofbeats, and after the final line of the invocation, he suddenly reverts to a
            simple, slow four beats for the entrance of the Horned God.)

                 P#1 responds from behind the veil:  

            I am the Dread Lord of the Shadows: 
            God of life and giver of life.
            I open wide the veil through which all must pass.
            The gate is open between the worlds
            And all who would enter on this night are welcome.
            Come spirits; departed ones; brethren from our past and present
            Join us in the hunt tonight.   


            During his response, he  parts the veil, and then fastens it open in some way, as
            the veil between the worlds remains open until closed by the Horned God at the end
            of the ritual.



                                                                                           1762
          


          As he finishes speaking, he enters the Temple, and proceeds to move in a widdershins
            direction, and the drummer plays a rhythm according to the speed and movement of the
            Horned God.  The Horned God then takes the hand of one of the group (female), and
            she takes the hand of the next male, and so on until all the group except for the
            HPS and drummer are dancing with the Horned God. This represents the Wild Hunt, and
            the drumming and dancing should reflect the feeling of this. At a prompt from the
            Horned God, the group will stop dancing, and seat themselves on the floor facing
            inwards around the cauldron. The drummer will join them, and the HPS will bring a
            pot of incense, from which she will take a handful and throw it into the cauldron.
            she will then pass the incense to the HP, who will also throw some into the
            cauldron, and will pass it to his neighbour, and so on around the circle until each
            person has thrown some incense into the cauldron. There is now a period of
            meditation, where everyone thinks about the past year, and those who may have passed
            over during that time. It is also a time for joining with our loved ones who have
            gone beyond, and who we invite to return to us for the night. When the HPS feels
            that long enough has been spent on this part of the ritual, she will signal that
            everyone should end their meditation. 

            P#2 shall now rise  (also  PS#1 if designated), and approach the altar where he/they
            will perform the consecration of the sacred seed.

            P#2 says:

            Bounded by a shell then?
              Secure in the vice of the earth, a unity waiting.

            And outside?
              Cold, wet loneliness, the comfort of death.

            And above?
              The agony of birth and growth, total struggle in total night.

            O Gaia!
              Smile upon your children, set free the seed of life and joy.

            So Mote It Be!

            When this has been completed, P#2 takes some of the seeds, and energises them with
            his own hopes and desires for the coming year, and then plants them in one of the
            prepared pots. The rest of the group do likewise, commencing with 1762PS#11762 if
            designated, and following male/female if possible. The Horned God and Goddess do not
            plant seeds at the altar. When the last person has planted their seeds, and all are
            seated again, the 1762Horned God1762 approaches the altar, and slices the
            pomegranite in half, and holds both halves in one hand. He picks up some seeds and
            charges them with his hopes and desires for the coming year, but does not plant them
            at the altar. He holds them in his hand, and then he  calls to all the spirits who
            followed him through from beyond the veil to return with him now, and moving in a
            deosil direction, circles around the Temple finally ending up beyond the veil again. 
            He calls to the Goddess to join with him once more, and she has such love for him
            that she willingly leaves her life this side of the veil, and of her own free will
            joins once more with her consort. She rises, and goes to the altar to collect and
            charge her own seeds, which she then carries with her as she moves around the
            Temple, finally joining the Horned God behind the veil. He closes the veil between
            the worlds once more, and to symbolise her willing descent to the Otherworld, the
            Goddess eats one half of the pomegranate. She and the Horned God then plant their
            seeds.


            The northern quarter candle is relit by the person nearest to it. 



                                                                                           1763
          

          At this point, 1763PS#1 and P#21763 approach the altar, and perform the consecration
            of cakes and wine, in which all participate bar the HPS and P#1 behind the veil, as
            they are "no longer of this world". After cakes and wine, 1763HPS and P#11763 rejoin
            the circle for the feast, no longer "Horned God and Goddess".

                 TO END THE RITUAL:

            Each quarter is thanked and bidden to depart by HPS 
            All present make their farewells to each other, and leave the Temple.

                                             The Rite is ended.



                                                                                           1764
          

                                       Y U L E   1984 
                                               Julia Phillips 

            Circle is cast and Quarters erected. 
             
            HPS:       We now stand at the turning of the year. 
             
            Dark Lord: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, 
                       All fades and passes, day to night. 
             
            Dark Lord extinguishes candles leaving only altar candles alight. 
             
            HPS:       Let us dance for the long year's end, for the sun     sets 
                       quickly in the West, and we begin the long night of 
                       hope. 
             
            Coven do Wheel or Cord dance widdershins about the cauldron 
            chanting: 
             
            Time and Death, Life and Seasons, All must pass, All must change. 
             
            Star Child now leaves the circle, and stands behind the veil in the North. 
             
            HPS stands at the cauldron in the centre, wearing a black veil. 
             
            HPS:       I am the Hag who engendered you all; 
                       I am the Three and the One who is here; 
                       I am the log that is ripe for burning; 
                       In my end is your hope of beginning. 
             
            HPS now lifts the cauldron aloft and presents it to each quarter. 
            She returns to the centre, and lights the cauldron candle, from 
            which she lights a quarter candle for each member of the coven. 
            The quarter candles are placed in their respective quarters. 
             
            Narrator:  This is the night of the Solstice; the Mother         Night. 
                       Now darkness triumphs, and yet gives way and changes            to light.
            Time stops, and all wait while the             cauldron  of the Dark King is
            transformed into the         infant Light.  We watch for the dawn when the Mother 
            again gives birth to the sun, who is the bringer of              hope and the 
            promise of summer. Holly gives way to          Oak, the Wren to  the Robin, Old to
            New. 
             
            Narrator:  We stand now in the long night, we pray for the       sun's return. In
            darkness and shadows the Great           Mother  groans. The Mother labours to bring
            forth            the sun from her pain. From her cries of labour comes forth our 
            cries of welcome; from her toil and            anguish our hope is reborn. Let us
            now call forth         the Great Mother, and the Lord of Life, her husband and son. 

            The Star Child emerges from behind the         veil, and lays at the feet of the
            HPS. The HPS points to the Star Child and proclaims: 
             
                       Behold the Child! Here lies our king! 
             



                                                                                           1765
          


          The HPS crowns the Star Child with a crown of misteltoe. She 
            removes her veil and announces: 
             
                       I am the Mother who brought forth the child; 
                       I am the inspiration, and I am the rebirth. 
             
            Narrator: You are the ecstasy of the blessed 
                       You are the light of the sun's beams 
                       You are the lordly door of welcome 
                       You are the guiding star 
                       Yours is the step of the roe on the hill 
                       Yours is the step of the white-faced mare            
                       Yours is the grace of the swimming swan 
                       You are the jewel in each mystery 
             
            Coven now do Wheel or Cord dance deosil about the cauldron 
            chanting: 
             
                       Power of soil and power of air, 
                       Power of fire and power of water, 
                       Power that spins the wheel of birth, 
                       Spins the wheel of joy and mirth, 
                       Spins the wheel of sun and moon,   
                       Push, push, push, Open the gate. 
             
                       Power of spell and magic free, 
                       Eternal power that binds the sea, 
                       Weaves the web of infinity, 
                       Light of dark and light of day, 
                       Speed the spokes fast on their way, 
                       Push push push - ah ah 
                       Open the gate, So Mote It Be! 
             
            HPS now invokes the Lord of Misrule into the circle. He is 
            challenged upon entry by the Dark Lord, and must explain who he 
            is, and why he is there. The Lord of Misrule is now in charge of 
            the circle, and may behave as he sees fit. At some point, he must 
            take the burdens of the coven for the previous twelve moons and 
            pack them in his bag. 
             
            Cakes and Wine. 
             
            The Lord of Misrule must be ritually hunted as a wren to bring 
            about his downfall. The coven mime hunting the wren chanting, 
             
                       "Burn the bush, hunt the wren" 
             
            When he is discovered, the coven point their athames at his neck 
            to symbolise his death. 
            Close ritual.



                                                                                           1766
          

                            "LEGITIMACY" IN THE CRAFT, a conversation 

            ---------------------------------------------------------------------
            (117)   Sun 25 Apr 93 11:16
            By: Khaled
            To: Lana
            Re: things
            St:
            ----------------------------------------------------------------------

            L> What rituals do you think I would have to do to become "letigimate" L> ....(do I
            have to be "initiated" in other words... )!

                That rather depends on who you want to recognise you as legitimate. There's a

            wide variance of opinion as to what makes a witch, a Witch or a Wiccan.  If you open

            your heart to the Lady and commune (speak with your heart, not necessarily in words)

            with her often, she will eventually adopt her as one of her special Children (the

            "inner", or Lady's, initiation). Her adoption will cause changes to your spirit and

            way of looking at things that will be obvious to those of us who share it, as its

            presence in others will become obvious to you after you've awakened to her touch

            (unfortunately, it's one of those things

            that doesn't make much sense until you've *been there*).

                 Most of us here accept the Lady's initiation as the mark of a true Witch

            (capitalised to denote the priest/ess, as opposed to the folk mage or witch).  I

            gather that the majority of those posting here think of Wiccans and Witches as one

            and the same, though many of us think of Wicca as a particular subset of Witches

            (i.e. all Wiccans are Witches, but not all Witches are, or even wish to be, Wiccan).



                                                                                           1767
          

               For those of us who see them as different (I'm one of them), you will need to

            be formally adopted into a Wiccan clan to be a *Wiccan* Witch. Some traditions

            permit self-adoption into their clans, some (Gardnerians and their near kin in

            particular) recognise you as Wiccan only if you've been adopted by an authorised

            Elder of the clan in question.  Then again,there's a few diehards who don't

            recognise anyone but members of their own clan as Wiccan.

                 Which brings us back to square one -- it depends on whose recognition you're

            looking for.  Most will accept your legitimacy *as a Witch* based on the quality of

            your rapport with the Lady.  And the way to develop that is to spend a lot of time

            in her company, whether with like-minded others in a coven or quietly by yourself. 

            A large minority will accept you *as a Wiccan* based on whether or not you have

            passed through a human rite of passage (confusingly, also called initiation)

            adopting you into a Wiccan clan.  Be sure you know the

            family that wishes to adopt you before accepting: this time you get to *choose* your

            relatives <g>.  Those who insist that only *they* have the Truth, and therefore only

            they are legitimate aren't really worth wasting your time worrying about, IMHO.



                                                                                           1768
          



          L> I was wondering if you HAD to belong to a coven in order to 
            L> practice, or to be "letigimate", so to speak.

               As Ayesha mentioned, what matters is that you spend time in the Lady's company,

            and "listen" to what she has to say, "feel" what she has to show. Even amongst

            crusty old Gardnerians such as myself, there's no need to be a member of a coven to

            practice your Craft, nor does resigning from a coven invalidate your initiation(s). 

            We prefer to work in covens, because we generally prefer the company of our brethren

            in Circle, but there's no law that says we *have to* if we feel like being alone, or

            have no choice in the matter.  Gardnerian

            *initiations* are done by a coven, and one normally has to be a candidate for

            membership in that coven in order to be initiated (by us).  This is by no means

            invariable, but initiating someone you don't want in your coven is considered

            tasteless at best, a betrayal of your sacred trust at worst.  



                 So, no, you don't HAVE to be a member of a coven to be seen as legitimate.  And

            since my own opinion is that the weakest link in a coven is its weakest solitary,

            I'd encourage you to continue to do some solo work, even if you DO join a coven. 

            But what would I know, I'm just a 3rd <big grin>.  Blessings on your path, whichever

            way you choose to go...



                    K



                                                                                           1769
          

          The Meaning of Witchcraft
            Gerald B. Gardner
            P.265
                                          Appendix I

                              THE MAGICAL LEGEND OF THE WITCHES.

                 Now, G. (the Witch Goddess) had never loved, but she would solve
            all the Mysteries, even the Mystery of Death; and so she journeyed to
            the Nether Lands.

                 The Guardians of the Portals challenged her,  "Strip off thy
            garments, lay aside thy jewels; for naught may ye bring with ye into
            this our land."

                 So she laid down her garments and her jewels, and was bound, as are all who
            enter the Realms of Death the Mighty One.  (Note:  There was a Celtic custom of
            binding corpses.  The cord which had bound a corpse was useful in learning the
            "second sight.")

                 Such was her beauty that Death himself knelt and Kissed her feet,
            saying, "Blessed be thy feet  that have brought thee in these ways. 
            Abide with me,  let me place my cold hands on thy heart."

                 She replied, "I love thee not.  Why dost thou cause all things that I love and
            take delight in to fade and die?"

                 "Lady", replied Death, "tis Age and Fate, against which I am
            helpless.  Age causes all things to wither; but when men die at the end of time I
            give them rest and peace, and strength so that they may
            return.  But thou, thou art lovely.  Return not; abide with me."

                 But she answered, "I love thee not."

                 Then said Death, "An thou received not my had on thy heart, thou
            must receive Death's scourge."

                 "It is Fate; better so", she said, and she knelt; and Death
            Scourged her, and she cried, "I feel the pangs of love."

                 And Death said, "Blessed be", and gave her the fivefold kiss,
            saying, Thus only may ye attain to joy and knowledge.

                 And he taught her all the Mysteries.  And they loved and were one, and he
            taught her all the Magics.

                 For there are three great events in the life of man; Love, Death,
            and Resurrection in a new body; and Magic controls them all.  For to
            fulfil love you must return again at the same time and place as the
            loved one, and you must remember and love them again.  But to be reborn you must
            die, and be ready for new body; and to die you must be born; and without love you
            may not be born.  And these be all the Magics.



                                                                                           1770
          

          The Spiral Dance
            1979; Starhawk
            p 159

                             The Goddess In The Kingdom Of Death

            In this world, the Goddess is seen in the moon, the light that shines in darkness,
            the rain bringer, mover of the tides, Mistress of mysteries.  And as the moon waxes
            and wanes, and walks three nights of its cycle in darkness, so, it is said, the
            Goddess once spent three nights in the Kingdom of Death.

            For in love She ever seeks Her other Self, and once, in the winter of the year, when
            He had disappeared from the green earth, She followed Him and came at last to the
            gates beyond which the living do not go.

            The Guardian of the Gate challenged Her, and She stripped Herself of Her clothing
            and jewels, for nothing may be brought into that land.  For love, She was bound as
            all who enter there must be and brought before Death Himself.

            He loved Her, and knelt at Her feet, laying before Her His sword and crown, and gave
            Her the fivefold kiss, and said,

            "Do not return to the living world, but stay here with Me, and have peace and rest
            and comfort."

            But She answered, "Why do you cause all things I love and delight in to die and
            wither away?"

            "Lady," He said, "It is the fate of all that lives to die.  Everything passes; all
            fades away.  I bring comfort and consolation to those who pass the gates, that they
            may grow young again.  But You are My heart's desire -- return not, but stay here
            with Me."

            And She remained with Him three days and three nights, and at the end of the third
            night She took up His crown, and it became a circlet that She placed around Her
            neck, saying:

            "Here is the circle of rebirth.  Through You all passes out of life, but through Me
            all may be born again.  Everything passess; everything changes.  Even death is not
            eternal. Mine is the mystery of the womb, that is the cauldron of rebirth.  Enter
            into Me and know Me, and You will be free of all fear.  For as life is but a journey
            into death, so death is but a passage back to life, and in Me the circle is ever
            turning."

            In love, He entered into Her, and so was reborn into life.  Yet is He known as Lord
            of Shadows, the comforter and consoler, opener of the gates, King of the Land of
            Youth, the giver of peace and rest.  But She is the gracious mother of all life;
            from Her all things proceed and to Her they return again.  In Her are the mysteries
            of death and birth; in Her is the fulfillment of all love.

            *Traditional Craft Myth



                                                                                           1771
          



                         A TRUE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

              updated through January 3, 1992. copyright (c) 1992 by Allen Greenfield. All
            rights reserved.]

              "The fact is that the instincts of  ignorant people invariably find expression in 
            some form of witchcraft. It matters little what the metaphysician or the moralist
            may  inculcate; the animal sticks to his  subconscious ideas..."

                                Aleister Crowley
                                The Confessions

               "As attunement to psychic (occult) reality  has grown in America, one often
            misunderstood  and secretive branch of it has begun to flourish also -- magical 
            religion..."
                              J. Gordon Melton
                              Institute for the Study of
                              American Religion, Green Egg, 1975

             "Curse them! Curse them! Curse them!
              With my Hawk's head I peck at the eyes of
              Jesus as he hangs upon the cross
              I flap my wings in the face of Mohammed &
              blind him
              With my claws I tear out the flesh of the
              Indian and the Buddhist, Mongol and
              Din..."

               Liber Al Vel Legis 3:50 - 53


             "If you are on the Path, and see the Buddha walking towards you, kill him."
             Zen saying, paraphrased slightly

             "Previously I never thought of doubting that  there were many witches in the world;
            now,  however, when I examine the public record, I  find myself believing that there
            are hardly  any..."

             Father Friedrich von Spee, S.J. , Cautio  Criminalis, 1631



              Having spent the day musing over the  origins of the modern witchcraft, I had a 
            vivid dream. It seemed to be a cold January afternoon, and Aleister Crowley  was
            having  Gerald Gardner over to tea.   It was 1945,  and talk of an early end to the
            war was in  the air.  An atmosphere of optimism prevailed  in the "free world" , but
            the wheezing old  magus was having none of it.

             "Nobody is interested in magick any more!"  Crowley ejaculated.  "My friends on the 
            Continent are dead or in exile, or grown old; the movement in America is in
            shambles. I've  seen my best candidates turn against  me....Achad, Regardie -- even
            that gentleman  out in California, what's - his - name,  AMORC, the one that made
            all the money.."



                                                                                           1772
          


           "O, bosh, Crowley," Gardner waved his hand  impatiently, "all things considered,
            you've  done pretty well for yourself.  Why, you've been called the `wickedest man
            in the world'  and by more than a few.  And you've not, if  you'll pardon the
            impertinence, done too  badly with the ladies."

             Crowley coughed, tugged on his pipe  reflectively. "You know" he finally ventured, 
            "it's like I've been trying to tell this fellow Grant.  A restrictive Order is not 
            enough.  If I had it all to do over again, I  would've built a religion for the
            unwashed  masses instead of just a secret society.   Why, the opportunities! The
            women!"

             Gardner smiled.  "Precisely.  And that is  what I have come to propose to you. 
            Take  your BOOK OF THE LAW, your GNOSTIC MASS.  Add  a little razzle-dazzle for the
            country folk.   Why I know these occultists who call  themselves `witches'.  They
            dance around  fires naked, get drunk, have a good time.  Rosicrucians, I think.
            Proper English country  squires and dames, mostly; I think they read a lot of
            Frazier and Margaret Murray. If I could persuade you to draw on your long experience 
            and talents, in no time at all we could  invent a popular cult that would have
            beautiful ladies clamoring to let us strip  them naked, tie them up and spank their 
            behinds!  If, Mr. Crowley, you'll excuse my explicitness."

             For all his infirmity, Aleister Crowley  almost sprang to his feet, a little of the 
            old energy flashing through his loins. "By George, Gardner, you've got something
            there,  I should think! I could license you to  initiate people into the O.T.O.
            today, and you could form the nucleus of such a group!" He paced in agitation. "Yes,
            yes," he mused,  half to Gardner, half to himself. "The Book.   The Mass.  I could
            write some rituals.  An `ancient book' of magick.  A `book of  shadows'. Priest-
            esses, naked girls.  Yes.  By  Jove, yes!"

             Great story, but merely a dream , created  out of bits and pieces of rumor, history
            and  imagination.  Don't be surprised, though, if  a year or five years from now you
            read it as "gospel" (which is an ironic synonym for  `truth') in some new learned
            text on the  fabled history of Wicca.  Such is the way all  mythologies come into
            being.

             Please don't misunderstand me here; I use  the word `mythology' in this context in
            its  aboriginal meaning, and with considerable respect. History is more metaphor
            than  factual accounting at best, and there are  myths by which we live and others
            by which we  die. Myths are the dreams and visions which  parallel objective
            history. This entire work is, in fact, an attempt to approximate history.

             To arrive at some perspective on what the  modern mythos called, variously,
            "Wicca", the  "Old Religion", "Witchcraft" and "Neopaganism" is, we must firstly
            make a firm  distinction; "witchcraft" in the popular  informally defined sense may
            have little to  do with the modern religion that goes by the same name. It has been
            argued by defenders of  and formal apologists for modern Wicca that  it is a direct
            lineal descendent of an ancient, indeed, prehistoric worldwide folk  religion.



                                                                                           1773
          


             Some proponents hedge their claims,  calling Wicca a "revival" rather than a 
            continuation of an ancient cult.  Oddly  enough, there may never have been any such 
            cult!  The first time I met someone who  thought she was a "witch," she started
            going on about being a "blue of the cloak."  I  should've been warned right then and
            there. In fact, as time has passed and the religion  has spread, the claims of
            lineal continuity  have tended to be hedged more and more. Thus, we find Dr.
            Gardner himself, in 1954,  stating unambiguously that some witches are  descendants
            "... of a line of priests and priestesses of an old and probably Stone Age 
            religion, who have been initiated in a  certain way (received into the circle) and
            become the recipients of certain ancient  learning." (Gardner, WITCHCRAFT TODAY, pp 
            33-34.)

             Stated in its most extreme form, Wicca may  be defined as an ancient pagan
            religious  system of beliefs and practices, with a form  of apostolic succession
            (that is, with  knowledge and ordination handed on lineally  from generation to
            generation), a more or  less consistent set of rites and myths, and  even a secret
            holy book of considerable  antiquity (The Book of Shadows).

             More recent writers, as we have noted, have  hedged a good deal on these claims, 
            particularly the latter.  Thus we find  Stewart Farrar in 1971 musing on the 
            purported ancient text thusly: "Whether,  therefore, the whole of the Book of
            Shadows  is post-1897 is anyone's guess. Mine is that,  like the Bible, it is a
            patchwork of periods  and sources, and that since it is copied and  re-copied by
            hand, it includes amendments,  additions, and stylistic alterations  according to
            the taste of a succession of copiers...Parts of it I sense to be genuinely  old;
            other parts suggest modern  interpolation..." (Farrar, WHAT WITCHES DO,  pp
            34-35.)As we shall discover presently,  there appear to be no genuinely old copies
            of  the Book of Shadows.

              Still, as to the mythos, Farrar informs us  that the "two personifications of
            witchcraft  are the Horned God and the Mother Goddess..."  (ibid, p 29) and that the
            "Horned God is not  the Devil, and never has been. If today  `Satanist' covens do
            exist, they are not  witches but a sick fringe, delayed-reaction victims of a
            centuries-old Church propaganda  in which even intelligent Christians no  longer
            believe." (ibid, p 32).

              One could  protest:, "Very well, some  case might be made for the Horned God being 
            mistaken for the Christian Devil (or should that be the other way around?), but what 
            record, prior to the advent 50 years ago of  modern Wicca via Gerald Gardner, do we
            have  of the survival of a mother goddess image  from ancient times?"

              Wiccan apologists frequently refer to the  (apparently isolated) tenth century
            church  document which states that "some wicked  women, perverted by the Devil,
            seduced by the  illusions and phantasms of demons, believe  and profess themselves
            in the hours of the  night to ride upon certain beasts with Diana,  the goddess of
            pagans, or with Herodias, and  an innumerable multitude of women, and in the 
            silence of the dead of night to traverse  great spaces of earth, and to obey her 
            commands as of their mistress, and to be  summoned to her service on certain
            nights."  (Quoted in Valiente, WITCHCRAFT FOR TOMORROW,  Hale, 1978, p 32.) I do not
            doubt that bits of pagan folklore survived
            on the Continent through the first millenium -- Northern Europe remained overtly
            pagan until the High Middle Ages. But what has this to do with Wicca?

             Farrar, for his part, explains the lack of  references to a goddess in the
            testimony at  the infamous witch trials by asserting that  "the judges ignored the
            Goddess, being preoccupied with the Satan-image of the  God.." (WHAT WITCHES DO, p
            33). But it is the evidence of that reign of  terror which lasted from roughly 1484
            to 1692  which brings the whole idea of a surviving  religious cult into question.
            It is now  the conventional wisdom on the witchburning  mania which swept like a



                                                                                           1774
          

          plague over much of  Europe during the transition from medieval world to modern 
            that it was JUST that; a  mania, a delusion in the minds of Christian clergymen and
            state authorities; that is,  there were no witches, only the innocent  victims of
            the witch hunt.

               Further, this humanist argument goes, the  `witchcraft' of Satanic worship,
            broomstick  riding, of Sabbats and Devil-marks, was a  rather late invention,
            borrowing but little  from remaining memories of actual  preChristian paganism.  We
            have seen a  resurrection of this mania in the 1980s  flurry over `Satanic
            sacrificial' cults, with  as little evidence.

             "The concept of the heresy of witchcraft was  frankly regarded as a new invention,
            both by  the theologians and by the public," writes  Dr. Rossell Hope Robbins in THE
            ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF WITCHCRAFT & DEMONOLOGY, (Crown, 1959,  p.9)"Having to hurdle an
            early church law,  the Canon Episcopi, which said in effect that belief in
            witchcraft was superstitious and  heretical, the inquisitors cavilled by  arguing
            that the witchcraft of the Canon Episcopi and the witchcraft of the  Inquisition
            were different..."

             The evidence extracted under the most  gruesome and repeated tortures resemble the 
            Wiccan religion of today in only the most cursory fashion. Though Wicca may have
            been  framed with the "confessions" extracted by  victims of the inquisitors in
            mind, those  "confessions" ---  which are more than  suspect, to begin with, bespeak
            a cult of  devil worshipers dedicated to evil.

              One need only read a few of the accounts of  the time to realize that, had there
            been at  the time a religion of the Goddess and God,  of seasonal circles and The
            Book of Shadows, such would likely have been blurted out by  the victims, and more
            than once.  The agonies  of the accused were, almost literally, beyond  the
            imagination of those of us who have been  fortunate enough to escape them.

              The witch mania went perhaps unequaled in  the annals of crimes against humanity
            en  masse until the Hitlerian brutality of our own century. But, no such confessions
            were  forthcoming, though the wretches accused,  before the torture was done, would
            also be compelled to condemn their own parents,  spouses, loved ones, even children.
            They  confessed, and to anything the inquisitors wished, anything to stop or reduce
            the pain.

             A Priest, probably at risk to his own life,  recorded testimony in the 1600s that 
            reflected the reality underlying the forced "confessions" of "witches". Rev. Michael 
            Stapirius records, for example, this comment  from one "confessed witch": "I never
            dreamed  that by means of the torture a person could  be brought to the point of
            telling such lies  as I have told.  I am not a witch, and I have  never seen the
            devil, and still I had to plead guilty myself and denounce others...."   All but one
            copy of Father Stapirius' book  were destroyed, and little wonder.

             A letter smuggled from a German burgomaster,  Johannes Junius, to his daughter in
            1628, is  as telling as it is painful even to read. His  hands had been virtually
            destroyed in the  torture, and he wrote only with great agony  and no hope.  "When
            at last the executioner  led me back to the cell, he said to me, `Sir,  I beg you,
            for God's sake, confess something,  whether it be true or not. Invent something, 
            for you cannot endure the torture which you  will be put to; and, even if you bear
            it all,  yet you will not escape, not even if you were  an earl, but one torture
            will follow another  until you say you are a witch. Not before that,' he said, `will
            they let you go, as you  may see by all their trials, for one is just  like
            another...' " (ibid, pp 12-13)

             For the graspers at straws, we may find an  occasional line in a "confession" which
            is  intriguing, as in the notations on the "confession" of one woman  from Germany
            dated  in late 1637.  After days of unspeakable  torment, wherein the woman



                                                                                           1775
          

          confesses under  pain, recants when the pain is removed, only  to be moved by more
            pain to confess again,  she is asked: "How did she influence the weather? She does
            not know what to say and  can only whisper, Oh, Heavenly Queen, protect  me!"

             Was the victim calling upon "the goddess"?  Or, as seems more likely, upon that 
            aforementioned transfiguration of all ancient goddesses in Christian mythology, the
            Virgin  Mary.  One more quote from Dr. Robbins, and I  will cease to parade late
            medieval history  before you.

              It comes from yet another priest, Father  Cornelius Loos, who observed, in 1592
            that  "Wretched creatures are compelled by the severity of the torture to confess
            things  they have never done, and so by cruel  butchery innocent lives are
            taken....."  (ibid, p 16). The "evidence" of the witch  trials indicates, on the
            whole, neither the  Satanism the church and state would have us believe, nor the
            pagan survivals now claimed  by modern Wicca; rather, they suggest only  fear,
            greed, human brutality carried out to  bizarre extremes that have few parallels in 
            all of history. But, the brutality is not that of `witches' nor even of `Satanists'
            but  rather that of the Christian Church, and the government.

             What, then, are we to make of modern Wicca?   It must, of course, be observed as an
            aside  that in a sense witchcraft or "wisecraft"  has, indeed, been with us from the
            dawn of  time, not as a coherent religion or set of  practices and beliefs, but as
            the folk magic  and medicine that stretches back to early, possibly paleolithic
            tribal shamans on to  modern China's so-called "barefoot doctors".

              In another sense, we can also say that  ceremonial magick, as I have previously 
            noted, has had a place in history for a very long time, and both these ancient
            systems of  belief and practice have intermingled in the  lore of modern Wicca, as
            apologists are quick  to claim.



                                                                                           1776
          


            But, to an extent, this misses the point  and skirts an essential question anyone
            has  the right to ask about modern Wicca --  namely, did Wicca exist as a coherent
            creed,  a distinct form of spiritual expression,  prior to the 1940s; that is, prior
            to the  meeting of minds between the old magus and venerable prophet of the occult
            world  Aleister Crowley, and the first popularizer,  if not outright inventor of
            modern Wicca, Gerald Brosseau Gardner?

              There is certainly no doubt that bits and  pieces of ancient paganism survived
            into  modern times in folklore and, for that matter, in the very practices and
            beliefs of  Christianity.

              Further, there appears to be some evidence  that `Old George' Pickingill and
            others were  practicing some form of folk magick as early  as the latter part of the
            last century,  though even this has recently been brought  into question.  Wiccan
            writers have made much  of this in the past, but just what `Old  George' was into is
            subject to much debate.

             Doreen Valiente, an astute Wiccan writer and  one-time intimate of the late Dr.
            Gardner  (and, in fact, the author of some rituals now  thought by others to be of
            "ancient origin"),  says of Pickingill that so "fierce was `Old  George's dislike of
            Christianity that he  would even collaborate with avowed  Satanists..." (TOMORROW, p
            20). What
            George  Pickingill was doing is simply not clear.

              He is said to have had some interaction  with a host of figures in the occult
            revival  of the late nineteenth century, including perhaps even Crowley and his
            friend Bennett.  It seems possible that Gardner, about the  time of meeting Crowley,
            had some involvement  with groups stemming from Pickingill's  earlier activities,
            but it is only AFTER  Crowley and Gardner meet that we begin to see  anything
            resembling the modern spiritual communion that has become known as Wicca.

             "Witches," wrote Gardner in 1954, "are  consummate leg-pullers; they are taught it
            as  part of their stock-in-trade." (WITCHCRAFT TODAY, p. 27) Modern apologists both
            for  Aleister Crowley AND Gerald Gardner have  taken on such serious tones as well
            aspretensions that they may be missing places  where tongues are firmly jutting
            against  cheeks.

             Both men were believers in fleshly  fulfillment, not only as an end in itself  but,
            as in the Tantric Yoga of the East, as a means of spiritual attainment.  A certain
            prudishness has crept into the  practices of postGardnarian Wiccans,  especially in
            America since the 1960s, along  with a certain feminist revisionism. This has 
            succeeded to a considerable extent in converting a libertine sex cult into a rather 
            staid neopuritanism.

             The original Gardnarian current is still  well enough known and widely enough in
            vogue  (in Britain and Ireland especially) that one  can venture to assert that what
            Gardnerian  Wicca is all about is the same thing Crowley  was attempting with a more
            narrow, more  intellectual constituency in the magickal orders under his direct
            influence.

              These Orders had flourished for some time,  but by the time Crowley ` officially'
            met  Gardner in the 1940s, much of the former's  lifelong efforts had, if not
            totally disintegrated, at least were then operating  at a diminished and diminishing
            level.

              Through his long and fascinating career as  magus and organizer, there is some
            reason to  believe that Crowley periodically may have  wished for, or even attempted
            to create a more populist expression of magickal  religion. The Gnostic Mass, which



                                                                                           1777
          

          Crowley  wrote fairly early-on, had come since his  death to somewhat fill this
            function through  the OTO-connected Gnostic Catholic Church  (EGC).

              As we shall see momentarily, one of  Crowley's key followers was publishing 
            manifestos forecasting the revival of  witchcraft at the same time Gardner was being 
            chartered by Crowley to organize an OTO  encampment. The OTO itself, since Crowley's
            time, has taken on a more popular image, and  is  more targeted towards interna-
            tional organizational efforts,  thanks largely to the work under the  Caliphate of
            the late Grady McMurtry. This contrasts sharply with the very internalized  OTO that
            barely survived during the McCarthy  Era, when the late Karl Germer was in charge, 
            and the OTO turned inward for two decades.

               The famous Ancient and Mystic Order of the  Rose Cross (AMORC), the highly
            successful  mail-order spiritual fellowship, was an OTO  offspring in Crowley's
            time. It has been  claimed that Kenneth Grant and Aleister  Crowley were discussing
            relatively radical  changes in the Ordo Templi Orientis at approximately the same
            time that Gardner and Crowley were interactive.

             Though Wiccan writers give some lip service  (and, no doubt, some sincere credence)
            to the  notion that the validity of Wiccan ideas  depends not upon its lineage, but
            rather upon  its workability, the suggestion that Wicca is  -- or, at least, started
            out to be,  essentially a late attempt at popularizing the secrets of ritual and
            sexual magick  Crowley promulgated through the OTO and his  writings, seems to evoke
            nervousness, if not  hostility.

              We hear from wiccan writer and leader  Raymond Buckland that one "of the
            suggestions  made is that Aleister Crowley wrote the rituals...but no convincing
            evidence has been  presented to back this assertion and, to my  mind, it seems
            extremely unlikely..." (Gardner, ibid, introduction)  The Wiccan  rituals I have
            seen DO have much of Crowley  in them. Yet, as we shall observe presently,  the
            explanation that `Crowley wrote the  rituals for Gardner' turns out to be somewhat 
            in error.  But it is on the right track.

             Doreen Valiente attempts to invoke Crowley's  alleged infirmity at the time of his 
            acquaintance with Gardner:

             "It has been stated by Francis King in his  RITUAL MAGIC IN ENGLAND that Aleister
            Crowley  was paid by Gerald Gardner to write the  rituals of Gardner's new witch
            cult...Now,  Gerald Gardner never met Aleister Crowley  until the very last years of
            the latter's  life, when he was a feeble old man living at  a private hotel in
            Hastings, being kept alive  by injections of drugs... If, therefore,  Crowley really
            invented these rituals in their entirety, they must be about the last  thing he ever
            wrote. Was this enfeebled and  practically dying man really capable of such  a tour
            de force?"

              The answer, as Dr. Israel  Regardie's introduction to the posthumous  collection
            of Crowley's late letters, MAGICK  WITHOUT TEARS, implies, would seem to be yes.  
            Crowley continued to produce extraordinary  material almost to the end of his life,
            and  much of what I have seen of the "Wiccan  Crowley" is, in any case, of earlier
            origin.

             Gerald Gardner is himself not altogether  silent on the subject.  In WITCHCRAFT
            TODAY (p  47), Gardner asks himself, with what degree  of irony one can only guess
            at, who, in  modern times, could have invented the Wiccan  rituals. "The only man I
            can think of who  could have invented the rites," he offers,  "was the late Aleister
            Crowley....possibly he  borrowed things from the cult writings, or  more likely
            someone may have borrowed expressions from him...."  A few legs may be  being pulled
            here, and perhaps more than a  few.  As a prophet ahead of his time, as a poet  and
            dreamer, Crowley is one of the  outstanding figures of the twentieth (or any) 
            century.  As an organizer, he was almost as  much of a disaster as he was at



                                                                                           1778
          

          managing his  own finances...and personal  life. As I  understand the liberatory
            nature of the  magical path, one would do well to see the  difference between
            Crowley the prophet of  Thelema and Crowley the insolvent and inept administrator.

             Crowley very much lacked the common touch;  Gardner was above all things a
            popularizer.   Both men have been reviled as lecherous  "dirty old men" -- Crowley,
            as a seducer of  women and a homosexual, a drug addict and  `satanist' rolled
            together.

              Gardner was, they would have it, a voyeur, exhibitionist and bondage freak with a 
            `penchant for ritual' to borrow a line from THE STORY OF O.  Both were, in reality, 
            spiritual libertines, ceremonial magicians  who did not shy away from the awesome
            force of human sexuality and its potential for  spiritual transformation as well as
            physical  gratification.

             I will not say with finality at this point  whether Wicca is an outright invention
            of  these two divine con-men. If so, more power to them, and to those who truly
            follow in  their path. I do know that, around 1945,  Crowley chartered Gardner, an
            initiate of the Ordo  Templi Orientis, giving him license to  organize an OTO
            encampment.

              Shortly thereafter, the public face of  Wicca came into view, and that is what I
            know  of the matter: I presently have in my possession Gardner's certificate of 
            license  to organize said OTO camp, signed and sealed  by Aleister Crowley. The
            certificate and its  import are examined in connection with my personal search for
            the original Book of  Shadows in the next section of this  narrative.

              For now, though, let us note in the years  since Crowley licensed Gardner to
            organize a  magical encampment, Wicca has both grown in  popularity and become, to
            my mind, something  far less REAL than either Gardner or Crowley  could have wanted
            or foreseen. Wherever they  came from, the rites and practices which came  from or
            through Gerald Gardner were strong,  and tapped into that archetypal reality, that 
            level of consciousness beneath the mask of polite society and conventional wisdom
            which is the function of True Magick.

              At a popular level, this was the Tantric  sex magick of the West. Whether this 
            primordial access has been lost to us will depend on the awareness, the awakening or 
            lack thereof among practitioners of the near  to middle-near future.  Carried to its
            end  Gardnerian practices, like Crowley's magick,  are not merely exotic; they are,
            in the  truest sense, subversive.



                                                                                           1779
          


           Practices that WORK are of value, whether  they are two years old or two thousand.  
            Practices, myths, institutions and obligations which, on the other hand, may be 
            infinitely ancient are of no value at all  UNLESS they work.

                       The Devil, you say

              Before we move on, though, in light of the  furor over real and imagined
            "Satanism" that  has overtaken parts of the popular press in  recent years, I would
            feel a bit remiss in  this account if I did not take momentary note  of that other
            strain of left-handed occult  mythology, Satanism.  Wiccans are correct when they
            say that modern Wicca is not  Satanic, that Satanism is "reverse  Christianity"
            whereas Wicca is a separate, nonChristian religion.

              Still, it should be noted, so much of our  society has been grounded in the 
            repressiveness and authoritarian moralism of Christianity that a liberal dose of 
            "counterChristianity" is to be expected. The  Pat Robertsons of the world make
            possible the Anton LeVays.  In the long history of  repressive religion, a certain
            fable of  Satanism has arisen. It constitutes a mythos of its own. No doubt,
            misguided `copycat'  fanatics have sometimes misused this mythos, in much the same
            way that Charles Manson  misused the music and culture of the 1960s.

              True occult initiates have always regarded  the Ultimate Reality as beyong all
            names and  description. Named `deities' are, therefore,  largely symbols. "Isis" is
            a symbol of the long-denied female component of deity to some  occultists.  "Pan" or
            "The Horned God" or  "Set" or even "Satan" are symbols of unconscious, repressed
            sexuality. To the  occultist, there is no Devil, no "god of  evil." There is,
            ultimately, only the Ain Sof Aur of the Cabbalah; the limitless light of  which we
            are but a frozen spark. Evil, in  this system, is the mere absence of light.  All
            else is illusion.

             The goal of the occult path of initiation is  BALANCE. In Freemasonry and High
            Magick, the  symbols of the White Pillar and Black Pillar  represent this balance
            between conscious and unconscious forces.

              In Gardnarian Wicca, the Goddess and Horned  God - and the Priestess and Priest,
            represent  that balance. There is nothing, nothing of  pacts with the "Devil" or the
            worship of evil  in any of this; that belongs to misguided  exChristians who have
            been given the absurd  fundamentalist Sunday school notion that one must choose the
            Christian version of God, or  choose the Devil.  Islam, Judaism and even 
            Catholicism have at one time or another been  thought "satanic," and occultists have
            merely  played on this bigoted symbolism, not  subscribed to it.

               As we have seen, Wicca since Gardner's  time has been watered down in many of its 
            expressions into a kind of mushy white-light `new age' religion, with far less of
            the  strong sexuality characteristic of  Gardnerianism, though, also, sometimes with
            less pretense as well.

               In any event, Satanism has popped up now  and again through much of the history
            of the  Christian Church. The medieval witches were  not likely to have been
            Satanists, as the  Church would have it, but, as we have seen,  neither were they
            likely to have been  "witches" in the Wiccan sense, either.

              The Hellfire Clubs of the eighteenth  century were Satanic, and groups like the 
            Process Church of the Final Judgement do, indeed, have Satanic elements in their
            (one  should remember) essentially Christian  theology.

             Aleister Crowley, ever theatrical, was prone  to use Satanic symbolism in much the
            same  way, tongue jutting in cheek, as he was given  to saying that he " sacrificed
            millions of  children each year, " that is, that he  masturbated. Crowley once



                                                                                           1780
          

          called a press  conference at the foot of the Statue of  Liberty, where he announced
            that he was  burning his British Passport to protest Britain's involvement in World
            War One.  He  tossed an empty envelope into the water. He was dead serious, though,
            about the "Satanism" of Miltonian eternal rebellion, and the "Satanism" of
            fundamentalism's dark fear of sexuality. The Devil, however; the Satanic "god of
            evil" was an absurdity to him, as to all thinking people, and he freely said so.

              The most popular form of  "counterChristianity" to emerge in modern  times,
            though, was Anton Szandor LaVey's San  Francisco-based Church of Satan, founded 
            April 30, 1966. LaVey's Church enjoyed an  initial burst of press interest, grew to
            a substantial size, and appeared to maintain  itself during the cultural drought of
            the  1970s.  But LaVey's books, THE SATANIC BIBLE  and THE SATANIC RITUALS, have
            remained in  print for many years, and his ideas seem to  be enjoying a renewal of
            interest, especially  among younger people, punks and heavy metal  fans with a
            death-wish mostly, beginning in  the middle years of the 1980s. By that time  the
            Church of Satan had been largely  succeeded by the Temple of Set. This is pure 
            theatre; more in the nature of psychotherapy  than religion.

               It is interesting to note Francis King's  observation that before the Church of
            Satan  began LaVey was involved in an occult group  which included, among others,
            underground  film maker Kenneth Anger, a person well known  in Crowlean circles.  Of
            the rites of the  Church of Satan, King states that "...most of  its teachings and
            magical techniques were  somewhat vulgarized versions of those of  Aleister
            Crowley's Ordo Templi Orientis." (MAN MYTH AND MAGIC, p 3204.) To which we  might
            add that, as with the OTO, the rites of  the Church of Satan are manifestly potent, 
            but hardly criminal or murderous.

              LaVey, like Gardner and unlike Crowley,  appears to have "the common touch" --
            perhaps  rather more so than Gardner.

             I determined to trace the Wiccan rumor to  its source. As we shall see, in the very
            year  I "fell" into being a gnostic bishop, I also  fell into the original charters,
            rituals and paraphernalia of Wicca.



                                                                                           1781
          


                                    THE CHARTER AND THE BOOK

            Being A Radical Revisionist History of the  Origins of the Modern Witch Cult and 
            The Book  of Shadows.

                          "It was one of the secret  doctrines of paganism that the Sun was the 
            source, not only of light, but of life...The  invasion of classical beliefs by the 
            religions of Syria and Egypt which were  principally solar, gradually affected the 
            conception of Apollo, and there is a certain  later identification of him with the 
            suffering God of Christianity, Free - masonry  and similar cults..."

                                   Aleister Crowley  in  Astrology, 1974


             "...if GBG and Crowley only knew each other  for a short year or two, do you think
            that  would be long enough for them to become such good friends that gifts of
            personal  value would be exchanged several times, and  that GBG would have been able
            to aquire the  vast majority of Crowley's effects after his  death?"

                                   Merlin the Enchanter, personal letter, 1986

             "...On the floor before the altar, he  remembers a sword with a flat cruciform
            brass  hilt, and a well-worn manuscript book of rituals - the hereditary Book of
            Shadows,  which he will have to copy out for himself in  the days to come..."

                                        Stewart Farrar in What Witches Do, 1971

             "Actually I did write a scholarly book about the Craft; its title was Inventing
            Witchcraft. . . But I spent most of the last fifteen years failing to persuade Carl
            Weschcke of Llewellyn or any other publisher that there was a market for it."

                              Aidan A. Kelly, Gnosis, Winter, 1992

              "...the Gardnerian Book of Shadows is one of  the key factors in what has become a
            far  bigger and more significant movement than  Gardner can have envisaged; so
            historical  interest alone would be enough reason for  defining it while first-hand
            evidence is  still available..."

                           Janet and Stewart Farrar in
                            The Witches' Way, 1984


             "It has been alleged that a Book of Shadows  in Crowley's handwriting was formerly 
            exhibited in Gerald's Museum of Witchcraft on  the Isle of Man. I can only say I
            never saw  this on either of the two occasions when I  stayed with Gerald and Donna
            Gardner on the  island.  The large, handwritten book depicted  in Witchcraft Today
            is not in Crowley's  handwriting, but Gerald's..."

                                      Doreen Valiente in
                                       Witchcraft for Tomorrow, 1978



                                                                                           1782
          



           "Aidan Kelly...labels the entire Wiccan  revival `Gardnerian Witchcraft....' The 
            reasoning and speculation in Aidan's book are  intricate.  Briefly, his main
            argument  depends on his discovery of one of Gardner's  working notebooks, Ye Book
            of Ye Art Magical,  which is in possession of Ripley  International, Ltd...."

                              Margot Adler in
                             Drawing Down the Moon, 1979




                              PART ONE
                   WAITING FOR THE MAN FROM CANADA


              I was, for the third time in four years,  waiting a bit nervously for the Canadian 
            executive with the original Book of Shadows  in the ramshackle office of Ripley's
            Believe  It or Not Museum.

             "They're at the jail," a smiling  secretary-type explained, "but we've called  them
            and they should be back over here to see  you in just a few minutes."

             The jail?  Ah, St. Augustine, Florida. "The  Old Jail,"  was the `nation's oldest
            city's'  second most tasteless tourist trap, complete  with cage-type cells and a
            mock gallows.  For  a moment I allowed myself to play in my head  with the vision of
            Norm Deska, Ripley  Operations Vice President and John Turner,  the General Manager
            of Ripley's local  operation and the guy who'd bought the Gerald  Gardner collection
            from Gardner's niece, Monique Wilson, sitting in the slammer.  But  no, Turner
            apparently had just been showing  Deska the town.  I straightened my suit for the
            fiftieth time, and suppressed  the comment. We  were talking BIG history  here, and
            big bucks, too.  I gulped.  The  original Book of Shadows.  Maybe.

             It had started years before. One of the last  people in America to be a fan of
            carnival  sideshows, I was anxious to take another opportunity to go through the
            almost  archetypally seedy old home that housed the  original Ripley's Museum.

              I had known that Ripley had, in the  nineteen seventies, acquired the Gardner 
            stuff, but as far as I knew it was all located at their Tennessee resort museum. I 
            think I'd heard they'd closed it down. By  then, the social liberalism of the early 
            seventies was over, and witchcraft and  sorcery were no longer in keeping with a 
            `family style' museum. It featured a man with  a candle in his head, a Tantric skull 
            drinking cup and freak show stuff like that,  but, I mean, witchcraft is sacrile-
            gious, as  we all know.

             So, I was a bit surprised, when I discovered  some of the Gardner stuff - including
            an  important historical document, for sale in  the gift shop, in a case just
            opposite the  little alligators that have "St.Augustine,  Florida - America's Oldest
            City" stickered on  their plastic bellies for the folks back home to use as a
            paper-weight.  The pricetags on  the occult stuff, however, were way out of my 
            range.



                                                                                           1783
          


           Back again, three years later, and I  decided, what the hell, so I asked the 
            cashier about the stuff still gathering dust  in the glass case, and it was like I'd
            pushed  some kind of button.

             Out comes Mr. Turner, the manager, who  whisks us off to a store room which is 
            filled, FILLED, I tell you, with parts of the Gardner collection, much of it, if not
            "for  sale" as such, at least available for  negotiation. Turner told us about
            acquiring the collection when he was manager of  Ripley's Blackpool operation, how
            it had gone  over well in the U.S. at first, but had lost  popularity and was now
            relegated for the most  part to storage status.

             Visions of sugarplums danced in my head.   There were many treasures here, but the 
            biggest plum of all, I thought, was not surprisingly, not to be seen.

             I'd heard all kinds of rumors about the Book  of Shadows over the years, many of
            them  conflicting, all of them intriguing.  Rumor  #1, of course, is that which
            accompanied the  birth (or, depending on how one looked at it,  the revival) of
            modern Wicca, the  contemporary successor of ancient fertility  cults.

             It revolved around elemental rituals, secret  rites of passage and a mythos of
            goddess and  god that seemed attractive to me as a  psychologically valid
            alternative to the  austere, antisexual moralism of Christianity.  The Book of
            Shadows, in this context, was the  `holy book' of Wicca, copied out by hand by  new
            initiates of the cult with a history  stretching back at least to the era of 
            witchburnings.

              Rumor number #2, which I had tended to  credit, had it that Gerald Gardner, the 
            `father of modern Wicca' had paid Aleister Crowley in his final years to write the
            Book  of Shadows, perhaps whole cloth.  The rumor's  chief exponent was the
            respected historian of  the occult, Francis King.

              Rumor #3 had it that Gardner had written  the Book himself, which others had since 
            copied and/or stolen.

             To the contrary, said rumor #4, Gardner's  Museum had contained an old, even
            ancient  copy of the Book of Shadows, proving its antiquity.

             In more recent years modern Wiccans have  tended to put some distance between
            themselves and Gardner, just as Gardner, for complex reasons, tended to distance
            himself  in the early years of Wicca (circa 1944-1954)  from the blatant sexual
            magick of Aleister  Crowley, "the wickedest man in the world" by  some accounts, and
            from Crowley's  organization, the Ordo Templi Orientis. Why  Gardner chose to do
            this is speculative, but  I've got some idea.  But, I'm getting ahead  of myself.

             While Turner showed me a blasphemous cross  shaped from the body of two nude women 
            (created for the 18th century infamous "Hellfire Clubs" in England and depicted in 
            the MAN MYTH AND MAGIC encyclopedia; I bought it, of course) and a statue of
            Beelzebub from  the dusty Garderian archives, a thought  occurred to me. " You
            know," I suggested, "if  you ever, in all this stuff, happen across a  copy of The
            Book of Shadows in the handwriting of Aleister Crowley, it would be  of considerable
            historical value."

             I understated the case. It would be like  finding The Book of Mormon in Joseph
            Smith's  hand, or finding the original Ten Commandments written not by God Himself,
            but  by Moses, pure and simple. (Better still,  eleven commandments, with a margin
            note, "first draft.")  I didn't really expect anything to come of it, and in the
            months ahead,  it didn't.



                                                                                           1784
          

           In the meantime, I had managed to acquire  the interesting document I first mistook
            for  Gerald Gardner's (long acknowledged)  initiation certificate into Crowley's 
            Thelemic magickal Ordo Templi Orientis.  To  my eventual surprise, I discovered
            that, not  only was this not a simple initiation certificate for the Minerval 
            (probationary-lowest) degree, but, to the  contrary, was a license for Gardner to
            begin  his own chapter of the O.T.O., and to  initiate members into the O.T.O.

             In the document, furthermore, Gardner is  referred to as "Prince
            of Jerusalem," that  is, he is acknowledged to be a Fourth Degree
            Perfect Initiate in the Order. This, needless  to say would usually imply years of
            dedicated  training. Though Gardner had claimed Fourth  Degree O.T.O. status as
            early as publication  of High Magic's Aid,(and claimed even higher  status in one
            edition) this runs somewhat  contrary to both generally held Wiccan and contemporary
            O.T.O. orthodox understandings  that the O.T.O. was then fallow in England.

             At the time the document was written, most  maintained, Gardner could have known
            Crowley  for only a brief period, and was not himself deeply involved in the O.T.O.
            The document is  undated but probably was drawn up around  1945.

             As I said, it is understood that no viable  chapter of the O.T.O. was supposed to
            exist  in England at that time; the sole active  chapter was in California, and is
            the direct  antecedent of the contemporary authentic Ordo  Templi Orientis. Karl
            Germer, Crowley's  immediate successor, had barely escaped death  in a Concentartion
            Camp during the War, his  mere association with Crowley being  tantamount to a death
            sentence.

             The German OTO had been largely destroyed by  the Nazis, along with other
            freemasonic  organizations, and Crowley himself was in declining health and power,
            the English OTO  virtually dead.

             The Charter  also displayed other  irregularities of a revealing nature. Though 
            the signature and seals are certainly those  of Crowley, the text is in the
            decorative  hand of Gerald Gardner!  The complete text  reads as follows: 

              Do what thou wilt shall be the law. We
              Baphomet X Degree Ordo Templi Orientis
              Sovereign Grand Master General of All
              English speaking countries of the Earth
              do hereby authorise our Beloved Son Scire
              (Dr.G,B,Gardner,) Prince of Jerusalem
              to constitute a camp of the Ordo Templi
              Orientis, in the degree Minerval.

              Love is the Law,
                        Love under will.
                                                   o
              Witness my hand and seal   Baphomet X



             Leaving aside the  misquotation from The  Book of the Law, which got by me for some 
            months and probably got by Crowley when it was presented to him for signature, the 
            document is probably authentic.  It hung for  some time in Gardner's museum,
            possibly giving rise, as we shall see, to the rumor  that Crowley wrote the Book of
            Shadows for  Gardner. According to Doreen Valiente,and to  Col. Lawrence as well, 
            the museum's descriptive pamphlet says of this document:

             "The collection includes a Charter granted  by Aleister Crowley to G.B. Gardner
            (the  Director of this Museum) to operate a Lodge of Crowley's fraternity, the Ordo
            Templi  Orientis. (The Director would like to point  out, however, that he has never



                                                                                           1785
          

          used this Charter and has no intention of doing so,  although to the best of his
            belief he is the  only person in Britain possessing such a Charter from Crowley
            himself; Crowley was a  personal friend of his, and gave him the  Charter because he
            liked him."

             Col. Lawrence ("Merlin the Enchanter"), in a  letter to me dated 6 December, 1986,
            adds  that this appeared in Gardner's booklet, The  Museum of Magic and Witchcraft.
            The  explanation for the curious wording of the  text, taking, as Dr. Gardner does,
            great pains to distance himself from Crowley and  the OTO, may be hinted at in that
            the booklet  suggests that this display in the "new upper  gallery" (page 24) was
            put out at a  relatively late date when, as we shall  discover, Gardner was making
            himself answerable to the demands of the new witch  cult and not the long-dead
            Crowley and (then)  relatively moribund OTO.

             Now, the "my friend Aleister" ploy might  explain the whole thing. Perhaps, as some 
            including Ms. Valiente believe, Aleister Crowley was desperate in his last years to 
            hand on what he saw as his legacy to someone.  He recklessly handed out his literary
            estate,  perhaps gave contradictory instruction to  various of his remaining few
            devotees (e.g.  Kenneth Grant, Grady McMurtry, Karl Germer),  and may have given
            Gardner an "accelerated advancement" in his order.

             Ms. Valiente, a devoted Wiccan who is also a  dedicated seeker after the historical
            truth,  mentions also the claim made by the late  Gerald Yorke to her that Gardner
            had paid  Crowley a substantial sum for the document.  In a letter to me dated 28th
            August, 1986,  Ms. Valiente tells of a meeting with Yorke  "...in London many years
            ago and mentioned  Gerald's O.T.O. Charter to him, whereon he  told me, `Well, you
            know, Gerald Gardner paid old Crowley about ($1500) or so for that...'  This may or
            may not be correct..." Money or  friendship may explain the Charter. Still,  one
            wonders.

             I have a Thelemic acquaintance  who, having advanced well along the path of 
            Kenneth Grant's version of the OTO, went back  to square one with the unquestionably 
            authentic Grady McMurtry OTO.  Over a period  of years of substantial effort, he
            made his  way to the IVo `plus' status implied by  Gardner's "Prince of Jerusalem"
            designation  in the charter, and has since gone beyond.

              I am, myself, a Vo member of the OTO,  as well as a chartered initiator, and can 
            tell you from experience that becoming a Companion of the Royal Arch of Enoch,
            Perfect  Initiate, Prince of Jerusalem and Chartered  Initiator is a long and
            arduous task.

              Gardner was in the habit, after the public  career of Wicca emerged in the 1950s,
            of  downgrading any Crowleyite associations out  of his past, and, as Janet and
            Stewart Farrar  reveal in The Witches' Way (1984, p3) there  are three distinct
            versions of the Book of  Shadows in Gerald Gardner's handwriting which incorporate
            successively less material from  Crowley's writings, though the last (termed  "Text
            C" and cowritten with Doreen Valiente after 1953) is still heavily influenced by 
            Crowley and the OTO.

             Ms. Valiente has recently uncovered a copy  of an old occult magazine contemporary
            with  High Magic's Aid and from the same publisher,  which discusses an ancient
            Indian document  called "The Book of Shadows" but apparently  totally unrelated to
            the Wiccan book of the  same name.  Valiente acknowledges that the earliest text by
            Gardner known to her was  untitled, though she refers to it as a "Book  of Shadows."

             It seems suspicious timing; did Gardner take the title from his publisher's 
            magazine? Ms. Valiente observed to me that  the "...eastern Book of Shadows does not
            seem  to have anything to do with witch-craft at  all....is this where old Gerald
            first found the expression "The Book of Shadows" and  adopted it as a more poetical



                                                                                           1786
          

          name for a  magical manuscript than, say `The Grimoire' or `The Black Book'....I
            don't profess to  know the answer; but I doubt if this is mere  coincidence...."

             The claim is frequently made by those who  wish to `salvage' a preGardnarian source
            of  Wiccan materials that there is a `core' of  `authentic' materials. But, as the
            Farrars'  recently asserted, the portions of the Book  of Shadows "..which changed
            least between  Texts A, B and C were naturally the three initiation rituals; because
            these, above all,  would be the traditional elements which would  have been
            carefully preserved, probably for  centuries...." (emphasis added)

             But what does one mean by "traditional  materials?" The three initiation rites, now 
            much-described in print, all smack heavily of  the crypto-freemasonic ritual of the
            Hermetic  Order of the Golden Dawn, the OTO, and the  various esoteric neorosicruci-
            an groups that  abounded in Britain from about 1885 on, and  which were, it is
            widely known, the  fountainhead of much that is associated with  Gardner's friend
            Crowley.

               The Third Degree ritual, perhaps Wicca's  ultimate rite, is, essentially, a
            nonsymbolic  Gnostic Mass, that beautiful, evocative,  erotic and  esoteric ritual
            written and  published by Crowley in the Equinox, after  attending a Russian
            Orthodox Mass in the  early part of this century.  The Gnostic Mass  has had
            far-reaching influence, and it would  appear that the Wiccan Third Degree is one of 
            the most blatant examples of that influence.

             Take, for example, this excerpt from what is  perhaps the most intimate, most
            secret and  most sublime moment in the entire repertoire  of Wicca rituals, the
            nonsymbolic (that is,  overtly sexual) Great Rite of the Third  Degree initiation,
            as related by Janet and  Stewart Farrar in The Witches' Way (p.34):



                                                                                           1787
          


           The Priest continues:
             `O Secret of Secrets, That art hidden in the being of all lives, Not thee do we
            adore, For that which adoreth is also thou. Thou art That, and That am I. [Kiss] I
            am the flame that burns in the heart of  every man, And in the core of every star. I
            am life, and the giver of life. Yet therefore is the knowledge of me the knowledge
            of death. I am alone, the Lord within ourselves, Whose name is Mystery of
            Mysteries.'

             Let us be unambiguous as to the importance  in Wicca of this ritual; as the
            Farrars'put  it (p.31) "Third degree initiation elevates a  witch to the highest of
            the three grades of  the Craft. In a sense,a third-degree witch is  fully
            independent, answerable only to the  Gods and his or her own conscience..." In 
            short, in a manner of speaking this is all  that Wicca can offer a devotee.

             With this in mind, observe the following,  from Aleister Crowley's Gnostic Mass,
            first  published in The Equinox about 80 years ago  and routinely performed (albeit
            ,usually in  symbolic form) by me and by many other  Bishops, Priests, Priestesses
            and Deacons  in  the OTO and Ecclesia Gnostica (EGC) today.  The following is
            excerpted from Gems From the  Equinox, p. 372, but is widely available in  published
            form:

             The Priest. O secret of secrets that art  hidden in the being of all that lives,
            not  Thee do we adore, for that which adoreth is also Thou. Thou art That, and That
            am I.   I am the flame that burns in every heart of  man, and in the core of every
            star. I am  Life, and the giver of Life; yet therefore is  the knowledge of me the
            knowledge of death. I  am alone; there is no God where I am.

               So, then, where, apart from the Thelemic  tradition of Crowley and the OTO, is
            the  "traditional material" some Wiccan writers seem to seek with near desperation? 
            I am not  trying to be sarcastic in the least, but even   commonplace self -
            references used among  Wiccans today, such as "the Craft" or the  refrain "so mote
            it be"are lifted straight  out of Freemasonry (see, for example,  Duncan's Ritual of
            Freemasonry). And, as  Doreen Valiente notes in her letter to me  mentioned before,
            "...of course old Gerald  was also a member of the Co-Masons, and an ordinary
            Freemason..." as well as an OTO  member.

                              PART TWO
                     THE REAL ORIGIN OF WICCA



             We must dismiss with some respect the  assertion, put forth by Margot Adler and 
            others, that "Wicca no longer adheres to the orthodox mythos of the Book of
            Shadows."

              Many, if not most of those who have been  drawn to Wicca in the last three decades
            came  to it under the spell (if I may so term it)  of the legend of ancient Wicca.
            If that  legend is false, then while reformists and  revisionist apologists
            (particularly the  peculiar hybrid spawned in the late sixties  under the name
            "feminist Wicca") may seek  other valid grounds for their practices, we  at least
            owe it to those who have operated  under a misapprehension to explain the truth, 
            and let the chips fall where they may.



                                                                                           1788
          


            I believe there is a core of valid  experience falling under the Wiccan-neopagan 
            heading, but that that core is the same essential core that lies at the truths 
            exposed by the dreaded boogy-man Aleister  Crowley and the` wicked' pansexualism of
            Crowley's Law of Thelema.  That such roots  would be not just uncomfortable, but  
            intolerable to the orthodox traditionalists among the Wiccans, but even more so
            among the  hybrid feminist "wiccans" may indeed be an  understatement.

             Neopaganism, in a now archaic "hippie"  misreading of ecology, mistakes responsible 
            stewardship of nature for nature worship. Ancient pagans did not `worship' nature;
            to a  large extent they were afraid of it, as has  been pointed out to me by folk
            practioners.   Their "nature rites" were to propitiate the caprice of the gods, not
            necessarily to honor  them.  The first neopagan revivalists,  Gardner, Crowley and
            Dr. Murray, well understood this.  Neopagan wiccans usually do  not.

             In introducing a "goddess element" into  their theology, Crowley
            and Gardner both  understood the yin/yang, male/female fundamental polarity of the
            universe.   Radical feminist neopagans have taken this  balance and altered it,
            however unintentionally, into a political feminist  agenda, centered around a
            near-monotheistic  worship of the female principle, in a bizarre caricature of
            patriarchal Christianity. Bigotry, I submit, cuts both ways.

              I do not say these things lightly;  I have  seen it happen in my own time. IF this
            be  truth, let truth name its own price.  I was  not sure, until Norm and John got
            back from  the Old Jail.

             A couple of months earlier, scant days after  hearing that I was to become a
            gnostic bishop  and thus an heir to a corner of Crowley's  legacy, I had punched on
            my answering machine, and there was the unexpected voice of  John Turner saying that
            he had located what  seemed to be the original Book of Shadows in  an inventory
            list, locating it at Ripley's  office in Toronto.

             He said he didn't think they would sell it  as an individual item, but he gave me
            the  name of a top official in the Ripley organization, who I promptly contacted.  I 
            eventually made a substantial offer for the  book, sight unseen, figuring there was
            (at  the least) a likelihood I'd be able to turn  the story into a book and get my
            money back  out of it, to say nothing of the historical  import.

              But, as I researched the matter, I became  more wary, and confused; Gardner's
            texts "A"  "B" and "C" all seemed to be accounted for.   Possibly, I began to
            suspect, this was either  a duplicate of the "deThelemized" post1954  version with
            segments written by Gardner and  Valiente and copied and recopied (as well as 
            distorted) from hand to hand since by Wiccans  the world over.

               Maybe, I mused, Valiente had one copy and  Gardner another, the latter sold to
            Ripley  with the Collection.  Or, perhaps it was the  curious notebook discovered by
            Aidan Kelly in  the Ripley files called Ye Book of Ye Art  Magical, the meaning of
            which was unclear.

             While I was chatting with Ms.Deska,  Norm returned  from his mission, we introduced
            in best  businesslike fashion, and he told me he'd get  the book, whatever it might
            be, from the  vault. 

             The vault?! I sat there thinking god knows  what . Recently, I'd gotten a call from 
            Toronto, and it seems the Ripley folks wanted me to take a look at what they had. I
            had  made a considerable offer, and at that point  I figured I'd had at least a
            nibble. As it  so happened  Norm would be visiting on a  routine inspection visit,
            so it was arranged  he would bring the manuscript with him.



                                                                                           1789
          

           Almost from the minute he placed it in front  of me, things began to make some kind
            of  sense.  Clearly, this was Ye Book of Ye Art  Magical.  Just as clearly, it was
            an unusual  piece, written largely in the same hand as  the Crowley Charter- that
            is, the hand of  Gerald Gardner. Of this I became certain, because I had handwriting
            samples of Gardner,  Valiente and Crowley in my possession.  Ms.  Valiente had been
            mindful of this when she  wrote me, on August 8th, 1986:

             I have deliberately chosen to write you in  longhand, rather than send a
            typewritten  reply, so that you will have something by  which to judge the validity
            of the claim you  tell me is being made by the Ripley  organisation to have a copy
            of a "Book of  Shadows" in Gerald Gardner's handwriting and  mine.  If this is..."Ye
            Book of Ye Art Magical,"  ....this is definitely in Gerald Gardner's  handwriting.
            Old Gerald, however, had several  styles of handwriting....I think it is  probable
            that the whole MS. was in fact  written by Gerald, and no other person was 
            involved; but of course I may be wrong....


              At first glance it appeared to be a very  old book, and it suggested to me where
            the  rumors that a very old, possibly medieval  Book of Shadows had once been on
            display in  Gardner's Museum had emerged from.

              Any casual onlooker might see Ye Book in  this light, for the cover was indeed
            that of  an old volume, with the original title scratched out crudely on the side
            and a new  title tooled into the leather cover.  The  original was some mundane
            volume, on Asian  knives or something, but the inside pages had  been removed, and a
            kind of notebook --  almost a journal -- had been substituted.

              As far as I could see, no dates appear anywhere in the book.  It is written in 
            several different handwriting styles, although, as noted above, Doreen Valiente 
            assured me that Gardner was apt to use  several styles.  I had the distinct
            impression this "notebook" had been written  over a considerable period of time,
            perhaps  years, perhaps even decades. It may, indeed, date from his days in the
            1930s when he  linked up with a neorosicrucuian grouping  that could have included
            among its members the legendary Dorothy Clutterbuck, who set  Gardner on the path
            which led to Wicca.

             Thinking on it, what emerges from Ye Book of  Ye Art Magical is a developmental set
            of  ideas.  Much of it is straight out of Crowley, but it is clearly the published
            Crowley, the old magus of the Golden Dawn, the A.A., and the O.T.O.



                                                                                           1790
          


               Somewhere along the line it hit me that I  was not exactly looking at the
            "original Book  of Shadows" but, perhaps, the outline Gardner  prepared over a long
            period of time, apparently in secret (since Valiente, a relatively early initiate of
            Gardner's, never heard of  it nor saw it, according to her own account,  until
            recent years, about the time Aidan  Kelly unearthed it in the Ripley collection 
            long after Gardner's death).

             Dr. Gardner kept many odd notebooks and  scrapbooks that perhaps would reveal much 
            about his character and motivations. Turner showed me a Gardner scrapbook in
            Ripley's  store room which was mostly cheesecake  magazine photographs and articles
            about actresses. Probably none are so evocative as Ye Book of Ye Art Magical,
            discovered,it has  been intimated,hidden away in the back of an  old sofa.

              I have the impression it was essentially  unknown in and after Gardner's lifetime,
            and  that by the Summer of 1986 few had seen inside it; I knew of only Kelly and my
            own  party. Perhaps the cover had been seen by  some along the line, accounting for
            the rumor  of a "very old Book of Shadows" in Gardner's  Museum.

              If someone had seen the charter signed by  Crowley ("Baphomet") but written by
            Gerald  Gardner, and had gotten a look, as well, at  Ye Book, they might well have
            concluded that  Crowley had written BOTH, an honest error,  but maybe the source of
            that long-standing  accusation.  There is even a notation in the Ripley catalog
            attributing the manuscript to  Crowley on someone's say-so, but I have no  indica-
            tion Ripley has any other such book.  Finally, if the notebook is a sourcebook of 
            any religious system, it is not that of  medieval witchcraft, but the twentieth 
            century madness or sanity or both of the  infamous magus Aleister Crowley and the 
            Thelemic/Gnostic creed of The Book of the  Law.

              As I sat there I read aloud familiar  quotations or paraphrases from published 
            material in the Crowley-Thelemic canon. This  is not the "ancient religion of the
            Wise" but  the modern sayings of " the Beast 666 " as  Crowley was wont to style
            himself.

             But, does any of this invalidate Wicca as an  expression of human spirituality?  It
            depends  on where one is coming from. Certainly, the  foundations of feminist Wicca
            and the modern cult of the goddess are challenged with the  fact that the goddess in
            question may be  Nuit, her manifestation the sworn whore, Our Lady Babalon, the
            Scarlet Woman.  Transform  what you will shall be the whole of history,  but THIS
            makes what Marx did to Hegel look like slavish devotion.

             What Crowley himself said of this kind of witchcraft is not merely instructive, but
            an  afront to the conceits of an era.

              "The belief in witchcraft," he observed, "  was not all superstition; its
            psychological  roots were sound. Women who are thwarted in  their natural instincts
            turn inevitably to  all kinds of malignant mischief, from slander  to domestic
            destruction..."



                                                                                           1791
          


           For the rest of us, those who neither worship nor are disdainful of the man who 
            made sexuality a god or, at least, acknowledged it as such, experience must be  its
            own teacher. If Wicca is a sort of errant  Minerval Camp of the OTO, gone far astray 
            and far afield since the days Crowley gave Gardner a charter he "didn't use" but
            seemed  to value, and a whole range of rituals and imagery that assault the senses
            at their most  literally fundamental level; if this is true  or sort of true, maybe
            its time  history be owned up to. Mythos has its place  and role, but so, too, does
            reality.

                             PART THREE
                     WICCA AS AN OTO ENCAMPMENT

             The question of intent looms large in the  background of this inquiry.  If I had to 
            guess, I would venture that Gerald Gardner did, in fact, invent Wicca more or less
            whole  cloth, to be a popularized version of the  OTO.  Crowley, or his successor
            Karl Germer,  who  also knew Dr. Gardner, likely set "old  Gerald" on what they
            intended to be a  Thelemic path, aimed at reestablishing at  least a basic OTO
            encampment in England.

             Aiden Kelly's research work on all this is most impressive, but at rock bottom I
            can't help feeling he still wants to salvage something original in Wicca. In a way,
            there is some justification for this; the Wicca of Gerald Gardner, OTO initiate and
            advocate of sexual magick produced a folksy, easier version of the OTO, but by the
            middle nineteen fifties some of his early "followers" not only created a revisionist
            Wicca with relatively little of the Thelemic original intact, but convinced Gardner
            to go along with the changes.

              It is also possible, but yet unproven, that, upon expelling Kenneth Grant from the 
            OTO in England, Germer, in the early 1950s,  summoned Gardner to America to
            interview him  as a candidate for leading the British OTO.  Gardner, it is
            confirmed, came to America,  but by then Wicca, and Dr. Gardner had begun to take
            their own, watered-down course. Today most Wiccans have no idea of their origins.

              Let me close this section by quoting two interesting tidbits for your consider-
            ation.

              First consider Doreen Valiente's observation to me concerning "the Parsons 
            connection". I quote from her letter abovementioned, one of several she was kind 
            enough to send me in 1986 in connection with  my research into this matter.



                                                                                           1792
          


           ...I did know about the existence of the  O.T.O. Chapter in California at the time
            of  Crowley's death, because I believe his ashes  were sent over to them. He was
            cremated here  in Brighton, you know, much to the scandal of  the local authorities,
            who objected to the  `pagan funeral service.' If you are referring to the group of
            which Jack Parsons was a  member (along with the egregious Mr. L. Ron  Hubbard),
            then there is another curious little point to which I must draw your  attention. I
            have a remarkable little book by  Jack Parsons called MAGICK, GNOSTICISM AND  THE
            WITCHCRAFT.  It is unfortunately undated,  but Parsons died in 1952.  The section on 
            witchcraft is particularly
            interesting because it looks forward to a revival of witchcraft as the Old
            Religion....I find this  very thought provoking.  Did Parsons write this around the
            time that Crowley was getting together with Gardner and perhaps  communicated with
            the California group to  tell them about it?

             We must remember that Ms. Valiente was a  close associate of Gardner and is a
            dedicated  and active Wiccan. She, of course, has her  own interpretation of these
            matters. The OTO recently reprinted the Parsons "witchcraft" essays in Freedom is a
            Two Edged Sword , a postumous collection of his writings. It does indeed seem that
            Gardner and Parsons were both on the same wave-length at about the same time.

             The other matter of note is the question of the length of Gardner's association
            with the  OTO and with Crowley personally. My informant  Col. Lawrence, tells me
            that he has in his possession a cigarette case which once belonged to Aleister
            Crowley. Inside is a note in Crowley's hand that says  simply: `gift of GBG, 1936,
            A. Crowley'."
                    (Personal letter, 6 December, 1986)

              The inscription could be a mistake, it could mean 1946, the period of the Charter. 
             But, as Ms. Valiente put it in a letter to me  of 8th December, 1986:

            If your friend is right, then it would mean  that old Gerald actually went through a 
            charade of pretending to Arnold Crowther that  Arnold was introducing him to Crowley
            for the  first time - a charade which Crowley for some  reason was willing to go
            along with.  Why? I  can't see the point of such a pretence; but  then occultists
            sometimes do devious  things...

             Crowley may have played out a similar scene with G.I. Gurdjieff, the other
            enlightened merry prankster of the first half of the twentieth century.

             Gnosticism and Wicca, the subjects of Jack  Parsons' essays, republished by the OTO
            and  Falcon Press in 1990, are the two most successful expressions to date of
            Crowley's  dream of a popular solar-phallic religion.   Maybe I'm wrong, but I think
            Aleister and  Gerald may have cooked Wicca up.

             If Wicca is the OTO's prodigal daughter in  fact, authorized directly by Crowley,
            how  should Wiccans now relate to this? How should Crowley's successors and heirs in
            the OTO deal with it?



                                                                                           1793
          


           Then too, what are we to make of and infer  about all this business of a popular 
            Thelemic-Gnostic religion?  Were Crowley, Parsons, Gardner and others trying to do 
            something of note with regard to actualizing  a New Aeon here which bears scrutiny? 
            Or is  this mere speculation, and of little  significance for the Great Work today?

             If the Charter Crowley issued Gardner is,  indeed, the authority upon which Wicca
            has  been built for half a century, then it is perhaps no coincidence that I
            acquired that  Charter in the same year I was consecrated a  Bishop of the Gnostic
            Catholic Church. Further, it was literally days after my long  search for the
            original of Gardner's BOOK OF  SHADOWS ended in success that the Holy Synod  of T
            Michael Bertiaux's Gnostic Church  unanimously elected me a Missionary Bishop,  on
            August 29, 1986.

             Sometimes, I muse, the Inner Order revoked  Wicca's charter in 1986,placing it in
            my  hands. Since I hold it in trust for the OTO,  perhaps Wicca has, in symbolic
            form, returned  home at last. It remains for the Wiccans to,  literally (since the
            charter hangs in my  temple space), to read the handwriting on the  wall.

             " Witchcraft always has a hard time, until it becomes
            established and changes its name."  - Charles Fort



                                                                                           1794
          

                                  Paganism at the Crossroads 

                                                by Skytoucher

                 These are tricky and dangerous times.  Paganism has grown in size to the point
            where we no longer enjoy the luxury of obscurity.  We now face a choice that all
            initiatory paths face at some time in their development; whether to remain a viable
            initiatory path, and if so under what circumstances; or to devolve into a mere
            religion.

                 I'd better backtrack some readers may not understand what an initiatory path is
            or how it differs from a religion.  Others may think paganism is a religion already,
            and wonder what I mean by suggesting it is or could be something else.

                 A defense often used against fundamentalist Christians and others who attack
            paganism on a religious basis is to say "We are not like you, only different in a
            few not so important ways.  We are a religion, like you, another belief system,
            harmless, ordinary.  We worship the Earth, the Goddess, the same way you worship
            your abstract God. You should extend tolerance to us for the same reason you extend
            it to Muslims or Buddhists or Catholics or Jews.  When you single us out as
            something weird, you are exhibiting hysterical paranoia."  It's an effective
            defense, but somewhat disingenuous.

                 We are different.  We aren't just a religion.  We are at present, and in my
            view should try to remain, a path of initiation.  It may be inevitable that a
            religion grow up around us.  It may even be desirable to employ such a religion as a
            cloak, or a doorway, to both.  But a Pagan religion is also a threat to the Pagan
            path of initiation.  We need to ensure that the growth, if it occurs, is that of a
            tree from a seed, not of a pearl from a grain of sand.

                 A tree produces more seeds.
                 A pearl only hide the sand to save the oyster from discomfort.

                 What is an initiatory path?   And what, then, is initiation?

                 We touch here upon a word badly misunderstood by many Pagans.  Initiation is
            one thing; an initiation ritual is another.  A person is not an initiate, in the
            sense I mean here,just because he or she has passed through an initiation ritual.
            Initiation is a personal experience in which one becomes aware of mysteries;
            realities that were
            previously hidden and which cannot be communicated by one person to another in words
            or symbols, but must be experienced directly, firsthand.  This last point is
            crucial.  One finds "mysteries" communicated in coven initiations or even at
            festivals, but these are only hidden meanings of symbols and tools used in the
            Craft, or of stories told about the Gods.  The fact that they can be communicated
            makes them not true mysteries, only secrets. 

                 A body of teaching, practice, and ritual which facilitates initiation is an
            initiatory path.  Most religions start out as paths of initiation.



                                                                                           1795
          


               Religion tends to be conservative.  Initiation, however, is always revolution-
            ary...-....It forms a person's life, bringing inner peace, greater insight into the
            workings of fate, and awareness of the connections linking all things, as well as
            magical power.  If it were a commonplace event, if people went through initiation as
            surely as they go through puberty, we would have a far different and better world.

                 Even if the circle of initiates included a significant minority of the
            population, the magical effect of such a number of altered minds on the world would
            be profound and positive.     Of course, this very fact means that initiatory paths
            will be opposed by those interests, both human and non human, that are opposed to
            positive change.  The opposition is not really a conspiracy; it seems more than an
            automatic reaction, a law of nature. 

                 Initiation is not an instantaneous event, but one that occurs through years of
            effort and devotion.  It seems likely that there is no end to the process, and that
            the idea of there "fully enlightened being" is a peculiar Oriental fantasy.  There
            are times, it is true, when revelation comes in a flash like lightning, but such
            moments are exclamation marks punctuating a story that unfolds chapter by chapter.

                 Many tools and methods for achieving initiation have evolved over the ages. 
            Some are intellectual, aiming to expand consciousness through thought: Vedanta and
            the Caballah come to mind as among
            the most impressive.  Others are ritual or devotional; Bakhti Yoga, chanting the
            names of the Gods, drawing down the Moon, the meditations of the monastics.  Some
            are also physical: Hatha Yoga, Sufi dancing, some forms of martial art. Some aim at
            expanding consciousness directly by stretching it to its limits; meditation, Raja
            Yoga, guided
            visualizations, vision quest.  Then there are sex magic, drugs, drumming,
            austerities,use of talismans, self discipline, and so on.  Most of these techniques
            evolved outside a pagan context, but they are
            amendable to incorporation in a pagan framework.  Initiation rituals, of course, are
            another method, but they are seldom sufficient by themselves.

                 Initiates can be found into the context of any religion,including those least
            similar to Neopaganism.  St. Francis of Assisi was an initiate, and many a Sufi and
            Caballist, Buddhist and Yogi, Taoist and shaman.  A modern Neopagan initiate has far
            more in common with them than with an illiterate, superstitious pagan of the Roman
            Empire, gobbling the flesh of sacrificed animals while contemplating how to backstab
            his competitors.  All initiates of all paths have a common heart; it is religions,
            which circle the periphery of the sacred, that differ.

                 But, while Christian, Jewish and Muslim initiates do exist,the established
            religions don't make it easy.  For every illuminated Catholic saint, there are
            hundreds of burned heretics.  Indeed, many post Constantinian saints escaped burning
            themselves only by miracles greater than those for which they were canonized. 
            Burning is passe nowadays but condemnation for heresy is not, and thrives as well in
            most Protestant denominations.  So bound about with the fetters of faith is the
            Christian that initiation is virtually impossible, except for minds.



                                                                                           1796
          


               This is no accident.

                 The tragedy of Christianity is that it began so well and decayed so quickly
            into such a parody of its beginnings.  This is a recurring phenomenon.  Again and
            again, the initiatory message has presented itself in some new form and met with
            some success,only to be hidden in a maze of illusions, and crusted over with
            barriers and restrictions.  There are always counterattacks from outside the new
            path, from established religions, but the truly effective counterattacks come from
            within, so that what began as a bright new hope becomes a mere religion.  The
            priests, the figures in authority, forge an instrument for the furtherance of their
            own authority, to which genuine initiation is a serious threat.  The initiatory
            impulse is carefully bled off into harmless channels, and all magic outside those
            channels is
            ruthlessly suppressed.

                 There is a great deal of magic in Christian monastic orders,and more still in
            Hindu and Buddhist ashrams, or wielded by
            wandering saddhus.  But these illuminated souls, both Western and Eastern, are sworn
            to poverty, chastity, humility.  Many do not reproduce, ensuring that, if there is a
            genetic component to magic, it will be weakened by removing its best practitioners
            from the gene pool.  Too, in renouncing the world, they ensure that their spiritual
            insight will play a small role shaping events.  In contrast, a few secret initiatory
            paths remain active and true to their original mission.  These paths, which include
            Hermeticism, the Caballah,
            surviving shamanic traditions, and a few branches of Sufism, have made
            themselves non threatening in a different way.  They continue to live in the world
            and to learn and teach practical as well as spiritual magic, but in such tiny
            numbers and in so furtive a fashion that they hold little promise of genuine large
            scale transformation.  There is not really anything wrong with this; such secret
            orders have acted over the centuries to preserve the Mysteries, not to spread them. 
            Without them, efforts to break the chains on a large scale would be to no avail. 
            But Paganism is different.

                 Neopaganism is unique  at this time, though not
            historically  in that it is a genuine initiatory path that has grown large. 
            Moreover, in its diversity and flexibility, its protean and progressive nature, it
            promises to incorporate all of the virtues of the other surviving paths.  It may not
            be the most advanced, the most powerful, or the most aesthetically refined,but these
            characteristics can all be absorbed from the smaller paths which possess them, for
            Paganism is an all gobbling magical amoeba, sucking up the mythos, methods, and
            knowledge of every other path in existence.  Once
            again, an initiatory path threatens to break out and make some changes in reality.

                 On schedule, opposition has begun to arise.

                 As always, some of the opposition is from  the outside, but I don't think we
            need to be concerned about that.  A strain of paranoia is built into our origin
            myths and traditions, and is always a greater danger than the persecution we fear. 
            The external opposition has seldom been very effective against any relatively
            genteel sort, mostly involving propaganda.  However, propaganda is legitimate (they
            have a right to express their opinions about what we do, as we have the right to
            speak in counterpoint.)  There may be more serious difficulties, even occasional
            violence, but the Burning Times are gone for good, barring a complete collapse of
            civilization.  We have more important
            things to worry about within our own ranks.

              The rapid increase in our numbers in the last few decades means there are many
            newcomers.  Newcomers are ripe for exploitation, both monetary and political, and



                                                                                           1797
          

          both have begun to occur.  The first fills me with amusement and outrage.  The
            second is more alarming.

                 There seems to be a growing desire in some quarters to commercialize
            Neopaganism and profit from it.  That's only natural, but when crystal athames go
            for $1,400 and classes are taught in return for a pledge of a percentage of the
            students' income in perpetuity, somebody is getting fleeced.  This is bad enough,
            but not nearly as bad as what
            might happen in reaction. Better a crowd of poorer and wiser novices, the hucksters
            filling the role of the Dweller on the Threshold, than a Paganism reduced from a
            path of initiation to a mere religion, its bright promise gone dull, as have so many
            others.

                 The seeds of this development lie chiefly in individuals we might call Pagan
            politicians, and in our response to them.  They may not be high initiates or
            powerful magicians, but they are skillful at organizing, they like to strike poses
            in public, and they know how to work the media.  Sometimes they appear on television
            to say "This is what Paganism is.  This is what Witchcraft is," self appointed
            spokespersons for the entire Pagan community.  Their power over the Craft may be
            small, but it could easily grow as the Craft grows, as they sink their hooks into
            more and more beginners.

                 An experienced initiate is unlikely to be moved by a picture on
            television, or a story in the newspaper.  It is otherwise for a novice.  When first
            appraising something, it is the surface one sees.  And there are two dangers in this
            trend; First, that insightful, intuitive, independent people, the kind who would
            make good Witches, maybe turned off by the media spectacle (analogy: What is your
            reaction to the words "New Age?".)  Secondly, that those who are not repelled may
            develop a kind of mundane "Neopaganism," a mere religion, based as other religions
            are on faith, dogma, and prescribed observances, conservative (in the sense of
            resisting progress, not of voting Republican) and anti initiatory.  There may be
            points in common
            between it and us (such as an environmental ethic or "worship" (how I despise that
            word!) of a Goddess), as a baboon might wear a tuxedo, but the heart and soul would
            be gone.  Anyone who sought initiation would have to pass the gauntlet of this other
            paganism first and then unlearn this religion to approach the new path.  Few could
            be expected to do so.

                 It is important to recognize these politicos for what they are.  They are our
            would be clergy who, like Christian priests,Muslim mullah and Jewish rabbis, would
            be religious leaders but,with rare exceptions, no initiates.  Their authority would
            derive from accepted doctrines and from political acumen, rather than spiritual
            awareness.  Pagan pontiff pretenders are not necessarily malevolent, but they do not
            comprehend the purpose of initiation or the fundamental ways in which Paganism
            differs, not just from this or that religion, from all religions. Consequently, they
            do not understand that priests, ministers,rabbis, and so forth are not good role
            models for Pagan spiritual leaders, even if allowances are made for differing value
            systems. Paganism, as currently practiced, is not simply a different
            religion, but a different category of thing altogether.   Not only does it not
            suffer without an organization comparable to that of established religions, but
            creating such an organization may bury us.

                 The bishops who created the Catholic Church were not particularly evil men. 
            But they were misguided, and the result of their labor was disastrous.  Yet some
            movement on this road is inevitable.  It is the fruit of growth, a sign that a path
            of initiation has matured into a serious threat to the status quo. It represents a
            counterattack by the forces of inertia.

                 Let's not be unduly alarmist.  We are not in immediate danger, but the clouds
            can be seen on the horizon, and we need to prepare ourselves, and consider whether



                                                                                           1798
          

          anything can be done to avoid the usual fate of an initiatory path at the
            crossroads. All our predecessors, on reaching this juncture, have taken the wrong
            turning.  But we have ;advantages former initiatory paths lacked.  That no one has
            succeeded up to now is not so imposing an obstacle as it might seem.

                 One of our advantages is the First Amendment to the United States
            Constitution and similar provisions, in fact and tradition if not law,
            guaranteeing religious liberty in all Western democracies.  It is literally
            impossible for a Pagan Catholic Church, even if one comes into existence, to exile
            or execute dissident Pagans, as was done to
            dissident Christians after the Council of Nicaea.  It is unlikely that any Pagan
            organization,or that of any other religion, could get a modern Western government do
            its dirty work to any significant degree.  Overt persecution is reduced from a
            terror to a nuisance.  That's no small achievement.

                 Another advantage is modern information technology.  Communication of ideas is
            now so easy, and suppression of them so difficult,
            that to contain or channel or eliminate the initiatory message will be harder than
            ever before, and may be impossible. Of course, the downside of this development is
            the proliferation of blatant nonsense.  But I think that is an acceptable price.
            Better the truth be heard whispering through shouted lies and bellowed folly than
            that it not be heard at all.

                 The third, subtlest and possibly the greatest advantage we have over our
            predecessors is science.

                 By science I do not mean any particular bit of knowledge which has been
            uncovered by scientists, although all that is useful as well.  I mean the attitudes
            of science.  I mean the methods of science.  Above all, I mean the vision of
            science.  Thanks to science, we no longer think of all knowledge as being only in
            its sacred and spiritual and aesthetic dimensions  though these are certainly
            important  but in its technical dimensions as well, as seek the laws and principles
            that underpin magic, analogous to the laws of physics that
            underpin technology.

                 Best of all: Thanks to science, we are not limited to what we know today.  We
            understand that even our best picture of reality is only an approximation, that we
            will have a better picture tomorrow.  This gift promises to upset the creeping
            authoritarianism that has ruined so many paths of initiation and created so many
            religions.



                                                                                           1799
          


               These are potent advantages.  I believe they allow us the possibility of
            success.  But not the certainty.  As we approach the crossroads, there are a number
            of things that need doing. Some of these steps are simply a matter of keeping our
            attitudes in the right places.  Others involve research, development, and artistic
            creation.  Others still involve magical tasks.  We need to understand that modern
            Paganism, though built on the past, is not limited by it, that we are capable of
            improving on our ancestor's wisdom  even to the extent that their wisdom is not a
            product of our own romantic imagination, which is large measure it is.  We need to
            recognize, once and for all, and say so, that our origin myths are just that: Wicca
            is not a survival from the pre Christian past, but an eclectic/creative construct
            meant to imitate what such a survival should ideally be.  Its resemblance, 
            and that of Neopaganism in general, to ancient paganism in any of its multitude of
            forms is slight and ultimately besides the point.

                 We need to do these things because they will allow us to take the next step,
            which is to expand Paganism, as a path of initiation, to its potential.  We cannot
            do that so long as we are locked into an old model  real or romanticized.  The
            initiatory paths of the past have failed. Therefore, we need something better than
            what has gone before.  We can take the essentials of Neopaganism, the broad strokes
            of its mythology and ritual, as a starting point, but we must go beyond that start.

                 First, we need to penetrate beneath the level of religious symbolism to what
            might be called the physics of magic, the nuts and bolts and laws of nature that
            account for what magic does and is.  Next to the initiatory experience itself, which
            can never be communicated or replaced by anything that point cannot be emphasized
            too much or too often  the physics of magic would be the deepest level of
            understanding, accounting for all forms of symbolic knowledge.  I have
            developed on system of laws which I believe to be workable.  (An account of those
            laws will appear in an upcoming issue of Enchante.)  It is the duty of every
            scientifically minded reader to rip them apart as best as possible, to test them,
            and improve on them.

                 Secondly, we need to improve our tool chest of spiritual methods.  Much of the
            work has already been done by initiates outside Paganism.  All we have to do is
            translate it and incorporate it within our own framework.  At the same time, an ex-
            panded and improved body of poetic ritual would be useful.


                 A recognition of both the possibility and the need would be a valid step.  We
            must acknowledge that Yoga can meditate us into a corner, that the Caballah
            theorizes rings around us, and that any good
            shamanic lineage works magic to put us to shame.  We must also insist that Paganism
            has advantages over these that should not be surrendered, and work to incorporate
            what other paths can teach us into our own framework.

                These accomplishments would serve to strengthen and fortify the initiatory path
            of Paganism.  It will need all the strength it can get if it is to resist turning
            into a religion.  But there are other things that need doing as well, on both the
            communicative and magical fronts.



                                                                                           1800
          


               Those of us with active pens must communicate the idea of an initiatory path
            that lies within the mythical and ritual structure of the Pagan religion, as it out
            to and once did lie within all religions.  There is, at present, no established
            Pagan doctrine or dogma, no established pagan clergy, and no established Pagan
            pantheon, and this also must be made clear.  The magical side of the battle may be
            the most important one. Here, the guiding principle should be a clear visualization
            of what we want Paganism to be.

                 Should exoteric Pagan religions grow up around the initiatory core, then,
            ideally, we would want the priest/esse/s of this religion to be initiates.  But this
            may not be practicable.  First, many of us are unsuited for or uninterested in the
            role of ministering to those who are unready for initiation.  Second, there may be
            too many newcomers to Paganism (by some estimates the fastest growing religion in
            North America) and too few initiates.

                 I believe we could agree on two goals; a viable and visible initiatory
            tradition must be maintained within the religion and no exoteric priesthood must be
            allowed to gain preeminence over the path.  To those ends, then, the following
            magical workings are suggested.

                 Weave the Net.  There is a tenuous telepathic link among all initiates.  This
            can be invoked as part of the opening of any major magical work, which will
            strengthen both the work and the net.  Some covens and individuals already do this. 
            Reach out the heart's fiery hand and feel the love of one another, both within the
            coven and beyond it, setting aside the quarrels of the mind, poles of a tipi each
            supporting each, moving faster, faster,circles made of love.  In this way, a
            synergistic entity, a collective consciousness, may be generated, incorporating all
            our diversity yet stronger than any of us alone.  This consciousness can be invoked
            like any deity, and can be a guide and empowerment.  We can give it names; there
            will be private names known to individual covens or solitaries, but among us all the
            name is Love.

                 Shine like a Beacon. Another working, which I feel is appropriate to a Full
            Moon ritual, is one to avoid the light under a bushel syndrome, to illuminate all
            minds equipped w ith eyes to see.  The metaphor of a lighthouse beacon seems
            appropriate; we can visualize this light shining brightly, overpowering any attempt
            to hide it, so that truth cannot be any [who want] to understand it, initiation
            cannot be denies to those capable of attaining it.

                 Let a Hundred Flowers Bloom; or, Divide and Rule.  Assume that a mundane
            Paganism must arise; above all we must not allow any one sect or denomination of the
            Pagan religion to achieve preeminence over the others.  It doesn't matter how much
            we like or dislike what the leaders of this or that sect are saying.  Any Pagan
            doctrine will always be wrong, even if it's right, because initiation cannot be
            conveyed in words or symbols.  We can,through our magic, encourage diversity and
            creativity in the ranks of newcomers and noninitiate
            leaders, preferring chaos to conformity, and subtly bend the path of discourse so
            that it leads toward initiation rather than away from it.  We must avoid the
            temptation to encourage a unified, strong Paganism, and that temptation will arise! 
            A fractious, splintered, disorganized, and confusingly multi headed Paganism may be
            somewhat embarrassing when it appears on network news or in Time magazine. But if
            the initiatory tradition is clearly visible within, we will be far better served by
            chaos than by an order which serves its own purposes, not ours.

                 I believe  certainly I hope  that these steps can preserve the Neopagan path of
            initiation, prevent its burial under the mantle of religion, and permit what has
            never before happened: genuine, large scale, beyond the point of no return breakout
            of the Mysteries, leading to the transformation of human culture and this planet 
            assuming, of course, that civilization survives the crisis of the coming years. 
