Wikipedia is loved and treasured resource, however it's authors face huge challenges because Wikipedia is seen as 'truth' by many but clearly it is a compromise between different truths. As the Wiccan aphorism states "To each man his own truth, the Goddess within".
In the case of Wikipedia the article is a delicate balance, a compromise between different groups. Rather than modifying Wikipedia which would lead to a major argument and be hugely time consuming it is easier to explain some of the problems with it and explain to others why statements are contentious. Ther are many issues worthy of discussion, however one line that stands out is the following "An unattributed statement known as the Wiccan Rede is a popular expression of Wiccan morality" The problem with this is that the Wiccan Rede is not unattributed. It was devised by Doreen Valiente for a dinner of the Witchcraft Research Association on 3rd October 1964. Suggested modification: "The Wiccan Rede, composed by Doreen Valiente for a dinner on 3rd October 1964, is a popular expression of Wiccan morality"
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The line 'merry meet, merry part and merry meet again' is used frequently at Wiccan circles. The origin of these words is rarely considered.
The origins of this appear to lie in the Reclaing Traditon. In the 1960s Victor Anderson wrote a poem called 'By the Earth'. this was a simple circle cast. It was taken up by the prominent activist Starhawk and introduced to the Reclaiming Tradition that she was involved with. When the circle needed to be closed the lines 'May the circle is open but unbroken, may the love of the goddess be forever in your heart, merry meet and merry part and merry meet again' were used. These final lines were added because 'merry meet' and 'merry part' were greetings used by Wiccans. These themselves appear to be derived from Thompson's Long Rede that appeared in the magazine Green Egg. The source for this is possibly from a Witch Trial in 1664, where Elizabeth Styles referred to the phrase 'Merry meet, merry part'. The freemason's second degre rite also has a similar line "Happy have we met, happy have we been, happy may we part, and happy meet again" So it seems that the origin of the lines lies in Freemasonry, from where it came to Reclaiming and then it came to be widely used in Wicca. The Azoetia by Andrew Chumbley is an important text for those of the horse-head stang tradition. Chumbley was deeply attached to this icon and it features repeatedly in his texts. The interpretation of them is, however, difficult. The rites themselves read like a riddle with heavy use of complex language and difficult terms.
At the heart of the text are three rites which are termed the 'Rites of the Sabbat'. These are the Rite of Ingress, The Rite of Congress and the Rite of Egress. The third of these has some elements that are if interest to Cochranian Wiccans. The rite starts with the words 'Hekas, Hekas, Este Babeloi'. This is a term associated with the Golden Dawn Tradition meaning "Far, far be removed the profane." This is followed by the Summoning which is a call to the 'Cunning Men and Women of the Craft' The next stage is the four offerings. These are referred to as 'The Body of the Sphinx'. The Sphinx is made up of the four quarters of the zodiac. The most obvious is that it has the body of a lion (Leo) and the face of a man (Aquarius), but also it has the feet of a bull (Taurus) and the wings of an eagle (Scorpio). Chumbley writes "This is the Body of the Sphinx which thou must sacrifice. The four offerings are four different coloured candles which are taken to the four quarters of the circke. The colours of these seem to be linked to the four horsemen of the apocalypse. The first candle is described "In the Occidental Gate of the Circle fashion the First Icon in Thine own True Likeness ...... from the Pale Wax of a Candle, such as burneth in the West with the Light of the Dying Sun." This plae candle seems to be tied to the pale horse of the four horsemen. It is followed by the white, red and black candles which are the colours of the other three horses. In each quarter Chumbley seems to have placed a clay vase, and the symbol of the quarter appears to have been placed into the vase. A fifth vessel is used to represent the quintessence of spirit, termed the azoth. The circle then proceeds to 'The Sleep of Thanatos' or the sleep among the dead. This appears to have been a period of meditating and dream work. After this the three formulas of Invocation/Evocation are read together with the Egress Conummatum. The Arcanum is then read Finally the rite ends with the Circle Chant of the Sabbat, where the 'Great Sigil of the Round Dance'is traced 'Three Times Round'. This appears to be a pentacle which is drawn at the four quarters of the circle three times. There is a great deal of detail to these rites. When read, they seem to bear the hallmarks of the Golden Dawn tradition and to have some similarities to both Gardnerian and Cochranian rites. It would be a difficult task to discover all of \Chumbley's sources, however they seem to be derived from a mix of neo-pagan and traditional sources. There is a longstanding tradition that witches cannot cross water. Understanding why this is believed when it is clearly not true in a practical sense casts some light on the original practices of witches.
The roots of the tradition are seen clearly in works of fiction. The first of these is in the Robert Burns poem the Tam O'Shanter. In this a farmer passes by a church on the way home from a pub. He sees witches dancing but he is noticed and the witches chase after him as he rides his horse. Tam understands that if he can get to the bridge then the witches will not follow him. He gets to the bridge but one of the witches gets hold of the horses tail and pulls it off. This idea is also referenced in the Harry Potter novels, "Even though Petunia was raised alongside a witch, she is remarkably ignorant about magic. She and Vernon share a confused idea that they will somehow be able to squash the magic out of Harry, and in an attempt to throw off the letters that arrive from Hogwarts on Harry's eleventh birthday, she and Vernon fall back on the old superstition that witches cannot cross water. As she had frequently seen Lily jump streams and run across stepping stones in their childhood, she ought not to have been surprised when Hagrid had no difficulty making his way over the stormy sea to the hut on the rock." The basis for this idea is that when witches cast circles they create a magic castle, often surrounded by four watchtowers. This castle is surrounded by water. To get to the castle the witches cross the river between the mundane world and the magic castle. In woodland working this is often shown by small brook, for example the workings of Robert Cochrane show this. Alternatively a broom can be used to show this, and witches can cross the broom to get into the castle. Once everyone is in the castle a circle is usually formed. Once the circle is formed it is not permitted for anyone to cross back into the mundane world. In this case Tam should have been right in that if he was spotted in the circle the Witches would have only followed him to the edge of the water. If he crossed it they would not follow. The idea of forming a river around the edge of a magical assembly is fairly universal in Witchcraft and Wicca. In some traditions water and salt are mixed at the beginning of a rite and this is the representation of water at the edge of the circle. The origin of this belief and practice is revealing. The ancient witchcraft of Britain is a fusion of two different traditions. The first of these is the shamanic practice of dancing the cloven hooved animal, often a deer as seen at Abbots Bromley or a horse. This tradition includes the myths and fairy tales of Britain, many of which include magic castles. The second origin is the Babylonian Witchcraft tradition. In this four quarters are cast. These are based on the idea of the creation of the universe. This is recorded in the Old Testament, but is actually based on older Sumerian and Babylonian myths. In this prior to the creation of the world there was a salty ocean called ‘The Waters’ The creation of a magic circle involves the creation of these four elements. The spirit calms the water (water), creates light (fire) and then separates the firmament of the air (air) from the earth (earth). In both of these the magic space is surrounded by water, and we can therefore see how the idea that witches would not cross water could have a basis in reality. |
AuthorThe Horse's Mouth is a conglomerated blog with multiple authors. It is a voice for Cochranian Wicca in the UK. It is linked to the website wicca.org.uk and a large number of Wiccan groups on Meetup.com Archives
December 2016
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