HecatesLoom_1995.pdf
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As the final leaves drift from the
trees and the remnants of the harvest are cleared from the gardens,
our thoughts tum to Samhain. It is
the winnowing-- a time to return the
last gleanings of energy to the earth
to be renewed (or, in modern terms,
recycled). We are honouring those
who have gone before us in our
awareness of the death of the
Greenman, with promise of rebirth.
In the damp decay of the soil a seed
lies ready to burst forth with new life.
So it is with anticipation that we at
Hecate 's Loom wait to see how the
seeds we have planted will spring
forth.
Hecate's Loom is now officially
Hecate's Loom Publishing Inc. We
still work as a collective, and the
Cover - Hecate's Loom Lammas 1995
Loom will continue to be produced
-Cover - Hecate's Loom Lammas 1986
by us, in house. As with all growth,
some decisions must be made, balancing desire and necessity. Raising our cover price to $5.25 , to reflect the rising
costs of paper and pages, is one of them. At the same time, we feel it is necessary to continually add to the quality and
substance of Hecate's Loom With this issue, we have increased our standard number of pages and further streamlined
our format.
The Craft, and Paganism generally, isa path of creativity. Once dismissed as a "fertility religion ," Paganism brings
a new message to the creative chaos of the millenium. The life ofmagtc recognises that there are many forms of fertility
and that life, itself, is High Art. For that reason, the Loom continues its focus upon the arts , recognising their origins
within magic and Shamanism.
Communications from abroad, an interview with Starhawk, an article by Paul Beyerl (The Master Book of
Herbalism), and some great news from Pete Pathfinder of the A.T.C. are included in this issue. Our hope is that the
Loom continues to serve as a source of information, entertainment and connection for the Pagan community world-wide.
Diana Michaelis, President
Yvonne Owens, Publishing Editor
Back Cover Artist:
Diana Michaelis is a writer, photographer,
shamanic healer, Priestess and co-founder of Thirteenth House Mystery School. The photo is part of
Diana's series on Divinity in Nature, and was taken
at sunset in East Sooke Park, British Columbia.
Diana currently works as graphic designer and
President of Hecate's Loom She resides in Victoria,
British Columbia.
Front Cover Artist:
Alison Skelton is a mixed media printmaker
and painter. "Self Portrait" is one of a series of
commissioned magikal portraits of nine women.
Alison combines archetypal images, magical
symbols and abstract form to produce powerful
transformative images. As well as being an
artist, Alison also teaches the Tarot. She resides
in Victoria, British Columbia.
CONTENTS
Samhain 1995
News and Networking
NewsBits .......................................................................................................................................... 7
Pagan Federation Report ................................................................................................................... 9
The Journal .................................................................................................................................... 10
On Being a Witch
Ethos and Ethics - Michele Favager by John Threlfall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Spritituality and the Future, Interview with Starhawk by Andrea ........................................... ........ ..
Ancient Secrets of the Goddess Part II - Interview with Jessica North, by Diana Michaelis ......... .......
The Magic of Tarot, Interview with Alison Skelton by Michela Scheuerman ..................... ....... ..........
Astronomical Sources of the Pagan New Year by Yvonne Owens ......................................................
The Kin tail Witches by Shelley Boettcher ........................ ... ................................................ ............. .
Voices: La Toussaint by Josee Lafreniere, Pagan Evolution by Anahita-Gula,
A Witch in a Business Suit by Ann Lee, Peeking out of the Broom Closet by Linda Doerksen
Family Tradition by Aidan Pan Arthur, .. .............. .... ......................... ........ ..................... ..... ...........
I7
18
20
22
26
29
30
Shadows & Light
Depression, Alchemy and Transformation by Michela Scheuerman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Herbal Healing with Ritual Baths by Paul V. Beyerl ......................................................................... 39
Persephone's Decent as Voluntary Transformative Magic by Ann Lee ................. .... ........................ .. 40
Fiction
Poetry Muse: To Hecate by Diana Michaelis, Dream by Fenris .... ................ .................... .... ............ 42
Hel's Half Acre by Jessica North ...................................................................................................... 43
Regular Features
Letter ............................................................................................................................................... 4
The Herbal Witch by Dianne ..................... ........... ......... ..... ...................... ...... ... ............. ................. 44
Profiles by Castalia ... ..... ... .. ............................ .... ..... .......... ............ ................ .......... ................. ..... 45
Thirteen Questions - Ariel O'Sullivan by Miles Lowry ....................................................................... 4 7
Reviews: Boadicia, The Red-Bellied Queen by Michael Hoppe,
Two Days inthe Life of Magic by Beast, Pagan Dawn by John Threlfall,
Compay of Wolves by Don Brennan, Fall of the Pomegranate by Don Brennan .... ....... .................... 48
Book Reviews: Cup of Mari Anu by Michela Scheuerman, Pagan Path by Yvonne Owens,
The Kitchen Witch's Cookbook & A Witch's Brew by Yvonne Owens ,
The Frog, the Prince and the Problem of Men by Yvonne Owens . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. .. . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Music Reviews: Season of Holly by Rob Von Rudloff ..................... .. ........................ .. ........................ 58
Coming Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Community Contacts ...................................................................................................................... 61
Looking Up Department by Robert Von Rudloff, M.Sc ...................................................................... 62
Shopper's Directory ..... .... ....... .... ..................................................................... .......... ..................... 64
Market Place ........................................................................ .... .................................. ...... .............. 65
Full Moon Fever, a column by John Threlfall ................................................................................... 66
Statement of Purpose: Hecate's Loom exists for the purpose of providing a forum for the creative expressions of Paganism
inclusive of Witchcraft, Goddess sprirituality, Gaia Consciousness, Shamanism and other Earth-based religious philosophies. We
maintain the belief that Divine Nature includes both feminine and masculine aspects, (both Goddess and God). We endorse no
particular form of Paganism but support tolerance, communication, and the freedom to explore individual paths. Our collective goal
is to perform transformational magic within the Pagan community, by way of contributing to knowledge and understanding concerning
Paganism and the Craft.
Hecate's Loom No. 30
LE'j-j'£RS
The Name Game:
Why choose a new name? A
practice that arose during the Burning Times was for members of a coven
to take on pseudonyms or "Craft
names" as Kevin Marron notes in his
book, Witches, Pagans & Magic in the
New Age. The idea was that if a
member of a particular coven were
caught by Witch hunters he would not
be able to reveal the names of his
associates.
'The use of Craft names is still
common in Witchcraft, partly as a way
of preserving the privacy of people
who for professional or other reasons
do not want to be publicly identified as
Witches, and also because the taking
on of such a name when being initiated as a Witch symbolizes a rite of
passage, the assumption of a new
spiritual identity."
Indeed, it is a required part of
initiation to take on a new name. In
the only published initiation ritual I've
uncovered, Starhawk writes: 'The
blindfolded apprentice is helped into
the tub, washed by other coveners
and chanted over. She is told to meditate, purify herself, resolve any doubts,
and look for a new name."
The initiate is introduced to the
Coven and to the God and Goddess by
this new name. The new name becomes the way of identifying the initiate and she becomes a new person
during this initiation.
Craft names appear to exist for
two reasons; privacy, and out of respect for the path of the Goddess.
Many Craft names come from
tradition. Names of sacred trees (Ash,
Rowan); figures of legend (Morgana,
Gwydlon); Gods and Goddesses
(Apollo, Brigid) and from modem science fiction (Muad'dib, Gandalf) are
common Craft names. Other names
come from symbols or experiences of
Discussion • Debate • Information • Opinions
Importance to the bearer. "... I began
using the name Starhawk, which I
took from my dream about the hawk
and from the Star card in the Tarot,
which represents the Deep Self."
Sometimes Craft names are gtven
to us by our parents. In Z. Budapest's
The Holy BoakojWomen's Mysteries a
Naming Festival is described where
the maternal family ofa newborn meet
to ask blessings on the child and to
utter two names for the child.
"One Is the child's legal name;
the other is her /his Secret Name, and
must not be uttered again, even to the
child, until her /his initiation ceremony."
Occassionally our legal and
Craft names merge such as those who
legally adopt chosen names as a way
of divorcing themselves from negative
experiences. A friend of mine adopted
a beautiful name that suits her perfectly as a way of leaving behind an
abuse filled childhood.
I write anything relating to my
faith as Starfire. She is who I am in
relation to the God and Goddess and
those people I associate with through
Wicca. I write letters to my childhood
friends as Pauline because that is who
they know me as. I write magazine
articles in the style of an Erma
Bombeck as Pamela Farrell because
she is the wife and mother of that
family and I write from her point of
view. And so it goes ... to my father I
am "Leenie-O," to my sister "Pooey," to
my ex-flance "Princess," to my lover
"Darling," to my grocer "Ma'am" and
to my cat "Mee-om."
Embrace and use a Craft name,
whatever reason! The important thing
is, that whatever name you use, YOU
are still YOU!
by Starfire
Edmonton, Alberta
• LEITERS •
4
Dear Editors:
By coincidence your various artists and reviews in the Beltaine issue
of Hecate's Loomaddressed some very
similar questions to my article in Wood
and Water no. 50, a copy of which I
attach. I begin to feel in view of your
Full Moon Fever column, John, that
research to-and-fro across the Atlantic is completely non existent! Most
folkies (if not most Pagans, alas) here
know: a) That Jack-in-the-Green was
written In the 70's by Martin Graebe;
b) That Circles was written at about
the same time.
In addition all folkies, and most
of the religious broadcasting unit at
the dear old BBC know that Lord ofthe
Dance was written in the 60's by
Sidney Carter, as an overtly Christian
song. It was written for an EP dealing
specifically with characters in the crucifixion story, and its crucial verse
runs:
I danced on a Friday when the
sky turned black,
It's hard to dance with the Devil
on your back.
They buried my body and they
thought I'd gone,
But I am the dance, and I still go
on.
Carter himself used the (traditional?) Shaker tune It's a Gift to be
Simple to carry his words. Any other
"Lords/Ladies/Groundhogs of the
Dance" are wittingly or unwittingly
pastiches of Carter. I wonder if you
could make this clear in Hecate's Loom
somewhere, as I begin to worry quite
seriously about attribution of songs. I
don't think any songwriter (except
possibly Paul Anka) minds how their
song is developed once it's out in the
world. But I do think that acknowledgement (and the occasional royalty)
is greatly appreciated. As Pagans we
should, I think, acknowledge people's
Hecate's Loom No. 30
creativity. I am particularly grieved
for Martin Graebe's reputation, since
I consider that Jack-in-the-Green is a
work of genius, and should be acclaimed as such - on both sides of the
Atlantic (UK popular culture acknowledges only Lennon and McCartney
among Its home-grown songwriters).
As you may Infer from some of
the above, various groups In the UK
with overlapping interests do not appear to be aware of one another. I
belong to both the Pagan and the
folksong movements. I also try to
keep in touch with debates in folklore,
anthropology, mythology, drama,
women's studies and fantasy literature. The wide gap between the
folksong movement and Pagans is
particularly sad. As you Imply,
Yvonne, there may be singers who are
also Pagans - I'm thinking particularly
of Martin earthy and Roy Bailey here
- but they have not stated this publicly. Mind you, they have also not
stated publicly that they are members
of any political party; but their songs
tell you quite clearly where their affiliations lie.
Generally, I'm inclined to agree
with you, Yvonne, that we should begin creating again for ourselves. I've
been immersed in "the tradition" in
the UK for about30 years; and the one
thing I've learned is - don't tamper
with it. If a song comes down to us
with Pagan and Christian elements
(e.g. 1he Lykewake Dirge), then sing it
as it comes. That way, we don't let
down the many generations of anonymous creativity - by both Pagans and
Christians - which have shaped it. If
we begin to have theories about its
Norse origins, then we are setting up
as one of the we-know-better-thanthe-unlettered-rustics-who-are-singing-thts-song brigade. Use it as a
jumping-off point for our own creativity - sure! Acknowledge our debt to It
- sure! But leave it for future generations, so that they can make up their
own minds about it too.
The other general point I would
like to make is -please let's have as full
an information swap across the Atlantic as possible. Let's keep researching
and sharing our findings. Let's not do
it the way traditional Academia has
been known to act by doing exclusive,
one-subject centered research. Let's
be international and eclectic, and who
knows where we might fetch up?
Blessed be,
head with a club. The two hundred
dollar money order Is going to cost you
nearly three hundred dollars because
of the exchange. Grudgingly, you
Jan Henning
hand over close to three hundred dolWood &Water,
lars. The order Is sent and you go
Kent England
home to wait.
Now most catalogs say it will take
anywhere from six to eight weeks before you receive your goods. Take for
example the situation I ran into with
Ritual Creations, of Norfolk, Virginia.
Mail Order Fraud?
After fifteen weeks went by I got edgy;
so I wrote a nice letter to the company
This may have happened to you. saying I sent them an order and I was
You see an advertisementin one of the wondering if they received it and when
metaphysical magazines for a certain would they be sending It. After anmagick shop telling you to send for other ten weeks went by I was damn
one of their catalogs. This catalog can right angry so I sent another letter;
cost anything from free to about five where are my goods or send my money
dollarsAmerican. Thatdoesn'tsound back. Another month went by so I did
like much but when you consider the a money order search through the
value of the Canadian dollar It starts post office; I found the money order
to take a bite our of your wallet. You had been cashed, but no goods were
may write a cheque or go to your local ever sent.
postal outlet and mail a money order.
So beware who you deal with.
Now you sit back In anticipation My advice is to make the first order a
and wait. And wait and wait and wait. small token one to see if you get the
After about two or three months you Items ordered. Now don't get me
write them a letter stating that you wrong. There are plenty of reputable
have paid for your catalog so you catalog dealers out there who will go
would like to receive it. You never do. out of their way to give you good
Now I'm speaking from experience service. I know this from experience
here. I spent about eighty dollars also, because I am dealing with them.
Canadian and ordered twenty two
Before sending away for an Item
catalogs. Out of the twenty two I you may want to check your local
received only eleven. So I wrote my stores to see if they carry It in stock.
letter. Where's my catalog? Four That way you can get the Item Immemore trickled in. The other seven diately without the six to eight week
catalogs I never did get even though I wait and you are also supporting the
wrote follow-up letters. Now if you local economy.
consider how many people pay for
And In closing I would like to
catalogs and never receive them, some- make a comment about John
one is making a tidy little, or should I Threlfall's Full Moon Fever column in
say big, profit.
the Lammas 1995, issue 29. I totally
Then, there Is the other extreme. agree with John. I think the BeYou do receive your catalog, so you witched series in the mid 60's had a lot
gleefully thumb through It picking out to do with promoting Witchcraft. I
all the nice magickal goodies you want know, I used to watch it everyday.
to order. You pick out several Items And here I am writing an article in a
costing approximately two hundred Pagan Magazine. Now I'll Just wig_e;le
dollars American and off you go to the my nose and instantly end this letter.
local postal outlet for your money
Merry meet and merry part, and
order. You step up to the counter and merry meet again.
tell the clerk you would like a money
order in American funds for two hunThe Beast,
dred dollars. The clerk types the
Distribution Director,
order into the computer and hands
Hecate's Loom
you the bill. At this point it feels like
someone just hit you in the back of the
•LETTERS•
5
Hecate's Loom No. 30
Editorial policy: All letters sent to the Loom will be
considered for publication unless otherwise clearly stipulated. The editors reserve the
right to editfor length, punctuation, grammar, and iriflammatory content. Letters should not
be longer than 200-300 words.
Please include with your letter
your name, address and phone
number where you may be
reached during the day.
The Best Pagan Zines for Women and Men
Over 80 pages of Goddess-lore, ritual, women's experience
and stunning arrwork. Regular columns by Diana Paxson,
Carol Christ, De-Anna Alba and more, nerworking, and the
world famous "Rattle." Upcoming themes include "Death,
Transformation and Rebirth," "Our Bodies," "Loving
Partners" and "Celebrating Diversity." Winner of the 1993
WPPA Gold award for Best Pagan Magazine.
TheGreen Man
••••••••••••••••••••
•
•
Wllt1t do 1011 ct1/I ••
I 3 Witclles in ti
llot 111111
A sell-dHning
co11en.
••••••••••••••••••
President: Diana Michaelis
Publishing Editor: Yvonne Owens.
Managing Editor: John Threlfall.
Associate Editor: Michela Scheuerman.
Poetry Editor: Sylvia Skelton.
Graphic Design Editor: Diana Michaelis.
Advertising &: Promotions Director:
Dean Scheuerman.
Mailout &: Distribution Director: Beast.
Subscriptions: Dean Scheuerman,
Beast.
Calligraphy: Sylvia Skelton.
Proofreading: Sylvia Skelton.
Michela Scheue1man. Ann Lee.
Typing: Diana Michaelis. Ann Lee.
Computer Support: Dean Scheuerman.
Regular Contributors: Diane, Castalia.
Rob Von Rudloff, Miles Lowiy, Pagan Federation of Canada, Randy Feil, Dmmwoman.
Andrea. Tony Remington, Kath1yn Millar.
and Linda Doerksen. Special thanks to
Horned Owl Publishing for the use of their
equipment and expertise. and Ashley for
technical suppo1t above and beyond the
call of duty.
A Magazine for Pagan Men
Gutsy, challenging, and unique - the Green Man is
never afraid of controversy, but always willing to listen.
Find out where Paganism, the Men's Movement, and
Eco-Action meet (or sometimes, collide!) The ONLY
magazine published specifically for Pagan men.
Edited by WPPA award-winner Diane Darling.
t Mention this ad for a free sample issue!
707-882-2052 • P.O. Box 641 • Point Arena, CA 95468
He=te's Loom No. 30, published October 1995 by Hecate's LoomPublishing Inc.
Piinted on 50% recycled paper (10% post
consumer waste) using soy-based inks.
Copyiight © 1995 Hecate's Loom Publishing Inc. Contents may not be reprinted.
transmitted, or reproduced in whole or in
part. by any manner whatsoever without
the pe1mission of the publisher, except for
b1ief quotations accredited to the contiibutor and Hecate's Loom Copy1igh t reverts to
contributors after publication. For submissions pleasew1ite forourwi·iter's guidelines.
The opinions stated in this publication are the responsibility of the individual
aitists, authors , inte1viewees and adve1tisers and in no way does publication of a
submission imply that the publisher agrees
with the opinions stated in it.
ISSN: 1188-5947 LE3.V4414. Hecate's Loom is indexed by Micromedia's The
Canadian Index, is available through
FAXON/SMSand theCMPA, and isa memberoftheWiccan/PaganPressA!liance. no.
• LETI'ERS •
6
94036.
Canadian Publications Mail Product
Sales Agreement No. 265454 . Mail changes
of address notices. unde liverable copies
and subsc1iptions to: Hecate's Loom Box
5206. Station B. Victoria, BC V8R 6N4.
Canada.
Subscriptions, four issues. CDN $18.
US$24, US$28 overseas. Subscription.
Wholesale inqui1ies and Adve1tising: (604)
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Hecate's Loom No. 30
NEWSBITS
Events • Discoveries • Issues • Innovations
Freedom to Read
(Surrey, BC)
Freedom to Worshship
(Palm Bay, Florida)
This suburb of Vancouver was the scene of yet anWhile The Church oflron Oak has won their initial case
other attempt by a private citizen to use official channels to against the city of Palm Bay, their struggle to preserve
hinder the positive image of Witchcraft. Heather Stilwell, religious freedom in the United States still goes on- only this
former school trustee and concerned parent, recently time in Federal Court. Readers of the Loom and most other
requested the Surrey school board to ban Barthe De Pagan magazines will be familiar by now with the efforts of
Clements' juvenile novel, No Place For Me, wWch features Iron Oak, an English Traditional Wiccan church affiliated
a positive and sympathetic portrayal of a Wiccan character. with both the Covenant of the Goddess (COG) and the
The Surrey school board met on July 13 and rejected Aquarian Tabernacle Church (ATC). to ensure the right to
Stilwell's request by a narrow vote of 4-3, with some board home worsWp in the United States following their unwarmembers feeling the book did in fact proselytize while ranted citation for operating a Church in a residential area.
Despite scanty evidence primaothers felt it was harmless.
rily based on rumour and
Stilwell's initial complaint
heresay against them, the City of
stemmed from her belief
Palm Bay proceeded to take legal
that the book promoted a
action against Iron Oak. Realizspecific religion within the
ing the result of a ruling against
secular public school syshome worship, Iron Oak sudtem, which would be in condenly found themselves suptravention of the BC School
ported by 14 local Christian
Act.
ministers. On November 21.
Witchcraft is not the
~ · •.•
. ,
1994, a ruling was unanimously
central focus of No Place For
brought down in favour of Iron
Me, which in fact is a story
Oak against the city, which had
about the trials of a teenspent $45,000 US of its taxpayager with an alcoholic parers' money in pursuit of Its case.
ent. It has also been
Meanwhile, Iron Oak ministers
reported that the author,
Barthe De Clements, is not
Jacque Zaleski and Roger
Coleman found themselves with
a practitioner ofWicca. The
a victory that had cost them
question of Witchcraft only
enters theplotin the form of
$22,000 us.
a helpful aunt, who hapRather than stop the case
at this point, Iron Oak made the
pens to be Wiccan. Speak,v OAK -·LEG~\.
decision to take their case to
ing to The Vancouver Sun,
Federal Court under the RellStilwell claimed that she
took issue with the novel because "( the] book is emotionally gious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) in order to ensure the
manipulative. It has the real potential to undermine the future rights of all religious groups to worship, Pagans
work a parent is doing at home". Surrey trustee Jim included. Unfortunately, to carry tWs to the Federal level,
Chisolm disagreed, however, feeling that "banning the Iron Oak now finds itself needing an additional $20,000 US.
book from schools infringes on the rights of parents who "Ifyou worship at home, this affects you," says Rev. Coleman.
"If you are Native American, Neo-Pagan, Islamic or Jewish,
want to offer children a variety of literary materials".
While this may seem like a victory in the ongoing battle your religion may not have a church in which to pray. Ifwe
for the presentation of positive Wiccan imagery, Stilwell's cannot have friends over to worship ... then there Is no
opinion on the board's judgment strikes a rather ominous freedom of religion."
Why should Canadians be interested in the efforts of an
note. As noted by Sun writer Gudrun Will, Stilwell, a
member of the Christian Heritage Party, felt this decision American church? Beyond the simple fact that they are part
will help "prompt [people] to come forward with other of the overall Wiccan community, their case could have farreaching implications for all Pagans, regardless of national
religious books they want added to School libraries."X
·\
o....
.
-o-e •
• NEWS AND NETWORKING •
7
Hecate's Loom No. 30
allegiance. A victory for Iron Oak in US Federal Court would
result In continued official recognition and greater legal
support for our faith, making It harder for future groups or
persons to indulge in Witch bashing. And, like it or not,
American affairs often affect Canadian attitudes and opinions. With a court date set for July 1, 1996, Iron Oak needs
your support now. To raise funds, they are selling t-shlrts
with Images by well known Pagan artist Nybor, featuring the
two messages of the Iron Oak legal defense fund: "Keep
Home Worship Legal" and "Never Again the Burning". Prices
range between $17 and $30 US and the shirts come In black
("Home')- and white ("Burning"). Iron Oak, through ATC, is
also a tax-deductible church in the US.
To order a shirt, make a donation to the defense fund
or for more Information on The Church oflron Oak, contact
them c/o PO Box 060672, Palm Bay, Florida USA 329060672 or at (407) 722-0291 (voice) or (407) 724-9693 (fax) or
IronOak@aol.com (internet). X
Beyond offering outreach services to the overall Washington
state community, the ATC is also active In assisting Institutionalized Wiccans and Pagans. The ATC also operates
affiliate Churches in both Canada and Australia.
Speaking to Moriwaki, Rev. Davis said that "If you can
get people to understand what the belief systems are, none
of them are that far apart. [It] amazes me that people don't
seem to realize that we are all trying to do the same thing...
basically to understand something that Is incomprehensible and offer worship to him, her, It, however you see It." For
more Information on the Interfaith Council of Washington,
the Aquartan Tabernacle Church or Rev. Davis, contact the
ATC at PO Box 409 Index, Washington USA 98256 or call
(360) 793-1945 (voice) or (360) 793-3537 (fax) or
AquaTabCh@AOL.com. (internet).:!€
-JT
Freedom To Lead
(Index, Washington)
The Aquarian Tabernacle Church (ATC) announced
recently the election of ATC founder Rev. Pete Pathfinder
Davis as the president of the Interfaith Council of Washington State (ICW). In the excited words of the ATC press
release, "It is unquestionably the first time ever that a
Wlccan priest has been elected to head an Interfaith organization anywhere In the world!" The !CW, started in 1990, is
a nonprofit organization with official representatives of
many religions including Baha'i, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu,
Christian, Muslim, and, of course, Wiccan, amongst others.
When asked by Seattle Times religion reporter Lee
Moriwaki how he felt about having a Wiccan president of the
!CW, co- founder Rabbi Anson Laytner said, "It is not a big
deal...! think the challenge is less what faith the president
Is than what his abilities are and what the council can
accomplish." The ATC, started by Rev. Davis in 1979, is an
open attendance Wlccan/Pagan Church recognized by the
US government at city, county, state and federal levels.
Submissions!
The themes for future issues of Hecate's Loom are as follows: lmbolc issue - Poetry and Literature,
Beltaine issue - Erotic Pagan Expression, Lammas issue - Ritual Theatre, next Samhain issue - Witchcraft and
Healing. The deadline for submissions to the Imbolc 1995 issue is December 1, 1995.
For Information on submitting articles, fiction, art, etc, please write for our writer's guidelines in exchange
for SASE or SAE and !RC (International Reply Coupons). We are not responsible for unsolicted manuscripts and
due to rising postage costs we are unable to reply to queries without SASE.
Advertising reps are needed, especially In Ontario and the United States. This is a volunteer position
requiring only a few hours a month, and is a good opportunity to meet your local Pagan supporters and help
keep the Loom going. Contact Dean (604) 383-0410 for more Info.
• NEWS AND NETWORKING •
8
Hecate's Loom No. 30
fran~ais? Voudriez-vous en voir dans les pages de Hecate's
Loom?
Envoyez moi vous commentaires, att: Lucie DuFresne,
PFPC.
Merci.
TI-IE WORDS / LES MOTS
coven, grove, outer/inner court, circle
dedicant, initiate, non-initiate, temple
priesthood, priest/ess, high-priest/ess, church
laity, cowan, non-priesthood, Wicca
pagan, paganism, neo-paganism, Wiccan
witch, witchcraft, sorcery, mystery(ies)
rites/rituals, god, goddess, the Gods/desses
For more information on PFPC, or Canadian Paganism
in general. feel free to contact us at PAGAN FEDERATION/
FEDERATION PAi'ENNE - CANADA, P.O. Box 32, STN "B",
Ottawa, Ontario KIP 6C3, e-mail us via:
LEXICON PROJECT
dave@fozzi.ocunix.on.ca or
khaled@p 1.f45.n243.z 1. fidonet.org
As part of our ongoing endeavour to build communication links, to foster understanding within the Pagan and
Wiccan communities, and to facilitate clarity and
unambiguity in our dealings with governmental agencies
such as Corrections Canada, we have decided to put
together a lexicon of Pagan and Wiccan terms which have
consensus of meaning and use within our communities as
well as those variations in meaning and use which also
occur with regularity. To accomplish this, we need your
help. We need to know what YOU mean when YOU say what
you do.
Of the words listed below, which do you use? To mean
what? What words are missing? Are there words you don't
use, would never use? Which words would you prefer to
use? Why? In what context?
We feel that this endeavour is necessary because we
find that in an Ecumenical and Pastoral environment, clear
definitions are a must for free and fruitful interchanges.
Muddy linguistic usages simply foster unnecessary arguments and misunderstandings.
We will be printing your responses (anonymously ifyou
wish) in the next issue of Hecate's Loom (lmbolc 1996) and
we welcome any comments this might generate. Please
address your correspondence to Lucie DuFresne, c/ o PFPC.
APPEL AUX FRANCOPHONES
11 nous serait tres utile de pouvoir constituer un lexique
francophone des terms utilises en Wicca. Employez-vous
Jes terms anglais ou avez-vous pu trouver des terms fran~s
qui vous plaisent et qui convoquent les memes informations
et sentiments que Jes termes anglais? Seriez-vous prets a
faire partie d'une equipe de recherche qui aurait la tache de
developper un premier lexique francophone?
or fax us at (613) 231-5833. Our phone line declines to
distinguish between faxes and voice calls, so we have set It
to fax only while we get it fixed. Our apologies for any
inconvenience.
Membership, which includes a subscription to Hecate's
Loom, is $20 Canadian per annum for individuals, $25 for
couples sharing a single subscription and open to anyone
over 18 years of age who agrees with these three Pagan
principles:
1) WVE FORAND KINSHIP WITI--1 NATURE: reverence
for the life force and its ever-renewing cycles of life and
death.
2) THE PAGAN ETI-IIC: AN IT HARM NONE, DO WHAT
TI-IOU WILT. This is a positive morality, not a list of
prohibitions. Each individual Is responsible for discovering
his or her true nature and developing It fully, In harmony
with the outer world.
3) ACCEPTANCE THAT DEI1Y IS BOTI--1 MALE AND
FEMALE: honouring both male and female aspects of the
Divine Reality which transcends gender, without suppressIng either the female or male principle.
To join, send details of yourself and your interest In
Paganism to the address given above. Until our incorporation is finalised, we cannot cash any cheques or money
orders made out to PFPC; please make them out to Lucie
Dufresne lnstead.X
Avez-vous pu trouver des textes en fran~s sur la
sorcellerie, la Wicca, le Paganisme contemporain? Est-ce
quedes "BookofShadows" (Grimoires?) existentenfran~s?
Avez-vous deja essaye d'ecrire des textes de rituels en
• NEWS AND NETWORKING •
9
Hecate's Loom No. 30
The Journal
ourselves, the earth and where we are headed as a world
community.
After lunch, Anna gave us a tour of the reservation
grounds. They'd built a lodge in the shape of a medicine
wheel where they held various types of circles and councils.
A little over to the left was a perfect circle of whis pertng p Ines
where Anna shared some stortes about the Star people. She
explained to us that in abortgtnal cosmology. we all originate
from the stars and, looking into her sparkling, shining eyes,
I believed her. The afternoon definitely had a profound effect
by Kathrin Darling
on each one of us and set the tone for what was already
becoming a voyage of the spirit.
Thefollowingday,enroutethroughlndiana,westopped
Mise-en-scene: three witches, a blue 1979 Chevy van off at a Grateful Dead concert. It turned out that the concert
and an open highway. It's midnight and the wyrrd sisters Itself was canceled due to a group of angry gate crashers
(myself, Anna and Kate) are finally on the road. Hurtling who were tear gassed at the concert the night before, so we
over the rainbow bridge at Niagara Falls, a loud chorus of ended up spending the afternoon in the "Deadhead village".
"Yeeehaah" booms from our breasts as we escape the For entertainment, there was an ancient testosterone rttual
which Involved young
border without a hitch
men lighting up fireor a search. Our priworks and pinging
mary destination: the
them Into the nearby
Rainbow Gathering in
New Mexico. But first
pond/ cesspool.
Throughout the
we had to get there....
afternoon, I could disThere's something
tinctly hear the voice of
very special that hapGrandma 1\vy asking
pens when you travel
the question "where Is
with witches: magic
the spirit here?" A
finds you. Or, in our
case, falls light on your
question I was struggling to answer. It
lap at every tum. We
seemed these people
stopped for some slumwere very removed
ber at one of the many
from the actual splrttof
Interstate highway "rest
peace, love and comareas" · somewhere in
munity that I'd been
NewYorkstate. Thenext
given to understand
morning, Anna arose to
was the premise of
discover we weren't far
these mini-caravaning
from a teacher she had
Kate in front of the Double Rainbow
trtbes.
been working with last
summer by the name of1\vyla Hurd Nitsch. We gave her a
Waking up in New Mexico was like waking up on
another planet. Suddenly, the endless miles of flatland of
call, and she graciously invited us to come and see her.
Spending the day at Grandma 1\vy's was like entertng yesterday were a world away and, in the words of Dorothy,
a separate cube of light, space and time. Grandma 1\vy ts we weren't in Kansas anymore. We were the munchkins,
an eighty-three year old Seneca elder of the Wolf Clan who dwarfed by the rolling red ocher hills surrounding us on all
lives on a reservation In Irving, New York. She shared with sides but, like Dorothy, we were still searching for the
us the gift of her knowledge through teachings about Rainbow.
Gypsy Road Queens
Ride the Rainbow
to the Southwest
• NEWS AND NETWORKING •
10
Hecate's Loom No. 30
''The Gathering" was couched in a large valley in the
middle of the mountains ofTres Piedres, about thirty miles
outside of Taos. We arrived at the central gates to a large
white school bus topped with a "Welcome Home!" banner.
We hung out for a while with the welcoming committee (the
people who you shared your first Joint with), played some
guitar and proceeded into "bus village" where you parked
your vehicle and prepared your bags for the two and half
mile hike into the central camp.
Walking In, everyone we passed greeted us with warm
smiles and "welcome home" or "hello sisters". As we entered
the main site, I was stunned by the intense beauty of the
place. This was a truly magical world, something akin to my
imaginings of Faerie land with a native twist. The hills were
a green Goddess lying supinely across the seams of her own
spine. Her arms and legs embraced the many, multicoloured campsites dotting the hillsides. And on her belly, wild
horses ran around a large circle of white tepees. She was
radiant and bristling with energy.
The Rainbow gathering was spawned in the late sixties
in an attempt to create a free, loving and peaceful "gathering
of the tribes," uniting to pray for world peace. Or a world
party, I couldn't tell. I could not help butaskmyselfhowthis
"gathering of the tribes" came to be such a singularly white
event or why none of the elders at this event seemed to be
teaching the younger ones about how to take responsibility
for themselves. Food is free at the various soup kitchens
and this meant that there were lots of kids following the
rainbow trail from state to state and never really learning
how to take care of themselves. The old adage "give a man
a fish ... ." comes to mind.
There is no alcohol allowed at the gathering (except in
"A" camp, a small sequestered group of strictly party people)
but they more than make up for it in the way of substance
abuse. There were countless, lost faces wandering around
trying to elicit "doses" (of acid) from passersby and a
campsite with a pair of boots on the roadside with a sign
saying "trade boots for bud" was not untypical. Grandma
1\vy had taught us some subtle but powerful alteration in
our vocabulary. She said, "Don't believe, belief has the word
'lie' in it. Instead of saying 'I believe', say 'I know.' Instead
of saying "I hope" say instead, 'I trust'." I couldn't believe in
the Rainbow Utopia, so grand and lush and yet so removed
from the outside world, but I knew I had to trust in what it
had to teach me. It turned out that trust was exactly what
I was there to learn about.
Like the kids from the Grateful Dead show, these
people had volumes to teach me about "home". If there's one
thing you learn from being on the road it's that home is
EVERYWHERE. Home is where the heart is ... your heart.
Being a Witch, this was an especially rewarding thing to
learn. A solitary practitioner, I finally felt as ifl was being
initiated not into a coven, but into the world community.
After three days at the Gathering, Kate and I decided
we'd "experienced" enough and shot off to beautiful Santa Fe
for three days of comfort (a real shower and toilet) and
carousing (The Santa Fe race tracks, Santa Fe Opera,
Cowgirl Hall of Fame bar and The Oasis Cafe). All this
courtesy of the generous hospitality of Kate's girlfriend
Samara who was then working with the Santa Fe Opera
company's costume department. On the first morning of
our stay, I decided to embark on a long walk. Downtown, it
turned out was more than just a few miles away so, I headed
for a tall angel-like structure I spotted on the road ahead.
It turns out that here, in the boonies of Santa Fe.
amidst rows of trailer parks, was, in fact a Buddhisttemple.
the Kagyu Shen pen Kunchab Bod hi Stupa to be exact. I had
arrived Just in time for a guided meditation with one of the
teachers. Upon entering the Stu pa, I was struck not only by
the magniftcence of the wall paintings, but also a tsunami
wave of the most blissful energy I'd experienced in my entire
life. Coincidence? Maybe in the Celestine Prophecy way that
reveals that nothing is really a coincidence. All I can say is
I'm now practicing Buddhist forms of meditation and am
permanently weaving it into my craft work.
Speaking of non-coincidences, no one could have
prepared me for the things that took place at Chaco Canyon.
Un-coincidentally, we arrived at Chaco Culture National
Historic Park on the day of the BIG FULL MOTHER MOON.
Un-coincidentally, we also arrived in time to connect with
some people who were attending a ceremony for the
reuniftcation of the red and white peoples. Somewhere atop
an enormous canyon was a circular, tenth century Anasazi
(the ancient ones) pueblo ruin. Each group seeking the
ceremony had their own vague story about a native prophecy; something to do with a crystal re-emerging when it was
time for this reuniftcation to take place. As it happened, no
one really knew speciftcally where it was taking place so
Kate and I just followed our bellies to the place we felt the
strongest pull.
As we entered the main site,
I was stunned by the intense
beauty of the place. This
was a truly magical world,
something akin to my
imaginings of Faerie land
with a native twist
Elemental city! Bright flashes of blue, red, orange and
yellow burst out intermittently all around us like flashing
Christmas lights. Not to mention the actual, in your face,
spirit presences peeking out of the caverns and cliff dwellings along our moonlit path to the pueblo. The ceremony
didn't officially happen, but what did occur seemed more
natural and more fated than any pre-ordained meeting.
Over a two hour period, roughly ten different people arrived
of their own gut sense to the site that Kate and I had found/
• NEWS AND NETWORKING •
11
Hecate's Loom No. 30
chosen. Sowe had ourowngatheringofthetribes. Huddled
up together in one of the only remaining four walled
structures, we each removed our socks and shoes and had
a "foot fire" for warmth. We huddled, sang, taught, talked
and shared until dawn. We were all strangers but we each
made a consummate, trusting and loving decision to be
together and share the most truly full moon I've ever
experienced.
After such a superlative evening, we felt we'd seen
everything we needed to see of Chaco and it was off to
Arizona in search of you guessed it, that tourist mecca, the
Grand Canyon. En route, there seemed to be a huge
collection of black cumuli in the sky overhead. In anywhere
but the Southwest, this would be the portent of a whammy
rain storm. But here, no matter how ominous the sky
appeared, the rain seemed to dry up before it even hit the
ground. Well, it rained just enough to create a very lovely
roadside attraction.
As we sped along the highway, I suddenly told Kate to
stop the van. We stepped out onto a flat red field, and there,
across the road was the most impossibly large and awesome
rainbow. As we danced around and whooped with Joy at the
sight, it turned into a double rainbow before our eyes! It's
hard to describe the effect of a moment like this on the road
weary, impressionable mind but to Kate (a.k.a. Iris, goddess
of the rainbow) and I, it was and is one of nature's most
awesome and stunning gifts. At that moment we felt
completely full and knew instinctively that this was a sign
of the Journey's close. We were somewhere over the rainbow, and the whole world was our backyard.
We parked the van for the night on the roadside leading
into Grand Canyon Park, drank some watery beers, ate,
read tarot cards, laughed, sang, played drums and finally,
with warm hearts and sated bellies we passed out for the
night. The following morning, we drove into the park. It was
here that Kate buried her past and where I was to receive my
spiritual name.
The Grand Canyon is the most incomprehensibly vast
and frustratingly beautiful place in the world. Frustrating
to artists and writers alike, who find its subtleties and
enormity impossible to replicate through mere mortal craft.
It was precisely its grandeur that persuaded us that it was
a place that could swallow pasts and divulge spirit names.
Perched on the edge of the canyon, feet dangling, I felt very
old and very, very young. Time stood still. Crows cawed and
circled overhead as if to acknowledge or welcome us. Once
again, the mother held us to her gentle breast and whispered, "Here ... here is where the spirit lies, in the heart of the
greatest rock, in the broad expanse of blue overhead, in the
cawing of the crows, and in you. Every child of mine holds
the key of creation .... " Pregnant with the seeds of the Great
Spirit, my spirit sister and I were ready to embark on the
long road home. In her glittering, smiling eyes I saw my own
reflection and understood finally that home really is
everywhere. X
ThePowWow
Songhees Reseive
Victoria, B.C. August
1995
by Jillian Player
The Powwow, the coming together of all the tribes to
sing, dance and drum. Things are different now - P.A.
systems, disc jockeys and video cameras are commonplace
but the energy is still the same. The big chief couldn't make
the PowWow yesterday because he was working with the
weather, making sure it didn't rain on the dancers.
A fellow stands beside me dressed in moccasins with
bells and animal skins hanging all over him, the biggest of
which was a full wolf hide. The head of the wolf worked as
a hood, hawk feathers sticking out of the mouth of the beast
mysteriously covering the man's face , the rest of the hide
flowing down his back. Turns outitis his brother's costume.
He's wearing it in honour of him; he fought in the Gulf War.
It's time for the grand entry. Things get quiet. We all
stand. The circle of ground is empty, slowly the drum beats
out its heartbeat rhythm and the prayer begins. It's in a
language I don't know but, at the same time, I recognize the
place in my body that resonates to it, the place where all
prayers go, into my heart.
The sun is setting and the sky is big, clouds are rolling
across the horizon. It's a new moon, it's going to be dark
tonight, but in this modem world, we have spotlights all
around.
The grand procession starts. First the flag bearers. On
either side an American and a Canadian flag. In the middle
are native flags covered with ribbons and feathers. Behind
these, from all across the nation, are the elders, the warriors, the women dancers, boys and girls, and finally the wee
children, all walking to the same slow beat of the drum.
The prayer is screaming out of the speakers and the
wind has stopped. Slowly the procession is building energy
while creating a giant spiral. The drums sound like th under
and the voices are shrill like keening gulls. The women's
voices scream over the men's low moans. The sun has now
set, the lights go on and everyone is standings till, anticipating what comes next.
The spiral of costumes is awesome. It feels like I've
been flung back in time. Tots is what it was like", I'm telling
myself awestruck. The pride and confidence surging from
these people is hitting me full in the face. "See us, this is
really who we are. We dare you to recognize us".
• NEWS AND NETWORKING •
12
Hecate's Loom No. 30
An old grandmother stands at the head of the spiral. community that I could never be part of. When I was feeling
She invokes the directions, calls upon Great Grandmother a little envious that my own children will never have a family
and Great Grandfather to bless us and keep us healthy and song or dance, that they will never have this freedom of
the weather good. She talks awhile about being all one family and community, this intimate web of security, I got to
family, thatweallbelong. Sheendsherprayerwith "amen". thinking about the Craft.
As the competitions roll on, I begin to look around the
People of the Craft come from all walks of life. I am
outside of the circle. Each of the clans gathers around their Anglo-East Indian raised Catholic in Canada. People are
central drum, the heart of the group.
coming to the Craft because they, for one reason or another,
The young warriors are strutting in full regalia, decked have felt no sense ofbelongingin a Christian world. We have
In feathers from head to toe and faces made fierce with paint. been steadily creating a community throughout the world.
They make a terrifying yet very sexual sight. In their prime, The children have been learning the songs and dances and,
as the generations progress, maybe my great grandchildren
they have preened themselves for spiritual display.
The young girls in their fancy shawls and beaded will be born with the song of the Goddess and the God In
moccasins, hair tightly braided Into complex designs, wear their hearts.
I thank the people of the Songhees Reserve who cared
feathers situated to enhance eyes and cheekbones. They all
make a beautiful sight as they dance around each other. enough to let outsiders into their sacred community, to give
Giggling, shoving and rubbing the toe of a moccasin In the us a peek at their life and show us how, as a world, we could
dust, shy girls laugh nervously as boys from other tribes come together and belong. As the slogan on their program,
stated, "We've been neighbours for 150years, lsn'tlttlmewe
notice them.
It dawns on me then, this is where an important rite of became friends". I say "Yes".X
passage may have taken place in the past. The tribes would
get together and the young people would perhaps find their
potential husbands or wives from other bands. You were
able to get all dressed up and dance and show off. Families
were able to meet each other and, if you were lucky, you
could have your first love affair. This is how the tribes stayed
friends, deals were made, young ones were betrothed to
each other, gifts were given and there was peace for another
year.
No wonder the potlatch and PowWow were outlawed.
by Drumwoman
This is where the spiritual essence was displayed, marriages and alliances made, and peaceful politics were played
A fuzzy phallic microphone and a hostile radio host put
out.
Meanwhile, as all this is whirling around In my head, an unplanned-for spin on a Summer Solstice Sunrise
I tum back to the circle. The young women are doing a fancy Ceremony at Cape Spear, Newfoundland - the most easterly
shawl dance, twirling their shawls and kicking up their point in North America.
A group of Wiccans who gather regularly decided to
heels. Running between them are little girls trying to follow
their older sisters. Other young girls and boys on the side are share their circle by having the first-ever publicly-advertised Wlccan gathering in the St. John's area ... maybe even
feeling the first stirrings of the dance move their feet.
Somewhere deep inside, perhaps imbedded in their in the Province. A limited number of notices went up, mostly
very DNA Is the dance, the individual dance of their family in bookstores and friendly-seeming places. The idea was to
alone. What a feeling of belonging there must be, to have put the word out without making a loud noise.
your very own family dance, colours and design. This seems
But the notices were seen by Alison Butler, a reporter
to be a constant scenario around the world, thinking of the with the St. John's CBC Radio Mornings how. She contacted
Scots, Australian aborigines, the Polynesians and many one of the organizers and was told that, while the group
would really hope the media wouldn't come, It's understood
others.
The little children dance and play through the crowd. that when you advertise a public event to be held in a public
The parents don't seem to be concerned. Whereas the place, the media can't be barred. However, Alison was
typical Western parents are so scared these days of their asked that if she did come, she would participate rather
children being stolen, these native parents are assured that than spectate.
they are not alone In the child minding. The children belong
The organizers had no idea what would happen, but by
to the community. The teenagers, while trying to do their 4:45 a.m. on June 21st there were 18 people gathered In a
grown-up thing, would play or stop and carry a child that sheltered corner of the magnificent landscape of Cape
Spear. In addition to the reporter, there was also a technihappened to be tugging on him or her.
Both genders took time with these tots, from children cian with an over-sized microphone, covered with a fuzzy
barely big enough to carry a little one, to the young warriors wind-sock against the decidedly-cool wind that blows forin full costume, they would be twirling a child or carrying a ever over the wild rocks.
baby back to a parent. They all looked to be enjoying this
There were many new people, men and women, some
Immensely, unlike other teens who usually can't stand older, some younger, some members of the organization
having younger ones around to cramp their style.
circle .... We stood In a circle and the technician, who was
I was quite overwhelmed by this huge family affair, this only doing his job, stood in the center of the circle, pointing
Going Public a Mixed
Blessing in St. John's
• NEWS AND NETWORKING •
13
Hecate's Loom No. 30
Ws mike. It was intrusive and made it difficult to find the
energy flow.
But the sunrise is more powerful than small human
concerns. We chanted and drummed, cast a circle, and
stood together watching the sun rise like a Phoenix from the
mystic Mother Ocean. It is a moment to carry us through
the coming cold of dark winter. When it was over, several of
us went for breakfast before going home to listen to what it
would sound like on radio.
The report Itselfwas fine. Alison Butler had taken part,
had lived the experience, and understood and reflected that
understanding with professionalism and spirit.
But the host, Peter Gullage, didn't getit and didn't want
to get It. He kept interrupting Alison with cynical smlrky
comments and questions. At one point he started singing a
fragment of one of the chants and told the radio audience he
was standing up and doing the Spiral Dance. "Hey. I got it.
I can do it!" he told the folks at home.
But as so often with people like that, the hostile host did
himselfin without any help from anyone. Alison Butler kept
saying things like "It was really a good experience. It was
quite beautiful." She answered his attempts at ridicule with
honesty and simple truth. Instead of sounding clever and
sophisticated, Gullage was an embarrassment to himself
and to his local reputation as an Incisive investigative
journalist.
So what's to be learned? Ultimately it was a good
experience. We made contact with several people who have
been working as solitaires, not knowing how to make
contact in a place like tWs where there are no public Pagan
gatherings. We shared something beautiful with those who
came, and we created a small presence in the public mind.
Another time it would be an idea
to spend more time grounding and
sharing energy, to counteract the
strangeness of the experience that
was new to some, the strangeness of
sharing this with a lot of people we
don't know, and the strange energy of
knowing that two of the people were
not there privately... but were members of the media .... a conduit to many
more thousands who will hear without experiencing.
The whole experience was much
like remembering back to the very
first time I ever cast a circle, all by
myself as a solitary... a little scary,
very powerful, a little self-conscious
until 1 let go and started to understand the energy, the constant miracle that She Is there, and She is
always there. Blessed be. X
News from the Ottawa
Valley - Summer 1995
by Laurie Foster-MacLeod
Just following the Summer Solstice, I attended a
Women's Weekend held at Gina Ellis ' farm at McDonald's
Corners, in the beautiful Ottawa Valley. It was the first of
what I hope will become an annual tradition. Pam Fletcher
planned It (she also Is at the center of the organization of
"Minifest" held every August at Gina's farm) at a very
reasonable cost, with catered food by Jane Gray, and lots of
great things to do.
So-therewewere-about 18women, ona warm, sunny
June weekend, ready to share, relax and go wild! At the
opening ritual we created the Goddess in the sand with lots
of the Earth's (dried) bounty: rose petals, lavender, cornmeal,
lentils, shells, etc. She really was a lovely sight to see. Pam's
idea was that She would grow and change over the weekend
as we added tWngs to Her, and then be dispersed back to
natureattheweekend'sclosingritual. However .... wehadn't
accounted for the forest critters, who figured we'd set out
(Drumwomwi would like to know
others' experiences with holding public celebrations, especially if the media came.)
Clay Goddess workshop - Women's Weekend, MacDonald's Corner
• NEWS AND NETWORKING •
14
Hecate's Loom No. 30
this bounty for their nighttime snacking! She teaches us in
many ways.
Over the weekend a variety of workshops and rituals
were offered. None ran concurrently, so everyone who
wished to could attend. As a third of our number were
leading workshops, it meant we didn't have to miss anything, although women did take breaks to relax, swim and
socialize. Activities included a healing ritual, clay Goddessmaking, reiki, belly-dancing, chanting, drumming, and
seminars on midwifery, women and AIDS, celebrating our
bodies (with the aid of body-painting), and a discussion on
how to speak your mind if you disagree with a lecturer/
workshop leader at a gathering. Jane provided delicious
fare, and the Saturday night feast was pure pleasure.
At the end of the weekend I went home feeling tired but
refreshed, a wiser woman with new friendships I hope will
grow in the future. My thanks to Pam and company for a job
well done, and here's to nextyear!X
Avalon East Pagan
Gathering
August 25- 27, 1995
By Drumwoman
Another time, another place, I might not have realized
I was seeing fairy lights in the trees. I might have thought
it was the stars of a new moon sky peeking through the
canopy of the birch grove. But because of all the other
magical happenings that were seeming so normal, I
understood as I lay back from the fire and looked upward,
that I was seeing fairy lights.
ItwastheftnalnightoftheAvalonEastPaganGathering
held on an old family farm deep in the heart of the Annapolis
Valley of Nova Scotia from August 25th to 27th, 1995. In
their wildest dreams the organizers had expected maybe
fifty people. More than one hundred and twenty came to
camp for the weekend and to discover and share. Many
were from established covens and gathering circles, from
different Wiccan backgrounds. SomewereAsatru, a Norse/
Viking form of Paganism. Some were solitaries who have
been practising the Wiccan way alone, and were sharing
ritual for the first time.
But for all it was magic, right from the opening ritual on
Friday night when the one who had called the West, released
the West saying "Behold the rainbow"! And there it was, not
seen till that moment when we all saw it together ... the water
energy, power of renewal and rebirth, the rainbow, with one
end disappearing into the mist and the other touching the
earth at the entrance to the land that was our home for those
few magic days.
Saturday was major workshop/discussion day:
introduction to Gardnerian Wicca, to Runes, to astrology, to
Asatru, spinning and the Goddess, creating sacred images.
The song and chant workshop brought together a couple of
dozen people, many of whom had never sung three-part
harmony before. The discovery and delight at what happened
resulted in the group singing at the feast/bardic competition
later that night and there are plans to continue as a group
with the possibility of making a recording.
The main ritual on Saturday night was huge ... more
than one hundred people joined in the circle. The space was
so big it was hard to hear what was being said and in the
fading light it was hard to see what was being done, but the
energies and powers were there. On Sunday there were
more discussions - on Pagans and the media, urban
Paganism, an herb walk, and the closing ritual.
1\vo others from our Gathering Circle and I travelled to
the Avalon East Gathering from Newfoundland, drawn to
experience a larger community. We brought our drums and
chants. We have not found any teachers where we live, so
we work intuitively. Drumming and chanting are a major
source of energy raising and communication.
I was surprised to learn that many of the Wiccans from
larger communities didn't use drums in their rituals and
many had not partaken in ritual with drums before. It was
a wondrous energy for us to share our drumming with
people experiencing the power of ritual drumming for the
first time.
In return it was a major discovery for me to experience
the power and energy of High Magic in ritual. Our Circle in
Newfoundland is all women. We have not been able to find
or make contact with any men who are practising the Craft,
so all my experience has been with Goddess energy. It was
so difficult to understand the Green God, the Horned One,
when all my life I have only known the Judaeo-Christian
God.
And just as I hungered after the Goddess before I even
knew Her names, so have I been longing for the God, to
experience Him in all His names. With no embodiment He
was unknowable. At this gathering there were gentle men
who practise the Craft, who honour the Goddess and the
God, and who shared their energy and power. It was the first
time I have done ritual with men.
I would not want to stop being part of an all-women
circle. It is an important vital place and space that I need
and long for. But as part of the necessary balance, I
personally feel the need to share male energy in the Craft
and, for the first time, I experienced it in the woodland
gathering.
The final night, after the closing ritual, after most had
gone except the organizers and a few who leave in the
morning, in the deep night around a small fire, the drums,
the drums, and the chanting ... Isis, Astarte ... the names of
the Goddess from the lips and hearts of women. And back
from the other side of the fire, male song, chanting the
• NEWS AND NETWORKING •
15
Hecate's Loom No. 30
names of the God to the same familiar music. Male song
naming the God, the essential male energy and power so
difficult to find and understand and love in a dangerous
patriarchal world. Back and forth the chantingwent, across
the firs, across the universe, across time.
Thewholeweekend was time out of time. The organizers
did it by daring, by caring, by clearing brush for campsites
and by cleaning the buckets in the outhouses. They opened
their hearts, connecting vision with hard work and they
created sacred space.
There are already plans for another Avalon East Pagan
Gathering next year. There are worries that it will be too big,
that too many will come. But those are worries for another
time. Now Is the time to remember the magic that happens
when magic happens ... the Goddess and the God well met
In the greenwood.X
MAI~
~lliER
CRONc
*
~cul1 Sho~
162 John Strccl
Toronto. Ontario
f416) ·59J -0692
It is with sadness
that we announce that
Maiden. Mother and Crone
store in Toronto was
distroyed by fire. and
therefore has had to tempora1ily close its doors. It
will be missed by members of the Toronto community and Hecate's
Loom
A Yuletide tapestry of Celtic and
early music.
Greetings from Comox
Valley
Leanan
Sidhe
by Linda J. Doerksen
Our little circle Is adding some drama to our gatherings. We have several masks underway, made ofplasterlmpregnated gauze; paint, feathers, and what-not-ls-yet-to
-come.
Lammas was more exciting this year than last. We
followed some principles in Seasonal Dance by Broch and .
MacLer and our own Ideas. We met Indoors to make Items
needed for the circle, and then went down to the beach,
resplendent In our coloured dresses and wildflower headwreaths. We started a small fire and ringed the outside of
the circle with candles. We created a very formal circle,
complete with challenge; as we normally create a simpler
circle, the formality helped to stress the feeling of being
between the worlds. So all this, with the singing and
dancing, and feasting, made for a wonderful night.
A note for those who want to make a Grain God ... Ours
was made with biscuit dough. Hint: the more dough used
(such as for an arm), the greater the expansion of that part.
One of our members was ambitious enough to tackle the
Cemunnos figure; It worked!
Our circle may be expanding. Some more people have
expressed an Interest in learning about Wlcca through a
study group. We will meet to find out how everyone relates
to each other, and what they are reading or whatever each
person has done; then we'll decide how to proceed. Blessings to you all. X
• NEWS AND NETWORKING •
16
....
*"·• recorders • drum
flute • harp • voice
•••
~-
To order, send $11.95 (Canadian) plus $3.50 postage to:
Leanan Sidhe, c/o Box 8543, Victoria, BC V8W 352
BC residents add 7% PST
Hecate's Loom No. 30
On Being a Witch
Ethos
and
Ethic
Michele
Favarger
by
John
Threlfall
You
have, or course, heard of busy
people burning the candle at both ends?
Based on the usual schedule ofMichele
Favarger, I'd say her candle is little
more than a puddle of wax by now.
Trying to find any free time to chat in
Michele's average day is like trying to
get an unscheduled appointment with
the Pope to discuss female clergy - not
bloody likely.
Over an unexpected lunch of
gefelteflsh, kugel and bluebeny blintzes
("This is where I come when I've got a
lunch meeting with any clergy," she
says with her typical dry humour) at
the local Jewish deli, Michele grudgingly agreed to discuss her least favorite
topic - herself and her work in the
Wiccan community. Of all the Wiccans
I've ever met - be they clergy, celebri-
ties or solitary - Michele is the one most
unwilling to blow her own horn. 'Tm
just working away in the background,
making quiet progress," she tells me
between blintz bites. "I believe in more
work and less bickering."
More work is what she gets as the
Right Reverend Michele Favarger, Elder
and Arch Priestess of the Aquarian
Tabernacle Church (ATC). head of the
ATC (Canada) and recognized as Visiting Clergy for the William Head federal
medium security institution in Victoria, where she performs rituals and
meets weekly with her study group.
Michele also provides counselling to
inmates at other Federal and Provincial correctional institutions in British
Columbia, works a full-time job at the
University of Victoria and with her
husbandrunsRavencroftFarms, Vancouver Island's only commercial
producer of organic catnip. "We've got
great new packaging - it's got a bar
code and everything."
Like I said: busy.
Openly Wiccan at home, work
and with her family and friends, Michele
has received references from the UVic
Interfaith Chaplaincy office, has performed many handfastings (the first of
which was in a Federal penitentiary),
and in 1993 performed the opening
circle for 180 people at the Spring
Mysteries Festival in Washington state.
She is also currently on the ground
floor of an interfaith group in Victoria,
similar to that of the Interfaith Council
ofWashington State, ofwhich longtime
friend and ATC founder Rev. Pete Pathfinder Davis was elected president this
year.
Her first contact with the Craft
took place when she was just six, "a
skinny runt of a girl with allergies", and
her mother and grandmother took her
from Montreal to Winnipeg to meet her
dying great-grandfather. While in the
west, a distant relation took pity on the
• Witchcraft
"snotty-nosed" child (one hopes from
her allergies) and worked magick to
alleviate at least one of her afflictions.
She had no idea what was happening
or why, but was abjured not to speak of
it. It wasn't until she was older that she
discovered what was being done, why
and, more importantly, how.
Spin the clock forward some years
to Alberta when, recently married, she
was fortunate enough to meet an elder
who took Michele under wing, gave her
lots to read, taught her and introduced
her to modem Wicca. Despite the
rumours of Victoria being a hotbed of
Witchcraft, when Michele and her husband relocated here in 1985 it was
quite some time before she came in
contact with other Pagan folk. She still
smiles to think on the days when she
was too embarrassed to meet Robin
Skelton after seeing his picture in the
local paper, pentacle blazing. Favorite
memory of those days? "Walking into a
local silversmith to inquire about
haveing a pentacle made and watching
the jeweler step back six feet and cross
himself."
Eventually she made her way to
the ATC Spring Mysteries Festival.
where she met Pete Pathfinder Davis
and, after much work on her part, was
invited to join the ATC Inner Circle as a
first level initiate. 'The ATC ls not for
everyone," Michele warns me. "It demands public commitment and a lot of
energy."
With 18 affiliated recognized
churches throughout the USA. Canada
and Australia, it ls to this sixteen yearold Wiccan organization that Michele
attributes a lot of her skills. "In addition to extensive studying and public
work, to advance in the ATC you must
do a lot of training, including volunteer
work on a crisis line."
Cont. on page 35
•
17
Hecate's Loom No. 30
From Dreaming the Dark by Storhaw k,
by Andrea
Rently, one of Wicca's foremost
teachers and guides came to Toronto to
do a workshop on Women and
Spirituality, and! wasfortunate enough
to be able to steal a few minutes of her
time. !twas ourfirst meeting, andlwas
thrilled to encounter a woman of great
depth, spirit and intelligence. She is the
author of a number ofclassic books on
modern Wicca, a Priestess, a teacher
and a warm and loving human being.
She is, or course, Starhawk.
With her was another woman of
exemplary strength and character, a
film-maker and artist whose life has
been devoted to the exploration of
spirituality and the female essence
within us all--Donna Read.
The following is an excerpt.from
a fascinating and enlightening
conversation we had over the course of
some very short hours. I would like to
take this opportunity to thank Starhawk
and Donna for sharing their thoughts
and their time with all of us.
What do you feel the relationship of Paganism and Wicca is to the
development of a world spirituality?
Starhawk: I guess what I see
happening right now is that there's a
kind of a crisis in the overall
"Metaculture", if you can call it
that.. .. and that is a kind of a division
between a world view that sees the
earth as something essentially not alive,
something that ls--even to call It dead
Implies that it was once allve--but that
is mere material that can be endlessly
exploited versus the kind of spirituality
that sees the earth as a living being.
And sees us as part of that living being
and says that our relationship with the
earth Is the core of our spirituality.
For me, that's also what Paganism Is all about. To me, a Pagan world
view Is the view that says the earth is a
living being that has a consciousness
that we can communicate with, and
are a part of the being. We're not separate from that being and neither Is our
consciousness. The sacred is that living being and we're all part of it; there's
no separation. It's not outside the world
somewhere--lt Is the living world.
How do you view Paganism or
Wicca today in a modem context?
To me, Wlcca Is a specific branch
of the larger Pagan movement. Basically, the word itself [Pagan) comes
from theLatlnrootwhich means "countryside", and it referred to all the people
who kept following the.old earth-based
traditions after Christianity came in,
and so today it tends to refer to those of
us who are attempting to revive or to
rediscover or recreate the earth-based
spiritualitles--particularly the ones that
have their roots in Europe or the Middle East.
"Paganism" seems to have a derogatory sense. Is it a term you're
proud of?
It can, if you're looking at it from
a Christian context... But for me it's a
very positive term.
• Witchcraft
18
Beacon Pre ss, Boston .
•
How does this burgeoning cult
of the New-Age fit into it all? Can
Paganism and the New-Age be linked
together or do you see a difference
between the two?
I think there are ways in which
they overlap, particularly in the understanding that the human mind and
consciousness encompasses a much
broader range of abilities and possibilities than our culture has led us to
believe, and that there can be great
value and great healing potential In
opening up those possibilities.
I think where we diverge is that
often what gets Identified as New-Age
entails a lot of ideas taken out of other
cultures or out of context. Ideas somehow shift and take on different meaning
when you take them out of context, and
(they) can sometimes lose some of their
dimension and depth.
There tends to be, In the New-Age,
this sort of "you create your own reality" thinking. This Is all very well, but
it's only a piece of the truth which Is
that you create your own reality out of
conditions you're given; that you didn't
necessarily create, and that can becornea veryvictlm-blamtngphilosophy.
I think Wlcca tries to be a bit
more grounded since we have such a
history of persecution against our tradition. We know from our own historical
experience that there are a lot of things
that happened to people that were not
their fault, that they didn't create, and
that somehow you have to account for
that in your world view.
Hecate's Loom No. 30
You can't just blithely assume
that tfyou think right nothing bad will
ever happen to you.
How do you see Wicca developing into the next century, into the
next millennium?
Well, Wtcca right now ts developing. It has been growing tremendously
over the last decade, since we started
coming out of the "broom closet", and I
know what's happening to my own
community. I think that we're maturing a bit. You know, Wtcca has tended
to .... attract people who see themselves
as some kind of "outsider", and who
often kind ofltke that position - kind of
like being an outlaw religion.
But a lot of us are getting a bit
older. Many people have children they're
raising, and it's very difficult to raise
children as outlaws. You raise children
and you start encountering things like:
how do you teach your child about
your religious practices and traditions
and also at the same time tell them they
can never talk about this outside the
home because you could be run out of
your Job, or they could be taken away
from you, and you start to realize "oh,
this ts not just a whole bunch of fun
and games to be outsiders, this ts
oppression".
I find myself drawn to a lot of the Middle
Eastern Goddesses and traditions as I
get older. But my personal spiritual
practice in terms of my daily practice ts
to maintain my connection with the
earth, and to go out in my garden every
day and just spend some time there;
not meditating, not invoking anything,
not doing any ritual, but just being
there - opening my eyes and
watching.... to go out on our land in the
country and spend some time there· to
work with the earth.
Do you think that's a realistic
outlook?
Oh, absolutely. Certainly in the
United States, I know people who have
lost their Jobs ... especially if you get
involved in any kind of custody issue it's a very real concern. And so I think
there's more of a push for education,
there's more of a push to say to people
"hey, we have as legitimate a spiritual
tradition as anybody else; our concerns deserve to be heard and to be
taken seriously. We don't deserve to be
dismissed or left out or ridiculed ... "
What made you take up "public" craft? I mean, what made you
take that step to become the figure
that you are ...being as much a focus
for the community that you are?
Well, when I tookitl never realized
that that was what I was doing exactly!
Oaughs) But I started outactuallyvery,
very young. I was teaching the Craft
before I knew anything about it - when
I was seventeen. That was how I learned
about it.
My friend and I decided to do an
anthropology project in college and we
decided we would teach a class in the
Experimental College, which at that
time was set up that anyone could
teach and anyone could take a class
and there were no credits or requirements. And we just got people together
and said, 'Well, we don't really know
anything about this, but we're Interested so let's all learn together.", and
people would research and go out and
come back and find things out.
And so I knew that this was something that really drew me, that really
fed me and flt with my own sense of
spirituality. I was also writing In my
early twenties and as I was thinking
about things, I decided to start writing
about the Goddess, and that was what
became "The Spiral Dance", and once
that came out, the rest followed.
What do you see yourself doing
with your life in terms of your own
spirituality? Would you say your
focus is still Wicca? Do you have a
goal in mind?
Well, for me, my connection ts
definitely Wlcca - that's my tradition,
that's what I'm trained in, that's what I
teach.
I also have a strong identification with being Jewish, because that's
how I was born, that's how I was raised.
How do you see yourself fitting
into this growing, burgeoningWiccan
movement in 1995-96, in this era of
FAX machines and day-care
centres .... as it moves from sixties
expressionism into nineties expressionism?
Well, the role that I see myself
playing right now Is continuing to be a
writer, somebody who helps formulate
the thealogy (with an "a") and the practice of the tradition. I like to think that
• Witchcrafi
I'm a good liturgist, so some ofwhat I've
been working on has been writing.
You know, we are a tradition that
tends to be very spontaneous, that
doesn't have a lot of written liturgy,
which I think overall ts good, but one of
the projects my collective is working on
now is to actually put together a liturgy
for death and dying and funerals.
This was a project that came to me
after my mother died when I realized,
you know, when you're in grief, you
don't feel like being spontaneous, you
don't feel like creating wonderful ritual;
what you want Is something laid out
that says this is what you do and this
is how you do It. And you can choose
to do it or not do it, but at least you've
got something to bounce off.
I'm also working on a book with
two other women on raising children in
the Goddess tradition and working on
rituals and stories in particular. I'm
putting together a cycle of stories to tell
at the different holidays, which has
been a fascinating project; and also, if
you start to do that, you realize that
"oh, if we're going to teach this to
children, we actually have to have a
coherent theology! This actually has to
make sense!" Oaughs)
And more and more, I find myself not teaching, but teaching other
people, training other people to carry
on the tradition so that it can spread
beyond me. And doing as much as I
can to make myself unnecessary... as
you get older, as you become an elder,
your Job ts to pass it on and to teach
people how to pass it on, and there's
never been a Pagan concept of a great
Guru figure. It's always the teaching
and the practice and the work that's
Important, not the personality.
So tell me about the work you 're
doing here in Toronto. Tell me about
the film.
Well, Donna and I are working on
a film about the life ofMarya Gimbu tas,
who was, of course, the archaeologist
who was so influential in discovering
so much of the early history of the
Goddess in Europe and speaking out
for it against a tremendous amount of
opposition.
Cont. on Page 35
•
19
Hecate's Loom No. 30
ANCIENT SECRETS
OFTI-IE
GODD~
Part II
Intei:view with Rev. Jessica North
(Continued from Hecate's Loom #29)
by Diana Michaelis
certainly experienced an
integration at the heart
centre, the heart chakra,
a kinship with all Creation.
With regards to the Craft, what
brought you to this path and how did
you develop within it?
I really had a difficult time accepting what! saw as the position of women
in our society, and accepting the concept of a deity that was so removed
from its Creation, (also being a specific
gender--notminel}, passingjudgements
about who I was supposed to be.
I was very young when I became
conscious of the inequity in the (JudeoChristian) belief system and the social
structure. That was the beginning of
my personal Journey within a spiritual
context, or as part of a spiritual path.
I spent two years pretty much as
an atheist; I did not have a concept of
Divinity at all. I knewtherewas "something out there," butto call it "divine... "
I envisioned it more as a computer
gone awry. There was something very
much amiss, like pieces of a puzzle that
didn't flt together.
At the age of nine I experienced a
real integration of a lot of things during
an intense numinous occurrence. I
can't say the puzzle was solved but I
When did you adopt the name of
'Witch?"
I have always had a hard time
with labels, because people tend to
dismiss what can be categorized without really taking the time to investigate,
to get to know something more fully.
By the age of fifteen, however, I Just
couldn't stand the popular Hollywood
image of the Witch anymore and I was
able to find within myself a resonance
with the word. I felt that! reallywanted
to redefine in truer terms what I felt
"Witch" represents.
That was the beginning of my
development inside the label of Witch.
The next ten to twelvey~ars were spent
very personally, exploring myself, my
beliefs. I became a counselling apprentice at about the same time that I
had my first initiation, at eighteen. I
studied herbology and worked with it.
I moved to a rural community that
called me "Witch," though I never
openly referred to myself that way.
They meant it in a very friendly
way so I never had a personal sense of
persecution associated with the word.
People came to me for advice about
things, or to discuss things, or to review their own issues.
• Witchcraft
20
•
I felt very welcomed and loved by
that community in general. And I definitely did have room to develop an
affinity with the Earth, because I had
come out of the city and had never lived
in the country before. I also began my
(short-lived) midwifery practice there
as a pregnancy care advisor.
Also, that community was where
I picked up another label, feminist,
which was okay because I did not feel
exclusive. I didn't feel I was excluding
men, though I was aware of myself as
representing the Feminine and aspects
of the Feminine. I was aware of myself
as a representative of the Goddess
honoring the God in men and definitely
as being equal to the male. But basically I saw myself Just as a human
being working on my own self-healing.
I was involved in a lot of personal
therapy at the time.
At what point did feminism begin to form your Craft outlook?
Much later I discovered the works
ofK. Esther Harding and went on from
there to researchers such as Merlin
Stone and Geraldine Thorston. I Just
sat down and drank from this well of
feminine knowledge and feminine research which inspires me still.
At that time (I was twenty-eight) I
had my second initiation. There was a
period of fifteen years between my first
and my third initiations, during which
time I also became interested in the
Hecate's Loom No. 30
philosophyofTlbetan Buddhism. With
regards to the Craft, though, I was
basically a solo practitioner. Looking
back It was a time of a lot of "personal
growth" work Interspersed with service to others.
A few years ago, an artist friend of
mine had a dream. In the dream she
saw a little book, a tiny tiny book
design, and the title of the book was
"What Is a Witch?" She made the book
and gave It to me for Yule that year. It
Is one continuous page that opens out
like an accordion, each page containIng a word. The acronym of the words
- which are Wise, Intelligent, Teaching,
Caring, Healer - spells "Witch." That
pretty much sums up how I feel about
It, too. I thought that was a pretty
Inspired vision on her part.
What are some of your views of
Feminine/Goddess energy?
It Is absolutely essential for us to
acknowledge, to become acquainted
with, to Integrate and to move with
Feminine energy at this point In our
evolution. The Goddess represents a
historical linking back, a Wstorical reference point for all people.
We have all this Information about
various Goddess representatives from
manyculturesaround theworld, wWch
In themselves are keys to the Feminine
functions, the Feminine energy. They
are archetypes, they exist within our
psyches, though sometimes they're
dormant.
Sometimes these archetypes are
so commonplace that we forget, we just
take them for granted - like preparing
a meal for somebody, or caring for
somebody's needs, or participating in
getting to the bottom of an issue or
expressing anger or knowing that a
situation simply must change. These
are all aspects of the Divine as embodied In the Goddess archetypes, not to
say that the archetypes don't exist In
the Masculine Mysteries as well. But
theoretically half the planet is female
and I think that women need to be
reminded of this In an externalized
fashion.
When an archetype is presented
as something that is outside of oneself,
or something that we can observe or
relate to (women generally being relators), then that changes the way that
we look at it and think about It. It also
changes the way we evaluate it. Then
begins the work of reintegration, or
recognizing those externalized aspects
witWn oursevles.
I think it's also very important for
inen, precisely because they have never
had to contend with being female in a
male-dominant social structure, they've
never had to experience the feminine
reality. They've only experienced it
vicariously, through their relationships
with women. So to find those points of
commonality within themselves allows
them access to the deep Self.
TWs is what the journey to the
Underworld represents, In part -going
into the deep Self and finding those
aspects that we see in the myths repre-
What is a
Witch?
Wise,
Intelligent,
Teaching,
Caring,
What do you see as the externalised roles of the Feminine and
Masculine principles in society?
The difference between the masculine perspective of government and
the feminine perspective is that a feminine government is directly concerned
with the needs of its community and a
masculine government is concerned
with acquisition and hierarchy - a very
different focus.
As long as there are people on the
planet, we have to be concerned with
their well-being and that Is why It Is
absolutely critical that we regain the
feminine perspective--so that we can
take care of those of us who are here
(and I mean the greater us, animals,
plantlife, etc.--notjust humans) In the
most practical way possible, without
destroying ourselves or making the
planet uninhabitable for us and for our
descendants. X
Jessica North is a Mother. Shamwt, Priestess and Educatnr with a
Healer
practical background inJungiwt psychology, astrology, numerology,
Tarot, symbol.ogy, dreamwork, mythology, music wtd Ritual. She is a
published author, founder of
sented as aspects within oneself. This
is how we become awakened to our
paths as well as our potential.
From a more political perspective,
I think that societally we have lived
with a masculine standard and values
for so long that we tend to devalue the
feminine perspective, the feminine ways
and the feminine gifts. It has become
very important for us to re-evaluate
those aspects simply because if there
are no "women," (if we continue to
elevate the masculine perspective and
standard above the feminine), there
are no people. Bottom line.
Ifthereareno"women," a lot ofthe
gifts or developments of civilization in
its best sense, which we now know are
primarily the works of women-oriented
• Witchcraft
cultures, would be lost and the world
would suffer tremendously. Women
developed many skills because of our
biological need to take care ofour young
and also to meet the needs and demands of our communities.
WildCraft School for Universal Mystery Traditions and a founding
Priestess of The Thirteenth House
Mystery School. She currently
teaches Ritual Dwtce and Movement
in Victoria, British Columbia, wtd is
availablefor workshops, lectures and
presentations.
•
21
Hecate's Loom No. 30
THE MAGIC OF TAROT
An interview with Alison Skelton
by Michela Scheuerman
Alson Skelton has a Bachelor's
Degree in Visual Arts and works as a
mixed media printmaker and painter.
She has performance experience in singing, acting and dance. Alison has been
studying and practicing the
magical arts for 19 years.
She is afounding Priestess of
the Thirteenth House Mystery School She encourages
selfunderstanding and creative expression through Tarot,
Colour Therapy, and ritual
cards, as well, when I was a child at
home. I recall somebody drawing the
Death card, and I remember being
quite taken aback by the sight of the
grim reaper; it was quite graphic.
When did you become
interested in pursuing a
study of the Tarot?
About nineteen years
ago. I started studying by
myself with a small RiderWaite deck, doing practice
readings with the aid of a
book, for my friends . Later I
studied, in a casual, ongoing
class, with Jean Kozocari.
There I studied magic in general. which made me realize
that the study of the Tarot is
not an isolated pursuit, but
connected to all other magical work. I also did a little
work with a friend who was
interested in the Cabala, so I
got a bit of a slant on that too,
at quite an early age.
Did you feel an immediate affinity with this
method of divination when
compared to others, like
the Runes or Astrology?
I felt a definite pull towards the Tarot because I am very
visually oriented. I had seen Tarot
Photo by Linda Gibb
My creative bent has always been
very visual, and I have made art since
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22
•
I was very young. I would sit on my own
and make art rather than being with
other people, and it was my escape and
my means of expression in a situation
where I was often told to be quiet. My
quietactivitywould be to draw.
so I was very attracted to symbols and to pictures. I don't
think that, at that age, I had
really explored runes and astrology, but for me astrology,
as an invisible, intellectualconstruct, is very abstract. If I
can't see it, to me it is very
abstract.
As an artist would you
say that Tarot interpretation
is more of a technical or
artistic craft?
Oh, well, I think it is both:
it is partly technical because
when I think of technical I think
of technique, and technique is
a very personal thing. Something that I've learned as an
artist is that it is very important to have a good grounding
in technique, and then one
can take off from there , one
can abstract.
As with drawing--one
needs to learn life-drawing as
a technique, or in print-making, one needs to know the
technique, and then one can
start breaking the rules. You
can start putting your own interpretation into it, and get
more personal.
I think it is the same with
the Tarot. There are basic archetypal meanings there, but the way
that you interpret those archetypes or
Hecate's Loom No. 30
those symbols (once you know the
basic structure), can be quite personal.
There Is a vast store of symbols, or
Interpretation of symbols, available to
us, and sometimes the symbols may
mean something to us, subconsciously,
that Is not necessarily universal. But it
is no less valid, because it's us reading
the cards, not an abstract "them" who
makes the rules.
There is a structure and there is a
technique, and there is a basic pattern
and archetypal meaning, but beyond
that I think that It Is more Important to
find the meaning that "sings" to you.
As far as Tarot interpretation beIng an artistic craft: it certainly is.
There are different visual languages for
different cultures and different psyches. That's why It is nice that there are
so many decks out there, so that you
can find one which really speaks to
you ... these cards (the Rider-Waite deck)
I have been using for nineteen years,
they have a lot of energy In them.
Do you prefer specific decks,
and why?
It depends on my mood; it depends on what kind of a reading I'm
doing. Sometimes I'll even use more
than one deck In one reading. Sometimes I'll use Just the Major Arcana of
one deck, and then I use the full deck
of another kind, depending on how indepth the reading needs to be.
Sometimes I'll get the querent (the
person for whom I am doing the reading) to pull out a card from the Major
Arcana of one deck, and that will be
their Signiflcator, and then I'll do the
rest of the reading from another full
deck in case that card needs to come
up again--and sometimes it does. It
has an energy about it that needs to
come up again. It works for me.
The whole art of the Tarot is finding a way for it to express your own way
ofbeing, your own way of doing, or your
way of healing, or your way of understanding the world. If it is not coming
from you then it remains a structure,
not an interpretation.
On what magical principles does
the Tarot operate? For example, you
seem to agree on the influence of
archetypes and the collective unconscious, that there are symbols
meant to draw knowledge from inside of us ...
Yes I think so, but I also believe
that there is going to be an individual
and personal approach, because there
is an individual and personal unconscious, as well as a collective one. Some
decks out there are pretty abstract,
and although they may speak differently to different people, the basic
meaning is the same.
Intent is very important; be very
clear (you the reader) before you start
the reading, that you know precisely
what the structure of the reading is
going to be, what information you are
trying to access, and that you are very
clear about what the cards mean to
you, before you start.
Would you say that there is an
alchemy happening between the
reader and the querent in the interpretation of the cards?
The whole
art of the
Tarot is finding a way for
it to express
yourown
way of being,
yourown
way of doing
Oh, the process of interpretation
is definitely an alchemic one.
What advice would you give to
the beginner student of the Tarot;
many people are interested, but do
you think that there has to be a
vocation?
I don't think that there has to be a
vocation. I think that anybody can
learn to read the cards if they have the
desire to do so, and I think the most
important thing, as I said before, is to
get a good grounding in the basic symbols ofthedeck(s) that you have chosen
• Witchcraft
and be clear that the deck(s) you have
chosen be the right one(s). Learn as
much as you can, but don't rely on
books only.
I find that I always learn best from
doing, from experiencing, and verbalizing, learning while being taught by a
person, rather than from a book.
After you learn to be comfortable
with the basic symbols, then you can
start doing meditations, letting your
mind go with the principles and ideas,
and letting concepts expand and
expand .... The symbols in the Tarot are
almostinfinitely expandable to encompass all sorts of ideas and concepts
which may not be immediately visible
or apparent In the text of a book.
We know that the cards don't
actually predict the future: what do
they do, exactly?
They show dynamics at work in a
person's life, and whatis likely to be the
outcome of a situation if one is willing
to implement the changes expressed
by the cards. Sometimes a reading will
just confirm that the querent is already
on the right path of action, and to
continue on it.
Do you find doing a reading
psychically enhancing or draining?
It all depends on the reading. It is
draining when someone is "stuck" on
an issue, or if they are not willing to
actualize changes to improve their situation. It is the querent's responsibility
to make the changes.
Does your intuition play a great
role in the reading's interpretation?
Yes. Often I make a psychic contact with the person that I am reading
for, and sometimes I'll get bodily symptoms which will give me an indication of
what the querent's energy is like, or
about their mood or state of mind. It is
also important for one, as the reader, to
know oneself, and to learn to separate
one's own issues from those of the
querent.
If I am in a particular state of
mind, I won't do a reading. To know
oneself is what life is all about; the
reason why we are all here.
Are there Tarot meditation techniques?
You can incorporate the Tarot into
many kinds of meditations, or you can
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23
Hecate's Loom No. 30
do guided visualization, which is one of
the things I teach my students In my
Tarot class.
I don't consider
the cards to be
good or bad; they
are what they are.
For instance, take the card of the
Fool: the guided visualization begins
with inviting the student to mentally
enter the card while imagining that
they were entering an egg shell, and to
'see' what it is like inside the egg, and
what it is like to break out of the shell.
They are encouraged to describe their
surroundings, the colours, the textures
and to gather as much tactile experience as possible, and to go on the
Journey of the Fool, perhaps with the
aid of an animal guide, over the cliff, to
fall and explore the place where they
land. It's all about risk-taking and trust
You can learn a lot about the intrinsic
energy of a card by doing that; you
enter into the archetype and make it
yours.
Do you do these meditations
with the Major Arcana cards only?
Yes. most of what 1 am talking
about is related to the Major Arcana.
The Minor Arcana are interesting in
themselves, but they do not hold for me
as much richness of archetypal meaning as the Major Arcana do. The Minor
Arcana are very elemental cards.
Do you have any suggestions
for daily meditations with the Tarot?
What might be interesting would
be to start with a card and self-motivated visualization, entering the card
and seeing where it leads. Another
approach in visualization is to start
exploring from a safe place, into the
card, then into its meaning.
For example, in a meditation involving the card of Strength, one may
begin by envisioning oneself in a safe
place; a room, with its own decor, sym-
bols and atmosphere. Then introduce
a lion into the room, and choose the
interaction. Are you the lion? Are you
going to play with the lion or open its
Jaws? Whatever the choice, the memory
of the experience is going to be stored in
the subconscious, and made available
when needed.
When, in your opinion, is it
almost necessary that a person have
the Tarot cards read?
When one feels one has lost touch
with the Self, because that is a very
frightening place to be, and even dangerous.
Other times are when one Is grieving, or in despair, even just depressed,
or confused, or having a crisis of faith
and clarification is needed. The Chakra
reading is particularly effective in pointing out the cause and nature of a
depression, for example, and to provide a reason for the experience at a
spiritual level, which can be quite reassuring. This layout is also very
body-oriented, and is one that I am
very comfortable with.
You can do a readingwithjust the
Major Arcana, or all the cards, and it is
a very expandable kind of a reading. I
read the seven cards from the bottom
to the top in a straight line.
I never read Major Arcana cards
in reverse; generally I look at a card,
and I feel that if reversed , it does not
indicate negativity, but a transformation.
I don't consider the cards to be
good or bad; they are what they are.
With the Chakra layout you can do
cross-family readings, with seven cards
per each member of the family, and
look at the interaction of different wills
and situations.
Can you cast spells with the
Tarot, and can you suggest a few
easy ones which a person could incorporate into everyday life
situations?
There are a couple of simple ones;
one suggestion would be to carry a
certain card into a pouch around the
neck as a talisman. The card depends
on the purpose; for example, a pregnant woman close to delivery, might
want to carry in the pouch the card of
the Empress, which would make the
birthing a loving experience, as opposed, for example, to carrying the
• Witchcraft
24
•
card of the Tower, which would bring
about a violent, sudden cathartic kind
of birthing which may not necessarily
be what one wants ....
The other suggestion involves doingalittleritual using the five elements,
which would be set up around a specific requirement or dynamic that you
may want to establish in your life. You
mightdothatonanaltar, bysettingthe
cards with the symbols of the four
directions, and corresponding coloured
candles, first.
For example, for an artist looking
for inspiration, the colours of the candles might be green to reflect creativity
rather than to correspond to the elements. I would add the tools of the
trade; if one paints, a canvas with
brushes and splashes of colour would
be appropriate. Use your imagination.
As for the four directions, starting
with the EAST (Air), I would place the
card of the WVERS , corresponding to
the astrological sign of Gemini, which
embodies communication and the relationship between the subconscious
and the spirit, expressed to the conscious mind.
In the SOUTH (Fire) , I would place
the card ofTEMPERANCE, which Is an
alchemical and motivational card,
meaning that it takes the elements and
moves them around , transforming
them.
In the WEST (Water) , the place of
the subconscious, one might want to
place the card of the EMPRESS for its
Venusian qualities of love, nurturing,
and giver of life.
In the NORTH (Earth) , the place of
manifestation and magic, of arts and
composition, the card of the SUN , or
that of the WORLD , are effective to get
something finished. That of the DEVIL
would be geared towards practical and
monetary gains.
In the CENTRE CThe Spirit), the
card of the STAR will provide spiritual
inspiration. This is the place in which
the magic is created by the interaction
of the spirit with the four elements. X
Alison Skelton lives in Victoria
and teaches Tarot classes on an
ongoing basis. Classes on the Minor
Arcana will be offered this winter.
Forfurther information, please contact Alison at (604)380-14 79.
Hecate's Loom N,o. 30
, pen and ink b y D en1se
• Cornwell
"The Oak and the Stones"
Witchcraft
25
Hecate's Loom No. 30
Astronomical ·Sources of the
Pagan Nevv Year
[Excerpt from A New PhUosophy of
Witchcraft and RJtual Practice
by Yvonne Owens]
I
n the ancient world, from Neolithic
times up until the dawn of the Christian era, ceremonial, astronomical
calendars were used to determine auspicious times for ritual observances
and collective activities. Agriculturally, they served to determine correct
times for planting and harvesting. Little distinction was made between ritual,
ceremonial festival and mundane
events, as all endeavor was considered
part of the sacred round of life.
The original standard for daily
and seasonal time-keeping was the
lunar cycle. The first calendars, in
cultures all over the world, were mooncalendars. The reasons for this are
obvious; thetrajectoryofthesunacross
the sky is difficult to determine, but the
shape of the moon changes nightly as
it waxes and wanes.
Ancient
Sumerians, Babylonian, Hebrew and
Canaanite calendars counted nights
(as starting from sunset), not day, for
nights are when the moon is visible.
Our modem word, "month," means
"moon," and is a vestige of this system.
Indigenous European cultures left
behind visual records of their lunar
calendars in the form of pictographs,
carvings and cave paintings. The prehistoric artifact misnamed "Baton de
Commencement" is one such. This is
the long bone of a large grazing animal
with the fourteen days oflunarwaxing
and fourteen days of waning clearly
rendered along its length. As such, it
far more clearly resembles a menstrual
calendar than a chieftain's power fetish.
Hollywood "Indians"whospeakof
"many moons" are only partly exaggerated, as time was measured in lunar
cycles by the aboriginal peoples ofNorth
America as well as those of Europe.
Islamic and Judaic custom still calculates sacred days and festivals by means
of lunar calendars. Christendom, on
the other hand, observes a strictly solar
system
of values
and
time-calculation in all but one respect;
the Vatican determines the date of
Easter by calculating the first Sunday
after the first full moon after Spring
Equinox each year.
Pagan England divided the year
into a "light" half and a "dark" half. The
Light half was ruled by the Goddess
and thedarkhalfbytheGod. Later, the
Oak King ruled the light portion of the
year, while the Holly King was thought
to preside over. the dark half. The
change-over points were at Beltain and
Samhain --which we now observe on
the eve of May and the eve ofNovember.
Samhain (pronounced "Sow-ain"}
was the ancient Celtic final harvest
festival. It was the time of winnowing
and the beginning of winter. It also
marked the Pagan New Year. Samhain
later came to be called "Hallow Eve," f
or Hallow'een. Originally, Samhain was
timed for the first, last-quarter moon to
occur after the Autumn Equinox. For
witches, Samhain still marks the start
of the New Year.
The lunar calendar consists of
thirteen, 28-day "months," with one
day left over. Thirteen 28-day months
add up to 364 days, and the extra day
synchronizes the lunar year with the
365-day solar cycle. The "Year and a
• Witchcrafi
26
•
Day" still the customary period of time
for contractual agreements, apprenticeships, and other initiatory trials in
Scottish, Welsh and Irish folk traditions.
The "Year and a Day" shows up in
folk and fairy tales as the period of
heroic journeying - the spiritual or
magical testing that proves the
shamanic ability of the heroine or hero.
What most people don't realize, even
folklorists, is that this is a remnant of
the lunar calendar of pre-Christian
Europe.
The imperial, "Solar" philosophy
of the early, Roman Church demonized
lunar values and customs, including
the very number, "13." The reason
some skyscrapers built in the midtwentieth century don't have a
thirteenth floor reflects this bias, now
degraded to superstition. The number
itself is thought to be "unlucky," or
even "evil."
The real reason for its defamation, however, is that "thirteen" is the
sacred number of the lunar, matricist
belief-system of earth-based, Goddess
religions. This type of world-view predominated in Europe for perhaps as
long as thirty thousand years before
the advent of patriarchal ideologies.
While Witches' covens are thought
to consist of thirteen Witches, this really reflects a vestige of the system of
observing thirteen lunations, each of
which also signified a tree of the preChristian "Sacred Groves" of some
cultures
Trees were holy to the ancient
Celts, and to the indigenous peoples of
Hecate's Loom No. 30
Europe who preceded them. In the
"Ogham" script in use in pre-Roman
Europe (adapted to magical use by the
Druids and other shamanic orders) all
of the consonants connote a month of
the "Sacred Wheel," or lunar year. Each
month also correlates to a tree of the
Sacred Grove On two instances, to two
trees -Apple and Blackthorn each share
months with Hazel and Elder), and to
its planetary "ruler" and divinity.
For instance, the Ogham letter,
"Fearn," means "Alder." Alder-tree and
alder-month are both associated with
the totemic, clan ancestors of ancient
Britons, Bran and Branwen, Celtic divine siblings. "Bran" also means "Alder."
Alder month occurs in the tnfluenceofthe "Saturn-ruled" constellation,
"Capricorn," whose most ancient
(Babylonian or "Chaldean") form was
the sea-beast or horned dragon, along
the lines of the "Leviathan" of Hebraic
lore, Tiamat of ancient Mesopotamia,
and the Loch Ness Monster or "Ogopogo" of today . Classical Greek
mythologists translated his features
into the homed beast they were most
familiar with, that being the goat, and
gave him a fish's tail to account for his
aquatic dimensions.
Bran's archetype is related to the
"Pendragon," or "Head of the Dragon,"
the head being the "chief' and the
DragonbeingthetribesofWales. Uther,
Artur, or Arthursigntfythe "Little Bear,"
the constellation (Ursa Minor) which
leads Draco (the Dragon) in its rotation
around the celestial hub , clearly visible
in winters skies.
Bran's magically decapitated head
was thought to protect Britain from
invasion from the East, and its disinterment by Arthur was thoughtto have
permitted the Norman Invasion. The
Dragon is the heraldic beast of Wales ,
and signifies the magical lineage of
Bran and Branwen, who are also symbolized by the totemic birds, Raven
(also Crow and Rook) , Kingfisher, and
Starling, all of them "underworld" messengers.
The classical Greek (correlative) is
Cronos, who is said to be "sleeping in
the Western Isle with his companions, "
dreaming the world into being - the
"Western Isle" being Britain. The Tower
ofLondon still houses Ravens, to serve
as the protective, totemic presence of
Bran. Recently, one of them was at-
tacked and killed by a police dog. The
stewards of the realm made sure that
the dead raven was replaced immediately so as to maintain the Tower's full,
protective complement of ravens.
Bran's month of Alder, or "Fearn,"
is the third month of the archaic Celtic
lunar year and the first month of the
later Celtic solar year. It commences
after the Winter's Solstice, within a few
days of where the Christian world celebrates New Year's and begins January.
The current, Christianised custom of
marking the "new year" at the point
when the sun returns from its nadir in
the Northern Hemisphere (at the solstice) reflects the solarization of
European culture by Roman occupation. Pre-Romanized Europe marked
the new year at the festival ofSamhain.
'These cycles colwded with the lunar,
or "men-strual"
(meaning "moonway") fertility cycles
of women, and
women, as ''gatherers," were the
natural inventors of
agriculture.
All Hallow's Eve (Hallow'een) is the
eve of the first month of the lunar year
of trees, which is "Beith ," or Birch
month. Astronimical calculations could
have been behind the building of those
megalithic structures and stone circles
which function as solar clocks, such as
Stonehenge and Newgrange. This implies that such knowledge was not
then esoteric, but a practical means of
determining appropriate timing within
the agricultural cycle.
M. Esther Harding, in Women's
Mysteries, underscores that Samhain
was theantiqueBriton'sNewYear,and
that it constituted their primary festival as the advent of winter by the lunar
system.
"Hallow's Eve" actually means
"Sacred Eve." The festivals meaning is
• Witchcraft
roughly equivalent to "All Saint's Day,"
"All Soul's Day," and'the Mexican "Day
of the Dead." (Dia de los Muertos) All of
these sacred festivals commemorate
ancestors, or "those spirits who have
gone before," and all are celebrated
within the same time-frame.
The names, "Hallow's Eve" or
"Hallow'een," also make reference to
the "Thirteen Hallows of Britain" which
Arthur undertook to claim from the
"Fisher King" of the "Underworld," or
"Anwynn." The Fisher King is a later
version of Bran, as portrayed in the
Medieval Romances.
The "Hallows" are seen to descend
into the underworld at Hallow's Eve.
Arthur (the Sun King) makes a descent
into the underworld in order to reclaim
them and bring them back to the world
above (our world). This symbolizes the
renewal of the land at the advent of the
sun's return after the winter's solstice.
He does so under the tutelage and
auspices of Merlin, said to have been
fathered by a Dragon, and really just
another version of Saturn/Bran/
Capricomus. The entire tableau represents the rebirth of the sun (Arthur,
and life itself, in the form of Spring)
from its nadir at the darkest time of the
year.
The constellation of the Pleiades
sets below the horizon at Hallow's Eve.
The "Seven Sisters" and their "Nine
Priestesses" (or Muses) are prominent
in the Celtic lore of the lunar year. The
rising and setting of the Pleiades, starting with All Hallows , marked the
sequence of the agricultural year. The
fertility cycle was measured by placement of the lunations against the
celestial map, for purposes of winnowing, fallow periods, planting, and
harvesting. Colleges ofPriestesses were
the first agrarians - concerned with the
conservation, storage, fertilization, and
planting of seed grain. These cycles
colluded with the lunar, or "men-strual"
(meaning "moon-way") fertility cycles
of women, and women, as "gatherers,"
were the natural inventors of agriculture.
Though New Age hype claims all
manner of Pleiadean, extraterrestrial
interventions for an apocalyptic "age of
Aquarius," the true reason for Pleiadean
Mysteries is quite a bit more practical
and mundane, while being simultaneously "divinely" inspired. The shapes
•
27
Hecate's Loom No. 30
and patterns of the moon's transformations against the Celestial Hub gives
us a model for seasonal cycles of fertility, both physical and poetical, while at
the same time reflecting greater, "astral," resonances.
Ancient, agricultural Temple complexes realized divine harmonies by
actualizing their patterns within the
lunar wheel of the year. "As above, so
below" takes on new meaning within
the "Chop wood, carry water" application of Cosmic patterns and principles.
The movements of the moon and stars
In the heavens were the original
tlmeclock for a natural, magically and
practically empowered life, for far many
more years than a solar clock has
serves as such.
The solar events, the solstices of
winter and summer, and the equinoxes of spring and fall , are four of the
sacred festivals of the Celtic Wheel of
the Year. The astral events (festivals In
observance of the movements of the
Pleiadean cluster, the Pole Star, Venus, Ursa Major, ursa Minor and
Canopls, among other constellations)
make up the other four, constituting
an eight-spoked year wheel. These are
the festivals we know as the Fire Holidays: Samhain (or "Halloween"),
Imbolc, Beltaine, and Lammas (or
"Lughnassa").
The eight points around the wheel
are often symbolized In the Image of the
Cosmic Spider In her web, similar to
Mother Maya - the spinner/ creatrtx of
temporal reality, or time/ space. She Is
also called "Mother of Time," the
"Weaver," or the "Virgin Crone." She is
the origin of Athena, Anathena, Ana th,
Anat, Metis, Neith, and the thirteenth
fairy In "Sleeping Beauty." As such,
she caused the heroine to prick herself
on a Crone's spinning wheel and fall
into the illusory "sleep" of a mundane
(un-"magical" or non-sacred) experience of the physical world.
Maya Is called the "Mother of Illusion" because her creation, the temporal
world, can appear to the uninitiated to
be more "real" than the dance of energy
that produces It. We now interpret this
"scientifically" In the formula, e=mc2,
Matter Is postulated to be the result of
Interference patterns of mobile, energetic wave-forms, the warp and the
weave of Maya's loom, or web.
Maya, as the Spider, Is the totem
and divinity of the lunar tree-month,
Ivy (or "Gort"), within the Influence of bittersweet occasion. There Is a poignthe constellation "Virgo." Ivy has the ancy about It, as well as a healthy,
ancient Celtic significance of"the Self, " Irreverent Jollity that Is best seen In the
and Its symbol is the spiral. We, too , attitude of Mexico's "Day of the Dead. "
are considered (In this belief system) to On this occasion, the spirits of the
each contain the sum of cosmic reso- dead are affectionately mocked, and
nance possibilities within us, and to remembered with celebratory meals
hereby be "made" In divinity's Image. consisting of the favorite foods of the
The DNA spiral, the spiral shape In departed souls. "Offrendes ," or offerwhich Ivy grows, the spiral of time, and tory shrines for the deceased, are
the spiral form of galaxies are seen to constructed.
be one, great, universal harmonic, and
Upontheoffrendealtarareplaced
the individual life simply a variation on mementos, photographs, objects beloved by the deceased, and food
the theme.
As the lunar year of tree-months offerings. Candles are lit and , most
progresses toward Its end, we enter the Importantly, those who are no longer
Autumnal phase. After Ivy come Reed- within a mortal life are given the gesmonth (or "Ngetal, " pronounced ture of remembrance - Important for
"Ing-tal," named for the god, "Ing," and us to do and , one must suppose, for
the Nordic Rune, "Ingwaz," meaning them to see - at least the part of them
the spiral Inward to the core of Self, that lives on in us. More than anything
signifyingpenetrationofUniversal con- else, at Hallow's Eve we give ourselves
sciousness) and the thirteenth month, messages of continuity, transformaElder (or "Ruis, " cognate with Runic, tion, and resurrection - the true
"Raido," signifying "Sun's Journey," significance of adopting new personae, or "masks."
soul's Journey, or migration).
Birch month begins the New Year
Myths surrounding Elder are
many, including the idea that Witches occurring in the Influence of Scorpio,
live In them. Folkloric belief postulates with significances of mystical death ,
that It represents the height of folly to resurrection and rebirth. The ancient
chop down an Elder without Its per- world's symbol for the constellation of
mission, as the tree may curse such an Scorpio was the hieroglyph for "snake,"
Inconsiderate harvester with cata- who sheds her skin and is regenerated. As the starting of the dark part of
strophic luck for years to come.
The magical significance of Elder the year, Samhain starts off Birch
tree and Elder month is Death/ rebirth. month with the"darkeningofthelight,"
The soul is seen to be a migratory bird, a turning within to conserve energy for
a crane, heron or Ibis, symbolic of the winter, the beginning of hermetic withtransmigration of the soul through life, drawal and introspection. Earth's
lifetimes, and realms of the spirit. Ideas energies draw deep within, in order to
of reincarnation, ·and the Crane who re-emerge, renewed, in Spring.The
augurs a birth or a death, typify the Birch is a supple, youthful, slender
character of this tree-month. Elder tree, which stands In the forest like the
occurs In the Influence of Libra, whose Image of renewal. Other images apearly form was "Maat," the Egyptian propriate for Birch month are the eagle
deity of Justice, who weighed the de- or Phoenix, significant of new life rising
parted soul against an Ibis feather to out of the ashes of the old. X
gauge its burden, or "Weight."
The "Day," at the close of the Year
and a Day, is Samhain, or "Hallow's
Eve." The departed spirits are acknowledged and thanked for their
Yvonne Owens is a writer,
contributions during life. They are
musician, cul11.1ral theorist, and art
seen to still be present, within our
critic. She is the author ojThe Cup
ancestral and genetic memories, and
ofMariAnu (Horned Owl), andcohonoured as an ongoing part of the
authorojTheWitch'sBookofDays
collective and personal self. At the
(BeachHolme). Yvonne has consame time, whatever Is obsolete, retributed to Hecate's Loomfor many
gressive or outgrown Is composted years , and now serves as Publishreleased to be transformed Into new
ing Editor.
expressions of life. Hallow's Eve Is a
• Witchcraft
28
•
Hecate's Loom No. 30
The Kintail Witches
By Shelley Boettcher
as told by Rod Gillies
Illustration by Randie
M
grandmother's family came
from the Highlands of Scotland, where
many of them still live. Roddie.first told
this story to me when I was a little girl.
This August, I returned to Scotland and
visited him again. He is in his late
eighttes now, but sttll fell of stories
about magic, faeries, witches and
healers.
Approaching the beginning of the
lastcentury(Ican'tremembertheyear),
Donald McRae, ofthevillageofGlenshire
on the shore of Loch Druich, was out
fishing. A terrible storm blew up, and
the bow of his boat was badly damaged.
It became necessary to go ashore and
find a perfectly shaped piece of wood to
repair it.
He went to the forest on the west
side of the loch. Shortly upon entering
the woods, a thick fog suddenly settled
down, and Donald McRae could not
find his way out.
The day passed quickly and it
became night. Finally he spied a light
from a cottage window in the distance.
He walked toward it and knocked on
the door. In his years of living in this
district, he had never seen this dwelling
before. A strange old woman answered
the knock.
He explained that he had become
lost in the fog while searching for the
perfect piece of
wood to repair
his boat. She
listened to his
story and then
drew him into the
house. Here, she
showed him to
two other old
women, whom
she introduced
as
her sisters.
Feil
They fed
him and gave
him ale for his thirst. Finally, very late,
they suggested that he spend the night
in their cottage, as the fog had not
cleared. Donald accepted their offer.
Some time later, the bedroom door
opened and in crept the first old woman
that he had met. She peered thoroughly
at Donald, who carefully pretended to
be asleep. After reassuring herself that
he was not awake, she opened a trunk
at the foot of the bed. Inside was a red
hat that she placed on her head. She
then announced in a loud
voice, "London far off', and immediately
disappeared. One after another, as the
night progressed, the other two sisters
entered the room, repeated her actions,
and vanished into the night.
The incident intrigued Donald.
After the third sister disappeared, he
rose from the bed and looked in the
chest. Inside, he found another red
cap. He quickly dressed himself, then
put the last red hat on his head and
repeated, "London far off', Just as they
had done. He felt as though his body
was being torn apart, but within
minutes, he found himself wandering
on the Strand in London.
He began to walk. After awhile, he
came across a small pub. Looking in
the window, he spied the three old
women seated at a table eating. He
• Witchcraft
entered the room and sat down with
them. They ordered him a meal, which
he ate and then thanked them. Curious
at his surroundings, his eyes wandered
around to the many different people
who were seated at the other tables
around him.
Soon, the waitress approached
and handed him the bill, but Donald
had no money in his pockets. Startled,
he looked around to give it to the old
women, but they had once again
disappeared. Without any money,
Donald was in trouble, and the police
werequicklysummoned. He was taken
into custody and charged with having
a meal without intention of paying.
When he told his strange story, he
was charged with being a male witch.
At this time in history, the penalty for
such a charge was death by hanging.
Donald was tried, found guilty, and
sentenced to death.
On the day of his execution, he
was taken to the place of hanging and
the noose was tied around his neck.
The executioner approached him and
asked ifhe had one last wish. He said
he would like to wear the little red hat
onemoretime. Theexecutioneragreed,
and the cap was placed on Donald's
head.
Withoutwastlnganothermoment,
Donald called,"Kintail far off', and
vanished. Once again, his body felt as
though it was being torn into pieces,
but he awakened in his own wee cottage.
The hangman's rope was still around
his neck, and attached to it was the top
crosspiece of the hanging stand. It was
the very shape of wood that he needed
to repair his boat.
Though he searched the nearby
glen many times after that, Donald
never saw the three Kinta!! witches
again. I have been told that Donald was
a relation of my mother's brother. X
•
29
Hecate's Loom No. 30
La Toussaint:
All Saints' Day
by Josee Lafreniere
Wchcrqftts a religion that grows
out of the interaction of human beings
and their environment. The Sabbats
we celebrate are the milestones in the
year's cycles, and come to us from
ancient cultures based on agriculture.
Today, I identify myself as a Witch, even
though I live in a city and have only
plants and herbs that grow in my apartment window to keep me in touch with
nature's rhythm. And now, there are
othermilestonesintheyearthatlchoose
to celebrate in my practice of the Craft.
La Toussaint, for example, has become
a yearly tradition that incorporates my
cultural past with my current pagan
beliefs.
La Toussaint is French for All
Saints' Day and is observed in the
Catholic church, wWch was the church
of my parents and their ancestors for
many generations. I am French Canadian. Historically, Catholicism has been
a major influence on French Canadian
culture, responsible for such features
as large tribe-like families , and strong
community ties thatdeveloped to shield
the minority French culture against
English assimilation.
I eventually rejected the traditional
Catholic values I was raised with and
then became involved with Wicca, wWch
I found to have a positive attitude to life,
women and self-growth. But my involvement with Wicca distanced me
from my family and their traditional
celebrations of the year and with time,
I found that I missed many of the
nurturing aspects of my family's life
and culture.
I decided I wanted to share some
of my celebrations of the year with my
family and friends who are not pagans, and I wanted again to share in
the aspects ofmy culture that I enjoy,
and which tend to manifest themselves best during the shared
celebrations of the year. This was not
an easy realization, for it entailed reevaluation of my priorities and deciding
to accept some compromises.
At that time, I came across literature on Voodoo. It made sense to me,
tWs pagan religion integrated into Catholicism, or was given a facade, if you
prefer. I recognized in it certain shared
elements with my family's version of
Catholicism, especially the cult of the
dead.
The Catholicism practiced by my
ancestors, is full of worship of saints,
who behave like gods and goddesses,
or archetypes. It also contains the
belief in the continued presence of the
dead, and rituals of healing and -dare
I say - magic.
My grandmother tells me that
when women of her generation gave
birth, they chewed on images of St.
Anne during labour, St. Anne being
the appropriate saint to contact in that
particular situation.
My mother still speaks to her
father who died almost thirty years
ago and she is certain that he hears
her and speaks to her as well, by signs ,
omens, and dreams. My mother's
father was a skilled healer, able to stop
the flow of blood with special incantations.
Because of these pagan remnants
in my family 's Catholicism , La
Toussaint was an ideal meeting point
between my faith and that of my family. When I was a child, La Toussaint,
on November 1 (and to a lesser extent
The Day of the Dead on November 2)
were observed and explained as the
day you prayed for the dead and the
repose of their souls.
It was also a day when they were
nearby and could hearyou more clearly
than usual. This knowledge of the
proximity of the dead filled me with
awe. Around Halloween, it didn't take
much to set my spine tingling, especially since my birthday is October 30.
I always felt a special affinity to this
time of year.
Today Samhain is my favourite
time of year. I try to secure a few days
off to celebrate the end of my age year,
• Witchcraft
30
•
and of the Wiccan year. As well, I
organize a feast for La Toussaint in
honour of the dead. I invite friends and
relatives. Everyone brings a dish that
is the favourite of a dead person they
love and admire. Everyone also brings
a symbol or picture of something or
someone they have lost in the past
year, or something they wish to let go
of. We name these things, talk about
the dead, have a moment of silence
where people can pray as they wish.
Then we eat.
ltis a simple ritual, one that brings
together different traditions, cultures
and individuals. Importantly for me, It
is a way of celebrating my beliefs with
non-pagan people who mean a lot to
me.
I believe it is a strength of pagan
religions that they are adaptable. I am
curious to know how others build
bridges back to other past societies
and welcome any dialogue on the
subject.X
Pagan Evolution
Growing Up:
The Odyssey of
Community-Building
by Anahita-Gula
I
n the realm of personal musings,
I find myself warmed with the realization that in some areas, Neo-Pagan
community is coming of age. Any
group will eventually find itself in a
point of crisis, where institutions will
either flourish or fail (anyone who has
watched the political machinations of
things like Science-Fiction Con committees , or Society for Creative
Anachronism (SCA) organizational
groups , has watched this in action).
With perseverance and an acceptance
that all of us are fallible and prone to
the mistakes of the flesh (like mislabelling personality conflicts as devious
political machinations), we can grow
beyond the name-calling and fingerpointing that all communities endure
at various points in their growth.
Hecate's Loom No. 30
From my Cross-Canada research
In the summer of 1990, I came up with
a few strong feelings about the NeoPagan landscape of Canada. Most
Importantly, If a community was large
enough to support one coven, It probably had three different practicing
Neo-Pagan groups (at a minimum). all
blissfully unaware of each other's existence. In just about every case, my
hunch was proven true.
I found that people join Neo-Paganism through the vehicle of other
interests. Those that enjoy fantasy
pas times (Role Playing Games, SCA,
Science Fiction/Fantasy) usually
drifted towards variations of what is
being called British Traditional Wicca
(e.g Gardneroid, as one friend of mine
coined the term). If the Interests were
more woman's issues (single-mother
rights, day care, poverty). the individual probably found him/herself
involved In Goddess-worship type
groups. If the focus of spirituality
emerged through health-food shops,
social activism (environmental issues),
and yoga or vegetarian diet groups, the
practitioner was often found In
Ecopagan groups.
It Is precisely because different
world-views are drawn to Neo-Pagan
practice, and because they find different groups to practice with, that we
keep finding "community" a difficult
exercise to achieve. Just because one
believes in the Goddess and/or the
God does not mean the practitioner is
ready to embrace others who may only
have that basic belief in common. We
see this clash every time a feminist
Goddess-worshipper comes to loggerheads with a British Traditionalist as to
what Wiccan is or is not.
Given that we Neo-Pagans are
coming from very disparate viewpoints
on what is and is not our belief system,
how do we create a community? Or for
that matter, is a sense of community
desirable?
I for one firmly believe that NeoPagans need a sense of having a
community. That community may not
always function as one would wish it to
(e.g. personality clashes and suchlike),
but at least it is there. There are times
In every grown person's life thats/he
needs someone to confide in, to ask
personal questions of, and to cry with.
It Is comforting to know there are oth-
ers "like" oneself-askanyNeo-Pagan
living in Isolation what It feels like to be
the only one. Being alone In a sea of
"non-believers" is a very scary thing.
Having grown up as a non-Christian in
a sea of Roman Catholics and Protestants as a child, I know that this feeling
of isolation can be overwhelming at
times.
It is so easy to "Pagan-bash," to
gossip, and to indulge in the destructive pastimes that so many of us learned
in our dysfunctional families of origin.
Why take responsibility for something
that may have been (atleastin part) our
fault when we can look for a scapegoat?
This Is not a healthy way to cope with
problems between individuals: it tears
down our community in a way that is
far more effective than what any antiPagan writer could ever achieve. When
Neo-Pagans show a divided front, contradicting each other in public forums
(e.g. tv interviews or on-campus debates), we achieve nothing but the
destruction of any image we might
have hoped to create as rational beings.
Groups split off from parentgroups, and that Is okay. Look at the
Gardnerian practice of"hiving off' new
covens - it is in part aimed at quelling
dissension in a coven by allowing those
who do not agree with their High Priestess' decisions to move on while still
preserving a modicum of peace between all parties. In Toronto, a group
of former Wiccan Church of Canada
priesthood moved on from thatlnstitution to form T.T.Wi.G. (Toronto Temple
of the Wiccan Grove), a new group with
very strong Odyssean similarities. This
sort of growth is healthy for our sense
of community when we can accept that
dissenting opinion Is one of the linchpins ofNeo-Pagan belief and should be
encouraged!
How does community occur? Often by consent of those who choose to
identify themselves as "within" that
community's boundaries. Some NeoPagans will always choose to be outside
those walls, whether due to personality
clashes with individuals, or because
they choose to keep silent about their
presence (truly Hidden Children of the
Goddess).
For those who choose to bond
togethertosupporteachother, whether
they practice their religion in the same
• Witchcraft
way or not, it is a hard task but worth
the effort. Wide definitions must be
established, and there Is always a need
to revise those definitions when new
needs arise. As Kerr Cuhulain says In
Hecate's Loom 25, "We're not a revealed religion .. . If we can recognize
the truths in each others' myths, then
we can all see that we have different
versions of the same thing. Then maybe
we'll all get along together." (p. 25)
As long as agreeing with another
will not compromise your sense of right
and wrong, as long as making peace
does less HARM to more people than
making a point In an argument ('An ye
harm none, do what ye will), then decide to say yes even If you do not
necessarily agree. Sometimes playing
peacemaker makes far more sense in
the long run than scoring points in a
personality clash or petty argument.
We do have differing viewpoints, different "baggage" from our families oforigin
and backgrounds, and we do clash. It
is when we learn to rise above the petty
squabbles and the minor thealogical
arguments, that we can weave a community: forcing and arguing and
institutionalizing a community will not
work. The word "community" comes
from common - when it is the will of
the common membership, then and
only then will community be forged.
Remember, there are thousands
of people from dissenting viewpoints
looking for ways to destroy Wicca and
Neo-Paganism. It has been tried time
and time again (the Burning Times is
not just a quaint fiction), and the last
thing we need is to hand them our
bleeding hearts on silver platters. No
matter how severe a personality clash
or thealogical clash we may suffer with
another Neo-Pagan, it Is doubtful It can
even hold a candle to what some of the
anti- cult propagandists would like to
serve up to us (or serve us up as?).
I am constantly warmed to watch
the Ottawa Neo-Pagan community as it
grows and flourishes. Because it Is
where I live, It Is the one I have watched
ever since Pashta Marymoon was
known as "the Witch of Ottawa," long
before occult supply stores had ever
heard of the city. The city has seen
many stresses come and go, personal1ty clashes, thealogical crises,
leadership questions, and so on. The
city has managed to bridge some of the
•
31
Hecate's Loom No. 30
Ws mike. It was intrusive and made it difficult to find the
energy flow.
But the sunrise is more powerful than small human
concerns. We chanted and drummed, cast a circle, and
stood together watching the sun rtse like a Phoenix from the
mystic Mother Ocean. It is a moment to carry us through
the coming cold of dark winter. When it was over, several of
us went for breakfast before going home to listen to what it
would sound like on radio.
The report itselfwas fine. Alison Butler had taken part,
had lived the expertence, and understood and reflected that
by Laurie Foster-MacLeod
understanding with professionalism and spirit.
But the host, Peter Gullage, didn'tgetitand didn't want
to get it. He kept interrupting Alison with cynical smirky
comments and questions. At one point he started singing a
Just following the Summer Solstice, I attended a
fragment of one of the chants and told the radio audience he
was standing up and doing the Spiral Dance. "Hey. I got it. Women's Weekend held at Gina Ellis ' farm at McDonald's
Corners, in the beautiful Ottawa Valley. It was the first of
I can do it!" he told the folks at home.
But as so often with people like that, the hostile host did what I hope will become an annual tradition. Pam Fletcher
Wmselfin without any help from anyone. Alison Butler kept planned it (she also is at the center of the organization of
saying things like "It was really a good expertence. It was "Minifest" held every August at Gina's farm} at a very
quite beautiful. " She answered his attempts at rtdiculewith reasonable cost, with catered food by Jane Gray, and lots of
honesty and simple truth. Instead of sounding clever and great things to do.
So - there we were - about 18 women, on a warm, sunny
sophisticated, Gullage was an embarrassment to himself
and to his local reputation as an incisive investigative June weekend, ready to share, relax and go wild! At the
opening rttual we created the Goddess in the sand with lots
journalist.
So what's to be learned? Ultimately it was a good of the Earth's (drted} bounty: rose petals, lavender, cornmeal,
experience. We made contact with several people who have lentils, shells, etc. She really was a lovely sight to see. Pam's
been working as solitaires, not knowing how to make idea was that She would grow and change over the weekend
contact in a place like tWs where there are no public Pagan as we added things to Her, and then be dispersed back to
gatherings. We shared something beautiful with those who nature at the weekend's closing rttual. However .... we hadn't
came, and we created a small presence in the public mind. accounted for the forest critters, who figured we'd set out
Another time it would be an idea
to spend more time grounding and
sharing energy, to counteract the
strangeness of the expertence that
was new to some, the strangeness of
sharing this with a lot of people we
don't know, and the strange energy of
knowing that two of the people were
not there prtvately... but were membersofthemedia .. .. aconduittomany
more thousands who will hear without experiencing.
The whole experience was much
like remembertng back to the very
first time I ever cast a circle, all by
myself as a solitary... a little scary,
very powerful, a little self-conscious
until I let go and started to understand the energy, the constant miracle that She is there, and She is
always there. Blessed be. X
News from the Ottawa
Valley - Summer 1995
(Drumwoman would like to know
others' experiences with holding public celebrations, especially if the media came.)
Clay Goddess workshop - Women's Weekend . MacDonald's Comer
• NEWS AND NETWORKING •
14
Hecate's Loom No. 30
gaps between the types ofNeo-Pagans
I mentioned earlier, although many of
the Goddess-worship groups still
choose to isolate themselves from the
general God/Goddess community at
large (and again I reiterate: it is their
choice and they must be honoured for
that choice).
I have heard stories of other cities
as well in Canada, and their struggles
with community-building. Some have
focussed on facilities on university campuses, others through women's
bookshops. Still others have tried to
communicate through more novel tools
such as computer bulletin boards
(bbs's) and e-mail.
Without a doubt, Neo-Pagans are
like other humans in this respect; we
crave a sense of belonging. Still viewed
as marginal to society and/or deviant
(in the sociological sense of deviance),
we need to Join forces within our own
groups in order to form a sense of
belonging.
Let us not put the cart before the
horse. Before we focus in on the differences between (for example) Gardnerian
and Alexandrian or Reclaiming, let us
look at that which makes us a family: a
community of worshippers of the Old
Ones. When we broaden our sense of
who is part of our community, we will
find the community itself will form
around us like a comfortable blanket.
And, as we create community, we will
be less the Hidden Children of the
Goddess and more the Hidden Family
of the Goddess.
As we are able to bury old differences and rejoice in our sense of
commonality, so we will move from
child to adolescent. Only then will the
institutions of Canada be able to view
us as a mature community of religious
worsWppers, instead of disorganized
squabbling individuals. X
Anahita Gula is a longtime member ofthe Craft community in Canada
and is well-known for her study of
Pagans in society. She is based in
Ottawa.
A Witch in a
Business Suit
by AnnLee
A
Witch in a business suit may
seem like a strange image, but it is
more common than one might think.
Witches are in all walks oflife. They are
doctors, lawyers, homemakers, police
officers, writers, herbalists, and members of every other occupation
imaginable.
.
I am a self-employed professional
woman in an essentially conservative
line ofwork, wWch shall remain nameless. I am also one of the founding
members of the Thirteenth House Mystery School tradition and part-owner of
two openly Pagan businesses. For
obvious reasons, I remain largely in the
broom closet as far as my profession is
concerned. Although I wish that it was
not the case, I am sure that my business would suffer if my involvement in
Witchcraft became known. There are
no overtly Pagan symbols in my office,
although my home is full of them.
There are times when the apparent contradiction between my
spirituality and my profession is difficult. I operate in a profession where I
deal with the power structure and bureaucracy. My personal opinions must
often be kept private, even when the
desire to speak my mind becomes overwhelming. It is, however, surprising
how many instances there are in which
my philosophy of life can be presented,
in somewhat couched terminology.
Because my involvement in the Craft
suffuses my entire life, it is impossible
not to sometimes let who I truly am
show.
It is sometimes difficult to deal
with knowing that! am not only outside
the power structure but, in many ways
may be a threat to it, while I am working
within and appear to be representing
the structure. I know that people look
at me and think me a conservative
middle-class person who is part of the
system. I know that the system needs
to be radically changed and that, essentially, I do not believe in it although
I do use it. Although I do not wear my
• Witchcraft
32
•
pentagram openly it is always part of
me.
In my business, as in the rest of
my life, I avoid doing anything which
would conflict with my beliefs. That
sometimes means that I tum away
work which I would not, in good conscience, do. Even though making a
living is important to me, I cannot do
anything which would be opposed to
what my heart and my soul tell me.
Whether it is because of who I am
or not, I am amazed by the number of
my clients who tell me that they have
consulted psychics, astrologers or tarot
card readers. Society is changing and
many of the Old Ways are again being
accepted as valid ways to look at the
modem world.
Eventually, I hope that there will
come a time when I can be open about
who I am. Christians and others can
openly wear the symbols of their faith.
I can wear only the subtler symbols of
mine. The world is changing but,
unfortunately, patience is required until
it has changed enough to accept that
some Witches wear business suits.z
Peeking out of the
Broom Closet
by Llnda Doerksen
Ae
you in the broom closet?
Have a look in mine ... The commu-
nity that I live in is relatively small,
especially compared to cities such as
Vancouver or Victoria. There's no anonymity here, though you may not know
everyone personally. For the most
part, I wear my pentagram hidden; of
course, its small size helps to make for
some subtlety.
Even as a child I have been a
pacifist. Is this improper in a Wiccan or
a Pagan? How does one stand up for
and represent one's beliefs without inviting conflict? Oris conflictnecessary?
Is it possible to create acceptance in
society simply by existing? Does a
larger population center reduce chance
of conflict, of censure? Wearing the
pentagram is certainly no guarantee
Hecate's Loom No. 30
that people will know who you are, or
what the symbol represents. If mine ts
seen, I answer any questions with, "It's
an ancient symbol of protection". I'm
obviously taking the easy way out, not
wanting to confront. or even encounter
fundamentalism. The fear ts still there.
There are still people who see the
pentagram as a symbol of Judaism (a
currently acceptable spiritual system).
And there seems to be a fad that has
people wearing the symbol without
knowing its metaphysical and spiritual connections. Many times I have
seen someone wearing the pentagram
and asked, "Where did you celebrate
the solstice?" Of course, getting a
blank look in return suggests they
have no idea of the connection of the
celebrations with Paganism. Yet, I
keep asking those questions on the off
chance that they may have beliefs similar to mine. X
Family Traditions
by Aidan Pan Arthur
Wienever I tell anybody that I'm a
Witch, theyeitherlaughandsay, "Yeah,
right! And I'm a vampire," or tum four
shades paler than they already are and
back up towards the closest exit. A
member of the long-established
Lysbethtan family tradition , I was "born
Into the Craft". My brother and sisters
are Witches, my parents are Witches,
my great-great ever-so-great grandparents were Witches, and I have
always been a Witch. Furthermore, I'll
always be a Witch. It's in my blood, as
surely as If I were a Gypsy or a Jew.
Conceived at a Wiccan rite, I was
born and brought up a witch. As a kid,
I was always allowed to attend the
sabbats and It didn't occur to me that
disclosing my heritage to my friends
might lead to my being considered an
outcast of society. But as I grew older
I discovered that Witches are not popular In Canadian society, and it was a
little difficult to figure out why I was an
outcast. We're basically good people.
Sure, there are some flakes who are
attracted to the Old Religion. Unfortunately, there are fanatics in every
religion, every cause, every profession.
Mercifully, however, there are few
Wiccan fanatics, and most of my pagan
friends are cool.
Why do Canadians freak out when
they figure that you're a Witch? It
seems you can belong to any religion
you choose In this country -- except
Wicca. And that's not fair.
My great-grandmother was a
Witch, as was her grandmother before
her. My grandmother didn't use the
word "Witch", nor would she have referred to herself as such; but people in
her native London, England who knew
of her Impatience with conventional
religion no doubt referred to her that
way. She initiated my father into the
Old Religion In 1966 when he was in
his early twenties, during her final trip
to Canada. The Old Religion Is rooted
in the aboriginal religion ofEngland, of
Europe, perhaps of all the world .
My parents tell me that I was
actually conceived on Samhain, or "Halloween" 1974, the most Important day
of the year for the Old Religion. Although I was "born into the Craft", the
first time I remember being Invited to a
Circle was in Alberta when I was 6. I
had a new floor-length gown, brown,
withahood , madeformebymymother.
My younger brother was 2 years old at
the time, and wore one of my father's Tshirts cinched with a cingulum for a
floor-length gown. My older sister had
a pretty, floor-length gown with split
sleeves and ribbons , and my mother
and father wore black gowns with red
lining (they also had purple ones for
other rites). My father wore a set of
antlers on his head as a symbol of the
Great Homed God.
My mother always led the rituals
in the Circle. I have always known her
to be a High Priestess, and she has
explained to me many times the Tools
of the Craft and the way they are used.
Today's Wiccan tools are very different
from those my great-grandmother
would have recognized. Gerald
Gardner, who my great-grandmother
knew but did not follow, borrowed from
a good many traditions In his description of Witchcraft, and following his
lead others have more-or-less "standardized" Witchcraft so that It has
become a widespread movement with
• Witchcraft
recognizable language, tools, rites and
rules. Our family tradition Is still quite
distinct from Gardnerian Witchcraft,
but for the sake of harmony and communication with the larger, burgeoning
Wiccan community, we have adopted
some Gardnerlan Icons.
Our tradition focuses more on
wands and besoms than on knives.
Although the athame Is recognized as
the most powerful of tools, the raised
finger will suffice for the Gardnerlan
black-handled knife or a coven sword.
Verbal evocation and salutation are
more Important than knives to welcome the positive spirit realm to the
Circle and to banish all negative forces.
Simtlarly, the white-handled knife Is a
Gardnerian addition to our tradition,
much more practical than a black dagger and very useful forwhtttlingwands.
We have also borrowed from Gardner
the accoutrements of the altarwhich In
our tradition Is always in the middle of
the circle. The "Book of Shadows" ,
alien to our own tradition, contains all
the secret rituals that my mother has
been collecting for many years. It Is
basically a ritual recipe book.
The altar Is illuminated by several
candles, a tall, white one In the middle,
two shorter blue ones on each side, and
a number of other candles of different
colours depending on the purpose of
the ritual. Candles are a major part of
our family tradition, and believe It or
not clay pipes were a part of It too.
Other tools include a large bell, ornate
rings (but not earrings). Incense, a
paten plate for cakes, chalices or goblets for wine, ornate containers for salt,
water, herbs, spices and aromatic oils,
ctngula or knotted ropes, and a cauldron. Three-legged stools were also
traditional, and one whole room was
dedicated to ritual rather than having
a specific marked circle. The "circle"
was deemed to embrace the entire room,
or In the case of my great-grandmother,
the entire cellar.
The pentacle or five-pointed star,
which has become the main symbol of
Wicca, was not at all a prominent symbol in our tradition of the Old Religion.
Nonetheless, we have adopted it too ,
and In fact our extended family coven
has a standardized pendant incorporating a pent that every member wears
most of the time. Usually, a Witch
wears a pentacle around his neck or on
•
33
Hecate's Loom No. 30
his finger as an identifying mark of the
Old Religion, and these days we are no
exception.
When my father was a boy In the
late 1940s and early 1950s, "Witchcraft" was banned In England where he
grew up, and my great-grandmother's
religion was frowned on by the rest of
the family. Bu tin 1952 the 'Witchcraft
Laws"were lifted, and my great-grandmother gradually came out of the closet
Back then, there were very few Witches
anywhere, but now we are found literally from coast to coast. Today, Wicca
Is said to be the fastest-growing religion In North America.
My father and mother sit on a
good number of Pagan boards, hoping
to protect the true nature of the Old
Religion. In 1994, our family conducted the Opening Ritual In an
International pagan festival In the U.S. ,
leading 200 priestesses and priests
from around the world. My brother
and I, dressed In black gowns with red
silk lining and holding huge athames,
were honoured to be the Gatekeepers
of the Circle, guarding the entrance.
Here In Canada, acquaintances
either love me or hate me because I am
a Witch.
There are many thousands of
Witches, however. I know, because not
only am I a Witch, most of my truest
friends are too. All of us believe In the
Old Religion and are sworn to honour
and protect nature and the elements.
It may be old, butlwouldn'tchangemy
religion for the world. X
Aidan is a practicing Witch,
within a family tradition. He resides
in Victoria, and graduated.from High
School this year.
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• Witchcraft
34
Fax: (704) 674-3952
•
Dear Members of the Canadian Neopagan Witchcraft Community:
My name is Sfan Reid and I am a PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology at Carleton
University in Ottawa. My area of study is neopagan witchcraft in Canada and I will be
undertaking dissertation research over the next few years. I have been involved in the Craft for
the past 12 years. The first stage of my research involves the distribution of a survey, which is
printed here. It will be followed by some face to face and telephone interviewing with those of
you who choose to volunteer.
What has struck me consistently, as I have done research leading up to this point, is how little
good information there is available about participants in neopagan witchcraft in general, and
Canadian neopagan witchcraft in particular. Therefore, I'm looking for information on basic
sociological variables such as age, income, marital status, education, area of residence, religious
socialization (childhood), etc ... I'm interested in who you are and what you do in your life, in
very general terms, not in the specifics of what you do in circle or what you believe.
What sort of information do I hope to end up with? I'm hoping to be able to make some
comparisons between the neopagan profile as it is revealed in my responses, and the general
Canadian profile, as well as to profiles of members of other religious denominations. I hope to
develop an understanding of neopagan witchcraft that locates it squarely in the literature
regarding modern responses to religious questions, rather than the literature dealing with
deviance, as is too often now the case. I hope to clarify the process and motivations through
which people become involved, and remain involved, in the Craft. I hope to expose the variety of
attitudes and coping strategies around being Craft in a cowan world.
This survey is anonymous; surveys are not numbered or marked in any way that would allow me
to identify any individual respondent. I'm not interested in knowing your identity. In terms of
how the data will be treated after they are collected, for reasons of confidentiality, I have made
the decision not to make my raw data available to other researchers. I will produce tabulated
data for them, if they are interested in specific breakdowns, but because of my own concerns that
some people's answers might be distinctive enough to identify them to other people, my raw data
will remain with me.
If you would currently identify yourself, in your own mind, as a practitioner of neopagan
witchcraft, Wicca, or the Craft, under any of the labels in which these are sometimes presented,
and you are resident in Canada, I would urge you to support this research by taking the time to
complete this postage-paid questionnaire. To return it, fold it in half and tape all the way along
the other three edges. If it is not completely sealed, Canada Post will not deliver it. If you have
previously completed the questionnaire, please pass this copy along to a friend. If you have any
questions, require additional copies of this survey, or would like to volunteer for the interview
stage of this study, please do not hesitate to contact me at one of the addresses below:
Department of Sociology, Carleton University
B750 Loeb Building, 1125 Colonel By Drive
slreid@ccs.carleton.ca
Ottawa, ON. KlS 5B6
149 Thornbury Cres.
Nepean, ON.
K2G 6C3
Important Notes: You are eligible to complete this questionnaire if:
1) You currently identify yourself, in your own mind, as a practitioner of neopagan
witchcraft, Wicca, or the Craft, under any of the labels in which these are sometimes
presented;
AND
2) You are currently resident in Canada.
You and the Craft
Important Note:
In the questions that follow, the word involvement will refer to
dimensions of religious activity or practice and the word commitment
will refer to dimensions of religious belief.
1
How long do you consider yourself to have been involved in the Craft?
OR
D less than one year
years
2
How old were you when your involvement began? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
3
Were you involved with other religions before the Craft?
Dyes
Ono
If yes. which ones and how long? (please try to list in chronological order
wherever possible. eg: Anglican, 5 years; Roman Catholic, 2 years;
Scientology, 8 years ...etc)
4
Do you currently self-identify as a member of a religious tradition(s) other than the
Craft?
Dyes
Ono
If yes. which one(s)? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
5
How did you first come to be aware of the Craft? (school, friends, fiction books,
movies, newspaper, etc .. )
6
How did you first become involved in the Craft? (bought a book and just started, went
to a meeting with friends, etc ... ) ____________________
7
To the best of your recollection, when you first became involved in the Craft, what
were the three things that appealed to you most about it? (please keep descriptions
brief, ten words or less per item) ____________________
8
What are the three things that appeal most to you now?
9
Were books important in getting you involved in the Craft? (Circle one number only)
1--------2--------3--------4
yes, very
important
yes, somewhat
important
no, not really
important
no, not at all
important
10 Are books important in maintaining your involvement in the Craft?
1---------2---------3---------4
yes, very
important
yes, somewhat
important
no, not really
important
no, not at all
important
11 Are books important in maintaining your commitment to the Craft?
1---------2---------3---------4
yes, very
important
yes, somewhat
important
no, not really
important
no, not at all
important
12 Which three books do you think have most influenced your Craft?
13 Were other people important in getting you involved in the Craft?
1---------2---------3---------4
yes, very
important
yes, somewhat
important
no, not really
important
no, not at all
important
14 Would the statement "I always knew I had a religion; I never knew it had a name"
come close to describing your feelings at encountering the Craft?
1-------2-------3-------4
yes, very
close
yes, somewhat
close
no, not really
close
no, not at all
close
15 If you had to put a label on the style or tradition of Craft you currently practice, what
would it be?
16 What other styles or traditions of Craft, if any, have you practiced?
17 Have you ever been initiated?
Dyes
Ono
D not applicable
If yes. what is the highest level of initiation you have ever received?
18 Have you ever worked with a group?
Dyes
If yes. are you currently working with a group?
Dyes
D no
Ono
If yes, are you currently working with multiple groups?
Dyes
D no
On average, how large is the group with which you work the most frequently?
19 What percentage of the time you have spent in the Craft has been spent working with
one or more other people?
20 Is working with other people important in maintaining your involvement in the Craft?
1--------2--------3--------4
yes, very
important
yes, somewhat
important
no, not really
important
no, not at all
important
21 Is working with other people important to maintaining your commitment to the Craft?
1--------2--------3--------4
yes, very
important
yes, somewhat
important
no, not really
important
no, not at all
important
22 Could you name five activities which are, to you, specifically Craft related?
23 On average, how much time do you spend on specifically Craft-related activities each
week? (can be those you listed, or others)
24 How likely are you to discuss your religious beliefs in some depth, when asked ...
(Circle one for each scenario)
- at a party attended exclusively by friends?
1---------2---------3---------4
definitely
would
probably
would
probably
would not
definitely
would not
- at a party attended primarily by strangers?
1---------2---------3---------4
definitely
would
probably
would
probably
would not
definitely
would not
- with your co-workers?
1---------2---------3---------4
definitely
would
probably
would
probably
would not
definitely
would not
- with your family of origin (mother, father, siblings, etc ... )?
1---------2---------3---------4
definitely
would
probably
would
probably
would not
definitely
would not
- with a member of another religion whom you believe will be open-minded?
1--------2--------3--------4
definitely
would
probably
would
probably
would not
definitely
would not
- with a member of another religion whom you believe will be hostile?
1---------2---------3---------4
definitely
would
probably
would
probably
would not
definitely
would not
- with a casual acquaintance about whose possible reaction you are uncertain?
1--------2--------3--------4
definitely
would
probably
would
probably
would not
definitely
would not
- with a neighbour about whose possible reaction you are uncertain?
1---------2---------3---------4
definitely
would
probably
would
probably
would not
definitely
would not
- with a prospective employer?
1---------2---------3---------4
definitely
would
probably
would
probably
would not
definitely
would not
- with a police officer assessing your credibility as a witness?
1---------2---------3---------4
definitely
would
probably
would
probably
would not
definitely
would not
25 How open are you about your Craft affiliation within the Craft community?
1---------2---------3---------4
very open
somewhat open
not really open
not at all open
26 How open are you about your Craft affiliation outside of the Craft community?
1--------2--------3--------4
very open
somewhat open
not really open
not at all open
27 How would you list your religion on the Canadian census?
You and Your Other Interests
28 How many books, on average, do you read per month (excluding books read during
the regular course of your paid employment)?
29 Do you have regular access to a computer?
□ yes
D no
IF YES: please continue with the section below, if no, go to q. 30.
Are there any restrictions on your access to the computer, or the kinds of things you
can do with it?
D yes
D no
If yes. please list:
What do you use the computer for, other than your paid employment?
(word-processing, games, record-keeping, etc ... )
Do you use a modem?
D yes
D no
If yes, what do you use it for, other than your paid employment? (interactive
chat, buy and sell, newsgroups, etc ... ) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
Do you participate in any pagan BBSes or newsgroups?
D yes
D no
30 Do you subscribe to, or regularly purchase, any pagan periodicals?
Dyes
D no
31 Outside of the Craft and your paid employment, what other activities, hobbies or
organizations are you involved in? (name three, if possible)
You and Your Family
Important Note: In the questions that follow, mother and father refer to the primary
female and male caregivers with whom you lived while growing up.
These do not have to be your biological parents.
Dyes
D no
32
Were you adopted as a baby or a young child?
33
Did your mother have any religious affiliation while you were growing up?
D yes
D no
D not applicable
IF YES, please continue with the section below, if not, go to q. 34.
What was this affiliation? (be as specific as you can - orthodox Jewish is a
better description than Jewish, evangelical Lutheran is a better description than
Protestant)
How active would you say your mother's religious involvement was?
1---------2---------3---------4
very active
somewhat active
not really active
not active at all
How committed would you say your mother was to her religious beliefs?
1---------2---------3---------4
very
committed
somewhat
committed
not really
committed
not atall
committed
34 Did your father have any religious affiliation while you were growing up?
D yes
D no
D not applicable
IF YES. please continue with the section below, if not, go to q. 35.
What was this affiliation? (be as specific as you can - orthodox Jewish is a
better description than Jewish, evangelical Lutheran is a better description than
Protestant)
How active would you say your father's religious involvement was?
1---------2---------3---------4
very active
somewhat active
not really active
not active at all
How committed would you say your father was to his religious beliefs?
1---------2---------3---------4
very
somewhat
not really
not atall
committed
committed
committed
committed
35 Would you say that there was some effort made to raise you within a religious
tradition?
Dyes
D no
36 Would you say that, in general, you had a happy, normal home life as you were
growing up?
D yes
D no
IF NO. please complete the section below. if yes, continue to q. 37.
Do you consider any of your parents or guardians to have been physically abusive?
Dyes
Ono
Do you consider any of your parents or guardians to have been emotionally
Dyes
D no
abusive?
Were any of your parents or guardians substance-addicted (alcohol, illegal or
prescription drugs)? D yes
D no
You and Your Personal History
37 Of your closest friends, what percentage would you describe as Craft?
38 What percentage would you describe as pagan?
39 Do you have a spouse or domestic partner?
D yes
Ono
IF YES. please complete the section below. if no, continue to q. 40.
Would you describe them as Craft?
D yes
Ono
Would you describe them as pagan?
D
Ono
yes
40 Did you spend most of your time while growing up in areas you would characterize as
(choose one): D primarily urban
D primarily suburban
D primarily small town
, D primarily rural?
Important Note: The remaining questions in this section ask for 'sensitive' personal
information. Although it is most useful to me iffully completed
responses returned, if you are uncomfortable with these questions,
please either skip them entirely and proceed to the General Information
About You section below, or only complete those with which you are
comfortable.
41 Have you ever been in therapy for longer than 6 months?
Dyes
D no
If yes. what for? (brief description only, eg. shyness, alcohol dependency,
bereavement etc ... personal details are not required)
Was this before or after you entered the Craft?
D before
D after
D both
42 Have you ever been sexually abused or assaulted?
D yes
Ono
D yes
Ono
If yes. was it before or after you entered the Craft?
D before
D after
D both
43 Have you ever been arrested?
If yes, what for?
Was this before or after you entered the Craft?
D before
D after
D both
General Information about You
Important Note: The information in this section is being collected for the purposes of
comparing the respondents to this survey to other groups of Canadians.
Under no circumstances will it be used as a means of identifying
individual respondents.
44 Are you:
D male
D female?
45 What is your year of birth? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
46 What is your sexual orientation? (choose one)
D heterosexual
D homosexual
D bisexual
47 What is your legal marital status? (check only the most recent)
D legally married and not separated
D legally married and separated
D divorced
D widowed
D never married (single)
48 Are you currently living with a common-law partner?
Dyes
Ono
49 Are you a registered Indian as defined by the Indian Act of Canada?
Dyes
D no
50 What province or territory do you currently live in?
51 Would you characterize the immediate area in which you live as:
D primarily urban
D primarily suburban
D primarily small town
D primarily rural
52 Who currently shares your present accomodation? (names are not required, only their
relationship to you. eg. male spouse, child of male spouse from previous marriage,
two children of current marriage, boyfriend of one child, unrelated boarder, etc ... )
53 What is the highest grade (or year) of secondary (high school) or elementary school
you ever attended? (Enter highest number, 1 - 13, of grades or years, excluding
kindergarten)
grade _ _ _ _ _ _ _
OR
D never attended school / attended kindergarten only
54 How many years of education have you completed at university?
D none
D less than one year (of completed courses)
year(s)
55 fu the past nine months, did you attend a school, college or university? (fuclude
attendence at elementary or secondary schools, business or trade schools, community
colleges, institutes of technology, CEGEPs, etc., for courses that can be used as credits
towards a certificate, diploma or degree. Mark one box only)
D No, did not attend
D Yes, full time
D Yes, part time, day or evening
56 What certificates, diplomas or degrees have you ever obtained? (Include all
qualifications obtained from secondary schools or trade schools and other postsecondary institutions. Mark as many boxes as apply.)
D none
D secondary/ high school graduation certificate or equivalent
D trades certificate or diploma
D other non-university certificate or diploma
D university certificate or diploma below bachelor level
D bachelor degree(s) (eg. B.A., B.Sc., LLB.)
D university certificate or diploma above bachelor level
D Master's degree(s) (eg. M.A., M.Sc., M.Ed.)
D degree in medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine or optometry
D earned doctorate (eg. Ph.D., D.Sc., D.Ed.)
57 What kind(s) of paid work are you currently doing? (for example, medical lab
technician, accounting clerk, manager of civil engineering dept, secondary school
teacher, supervisor of data entry unit, food processing labourer, fishing guide.)
OR
D not performing paid work
58 Have your previous occupations differed from your present one?
Dyes
D no
If yes, please list your previous three occupations:
59 During most of the past year, did you perform paid work full-time or part-time?
(Mark one only)
D full-time (30 hours or more per week)
D part-time (less than 30 hours per week)
D did not perform paid work
60 During most of the past year, did you perform unpaid work full-time or part-time (eg.
childcare, eldercare, volunteer work, etc ... )
D full-time (30 hours or more per week)
D part-time (less than 30 hours per week)
D did not perform unpaid work
61 What is your best estimate of your personal income from all sources last year?
(Include employment income, tips, commisions, bonuses, pensions, dividends and
interest, social assistance, scholarships, etc ... )
□ 25,000 - 29,999
D no income
D under $2,000
□ 30,000 - 34,999
□ 2,000 - 4,999
□ 35,000 - 39,999
□ 5,000 - 9,999
□ 40,000 - 44,999
□ 10,000 - 14,999
□ 45,000 - 49,999
□ 15,000 - 19,999
□ 50,000 - 59,999
□ 20,000 - 24,999
□ 60,000 - 74,999
D 75,0QO and over
62 What is _your best estimate of your family income from all sources last year? (fuclude
as family for the purposes of this estimate those people who are related to you, by
blood or marriage, and living at the same address)
D no income
D 25,000 - 29,999
D under $2,000
D 30,000 - 34,999
□ 2,000 - 4,999
□ 35,000 - 39,999
□ 5,000 - 9,999
□ 40,000 - 44,999
□ 10,000 - 14,999
□ 45,000 - 49,999
□ 15,000 - 19,999
□ 50,000 - 59,999
□ 20,000 - 24,999
□ 60,000 - 74,999
D 75,000 and over
·63 Are you a Canadian citizen?
D yes
Ono
64 Are you a citizen of a country other than Canada?
Dyes
Ono
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01
Hecate's Loom No. 30
Ethos & Ethics - Cont. from
page 17
Michele firmly believes in having
one's Earth altar in order. "It is difficult
to focus on the spiritual when you're
wonying about where you're going to
live next month or if you can afford
groceries. Effort must be put forth on
all levels to acWeve the balance required to lead healthy, happy, spirttual
lives. "
Helping Michele achieve her own
balance is the wonderful love and support of her husband, without whom
none of the work, or catnip, would be
possible. The glint in her eye as she
reminds me that, "the Gods help those
who help themselves" reinforces her
insistence on humour in all aspects of
life. When she goes on to say that "life
is not a destination , it is the Journey," I
begin to wonder if fortune cookies come
with the lox.
I ask her about working in a Federal prison. "The best way to work in a
rigid system is to work from within,
following all the rules and regulations,
creating friendsWps as you go." Michele
is elated that William Head recently
approved an outdoor sacred Circle
space in which the study group may
perform their rituals and meditations.
"It is crucial to be a good role model;
that goes far beyond the prison walls.
Our religious views can be more easily
accepted if we are seen as neighbours
and co-workers, normal people who
live next door. I have nothing to hide
and that is how I conduct myself."
I recall being at a meeting with
Michelewheresheandanotherparticipant got into a heated discussion over
the use of the "W" word. Has she
changed her views any? "People have
a hard time seeing past a freaky image
and we don't need additional barriers.
For that reason, when I must label
myself, I use the words Wicca or Wiccan.
Why put up brick walls when we have
to work all that much harder to remove
them?" Michele stresses that these are
her views and those of the ATC. "They
are not a Judgement of anyone else, for
all paths are valid."
This blaze of fortitude reminds me
that underneath Michele's good nature
and wacky sense of humour runs a
streak of iron. When she gets that look
in her eye and that set to her Jaw, fun
time is over. "It is important to balance
ourselves, to recognize and work with
both the dark and the light. Not everything in life is 'sweetness and light'."
Michele is never afraid to act as
arbiter in !.ense situations, I have witnessed first-hand Michele's remarkable
talents as a fair and impartial negotiator. Perhaps this concern for fairness
factors into her belief in the importance
in working with polar groups, utilizing
the talents of both male and female
people, archetypes and God forms.
"Ifyou had told me in 1980 that in
fifteen years I'd be acting as Wiccan
clergy for a prison, running a catnip
farm and holding down a full-time Job,
I'd have said you were crazy."
I think it's a safe bet that today
Michele Favarger wouldn't balk at any
predictions for future endeavours, religious or otherwise. Her only request
would be some free time to spend with
her growing list of friends, her family
and her catnip farm.
"So, how do you like the new
catnip packaging? It's got a ziplock
top, you know." The fact that I don't
have a cat doesn't seem to overly concern Michele. X
After spending the past decade
practicing the Craft, John Threlfall
finally realized that it had nothing to
do with yarn or popscicle sticks.
Undismayed by this revelation, he
continues to spend his time writing,
finishing a degree in History , and
continuing his life long questfor the
pe,jectomlette. John recently rejected
a Disney offer to animate his life story
and has had to console himself as
Managing Editor of Hecate Loom .
Starhawk Interview - cont. from
page 19
We see her story as the story of
a woman who saw things that nobody
else would see and look at. She got
tremendous criticism and persecution
in return, but stood up to it and as a
result has made tremendous changes
in our thinking and our understanding
of our history. She provided some real,
solid evidence for the Goddess tradition and the history we were actually
claiming before we even knew about
her work. So that's been a very exciting
project.
• Witchcrafi
How long have you been involved in it?
Oh .. ..about a year or so. Mer we
finished "Full Circle" we started on
this. Butmostlywe're in the fundraising
stages, which, if people are at all familiar with film know that that's the most
difficult and challenging part of making a film! 0aughs)
Donna: I think that the collaboration between Starhawk and I has been
a very fruitful one, in that the three
films that we've done together, wWch,
although we're financed mostly through
the National Film Board of Canada
certainly were inspired by Starhawk's
work.
She was consultant, mainstay
writer.. .. you know, we really worked
on it together throughout the years
that we did them, and I think that it's
that kind of collaboration, artistically
that really embodies a lot of the Pagan
spirit and ideals that I've learned since
I've been working with Starhawk
Starhawk and I took up the banner
along with a lot of other people who
helped us financially to finish the
project.
That was the beginning of what
we're trying to do now, and I think that
what happens when you try to do a
project like this is that... flrst of all we
have professional people who will make
a professional product so that the product can be shown on national television
as the trilogy is shown consistent!;
now on PBS in the United States and
certainly here in Canada on Vision 'IV.
It sounds wonderful! Are there
any comments, in conclusion, that
you would like to make? Anything
that you would like to say to the
Pagans of Canada?
Starhawk: Well, I think that
Canada has a tremendously vital Pagan community and it's very exciting to
see that I have done a lot of work in
Canada .... (smiles). X
Andrea Brosgall runs one of
Toronto's largest Occult shops.
Oracle, and is a Handmaiden of
the Temple of Star.fire in Toronto.
•
35
Hecate's Loom No. 30
Depression) Alchemy
and Transformation
by Michela Scheuerman
The first time I experienced an anxiety attack I was seventeen and totally
unaware of the existence of such terms
as "panic attack" and "clinical depression".
I was born and grew up in a
middle class family in Southern Italy,
where misconceptions and ignorance
about mental health issues abound
perhaps even at professional medical
levels. The government health care
program covers anything but psychiatric care.
I was raised with the erroneous
notion that there are "normal" people,
and there are people who are "crazy".
To my parents, and most adults around
me, the latter adjective had a broad
range of connotations. It was often a
substitute word used to describe nonconformist behaviour, the expression
of creativity, curiosity, independence
or the rejection of orthodox religion.
This was especially true if these traits
were present in a girl or woman.
By the time I was in my teens I had
exhibited all of the above signs of deviance, and I was often taken aside and
given a pep talk by one of or both of my
parents. It would go something like
this: "There are nerves in your brain
and you must be very careful because,
every time you yell or throw a tantrum
the nerves might overlap, and that's
when you snap. When that happens,
there is no turning back."
Because I was often admonished
36
and refrained from expressing myself,
I yelled back quite a bit and I began to
live in fear that I could "snap" anytime,
and that there would certainly be an
insane asylum in my future. Even now
that I know that such places no longer
exist, I have nightmares about my
mother committing me, as she often
had threatened to do.
As I grew and became educated I
saw the ludicrousness and frailty of my
parents' notions about madness. Then,
one night in March 1981, I suffered a
powerful panic attack, and an ensuing
period of misery. To my shock and
dismay I had to admit that I'd finally
become the madwoman my parents
had always foretold. I had manifested
a "self-fulfilling prophecy."
I felt as though I had stepped into
another dimension; I was on one side of
life, a terrifying, vacuum-like place,
and I was looking at the "normal" side
as though through an unbreakable
glass wall. I thought that I was actually
"imagining" life: nothing seemed real,
people included; they were, through
my distorted perceptions, no longer
persons, just empty shells of humanness. I sank into such loneliness, hopelessness and desperation which, at
seventeen, paralyzed me to the point
that I could barely get out of bed. I was
never hungry, and I missed a lot of
school. I had always loved to learn and
I was good at it; now, even that was
being denied to me. I hoped I'd die so
that the inexplicable suffering would
end.
My mother began force-feeding
me while I sat at the table staring into
nothingness. I saw that she was scared
to death that soon my already thin
body would waste away, just as my
mind had begun to. I wanted to get
better to end my suffering and hers,
but I felt powerless. As shattered as my
loved ones were, they blamed me for
the state in which I found myself( and
these are people who fuss over a simple
cold). Teachers, friends, relatives and
acquaintances fed greedily off the phenomenon of my sudden madness,
which became gossip and grounds for
alienating me further.
I was pitied, "she was such a
bright girl...", ridiculed, chastised, and
kept at a distance. Most of all, I was
feared, or at least my mysterious illness was.
As the months went by I began to
feel better; I was slowly "feeling" others
becoming real again. I returned to
school, regained my appetite and I was
able to sleep through the night without
hearing gunshots go off in my head.
Still, I obsessively thought about what
was going on Inside my brain; why it
had happened and would I ever be
totally free of it. I had had thoughts so
bizarre that they defied rational explanations. When I was well enough to ask
for help, my family physician cryptically said that "It would all go away."
'
• SHADOWS & L I G H T • - - - - - - - - - - - -
Hecate's Loom No. 30
One year later I graduated from
high school with top grades. Friends
became less frightened and came
around again, some even expressed
admiration for my having been able to
pull myself together. But they were still
not able to understand my problem,
which was also the greatest mystery of
my llfe.
In 1983 I met Dean, my Canadian
husband. Although I was reluctant to
leave my home country, I trusted my
instincts about this man, moved to
Canada and married him. We now
have an eleven year old son and a
beautiful marriage.
We planned our child early Into
our relationship and, when I became
pregnant, the hormonal changes in my
body hurled me into another episode.
This time I received psychiatrtc care
and, for the first time, I discovered that
this "thing" which had come back to
haunt me had a name: cllnical depression.
The psychiatrist explained to me
that this is an illness occurring when
the brain chemistry goes awry on account of mis-flringneuro-transmitters.
Put plainly, it had been a chemical
imbalance In my brain which had had
the power to alter my llfe, and myself,
so dramatically and which was, again,
putting me and my new family through
so much pain.
Genetics often plays a role in a
person's predisposition to this illness.
After skillful probing, I discovered that
a depressive syndrome was the hidden
malaise on my father's side of the family.
As for the duration of the illness,
the doctor said that it runs its course
usually over three to six months, but
everybody ls different. It might reccur
at anytime, or never again. I was
stunned at hearing that I would be
forever at the mercy of the "thing" and
I naively asked about a cure. I was told
that there is no cure for depression as
yet, but that treatment is available in
the form of psychotherapy and medication.
Because I was In the third trtmester of my pregnancy, medication was
not an option. I suffered it out until the
birth of my son and, for about a year
afterward, I felt well. I was going to
school, held a part-time Job and enjoyed taking care of my baby. At that
point depression struck again, with a
vengeance.
I was hospitalized for two weeks
and I remember the anguish of being
separated from my son and my husband, who was, and is, extremely loving and supportive. I was administered a powerful anti-depressant drug
which, over the following twelve weeks,
compounded by psychotherapy, began to lift my spirit and to make me feel
hopeful for a recovery. I have had different therapists since then, and I still
am on a mild anti-depressant medication for maintenance.
a
There is
whole sisterhood, and
brotherhood,
ofpeople just
like me, who
have beat the
odds by getting help
rather than
succumbing to
suicide
As a woman I discovered that, as
in Italy, most people in Canada did not
understand the chemical nature of my
illness and my need for therapy and for
medication. They mistakenly thought
this consisted of sedatives.
Among the many unpleasant
memories of what people had the insensitivity to say to me, one stands out.
It came from an elderly relative of my
husband's, who, while discussing my
recovery over dinner at my house, re-
proached me for getting sick, because,
to quote her "... You were of no use to
Dean in that state." Dean and I both
flinched, looked at each other knowingly and chose not to comment.
It was then that I realized that,
once again, I was being punished for
getting ill because, as a woman, I was
not supposed to; my only worth was in
being the care-giver, the llttle robot
who cleans, and cooks and nurtures
others. ''What about me?" I kept thinking with rage and sadness, what about
whatl had suffered, and whatl still had
to cope with?
Soon I noticed that as I became
more assertive and stood up for myself,
people who knew l had been ill blamed
my behaviour on the illness, as though
it had impaired me. We decided to
move to a different city, away from
those whose words and actions were
killlng the both of us slowly.
In 1986 I enrolled In University
and four years later I graduated, and
held several jobs. Some of these I lost
when the employer discovered I was on
medication for depression, In spite of
my performance on the Job. I finally
realized that I am a writer, and always
have been. I decided that my vocation
should become my career.
I have recently "graduated" out of
therapy and am now at a high point in
my healing, having been able to let go
of the guilt and the sense oflnadequacy
that being different has caused me.
Since 1986 I have been reading anything I could possibly find on the topic
of clinical depression, and the most
outstanding piece I have found to date
is the book Darkness Visible, by Willlam
Styron, which Is an account of the
author's own bout with depression.
The book made me realize that I
am definitely not alone; that there is a
whole sisterhood, and brotherhood, of
people just like me, who have beat the
odds by getting help rather than succumbing to suicide.
Although definitely not rellgtous, I
have always been very spiritual In a
rather unorthodox way for my cultural
background. The study of Eastern philosophies, metaphysics, of women's
roles through time everywhere in the
world and, most of all, the study of the
Goddess tradition, opened wonderful
paths of visceral understanding within
me of who I am, and of my place In the
• SHADOWS & L I G H T • - - - - - - - - - - - -
37
Hecate's Loom No. 30
world.
Being ill and progressively recovering and learning, has helped me to
I have been
forced by the
illness to
seek out
knowledge,
and knowledge is
empowerment
put my life into perspective, and to face
the issue of the emotional abuse that I
suffered for eighteen years in my parents' house, and which I thought was
normal. I believed that all kids grow up
being belittled the way my parents did
me and my siblings.
I have been forced by the illness to
seek out knowledge, and knowledge is
empowerment; I know myself now, I
like myself now. I look at my existence
and focus on my many achievements,
and the choice I always have to make
positive changes in my life, anytime I
want to, as opposed to the times, before
and after my early episodes of depression, in which I felt powerless, weak,
ashamed to be me, angry at the world
and full of bitterness towards my parents and all those who hurt me.
Now I feel that I want to be kind; I
look forward, and the past no longer
matters, neither does whether or not
others understand me and my illness.
They have the responsibility of facing
their own demons, just as I had to face
mine. I have the love, the respect and
the support of those I love and respect
and support, and I have come to view
myself not as being different in a negative way, but as being special.
Discovering and accepting the
Witch in me has been as joyful and as
liberating as finding out that the "thing",
the illness, had a name and was not
exclusive to me.
I recognize my flaws and accept
them as being a natural part of my
humanness; I look upon my good qualities as hard-earned stepping stones in
the process of my spiritual growth.
I have learned to be more sensitive to other human beings, not to
prejudge them, and to be more forgiving. I appreciate life, down to its simplest pleasures: the sunset I was trying
to enjoy when my illness wouldn't let
me; the starry night, the poetry of
which was denied to me; the laughter
of children, now vibrant and lyrically
beautiful to me.
I am in touch with myself at many
levels. I am able to read physical and
emotional warning signs of a panic
attack, or a depression spell, which, I
know now, can be triggered by allergies, or be linked to seasonal changes.
With my physician's help, I am often
able to prevent a spell of depression by
altering my diet, and the medication
dose.
I have learned to breathe properly, to exercise and to meditate, and I
find that listening to music and/or
concentrating on something, makes
me feel better when I have to cope with
a period of emotional low. This process
is High Magick in its own right.
I love my husband and son, I love
my friends, and I have come to forgive
those I resented just when I quit trying.
I feel like I know something, a beautiful
secret about life that they do not, and
that! wish I could share with them, like
the feeling of being brand-new after
periods of my soul cocooning and transforming itself in the darkest places of
my being.
I feel now almost empathically
connected to people, I have a sense of
harmony and of belonging to the human race and to the universe. I am no
longer the freak, the weakling, but a
wonderful being among others. Sometimes happy childhood memories and
sensations surface spontaneously and
unexpectedly, flooding me with feelings of warmth and Joy.
I love what most people consider
ordinary. Now more than ever, I do not
understand violence, self-destructive
behaviour, sexual, racial and social
discrimination, and hate. Everyday I
ask myself how it can be possible that
some of us fail to appreciate the miracle
we all are.
Reaching the Self, loving ourselves,
is a spiritual high: communing with
other Selves at deeper levels than the
physical, by being loving, compassionate and happy that they exist, is the
religious experience.
I cannot honestly say that I would
have been better off without suffering
depression; although I still live at moderate levels of uncertainty, I have also
had to recognize that I love the person
that I now am, and I do not know
whether this person would have come
to exist, or even have survived adolescence, without the awakening jolt of
depression.
I know now that I can survive
anything; everybody can, if they are
willing to help themselves, to inform
themselves and to fight this illness
relentlessly. I "snapped" and came
back, stronger and healthier than before. I definitely do not fear death,
which I have come to see as another rite
of passage to different levels of existence, and which is meant to bring us
closer to our Great Mother. X
Michela Scheuerman was
born in 1963 in Naples, Italy. She
has been residing in Canada since
1983, and holds a Bachelor ofArts
degree in English and Anthropology. She is a Witch, a writer, and
Associate EditoroJHecate's Loom.
- - - - - - - - - - - - • SHADOWS & LIGHT' • - - - - - - - - - - - -
38
Hecate's Loom No. 30
Herbal Healing
with Ritual Baths
by Paul V. Beyerl
I
n working with the four elements thought that I add water from Lourdes
as we know them (air, fire, water and or from the Apollonius Spring in Gerearth), there are numerous ways in many (dedicated to Apollo during the
which to draw upon one or more ele- Roman occupation) to my herbal remmentwith which to promote health and edies.
For magtckal people, one of the
healing. During my training in the
1970's, we were strongly urged to use more underrated forms of healing is
one method to ensure the absence of the ritual bath. For many of us a ritual
colds and other common diseases. This bath is part ofour preparation for lunar
process involved a quick immersion in and Sabbat rituals but, at other times,
cold water (usually following one's bath the bath becomes an expedient shower:
or shower) on a daily basis. Before your something functional for the outer skin
flesh shudders, stop and think about of the temple of the self. Considering
the many peoples who go from sauna the quick popularity of aromatherapy,
to snow, or those who sit in the hot tub it surprises me that few seem to make
surrounded by winter's glow. It's not the connection of breathing in the moso strange a concept ifyou can but stop lecular magick of the selected herbal
shivering. And yes, I followed this remedy while soaking one's body in a
practice and it did seem to make a luxurious ritual bath. In this sense,
difference. But as my herbal skills the bath itself has become the ritual,
grew, I replaced the cold water (which not relegated as a prelude to subseI usually dumped over my head with a quent magtck.
This method offers one of the simlarge container) with my holistic herbal
plest approaches to healing magtck
philosophy and practices.
Water has been used as a remedy with herbes. There are few cautions
in many ways over many generations. and less dangers than most forms of
What quickly comes to mind are all of herbal healing. In fact, I can think of
the mineral springs which have drawn but two: one is to avoid placing loose
countless individuals who maintain herbs in the bath. They tend to cling to
that bathing in the waters has helped a the skin when you stand up and can
long list of conditions. Water cures easily clog the drain, requiring a call to
exist in other forms as well. Healing a plumber. The other is to avoid any
with Water by Jeanne Keller is an ex- herbes which are toxic and poisonous
cellent text capable of opening one of (e.g. Aconite) and which have a strong
the elemental forms of healing. Our recommendation against internal use.
library copy is a 1968 edition and I'm A certain amount of the toxins may be
not certain ifitis currently in print, but absorbed into the skin and, subseI have long considered it a most valu- quently, into the blood stream. Do not
take risks. Apart from these two conable text. 1
There is a less mundane approach cerns, there is little to stop you from
which employs water for healing as exploring this art of healing.
How do you avoid the plumber?
well: since ancient times people have
turned to sacred springs and sacred Many texts, including my own, recomwells seeking cures for ailments of mend placing the herbs in a gauze bag
body, soul and mind. It is with careful or even a tea strainer. I've since turned
to making a strong herbal infusion. It
only takes about a cup of liquid and,
when thoroughly strained, adding the
liquid directly to the bath. One can also
use herbal-scented bath preparations
such as bubble baths or bath salts but
the majority of commercial mixtures
contain synthetic scents and artificial
colours which are counterproductive
to the healing process.
An herb need not be categorized
as a "bathing herbe" to be worthy of
use. There are myriad herbs which
one turns to for internal use. Why not
immerse one's self in their natural
magtck as well? If one is dealing with
cancer or with HIV, why not add a cup
ofbirch barkwatertoyourbath? Ifyou
are struggling to uplift your spirits,
why not bathe with eyebright? There
are few herbs I would personally avoid.
Even with an herb considered "dangerous" like Aconite, a single, fresh flower
floating upon the water's surface is well
within safe limits for: an adult (thought
follow the guidelines when handling
the entire plant when gathering the
flower).
What transforms a bath into a
ritual? There are many possibilities, so
many that one's imagination can begin
to spill over like a brook. Traditionally,
one would add a sprinkle of sea salt to
the bath water as well, not wanting to
miss the cleansing of body and spirit
which priests and priestesses have
used since the Age ofAries. (In a pinch,
any table salt will do.) There are many
ways to bring in the four elements, to
ask of the Universe that you learn what
is necessary to promote healing; there
are infinite ritual forms one can create.
Trust your imagination.
What is most important is to avoid
the temptation of turning a ritual heal-
• SHADOWS & L I G H T • - - - - - - - - - - 39
Hecate's Loom No. 30
ing bath into a long soak with a good
book. Recreational reading is not bad,
butitdoes not sustain the focus ofyour
spirit. If you wish to read, focus upon
a healing text. We have used 'The Child
of Light for nearly fifteen years of healing work within The Rowan Tree
Church. 2 You could adapt passages
from The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran or
write your own text which calls upon
the powers of the Universe. Meditation
is another tool at your disposal, workIng with carefully planned and highly
focused healing Images.
At the bottom line, you may not
attain mlracles .. ..but then you may.
You are also Invoking the magi ck of the
Universe and asking for change. Not
only will you have access to the properties of the healing herbs you have selected but you will beworkingwlth the
magickoftransformatlonand ofchange
as well.
The amount of healing Is directly
related to the amount of work and the
level of mental focus you can maintain.
Disciplined focus does not mean that
your bath should be void of Joy and
pleasure. Take time to contemplate
the element of water during your planning stages. What does It take to draw
upon the energy of water? Take time
and do careful research when selecting
your herbs. Know them well. Be able
to identify their scent and, should you
use more than one, to distinguish among
them. Explore this art of healing and
let me know your results. X
Paul V. Beyerl, 'The Hermit's Grove,
9724 132nd Ave NE, Kirkland, WA,
98033. (206) 828-4124
1 Healing with Water, Jeanne
KelJer, foreword by Sabine Koch, M.D.,
Award Books, NY and Tandem Books,
London, 1968.
2 Blessed Is the Child of Light,
adapted from Dead Sea scrolls. Edited
by Rev. Paul Beyerl. $7.00 plus $2.5
first class or $1 . 50 book rate shipping.
Washington residents add 57 cents
sales tax. The Rowan Tree Church ,
P.O. Box 691, Kirkland, WA, 98033.
Paul Beyerl is author of the
enormously popular The Master
Book of Herbalism (Phoenix Publishers). He also writes on many
other topics of interest to healers
and occultists. Paul resides near
Seattle, Washington.
40
Persephone's Descent
as
Voluntary Transformative
Magic
by Ann Lee
Ersephone heard the dead wailing. There was no one to receive them
and show them the way to the underworld, no one to counsel and guide
them. Theywere lost, bewildered souls.
Persephone felt sorry for them. She
decided to make it her work to guide
the dead down the path Into the underworld. She voluntarily became Queen
of the Underworld, Ruler of the Land of
the Dead. The dead could now go on to
their next life. They no longer had to
linger as shadows in the Land of the
Living.
This is the way It was when the
Goddess had her place In the religions
of the world. Persephone's descent to
the underworld was voluntary. Then
the patriarchal religions took over and
the myth was changed.
Now, Persephone was peacefully
gathering flowers when Hades saw her
and lusted after her. He raped her and
carried her, kicking and screaming, to
the Underworld. She was not the sole
ruler but was co-ruler with Hades, the
God of the Underworld. She has to
spend half of every year there and half
of every year In the Land of the Living.
The story of Persephone deals with
the land of those who have died physically. However, It also deals with those
who undergo the descent to the underworld when they are alive. In life, one
is given opportunities to make this
Journey voluntarily - to chose to make
the descent to hell.
Our culture does not accept this
as a rational choice. We are supposed
to be happy all the time. Ifwe are not
happy at any time, there are drugs to
make us so. Being unhappy means
that something Is wrong. Women are
often told by total strangers to smile
because it is not acceptable for them
not to.
If one chooses not to make the
descent to hell voluntarily, one will be
carried there against one's will. A
major illness or severe depression will
be employed to force the Journey to
begin. In the past, women would "take
to their beds" and pull up the covers.
Their husband and children would not
disturb them until they had made their
Journey and voluntarily returned .
It is our choice, we can follow
Persephone of our own volition or be
taken against our will. 3C
Ann Lee is an self-employed
professional, a writer, WtccanPriestess and co-founder of the Thirteenth
House Mystery School. She is also
co-owner of Hecate's Loom.
• SHADOWS & L I G H T • - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Hecate's Loom No. 30
FICTION
Fables • Poems • Tales • Narratives
Sandra Lockwood, from her C.D., "Shell,' photograph by Miles Lowry
'Wounded beyond measure, Arthur took the
way below to the court of the Fisher King where the
royal virgin, Morgan le Fey, tending his wounds,
keeps his healed body for her very own and they live
together.
'The eternal nymph heals, nourishes and revives
him, making him immortal, as one of Faery. He
stands without armour, but fearing no fray. So they
rule from the Underworld, where the other half of the
world is theirs."
Yvonne Owens
(adapted from "Le Dragon Normand" and "Gesta Regnum
Brttanntae")
•FICTION•
41
Hecate's Loom No. 30
Poetry
To Hecate
Blue flame,
White candle,
Flying Raven,
over the sky.
Black moon,
dark night.
Cold winds blowing.
I am porous,
black light fill my soul.
Dark dog,
gleaming teeth,
your eyes moonlight.
You leap at me
from out of the night,
Howling, Howling,
echoes in a cavern.
You have freed your
hounds,
tear me to pieces,
there is nothing more to hide.
lam whole,
lying on the ground,
naked I rise,
to stand before you.
Gleaming breasts,
you bare your chest,
Warrior woman.
Your hair is wild,
The Wind is howling,
it tears from me my breath.
Through my soul,
wind and rain,
tearing, cleansing, power.
Muse
Old woman, crone,
eyes of midnight blue.
I stand alone.
You dare me to judge.
Three roads,
crossing.
My path to walk,
wild trees,
wild woods,
cold grass.
Diana Michaelis
Dream
I dreamt I sat astride
the barn floor-scraper
and flew wither I would;
up through the thickets,
skimming the tops of trees,
then high over wooded hills
into the night sky
under dark clouds
and the wind
and the height
made me giddy
but my hand was firm;
on I flew
and the land fell away below me.
Had I risen
above the clouds
I could have flown
right into the face of the moon.
Fenris
•FICTION, •
42
Hecate's Loom No. 30
by Jessica North
The Divinities grew bored and restless one Eternity truck with the Lady most surely knows. Clever She is, and
and decided amongst Themselves to have a small compe- quick and wily, so it was She, of course, who won the little
tition, the prize being concensus agreement to whatever contest and She Who was then entitled to the Prize.
Hel wanted a piece - a modicum - of land above
whim might entertain the Winner for whatever period of
ground, with air that was fresh and trees that would rustle
Being.
Hel - that most severe, most humorless, most untidy in the breezes under the azure blue sky, a place where
of the lot -got wind of the
humans walked without
Idea and made haste to
the apprehension and
trepidation they always
the Heavens, a territory
exhibited when they apwhich She seldom visited
being Goddess of the Unproached Her realm, silly
things!
derworld, after all.
There was an upIt was with great disroar; the Divinities could
may that the Gaming Crew
set eyes upon Her, She of
not imagine it, Hel walking the Earth as though
the snarly locks and steely
gaze.
She belonged! But She
"Ah!" exclaimed the
had won and so, of
Mistress of the Depths.
course, the agreement
"Now surely You were not
had to be honored.
thinking that You would
After much delibgame without Me, with so
eration it was finally degreat a Prize at stake!"
cided among all ParticiThey shuddered,
pants that Hel would inknowing full well what She
deed hold a piece ofland
would demand as Her Prize
in the Upper World, but
should She prove to be the
because Her housekeepwinner of the Event. Neving left something to be
ertheless, here She was
desired, She was forced
and here She would stay;
to settle for a moveable
They were stuck with Her.
terrritory, the idea being
For a brief moment
to keep any one piece of
some of Them entertained
land from completely fallthe possibility of canceling into total disrepair
ling the Idea, but then it
.
(as though She would
wasaWordmostobviously
Illustration by Tony Remington
ever allow such a thing
in motion and none of Them really wanted to be responsito happen!).
And so it was that He! got Her moveable Half Acre,
ble for suddenly changing the Flow of Events. Who knew
What could be called into manifestation should that occur which everyone of us complains about running all over to
and besides, there was always the distinct possibility that this very day.
He! would not win after all.
But the Lady is nothing if not shrewd and little did the
"On with the Game!" it was finally decided. And so it Heavens realized that He! also managed to secure for
was and They Thought that it was good.
Herself a pennant half acre in Texas, clearly marked on
Now Hells no slouch, as anyone who has ever had any modem maps. :1€
•FICTION•
43
Hecate's Loom No. 30
Regular Features
'Ifie 1-fer6a{ Witch
Everybody's Everyday Make-at-home Products:
By Samhain the herbal witch has gathered and dried
most of the herbs needed for the winter. Although the work
of a herbalist is never done now comes a time to try new
ideas.
Several years ago, I began trying to make my own
cosmetics and home products mostly to see ifl could do it
and to find cosmetics that were chemical free. The degree
of complication in producing body and home products
depends on ifyou wish to make the base products yourself
or use ready made products. This issue I would like to give
some simple (easy-to-try) recipes for different home products. Please excuse that all the measurements are not
metric.
Remember that it is best when you are making
cosmetics to use glass bowls and containers and wood or
plastic utensils rather than metal. It is best to keep
anything you make in a clean, closed container and in the
refrigerator.
Facials: Deep clean (helps deal with blackheads) apply cooked oatmeal to the face and let dry fifteen
minutes. Remove with warm water
Moisturizing for Winter skin - add a few drops of olive
oil and lemon extract to a mashed avocado. Apply to the
skin for ten minutes. Avocado is rich in vitamins needed
for healthy skin and nourishes the skin. Remove with
warm water.
Perk-up for tired complexions - Combine half a
mashed banana with 1/ 4 cup of apple juice and three
drops of peppermint oil (if you don't have oil mix in 1 or 2
tsp of dried mint and let sit for ten minutes). Add enough
cornstarch to form a soft paste. Leave on ten minutes rinse
with warm water.
Chamomile hand lotion (1/2 cup) - Mix 1/4 cup (50
ml) of chamomile infusion with 1/2 tsp (2 ml) of borax until
the borax is dissolved (this may require gentle heating).
Add 1/ 4 cup (50 ml) glycerine, 5 tsp (25 ml) witch haz.el
both purchased at your local drug store and 1 tbsp (15 ml)
of almond, olive or safflower oil. Shake vigorously and
store in a tightly closed jar and shake each time before
using.
6y 'Dianne
Herbal shampoo (mild enough to use everyday) make an infusion of rosemary or chamomile (pour 1 cup
(250 ml) boilingwaterover 2 tsp (10 ml) dried herb or 2 tbsp
(30 ml) fresh herb. Steep mixture overnight and in the
morning strain through a filter. Use a base of a milk or
baby shampoo and add the infusion. Shake well. The
infusion will blend with shampoo but will make the
shampoo thinner.
Fruity bath salts - put 3 tbsp bicarbonate of soda in
a bowl and add 12 drops of sweet orange or neroli (orange
blossom) essential oil and 6 drops of strawberry perfume
or potpourri oil. Add food colouring if desired. Mix well.
Pour in a clear jar, use 1 tbsp to bath.
Leafy aftershave - Place 3 tbsp of dried strawberry
leaves in heat proof bowl. Bring just over 1/3 cup of
distilled water to a boil and pour over the leaves infusing
4 to 5 hours. Heat 1 /2 cups of rosewater (from the drug
store or make your own) in a bowl set over a sauce pan of
simmering water. When hot add I tsp of borax stir very
gently until dissolved. Remove the bowl from the heat pour
in strained strawberry leaf mixture. Pour liquid into a
suitable bottle.
Blue cornflower eye bath (eases sore tired eyes) - Put
7 grams of dried cornflowers in heat proof bowl. Bring 200
ml (1 cup) of distilled .water to a boil and pour over the
cornflowers. Leave to infuse 1 hour. Strain carefully
through a filter. Chill in the refrigerator. Soak cotton pads
and place on closed eyes for 15 - 20 minutes. Should be
used fresh - don't use after 4 days.
Geranium soap balls - Grate 1 (300 g) large bar of
plain unscented soap (Ivory is what I use but can get soap
at a health food store) into a bowl. Heat 1/ 4 cup of
rosewater and pour over the grated soap. Add 2 drops of
grapefruit essential oil and 2 drops of geranium essential
oil (and 3 drops of yellow food coloring, if desired). Mix
thoroughly. Let mixture stand for 1 to 2 days then divide
into even sized pieces. Roll the pieces into smooth balls
and allow them to dry thoroughly. Polish with a cotton ball
dipped in rosewater. (Replace geranium with 5 drops of
carnation essential oil and 1 drop of clove).
Hope these recipes encourage you to try other madeat-home herbal products. Take care.X
Dianne is an herbalist who resides in northern Alberta. She
is a regular contJibutor to Hecate's Loom
•FEATURES•
44
Hecate's Loom No. 30
By Castalia
PaulFenris
Paul has a face familiar to many Ontario pagans who
knew him at the Toronto Occult Shop in its early years on
Queen Street West. Many things have developed out of his
experiences working at and running the shop. But instead
of looking over a counter at customers, Paul is designing
and creating magical items that are catching people's
•
attention across the country.
Paul doesn't appear to flt the stereotype of the pagan
artisan. Although his workshop is in the basement of an
old building in Hamilton, it is neat and clean, and magical
items in various stages of completion are arranged in
orderly rows. When I commented upon this phenomenon
he grinned and said "We pay someone to do that." Smart.
Very smart.
What also is different is that Paul isn't the solitary
craftsman forging away like some modern day Hephaestos.
His ideas have spawned a business that incorporates the
talents of many people, who work cooperatively. On a
swelteringly hotJ uly day, we discuss the past, the present
and the future.
The first craft item Paul made was for himself. He says
"I was trying unsuccessfully to copy a really nice athame
that Richard James owns, a very beautiful piece. I wanted
one like it and it wasn't available. Richard advised me that
I could use his shop to try and build one.
"He gave me the material. Itdidn'tcomeoutexactly,
but I did enjoy making it."
Paul made a few of the items for sale at the occult
shop a number of years ago. "There were a few products
that we want~ and one of the local suppliers was unable
to supply the handmade stuff."
Paul credits the patience and talents of many of the
artisans that were working in the community in the early
eighties in helping him develop appreciation for materials
and design. "I have been close to many artists in the
community and they've always come down to the shop
where I was working and use Richard's Joint facilities. I
learned early to grab a coffee and shut my mouth and
watch, and I learned just through watching other people.
Frankly I don't remember where I learned to do a lot of this
stuff."
Now, over ten years later, his efforts are showing up
in the beautiful things emerging from the workshop of Caer
Lloer Dyn, the name of his company and his coven. Paul
states over and over the importance he places on making
available good quality tools and accessories at moderate
prices. "I think the Craft and the people in it deserve access
to good ritual tools properly made and without outrageous
expense. That is one of the major commitments that got
the company rolling as a whole."
The beginnings of the companywere serendipitous,
and rather romantic. Some would call it practical. Because of an injury, Paul was forced to take time away from
his trade in air-conditioning. His partner and High Priestess, Morgan, needed some magical tools. "I decided to
make my priestess some items that she wanted when I had
the time. I hadn't been inspired until I saw the response
to the first few things that I made. "
He made more items and enthusiasm grew. "People
started seeing them and buying them. That's how the
company came about."
Paul wears a look of delighted surprise when he talks
about the response there has been to his creations and
when he reflects on the first year of the company.
"We had a good time doing a lot of the design and
buying the materials, the exotic woods and stuff. It started
in a walk-in closet in the kitchen. That was the whole
shop!"
Now Paul's life is quite different, and he's a happier
man for it. Sometimes it takes the encouragement of
others for a creative person to do what they were meant to
do. Paul has found that the business has kept him in
touch with his spirituality on a daily basis.
"I find it personally a verycomfortingwaytostart the
day. We do a little ritual to Goibban downstairs and we
start, and no-one's lopped off a finger yet! We have names
for all our tools. And somewhere someone's happy because ofit, so it's something tangible I can see."
Paul finds that being part of a creative collective to be
equally satisfying. "Caer Lloer Dyn products is the company of our coven Caer Llor Dyn. We are the artists.
•FEATURES•
45
Hecate's Loom No. 30
Everyone in the coven is involved in the business one way up and build a kabalah. We are going to lose out shirt on
or the other. I feel privileged to be a part of it."
it but we just want to put this out!"
Although much of the routine work is contributed by
Caer Lloer Dyn has set a precedent for doing unusuother members of the group, Paul has certain things he ally work. Paul says " When it comes to crafting craft
likes to do himself. "I like to count the runes before they products there is nothing too absurd, large, or ridiculous
for us to seriously consider offering a very good price to
go out. There's nothing worse than being short a rune.
"Some of the processes we do are dangerous, some build. We did this huge maiden-killer book of shadows on
of the etchings. Some of the chemicals aren't too nice, so a bet more than anything else. Then there was the
when it comes time to suit up and do the toxic stuff I Enochian chess set with hand painted Egyptian art forms,
generally do that myself. I also like to do the final sanding style one from the golden dawn. It was ebony and holly
on athame handles and packaging to make sure every- squares. The customer was suprised at what we did to do
thing got done. Things get missed. Tarot boxes go out with the job. We just wanted to say we actually built one of
two bottoms glued on and no lid, and the indignant those. If you have a good idea, we are always willing to
customer saying "Okay so what's the catch?"
correspond and do things like coven necklaces for people.
"I love to do the R& D, designing a new product. I like We consider it a priviledge to do this sort of thing."
talking to other Wiccans saying "hey, what would you
I asked Paul about his experience at Wiccanfest this
like?" Some people have really given me excellent advice, year. He told me a story. "I rented a truck at more than
and I very much enjoy sitting down and laying out the first I could afford and didn't realize it had air conditioning.
When I got to the festival I offloaded all our stuff and set up
of a product line.
"I do all the Golden Seal products which are one of a our display, so that I could relax because I was so tired.
kind things. Our cost is more because the whole R& D I said to myself: 'It's so sticky and hot, and I've got so much
process is never reclaimed: I've had not had any price money riding on this promotion, all I want to do Is have
complaints yet so I am doing something right in that $1000 In my till by eight o'clock and to see my breath In
the air from the cold.' Well, we had $1750 in the till on
respect."
I asked Paul about his views on the future of pagan- thursday and it was freezing! Overnight this thermal came
ism and of plans for Caer Lloer Dyn. He looked thoughtful in. I wasn't too popular around the cabin."
The success at Wiccanfest continues to show that
as he responded to the first question.
"I think it's diversifying in a positive way. It's repre- Paul and Caer Lloer Dyn are on to a good thing. "We had
senting itself in a more responsible and better educated something for everybody and just about everybody bought
format. People seem now much more clear on what they something, based on sales."
In my conversation with Paul I found him surprisbelieve and why when representing ourselves to the general community. I've noticed a fair degree of acceptance ingly modest about his achievements and his creations.
in the community towards the craft and to people who Here's a man who is manufacturing beautiful Items cooppractice it. Obviously we've cast off some stigmatic images eratively with his coven, and his only real area of conflict
is the weather! He is thoughtful when he comments: "My
that have long plagued practitioners of the craft.
"I've seen the craft represent itself well and the artists talent, I think, is never saying thatit's too much work to do
have made living, physical representations of the beauty of something. I learned watching Steve Hazzard work. What
their faith and of their deities, and have managed to I used to think was a ridiculous amount of work and effort
represent themselves through societies that are meeting to make something unfold was exactly what was required.
points between mainstream society and craft. You have And just did the work and watched the item unfold: the
your SCA. It is not a really craft organization but a whole better it looked the more it unfolded. Sometimes when I
lot of people that are interested in Wicca and the Craft go make a piece its a representation of how much I actually
there. Certainly the 'Gaming' has done its share for the like my faith and care for my gods and it's a living
craft and its exposure."
expression of that." X
There is a catalogue that is soon to be distributed. In
it will be found the athames, bollines, rune sets, oil racks,
tarot boxes, furniture and Jewelry that Caer Lloer Dyn has
Catalogues from Caer Lloer Dyn can be obtained by
become known for.
writing P.O. Box 83025, Hamilton, Ontario, L8L 8E8
Paul is planning to add many unusual items to that
catalogue in the future. He muses about his plans. "I wish
to make a Wiccan equivalent of a Faberge egg. I'd also like
to supply the magickal equivalent of The Den for Men.' We
can make kabalistic pencil sharpeners, and Greenman
penny banks that sing Greensleeves. Not with irreverence
Castalia is a professional musician and teacher,
implied but we like to make items that move people even
living in Ontario. If you are a Pagan artist, writer,
to humour. That's one of the things that we really want to
musician, or dramatist and would like to be profiled in
do.
Profiles, call (905) 525-5618 or write P.O. Box 68024,
"And children's puzzles and blocks. Our next design
Blakely Postal Outlet, Hamilton, Ontario, LBM 3M7
is children's building blocks that feature the Theban and
English alphabet and the Sabbats on them, to stack them
•FEATURES•
46
Hecate's Loom No. 30
Thirteen Questions
An Interview With Ariel O'Sullivan
by Miles Lowry
Ariel O'Sullivap is a poet and performance artist. She teaches
classes in trance and divination techniques, and is a co-founder of
Thirteenth House Mystery Tradition.
1. Who would you like to say hello to?
Wonder Woman.
2. What do you most dislike?
Invasion - the interruption of a person's personal space or musings.
3. Who do you admire?
Keats - for his level of devotion.
4. What is your greatest gift?
A discerning ear - though I'm not always listening.
5. Which do you prefer - Trick or Treat?
Treat - to be honest.
6. What's your favorite Fairy food?
Beech nuts.
7. What's your favourite line from a poem?
"The moon, methinks, looks with a wat'ry eye
and when she weeps, weeps every little flower
Lamenting some enforced chastity." - Shakespeare
8. What is your least favourite?
"I think that I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree--I rewrote
that recently as : I think that I shall never see a poem as lovely as your
tree."
9. If you had to escape, what would you take with you?
My children, my grandchildren, my cat, my dog and my computer,
and oh yes, my glasses.
10. What are you reading?
The Dictionary.
11. Where does your inspiration come from and when does it
come?
My inspiration comes from my condition. I'm inspired all the time
but I don't always know it - unless I sit myself down - like a good
parent - for a few hours a day and allow myself the opportunity to
remember.
12. Where would you most like to travel and by what method?
Space. My preferred method is Mental - I don't like vehicles or
regular modes of transport because of the feeling of being contained. • •
13. What are you looking forward to in the New Year?
Living the same way I write - that is with more spontaneity- I want
to discover things more through serendipity - by chance.
Miles Lowry is an artist, sculptor, photographer, writer and published poet. He is a designer and
Resident Artistfor Suddenly Dance Theatre, Victoria. Miles is a regular contributor to Hecate's Loom.
ADVERTISING REPS NEEDED
IN CANADA, UNITED STATES and EUROPE.
This is a volunteer position only a few hours a month.
A good opportunity to meet your local Pagan supporters and help keep
Hecate's Loom going.
Contact Dean (604) 383-0410 for more info.
•FEATURES•
47
Hecate's Loom No. 30
REVIEWS
Music • Theatre • Books • Seminars
Boadicea,
The Red-Bellied
Oueen
Reviewed by
Michael Hoppe
Frankenstein's
Mothers, Bloody
Mary and the
Virgin Queen
(the most brilliantly funny
Fringe show I
have ever seen;
I only hope that
they will remount it one
day). and Pink
FoursightTheatre Company in
Association with CathKilcoyne. Directed by Kate Hale. Performed by
Stephanie Jacob (Boadicea), Sue
PendLebury (Voada), Katherine
RatcLf[f(Voddiccia) and Simon Thorp
(Marius).
Most would agree that the theatrical event of the 1995 Victoria Fringe
Theatre Festival was Foursight Theatre Company's stunning production of
Boadicea, the Red-Bellied Queen.
Based in Britain, Foursight has captivated Fringe audiences in previous
years with such superb shows as
48
Smoke in the Vatican.
Having seen their shows in previous years, I rushed off with a couple of
friends to see Boadicea on the first
night of the Fringe. As I sit down to
write this, I have seen 13 other Fringe
shows in the interim, many of which
are fast fading from memory-yet I can
still vividly recall many of Boadicea's
electrifying moments.
Foursight Theatre has been in
the business for seven years now, in
the business of rampaging through
Wstory, as they put it, finding strong
female characters and telling their
stories on the stage. This sounds all
very well and politically correct, but
the magic is in the mesmerizingly the-
•REVIEWS•
atrtcal manner in which they tell these
stories. Rarely are historical plays
this immediate, this passionate, this
vivid.
Boadicea's story goes like this:
Circa 60 AD., upon her husband's
death, the . bodaclous Boadicea proclaims herself to be Celtic Queen of the
Iceni. The Romans, refusing to acknowledge a woman's authority, proceed to torture Boadicea and rape her
two daughters, Voada and Voddiccla.
In response, Boadicea takes on
the Roman Empire. She manages to
gather together an army of some
200,000 men and together they seize
London and St. Albans; 70,000 Romans are slaughtered. The Romans
retaliate, marching over Boadicea's
troops, with the ultimate result that
Boadicea commits suicide.
What a story to tell! And with
only four actors! Foursight commissioned a narrative poem from writer
Cath Kilcoyne and Incorporated it into
this production. Kate Hale directed
(she also directed Naomi Cooke's Slap
and acted in Bloody Mary and the
Virgin Queen), and the approach isn't
a ploddingly chronological one.
Hecate's Loom No. 30
The rape scene, for example, ts
Foursight doesn't have a dull
feminist axe to grtnd. Rather, they not done realistically, but rather stysharpen a steep rapier and make quick listically: all the actors breathe and
work of stodgy, stale theatrical and gasp rhythmically in and out of sync
with each other.
historical conventions.
The abstractintensity builds and
Each of the actors have the vocal
power and physical presence to stand builds and it starts to become horrifyalone on a Broadway stage and rivet ingly concrete in our minds when an audience's attention. Imagine that wham! - suddenly the tone shifts to
kind of concentrated theatrical en- much lighter, comic scene in which
ergy, times it by four, and then put it Boadicea is writing her own version of
Into the relatively small stage area of the rape scene and her daughters are
Open Space. As one friend said imme- alternately embellishing the tale and
diately after Boadicea, "They're a tri- criticizing her for not sticking to the
ple threat. They can act. They can facts .
This is one of the brilliant ways
sing. And they can nwve!"
Highly skilled in movement, mu- Foursight makes the audience aware
sic, song, mime and dialogue, the of the fact that we are being told a
three women and one man can play story, an alternate version of history.
musical instruments as well. All on a It may or may not be altogether true.
bare stage with one trunk and a few Just as the version of history we were
props; they create the most spellbind- spoon-fed as children may or may not
ing theatre with thesimplestofmeans. be true.
Boadicea shows us the many
different voices that go together to
make the sloppy stew we call history.
Their theatre is Brechtian in the sense
that they can create the most convincing theatrical illusion at the drop of a
hat, but they never let you sit back
and forget that they are creating this
illusion for a reason. This is more than
justgood theatre; their deconstruction
of history ts intellectually instructive
and creatively inspiring.
Boadicea, The Red-Bellied Queen
singed my sideburns. X
Michael Hoppe ts a nwvie programmer and theatre critic. He
resides in Victoria, British Columbia.
eg~pt• Ma~h 96
3ov.rney into Self
* Venture into the Magic of Ancient Egypt and reawaken
to the energetic and intuitive aspect of self.
* Experience the awareness of wholeness as you stand in
the Pyramid of Cheops.
* Feel your connection to the Legacy of the Mysteries of Isis
and Osiris.
* See the Valley of the Kings, the Temple of Queen
Hapshetsup and enjoy a Felucca boat ride on the Nile.
Cruise from Ashan to Luxor.
Egyptologist-guided tour or the Sphinx, the Pyramids, and the
Andent Temples * Excellent and relaxing accommodation and transportation * 14-day Metaphysic.al journey fadlitated by Liz Connolly, creator or
Foundatiollill Therapies.
for a more detalled brochure write to Liz Connolly, Triple
Spiral Books, l06 fan Tan Alley, Victoria, Blitlsh Columbia, Canada.
Ph: (604) 380-72 l2. Presented by Triple Spiral Books.
•REVIEWS•
49
Hecate's Loom No. 30
TWO DAYS IN THE
LIFE OF MAGIC
RWotkshop
Reviewed bv Beast
I was very fortunate recently to
be involved in a weekend workshop in
Living the Magical Life. The workshop
was presented by two of Victoria's
more prominent Witches, Elizabeth
Connolly and Alison Skelton. Both Liz
and Alison are founding Priestesses of
the Thirteenth House Mystery School.
Saturday morning was bright and
sunny, so I rode my motorcycle down
the long winding road which ended in
the laneway of a beautiful beach front
house. The living room balcony overlooked a sandy beach and the straits
of Juan de Fuca. I was greeted at the
door by Alison and Liz and was quickly
made to feel at home.
The rest of the students began
arrivingafter9:30a.m. Thereweresix
students altogether; three ladies and
three men; plus our two instructors.
This made eight. A nice magical
number.
Orientation started precisely at
10:00 a.m., with Liz and Alison explaining what was on the agenda for
the next two days. At 10:30 a.m. we
were all led out into the yard for a bout
of stretching exercises. While in the
yard I saw a garter snake which I
perceived as a good omen.
After rediscovering old aches and
pains; and then creating new ones, we
were led back into the house where Liz
guided us through a meditation read
to us from a book called Embracing the
Beloved by Stephen and Ondiea
50
Levine. The rest of the morning was
spent in a circle listening to Egyptian
music while we jumped, danced,
twisted, did pelvis thrusts back and
forth, shook all over, sighed and deep
breathed and did more stretching.
Being that we had created a temple-like atmosphere; we were asked to
observe a period of silence before each
meal. During this time we could read
or meditate; or anything else as long
as it was in silence. All the meals were
vegetarian and prepared by Alison.
Each one was a work of art. This is
another skill that can be placed on
Alison's list of many talents.
After lunch we again circled and
Liz led us through a process of creating sound vibrations from our inner
selves. We were once again led through
a guided meditation. At the end of the
meditation Liz went around the circle
and anointed everyone's seventh
chakra areas with special chakra oils
made by a shaman and his son in
Egypt.
A well-earned break came at 3:00
p.m. It was now Alison's turn to take
over as teacher and she lead us through
the Chakras. In front ofeach one of us
was placed a cube of clay. Closing our
eyes we proceeded to mold the clay
with our hands. Some very interesting art forms where created. After this
we were guided through another meditation. And as ifone lot ofjumping and
shaking hadn't been enough Alison
•REVIEWS•
now led us through a Saudi Bedouin
Dance.
Then more meditation. This
meditation consisted of looking into
an imaginary fire and seeing the cat of
our desires leap out and having it
absorb into our solar plexus region.
We all then stood in a circle holding
hands and roaring to our hearts content. I'm sure the people on the beach
didn't quite know what to make of all
the roaring coming from within the
house. This didn't bother us though
as we were too busy finding our inner
selves.
Our next break was 5: 15 p.m.
which evolved into our half hour of
silence before supper. Supper lasted
from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. After
supper we again circled; invoked the
four directions and then sat and discussed how we liked the workshop so
far; or anything else that met our
fancy. At 9: 15 p.m. the circle was
opened. Some like myself took the
long winding road home while others
stayed overnight.
Day one was complete. Day two ,
Sunday, found us working with the
throat chakra.
The throat Chakra deals with
sound so it was only fitting we sang
several lines to Row, Row, Row your
Boat, Gently Down the Stream; to
which we all got mixed up creating
much laughter; another throat Chakra
sound.
Hecate's Loom No. 30
Next came the brow and crown
Chakras with Alison again guiding us
through a meditation. Once everyone
had returned from this meditation we
were all handed a multi-coloured, egg
shaped piece of cardboard. Everyone
wrote their names on the egg in front
of them and then passed their egg to
the person beside them. The person
beside you then wrote their impressions of you on the egg you had just
handed them.
This happened eight times until
the egg had traveled the full circle.
When you finally received your own
egg back it was very interesting to see
how others perceived you. It was now
once again time for our silent period
and then lunch.
2:00 p.m. found us back in the
circle with Liz now speaking to us
about what we had done so far and
what it should mean to each one of us
indMdually. Afterthiswewentaround
the circle pairing us eight times so that
we could personally feel the energy of
each person there. 3:00 p.m. brought
another break and then at 3:30 p.m.
we invoked the directions and then sat
around and made personal, magical
talismans. Energy was then transferred from the circle into our talismans. The circle was then opened
and the workshop was over.
1 had never been to a workshop
like this before and I must say I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Not only did it
help me on the path to finding my
inner self: but I also met some wonderful people with the same interests as
my own.
And in closing I just have to say,
merry meet; and merry part: and merry
meet again. Blessed be. X
The Beast rides a Harley
Davidson and likes his herbal tea
hot. He is an artist and creator of
magical objects. Beast is Mailout
and Distribution Director for
Hecate's Loom.
perused the Lammas '95
issue and was particularly impressed by the
large number of listings
in the Pagan Events,
groups and Networking
section, not to mention
such wonderful articles
Trance
as "Trance Dance and the
Fetish Cult" and the subDalee &
limely odd "Fear and
The Fetish
Loathing at the Chelsea
Cuh
Flower Show".
In the strange coinTravel&ng
cidence department,
On The
there was a short history
of "The Legendary
Land
Atlantis Bookshop",
where such occult lumiAKwakuitl
naries
as
Gerald
Chief
Gardner. Dion Fortune
and Aleister Crowley
The
used to hang out and
where
I once spent the
legendary
better
part
of a rainy afAtlantis
ternoon, after getting lost
Bookshop
in London, looking for the
British Museum. I found
this wonderful shop
tucked away on a side street. I was
'Pagan Dcnvn"
unaware of its spectacular history
until Pagan Dawn came my way, so
thank you to Caroline Wise for 1llumiThe Joumal of the Pagan
nating me with her article.
Federation
Also worth noting is the "International Newsbites" column which
fllled me in on the goings on beyond
Review by John Threllfa11
our continent. And I am somewhat
embarrassed to admit that I had no
I'm always intrigued when a new knowledge of the events covered in "A
Pagan magazine finds its way through Kwakuitl Chief: Indian of the Pac1fic
the maze of the Loom collective to my Northwest Coming to Meet British
desk, and although Pagan Dawn isn't Pagans", despite the fact that the
a new publication, it has a freshness chief in question is from Vancouver
and vitality about it that makes it Island.
You'd think that
seem new.
the Loom would know about such
From what I can gather. Pagan things without having to read about
Dawn has been around for about ten them in a British publication, but
years (until four issues ago, under then I wouldn't have had the pleasure
another name) acting, as its banner ofdiscovering this gem in Pagan Dawn.
suggests, as the journal for the Pagan
Be sure to pick up Pagan Dawn
Federation- the original British Fed- if you're the slightest bit interested in
eration, that is, not the Canadian Pa- what is happening with Paganism in
gan Federation which graces our own our religious homeland. You can reach
pages.
them by writing to Pagan Dawn BM
Pagan Dawn grandly transcends Box 7097 London WC 1N 3.XX Engits humble task ofbeing the journal for land. They seem like friendly folks, so
a specific organization: from the vari- drop them a line and let them know
ety ofnews, articles and opinion pieces, what's up in the colonies, but be kind
at 39 pages it could rival most of the and enclose a SASE with internaNorth American Pagan magazines. I tional reply coupons. X
NIJMBI.R 116
•REVIEWS•
l.AMMAS 199~
51
Hecate's Loom No. 30
'The Company
of Wolves"
A Virago Theatre Production
at the Victoria Fringe Festival, Kaleidoscope Theatre
Adapted and directed by
Deborah Foley
Reviewed by Don Brennan
This local theatre company talces
a big bite in presenting an ambitious
adaptation of Angela Carter's retell1ng
of "Little Red Riding Hood." It's a fine
idea, though the rendering doesn't
quite match it for bravado. Like the
youngwoman on her way to her grandmother's, it tends to dawdle along
without focus or intensity. Still, the
largely inexperienced castlend a freshfaced sincerity if not a whole lot of
conviction to a production suffering
from raw, inexperienced direction.
52
This is a pity,
because the stoiy has
more levels of depth
than the one this production concludes
with.
The ancient tale
of an adolescent girl,
a crone, a walk
through the woods, a
wolf and (sometimes)
a huntsman has
more than 31 different literacy versions
and a forest of psychological and psycho-sexual metaphors.
The sexual connotations alone of the
wolfs appetite and
the eating of the girl
with the basket of
goodies, so that she
becomesonewith the
wolf, make for ripe
picking ground for
scholars. But metaphors alone can
make for pretty thin
fare, and it is as a
stoiy that "Little Red
Riding Hood" has survived and entertained people. Angela Carter's emancipated version ("Company of Wolves"
was just one of a few versions she
wrote) is one of many in a long line, the
most well-known of which are the
Charles Perrault and the Brothers
Grimm versions. Perrault took the
oral folk tale of "The Grandmother"
and projected the main character as
innocent, helpless and susceptible to
forces of nature, which in his time of
the l 600's, meant the forces of nature
were all1ed with the devil.
Perrault's audience identified the
wolf with werewolves, insatiable lust
and with chaos, so the story was in
fact a grtsly warning to prevent young
women from becoming Witches and
being "susceptible to nature." The
cultural code that informed Perrault's
storybook version made it plain that
order and discipline have to reign to
keep young girls "safe" from inner
sexual drives and outer natural forces,
and as such, the tale became a particular favourite of the aristocracy and
bourgeoisie.
•REVIEWS•
It was the Brothers Grimm In the
nineteenth century who put the particular spin on the tale to portray Little
Red Riding Hood as helpless, susceptible, and disobedient; disobedient
because she breaks the pact with her
mother to not talk to strangers. At the
same time, the Grlmms Implied blame
on the girl's part because she had a
nonconformist streak and wanted to
break from the moral restraints of her
mother, and of society.
In Perrault's original, (Carter also
edited his in The Virago Book of Fairy
Tales) the werewolf has a Jolly time
eating everyone up, case closed. In the
Brothers Grimm rewrite, law and order are emphasized with the timely
appearance of the huntergameskeeper. Male governance Is the
rescuing agent.
In either one, the story is a morality tale. As scholar Jack Zipes pointed
out in his exhaustive study of "Little
Red Riding Hood" that was later dedicated to the memory of Angela Carter,
whom he knew and Influenced, the
tale is a long-running one of men's
fear of women's sexuality.
In the conclusion to his essay
"'Little Red Riding Hood' as Male Creation", Zipes has this to say, pointing
out optimistically that in the twentieth
century there are signs of change in
radical adaptations: "It took two hundred years of hunting Witches and
werewolves to give birth to the traditional helpless Red Riding Hood and
restrictive notions of sex and nature,
then another two hundred years to
establish the proper bourgeois image
of the obedient Red Riding Hood learning her lessons of discipline; it may
talce another two hundred years for us
to undo all the lessons Red Riding
Hood, and the wolf as well, were forced
to learn.
One would think this tale would
have become a little threadbare after
so long and so much picking over.
(The joke "politically correct" version
circulating around office fax machines
and the Internet points to the ridiculousness of facile and sterile rewriting.)
However, Angela Carter's brilliance injected new life and interpretation in the story. She helps undo the
"lessons." Her retell1ng is a reflection
on the internal fantasies of a young
Hecate's Loom No. 30
girl at the moment of her adolescence
when there is the first intimations of
sexuality.
To most people who have seen
her film (or heard the BBC radio play
she created, or read the original short
story ofhers) it is clear that behind her
version of the tale lie old-world
animistic beliefs in the presence of the supernatural.
Carter taps into these to show
a young girl's interior psychic
needs in a larger social setting.
In "Red Riding Hood" a
la Carter, the girl cannot be
rescued by the hunter because the wolf is the hunter.
The girl has to rescue herself.
The young girl in the Virago
Theatre production (Sarah
Susut) plays to the hilt the
idea that she cannot show
fear, first by brandishing a
knife and then when that is
unavailable, by freely kissing
the wolf after responding to the "All the I
better to eat you with" line with a feisty
comeback, "I'm nobody's meat."
Understand that this is a woman
who not only runs with the wolves but
lies down with them, turning the tables with sexual initiative, and then
one has the key to Carter's retelling.
The beauty of Carter's story is that
though the wolf may be shown on one
level as the male sexual wolf on the
make, there are no simplistic premises
that all men are beasts nor, conversely,
I
that male heroes are necessary to a
woman's welfare.
The wolf, interior and exterior,
becomes the lamb when faced with
what MargaretAtwood aptly described
as "gift as opposed to plunder". On the
morning after, the wolf is forced to
become tender and loving. This
aspect is unfortunately lost in
the Virago Theatre production.
Christopher Castle plays a
rather wooden wolf, and there
is a suggestion that the young
woman was "lost" when she took
the sexual initiative, thereby
casting her into an abyss of
forsaken innocence and those
darn old natural forces .
Some ofCarter's lines come
through, such as the old woman
advising that "we keep the
wolves outside by living well ,"
but overall, much tightening up
is needed to make this production resolve satisfactorily.
Visual touches, such as
having the young woman's red cloak,
stand in as the virginal bed and a folk
music soundtrack featuring Rosemary
The Pagan Path
Janet & Stewart Farrar
and Gavin Bone
It has often been stated that Paganism is the fastest growing religion in the world-this book helps to answer why ...
As a result of many years of research with pagans throughout the world,
the authors have compiled an extensive work on paganism today .
Chapters include:
• The Ancient Roots
• Healing
• The Modem Rebirth
• The Earth Our Mother
• Pagans in the Community
• The Rainbow of Paths
• Pagan Families
• God and Goddess Forms
• Paganism and Sex
• The Global Village
• No Place for Satan
• The Way In
• Paganism and Christianity
• Questions and Answers
• Magic and Divination
• and more
•REVIEWS•
As well as as large section on the results of their
worldwide smvey of pagans, also included is a
chapter on pagan humour (great fun!).
The Farrars previous works include The Witches'
God, The Witches 'Goddess, Spells& How They Work,
Eight Sabbats for Witches, and The Witches' Way.
$17.95
Ask for it at your
favourite bookstore!
/Phoenix Publishing
(100% Canadian)
Quality Books on Wicca
53
Hecate's Loom No. 30
ruses, one side the Wood Sprites and
the other the Wolf Pack Spirits. These
bring a chanting continuity to the
action.
Fidelity to Carter's crone narrator (Monika Majewski) helps to remind
us that the teller of these tales was
typically an old woman literally spinning yams by the fireside. It may be a
struggle at times, but more venturesome work like this needs to be encouraged.
When the unknown terrors of the
outside are known, then fantasy becomes more subversive desire than
irrational fear. The wolf is no longer at
our door.X
Donald Brennan is a writer,
musician and drwna critic. He
resides in Victoria, B.C.
Q$/AG~ ZINES
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•REVIEWS•
28
Hecate's Loom No. 30
"Fall of the
Pomegranate"
Written by Mariette Sluyter
Directed by Gail Hanrahan
A Spinstergirl Production at
the Victoria Fringe Festival,
Open Space Gallery.
Reviewed by Don Brennan
What if Persephone, the quintessential fallen woman, was a keynote
speaker at a "Fallen Women Anonymous" Support Group? What would
she have to tell after an eon of"playtng
house" in Hades and having blame
and guilt heaped on her?
Mariette Sluyter's sharp and witty
play takes on the Homeric interpretation of the myth and tangles with
Freudian analysts and stereotypes of
the archetype en route. TWs is dynamic theatre of "feminist re-vision"
that shouts "I know the truth, and it's
wearing a skirt!"
The 29-year old
Sluyter is slightly uncomfortable with the
tdeaof"revtston", with
its implying a rewriting and changing of
Wstoryand myth, but
in the sense of "remembering", this
work amply suggests
what the myth originally meant. As she
says, Persephone was
always a goddess of
grain and fertility: it
was Homer who allied
her with the underworld of Hades that
has since become not
a place of beauty but
of punitive suffering.
Homer made
Persephone subservient to Hades. Sluyter
takes us back to the
begtnntng around the
time of chaos, "the
original chaos - not
the last time you tried
to make dinner before
the aerobics class and the kids were
running around."
Persephone is a blonde bopper in
a gold tutu with high heels telling the
story of who begat who in the dawn of
the gods. As the daughterofZeus and
Demeter, she "shares" with us her
rape and abduction at the hands of
the ruler of the underworld, dear old
uncle Hades, who had made a deal
with Zeus that he could "have" her
despite Demeter's known objections.
Hades gets his chance when
Persephone ts out one day alone picking flowers. "Never walk alone" becomes one of Persephone's resolutions after she's carried off. Her eventual partaking of the pomegranate
fruit (the only food in the underworld)
has the consequence of supposedly
allowing Hades to claim Ws rights as
husband, because the eating of a single seed while she's in his house constitutes marriage to her lord-of-thedead uncle.
"One little seed is a reason to
marry?" she queries. "Not even a ring,
which you can melt down after the
divorce."
Having "humiliated her family by
•REVIEWS•
snacking", Persephone laments that
she is now condemned to being forced
underground for six months every
year and her sullied self is no longer
permitted to wearwhtte ... and I'm winter!" she wails into a mascara-stained
tissue.
Mother Demeter tries to come to
her rescue, but her fltgh t "has a layover
in Limbo" and she misses the connection. Rather than bemoan her fate,
Persephone undergoes a clarifying
ritual, a "Song to Recant" as a kind of
Hopscotch Mantra whereby she forswears "glamour length false nails for
action length," vows "not to wear mascara on weekends," and gives herself
over to "a power greater and thinner
than l...Vanna! (White)"
The conclusion of the 12- step
program arid the conclusion to her
Shartngwith the Sisters ofFallen Womanhood (Medusa, Lilith and Lady
MacBeth are waved to in the audience)
ts to make herself"ready and willing to
become plain."
Off comes the blonde wig and
onwards she moves in the next several
scenes to self-knowledge and "empowerment", a catharsis that makes
her transcend "plain" by her righteous
anger at her treatment and the eventual sensual sharing with a lover.
Three facets or stages of
Persephone come forth in Sluyter's
play; Persephone as a guileless maiden
(Valley Girl-style), a whip-cracking
dominatrix with an attitude confronting Hades, and the awakened lover;
the fallen woman falling in love.
The beauty of Sluyter's
Persephone falling in love ts that she
does so with one of the dead, a spirit,
and therefore a non-gender specific
essence, so that the loving can encompass hetero and homosexual love.
The metaphoric possibilities of
falling, fallen and Fall are explored in
tWs work. The whole ts wonderfully
complemented by Tate Shimawwa,
who hangs in the air on a climbing
harness on stage right, providing a
spider-like presence to the main action and moving in concert with the
voice-over monologues.
We follow Persephone through
her signing up at the "Camille Paglia
Workshop Weekend for the Shirley
Maclatne Package" and her speaking
in tongues to her "Inner Tramp." A
55
Hecate's Loom No. 30
channeling of a raging "Sheila of the
Underworld" leads her to some "anger
issues to work through," and a confrontation with her abductor-uncle;
"Hades, you popped the tire on my
chariot of fire!"
The much-maligned Pomegranate (fruit of the womb) is rightfully
placed In context; "A Pomegranate is
about life, birth, fertility - not nuptial
hell!"
Homer comes under fire with this
interesting question: "If a woman falls
In the forest and Homer Is the only one
to document It, does she fall freely?"
And lastly, the interspersed scenes of
Persephone with her analyst are
summed up with the vehement accusation that every sensitive woman has
wanted to make: "You couldn't handle
my power! You're a freaking fraud,
Freud!"
The transformation of the ditzy
blonde bombshell with high voice and
low self- esteem, incapacitated and
inarticulate, to the beyond-plain, dynamic, fully realized woman is satisfyingly vlrtuosic. The ending note is one
of celebration, paganistic reclamation
and new-found confidence: "Fall Is
about renewal...you still have to land
and start again - the fall ls actually the
beginning."
With Persephone's final affirmation thats he Is going to "keep on falling
every year" and a last tableau of another leap off Mount Olympus, the
Quintessential Fallen Woman turns
the idea of fallen women on Its ear.
Even Mother Demeter has tempered
her anger at the world somewhat,
what with evergreens - symbol of
mom's acceptance.
Mariette Sluyter is an experienced
actor who wanted to create new work
with cutting-edge originality rather
than rely on the previously tried and
true. Experience with theatre in Indonesia helped fuel her drive to co-found
Splnstergirl Productions In Calgary
and to help her believe she could write
and perform something in a poetic
form.
Judging from "Fall of the Pomegranate", her second play, Sluyter has
a sharp talent for presenting contemporary Issues with refreshing and lively
approaches to mythology and
"herstory."
Hanrahan's direction and excel-
56
lent use of a single Item of furniture, a
LuSin Is initiated Into the myschaise lounge that becomes bed, ana- teries of womanhood, of life, of death
lyst's couch and cliff face, Is superbly and of rebirth, by the onset of mendeft.
struation. She embarks on a Journey
Saucy humour Is plainly one of which takes her to Northern Europe,
this company's strength's In present- back home and away again, In a quest
Ing the stages of Persephone.
for wholeness of Self, and of her peo"Women have to take a similar ple's collective Self.
journey," Sluyter said In an Interview.
In The Cup of Marl Anu, the fact
"In Persephone's case It's a little exag- alone that a mute little girl becomes
gerated - 1 never wear gold lame," she the guide and the Voice for her tribe
adds.X
empowers all children, not just girls.
Through LuSln, children stand out as
Individuals who are able to transform
themselves and their reality, by the
power of their will and of their actions.
The story Is full ofdreams, prophecy, enchantment and clever metaphors which lead to the discovery and
the reverence of the feminine essence
In everyone. Owens successfully combines skilful writing, bursting with
'The Cup of Mari Anu"
Images, with careful but subtle historical, anthropological and geographiby Yvonne Owens
cal research--and her own spiritual
illustrated by Kevan Lane Miller
contribution to the story as a Woman,
and as a Witch.
You will find that The Cup ofMart
Homed Owl Publishing
Anu, as a whole experience of narra34 pages, 6 colow- illustrations
tive and art, can take your child (and
$12.95
yourself) Into a realm of wonder and
Reviewed by Michela Scheuerman loveliness, while nourishing both your
souls with primal wisdom and a sense
of centredness that cannot be otherAs I was reading Yvonne Owens' wise taught.X
story, The Cup of Mart Anu, I realized
that this could be the kind of book
which becomes a milestone In a child's
life--one of those stories like we all
'The Pagan Path"
have tucked away among our childhood memories, that one cherishes
by Janet and Stewart Farrar.
and will always recall as a safe place,
and Gavin Bone
magical and full of warmth.
Owens' narrative, which Is very
Phoenix Publishing Inc.,
clear and "child-friendly," while re1995 $17.95 241 pages
taining the elegance and flow of adult
choice fiction, harmonizes perfectly
with the colourful, rounded and captivating illustrations by Californian
Reviewed by Yvonne Owens
artist Kevan Lane Miller.
Together, word and Image conspire to transport the reader in a wonThis is an excellent book, beautidrous mythological past full ofbeauty, fully written and meticulously thorand the spiritual wisdom of the an- ough. It presents a clear picture of
cient world.
history, mythology, magical practices,
The story begins In the Middle philosophy, ethics, magic and culEast and centres around the charac- tural anthropology. And the clear
ter of LuSln, a mute little girl who picture on the cover Is a photo taken
becomes the spiritual beacon of her by our own managing editor, John
nomadic desert tribe.
Threlfall.
Book Reviews
•REVIEWS•
Hecate's Loom No. 30
In The Pagan Path, the Farrars
combine their voices with that ofGavin
Bone. The result is a seamless blend
of fact, theory and informed conclusions. Bone's style of conjecture and
reflection is consistent with the progressive and open-minded approach
I've come to expect from the Farrars.
Bone expands upon the good grace
and generosity of spirit which is traditional Farrar fare, creating a lively and
engaging, phenomenally well-researched body of findings.
I remember the survey
questionaire the Farrars handed out
to everyone they encountered during
theirtourofNorthAmericain 1990. It
was a comprehensive and accessible
interview, designed specifically for
those already upon the "Pagan Path."
The questions were intelligent, respectful and honouring of personal and
traditional idiosynchracies. That tone
of tolerance is carried out throughout
The Pagan Path, invoking the sensation ofbelonging to some great, sprawling, mostly functional family. We are
Interconnected, in spite of our many
differences.
Indeed, I met many people and
groups I know in the pages of The
Pagan Path. Over twenty issues of
contemporary significance are addressed in what amounts to a sociology of Paganism worldwide. The tribal
nexus of Pagan practitioners does (it
would appear) share some basic ideals. The Farrars' and Bone's lovingly
compiled evidence of this is grounding
in itself, centering us in our diverse
unity.
The implications of our developing identity as a group are reassuring. It seems we do have a sound
ethical structure, a cohesive cultural
base, and a viable philosophical model.
We will survive as an ideology, living
beautifully upon the Earth, spreading
branches into the twenty-first century
and bearing magical fruit. We will
continue long after other, more nihilistic systems of beliefs have given up
the ghost. The inherent, diverse logic
of our "Rainbow of Paths" will lead us
to this eventuality, whilst sparing us
the boredom and conformity of Utopia. All is well with the world. Thank
you, Janet and Stewart Farrar and
Gavin Bone, for this healing vision of
our shared destiny.
Besides offering this particularly therapeutic idea, The Pagan Path
is an excellent reference and source
book.X
'The Kitchen Witchs
Cookbook''
by Patricia Telesco
Llewellyn Publications, 1995
$16.96 US, $23.50 CAN 369 pages
''.A Witchs Brew"
by Patricia Telesco
Uwellyn Publications, 1995
$16.96 US, $25.50 CAN 269 pages
Reviewed by Yvonne Owens
"Each meal can become a magical
escapade, brimming with innovation,
insight, and intuition."
I tried out some of the recipes
for "visionary vegetables." The results
were delicate, subtle, delicious and
pleasingly exotic (like Babylonian
"Brussels in Spice"). The "Witch's
Dishes" include "Sweltering Stew."
Just exactly what is a "Witch's
Cookbook" anyway? ·How does it differ
from any other kind of cookbook--!
mean, substantively? For one thing, it
restores cooking to its ancient place,
central to the magic of the hearth,
feeding the eye and esoteric intellect,
as well as body and soul.
A Witch's Brew does the same
for beverages. With recipes for "Divination Draught," "Metamorphosis
Punch," and "Black Currant Compassion," this book amply equips the
Sabbat hostess or host for transporting revels. Patricia has gathered 236
recipes for both alcoholic and nonalcoholic "potions." The "magical attributes" and "variations" are listed for
all. Amongthegemsofwisdomquoted
under "Tonics" is my favourite, by
William James:
"Genius, in truth, means little
more than the faculty of perceiving in
an unhabitual way." X
What a gorgeous set ofbooks! A
Kitchen Witch's Cookbook is a passionate display of foodlore and magical cuisine, lavishly presented. There
have been such works of culinary
magic published in the past, but never
on so grand a scale. The pages of the
book are beautifully organised and
designed, with a folksy, Victorian look.
This makes sense: Patricia Telesco is
the author of A Victoria Grimoire and
The Victoria Flower Oracle (as well as
The Urban Pagan, and the upcoming
'The Frog, The Prince
Folkways).
and the Problem of Men"
The 300-plus recipes are clearly
laid out, seasoned here and therewith
by Geo.ff Dench
epicurean nuggets such as, "The discovery of a new dish does more for the
Neanderthal Books, 1994
happines of mankind than the discov$12.95 (CAN) 251 pgs.
ery of a star." One must certainly
admit the truth of that.
A lot of love went into this colReviewed by Yvonne Owens
lection of recipes and tasty wisdom,
garnered from many ethnic traditions
This book is such a perfect prodof food preparation. (The book is dedicated to Gala, in memory of Scott uct of the feminist backlash that I was
Cunningham.) History, aesthetics, inspired to write an essay on the subcontextual background and symbolic ject. Stay tuned to these pages, in
correspondences are supplied for en- some future issue, for my analysis of
chanting menus and recipes. The a regressive, social phenomenon.
acts of preparing and serving food are (Dench is violently oposed to the ordideclared magical and become so, re- nation of female clergy.) My analysis of
claiming the art of cooking from mere this book is that it is essentialy worthfunction and restoring to ita meaning- less, (unless you count the entertainful aesthetic, a ritual quality and an ment value of paranoia and unwitting
ideology to boot. According to Patricia, humour).X
•REVIEWS•
57
Hecate's Loom No. 30
Music Reviews
two songs composed by Lester; drawing upon old songs and themes, these
flt in very well.
Leanan Sidhe emphasise instrumentation. The recorders and harp
produce a rich medieval feel, conveying the acoustics and playing style
that one might associate with a banquet or small concert hall. Unfortunately, while the recording quality for
the instruments is quite good, that for
the vocals is somehow lacking: having
heard Owens sing on stage a few years
ago, I think this tape doesn't do full
Justice to the richness and clarity of
her voice.
This tape does not flt into the
usual category of "Pagan music, " as
most of the songs are recognisable
Rob Von Rudloff is a musiforemost as "Christmas carols· and
cian, with a background in classithe lyrics tend to emphasise Christian
cal music. He holds a M.& in
themes. This, of course, is the case for
Physics and a M.A in Classical
most traditional music associated with
Studies. Rob was a co-producer of
Yule. The artwork (a stunning yet
Hecate's
Loomfor many years and
peaceful work by Miles Lowry) and
now acts as consulting advisor.
liner notes similarly do not betray the
leanings of the musicians. As such , it
certainly would make a good present
for the non-Pagans in your family.
However, as so many elements of
Christmas are Pagan borrowings
anyway , fans of
traditional music
as played either by
T h e Her mit's Lan t ern ... edited by Paul Beyerl
period-instrument
ensembles or folk
What a dealt Receive a
groups can cermonthly new!:lettet filled
tainly appreciate
with
atticle!: on magickal
this recording as a
hetbali!:m, a!:ftology,
very enjoyable recovery of Pagan
hltot, gem & minetal!:
folk music.
magick and healing. A
For ordering
yeat'!: !:Ub!:ctiption of
or booking infortwelve
i!:!:Ue!: i!: $2 4.00
mation, write:
u.~.
Many !:Ub!:ctibet!:
LeananSidhe, c/o
box 8543, Victoria,
want pet!:onal nahll chatt
B.C. VBW 3S2.X
wotk of impothlnt ttan!:itl!
l\£rbs & Plan£ts & Things
"Season of Holly"
by Leannn Sidhe. Cassette,
60 minutes, $11.95.
Reviewed by Rob Von Rudloff
This is the premiere release from
duet Shelagh Mason-Ebenal (flute and
recorders) and Naomi Sharon Lester
(non-pedal harp, recorder and Tibetan
bells), with guest artist Yvonne Owens
(vocals and percussion). There are 17
pieces of Celtic and other early European yuletide folk music, going back
to the 13th century C.E. The musicians have researched their music
well, and give snippets of historical
infonnationonmostofthesongs; they
probably could havewrtttena lot more,
but there .are space limitations on
cassette foldouts. Included also are
58
on a monthly ba!:i!:.
Yout!: can be included fot an exfta $15.00 a yeat.
~ub!:ctibe to The Hetmit'!: lantetn.
It'!: the be!:t deal atound fot !:tudying 'with' Paul Beyetl.
The Hetmit'!: lantetn i!: e!:!:ential fot the !:etiou!: !:tudent of
mehlphy!:ical di!:cipline!:. ~ample? $2.50 U.~.
The Hermit's Grove
9724 - 132nd Ave NE, Kirkland, WA 98033 USA
Coming to Seattle? Come visit our gardens!
•REVIEWS•
Hecate's Loom No. 30
Public Rituals
Ongoing public celebrations. Contact: The Gata
Collective, 260 Demetri Way, Salt Spring Island , BC V8K
1X3; Myranda (604) 537-9328, Lynn (604) 653-9468.
performances /workshops/ drumming. The retreat Is located
at the Ecology Retreat Centre of Hockley Valley surrounded
by 200 acres of natural forest. Sacred ceremony every
evening and Samhain ritual Saturday night. Costs: $190100. Registration deadline Sept. 15, 1995. For more
Information contact Shem (416) 597-6829 or Kate (416)
630-0660. Write: Womynspirit Festival Collective, 390
Harvie Ave, Toronto, Ontario, M6E 4L8.
Temple of the Lady
Ongoing public Sabbat celebrations and family picnics in
Victoria and the Lower Mainland. Contact (604) 595-6348.
Monthly Lecture Series
Bay Area Pagan Assemblies
First Tuesday of every month in Victoria. Vartous topics
and speakers: dreamwork, geomancy, astrology, etc. By
donation. Contact: Triple Spiral Metaphysical, #3 - 106
Fan Tan Alley, Victoria, B.C.; (604) 380-7212.
NROOGD
Covenant of the Gaia Church ofAlberta
Ongoing circles and classes in Calgary presented by
various groups. Contact: C.G.C.A. , Box 1742, Station M,
Calgary AB T2P 2L7; or Sandy, (403) 283-5719.
Wiccan Church of Canada
Ongoing classes, coffee-houses , weekly and sabba t
circles. Toronto: (416) 781 -2123; Ottawa: (613) 231 -4138;
Hamilton: (905) 523-8433.
Toronto Temple of the Wiccan Grove
Ongoing public circles. Contact: Dea, (416) 636-0934.
Womynspirit Festival
October 27-29, 1995. The Womynsplrlt Festival
celebrates the artistic and creative aspects of womyn's
culture, spirituality and healing. Womyn's circles, poets,
storytellers , wrtters, musicians, singers, dancers, artists.
therapists , bodyworkers , and others, are invited to offer
performances , readings , or workshops In order to share
their work. There will be some time for spontaneous
Ongoing events. Contact: (510) 656-GAIA.
Ongoing public celebrations. Contact: NROOGD. Box
360607, Milpitas , CA 95035.
Between the Worlds: A Grand Magickal
Congress
October 24-27. 1996. Convocation by The Assembly of
The Sacred Wheel to build dialogue and foster
interconnections between magtckal Traditions and Paths.
To be held at the downtown Holiday Inn, Wilmington,
Delaware. Selena Fox to be among the guest speakers.
Contact: Ivo Dominguez, Jr, Rural Route 2. Box 511-G,
Georgetown, Delaware, 19947, USA. Phone/FAX: (302)
855-9422. Email: wiccawheel@aol.com
November 9 - 12, 1995. AutumnMeet '95 to be held a t
Jacksonville, Florida. For more Information contact:
AutumnMeet '95, c/oLlfeSprlngGathering, 2 l90Traymore
Road , Jacksonville, FL. 32205. PH: (904) 396-9637, FAX:
(904) 399- 1964.
Winter Lights Festival & Holiday Sale
December 2 , 1995. Winter Lights Festival to be held In
Citra, Florida. For more information contact: Crones'
Cradle Conserve, P.O. Box 1207, Citra, FL, 32113. PH:
(904) 595-3377.
continued ...
• ANNOUNCEMENTS •
59
Hecate's Loom No. 30
I
>
I
~mimffi~1iiii,ld
Philadelphia Pagan Meet
November 17, 1995. Philadelphia Pagan Meet to be
held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. An eveningwtth Selena
Fox & Dr. Dennis Carpenter, includes Urban Paganism
workshop and ritual. To receive more information and to
reserve space contact: Roxanne at (215) 425- 7880 - leave
your name, address and phone number.
Yule Festival
December 16, 1995. Yule Festival at Circle Sanctuary
in southwestern Wisconsin. Events to Include Yule log
ritual in the stone circle, Yule tree decoration, magickal gift
exchange, workshop, potluck feast. etc. Bring at least 3
cans of food for Circle's annual charity food drive. Children
welcome. Pre-registration required. Contact: Circle, P.O.
Box 219, Mt. Horeb, WI, 53572. Ph: (608) 924-2216; FAX
(608) 924-5961.
LADY NUIT DISTRIBUTIONS
Established 1989 E. V
P.O. Box 313
Laval, Quebec H7W 4T2
(514) 681-7830
Specializing in the 93 current.
Pagan Spirit Gathering
June 16-23, 1996. Pagan Spirit Gathering In
southwestern Wisconsin. Celebration of summer Solstice
and Pagan culture. Flyer with additional information
available Spring 1996. Contact: Circle, P.O. Box 219, Mt.
Horeb, WI, 53572. PH: (608) 924-5961.
Over 100 oils from A - Z
Custom blends for every need
Incense Sticks - Powders - Gums
Books - Tarots - Posters - Jewelry
Statuary of Gods & Goddesses
T-shirts - Ritual Tools & much more!
Goddess Sites
Goddess Sites, Greece and Turkey. Experience magic
as you explore origins of the Goddess, celebrate ritual at
Delphi and meet archaeologists at Cata! Hoyuk. Feather
Woman Journeys. Phone/FAX (415) 574-1602
•
mponum
Earth Mysteries and Sacred Site Tours
November 1995. Ancient Egypt, pyramids, sphinx
temples Cairo, Felucca boat rides on Nile, teaching in
ancient Egyptian mythology, Goddess/Gods at each site new theories about origins of pyramids. Small groups,
Intimate setting, expert guidance and private time. For
more detailed bochures call Sheri Nakken, R.N., M.A., Well
Within (510) 799-5870 or write P.O. Box 5671, Dept. S.,
Hercules, CA, 94547.
Please note: An ad, announcement or classified in
Hecate's Loom does not constitue an endorsement by us of the
advertisers, products, or philosophies of the individuals. We
cannot accept any legal responsibility for any events that may
occur due to individuals' transactions with the advertiser.
Although we cannot offer any assistance in the event of any
difficulty. if you experience any problems with an advertisers
please let us know so that we may make informed choices.
When w1iting to an event organizer. send a self-addressed,
stamped envelope. If mailing to another countiy. check
international postage rates and send an international mail
coupon or equivalent. Blessed Be.
'Wfiere mirtli and reverance
go liand in liand to 6ring you
a unique mystica{ 6fend of
magica{ items and nove{ties
'Jor your free cata[og:
.9l.unt .9l.gatlia s
P.O. 'BOX 64043 j(j'O Cfar/q, rd
Coquitfam, 'BC o/3J 7o/6
~a~ (604) 931-3874
• ANNOUNCEMENTS •
60
Hecate's Loom No. 30
Alison Skelton will be teaching Tarot
courses (Major and Minor Arcana) in
Victoria. The courses will run for twelve
weeks, one day per week. In addition to
lecture, students will receive xeroxed patterns of Tarots to fill in with colour as a
meditation exercise. Exact dates and day of
the week will be determined by participants
demand. For further information, please
call Alison at (604) 380-1479.
Black Madonna Metaphysical, Ariel
O'Sullivan, Wiccan Priestess, is offering
classes in Trance and Divination. Contact
her at: Triple Spiral Books, #106 - 3 Fan Tan
Alley, Victoria, BC. Ph: 380-7212.
VILIJA, Baltic Tradition, seeks contact
with individuals and/or groups, traditions
from eastern and northern Europe for mutual exchange and fellowship. Write to:
Romuva/Canada, P.O. Box 232, Station D,
Etobicoke, Ontario, M9A 4X2. Would also
like to make contact with Pagans living in
the west end ofToronto. Ph: (416) 237-9831.
Ritual Dance and movement classes are
on-going in the Victoria area. For more
information, please contact Skywalker, P.O.
Box 40018, 905 Broughton St., Victoria, BC,
V8W3P9.
Alison Skelton is available for Tarot readings through Triple Spiral Metaphysical,
#106-3Fan Tan Alley, Victoria,BC. Ph:3807212.
at: Triple Spiral Books, #106 - 3 Fan Tan
Alley, Victoria, BC. Ph: 380-7212.
The wonderful and surprisingly large comm unity in and about McDonalds Corners serves the Ottawa-Montreal region
and offers open circles, Mini-Fest, workshops and referrals. Contact: Gina Ellis at
RRl, McDonalds Corners ON KOG lM0
(613) 278-2688.
I am a young womyn, recently turned
Pagan. I am hungry for more knowledge
and seeking other Pagans in the London,
Ontario area that would enjoy teaching,
guiding, and enlightening me, as well as
sharing knowledge, experiences and friendships. Write to: Brooke Hutton, 157
Broughdale Ave, London, Ontario, N6A
2K6.
I am new to Wicca and would like to
correspond with Pagans from anywhere
and of any tradition. Please don't be shy,
contacts are not easy to make. Angeline
Waldo, #3580 Elliott Rd, M2C3, Westbank,
BC, V4T 1N9.
Interested in contacting others in the Portland area who are researching their
Lithuania heritage. Contact Marianne
Barisonek, 10790 NW Copeland St., Portland, OR, 97229. Ph: (503) 641-2729. Email Marianne Barisonek at pdxm/1,
mentorg.com.
Qadeshim! An APA for Gay Pagans,
featuring fiction, non-fiction articles, poetry and art in a celebration of the diversity of Gay Spirituality. Send a SASE to:
Qadeshim, c/o Michael D. Goodwin, Box
66082, 1106 Wilson Ave., Downsview ON
M3M lGO.
"Mother is the name of God on the lips of
children everywhere ... ". The new future of
the Old Faith lies within and belongs to our
children growing up with pagan values. AB
parents, we ultimately serve our Gods by
passing their ways on to our offspring. A new
Pagan Parents Network is forming, and
we would love to hear ideas about what
children's services are required/available
within the pagan community. Examples:
pagan daycare, toy/clothing exchange, children's Sabbat festivals, antidefamation/public information, babysitting co-op, ad
infinitum. Letusknowwhatyou want to see.
Enquiries and comments are welcome at:
Pagan Parents Network, c/o Teakan, #140 7231 Scott Road, Delta, BC, V4C 6P5.
Call for Papers. How has Z Budapest
touched your life? We want articles, stories, poems, personal anecdotes, rituals,
dreams or letters about how you feel
changed through contact with Z's writing,
rituals and way of being in the world for
inclusion in an upcoming anthology. Send
submissions to Z stories, P.O. Box 11363,
Oakland, CA, 94611. Submissions
Deadling: Feb 2, 1996
Elizabeth Connolly is offering sessions in
Foundational Therapies which focus on
experiental process and magical counselling
to facilitate healing. She may be contacted
Solitary pagan and student of mythology/folklore seeks correspondence with
persons of similar interest. Ecology, philosophies of life, pagan living in a Judeo-
This is a free, non-commercial
listing of groups and
individuals who offer services
or seek contacts/information
in the Pagan community.
Want to be listed? Send your
name, address and/or phone
number and other information
(services, media contact,
networking, etc.)
Christian society. Contact: Charles
Spratling, #170334, 1790 E. Parnall Rd.,
Jackson, MI, 49201.
Sky Ranch is open women's land in the
Lakes District ofBritish Columbia. Women
and children visitors are welcome ; to help
with the farm, live in harmony with the
wilderness, and celebrate our Pagan spirituality. I am a Wiccan, lesbian, part-time
farmer, always interested in Pagan contacts. Judith Quinlan, C4 Site 20, RR#2,
Burns Lake, BC, V0J lE0. (604) 694-3738
Kathryn Millar: Wiccan Priestess and
Artist. Classes, workshops and lectures.
Monthly column on Wicca in The N anaimo
Times. Media contact, networking, ritual
art and objects, counselling services, public
Solstice Gatherings, Site 16, C-26, Gabriola
Island,
BC,
V0R
lX0;
e-mail
Millark@mala.bc.ca
Temple of the Lady: Wiccan/Pagan network and church. Networking, community
rituals. P.O. Box 8575, Victoria BC V8W
3S2
(604)
595-6348.
e-mail:
TOL@cyberstore.net.
Goddess Pilgrimage to Crete with Carol
Christ. Spring and Fall- sacred mountains,
caves, palaces, villas, museums. For information : Goddess Pilgrimage Tours, 1306
Crestview Dr., Blacksburg, VA, 24060. Ph:
(540) 951-3070.
Our Lord and Ladies Way Coven is seeking
new members. For information please
call (608) 271-7591. Madison, WI.
continued ...
• ANNOUNCEMENTS •
61
Hecate's Loom No. 30
Tammy Coxen requests help from the
Pagan and Wiccan community that reads
Hecate's Loom. She is putting together a
Pagan Cookbook and is collecting Sabbat
Recipes, Pagan artwork, and anecdotes, and
information that you would like to share
about your Path or group: Tammy Coxen, 3128 Central Ave., London, ON, N6A 1M5.
Celtic Wita coven accepting applications
for membership . For information: T.D.M.,
1208 E . Grove Ave., Rantoul, IL, 61866.
Rantoul, IL area.
Of interest to Pagans who would enjoy receiving a newsletter in Finnish. The cost
is $8 US for 2 issues with the next issue out
in October. For more information write:
Tulikeha, PPL, do Kivikonkaari 17 A7,
00940, Helsinki, Finland.
ancient traditions, and to dispel misconceptions. As well as to provide a friendly social
atmosphere among people with similar religious backgrounds. We are a non-profit
religious group here for you. Please contact
us for more information about meetings,
events, rituals or just to say Hi or to ask
questions. Anna "Scatha" Nelson or Jim
"Quicksilver" Keller (213)856-2824, 1157 1/
2 West 30th Street, Box B3, Los Angeles,
California, 90007.
Young, uninitiated pagan seeking teacher/
circle and new friends in the Fergus Ontario area. I would love to get aquainted
with any and all pagans in Wellington
County. Please write Jen Steele at 525 St.
David Street, South Fergus, Ontario, NIM
2P9.
'95 Dates
New Moon
Full Moon
New Moon
Full Moon
New Moon
Solstice
Oct 23
Nov 6, 7
Nov 22
Dec 6
Dec 21
Dec 22
Winner of nine awards
in 1992,
including the WPPA
Readers' Choice
*
Gold A-w-ard
*
"The GREEN EGG has become one of
the staples of Pagan life in the United
States. and rightly so in my opinion.
For many years it has been a melting pot
for Pagan opinion and experience; a
means for elden to share and beiinncrs
to learn. Paganism without
-Ray Buckland
Quarterly, $16 per year (US).
$23/year Canada & Mexico.
Send $5 for sample issue.
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'95 Dates
Full Moon
New Moon
Full Moon
New Moon
Jan5
Jan 20
Feb 4
Feb 18
•ANNOUNCEMENTS•
62
Vanguard Journal
of the New Paganism
theGREENEGGwould
be unthinkable."
The Ancient Religions Society is a student run religious organization focusing on
the diversity of Earth-based religions. We
provide educational information, networking, and social contacts for pagans, neopagans, Wiccans, and other non-mainstream
religions. We are not a group out to convert
peopel; rather, we want to give interested
people a chance to learn more about these
Event
Green Eee
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30
Hecate's Loom No. 30
CIRCLE
Wood fl Water
NETWORK NEWS
Nature Spirituality Quarterly
Address: Circle, Box 219, Mt. Horeb, WI, 53572, USA
Phone: (608) 924-2216, 1-4 pm Central time, Monday - Friday.
Subsripti on : $15 vial bulk mail to USA; $20 via first class to USA, a nd ai r ma il to
Cana da & Mexico ; $27 vial air mail to Europe; $30 via air mail to other countries .
Payment in US funds only.
A Goddess-centred Feminist-influenced
Pagan Magazine
Address: c/0 Doniel Cohen. 77 Parliament Hill. London. NW3 2TH. or
c/o Jon Henning. 18 Avleshom RD. O rpington. Kent BR6 OTX
Rotes : Single copies 1.25. $3 USA (postage included). Annual
sub (4 issues). SUK. Overseas surface moil 6. 01r moil 9. Overseos
bv sterling povment or bv foreign notes. Free to prisoners. Please
make UK cheques povoble to Wood and Water.
ecace:s
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loo~
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The Gift of J$lagic can be yours.
Advertising Rates:
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Camera ready copy and Graphics:
Business Card 2" x 3.5" $40.00
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B ack issues are always available and cheap
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11
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• ANNOUNCEMENTS •
63
Hecate's Loom No. 30
The Law Enforcement Guide
to Wicca, by Kerr Cuhulain
Master Book of Herbalism Fans
*
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•
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Wholesale inquiries welcome
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3906 Cadboro Bay Road • Victoria BC V8N 4G6 •. Canada
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Author Paul Beyerl now offering
three new books autographed ,
direct by mail. Also reference
books on tarot, herbalism,
magick, gems, astrology, more.
Classes and herb gardens in
Seattle. Visitors by appointment.
1 -206-828-4124
The Hermit's Grove
Box 0691, Kirkland, WA
98083
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Call or write for FREE color catalog of
complete line of cards and jewelry.
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yours
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to reserve!
Business Card Feature Section!
We have a new service - the Business Card Feature Section. You can feature your cameraready business card in this section for four consecutive issues at the low price of $110 (this
is a $50 saving over the year). Please call Dean at (604) 383-0410 (or write) to reserve your
space now! Hope to hear from you soon ...
• ANNOUNCEMENTS •
64
'
Hecate's Loom No. 30
Radionics,Dowsing,Remedies. 175item
equipment/home study catalog. Use to give
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catalog sen $3.95 to Radionics Institute,
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Canada, M4C 5N3.
Sweetgrass braids, lavender sleep pillows, magic herb sachets. $6.00 each, including postage. Sea Vista Gardens, RR#2,
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No. 12 (~ummer 90): Medeia: a
classic case of Pharmakiphobia • How
to Read a Myth. 36 pages. $3.50
No. 17 (Beltaine/Litha 92): Beltaine
rituals• Polarity Theology• Song of the
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No. 18 (Lammas-Samhain 92): Song
of the Divine Bow (parts 6 to 9) •
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No. 25 (Lammas 1994) What Witches Do
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No. 26 (Samhain 1994) The Crone •
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No. 27 (Imbolc 1995) Amazons• Interview with Robin Skelton • Pagan Federation. 46 pages. $3.95.
No.28(Beltain 1995) Music& Wise Muse
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• ANNOUNCEMENTS •
65
Hecate's Loom No. 30
When I sat down to wrtte this column, I found myself
faced with a dilemma: do I follow my usual fall format and
wrtte something warm and witty about my yearly sojourn in
northern B. C., or do I follow the theme of this issue and try
to make some bold statement about myself"being a Witch"?
Faced with such a conundrum, I took the truly Canadian
way out- I made some tea, vacillated wildly and finally
decided to avoid a decision and wrtte about both.
Being a Witch means being myself, in whatever circumstance or location I happen to find myself. There is no
separation between me as a person in the real world and me
as a Witch in circle. Nowhere is this more obvious than the
past three summers I have spent working in Wells, a tiny
little town about ten hours north of Vancouver. How tiny?
You have, of course, heard of"ghost towns"? Let me tell you,
Wells isn't even a "creepy feeling town".
Part of being myself in Wells means being the local
Witch. While the rest of the summer employees are known
as students, actors or restaurant workers, my formal Job
appellation always comes second to my sensational "nom
de dieu" - the Witch. So part of my task every summer, apart
from interpreting 1870's history to the tourtsts, is to interpret modem Wicca to the locals. Who I am, how I behave and
what I say to a large part defines their perception of a
modern Witch. As a result, some of the best PR work I do is
not in the nswspapers, on television or on the radio, but in
merely getting to know people and letting them see that
there is nothing terrtbly strange about myself, and consequently my religion.
The idea that each of us is responsible for our own PRour behaviour as people reflects our image as Witches- is
something that most of us are taught during our formal
•training, or that we pick up along the way. That is why
personal responsibility is such an essential part of the Craft;
we each are responsible to the greater Wiccan community
for proving that ours is a non-threatening faith followed by
normal people. This kind of subconscious representation is
not something that should only be left to the "experts" or
elders or appointed spokespersons. It is something for
which every Witch is responsible.
We are the Craft, each of us, every hour of every day,
not only when we step into circle or call the Goddess. Like
thesayinggoes, "As within, so without"; ultimately, who you
are as a person is more Important than how well you invoke.
66
Ethics are not something that can be put on with your robes
(or as your clothes come off, as the case may be). then cast
aside after the rttual. Our lives as Witches extend beyond
the circle, onto the streets of our towns, to the doors of our
neighbours and into the homes of our frtends.
But back to Wells. This summer, for the first time, I
happily found that I was no longer the token Witch- defying
the statistical odds, there were three other Wiccans who
found their way to that obscure corner of the province. We
dubbed ourselves the "Wet Witches of Wells" (or "Team W
for short), in honour of the 87 straight days of rain that kept
my gumboots soggy and the woodstoves burning well into
August (alas, however, The Tale of Team W must be left for
another issue, as it doesn't really flt into the matter at hand).
I found that it was only because of the lack of separation
between my church and my state of mind that Team W met
and did not become an "almost was" expertence.
As it turned out, I was the most experienced member
of Team W and as such I found myself in the position of
passing on what understanding I have of the ethics, responsibilities, and expected behaviour of a Witch. Perhaps not
unexpectedly, I found that there was little separation
between what I believed as a person and what I practiced as
a Witch. Sadly, however, I could think of no books which
outlined the finer points of the ethical responsibilities of the
Craft.
Even as I write these words, I am realizing the importance of personal contact in the Craft and why it may be
good that everything isn't available in paperback. Perhaps
it all comes back to living by example and being a living
example of the Craft, both to the curtous public and to
future Witches. What does being a Witch mean to me? It
means being a frtend, a lover, a man, an ex-husband, a
prtest, a son, a brother, an uncle, a godparent, a Canadian,
a reader, a wrtter, a student, a stage manager, a dreamer,
a speaker, a listener and a human.
And it means knowing when to say goodbye. Rather
than try to wrap everything up in a neat bundle, I'll just say,
"This above all, to thine own self be true, And it must follow,
as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any
man.
I think Shakespeare is probably the only person I'd let
close my column for me. Leave it to him to have the last word
on being a Witch.
11
The Cup of Mari Anu
by Yvonne Owens, illustrated by Kevan Lane Miller
Mute from birth, LuSin is sent when still a
child to the Temple of Mari Anu to serve as
priestess. The people of her tribe consider
her "different," not merely because of her
silence. Though mute, LuSin understands
the language of the desert and its inhabitants. She wanders without fear in the
wilderness beyond the village, with her wild
dog.
When the most precious relic of the temple is
stolen, the sacred spring of the Goddess dries
up. The land is cursed with drought and LuSin
decides she must lead her people to safety. She
embarks upon a quest to retrieve their lost
treasure, the Cup of Mari Anu - a magical,
silver chalice that had long blessed the People
of Mari Anu with water, fertility, beauty and
abundance. When LuSin undertakes to restore the blessings of the Cup to her people,
many fabulous events befall her on her journey
westward to the sea, and beyond.
The Cup of Mari Anu
by Yvonne Owens
Illustrated by Kevan Lane Miller
Set in ancient Europe and the Middle East, The Cup of Mari Anu is an heroic tale of magic,
adventure and transformation. A stunningly illustrated and inspiring story for young readers,
this is the first in a series oflegendary and magical tales presented by Horned Owl Publishing.
Available in fine Pagan shops everywhere, and direct from Homed Owl Publishing for $12.95
(in Canada, add $0.91 GSf; elsewhere, add $2.00 for s&h or pay in US funds).
horned owl publishing
3906 Cadboro Bay Road • Victoria BC • V8N 4G6 • Canada
phone ((£)4) 477-8488. fax (604) 721-1029
Weaving the web of Paganism in Canada
and throughout the world - Hecate's Loom
Photograph by Diana Michaelis, For more information, see page 2.
Hecate's Loom No. 30
Herbal Healing
with Ritual Baths
by Paul V. Beyerl
I
n working with the four elements
as we know them (air, fire, water and
earth), there are numerous ways in
which to draw upon one or more element with which to promote health and
healing. During my training in the
1970's, we were strongly urged to use
one method to ensure the absence of
colds and other common diseases. This
process involved a quick immersion in
cold water (usually following one's bath
or shower) on a daily basis. Before your
flesh shudders, stop and think about
the many peoples who go from sauna
to snow, or those who sit in the hot tub
surrounded by winter's glow. It's not
sostrangeaconceptifyou can but stop
shivering. And yes, I followed this
practice and it did seem to make a
difference. But as my herbal skills
grew, I replaced the cold water (which
1usually dumped over my head with a
large container) with my holistic herbal
philosophy and practices.
Water has been used as a remedy
in many ways over many generations.
What quickly comes to mind are all of
the mineral springs which have drawn
countless individuals who maintain
that bathing in the waters has helped a
long list of conditions. Water cures
exist in other forms as well. Healing
with Water by Jeanne Keller is an excellent text capable of opening one of
the elemental forms of healing. Our
libraty copy is a 1968 edition and I'm
notcertainifitis currently in print, but
I have long considered it a most valuable text. 1
There is a less mundane approach
which employs water for healing as
well: since ancient times people have
turned to sacred springs and sacred
wells seeking cures for ailments of
body, soul and mind. It is with careful
thought that I add water from Lourdes
or from the Apollonius Spring in Germany (dedicated to Apollo during the
Roman occupation) to my herbal remedies.
For magickal people, one of the
more underrated forms of healing is
the ritual bath. For many of us a ritual
bath is part ofour preparation for lunar
and Sabbat rituals but, at other times,
the bath becomes an expedient shower:
something functional for the outer skin
of the temple of the self. Considering
the quick popularity of aromatherapy,
it surprises me that few seem to make
the connection of breathing in the molecular magick of the selected herbal
remedy while soaking one's body in a
luxurious ritual bath. In this sense,
the bath itself has become the ritual,
not relegated as a prelude to subsequent magick.
This method offers one of the simplest approaches to healing magick
with herbes. There are few cautions
and less dangers than most forms of
herbal healing. In fact, I can think of
but two: one is to avoid placing loose
herbs in the bath. They tend to cling to
the skin when you stand up and can
easily clog the drain, requiring a call to
a plumber. The other is to avoid any
herbes which are toxic and poisonous
(e.g. Aconite) and which have a strong
recommendation against internal use.
A certain amount of the toxins may be
absorbed into the skin and, subsequently, into the blood stream. Do not
take risks. Apart from these two concerns, there is little to stop you from
exploring this art of healing.
How do you avoid the plumber?
Many texts, including my own, recommend placing the herbs in a gauze bag
or even a tea strainer. I've since turned
to making a strong herbal infusion. It
only takes about a cup of liquid and,
when thoroughly strained, adding the
liquid directly to the bath. One can also
use herbal-scented bath preparations
such as bubble baths or bath salts but
the majority of commercial mixtures
contain synthetic scents and artUkial
colours which are counterproductive
to the healing process.
An herb need not be categorized
as a "bathing herbe" to be worthy of
use. There are myriad herbs which
one turns to for internal use. Why not
immerse one's self in their natural
magick as well? If one is dealing with
cancer or with HIV, why not add a cup
ofbirch barkwatertoyourbath? Ifyou
are struggling to uplift your spirits,
why not bathe with eyebright? There
are few herbs I would personally avoid.
Even with an herb considered "dangerous" like Aconite, a single, fresh flower
floating upon the water's surface is well
within safe limits for:an adult (thought
follow the guidelines when handling
the entire plant when gathering the
flower).
What transforms a bath into a
ritual? There are many possibilities, so
many that one's imagination can begin
to spill over like a brook. Traditionally,
one would add a sprinkle of sea salt to
the bath water as well, not wanting to
miss the cleansing of body and spirit
which priests and priestesses have
usedsincetheAgeofAries. (Inapinch,
any table salt will do.) There are many
ways to bring in the four elements, to
ask of the Universe that you learn what
is necessaty to promote healing; there
are infinite ritual forms one can create.
Trust your imagination.
What is most important is to avoid
the temptation of turning a ritual heal-
• SHADOWS & LIGHT • - - - - - - - - - - 39
Hecate's Loom No. 30
ing bath Into a long soak with a good
book. Recreational reading Is not bad,
but It does not sustain the focus ofyour
spirit. If you wish to read, focus upon
a healing text. We have used 'The Child
of Light for nearly fifteen years of healIng work within The Rowan Tree
Church. 2 You could adapt passages
from The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran or
write your own text which calls upon
the powers of the Universe. Meditation
is another tool at your disposal, workIng with carefully planned and highly
focused healing images.
At the bottom line, you may not
attain miracles .... but then you may.
You are also invoking the magi ck of the
Universe and asking for change. Not
only will you have access to the properties of the healing herbs you have selected but you will be working with the
magtck of transformation and ofchange
as well.
The amount of healing is directly
related to the amount of work and the
level of mental focus you can maintain.
Disciplined focus does not mean that
your bath should be void of Joy and
pleasure. Take time to contemplate
the element of water during your planning stages. What does It take to draw
upon the energy of water? Take time
and do careful research when selecting
your herbs. Know them well. Be able
to identify their scent and, should you
use more than one, to distinguish among
them. Explore this art of healing and
let me know your results. X
Paul V. Beyerl, 'The Hermit's Grove,
9724 132nd Ave NE, Kirkland, WA,
98033. (206) 828-4124
1 Healin~ with Water, Jeanne
Keller, foreword by Sabine Koch, M.D.,
Award Books , NY and Tandem Books ,
London, 1968.
2 Blessed Is the Child of Light.
adapted from Dead Sea scrolls. Edited
by Rev. Paul Beyerl. $7.00 plus $2.5
first class or $1. 50 book rate shipping.
Washington residents add 57 cents
sales tax. The Rowan Tree Church,
P.O. Box 691, Kirkland, WA, 98033.
Paul Beyerl is author of the
enormously popular The Master
Book of Herbalism (Phoenix Publishers). He also writes on many
other topics of interest to healers
and occulttsts. Paul resides near
Seattle, Washington.
40
Persephone's Descent
as
Voluntary Transformative
Magic
by Ann Lee
Ersephone heard the dead wailing. There was no one to receive them
and show them the way to the underworld, no one to counsel and guide
them. Theywere lost, bewildered souls.
Persephone felt sorry for them. She
decided to make it her work to guide
the dead down the path into the underworld. She voluntarily became Queen
of the Underworld, Ruler of the Land of
the Dead. The dead could now go on to
their next life. They no longer had to
linger as shadows in the Land of the
Living.
This is the way it was when the
Goddess had her place in the religions
of the world. Persephone's descent to
the underworld was voluntary. Then
the patriarchal religions took over and
the myth was changed.
Now, Persephone was peacefully
gathering flowers when Hades saw her
and lusted after her. He raped her and
carried her, kicking and screaming, to
the Underworld. She was not the sole
ruler but was co-ruler with Hades, the
God of the Underworld. She has to
spend half of every year there and half
of every year in the Land of the Living.
The story of Persephone deals with
the land of those who have died physically. However, it also deals with those
who undergo the descent to the underworld when they are alive. In life, one
is given opportunities to make this
Journey voluntarily - to chose to make
the descent to hell.
Our culture does not accept this
as a rational choice. We are supposed
to be happy all the time. Ifwe are not
happy at any time, there are drugs to
make us so. Being unhappy means
that something Is wrong. Women are
often told by total strangers to smile
because it Is not acceptable for them
not to.
If one chooses not to make the
descent to hell voluntarily, one will be
carried there against one's will. A
major illness or severe depression will
be employed to force the Journey to
begin. In the past, women would "take
to their beds" and pull up the covers.
Their husband and children would not
disturb them until they had made their
Journey and voluntarily returned .
It is our choice, we can follow
Persephone of our own volition or be
taken against our will. 31:
Ann Lee is an self-employed
professional, a writer, WtccanPriestess and co-founder ofthe Thirteenth
House Mystery School. She is also
co-owner of Hecate's Loom.
• SHADOWS & L I G H T • - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Part of Hecate's Loom : no.30(1995)