> get lamp

British Traditional Witchcraft [i.e. Wicca]: Bull-Crap - according to Janet Farrar.

Quote:

Well, a load of bull-crap in the sense that, there are no British Traditional Witches to be found before Gerald Gardner, and certainly no British “Traditional” Witches to be found in the Witchcraft Traditions of British Culture before Gardner. (There are plainly British Witch “Traditions” to be seen in the British Isles before the 20th century; none, however, correspond to the Gardnerian- and subsequently Alexandrian- Traditions of Witchcraft, which again, as Ms. Farrar noted, do not exist prior to Mr. Gardner.)

In short, first Gerald Gardner, and then Alex Sanders, “made up” a fictitious, non-existing “history” of Traditional British Witches. No more than what any Progressive Witch has noted at least since the mid-90s- but how bracing (as my friends found) to have it acknowledged so forthrightly by such a notable Elder in the Witchcraft Movements.

Why Initiation Made Me Love Solitary Wicca

"Initiation" here is in the context of admission into a group, although from the sounds of it the rite she underwent also provoked initiation in the mystical sense (which is something I think comes through other humans, not from them directly - it is the Gods or spirits who are the real enactors of such an initiation, and can hypothetically happen spontaneously to a solitary). She makes an interesting point about how important it is to find the right group or teachers if you're thinking of getting involved with an "initiation" and how glad she is she waited and was solitary/non-initiatory for so long.

This post isn't complete, but I'm going to throw it out there anyway as it seems (three months later) that I'm unlikely ever to do so, and I'd rather not have no record whatsoever in my journal (as I do of 2009). ( Read more... )


Additional:

Does anyone out there happen to knowBasalt? (a large gentleman with a beard; I believe an Asatruar -- I know, I know, really helpful description) He was at the Scotch tasting and somewhen at the absinthe suite, and was talking with enotsola about maybe getting him work, but enotsola failed to get his email address.

Aradia Translated: a new translation by Norax, with notes. (PDF file)



This is basically collected from posts in a board thread (see attribution). I have no idea how similar or not the translation may be to Robert Mathiesen's "A New Translation" (although I'm interested in that one too).

Wow, I am totally word-dumping on PantheaCon. I think I'm going to have to split into several posts. Alakazam!

( Seeking the Center )

( Black Magic and Dark Paganism )

( The Rollright Ritual )

( Ascension Magick )

( Kindling Ancestral Hearths )

( Leland, Maddalena, Aradia, et al. )

( Fairy Lore in British Folk Music )