Today – October 31st –
is a date observed across the Western world as Halloween, a festival with
ancient origins which over the years has come to be associated with ghouls,
ghosts, and witchery. In honour of this remarkable day, one which seems to
bring together fun, frolic, and fear in equal measure, I offer a
thematically-appropriate book review here at Albion Calling. Although in the
past my reviews have appeared only in academic journals, I have decided
to follow the lead of award-winning scholar of Western
esotericism Egil Asprem by posting a review directly to my own blog,
where it will be available freely to a far wider audience than that normally
received by peer-reviewed outlets. My decision to do so was sparked by the
publisher's invitation to review one of their recently-released esoteric tomes
that fits very much within the remit of one of my primary research interests:
the historical development of modern religious Witchcraft in Britain and the
West more widely.
Hands of Apostasy: Essays
on Traditional Witchcraft has been published by Three
Hands Press, one of the two publishing arms of the Cultus Sabbati, an occultist
“Traditional Witchcraft” group established in the early 1990s by the Essex
occultist Andrew D. Chumbley (1967–2004). Chumbley claimed to have
been initiated into a number of pre-existing British folk magical traditions,
whose teachings formed the partial basis from which he formed the Cultus,
before he went on to gain widespread attention within the Western esoteric
milieu for authoring a number of particularly influential grimoires, most
notably The Azoëtia, Qutub, and ONE: The
Grimoire of the Golden Toad. In later life, he entered academia as a
historian of religion, although tragically died while carrying out his PhD
research. Both of the editors of this particular anthology had strong links to
Chumbley; Michael Howard was a close personal friend of his, having
previously established himself as a well-known figure in the British occult
scene for editing and publishing The Cauldron, a popular
practitioner-oriented journal devoted to witchcraft, folklore, and paganism,
since 1976. The U.S.-based Daniel Schulke, meanwhile, was an initiate of
Chumbley's Cultus who took on the mantle of the group's Magister (effectively
its leader) after its founder's untimely passing, a position that he retains to
this day.
Thus, rather than being
the product of a scholarly press, Hands of Apostasy is a tome
that has been both edited and published by an occult organisation. In keeping
with this, its chapters have been (primarily) written not by “outsider”
academics but by occultists themselves, “insider” voices who here discuss the
very traditions to which they owe their spiritual allegiance. While I am
therefore accustomed to reviewing academic books using the usual benchmarks and
standards of academia, here I must attempt to do something different; to review
a non-academic work of esotericism from my own perspective as an academic
non-esotericist. It would be simply unfair if I were to therefore challenge the
contents of this book for being insufficiently academic, because they were
never designed to be so in the first place; instead I shall seek to evaluate
the varying chapters on their own merits, with critical commentary from my own
(somewhat different) position.
The Introduction
In the anonymously authored introduction – which can most probably be
attributed either to Mr. Howard or Mr. Schulke, if not both of them – the
reader is offered such an insider view of the “Traditional Craft”, or “Old
Craft” as it is also often known. Here, it is described as “a distinct body of
archaic magical practices in present-day Britain and North America, which
despite ties to past milieus of magic also thrive within modern spiritual
climes” (9). Emphasising that it is not a singular, monolithic entity, the
author(s) state that these groups emerge from “a variety of historical
magico-religious streams” but that they typically “operate in secret, with
strict means of initiatic succession, and practice sorcery characterized by a
dual ethos of healing and harming” (9–10). Following this, we are given a brief
introduction to a few of the figures whom they see as central to the public
dissemination of knowledge on the Traditional Craft, before an outline is
provided into the Luciferian world view which many contemporary
Crafters – and in particular the members of the Cultus Sabbati – embrace.
A point that I found particularly interesting was that the author seeks in part
to define Traditional Witchcraft by explaining what it is not. To their mind,
it is “very different in form, ethos and nature” from the “neo-pagan
witchcraft” (10) which was pioneered by the English occultist Gerald
Gardner in the 1950s, and which in the Alexandrian milieu of the
coming decade came to be emblazoned under the somewhat less incendiary name of
“Wicca” (on the etymological development of the word see Doyle White
2010). While I would certainly concur that there are some groups flying the
banner of the “Old Craft” whose beliefs and practices do indeed differ greatly
from those of Gardnerian Wicca and its offspring – the Cultus Sabbati
being perhaps the most prominent example – I do not share the belief that all
so-called “Traditional Witches” differ so clearly from Gardner's creation. As I
have argued elsewhere (Doyle White 2013), textual evidence for the original
theology present in the 1960s coven of Robert Cochrane – a man often
treated as the “Traditional Witch” par excellence – depicts
a magico-religious tradition that is very much Neopagan in form and content,
and that is before one takes into account the compelling evidence that Cochrane
himself was also a Gardnerian initiate (see Doyle White 2011).
Furthermore, it is also evident that the terms “Old Craft” and “Traditional
Witchcraft” have come to be embraced by practitioners in various parts of the
world whose traditions are quite evidently variants of eclectic Wicca; I am
reminded of a passage on page 385 of The Triumph of the Moon in
which Professor Ronald Hutton recalls knowing of three covens which
established themselves as “Wiccan” in the 1980s, only to switch to declaring
themselves practitioners of the “Traditional Craft” in the 1990s. Clearly, for
the author of this introduction – as for many Traditional Crafters – the
boundaries between Wicca and the Old Craft are, despite a little interaction
and mutual influence, comparatively crisp and clear. Etically speaking, I
cannot share that view; I see the term “Traditional Craft” as more of a
legitimation strategy, a way for certain magico-religious and esoteric groups
to hark back to the pre-Gardnerian practices of an older Europe, to a
historical “tradition” of witch bottles, cunning folk, and Horse
Whisperers, as a means of conjuring up a sense of authenticity, pedigree, and
heritage. Some of these groups perhaps do have such roots – Chumbley's Cultus
and the Sabbatic Craft it espouses being the most prominent example – but
others I suspect owe far more to Gardner's legacy than to those of his
antecedents.
The Chapters
In the coming chapter we are treated to an article by Chumbley himself on the
subject of “The Magic of History”, in which he offers a fascinating personal
insight into how he saw himself as embodying “a bridging position” (21) between
the world of the historian and that of the magician. In doing so, he discusses
both the “history of magic” and “magical history”. While the former offers a
fairly simple analysis of textual information placed within a chronological
framework, the latter does something quite different, instead tapping into a
“timeless” zone through which he believed he could communicate via
“spirit-discourse” with the shades of long-deceased magicians (20). As he aptly
notes however, “such truth-claims [attained from this zone] cannot be presented
as historical evidence, however[...] such truth-claims must be respected by
scholarship and treated impartially as the beliefs of a given individual or
tradition” (20), thus championing methodological agnosticism among scholars of
magic. In doing so, he offers us an intriguing theoretical approach to the
analysis of living esoteric and magico-religious traditions that warrants
greater attention from those of us who are active in this field.
A further aspect of this chapter which I found particularly interesting was
Chumbley's suggestion that some of the cunning-folk of mid-to-late
nineteenth-century Britain formed together in lodges or covens, and that the
descendants of some of these groups have survived to this day, coming to be
unified under the banner of “Traditional Witchcraft”. He further suggests
that from at least the 1890s, a number of these groups began to actively
incorporate elements from the Early Modern iconography of the Witches'
Sabbath into their practices. As evidence for this, he comments on his own
encounters and experiences with such groups; at the same time, he comments that
their secrecy prevents them from opening themselves up to academic scrutiny and
study, and that he himself was at times frustrated by this impasse. As he
acknowledges, those of us in academia are thus left in a conundrum; (not implausible)
claims are being made about nineteenth-century magical practices and their
continued survival to this day, but the information that historians require to
analyse such claims are being intentionally kept sub rosa. As an
academic, I found this a particularly interesting chapter, and feel that it
really serves to reiterate what a loss Chumbley was for scholarship in the
field of magic.
Chumbley's chapter is followed by a short piece authored by the late American
esotericist Douglas McIlwain, in which he lays out his claims to having been
initiated into a magico-religious tradition by his great-uncle in 1967 which he
himself termed the “Skull and Bones Family Tradition”. As a first-hand
testimonial to forms of American folk magic it is truly fascinating but
unfortunately – as with so many similar claims – its veracity can (and indeed,
from a scholarly perspective, must) be questioned. Remaining in the
United States, Corey Thomas Hutcheson then provides us with a comparison of
traditional witchcraft lore in the mid-to-southern Appalachians with that of
the Ozarks, highlighting how both have identifiable origins in the folk beliefs
of Europe but each nevertheless diverged and developed in independent
directions prior to being recorded by early twentieth-century folklorists.
David Rankine then returns us to the Old World to argue that the grimoire
tradition of Medieval and Early Modern Europe was influenced in various ways by
witchcraft. Although an intriguing subject worthy of further in-depth research,
it was unfortunate that Rankine did not explicitly outline what he meant by the
term “witchcraft”, seemingly including a wide variety of phenomena – including
benevolent folk magical charms – under that category, something which most
scholars would critique. A brief piece from the late Cecil Williamson,
founder of the Boscastle Museum of Witchcraft, is then included, in which
he discusses aspects of what he terms “moon-raking rites” in British folk
magic. Again, it's very interesting as a document of potential
twentieth-century folk practices, but given Williamson's well known habit of
bending the truth, such claims have to be taken with a pinch of salt. The
anthology then continues with a lengthy chapter from Martin Duffy in
which he offers an insider discussion of the esoteric, and often sexual,
symbolism of the cauldron. In doing so, he references a wide array of disparate
sources, from the iconography of Early Modern diabolical witchcraft to Iron Age
archaeology and from the writings of modern Traditional Witches to Afro-Cuban
magico-religious practices; this reflects a widespread belief among Traditional
Crafters – as among many occultists and esotericists more widely – that there
are common magical and occult meanings behind traditions that are otherwise
scattered across very different historical and cultural contexts.
Melusine Draco of the Coven of the Scales follows with a discussion of her
group's animistic worldview, in which Britain's rural landscape is understood
as being populated by an array of genii loci, or spirits of the
place, whom she believes can be contacted through Old Craft practices.
Asserting that these traditions therefore represent the survival of
pre-Christian British shamanism, her claims regarding ley-lines being
marked by late prehistoric megaliths seemingly owe more to the mid-twentieth
century Earth Mysteries movement than older folk traditions,
something that certainly raised the eyebrow of this particular archaeologist.
Howard then offers us a historical overview of necromancy – the act of
contacting the spirits of the dead – throughout European history, ranging from
archaeological interpretations regarding ancestor cults in Neolithic Europe
through to Roman, Medieval, and Early Modern textual accounts and on to the
necromantic rites of Traditional Witches. In the ensuing chapter, Peter
Hamilton-Giles offers an intriguing discussion of the “witching hour”; in
a manner echoing the aforementioned Chumbley chapter, he stresses the
difference between the historian's perception of time and the magical
practitioner's perception of time with its ties to the idea of personal
spiritual truth. Gemma Gary of the Cornish Ros An Bucca group
follows with her discussion of “The Man in Black”, or Devil, in European
witchcraft, in doing so making extensive reference to the accounts of the Early
Modern witch trials and subsequent Modern textual and folkloric accounts of
magico-religious groups such as the Toad Witches.
We are then presented with a second offering from Chumbley himself, this time
on the origins and rationales of modern Witch-cults. Aptly highlighting that
there were magico-religious groups operating prior to the emergence of Wicca
which termed themselves “Witches” – most notably the Toad Witches
and the Zos Kia Cultus of Austin Osman Spare – he proceeds
to discuss the origins of Gardnerian Wicca, seemingly accepting the possibility
that Gardner had indeed been initiated into a pre-existing New Forest
coven, which represented an older tradition of magic, but that the "Father
of Wicca" had then gone on to radically alter this tradition according to
the witch-cult hypothesis of Margaret Murray. From there,
Levannah Morgan provides a beautifully written personal account of her own
experiences with the use of a mirror as a magical tool, rooted in the folk
magical traditions which she encountered growing up in rural Wales during the
1960s. Heading into the Irish Sea, we then arrive at the Isle of Man, where a
collaborative group known only as Manxwytch discusses some examples of accounts
of alleged witchcraft and folk magical customs on the island, before suggesting
that these exerted some influence on Gardner, who lived on the island in later
life. From Europe's north-west to its south-east, we are then offered a chapter
on Serbian “traditional witchcraft” from Radomir Ristic which looks
in particular at a rite known as “Unchain the Devil”. Although an interesting
account of a folk magical practice that apparently still continues in Serbia, I
was a little sceptical as to the unproven assertion that it had its origins in
“pre-Christian paganism and Gnosticism” (247), something which appears to
represent an approach rooted in the discredited doctrine of folkloric
survivalism.
From my own perspective, more satisfying is the following chapter, authored
by Jimmy Elwing – co-editor of Correspondences: An Online
Journal for the Academic Study of Western Esotericism – on the basis
of the work conducted for his recent master's thesis at the University of
Amsterdam. Devoted to an analysis of Chumbley's work, it discusses how he
constructed and legitimised his Sabbatic Craft, before examining the Magister's
ideas pertaining to dream-like states of consciousness as a gateway to gnosis.
Although other essays have seen publication discussing Chumbley and his work
(for instance Morris 2013), Elwing's work here represents one of the very first
scholarly examples to do so, and thus will no doubt be of great help for future
researchers venturing into this area.
Italian-American Witch Raven Grimassi follows with a discussion of the traditional associations
between witches and botanical knowledge, looking in particular at the case of
the mandrake root and the connection between witchery and the forest. Switching
focus to the Welsh Marshes, Gary St. Michael Nottingham provides a
fascinating discussion of surviving examples of local folk magical charms,
which are – as he notes – without exception rooted in Christian sources. The
penultimate chapter is provided by Schulke himself, and examines conceptions of
darkness within Traditional Witchcraft. He notes that in the Sabbatic Craft,
darkness is understood as the preserve of ancient spirits, before embarking on
a discussion of the role of the nocturnal darkness in many historical
conceptions of witchcraft beliefs as well as in other magical traditions such
as Thelema. Finally, Lee Morgan offers a really fascinating chapter on the
likely influence exerted by nineteenth-century Romanticism on the Traditional
Witchcraft movement; as he points out, the Romanticist ethos of viewing Lucifer
as a sympathetic figure, adopting a radical stance against conservative
society, and embracing an interest in occult practices could certainly have
exerted an influence on the British magical milieu of the period. For me, as
someone who is really not well acquainted with the lives of figures such as
Byron and Shelley, this was something of an eye-opener, and it is hoped that
this will prove to be of great use to future scholars embarking on an analysis
of the historical development of contemporary Traditional Witchcraft and its
nineteenth-century antecedents.
Concluding thoughts
To their credit, it seems apparent that the editors have sought to embrace a
fairly diverse spectrum of different approaches on the subject of
"Traditional Witchcraft" within this volume; some authors have sought
to provide scholarly analyses of the movement and its historical development, while
others have instead endeavoured to accumulate information from a wide range of
sources which can inspire the practices of contemporary practitioners. Others
still have attempted to embrace a highly insider interpretation of particular
forms of symbolism, while a few have instead offered very personal descriptions
of their own practices and world-views. Alongside such differences in approach,
there are also (to my mind) differences in many other ways; some articles are
written very clearly, others in a wonderfully poetic manner. Some are
evidently a great deal more intellectually sophisticated than those situated
around them. Some I deem to be very good, others less so; as an academic
whose great interest is in the historical development of these traditions,
clearly certain entries are going to appeal more strongly to me, while other
readers with very different interests might have views that are very different
to my own.
One point that I feel that I should raise, perhaps a little pedantically, is
that there is a great disparity in referencing throughout the volume; when
citing a work many of the contributors make reference merely to the author and
book's title, whereas those who were academically trained have provided fuller,
more satisfying references including places of publication and page numbers. In
my opinion, a standardisation of such referencing in the latter manner would
have helped the book attain a more unitary feel and would have made further
reading a little easier.
As has come to be expected from Three Hands Press, the quality of the published
tome is praiseworthy; a beautifully designed hardback, it contains an array of
wonderfully evocative illustrations by Timo Ketola, which fit within the
distinctly “dark” artistic aesthetic which has become common within the
Traditional Craft milieu. At $58.50 for a standard hardcover and $380 for a
special edition, it isn't going to be affordable for everyone (and those are
direct-from-publisher prices), but perhaps a cheaper edition might be made
available in time; certainly, I can envision there being a fairly wide sector
of the esoteric market who would be interested in this volume, making a
paperback release potentially financially viable. The tome will be of great
interest to anyone who describes themselves as a "Traditional Witch"
or who is sympathetic to that particular current of esoteric practice. Many
Wiccans might find it an interesting introduction to forms of modern-day
religious Witchcraft which differ from their own. Similarly, many academics
specialising in both the history of European magical beliefs and/or in the
study of Western esotericism will no doubt find it a fascinating read and could
use it as source material for further research. I certainly wouldn't hesitate
to recommend it to either scholar or practitioner, or indeed (as is
increasingly common) to scholar-practitioners.
What to me this book makes abundantly clear is that there is not one singular
“Traditional Witchcraft”, but many different traditions which situate
themselves under this encompassing rubric. In the pages of Hands of
Apostasy, there are various different world-views on display; Draco's
depiction of the Old Craft as a survival of pre-Christian shamanism is clearly
quite distinct from Chumbley's description of it as a survival of
nineteenth-century cunning lodges. I thought it a positive sign that the
editors and publishers allowed this to be the case; they could quite easily
have chosen to push a Sabbatic Craft-dominated image of the Traditional Craft
that eclipsed any and all alternatives. (The only publicly-prominent tradition
of the Old Craft that was not represented was the Clan of Tubal Cain, which is
the name used by the various groups which trace a pedigree back to Cochrane.)
Traditional Witchcraft is a burgeoning and growing movement within the broad
current of Western esotericism, one which will likely go from strength to
strength over coming years, aided by the publication of volumes such as this
one. That being the case, it is hoped that further academics will join the
likes of myself and Elwing in examining this phenomenon, studying its beliefs
and practices, and in particular its early development, so that hopefully we
can develop an accurate and nuanced understanding of how today's Traditional
Witchcraft emerged from the folk magical traditions of yesteryear.
Bibliography:
Doyle White, Ethan. 2010. “The Meaning of 'Wicca': A Study in Etymology,
History and Pagan Politics.” The Pomegranate: The International Journal
of Pagan Studies vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 185–207.
Doyle White, Ethan. 2011. “Robert Cochrane and the Gardnerian Craft: Feuds,
Secrets and Mysteries in Contemporary British Witchcraft.” The
Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies vol. 13, no.
2, pp. 33–52.
Doyle White, Ethan. 2013. “An Elusive Roebuck: Luciferianism and Paganism in
Robert Cochrane's Witchcraft.” Correspondences: An Online Journal for
the Academic Study of Western Esotericism vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 75–101.
Hutton, Ronald. 1999. The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern
Pagan Witchcraft. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Morris, Anne. 2013. “But to Assist the Soul's Interior Revolution: The Art of
Andrew Chumbley, the Cult of the Divine Artist, and Aspects of the Sabbatic
Craft”, in Nicholaj de Mattos Frisvold, ed. Serpent Songs: An Anthology
of Traditional Craft. pp. 173–187. Location not specified: Scarlet Imprint.
