Flags, Flax, and Fodder

Flags, Flax, and Fodder

The Secrets of 1734 Revealed.

Self Introduction by Roy

I am a member of a cuveen, and come from a Crafter family, in which the Craft has been practiced for many generations. 'The local cuveen is small, consisting mainly of men, and of recent making since the last of the old Windsor cuveen died, when my mother was a girl back in Victoria's time. My mother helped her occasionally as a 'Maid' for scrying, but she did not tell her too much, and you may know her through reputation, her name was Mrs. Blomfield, and she was of high degree. As for my own Craft, it comes from the Midlands where my people originated. My family tell that my great-grand father was Grand Master for the whole of Warwickshire and Staffordshire, with some sixty "witches" under his care. How true this actually is though, I cannot say, although my aunt swears it is so, and she has a very impressive collection of "witch" things inclusive of a Maze that must be many centuries old. It seems to work out in the clan I belong to since we are interested in the old High Magic.

There are very few genuine cuveens left in Britain, most of the people who appear on television or in newspapers are fakes, and seem to originate from a man who lived on the Island of Man, and who made up the whole thing from his own head. I personally have very little time for them since they seem to be more interested in dancing naked than the real Craft, and as you know those sort of lies do nothing to help the real Craft.

I am married, Jane, my wife is a Crafter also, and my son Adrian, has all the markings of the pellar. Typical Craft, Jane and I met, fell in love and were married three weeks later. We have been together Fourteen years. We always work together, and I have found that from this we always get good results. Men and women are mirrors of each other, power cannot flow from man to man or woman to woman, it must flow together and mix. Not that we use power all that much, but when we have to, it works between Jane and I.

Nearly all the others have their hearts in the right place, but are inclined to use their brains too much, and not their wisdom. The small group I belong to falls into this trap, and I get very tired with trying to show them what is under their noses all along. A Crafter is born not made, or if one is to be made, then tears are spilt before the Moon can be Drawn.

What I can make of it, and I have been looking hard, the old Craft is nearly dead. Various groups of people call themselves witches, but this in many cases is an excuse for high jinx and tawdry orgies, rather than genuine Craft, although some of them are genuine enough in their beliefs. The real Pellar wisdom is almost lost, and the Gods are almost forgotten, yet today for the first time since the Christians came, more people are genuinely interested in the Craft from the religious and devotional viewpoint. I suppose the Industrial Revolution and the two wars are to blame really, but I think nearly all Pellars today work alone or nearly alone, with just one or two small clans still surviving, the real old ways are past, and it seems to break my heart when I think about it. Still enough of my miseries, you no doubt have enough of your own.

I am trying to bring up what I know of the Craft, and apply it to the way of thought today. To do this I have had to read a tremendous amount about the old pagans and see what fitted and what didn't, and shape the religion as it was originally. To do this I have had to break away form the Knife and the Horn, but also keep them and make them into something slightly different. The Moon and the Mill -- I have managed to bring that back to it's original shape and symbolism, and ended up with the Castle, which seems to me to fit the old legends more correctly, and it works very effectively, but to do this I have had to alter, and this by Craft standards is terrible, the old Ways quite a lot, but as I said High Magic, and it's attendant philosophy, is what we are interested in. Many of the old Craft ways were good and effective, but nobody knew why they worked. We do now.

The power comes not from what I know, but from what I am - and this applies to you also. Human beings are alchemical metals - and we change from dross to gold slowly. Personal power is a little bit of gold in the dross - and it does not matter what the person knows, or how well educated, or how clever he or she is - it is the work of Godhead on that person, and the gold increases according to how it is cherished. Differences in personality make for nothing - or in religion or creed - what counts is the person. You have as much of that as I and no book will ever contain it - for it is the gold of spirit - sometimes dulled by foolishness - other times shining bright. It is only bought by our personal search for the Graal, the Holy Cauldron, and the price is always blood and tears. The Gods give to man - but man always repays in the God coinage. Each of us pays in our little crucifixions, and all ritual must be a prayer.

In my way of thinking it is not what people know about ritual and symbolism that counts, but what they basically desire from the ritual, irrespective of what form the ritual takes. The important issue is not what form a ritual takes, but what force it invokes and shares amongst the participants. As far as I know there are three basic rituals common to all members of the True Faith. One is the ritual that reaches the common pool of TOTAL knowledge, what the Qabbalists describe as the Akashics, this is a simple and straight forward matter. TWO is the ritual of force, in which various degrees of heavenly force is invoked and applied, again going to a godhead in the Akashics, and three, three is the most important one of all in which the participants invoke mystical energy, and this experience is shared by the whole group. Therefore, these things are essential to the structure of any part of the three basic rituals -- Emotion, Symbolism, Direction and Aspiration. Admittedly other aids are used, but the four motive powers above and one other, Unity are the basis of any ritual that will work properly. The other ingredients are the perfect couples and a suitable leader, and most important, the Godhead present in physical and comprehended form.

Within the structure of the laws (and they are laws) above, the bits and pieces, the articles, the words, etc. have value, but outside such a basic structure, whatever is used has no value at all except maybe to lead on into the level of Maya or delusion.

As such, dispensing with various theatrical aids, (which are also necessary) a ritual that covers all three traditionally is that which embraces the Three Mothers. Fire, Water, and Air. As such it is very simple in format, the leader is male, and the structure of the rite is to do with eating and drinking. In fact, the original form of the Sacrament of the Host, embracing unlike the Christian Sacrament, the principles of the Sun and the Moon. The male and females do not dance or pace round a ring (although that again is done for other things) but stay still, and a Maid is not used for such work. Incidentally the concept of a Maid historically comes from either Spain or Italy, and as such was to do with matters connected to a different religion that was relatively speaking, modern. Now the ritual I have spoken of can be traced by symbols and by grave goods many, many centuries back to the Neolithic period, or early stone age. A sun symbol as such is still the form of a consecrated 'host', and means literally resurrection. The concept behind the Horn Childe has much to do with this.