Children of Cain: A Study of Modern Traditional Witches

319 Pages·2011·10.701 MB·English

by  Michael Howard

Children of Cain
A Study of Modern Traditional Witches
Michael Howard
THREE HANDS PRESS
2011
© Copyright 2011 Xoanon Limited, All Rights Reserved. No
portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without the
written consent of the publisher.
Cover, title plate, and and dust jacket artwork by Liv Rainey-
Smith © Copyright 2011, All Rights Reserved.
All additional images copyright individual contributors as so
noted. Illustrative Production by James Dunk. Jacket design by
Bob Eames. Binding of Fine Editions by Pettingell Bindery.
This first edition of Children of Cain was
published at Autumnal Equinox 2011,
limited to two thousand copies ruby-
stamped hardcover, one hundred sixty one
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Three Hands Press
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Contents
Preface
l
Traditional Witch Ways 13
2
The Clan of Tubal Cain 41
3
The Regency 85
4
The Pickingill Craft 109
5
The Horse Whisperers 135
6
American Traditional Witches 157
7
The Sabbatic Craft 186
7
The Old Craft Today 204
GImloasgsea rCyr edits 235087
Bibliography 308
Thus the Children of Cain became the inheritors
of the Elder Worship, the Keepers of the Wisdom
of the Elder Gods, and the True Custodians of
Sacred Knowledge.
Alogos Dhu'l-qarnen Khidir
Preface
O
ver the last thirty years there have been numerous books
written about Wicca, the modern form of neo-pagan witchcraft
created by a retired Customs officer called Gerald Gardner in
the 1940s and 1950s. Fewer books have been written about pre-
Gardnerian and non-Wiccan 'traditional witchcraft' and today more and
more people are becoming interested in this older version.
To counter-balance a lack of genuine information and misinformation
on the subject, this book presents an overview of the modern traditional
witchcraft, its various publicly known traditions and the leading
personalities who were responsible for bringing them into the light of
day. These include Robert Cochrane, Ronald Milland White and
George Arthur Stannard, Evan John Jones, E.W. Liddell, Victor
Anderson, Rosaleen Norton, Alastair Clay-Egerton, and Andrew D.
Chumbley.
What is a witch? According to one modern book on popular Wicca a
witch is 'a person who perceives vividly the connection between all
aspects of life. Witches do not see spirit and matter as separate entities
- they worship nature in stream and stone, plants and people. Witches
are intensely aware of unseen natural energies [which they] make use
mostly to help and heal.' (Moorey 1996). Compare this with the
following description of witches in Wales as represented in popular
belief at the beginning of the 20th century:
Welsh witches were divided into three main classes:
1) The black witches, male and female, who traded their souls
in exchange for magical powers, using them for evil and
cursing. Quick to take umbrage they were liberal with their
use of curses
2) The white witches, who used their powers for the lifting of
curses and healing. They sold love potions, foretold the future
and were widely consulted by the gentry of the times as well
as ordinary folk. They could, when aroused to extreme anger,
curse people.
7
Children of Cain
3) The third type were also practising white witches, always
male, and called a wizard or wise man. He could also cure
diseases and lift curses and usually travelled through the
country selling his magical powers. In addition to these three
types of witches there were men who could exorcise spirits by
means of the cross and the Trinity and passages from the New
Testament. They were classed as wise men and conjurors, but
never referred to as witches, and were many times more
successful at exorcising spirits then the clergy (Pugh 1987).
The differences between these two views of the witch divided only by
a period of one hundred years is striking. To a certain extent, of course,
they reflect the popular beliefs about witches and witchcraft at either
end of the 20th century. However, the Welsh example does provide a
clear insight into the nature of the Craft as it was before the modern
revival. It also helps to illustrate the major differences between modern
neo-pagan Wicca and traditional and historical witchcraft. These
differences will become apparent in the contents of this book.
From the 16th century onwards there is ample evidence from historical
sources, folklore accounts, legal records and later newspaper reports of
the activities of witches and so-called 'cunning folk.' They were variously
known to outsiders and their clients as witches, wizards (wise men),
wise women, sorcerers, warlocks, enchanters, charmers, fortune-tellers,
planet-readers (astrologers), pellers (from the Old Cornish for expellers
or repellers) and healers. These magical practitioners operated widely in
both rural and urban areas all over the British Isles until at least the
beginning of the Second World War, and sometimes long afterwards.
These folk magicians were believed by their clients to possess the power
of both the Second Sight (clairvoyance) and the Evil Eye (hexing or
cursing), to be able to exorcise evil spirits and banish ghosts, locate
missing persons and lost property by either divination or consulting
spirit guides, cast spells to obtain love or money, heal the sick by the
'laying on of hands' or herbal remedies, foretell the future and, most
importantly, counteract the malefic powers of the so-called 'grey* and
'black witches'. In the latter role the cunning folk sometimes assisted the
local population as amateur witch-finders.
Although there are similarities between what the old-time witches did
and some modern Wiccan practices (after all Gerald Gardner was
initiated into a 'traditional' coven in the New Forest before the Second
8
Preface
ld War), the belief system and range of magical techniques
r
loved. in tradii-.t i•o nal1 w..Mit+cylhi/c-ir-ia-fftt- airrpe d(^iifrfreprrepnnft iinn mm^amnry wunavycs . FPonrr
em
" the historical witch often practised dual-faith observance. Many
oTthe charms and prayers they used were Roman Catholic in origin and
predated the Reformation. They called upon Jesus, the Virgin Mary, the
Trinity and the company of saints, rather than pagan gods and goddesses,
psalms were often used for magical purposes by the old cunning folk
and still are by some modern traditional witches.
However, some elements of the old paganism did survive in traditional
witchcraft and historians such as Professor Carlo Ginzburg have claimed
that the medieval witch cult and its practice of the Witches' Sabbath was
based on a mixture of demonology, Christian heresy and pre-Christian
shamanistic beliefs (1990). Modern traditional witches, such as members
of the Cultus Sabbati, continue to follow beliefs and practices based on
the medieval version of the Witches Sabbath. The late Robert Cochrane,
Magister or Master of the Clan of Tubal Cain, stated that traditional
witchcraft was a surviving remnant of the ancient mystery religions,
although he also affirmed that traditional witches were not 'pagans.'
Other aspects of the Old Ways survived in the popular folk belief in
faeries. Some Victorian folklorists regarded the popular stories about
faeries as degraded memories of the pagan Old Gods. There are
numerous examples of historical witches receiving initiation and magical
training from the Good Folk and the Queen of Elfhame ('Elf Home' or
Faeryland). Some witches entered into 'faery marriages' with demon
lovers and in return were granted the gift of the Second Sight, poetic
inspiration, healing skills and a knowledge of herbal lore. This tradition
of communion between witches and Faerie has also survived into
modern forms of the Old Craft. Today many traditional witches revere
die faery king and queen of as the witch god and witch goddess. It should
be emphasised that the faeries, elves and goblins and the other elemental
spirits recognised by traditional witches have nothing in common with
the modern gossamer-winged New Age fantasy types.
In many instances in the Traditional Craft charms, prayers and healing
^echmques were passed down through families. Therefore we have
^stoncal evidence of hereditary witchcraft, sometimes known today in
menca as 'famtrads' or family traditions. The cunning folk also
derived * ^^ knowledSe of astrology and plant and weather lore
^"her from familial sources, written texts or spirit contacts,
y o the old-time witches were literate and educated. Several of the
9