Craft of the Untamed

I received my copy of Nicholaj de Mattos Frisvold's new book "Craft of the Untamed" today. This isn't a formal review, as I have not had time to do more than skim through it so far, but I would like to make an early register of my excitement and approval. In clear and unpretentious language Nicholaj discusses a series of topics central to Traditional Witchcraft and manages to provide much illumination. The book has a foreword by Shani Oates and several chapters have sample workings that should be useful to practitioners, possibly even be inspiring. The author conveys the sense of both dark and light in the Craft without any exagerrated diabolism, but also without shirking the discussion of the darker and wilder side of our art. It is handsomely produced and I have only two complaints. Firstly, some of the illustrations by Audrey Melo have been badly scanned and the pixels can be clearly seen, in one occasion, rather more visible than the actual drawing. This is a great shame as the drawings are rather good and stand up well with other works, including Hans Baldung Grien. My other grumble is that the book is quite short - I'd have liked more of it as it is obviously a superior work and maybe even one that helps set the standard. I don't mean that I feel short-changed, just that I feel greedy for more! Craft of the Untamed can be ordered here: http://www.mandrake.uk.net/ndmf.htm I don't think anybody buying it will be disappointed and with at least two more important books recently published Nicholaj de Mattos Frisvold has become something of a force to be reckoned with. I may write more on this once I have actually read it properly! Stuart

Wind Gods or elemental guardians?

During the time I studied with Joe he was often insistent that the four Wind Gods, Lucet, Carenos, Node and Tettens, were not primarily elemental guardians and were not Celtic either. This might, if you view the matter superficially, seem to go against the evidence, but both are definitely justifiable and reveal a different pattern of thinking to anybody who cares to look further.

The Wind Gods are so called because they are precisely wind gods and the concept is first and foremost the winds, not the elements. Elemental correspondences are an important secondary attribution, but it should not be thought that at any time one is doing standard Western Tradition magic as filtered through Golden Dawn correspondences and continued by Wicca.

By looking at the concept of the winds in various cultures and systems much can be learned. In one of her recent posts Jane mentioned the Anemoi, that could be a good place to start. The other point to be made is concerned with the names, Lucet, Carenos, Node and Tettens. I must start by saying we do use these names, but we do not see them as Celtic and the apparently celtic-sounding ring they have is, it seems, something of a blind. The names are, it seems, of recent provenance and in at least one case they would appear to convey by hint, at least a little bit of information concerning Fate, or the Fates.

Stuart

Spring has Sprung

How wonderful this time of year is. Lively yellow flowers greet the eyes of the woodland , meadow and riverside wanderer.The Coltsfoot is one of these early spring heralds. found in flower at this time of year. The image above was found joyously radiating its springtime illumination along the riverbank. According to Culpeper the Coltsfoot is ‘also called Coughwort, Foal’s-foot, Horse-Hoof, and Bull’s-foot.

He goes on to relate how ‘The plant is under Venus, the fresh leaves or juice, or a syrup thereof is good for a hot dry cough, or wheezing, and shortness of breath. ‘ he follows this by emphatically recommending ‘the distilled water hereof simply, or with Elder flowers and Nightshade, is a singularly good remedy against all hot agues,’ I think the 'simply' bit is the oly recommended remedy to be even considered or maybe you will never be troubled with the hot, or any other form of ague again. So leave out the nightshade please.

Anyway, the cough syrup part sounds good to me.

Woodland Walk at the end of March

The woodland floor, is now carpeted with Wood Anemone, or Anemone nemorosa; the windflower; a joy to behold.

It appears that in Greek Mythology, the Anemois, or wind gods sent forth Anemones as the herald of spring. (Very kind of them too, me-thinks) Culpeper says of the windflower that ‘the flowers never open but when the wind blows’. He then adds, ‘Pliny is my author; if it be not so, blame him.’

Nemorosa, refers to its woodland habitat, dancing in a carpet of froth shimmering across the woodland floor and sharing its abode happily with its neighbour, lesser celandine.

Its bedfellow, the lesser celandine, springs from the Latin chelidonia meaning swallow, as it was said that the flowers bloomed when the swallows returned.

Both plants belong to the genus Ranunculus. And the name Ranunculus is said to be ‘Late Latin’ for ‘little frog’ as they, (all Ranunculus genus) are often found near water, and then of course near the frogs and toads. Although the lesser celandine is found also down by the river and ponds where the frogs and toads live, these images are from the woodland floor. It appears to me that it is perhaps at the time when these pretty little heralds of spring are in flower that you will get a delightful glimpse of the frog and toad population of local ponds and pools.

Culpeper places the lesser celandine, or pilewort under the ‘dominion of Mars,’ and he goes onto indicate that if you dig up the root, you will find they resemble piles, and it appears, according to this learn-ed gentleman that that an oil, ointment or plaster of the root or leaves, will ‘readily cure both the piles and haemorrhoids, and the Kings evil.’ His excitement jumps from the page in this entry, must go try it, well maybe not, forgot I very fortunately don’t suffer from piles or haemorrhoids, nor the Kings evil. (Wikepedia tells us ‘the Kings evil is ‘Tuberculous cervical lymphadenitis refers to a lymphadenitis of the cervical lymph nodes associated with tuberculosis. It was previously known as "scrofula"’)

Now back to the windflower and Culpeper’s wisdom. He places the wood anemone under the dominion of Mars , ‘being supposed to be a kind of Crow-foot.’ He doesn’t sound too sure about that one, but a relatively safe assertion medicinally. However it does appear that the wood-anemone is poisonous, so whatever Culpeper recommends with all conviction, in the way of ingestion, please don’t try it.

Thanks to the spirits of the place.

Well what a glorious day this became, I strolled off, bag full of offerings; Cake Stuart had made, along with Rosehip Vodka made with the energies at the Autumn equinox, to place upon our woodland altar, and then on to the crossroad with an offering for Hekate .

No black dogs anywhere to be seen, but it is still a place that permeates power, and resonates with energy.

The crossroads has always been a place linked with liminal space, a change of direction, or movement; ‘which way now’ I mutter to myself so of course I petition the patroness of such places Hekate. as a chthonic deity she walks between the living and the dead, she looks in all directions at once, and aids the steps of the seeker; and for me and my toad (sounds like a song there) patroness of both realms. In the foreword of the book Hekate Liminal Rites by Sorita d’Este & David Rankine we find;

‘Hekate stands at he crossroads bearing the keys to the mysteries. In the ancient world she inspired poets and philosophers,Witches, magicians and ordinary people, all of whom knew she could bestow blessings to improve their lot and protect them from the harsh denizens of the infernal world.’

‘There are still people today whom Hekate continues to call to her mysteries – encouraging them to reach the innermost parts of their souls to find the power that illuminates the darkness.’

So as a goddess of ‘transition’ for both me and the toad, it seemed correct to make an offering to her, at a place within the bounds of the Clan of the Entangled Thicket.

At the entrance to this sacred place is our altar, half way up an old oak tree, a readymade place of offering. It is here that I clear away the leaves with my little mushroom cleaning brush, and leave an offering to the spirits of the place, the Genii who walk the woodland paths, and have travelled here from time immemorial. All that now remains of ancient woodland, is a very small haven in a sprawling metropolis.

Toads Toads Everywhere

On 27^th March 2011 I collected a dead toad from the pond in Chinbrook Meadows, fairly large in size, perhaps a female. At approximately 11 O- clock in the morning, barely scraping into British summertime, as the clocks went back at 2 o-clock this morning. Sun-rise was at 6.48, (Greenwich Mean-Time) Incidentally sunset will be at 19.25; this gives us a day of 12h36min and 06 seconds in duration, that doesn’t have much to do with any of my thoughts, but just thought I would lob it in for good measure.

So, it appears that I may have collected the toad in the 5^th hour of daylight, if my calculations are correct, which would place the hour under the planetary rulership of Saturn. This seemed to me to fit rather snugly as; ‘Saturn's aspect generally involves the bringing to the collective attention the realities of responsibility, limitation and finitude.’(http://planetaryinfluence.com/forecasts/2010/Mar/ the finite existence of the toad, was certainly very apparent, which made me contemplate the nature of my own existence. However what appeared as more important than the planetary aspect at the time was the influence of the sun; which, breaking through the mist, started warming the air all around me, and continued to so for the duration of this late March day. Not enough however, to provoke the large toad population into another sexual frenzy of activity witnessed by Stuart and myself two days ago. It all appeared to make the Marquis De Sade seem like as Enid Blyton.

Apparently ‘Because Bufo bufo is an explosive breeder and there is high competition for females more than one male may grasp onto the female forming multiple amplexus or a mating ball. In some cases (including in Bufo bufo) females can be swamped and drowned by eager males.’ http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/aps/mbiolsci/kate-hutchence/abouttoads.html

Oh dear; it does appear that this may have been the eventuality that befell my poor toad. However, this was exactly what I needed to perform the Toad Bone Ritual, so; as one would say ‘waste not want not;’ a lesson learnt from nature herself. So homeward I trod; that sounds as if I had to trek the wilderness whereas in reality, this is but a few hundred yards.

I took my treasured find into the garden, and with due ceremony and a sprinkle of sacred water, she was interned; there for the ants and other very small creature to do their work; and hopefully leave me with the bones. I also thought, best mark the spot, of the burial, as I didn’t fancy having to dig up the whole of one side of the garden to enable me to uncover my hidden treasure. And as Stuart has reminded me, the bones will be very small.

In the past; when a fox decided to surrender its life in my little plot he, or she, very kindly did so under a rose bush, so apart from the danger of poking my eyes out and shredding my clothing, there was little danger of me actually forgetting where my treasure was placed.

So back to the Toad Bone Ritual; when taking into account the way this toad died, its death, it appears was during the act of attempted generation. A reminder to me that I am giving up the pursuits of the flesh, to follow the journey beyond, I will, over the coming month, identify with the flesh of the toad now leaving its bones and will examine what this means to me, in the mean time.........more to come......