Drawing Down the Moon (21 page)

Joseph Wilson, who considered himself the founder of the 1734 tradition, died in 1994, but his Web site is still available to the public. He describes the 1734 tradition in this way:

Today, quite a few covens have been influenced by the 1734 tradition. Clifton says that Cochrane's letters to Joe Wilson conveyed a mystical Pagan teaching, but had little to say about ritual and coven organization, so the groups often borrowed from the generic Gardnerian Craft—such things as casting the circle, using invocations at the four quarters, and using the Drawing Down the Moon ritual. Most of the covens that trace their lineage to the 1734 tradition use dance, chant, and trance. Clifton also writes that there is a certain flavor to 1734 covens: a love of the outdoors and a more mystical and shamanic orientation. In one of the letters to Joseph Wilson, Robert Cochrane wrote:

Greencraft, like a number of other Wiccan traditions, emerged out of the Alexandrian tradition, after it was brought to the Benelux countries—Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxemburg. It started with a single coven, started by Hera and Arghuicha, who originally were members of an Alexandrian coven, the only one in Benelux. In 1994 it became its own tradition in Amsterdam. Now there are covens in Belgium, the Netherlands, and the United States. Two new training groups were later formed in Belgium, and two of those initiates returned to Texas. Two other members were also trained in the Tuatha de Danann tradition. These six people originated the Greencraft Tradition and the Sacred Well.

In Europe many of the strands that came out of Alexandrian and Gardnerian Wicca, including the Greencraft, Danann, and Whitecraft traditions call themselves Traditional Craft Wicca, or TCW. In the United States most of the groups coming out of the Gardnerian and Alexandrian traditions call themselves British Traditional Wicca. According to the Web site of the Sacred Well, a Greencraft group in the United States, Greencraft defines Wicca as “an earth-based nature religion with some branches, including our own, claiming a ‘Western Mystery Tradition.' According to the Sacred Well:

Among the special characteristics of Greencraft covens—in addition to any Alexandrian aspects—are the use of a tree alphabet, a unique rune system developed by Michael Ragan, founder of the American Tuatha De Danann tradition, a non-Hebrew form of the Kabala and a Tree of Life based partly on R. J. Stewart's work. Greencraft draws from ceremonial magic, folk magic, and nature religions. It also uses shamanic techniques such as drumming, dancing, chanting, and the development of sensory awareness.

Members of Greencraft say their main effort has been to provide a structure for covens to cooperate and to give more than lip service to the idea of being both a nature tradition and a mystery tradition. Greencraft provides common teaching materials. There are annual Greencraft and Sacred Well conventions, and there is a foundation (Greencraft Creations) that publishes a quarterly magazine, maintains a Web site and organizes events. In order to promote the “nature” aspects of their religion, Greencraft organizes monthly “treewalks,” based on a Celtic tree calendar, as an alternative to pub moots. They have also created a Greencraft Tarot based on Celtic and Germanic lore. They have several books in preparation as well.

To become a member of Greencraft, you must subscribe to the Covenant of Five Tenets. These include reverence for the God and Goddess as representations of divine reality, both immanent and transcendent; reverence and respect for the natural world and the worth of all life forms, a belief that it is the right of every individual to be their own authority in all matters of spirit and religion; and a belief in tolerance of all of humanity that leads to a refusal to convert, or seek to convert those of other beliefs and practices.

In the United States, the main organization involved in Greencraft is the Sacred Well Congregation, which has more than 1,200 members in the United States, about half of them in the U.S. military. The military connection began in 1997, when the Sacred Well Congregation agreed to sponsor a group of practicing Wiccans at Fort Hood.

George Patterson founded the Georgian Tradition in 1971. It was incorporated as the Church of Wicca of Bakersfield and later as the Georgian Church. According to a Web site devoted to traditionalist Georgians, the name of the tradition was chosen because “many British Traditional Wiccan groups were spearheaded by men that gave their names to these traditions.” Georgian Wicca draws together elements of Alexandrian and Gardnerian Wicca, as well as the Pagan Way material created by Ed Fitch. Many of its practices—and its use of the Wiccan laws and initiations—are very similar to British Traditional Wicca; Georgian Wicca considers itsef a close cousin to Gardnerian Wicca.

There have been a number of different stories about the late George Patterson's history. At times he said he was initiated into “a Celtic coven,” although there has been other speculation that he was involved with a coven that used classical Greco-Roman and Norse deities. After George Patterson died, many Georgians became more eclectic; some explored other teachings and even rewrote the initiation rituals. There were now eclectic Georgians and even Dianic Georgians. Those that decided to remain traditionalists have now joined together into one branch. There are three lines: Silverknife, Elven, and MoonStar. The traditional Georgians have their own Web site (see Resources). Traditionalist Georgians emphasize male to female initiations in their original form as written in their Book of Shadows; they also celebrate the sabbats according to the original form. They keep the same laws (Ordains) and they do not delete or change the Book of Shadows.

The covens of NROOGD—The New Reformed Orthodox Order of the Golden Dawn—are described in detail in Chapter 7 (see also Resources). The tradition was created entirely out of research, poetry, inspiration, and the gathering of a small group of friends. Those Witches quoted in the book who come from NROOGD include Glenna Turner and Aidan Kelly. Kelly, one of the founders of NROOGD, has been known to say that poetry led him to the Craft, and that is as good a clue as any to the tradition.

This tradition has been called Faery, Faerie, or Feri. The poet Victor Anderson started the tradition in California. As you can see from some of his quotes in this book, Victor Anderson had a very poetic way of looking at the world; the late Alison Harlow once told me that the stories Victor told about his origins often changed. Anderson always said that his sources were Hawaiian Kahuna and African Voudoun. But according to an article by Steve Hewell in
The Witches' Voice,
at the age of twelve Anderson met a group of economic refugees from Southern Appalachia who taught him various magical practices “rooted in American folk magic,” with some “elements of European, African-American and Native American traditions.”
²⁸

Later, some of the most important people involved in the Pagan resurgence—Alison Harlow, Gwydion Pendderwen and his wife, Cynthia, Caradoc Ap Cador, and a number of others—were part of Victor Anderson's coven, and that is when the Feri tradition really took off. Later, Starhawk brought many Feri elements to the Reclaiming tradition, but gave it a more political direction. Victor Anderson and others added Gardnerian elements, and other initiates have taken it in Celtic, Native American, and countless other directions. Some of the hallmarks of the tradition are shamanic practices and sexual mysticism. Steve Hewell writes of the tradition:

Solitary practice is common in Feri, there is only one initiation, and coven structure is often informal. A number of different lines of transmission of the tradition are available, and some of the current teachers are Gabriel, Francesca di Grandis, and Tony Spurlock. Hewell sums up the tradition this way:

The Reclaiming tradition began in northern California in the 1980s and now has groups throughout North America and in parts of Western Europe. The tradition has always emphasized community and collective action. Starhawk is Reclaiming's most famous member, and her books
The Spiral Dance, Dreaming the Dark,
and others, have been the springboard for countless covens. But from the very beginning, decisions in Reclaiming have been made by consensus decision making—somewhat similar to that used by the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). There has never been one leader, although Starhawk has been one of the prime theologians. From its inception classes and workshops have been co-taught to model a different notion of power. In 1982, after a political protest—a blockade of the proposed nuclear plant at Diablo Canyon, and Reclaiming's first Spiral Dance—the community came together as the Reclaiming Collective. Soon after, the first summer intensives were started, a newsletter began, and in 1994 Reclaiming incorporated. Eventually, Reclaiming became a tradition of Witchcraft. The Reclaiming tradition is eclectic and based on personal empowerment and is structurally non-hierarchical. Starhawk was trained in Victor and Cora Anderson's Faery tradition, as well as having experienced the Dianic Wicca of Z Budapest. According to an article by M. Macha NightMare, with input from Vibra Willow, and found on Reclaiming's Web site, the Reclaiming tradition, “unlike most other Craft traditions, has espoused a connection between spirituality and political action.”
²⁹
M. Macha NightMare says the tradition can be characterized as being non-hierarchical; it has no specific pantheon, no set liturgy, except in very large public rituals, no requirement of initiations, extensive use of chanting, breath work and energy raising, and a strong emphasis on political involvement and ecological consciousness. Reclaiming proudly uses the word “Witch” and Reclaiming's understanding of feminist spirituality—a spirituality that includes men and women—is based on an analysis of power that sees all systems of oppression as interrelated and rooted in a structure of domination and control. “Power within” is contrasted with “Power over.” In its Principles of Unity, printed on its Web site, Reclaiming says:

Reclaiming has groups and communities in many parts of the United States, as well as in Germany, Spain, Canada, and the Netherlands. Reclaiming runs Witchcamps, weeklong intensives where drumming, dancing, chanting, storytelling, guided visualization, trance, and energy work take place. At least five thousand people have experienced these camps. As this book went to press in 2006 there were close to twenty annual Witchcamps in the United States and Europe.