So what are the Hermetic Principles?  These are esoteric teachings that can be found in The Kybalion, a book first published in 1908, which presents what is believed to be ancient teachings of Hermes Trismegistus, or Thrice-Great Hermes.  Who this is or was is not clearly known or understood and how the works of Hermes Trismegistus has been presented and accepted has varied over the years.  Hermes refers to the the Greek God Hermes who is associated with the Egyptian God Thoth and the God Mercury to the Romans.  One suggestion has been that Hermes Trismegistus actually refers to the God Hermes in his three different associations seen here or that this name was used by the Egyptians to try and differentiate from the Greek God Hermes.

It’s hard to say if Hermes Trismegistus was actually a human or a myth, but the teachings that developed as a result of this persona are considered to be some of the most important esoteric and magickal writings.  The Hermetic writings that were the basis for The Kybalion are said to have been  inscribed on green stones, referred to as “emerald tablets”.  The Emerald Tablet opens with the following:

That which is above is like that which is below, and that which is below is like that which is above, to achieve the wonders of the one thing.

Hermes Trismegistus

Hermes Trismegistus is considered by many to be the master alchemist; the Hermetic teachings are based in the concept of alchemy.  Not the idea of alchemy where one works to turn metal to gold, but the idea of transforming the self, the practitioner, from being rooted in the day to day, materialistic pursuits of life to someone that is connected to the higher consciousness and enlightened.  So it could be said that even here alchemy is turning base material (the base human consciousness) to gold (the golden light of connection to the Divine that is sometimes associated with the crown chakra).

The Kybalion says:

The Principles of Truth are Seven; he who knows these, understandingly, possesses the magic key before whose touch all the doors of the Temple fly open.

The Seven Hermetic Principles are:

1. The Principle of Mentalism
2. The Principle of Correspondence
3. The Principle of VIbration
4. The Principle of Polarity
5. The Principle of Rhythm
6. The Principle of Cause and Effect
7. The Principle of Gender

As we talk more about these individually and look at examples of how they are used in magick and how they work, you’ll begin to see more of the keys to making magick work for you.  These are the seven keys of all magick and by working with these seven keys in harmony you can not only learn and understand how magick works but you’ll be able to make your magick in your own practice work more for you.

Next week we’ll start with the Principle of Mentalism and we’ll be working through one a week over the next seven weeks and then we’ll delve into the Universal Laws, of which there are many, but many of them work together and can be explained in little groups.  The Kybalion is now in public domain and available all over the internet.  If you’d like to check out  a web based version you can find one here or you can find it in PDF format here.  It’s not an easy read but I can’t stress enough how important it is.

There are many, many words in our culture today that have that sort of circumstance surrounding their varied meanings.  Unfortunately many of them are derogatory terms, or words that have been turned into derogatory terms or insults, but these meanings are not the actual definitions of the word.  This is the same instance with “warlock”.  Sure it’s been used to mean “oath-breaker” or “traitor” but this isn’t what the actual intended definition of the word is.  And that’s all Christian and other male Witches are doing with the word, trying to bring back the original meaning and apply it’s use more properly in modern day occult practice.  Why it was OK for the word Witch, which also had it’s other cultural meanings (“poisoner” anyone?) but it’s not OK for Warlock is beyond me. Even more beyond my comprehension is this new buzz that this is an attempt to make some sort of term that would create a gender bias towards men in the Pagan and occult community.  As Charlie Sheen woulds say, “Vintage balderdash!”

So the point here is that Christian Day is offering up $1,000 to anyone that can produce solid proof that the word Warlock holds the meaning of someone who either betrays a coven or who betrays a coven to Witch hunters pre-1950s Wiccan/Pagan revival period.  Below is the note Christian posted on his Facebook page.  I’ll be interested to see if anyone finds anything to meet Christian’s challenge.

$1,000 Reward – Read on!

by Christian Day on Sunday, March 6, 2011 at 3:59pm

To the various irate commenters on my use of the word Warlock, I did the research on the word and have been for years. My dear friend Raven Grimassi, in particular can speak to the many conversations he and I have had about the word. He knows that I do my homework. Those who suggest I haven’t done my homework on the subject either haven’t been paying attention or have an ulterior agenda.

If you read the OED etymology of Warlock, there is simply nothing to suggest a betrayer of the coven. Any association with the breaking of oaths would have to be taken into historical context. Going only so far back as 1023 CE, and also being associated with being a devil or being in league with the devil, the oaths broken would have been broken to the church. In this regard, I am an oathbreaker, breaking the oaths of the first commandment. Reading the Malleus Malificarum–The witch hunter’s guide, you see a mindset by which women are referred to as prone to Witchcraft, more susceptible. That was indicative of the terrible sexism of the time. So, for a man to practice Witchcraft would have been considered a far more grievous sin.

That said, while OED will not yet accept Vardlokkur as a possible source, it is older than 1023, with the story of the “Warlock Song” contained within the Saga of Erik the Red (Circa 950 – 1003 CE). With so much of the credible historical research on magic emerging after 1963, in fact, in the last two decades really, we have a lot of knowledge that we didn’t have then. Icelandic/English dictionaries dating as early as the 1800′s define Warlock as the English equivalent of the Nordic Vardlokkur (or spirit summoning song). Historian Stephen A. Mitchell in his 2011 book, “Witchcraft and Magic in the Nordic Middle Ages,” continues this trend. Oxford English Dictionary is an aggregate of scholarship, but is not necessarily the last word. If it were, it would never change.

As Isaac Bonewits long pointed out, the word Witch was an insult thrown by the Church in the same way that the word “pagan” essentially began as the Roman version of the term “White trash.” We have reclaimed these words in spite of their negative associations. Starhawk noted in The Spiral Dance that even with all its negative connotations, women should see the word Witch as a way of reclaiming women’s power and that men should see it as a way of finding the divine feminine within. Nobody seems to question that, so I have to wonder what kind of agenda is driving this resentment. Perhaps the same one that kept transgendered females out of a circle at Pantheacon. Frankly, in 1963, Gardnerian Wicca was quite homophobic.

I don’t mind people disagreeing with my use of the words. What I resent is those accusing me of not doing my homework when, essentially, they haven’t done their homework. The bibliography of my forthcoming book reads like an anthology of the ancient world. There are painfully few books on the modern Witchcraft revival among the bunch. Anyone who says that the word represents a traitor to the coven is taking it from modern Wicca books and, frankly, this isn’t homework. Not any that any serious academic would accept as a source, anyway. And, in Ray’s case, the very Gardnerian Book of Shadows that he is oathbound not to reveal, I have read, without oath taken, and it says nothing negative about the word Warlock at all. In fact, some versions of the text actually use the word as a form of binding of the initiate to gain the sight. So there is no evidence anywhere that this word represents a traitor to the Craft only traitor to the Church, which I am gladly, and I agree with the Nordic scholars (and most Witchcraft is likely descended from both the Nordic and Celtic people anyway) that Vardlokkur is the original root anyway.

With this in mind, I prefer to put my money where my mouth is. I am offering $1,000 to the first person who can find me source material prior to 1950 that designates the word Warlock as someone who betrays a coven to the Witch hunters, or betrays a coven at all. I’m that interested in the source material for this prior to the Wiccan revival that I’m willing to pay for it.

So everyone has gleefully tittered over their own words excited at what they believe to be their overwhelming knowledge on the subject, but does anyone actually want the cash? Trust me, we can talk business now. I’ve got the cash if you’ve got the stash.

Blessings from Salem,
Christian Day
Salem Warlock

(and don’t forget to check out my three part post on the subject: part 1 here, part 2 here, part 3 here)

So what does warlock really mean?  Where does the word come from and why do we always give it that definition of “oath-breaker”?

The word warlock is believed to have three different meanings which are connected to two different origins, an Anglo-Saxon word “waerloga” and an Old Norse word “vardlokkur”.  There is the Anglo-Saxon “oath-breaker”, which we all hear quite often.  The other is from the Scottish word for “cunning man” or “male witch”; interestingly it’s quite common to hear the word warlock defined by Wiccans and Pagans as a Scottish word meaning “‘oath-breaker” or “traitor” though that definition isn’t of Scottish origin.  And the last, and most compelling, is from the Old Norse word “vardlokkur”.  We’ll be looking at that one at length; let’s start with getting the Saxon and Scottish history worked out.

It has been suggested by some researchers that the word warlock is derived of the Anglo-Saxon “waerloga”, a word that consists of “waer” meaning “pledge”, especially a pledge of faith, and “loga” meaning things like “liar” and “to speak falsely”.  Together the word would mean “to speak falsely against the faith”.

This is interesting because it makes one wonder why, if the word warlock is of Anglo-Saxon origin, is it not found in the English literature of the time.  Instead the word is found in use in Scotland even though the Anglo-Saxon people and their language hadn’t reached there yet.  Warlock is found in different uses and in different places in Scottish literature with meanings very different from those of the English, especially by writers such as William Reid and Robert Burns.  We see phrases like “in a warlock glen” where the word in Scottish language was used to mean “sorcerer” or “enchanter/enchantment”.  So here we have “in an enchanted glen”, something that hardly lends to the idea of an oath breaking evil magician.  If the word “waerloga” is found in the Scots material of the time the only likely coincidence here may be the spelling of the word since it’s been well suggested that the meaning and context of the word is very different.

It is important to remember that language travels with it’s people.  It’s most likely that because the Anglo-Saxons moved on to invade the south of England and the Scandinavian people of Norway and Sweden came to Scotland and Northern England, bringing with them their language and culture, that we see some of the discrepancies in the origins of some words.

The problem here is the questionable origin of the word warlock found within the Old English word waerloga.  There is little to truly support this idea. Linguists have suggested another answer to these origins.   This is where we see the word vardlokkur come in use in Scotland, a word that would come to be connected to the origins of the word warlock, but one that would become lost and forgotten because of the church later on.

Vardlokkur is an Old Norse word that has been said to be used in the same way as the words “enchanter” or “sorcerer”, very much the same way that warlock is originally defined.  In recent years this has been debated to be one of the origins of the word warlock.  The word is a combination of “vard” which means “guard, watch, or defend” and “lokkur” meaning “magic song or musical charm”.  Together they give the word definitions such as “song of warding”.  In the poetic eddas vardlokkur is said to be a song sun to ward off evil spirits during religious rites and ceremonies making the person doing the singing a “spell singer” or “caller of spirits”

In a similar way vardlokkur has been said to mean “one who traps and disposes of unwanted spirits”.  The person who sung the spirits up was said to then have the ability to ward them off, contain them, or bind them so that they couldn’t harm anyone.   In a way when in this role they were somewhat like exorcists.

Though a direct translation is still being researched and debated, it is believed by many that vardlokkur translates to mean warlock.  It is thought that the vardlokkur were wise men who had a connection to and possessed divine wisdom and were charged with protecting that wisdom and the gates to the other worlds where it was held.  Other sources do not talk so much about this being something limited to just men.  In fact there are other explanations that combine the ideas of magickal chanting and communication with those in the other worlds.

As a practice vardlokkur has been described as the singing or chanting of magickal music.  It’s been said to be a special type of galdr (singing), singing in a rhythm meant to affect the mind, and that it is intended for use in seidr (Old Norse for “sorcery” or “witchcraft”).  Here we see the practice of vardlokkur used by the seidrkona, or priestess, as a way to connect to other worlds.  She would sit upon a throne and other women would be seated around her.  They would sing and chant, specifically telling the tale of a specific myth, and the priestess would use this as a way to journey to this place to connect with the spirits who reside there.  An example would be the singing of myths about the Norse Underworld, Helheim.  The priestess would go there to communicate with the ancestors and the dead for advice and information that would be helpful for the people in the middle world.   In some modern Norse traditions vardlokkur is a term used to describe any sort of magick that is centered on or created through music.

What this boils down to is the idea that if vardlokkur is an origin of the word warlock, then we are looking at someone who communicates and works with the dead, possibly through the use of music, rhythm, or changing, while working magick and protecting others from spirits that might mean to do harm.

Doesn’t sound too evil and it falls into place with definitions given in many dictionaries of a warlock as a male witch, worker of the magickal arts, and sorcerer.  There’s nothing about oath-breaking or evil doing mentioned.  It’s not until the church got involved and times began to change that the word warlock evolved to have these negative connotations.

In the next and final part of this series we’ll be looking at how this happened, how the church got involved, and where we are now with the term warlock.

On to part three!

And let’s also not forget the idea of history being written by the victors and the fact that the the church was coming into a special place of power in a time where church law was the law of the land.  So as we have seen in other places when those in charge write the history books, in this instance the church, they have a say in the way the information was written and presented.  This is where we start to see warlock as meaning “oath-breaker” and “traitor” really come into use.

First, it’s important to keep in mind the time this was happening and the context in which the word was used.  At this time all a man had was his word.  Your word was gold, it was your bond.  To break an oath, to break a bond, was something that cast a huge blight on a person and could cause them to be ostracized from their communities.  However, when the church was using the term warlock they were using it to refer mainly to the breaking of a man’s oath to God.  We can see the impact of this most clearly through the famous Malleus Maleficarum, the Hammer of the Witches, the famous witch hunters manual written by Heinrich Kramer who was an inquisitor for the church.

It is suggested here that all evil entered the world through Eve and that all women were inherently evil and capable of evil as a result.  It was believed that women were soulless and therefore couldn’t make or break an oath.  Men, however, were seen more resilient in the soul and spirit.  If a man were found to be in service to the devil through the practice of witchcraft it was believed that they had to have been seduced by a woman into the black arts.  It was here that they were seen to have broken their oath to the church and to the teachings and beliefs surrounding the Christian God and was therefore seen as a warlock.  However, if the man would reveal the woman that got them involved with a coven, they could be absolved and the woman sentenced to torture and death.    As this manual spread so too did this word and it’s implied meaning, one that clearly hearkened from the Anglo-Saxon definition.

From here we see this definition of warlock becoming common place and the more accepted meaning.  If one was Pagan and not accepting the laws of the very powerful church then they were considered to be evil, especially since the church saw the Pagan gods as devils and demons.  Kerr Cuhulain also explain in his 2002 article “Spiritual Counterfits” on WitchVox that the term was also applied heavily to those who had converted to Christianity but then returned to their previous religious practices as Pagans, therefore setting the groundwork for all witches and Pagans to be seen as oath-breakers and untrustworthy.

As this all spread the cunning-folk, magickal people, Pagans, and witches returned to living underground, as it were.  They removed themselves from society once again in hopes of avoiding persecution.

When we stop and consider the times when these words were used, the reasons they were used, and the way the meanings evolved as the church and laws of the land evolved, it’s easy to see where some things became twisted.  It’s now up to us to stop perpetuating these ideas that were established by the church.

In his article “What is a Warlock”, Matthew Sandow gives some interesting and compelling consideration to how the warlock adds balance to the witch.  We see through the transitions in history how the witch evolved from the healers and herbalists but also how the warlock evolved from shamans and warlords.  Each has their own mysteries to preserve, the witch holding the feminine mysteries and the warlock holds the masculine mysteries.  Both lived apart from society, working to honor their specific gods and working with their specific skills while developing their unique spiritual experiences.  And it’s certainly hard to argue against the idea that modern Wicca largely pulls on the Goddess and feminine mysteries.

This brings us to this question; if it’s acceptable and commendable to work hard to take back the word witch and work to return it to the meanings it originates from, why is that not OK for the word warlock?  Why does this word still seem to deserve to be treated like a horrible curse?  Why do we feel the need to still let the word carry the church imposed meaning?  Why should we not see modern day warlocks as male magickal practitioners, sorcerers, spell singers, defenders of faith, communicators with the dead, and guards between the worlds?  Why not allow, and most of all support, those men in the Craft that wish to take that word back and heal it in the way we have the word witch?

Just like not all woman (and men. to be fair) who are Pagan or Wiccan identify as Witches because they still feel the negative energy of the word, it’s also going to be accepted that some men will not want to identify as Warlocks.   But the truth is we are completely unfazed by someone calling themselves a Witch today.  But if a man in the Craft calls themselves a Warlock, many get their feathers ruffled.  How one chooses to identify is their own business, but we owe it to those people to hear their reasons for doing so and honoring their choice, just as they honor our own. I liked the way one individual going by the name Taliesin defined it for himself at the end of his article “The ‘Warlock’ Question – And an Answer”.  He said:

A Warlock is a male Wiccan Warrior- a defender of the Faith – who does everything in his power to ward off evil spirits and to lock or bind them up, keeping the sacred wisdom safe.

This is not to imply that this is a definition that he was trying to impose on others, but just for himself and his path, which is what is most important.

Sometimes the short answer isn’t the right one, it’s just the easy one.  Sometimes we just need to dig further.

And with all that said I say KUDOS to Christian, and all the other men in the Craft who are out there trying to take back this word the same way others, though especially woman, have worked to take back the word witch for all these years.  May your explanations not always fall on deaf ears and closed minds.
Sources:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A4123946

http://www.boudicca.de/warlock-e.htm

http://www.paranormality.com/warlock.shtml

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/warlock

http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=usva&c=words&id=8551

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warlock

http://www.paganspath.com/magik/witches.htm

http://www.vinlandsvolva.com/vardlokker.html

http://walking-on-fire.blogspot.com/2010/06/vardlokkur.html

http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/contemporaryissues/a/Warlock.htm

http://www.erulian.in.rs/English/MagijaAsatru.html

Here is a clip from the show which featured Salem Witch Kelly Spangler and Christian Day, another Salem Witch who has been working to reclaim the term Warlock for the male magickal practitioner.

If you missed the episode and want to see the whole thing you can find it in three parts on YouTube (part 1, part 2, part 3).

I really wasn’t surprised by the reactions from various parts of the magickal and Pagan community.  Since I’m on the west coast I didn’t see it until three hours after people back east did so before I had a chance to even see it I was seeing the comments and the debates on Facebook about the issue of using of the term warlock.  It also didn’t surprise me to hear people making other

Christhan Day, owner of Hex and Omen in Salem, MA is also responsible for one of the largest annual festivals in the city, the Festival of the Dead.

derogatory comments about both Christian and Kelly, mostly because you kind of expect that when someone who is a Witch or involved in magick and the occult comes onto a television show and demonstrates their practices.  We saw the same thing with Fiona Horne when she was on Mad, Mad House and when she did her appearance on The Tyra Banks Show.  No matter who you are or what you do if you have the confidence in yourself and what you do to go on television and speak your truth and demonstrate your abilities, you’re bound to catch some flack, often from those who are either jealous or too scared to do it themselves.

But I digress…back to talking about warlocks.

Christian Day has been working on trying to bring the word warlock back to define the male Witch.  I remember listening to an episode of Hex Education quite some time ago, his BlogTalkRadio show he does with Lori Bruno, where he said that he wanted to try and bring the word back.  And good for him, I thought.  I knew it would be interesting, especially to see him do it because so many people, especially in the New England Witch and Pagan community, seem to turn to him to be the whipping boy when something goes awry in the community.  One of the things that I have always admired about Christian is that he says what he has to say and he means it.  We talk so much about how we, as Witches and Pagans, need to speak our truth and live it but when someone like Christian comes along and does that, causing us to personally question our long held beliefs and ideas, we turn around and give them a hard time.  How dare they say these things!  How dare they rock the boat!  If we never rocked the witchy boat I think this would be the most boring ride ever.

Warlock is not a dirty word.  The history and etymology of the word has always seemed to hold some mystery and different sources try and place different origins and meanings on it.  The Merriam-Webster dictionary define the word as either (1) a man practicing the black arts or (2) a conjurer; they define conjurer as (1) one that practices the magic arts or (2) someone that performs sleight of hand and illusions.  The Oxford Dictionaries Online, hosted by the Oxford University Press, defines warlock as a man who practices witchcraft; sorcerer.  So where do we get the definition of “oath-breaker” and “traitor”?

Because my intent and desire is to create an article that will lend some actual research and information about the subject of the word and history of the warlock and not just a simple spoon feeding of simple definitions, I’m breaking this post up into three parts.  I think it’s important to look at the word, its origins and its history beyond the easy, short answer in order to understand why Christian, and other men in the Pagan community, have decided to try and do for the word warlock what many women have done for the word witch over the years.  They are working to take back a word that has been misused and misunderstood, trying to put a different face on it, and attempt to release thousands of years of bad publicity.  Sound familiar?  It should.

So be sure to check out part two!

Visit Christian’s sites:
Hex
Omen
Festival of the Dead

Is Christ the “reason for the season”?
At this point many people know that the date of December 25th has nothing to do with the birth of Jesus.  December 25th was actually the birth date of the Persian Sun God Mithra.  During the time that the church was trying to convert the Pagans and heathens to their Christian beliefs they fought hard to demonize many of the beliefs and practices of the people to try and get them to abandon their traditions.  The church found this to me much for difficult than they had expected and soon began to try absorbing the Pagan traditions in order to make it a little easier to get their messages out there.  The first recorded celebration of Christmas on the 25th of December by the Roman Empire was in 336 A.D.   Several years later, or possibly as late as 350, the date of December 25th was officially declared the celebration of Christ’s birth by Pope Julius I.

This certainly helped meld the winter celebrations and helped to form Christmas as we (somewhat) know it today, but not every was happy about it and many people felt that celebrating the birth of Christ on a false date in order to accommodate the Pagans was wrong.  To this day there are Christians that do not celebrate Christmas for this reason.  In a round-about way you can say that Christ is the reason that we have the celebrations that we have now in such wide practice, but he certainly wasn’t the reason that the holiday was originally celebrated.

When you hear someone use the popular phrase “Keep Christ in Christmas” think about it for a moment before you get frustrated!  The word “Christmas” comes from the name of the part of the Mass known as The Mass for Christ, more often known to us as Communion.  So if Christmas is the Mass of Christ then certainly he belongs there!  It’s a tradition by the Christians to honor their God, and there’s nothing wrong with that, especially when you keep in mind that Christmas, at it’s root and core, really is a religious celebration for the Christians regardless of what the 21st century spirit of consumerism tells you.
The Power of Giving
Gift giving is one of the biggest celebrations that we all find ourselves partaking in during the December holidays.  Over the years two different roots have been given to this tradition.  The first goes back to the Roman celebrations of Saturnalia.  The celebration that began around 217 B.C. honoring the God Saturn and was a time of joy and merriment as well as a time marked by religious rites.  At first it was a single day holiday but eventually grew to a week of festivities despite Augustus and his attempts to limit it to three days and Caligula’s attempt to make it only five.

During this celebration gifts of wax candles and pottery figures called “sigilla” were given but the gifts were given toward the end of the celebration to mark the beginning of the New Year on New Year’s Day.  The candles, as well as oil lamps, decorated with bits of holly would be given to adults to allow them to “light the way” into the coming year with prosperity.  The children would receive the clay figures to give them something new to enjoy for the coming year.

The other debated origin comes from the arrival of the Magi to the Baby Jesus to bestow their gifts upon him.  Some say this is the specific reason that the gift giving tradition carried on into the Christian celebrations and was actually carried out on January 6th, the date of Epiphany, marking the arrival of the Wise Men to Bethlehem.

Other traditions around the world add to gift giving origins of today including a French practice around the 13th century of giving gifts to the poor at Christmas and giving of gifts on January 1st in Germany, the day of St. Basil, to mark a time of renewal.

Some believe that it wasn’t until sometime in the 18th century that gift giving as we know it today came into practice, but either way it came to be all of the origins stem from sharing joy, cheer, and good fortune with those around you in hopes of starting off the next year right.
Lights in the Darkness
Holiday lights and candles are one of the traditions that just about everyone participates in this time of year.  The smells of warm, burning holiday candles and the twinkle of strings of electric lights on trees and the edges of houses at this time of year are sights that always remind us of the season at hand.  But why do we do it?

In the case of both candles and the electric lights that came to us during the 1800s the origin is rooted in the practice of sympathetic magick and urging the Sun to return and shine brightly.  Candles would be lit to not only provide light during these darkest of nights, but also to provide added warmth.  These were another holdover from the Saturnalia celebrations as being a key element of the season.  The light of the candles was thought to chase away any spirits that might be lurking in the dark seeking to do harm and would urge the sun to return to the earth.  The church made candles a big part of their Christmas celebrations by viewing the flame as the light that Jesus brought with him to the earth.

As the years past the practice of lighting candles in the home, especially on the holiday tree as this was a common practice, was proving to be a bit dangerous.  It wasn’t uncommon for a tree branch to accidentally catch fire or for furniture to become damaged by ash, wax, and heat from candles. There are a few conflicting stories about how the electric tree lights came to be but the most commonly accepted story is that Edward Johnson, an associate of Thomas Edison, hand-wired a string of 80 colored lights and place them on a rotating tree for the holidays.  In 1895 President Cleveland used the lights on the White House tree for the first time and the tradition slowly picked up from there.   Ralph E. Morris is sometimes credited with creating the lights but other stories of the history credit him with creating battery powered tree lights in 1908 rather than the lights that are plugged into a socket.  The strung lights proved to be more safe and quickly became popular in America.

Gwydion Pendderwen was born Thomas deLong in May of 1946 in Berkeley, California.  When Gwydion was 13 years old he had an bit of a row with another schoolmate name Victor Elon Anderson.  Young Victor turned out to be the son of Pagan and poet Victor Henry Anderson who many know as the father and founder of the Feri Tradition.  Once the two boys resolved their troubles they became good friends and Gwydion began to spend a great deal of time at the Anderson home.

In the time he spent there he began to take an interest in some of the slightly odder things he saw in the home and the elder Victor began to take notice of Gwydion’s way with words and poetry.  Victor began to share stories of Celtic myth with Gwydion, something that he found quite fascinating, and he soon began to learn the ways of the Craft from Victor.  Victor introduced Gwydion to the concept of the Goddess through the work of Robert Graves, something that Gwydion really embraced.  Gwydion would continue to study with the Anderson’s, Victor becoming his prime teacher and mentor, well into his 20s.  Gwydion helped contribute to the Anderson’s growing tradition, including naming the tradition (though the spelling since changed as his original spelling was “Faerie”), writing many pieces of poetry and liturgy for the tradition, and assisting in editing some of Victor’s published work, specifically Thorns of the Blood Rose.

When Gwydion attended California State University in the Los Angeles area in the 1960s he majored in theatre.  He received a Bachelor of Arts degree and, while he had enrolled in a Master of Fine Arts program, he never completed the degree work.  Gwydion enjoyed acting a great deal but didn’t like modern works and instead preferred to participate in plays and theatre focused on presenting Shakespeare and mythical work of the Greeks.  He felt a deep connection through theatre and spirituality and saw the way that myths and spiritual truths were able to live on through such productions.

Gwydion’s love of words and language continued to grow while at college and he became very interested in the Celtic languages, most specifically Gaelic Welsh, which he began to learn to speak and write.  This brought him to a correspondence with a practicing Pagan in Wales which would contribute to his growing interest in Celtic beliefs and ideas.  Gwydion began to see himself more as a Druid than a Witch and he eventually joined the Reformed Druids of North America, led by the late Isaac Bonewits.

Gwydion was very active in the SCA, the Society for Creative Anachronism, an international organization focused on the research and reenactment of the art, skills, and lifestyle of the Middle Ages.  The SCA is quite an expansive organization and during his time and held the position of Court Bard in the Kingdom of the West for many years, giving him more time to learn the myths and stories of European cultures and perfect his poetic voice further.

During his time with the Anderson’s, Gwydion also initiated some people into the Feri tradition.  He did this through his own branch of the tradition that he formed which came to be known as Watchmaker.  Little is known about the initiates and the specifics of this branch.  One of Gwydion’s initiates, Alison Harlow, later became a partner with Gwydion to form a group called Nemeton (“sacred grove” in Welsh).  This group was founded as a networking organization in the 1970s for Pagans in the US and soon had offices opening up across the country.

After college Gwydion took a job with the IRS and the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, a job he didn’t particularly care for.  In 1976 he was finally able to take a long desired trip to Wales where he was able to meet Deri Ap Arthur, his long time pen friend, and through him Gwydion also had the chance to meet some other well known and respected Pagan figures including Alex Saunders and Stuart Farrar.  His trip to Wales would have a major impact on his life, and upon returning Gwydion quit his job and purchased a 5,600 acre ranch near Ukiah, CA.  Gwydion took a 55 acre section of the late for himself and named it Annwfn (“underworld” in Welsh).  An adjacent section of land, approximately 220 acres, was named Coeden Brith (“speckled forest” in Welsh) and owned by Alison Harlow.

The land at Annwfn was quite devastated from logging ventures carried out there for many years prior.  Gwydion build a permanent home home and a temple there.  It was while living at Annwfn that Gwydion and Alison would found the “Forever Forests” mission focused on planting trees and conserving forests in 1977.

Also in 1977 Oberon Zell and Morning Glory moved to Coeden Brith with Alison and together they co-founded HOME, the Holy Order of Mother Earth, a monastic nature sanctuary.  In 1978 Nemeton merged with the Church of All Worlds to become its publishing arm releasing music, songbooks, t-shirts, jewelry, and more.  In 1978 Gwydion started another subsidiary of the Church of All Worlds known as The Elliptical Congregation, focused on healing the earth.  In later years Gwydion donated all of the land at Annwfn to the Church of All Worlds with the only stipulation being that it remains a nature sanctuary maintained by the organization and that it never be turned over to a single owner.  The 55 acres in Medonsesia, CA is an active nature sanctuary today, still maintained by Church of All Worlds and the Caretakers of Annwfn where Sabbats and Moon festivals are honored today.  You can find out more about them and the events happening there by visiting their website.

Aside from his many contributions to the earth and the Pagan community of this manner, Gwydion is very well known for his artistic and musical contributions.  In 1975 he released his first album of music titled “Songs for the Old Religion”.  This album contains songs dedicated to the Sabbats and honoring different aspects of the God and Goddess and has a distinct folk sound that you might expect from a Pagan musician living in Northern California in the 1970s.  His second album, “The Fairy Shaman”, was recorded in 1981/1982 and has more traditional Celtic elements with harps and pipes while still maintaining what would come to be seen as his own unique folk sound.   In this album Gwydion’s voice as an artist seems strong and defined, all the more reason that his death soon after is seen as a blow to the Pagan community.  The ability he had for conveying the messages and stories of the Pagan path was a great gift that was taken away far too soon.

In 2005 Anne Hill of Serpentine Music re-mastered Gwydion’s vinyl recordings and re-released them as a double album called “The Music of Gwydion”, making his music available for the first time on CD.  This also made his music available to a whole new generation of Pagans for the very first time, assisting in carrying on the memory of one of modern Paganism’s great bards.

Gwydion Pendderwen was a great NeoPagan who contributed to the modern Pagan tradition in more ways than many people may realize.  Through his work with Victor Anderson, his later work with Alison Harlow, Oberon Zell, and near the end of his life, his work with Starhawk and Reclaiming, Gwydion Pendderwen helped to develop programs and teachings that served both the earth and the Pagans who strive to keep their traditions alive and in harmony with the earth itself.

Through his music we can honor his memory, especially on a day like today where we aren’t mourning the fact that he is no longer here but remembering his many contributions to our path and the world.  Below are two songs of Gwydion’s that ring true to the Pagan heart and spirit today as they have in the past and as they will in the future.  Enjoy them and consider looking for the re-release of his music, The Music of Gwydion.

In honor of the anniversary of Gwydion Pendderwen’s death, please considering donating to the continued efforts at Annwfn through the Church of All Worlds today.  Anything you can give helps keep this beautiful land alive and safe for Pagans of future generations.  Click here to find out how you can donate.

Sources:
Wikipedia: Gwydion Pendderwen

Controverscial.com: Gwydion Pendderwen

Pendderwen, Gwydion

The Faerie Tradition, Gwydion Pendderwen, and the Passing of Cora Anderson

Serpentine Music

Feri FAQs

Where The Hell Is The Church Of All Worlds (on Sacred-Texts.com)

Annwfn.org

Let me first start off by saying this post is going to include bits of comments I made in the original post from last year and then some other history and my personal thoughts on the subject.  Let me just say that I am not going to engage in any arguments about this subject in the comments or on Facebook should they arise.  If you wish to believe that Pagans of antiquity, be them Norse, Celtic, or from any other culture, never practiced human sacrifice, then stop reading.  If you really believe this with every fiber of your being and you refuse to accept that it is highly unlikely that the Druids never performed ritual human and animal sacrifices, stop reading.  If you think “Mists of Avalon” was real and that there were Pagan societies that lived in peace, never experiencing war, who spent all their days picking flowers and herbs and chanting together, stop reading.  However, if you can understand that there are cultures 3,000 years ago, 10,000 years ago, and even farther back, who lived differently and believed differently than we do today in 2010, and you’re open to those ideas or already believe and agree with that fact, then read on.  Because frankly, if you are unwilling to accept that your Pagan ancestors weren’t all the benevolent, tree-hugging, healers that fantasy fiction would have you believe, then nothing I say and no historical evidence of any kind is ever going to change your mind.

Now that that’s out of the way…

Let’s start with the issue of historical evidence.  The Druids are one of the Pagan cultures that have long been known for having participated in sacrificial rites, both human and animal.  It’s believed that the Druids in Gaul and Britain practiced human and animal sacrifice where as the Celts of Ireland seem to have mainly practiced animal sacrifice with little evidence to support human ones.  It’s been suggested that there may have been a difference of belief and views on death in Ireland as in Gaul and Britain; death to those in Ireland was seen as something of a reward as it was the beginning of the next cycle of life rather than punishment.  To kill someone, either in a sacrificial way or strictly as punishment, would have been to reward to person.  Instead torture was likely more the normal practice for those that were criminals or people that had gone against the local governments, which consisted of the Druids (think “a fate worse than death”).  Many remains have been found over the years in Ireland that do support that animals were sacrificed in ritualistic ways and were likely used as offerings to the Gods for their favor and to appease spirits so they would be left in peace.

Much like our symbolic ritual sacrifices we practice today as modern Pagans, it was important that something of value was given to the Gods or spirits to win their favor and, in an agricultural society what would be of more value to someone than an animal from their own herd of livestock that would otherwise be feeding and clothing the village?  Very little.

But even with animal sacrifice being a common practice among the Irish Celts and other tribal cultures in Europe, another common sacrificial practice was that of human sacrifice.  One of the largest and most debated sources of historical evidence against the Druids and their practices of sacrifice came from Julius Caesar.   Caesar was working hard to vilify the Druids because, while trying to essentially conquer the world, he had his sights set on Gaul which was inhabited and partly run by the Druids.  Gaul consisted of many different tribal groups with their own council of elders and a king, but Caesar was mostly focused on the Druid tribes because he saw them as a force to be reckoned with as well as finding their religious practices confusing.  He began to write about what he saw of the Druids and talked at length about their violent practices, including sacrificial rites.

“Commentarii de Bello Gallico” (translated to “Commentaries on the Gallic War”) also sometimes just called “The Gallic War”, is arguably one of Caesar’s most infamous writings.  It was published in eight books between 58 BC and 51 BC (the last book was actually written by Aulus Hirtius after Caesar’s death).  This is Caesar’s personal account of his battles to conquer Gaul and describes what he claimed to be accounts of the Druid’s practices in through the eyes of a Roman.  It’s been highly suggested that not only did Caesar never see the Druids do any of the things he claims in his writings, but he never spoke with anyone else that did either.  This is one of the reasons that many of his accounts of the Druid practices is highly suspect.  Adding to his biased view is the fact that Rome had been conquered 300 years earlier by the Celts under Brennus in the 3rd century BC.  So you could say that Caesar had reasons to want to remove the Druids by whatever means he had to.

The Romans also had a really interesting double standard in their culture.  While they condemned the Druids, Celts, and other Pagan societies that used sacrifice as a method of working with the spirit world, the Romans still engaged in their own bloody activities for pure sport, mainly the gladiatorial games and feeding people to lions.   It could be that by making the sacrificial acts of the Druids seem so sinister and barbaric it would make what the Romans did seem more justified.

However, because of the believed bias and the fact that Caesar may not have really had firsthand knowledge of the practices of sacrifice or the other proposed atrocities of the Druids, his writings about the Druids are often taken with a grain of salt by many, especially modern day Celtic practitioners.   But this is no reason to throw the whole concept out the window or to ignore other information about the state of human sacrifice and other such practices during this time.

One of the other pieces of evidence that surrounds the concept of human sacrifice in the Celtic world comes from the bog bodies that have been found.  One of the most famous of these occurred in 1984 with the discovery of Lindow Man.   Lindow Man was the name given to the body of a 20-something male from the 1st century discovered at the Lindow Moss peat bogs in Cheshire in the North West region of England and created one of the big compelling cases for possible Druid human sacrifice.  However, like all such finds, the actual cause of death has been debated greatly; it’s possible that he could have been killed by anyone for any reason, but there are many ideas that lend to the fact that was a ritual style killing and that there are virtually no signs that he struggled for his life and instead accepted it and was a quite possibly a willing victim.  You can see a small clip from a nice on National Geographic about the Lindow Man on YouTube.

Other bog bodies have been found through Europe and some of had an interesting commonality; physical abnormalities or defects were found on a portion of these bodies.  Shortened limbs, spinal deformities, additional toes and fingers; these were just some of the unique traits that a number of bodies had.  While we might think that this was somehow a cruel acting out on someone who was different it’s actually believed by some who have researched human sacrifice in the European cultures that these people may have been specifically chosen because their physical differences lent to the idea that they had been “touched by the Gods” and therefore were sacred or special making them ideal sacrifices.

The other thing that we need to think about is the reasons why societies, Celtic or otherwise, would have committed sacrifice, be it human or animal.  Sacrifice requires an exchange.  I give you something precious to me that is special to you in some way and in exchange you will give me something that is special to me.  In these cases it was the aid of spiritual and supernatural forces that were desired and usually for a greater cause such as tribal health and safety.  This wasn’t a case of people committing human sacrifice on their own in their homes for personal gain, but it would be something done as part of a communal rite to benefit the whole tribe.  The question does remain as to where the lines may be between the willing sacrifice and those who were somehow coerced into becoming the sacrificial token.

Aztec warriors sacrificing themselves at the Temple.

5,000 years ago, when human sacrifice was practiced in a widespread manner, there is evidence to show everything from the individual who was sacrificed to the Gods in a ritual to ensure that the tribe would live through the winter all the way to rituals in Mesopotamia where mass sacrifices, not unlike the mass cult suicides we have seen in our time, had taken place where the guards, servants, slaves, and even family members would all enter a dead rulers tomb and take poison so they could die with their leader.  In 150 A.D. over 100 warriors were found sacrificed at the Temple of Quetzalcoatl in Mexico, believed to have been killed with the intention of them being supernatural, ghostly guardians of the temple.

It was a different time and a different culture.  To me it seems a bit unrealistic and somewhat romantic to try and say that the Druids, or any other culture or society, was somehow above the need to practice an act that was commonplace and wide spread during these times.  The reasons that they performed these acts simply don’t make sense to us today with our 21st century thinking.   We hear stories of men, and in some societies, women, being dragged out to be sacrificed for the greater good of a community or tribe in a supernatural barter with the Gods and we cringe a little, thinking to ourselves “We’d never do anything like that today.”  You may not, but look at other cultures today outside of your own and you will see human sacrifice, sometimes willing sacrifice that someone has prepared for for quite some time.  Suicide bombers, Kamikaze pilots, people on hunger strikes, people who protest and put themselves in a place of possible death for their cause; how are these not seen as modern day human sacrifices?  These are people who have decided to willingly give their lives for the greater causes of their people and countries, their “tribes”, or they may have felt somewhat coerced to do so by cultural or societal pressures, as has been suggested in the case of some instances of ancient human sacrifice.  We turn around and call things like Jonestown “mass suicide” but what makes that so different from followers drinking poison at the gates of their king’s tomb?

Kamikaze pilots; human sacrifices of the 20th century?

While we may not like to think that we have ancestors that may have participated in the act of carrying out human sacrifice, or maybe even been a sacrifice themselves, the fact remains that it is far more likely than not that this is the case.  Remember, many thousands of years ago our ancestors thought that when winter came and the sun was out of sight longer each day that it meant they were going to die because the sun was, in their eyes, dying.  Today that seems a bit silly to us but it was a fact for cultures and people thousands of years ago just like the idea that sacrificing someone of importance from their tribe as an offering to the Gods during the start of a particular season and festival would ensure the safety and protection of the greater tribe.

Personally, I like what Brandan Cathbad Myers says about human sacrifice in his book “The Mysteries of Druidry”. “For those who want to believe the answer is yes, there is plenty of literary and archaeological evidence to justify that belief.  For those who want to believe the answer is no, there are plenty of other ways to interpret the evidence.”  This is very true and one of the many signs that show how even with the best technology and research today we still have so many gaps in the stories of our ancestral cultures and it’s hard to know without any uncertainty what happened there.  That’s why I stand by the need to stop and ask ourselves “what is more likely than not”, and in this case, in my estimation, it is far more likely that the Druids did in fact practice human sacrifice.

Today we generally don’t practice human sacrifice, or at least not in most first world countries.  Not all of us practice animal sacrifice but there certainly are traditions that do and they have certain procedures and protocols for such practices.  With all of this it’s important to remember that, again, we simply need to be mindful of when we are working to impose our personal practices, morals, ethics, and beliefs on other practitioners, especially if they come from another tradition, another part of the world, or even another time in history.  Where we are today is not the same as where we were yesterday and it certainly doesn’t write in stone who we will be tomorrow.  That’s the beauty of being on a magickal, evolving path; we have the power to change our world and create the world we want to live in.

While the first act of British Parliament to try and stop others from practicing the “forbidden arts” took place in 1401, an act that made Witchcraft a heresy against the church and the government, it was the Witchcraft Act of 1563 that made the “crime” of Witchcraft punishable by death.  This is considered the most famous and notorious of the Witchcraft Acts in England and was passed in the early stages of the reign of Elizabeth I.  The law stated that anyone who would “use, practice, or exercise any Witchcraft, enchantment, charm or sorcery, whereby any person shall happen to be killed or destroyed” would be found guilty of a felony crime against the kingdom and would be sentenced to death without the benefit of clergy.  This was particularly important to the people of the day because this would mean they would not be given a chance to confess and be absolved of any sins and they would not have any last rites given to them.

In 1604 James I, who was Elizabeth’s successor, actually broadened the law to include that anyone who invoked or communed with spirits would also be found guilty and sentenced to death would go to their death without the benefit of clergy.

On of the things that many people misunderstand about those found guilty is the idea that they were all burned at the stake.  The changes in the laws made by Elizabeth and James made Witchcraft a felony which brought them before common law courts, and the act was no longer considered one of heresy.  In the Act of 1401, because of the ties to heresy against the country of England, those accused were tied before a tribunal and, when found guilty, burned at the stake, as this was the method of execution for those that committed crimes against the kingdom and country.  By making the law a felony and not heresy that changed; those accused were now afforded the “luxuries” of common law detention compared to those held by the tribunal courts.  Burning at the stake was all but eliminated during Elizabeth and James’s reigns with the exception of acts of treason.  Instead, those found guilty of Witchcraft would not be hanged rather than burned.

Another misconception is that the laws against Witchcraft remained firmly in place and untouched between 1563 and 1951 when the acts were greatly changed making the way for Wicca and Gerald Gardner to reach the masses.  As we can see from the actions and changes taken by James I in 1604 we know this to be untrue, but in 1736 George II also came along to make a change that would help largely change how Witchcraft was treated legally.  Under George II, the Witchcraft Act was changed to state that anyone who pretended to have powers that allowed them to call up spirits to commune with and do their bidding, anyone who claimed to have the power to foretell the future, and anyone who claimed to be able to cast spells would be punished as a con artist and subject to fines and prison time.  With George II’s changes to the Witchcraft Act, as of 1736 Witchcraft was no longer an act that was punishable by death.

The last known person to be punished under the 1736 act was Helen Duncan who, in 1944, was sentenced to prison where she remained for nine months after authorities became fearful that she would be able to use her supposed clairvoyant powers to work against the government during their preparations for D-Day.  Before her death she was arrested again in 1956 under the Fraudulent Mediums Act of 1951, the act which would replace all other anti-Witchcraft laws and acts that made Witchcraft illegal.

The act of 1951, which was taken into action in England and Wales, prohibited psychics, mediums and spiritualist from claiming to have special powers and abilities for the purpose of taking money through the act of deception from the public.  This is the act that spawned the ever popular phrase used by psychics , “for entertainment purposes only”.  This act was actually repealed in May 2008 under schedule 4 of the Consumer Protection and Unfair Trade Regulations in the UK.

So today we mark the beginning of a long history of often false accusations and wrongful deaths in the the UK.  We honor and acknowledge the loss and sacrifice for all those who died wrongly in order for those in the UK who practice Witchcraft and spiritualism to be able to do so without fear of death and other hash punishments.