{"id":223,"date":"2018-09-02T00:37:02","date_gmt":"2018-09-02T00:37:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/witch.mooncrowned.com\/?p=223"},"modified":"2018-09-16T01:25:21","modified_gmt":"2018-09-16T01:25:21","slug":"witchcraft-today-chapter-5-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/witch.mooncrowned.com\/?p=223","title":{"rendered":"Witchcraft Today: Chapter 5 &#038; 6"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Notes made while reading \u201cWitchcraft Today\u201d by G.B.G<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Fairies<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>GBG sees &#8220;little people&#8221; as pygmies, conflating European legend with current African &amp; South-East Asian races<\/li>\n<li>pre-Celtic races, small and strong, good friends but dangerous enemies<\/li>\n<li>witches often intermarried with them; hence link between witch &amp; fairy<\/li>\n<li>pushed to living on the heath by invaders\/conquerors; &#8220;heathens&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>mixed with Roman invaders, took on Roman syncretism of deity<\/li>\n<li>cult desired prosperity &amp; fertility for the tribe, life after death in happy conditions, reincarnation into their tribe<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Saxons vs. Normans<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>urban Saxons as Christians, rural remain pagan<\/li>\n<li>Normans as ex-heathens become Christians in deal with French king<\/li>\n<li>Norman elite as members of or friendly with witch cult; i.e. Robert the Devil, William the Conqueror, William Rufus, ladies participating in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.encyclopedia.com\/science\/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps\/bensozia\">Sabbats of Bensozi<\/a>a<\/li>\n<li>breach between wild, cult-friendly Norman nobles and staid, Xtian Saxons<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>May games<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>witch sabbats -&gt; foresters parties -&gt; May games<\/li>\n<li>orgies, the phallic maypole, coupling in the woods<\/li>\n<li>priests leading fertility rites ceased as witchcraft became heresy<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Death &amp; afterlife &amp; reincarnation<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>old religion: only initiates went to best heaven for rest before being reincarnated, others went to a heaven where they had to work<\/li>\n<li>Xtianity offering paradise to all saved, others go to hell<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Knights Templar<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>witch law: power passed cross-gender, only exception is for parent-child, because great love can &#8220;occurs between people who go through the rites together&#8221; &#8211; Templars initiated man to man, led to sin, brought about downfall of order. (There&#8217;s a lot to unpack here, mostly GBG&#8217;s homophobia)<\/li>\n<li>Templars as possible crossover cult: initiation kiss, fertility magic aspects, skyclad, night time worship, Baphomet as the witch god of death and what lies beyond<\/li>\n<li>journey to grail as journey of soul through underworld in search of paradise<\/li>\n<li>lack of belief in Christ as essential to salvation<\/li>\n<li>members disappeared during persecution<\/li>\n<li>wearing of cingulum<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>the Hallows<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>grail, cup, chalice = cauldron of Cerridwen, restores the dead, brings fertility to the land<\/li>\n<li>sword, dagger, spear &#8211; dripping blood\/wine into the cauldron\/cup<\/li>\n<li>head, skull = Lord of Death<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Delicious tidbits<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>GBG offers idea of witches on their way to sabbat as origin of Wild Hunt myths<\/li>\n<li>also connects chivalry with cult of the goddess<\/li>\n<li>witches have methods for inducing otherworldy powers, only works on those who are sympatico<\/li>\n<li>Robin Hood doubles as spirit of the wood, leading his coven of 12 including HPS Marian, all dressed in fairy green<\/li>\n<li>significance of numbers 3, 5 and 8<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;It has occurred to me the witches have a rite which involves kissing and then beating an object, with the intention of charging it with power. It is not a cross and they do not speak or think of it as a cross; but on reading this account it struck me that an observer at a little distance might easily mistake it for one. It is rather cross-shaped.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>the HPS standing with arms crossed = skull and crossbones = God of Death<\/li>\n<li>the HPS transitions into legs apart and arms outstretched = pentacle = Goddess of Life<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Notes made while reading \u201cWitchcraft Today\u201d by G.B.G Fairies GBG sees &#8220;little people&#8221; as pygmies, conflating European legend with current African &amp; South-East Asian races pre-Celtic races, small and strong, good friends but dangerous enemies witches often intermarried with them; hence link between witch &amp; fairy pushed to living on the heath by invaders\/conquerors; &#8220;heathens&#8221; mixed with Roman invaders, took on Roman syncretism of deity cult desired prosperity &amp; fertility for the tribe, life after death in happy conditions, reincarnation into their tribe Saxons vs. Normans urban Saxons as Christians, rural remain pagan Normans as ex-heathens become Christians in deal with French king Norman elite as members of or friendly with witch cult; i.e. Robert the Devil, William the Conqueror, William Rufus, ladies participating in Sabbats of Bensozia breach between wild, cult-friendly Norman nobles and staid, Xtian Saxons May games witch sabbats -&gt; foresters parties -&gt; May games orgies, the phallic maypole, coupling in the woods priests leading fertility rites ceased as witchcraft became heresy Death &amp; afterlife &amp; reincarnation old religion: only initiates went to best heaven for rest before being reincarnated, others went to a heaven where they had to work Xtianity offering paradise to all saved, others go to hell Knights Templar witch law: power passed cross-gender, only exception is for parent-child, because great love can &#8220;occurs between people who go through the rites together&#8221; &#8211; Templars initiated man to man, led to sin, brought about downfall of order. (There&#8217;s a lot to unpack here, mostly GBG&#8217;s homophobia) Templars as possible crossover cult: initiation kiss, fertility magic aspects, skyclad, night time worship, Baphomet as the witch god of death and what lies beyond journey to grail as journey of soul through underworld in search of paradise lack of belief in Christ as essential to salvation members disappeared during persecution wearing of cingulum the Hallows grail, cup, chalice = cauldron of Cerridwen, restores the dead, brings fertility to the land sword, dagger, spear &#8211; dripping blood\/wine into the cauldron\/cup head, skull = Lord of Death Delicious tidbits GBG offers idea of witches on their way to sabbat as origin of Wild Hunt myths also connects chivalry with cult of the goddess witches have methods for inducing otherworldy powers, only works on those who are sympatico Robin Hood doubles as spirit of the wood, leading his coven of 12 including HPS Marian, all dressed in fairy green significance of numbers 3, 5 and 8 &#8220;It has occurred to me the witches have a rite which involves kissing and then beating an object, with the intention of charging it with power. It is not a cross and they do not speak or think of it as a cross; but on reading this account it struck me that an observer at a little distance might easily mistake it for one. It is rather cross-shaped.&#8221; the HPS standing with arms crossed = skull and crossbones = God of Death the HPS transitions into legs apart and arms outstretched = pentacle = Goddess of Life<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[43,42],"class_list":["post-223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-notes","tag-gerald-gardner","tag-witchcraft-today"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/witch.mooncrowned.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/witch.mooncrowned.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/witch.mooncrowned.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/witch.mooncrowned.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/witch.mooncrowned.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=223"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/witch.mooncrowned.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":224,"href":"http:\/\/witch.mooncrowned.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223\/revisions\/224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/witch.mooncrowned.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/witch.mooncrowned.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/witch.mooncrowned.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}