Posts Tagged ‘history’

When you hear the name Witch’s Ball, the first thing that most people think of are the beautiful blown glass creations such as the ones pictured in this post.   A witch’s ball can be one of these beautiful blown glass creations with colors as vibrant as those found in the garden or as deep as the night.

Often used for protection against the “evil eye”, evil spells, sickness and even in ancient times against witches, a witch ball can be not only a useful tool but a beautiful addition to a garden or home!

There are many legends surrounding the Witch’s Ball but most agree that the vibrant colors which swirl together almost magickally in the glass attract harmful energies into it, protecting the home or person who has placed it from that harm.

Witch Balls have been very popular since around the 18th century. First in England, then following into the “new world” and New England, but their actual origin is generally considered to be older.  For what may be well over 3 centuries, hollow glass spheres have been hung in windows to ward off bad luck, witch’s spells and evil spirits.  Hanging these decorative glass balls in the window or on the porch is said to tantalize and mesmerize mischievous spirits which may threaten tranquility and peace within a home.  When the spirit touches the sphere it is absorbed and trapped in the web-like strands of the glass inside the ball.

Witch Balls can range in size from 2 inches to up to 7 inches in diameter.  Crystal gazers sometimes claimed they used balls in which the spirits of dead souls had been banished.  Which then, the seer was thought to be dealing with spirits.

Over time, as if often the case, the philosophy of what a Witch Ball is and should be has changed and number artists over the years have altered the Witch Ball to include vibrant colors, strands inside, twisting patterns and shape.  These new patterns and colors are beautiful to behold, graceful in a garden and can be used to protect the inhabitants of a garden and even draw in Faerie influence with the bright and delightful colors.

In my own home, I have several Witch Balls which serve as reinforcements of peace and tranquility in my home.  Downstairs on the patio I have a beautiful orb of violet and grass green with one of beautiful shades of Cobalt and Sky blues in a leafy holder on my desk upstairs.

Over the years my collection has grown through gifts and my own purchases to include a lovely orange and yellow globe much like the one pictured above (which is on my wishlist as I love the ‘tree’ design on the inside) to having just ordered one for Samhain in the most lovely shades of Black and Orange to decorate outside with!

No matter what you see when you look at a Witch Ball, there is no denying the beauty the patterns in glass which will evoke amazing joy in most people.   The Sacred Mists Shoppe, where I work, has the most amazing diversity in designs for Witch Balls that I have ever seen and desired to get for my home.  The tranquil essence they hold, in my opinion, stems from the beauty and essence of the colors which swirl within each orb.  Decorating a garden with an Orb within a decorative metal stake may attract faeries to bless your garden with.  I will be experimenting with this as I work on my garden this winter and spring.

  Over the past week, millions of Potter fans bravely bid farewell to the final film of one of the most-record breaking franchises ever created. The new greatest story ever told, the legend of Harry Potter touched the world: defying age-barriers, nationalities, and religious conventions (Beach & Wilner 2002; Black 2003; Radigan 2001). It encouraged generations of children believed lost to the digital age to pick up books and read again. It encouraged them to use their imagination and believe in something more than the mundane. And most importantly in the context of this discussion, it challenged the world’s preconception of magick and magickal societies: evoking an unprecedented era of awareness and tolerance for occult paths.

  You may not have even realized that such a quiet revolution occurred, or even how extremely significant it is from an anthropological perspective. Yes, the past century has been a springboard for magickal faiths to take root, but never have magickal communities been as mainstream as they are at the moment. Numerous other supernatural pop culture venues from the classics like So I Married a Witch, Bewitched, and Bell Book and Candle to the more recent Charmed, laid significant groundwork for magickal tolerance. But it was Harry Potter who dashed boldly down the path they had laid out, entertainingly making the masses positively aware of the magickal cultures which have hitherto fore had to lurk in the shadows of typical every day society.

  Centuries ago, the word ‘witch’ was a condemnation. Twenty years ago, claiming the title ‘witch’ would still have the neighbors worried. But in the present day, the word ‘witch’ conjures up a multitude of more pleasant images and associations to the everyday laymen than ever before. And much of this shift is due to the ever-present popularity and acceptance of Harry Potter. Magickal terminology, once only known to those few in the world population engaged in occult studies is now commonplace. Again, courtesy in large part to Harry Potter ~whose familiar use of words like ‘charm,’ ‘divination,’ and ‘griffin’ (to name just a few) has increased the vocabulary of millions. Children grow up appreciating the idea of magick and the possibility of sorcery, rather than fearing it. They come to learn of the balance between light and dark not from dogmatic condemnations of the church, but from the saga of Harry. Children no longer dress as the witch- hag as a scary Halloween costume. Instead they dress as witch scholars: as students of the magickal school Hogwarts ~hoping to be trained in the magickal arts. Indeed, Harry Potter has encouraged not just positive awareness of the occult, but positive awareness of learning in general (Beaton 2006).

  No, admittedly Harry Potter has not accurately explored the magickal world of real-life Witches, Wiccans, Druids, or Neo-Pagans and their brethren. But the mythical magickal world it did explore provided a safe fantasy backdrop for mankind to begin to understand the purpose and functions of magick. Or at least to start believing in it, outside of the realm of superstition which has plagued the occult arts for millennia. Indeed those instances of right-wing disapproval from Christian conservatives and Muslim states ultimately only validated the idea of a belief in magick. For it was the type of sorcery practiced in the pages of Harry Potter, not the existence of magick itself which was at the heart of the majority of these debates (DeMitchell & Carney 2005; Hill 1999; Hill 2001; Kruk 2005). Harry Potter ushered in a new, more open age of man and womankind. One where the mysterious ‘other’ which magick has long represented is not feared and hidden away or dismissed as unbelievable, but is instead something in the public eye and which is accepted by all but the remaining, and ever decreasing number of conservative groups who ignorantly equate magickal practice with devil-worship.

  The shifting morals and scientific explorations of our time allow for tolerant investigation into questions of the mind, physics, and the natural world which have long been relegated to the realm of myth and defined as magick. Science, by any other name, is magick that has been more thoroughly explored than ever before (indeed, this was a much emphasized facet of the other magickal blockbuster of this summer: Paramount’s Thor). As we learned last week in Witches of Antiquity: The Magick of Alchemy ~ the initial Scientific Revolution was the result of magickal investigation and the two are intrinsically tied together. The only thing that has changed is the understanding of the terminology: which skeptically divided science from magick as it attempted to commonsensically divorce science from religion.

  The word ‘witch,’ too, has come a long way and meant many things throughout its usage. But with the worldwide familiarity of Harry Potter and the general acceptance for the witchcraft practiced therein, ‘Witch’ is no longer a word associated with fear and loathing. Now is a remarkable time to claim the title of witch, for it is the first in which it is culturally accepted and encouraged. And while some may worry that such openness may be dangerous to their craft, consider this: Harry Potter stringently emphasizes the idea of a magickal education before one can practice magick. It urges against the uninitiated blundering in or anyone ever taking up the Dark Arts. J.K. Rowling subtly points out that knowledge is power ~ Hermione (pictured at left) is proof positive of this ~ and is necessary before one delves deeper into magickal endeavors. And so while perhaps mainstream magick may mean that there are many more practitioners, they have already been cautioned via Harry Potter against ignorant use of magick; of following the darker paths; and they have been instructed to learn as much as they can. And really, are these not among some of the best tips which can be given to beginner witches?

Do you feel that Harry Potter positively or negatively impacted the real magickal community?

Are you a Potter fan? How do you feel about the new, latest and last movie in the saga?

Partial Bibliography

Beach, S.A. and Willner, E.H., 2002. The Power of Harry Potter: the Impact of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Books on Young Readers. World Literature Today. 76(1), 102-106.

Beaton, T., 2006. Taking Time: Harry Potter as a Context for Interdisciplinary Studies. The English Journal 95(3), 100-103.

Black, S., 2003. Harry Potter: A Prescription for just about Anyone. Journal of Adult and Adolescent Literacy 46(7), 540-544.

Carney, J.J. and DeMitchell, T.A. 2005. Harry Potter and the Public Library. Phi Delta Kappan 87(2).

Hill, R., 2001. Potter’s Darker Side. Fortnight. 401, 22-23.

Hill, N., 1999. Harry Potter and Other Evils, or How to Read from the Right. The Personalist Forum 15(2), 413-423.

Kruk, R., 2005. Harry Potter in the Gulf: Contemporary Islam and the Occult. British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. 32(1), 47-73.

Radigan, W.M., 2001. Connecting the Generations: Memory, Magic, and Harry Potter. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 44(8).

  At its most basic level: alchemy is a philosophy. It advocates the idea that things are changeable. That they are transmutable from one form to another: from base to gold, solid to liquid, young to old and back again. During the Renaissance and Enlightenment, when the practice of alchemy was at its peak; alchemy came to be applied not just to natural elements such as metals, but to nature and people as well. For several centuries, ‘Alchemy’ became the category under which magickal transformations were shelved. Alchemy was both an early form of science and a continuing form of practical magick. Indeed, the work of the alchemists of the 16th -18th centuries formed both the basis for the modern study of chemistry, as well as the foundation of traditional high magick as we know it today. The studies perpetuated by these same alchemists also continued the tradition of philosophic, mathematical, and supernatural studies of the Pythagoreans and practitioners of Qabbalah who had tread the same transcendental pathways over the previous centuries. Despite the pseudo-scientific reputation that alchemy often receives in modern pop culture, it is a very real and very important part of the magickal traditions which are carried on today by all esoteric forms of worship categorized under the ‘New Age’ umbrella.

  Alchemy is by no means a unified discipline. There is not codified set of facts which one would learn in order to become an alchemist. Alchemy was more a spiritual and educational pursuit than it was a strict science of any uniform kind.

  True, alchemists gleaned their knowledge from studying the works of their predecessors and being mentored by them. True, also, that some universities included forms of alchemy amongst their curriculum. Brotherhoods of scholars interested in esoteric learning formed, and among their subjects was alchemy. But despite these forms of learning, none of these men and women were necessarily learning the same curriculum. Even with the advent of the printing press, not all the books on alchemy were disseminated by each alchemist, nor were all the branches of alchemy studied by every practitioner. Each alchemist had his own agenda: using alchemy variously to heal, to make gold, or to find youth. Alchemy was an intellectual movement that walked in different spheres of life, spanning the society of its times. By the Seventeenth century, it connected the fraudulent drunk on the streets with the scholars of the university; the highest echelons of late Renaissance society at the royal court with the witch on the pyre: all with a common philosophical idea which worked towards a variety of their purposes.

  Indeed, alchemy operated much like the study of magick today perpetuates itself. Witches, wiccans, and pagans alike are deeply devoted to a pursuit of learning esoteric knowledge, but not everyone from each path chooses to learn the same thing. It is ultimately a personal quest, a search for knowledge in order to achieve a personal transformation.

Alchemy as a Science

  Before we delve deeper into the more easily recognized esoteric accolades of this lost art: let us look at the more scientific side of alchemy, of alchemy as a system of trial and error which was propagated in the universities of the time and by some of its greatest academics. Alchemy was a precursor to the science which we recognize today as fact. And though science may seem the antithesis of magick, they are really just part and parcel of the same thing.

  Initially, alchemical knowledge was collected informally and without passing through the conventional educational institutions which had sprung up in Europe since the Dark Ages. Paracelsus, sometimes considered the greatest alchemist of the Renaissance, never completed his university studies. He collected his alchemist’s secrets by travelling and observing folk remedies he combined with metallurgical practices. But with science’s new interest in the idea of a scientific method, which alchemy was already utilizing: alchemy became employed by some of the greatest minds of the time, at some of the greatest of the universities. In fact, the two great libraries, the Bodleian at Oxford and the Ashmolean at Cambridge respectively, were based off of the alchemical collections of Duke Humphrey and Elias Ashmole. Even the great Sir Isaac Newton is considered an alchemist for his research into ancient Egyptian hermeticists and through later connections made by alchemical groups like the Rosicrucians. But he also saw the science in alchemy and used some aspects of his laboratories at Cambridge University to study it. Sir Fancis Bacon is likewise called an alchemist for his association with esoteric societies, like the Rosicrucians and Freemasons and his literary endeavor The Masque of the Middle Temple and Lincoln’s Inn, which he wrote in honor of the marriage between Frederick V of the Rhineland Palatinate and Elizabeth, daughter of James I of England, who, incidentally were all also wrapped up in alchemical studies of very differing kinds. Bacon’s works set up the Baconian method that we today know vernacularly as the aforementioned ‘scientific method.’ Robert Boyle, the father of modern chemistry, began his education as an alchemist; though did not continue to teach alchemy once he himself became a professor.

  Outside of England, particularly in the Northern and Central areas of mainland Europe, alchemy was also finding a niche among scholars. The Danish antiquarian Doctor Ole Worm was given papal permission to collect so-called oddities, which came to include various texts and items of a magickal nature, later inspiring H.P. Lovecraft to include him in his twentieth century work Necronomicron. Some were not so lucky in support for the new science, like Theodore Zwinger, ~a professor of medicine at the University of Basel was penalized by the University for inclusions in his teachings work done by Paracelsus. But unlike the University of Basel, others, like the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. championed alchemy and supported multiple alchemists on its faculty and taught alchemical methodology in its classes on chemistry and anatomy.

  The leading doctors, the mathematicians and physicists of the day; all studied the ratios of alchemy and its history out of Egypt, Greece, and Rome. The scientific method alchemy had long been unintentionally advocating became recognized as the basis for all modern experimentation and creation. The study of alchemy in schools or independently by professors of these schools working outside their professional capacity helped shape the minds of generations of men and women, leading up to the modern science of today.

Alchemy & The Witch Hunts

  Despite this flourishing of alchemy among academia, it was a subject best approached with care. By the sixteenth century, some elements of alchemy’s esoteric studies had unfortunately come to be associated with the dark arts of witch craft and sorcery. The logic of the Burning Times decreed that how else would these men and women know the secrets of the universe unless the devil himself had whispered them into alchemist’s ears? Alchemists devised erudite languages and metaphors to transcribe their secrets in, ones they hoped that would not create alarm among their witch hunting neighbors. But they were not always successful and some alchemists were branded witches and sorcerers for their naïve scholarly endeavors. And many were persecuted alongside the wisewomen, innocents, and political victims who fell prey to the Witch Trials or Burning Times of the 16th and 17th centuries. Bookmakers who published grimores of alchemy were particularly susceptible and often had to move towns to avoid an uprising against their shops.

  The mighty Catholic Church was particularly skeptical of the new alchemical sciences that were springing up. For they threatened previously held notions of God and man and their relationship to the universe, which in turn threatened the church’s power. And if alchemists weren’t careful to make provisions for the Church’s scrutiny, they faced severe consequences. Sir Isaac Newton cleverly combined church sanctioned theology with his science, for instance, to explain his theory of gravity, Newton wrote, “Gravity explains the motions of the planets, but it cannot explain who set the planets in motion. God governs all things and knows all that is or can be done.” He justified his science in the eyes of the church, but others were not so clever or else refused to concede. The scholar Giordano Bruno was sentenced to burn at the stake for refusing to recant his alchemy-based theories regarding ideas about the transmutation of the soul and the transubstantiation of the Catholic Mass. He was charged with the practices of divination and witchcraft, both of which had technically been outlawed under church law since the ratification of church doctrine at the Council of Nicea in the 4th century in continuation of earlier Roman laws. However, until the Burning Times, few cases were executed under such charges.

  While many of the alchemists charged for witchcraft during the Burning Times may never have actually practiced direct magickal acts (only studied magickal/scientific topics), others most likely did engage in acts some might call Dark Arts. Giordano Bruno and his one-time mentor the British royal advisor John Dee may have darker and more occult areas of alchemy. Often these pursuits focused on communication between the spirits and bordered on necromancy. Dee was at one point kicked out of Prague by Pope Sixtus V for committing acts of black magic in the city.

  Along with these Dark Arts and the politically motivated Church persecution, alchemy earned an even worse reputation from the slew of fraudulent schemers who pretended to be alchemists to con people out of money and goods. These faux-alchemists would practice simple chemical tricks, rigged to make it appear they could produce gold out of charcoal or other such feats to trick wealthy and gullible lords out of money. This was such a widespread stigma of the day that Dante Aligheri immortalized it in his social commentary of the day, The Divine Comedy, by placing the alchemists on the tenth level of Hell in his Inferno.

Alchemy in Power

  Despite the stigma attached to alchemy, there are many historical instances of European princes, kings, and queens participating and encouraging alchemy from both ends of the spectrum (i.e. as a science and as magic). Many rulers had alchemists as their advisors or as their doctors. Johann Friedrich Helvetius was the personal physician to William of Orange of the Netherlands, Johann Joachim Becher to Leopold I of Austria, Ole Worm to the skeptic Holy Roman Emperor Christian IV, and his predecessor Rudolph II went through a whole series of doctors with an alchemy sideline. Rudolph also utilized alchemists as his advisors, most notably, that king among alchemists, Michael Maier. Maier also spent some time at the court of James I of England. Queen Elizabeth II depended on her spy John Dee. And according to the social commentary inherent in the theatre of the day, James I of England (VI of Scotland) kept three alchemist witches as military advisors. These ‘advisors’ and James’ interest in the occult were included in Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Holinshead histories.

  Some rulers went beyond their advice and medical attention and are suspected by historians of studying alchemy themselves. The Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I personally ransacked a Benedictine archive in Rome looking for an ancient treatise on alchemy believed to be hidden within. Queen Barbara, the wife of Sigismund Vasa III of Poland is accused by history of being not only an alchemist, but a witch. James I of England and Rudolf II of Hungary delved deep into the arcane as rulers and alchemists. James I of England wrote his own Daemonologie in 1597, a witch-hunter’s guide written by a man perhaps too close to his subject to be perfectly free of the taint of magick. He was careful to lightly persecute others in his realm suspected of witchcraft and the like to avoid church persecution himself (though as leader of the aforementioned church, it was easy to get away with). The Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II set up a veritable playland for alchemists and other scientists of the day, which included an observatory, various labs, and libraries of grimoires. He himself was said to participate in alchemical experiments and work closely within the commune of scholars he had collected. His personal goal was to find the Philosopher’s Stone, a stone which, once created, would continue to spill forth an elixir of youth and the ability to turn things into gold.

  We cannot really know today just how much the alchemists and the philosophy of alchemy had on the rulers of this time period, or of how much their appreciation of what this arcane subject influenced their judgments and rulings over their respective countries. Nor can we really know what was known by the public at the time regarding the alchemy activities related above, or if they would have even wanted to know. All of these leaders made allowances for church dogma in order to avoid persecution. But were they actually religious beyond this façade? It is difficult for the historian to know or even to judge correctly. Regardless, we can at least state that alchemy must have had at least some influence over them.

  The history of alchemy is representative of a myriad of magickal movements and motivations. It is symbolic of both the persecution of magick and the championship of it. It represents both the veracity of knowledge gained and of the deception man is capable of using such knowledge for. It embodies the advancement of the human mind and the human race, of our wonder for the mysterious, and our quest to discover and control the laws of nature and the gods. The use of alchemy, pseudo-science that it may be considered now, encouraged the growth of other sciences still seen as legitimate. It inspired advancements in other fields, seeing the growth of library science in the modern age, and was the muse for multiple works of widely regarded literature. It was a profound step on man and woman-kind’s journey towards enlightenment. And it and its alchemists should not be forgotten. For we today are their descendents. The research scientists in labs, the doctors, pharmacists and nurses in their hospitals, the astronomers looking up at the night sky, the chefs in their kitchen, the students at their books: in our desire to learn something more, we are all alchemists.

  Want to learn more about historical magickal movements and the witches behind them? Keep your eyes peeled for History of Witches in the Western World, a new class from the College of the Sacred Mists on the Witches of Antiquity. Coming later this year!

Partial Bibliography

Cobb, C. & Goldwhite, H. 1995. Creations of Fire: Chemistry’s Lively History from Alchemy to the Atomic Age. New York: Plenum Press.

Fernando, D. 1998. Alchemy: An Illustrated A-Z. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.

Moran, B.T. 2005. Distilling Knowledge: Alchemy, Chemistry, and the Scientific Revolution. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Rice University. The Galileo Project.

Note: Image at top is William Fettes Douglas’ The Alchemist (1853).

Prayer and song are elements of religious culture which anthropologists assume were some of the key early features of the world’s first religions thousands of years ago. The spoken or sung verbalization of a wish, a cry for help, a thank you and other types of prayer formalizes the supplicant’s desire ~ pushing it out from them and into the wider cosmos. It is a beautiful expression which bridges the gap between human and divine.

With the advent of writing in ancient Mesopotamia, these prayers began to be written down ~ their power deriving now as much from the vocalization of the desire as from the act of being written. Early writing was considered sacred. The knowledge of being able to read and write was a powerful skill; one which was possessed by the rare few; in fact, initially only priests, royal administrators, their scribes, and occasionally the royals themselves were capable of writing and reading. It was used as much for organizing the newly expanding Empires of the world as it was for magickal purposes. Over time, it would filter down to the merchants and beyond, sifting down through the ages until the invention of the printing press in China in the sixth century AD and the later, more prominent Western discovery of the printing press in the mid-fifteenth century, and the wider spread of literacy that ensued because of these discoveries. But in ancient Mesopotamia, the power of the written prayer was myriad, and was used to call upon the gods for a vast array of purposes.

The following prayer, or hymn, to the goddess Ishtar is from approximately 1600 BCE, during the first Dynasty of Babylon. It was written in cuneiform on behalf of the King Ammiditana, and survived the ages, to be deciphered by the archaeologists of the early twentieth century and ultimately read by you, dear reader, at the beginning of the twenty-first.

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An interview with Kenny Klein!

We now continue with on with our series of interviews with influential pagan authors, teachers, musicians and leaders.

Kenny Klein has been a part of our pagan community for many years now. He gives lectures, sings, plays the fiddle, a great photographer, an author, and a writer. I have had the pleasure of meeting and seeing Kenny perform a few times at the Starwood festival. It’s always a pleasure to talk to Kenny and to hear what he has to say!

Bernadette:
Kenny, congratulations on your new book “Through The Faerie Glass“, can you tell me a bit of what it’s about?

Kenny:
Well, in a nutshell, it’s an examination of how Faeries are viewed in traditional folklore, especially ages old songs from Britain and other parts of Europe. Our modern culture tends to view “fairies” as Tinker Bell, cute little flitting creatures who dance on flowers. But folklore paints a very different story. These are nasty, creepy, sexual creatures whose dealings with humans often goes very badly for the human!

Bernadette:
It’s a much “darker” aspect of fairies. What inspired you to write this book?

Kenny:
In general I’ve been singing the traditional songs and telling the stories all my life. I’ve known the presence of Faeries all that time as well. I grew up in mid-state New York, which is a very enchanted area. Washington Irving and Poe both wrote about the magic of that area, along the Hudson River and in the Palisades. It’s a creepy, eerie, spooky environment dripping with very tangible enchantment, and I do not use the word enchantment in the Disney sense!

In specific, i was at a Pagan festival in Canada a few years ago, and as part of my schedule at that festival I did a workshop on Faerie lore. A young woman approached me and said “I’ve studied Faeries all my life, and you know more than anyone I’ve ever met! You have to write a book.” I’d thought many times about writing a book, but somehow this woman saying that was the catalyst. Just a few months later I ran into Elysia Gallo from Llewellyn, and mentioned that I’d been writing this book, and she got very excited. It was the right book at the right time for the right publisher, one of those magical things that just happens.

Bernadette:
Can you tell us about “The Flowering Rod“?

The Flowering Rod is as book about the role of men in Paganism, and especially in Wicca. I wrote the book in the early ’90s, when there were many books written about women in Paganism and magick, but few to none about men. Unfortunately the publisher went out of business about a minute after the book came out, so it was out of print for years. It’s finally back in print, and available on Amazon and a few other sites.

One thing I loved about writing The Flowering Rod was that I could write rituals for groups of men or groups of men and women to perform. I’ve since seen several groups use my material in their rituals. It’s very rewarding.

Bernadette:
What projects do you have coming up?

Kenny:
Right now I’m finishing up a tour that has already taken me to ten or twelve states (of the United States—there have been many more states of mind during the tour than just that). I have about a month to go, then I head home for a while, though I plan to move to a completely different home in the next few months, so the move may be a huge project for me. I will spend the winter working on collectible dolls, recording a new CD, and continuing to write a novel based on the Faerie lore in my books. I’m also finishing my next book for Llewellyn, which is a similar treatment to Faerie Glass, but focuses on the Grimms fairy Tales. There will be a ritual or a spell for each of the tales the books looks at. That book is slated to be out in May of 2011. I’m pretty excited about it.

Bernadette:
You have contributed much to our pagan community. Can you tell us what you think of the state of our pagan community today? What differences to you see as compared to what is was in the 1980′s?

Kenny:
Oh gosh what a loaded question!!! Well certainly the Internet has had a huge impact on the Pagan community. We’re seeing two extremes because of technology: people finding it much easier to locate other Pagans than thirty years ago (in the ’80s you had to skulk around metaphysical bookstores hoping someone would notice you and invite you to join a group); and paradoxically, many more Pagans practicing “solitary.” I think there are pros and cons to both. While there are many very excellent groups out there, there are as many charlatans pretending to teach the craft as an excuse to promote their own agenda (manipulation, sex, control). So for many people joining a group is a challenge, despite the technology that makes finding groups so much easier. On the other hand, when one learns and practices alone, there is no one to fill in gaps, push one to strive for greater learning and experience, or steer one in the right direction. Self taught Pagans often have huge gaps in their knowledge of the religion and its traditions.

As a community, we have not yet arrived at anything like a happy medium. I will say that I encourage all Pagans to attend Pagan festivals (days long and week long camping events, like PSG, Free Spirit Gathering, Rites of Spring, Starwood, Sirius Rising and Wisteria Summer Solstice, all as opposed to one day events like a Pagan Pride day). these festivals expose Pagans to experienced teachers, various traditions, a wealth of ritual styles, and the sheer hedonistic joy of bonfire dancing, drumming, concerts and Pagan community and companionship. Many web sites list a multitude of Pagan festivals. they are worth investigating.

Bernadette:
I have been doing a lot of research lately into The Blue Star Tradition. Can you tell us a bit about Blue Star? Why do you think it it appealed to so many people? How has it evolved over the years? Do you still teach?

Kenny:
Blue Star is, I think, the oldest American born Wiccan tradition. Meaning, most of our traditional Wicca was born in England. Blue Star was created in Philadelphia.

Blue Star is a very traditional Wiccan path, with set rituals that vary very little from time to time (other than the specific work of that time of the year or the moon); we worship the old Gods/Goddesses of Europe (I am very staid in the notion that Wicca is European Paganism only, and if one is worshiping Egyptian, Chinese, American Indian or African deities, while it is powerful Paganism, it is not Wicca); we have a very set syllabus of teaching that involves experiential learning as well as reading and classes (most of what we teach is transmitted orally; very few books contain what we teach).

It’s serious, but fun too. We eat a lot!!!!

Bernadette:
Where do you see our pagan community going these days, as compared to when you first started?

Kenny:
Another loaded question… I think the Pagan music scene is in amazing shape compared to when I entered it. In the ’80s most Pagan music was being made by hobby musicians, who loved the Craft but had limited musical skills. Now I see bands like the Gypsy Nomads, Lunar Fore and Incus who are skilled professional musicians, and who tour the Pagan festival circuit (as I have done for three decades now…wow, I hate saying that!). Unfortunately I think these amazing Pagan musicians are under-appreciated by the community in general. Few Pagans seem to realize that there are “out” Pagans playing Pagan music for Pagans; many still refer to Stevie Nicks and Loreena McKennitt as Pagan music—both superb musicians and performers, but not “out” pagans playing music for a targeted Pagan audience.

In terms of knowledge, I think we are seeing a generation of experienced teachers fading away (we just lost a great teacher and scholar, Isaac Bonewits), and very few younger teachers of their caliber stepping into their shoes. Jason Mankey is a rising star, and a few others stand out, but there will be a sad vacuum in a few years. This concerns me deeply.

I hope to see more Pagans taking advantage of Pagan festivals and gatherings. They are great ways to connect to knowledge, experience and community. We now have several facilities that host various week-long Pagan events: the best of them are Wisteria, Brushwood, Diana’s Grove and Camp Gaia.

Bernadette:
Can you tell me more about your work with “Blythe” dolls? What attracted you to them and how do you customize them?

Kenny:
Blythe dolls are collectible dolls that first appeared as children’s toys in 1972, and through the efforts of a woman named Gina Garan became an iconic collectible doll (www.thisisblythe.com). I fell in love with Blythe in 2000 when I saw Gina’s photographs of her in a gallery in Los Angeles. In the last year I’ve gotten involved with the art project of creating unique customized Blythe dolls (www.kennyklein.net/dolls.html). I take commissions for custom work. I also love my girls and talk to them. I’m a little weird I guess.

Bernadette:
Music has and always will change. You had roots in the punk scene (just like I did!)-did this influence you in the music that you do today? What do you listen too? What can we expect from Kenny Klein in the future?

Kenny:
In my most active Punk years I was very excited about the British New Romantics movement, and listened to bands like Bow Wow Wow, Adam and the Ants, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and ska bands like Madness and the Specials. I still listen to these bands. I also bonded with my friends in the East Village: the Bad Brains (who lived in my kitchen for a while), the Cro Mags, the Undead, Agnostic Front, the Lunachicks, the Beastie Boys and Luscious Jackson. I still see some of these people from time to time.

Some of that music made its way into my playing and recording, most notably on my CD The Fairy Queen, which has a good deal of Dark Wave music on it (I did that CD with singing partner Lori Watley, who has a great Siouxsie-esque voice). But I’m also influenced by British Folk, Americana, Delta Blues and contemporary singer-songwriters like Tori Amos, Poe, Richard Thompson, Rasputina’s Melora Creager and the Ditty Bops to name a tiny few. My next recorded music project will be a follow up to my CD “Meet Me In The Shade Of The Maple Tree,” which is the world’s first CD of Pagan Bluegrass music: it will be the world’s first CD of Pagan Delta Blues and Jugband music.

The following was written by Kenny Klein for a memorial to Isaac Bonewits, in Orange County, NY.

Verses for Isaac
Kenny Klein, 8/25/10

Many see the stars above us
Few the sparkle there
Inscrib’d wi’ the spear and torc
Of mighty Gods, and fair

Those that stand to light the way
Bright lanterns in the mire
Let them be immortalized
Though time may still their fire

Here now lieth such a one
A pilgrim of the path
Whose flame that lit the mighty cliff
did many seek to grasp

Let all imbued with true desire
To know the Gods of old
Hallow he interr’d here
A heart of faith, and gold

Suggested links:

Kenny Klein
www.kennyklein.net

The Gypsy Nomads
www.thegypsynomads.com

Jason Mankey
www.panmankey.com

Gina Garan
www.thisisblythe.com

Incus
www.incus.net

Within Wicca, the Celtic Tradition is a facet of this pagan religion that honors the Celtic/Druidic pantheon of deities and the ancient Celts’ way of interacting with their world on a physical, magickal, and spiritual level. Wiccans of the Celtic Trad have a strong affinity towards Nature, the Elements, Healing, and the Fae. Today we will be taking a brief glimpse at the history of the Celts and their religion, a look at four prominent deities, and some specifics regarding Celtic magick as it relates to the Celtic calendar, the Ogham alphabet, sacred tree lore, and animal magick.

To understand the Celtic Tradition we must first understand and acknowledge its roots. While today most people think of Ireland when they think of Celts, the Celts actually were originally spread out over a large part of Europe in addition to the British Isles. They occupied vast areas of western and central Europe during the last half of the first millennium BC. Although the early Celts were comprised of a number of different races and tribes, they were all linked by common origins and language, common religious traditions, and a close similarity of laws.

Our knowledge of the religion and mythologies of the Celtic people comes from three
different areas in Europe. From Gaul, which is modern day France, Britain (most specifically Wales), and Ireland. The Celts themselves did not commit their traditions to writings, but handed them down orally. Thus our knowledge of the Celts is dependent largely on fragmentary texts transcribed during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries by Christian monks, which provide us with ancient legends and heroic tales, but not many hard facts. Archaeological evidence has provided us with clues as well, however, so we are able to piece together a fairly accurate picture of the Celtic world. It appears that the Celts of Ireland maintained their cultural integrity until close to 500 AD, and it is there that the pagan Celtic mythology has been best preserved. For this reason, what follows primarily focuses on Irish Celtic lore, with a smattering, here and there, of Welsh.

Trying to piece together the origins and details of the Celtic religion that the Wiccan Celtic Tradition is based on is no easy feat. As mentioned earlier, the Druids did not keep written records, and what information we have is pieced together and transcribed by Christian monks and colored, undoubtedly, but their viewpoints. However, we do have details of some rituals and festivals, as well as lore regarding the important Irish pantheon of the Tuatha de Danaan.

The Tuatha de Danaan was an Irish pantheon of various gods and goddesses, both specialized to specific crafts, and generalized (like the paternal Dagda). Some of these gods correspond to the continental Celtic ones, some don’t, and some Celtic gods have no counterpart in Ireland. It has been suggested that the Tuatha de Danaan may actually be an artificial composite of deities stitched together by later storytellers. However, the story of the Tuatha de Danaan is an interesting tale, regardless of its origins, and many Tuatha de Danaan deities are called upon today by Celtic Wiccans.

In brief, the Tuatha de Danaan, who originated from Greece, were a highly skilled band of faery-folk, with great knowledge and skill in the arts of magick, music, poetry, and weaponry. They came to Ireland from four cities situated on the corners of the wind, Findias (South), Gorias (East), Murias (West) and Falias (North). The Tuatha de Danaan quickly conquered the Fir Bolg, who had colonized Ireland under a treaty with the Fomorians. Soon after, the Tuatha King, Lugh, defeated Balor -the Fomorian’s greatest warrior, and the Fomorians were driven from the island.

Each city held a master of wisdom who gave a treasure (or Hallow) to ensure the Tuatha De Danaan flourished. Uscias gifted the sword, Esras gifted a spear, Semias gifted the cauldron and Morfessa gifted a stone, each representing the cities respectively. The Danaan ruled Ireland for a hundred years, when, on the First of May, the Milesians attacked the island. Despite the great magick and prowess of the Tuatha, the Milesians triumphed. One of the Danaan’s great gods, The Dagda, led them underground and found retreats for them in hollow hills encompassed by hidden walls, to live undisturbed by mortals.

Present-day Celtic pagans have brought this ancient Irish pantheon back to prominence and now once again, requests for aid and guidance are being asked of such deities as Brigid, Dana, Oghma, and Lugh, just to name a few. The enduring success of this group of deities is due, in part, to the richness of this pantheon andthese goddesses and gods give the Celtic Wiccan a wonderful foundation to base their faith upon.

The Celts honored a wealth of deities. For the most part, Ireland, Wales and Gaul worshiped different localized deities, but some gods were known across all the pantheons, even if their names differed slightly from country to country. Here we will be focusing on two prominent female deities (Brigid and Rhiannon) and two prominent male deities (The Dagda and Cernunnos).

Brigid is probably the most famous of the Irish deities, as her worship endured into Christian times. Even to this day she is worshiped as her eternal flame has been re-lit at her convent in Kildare. In earliest times, she was a member of the Tuatha de Danann (the daughter of the Dagda and Boann and the wife of Bress). Later, she was made a saint in the Catholic pantheon, and earned the nickname “Mary of the Gael”. Even within the Christian pantheon, however, Brigid kept most of her pagan attributes, chiefly her association with fire.

Today we know Brigid best as the goddess we honor during the Celtic festival of Imbolc, celebrating the birth of spring. In addition to the importance Brigid holds for us during Imbolc, she is also believed to aid healing and fertility, as well as help assist women in labor. She is the Goddess of poetry, feminine crafts, the hearth, martial arts, healing and inspiration.

In today’s magick and ritual, Brigid can be called upon to aid you in virtually any endeavor you wish to undertake. She may be called upon for assistance in fire magick, crafting, inspiration, animal magick, fertility, healing and childbirth. Brigid is truly a powerful and prominent goddess.

Rhiannon is a Welsh goddess. Her original name is thought to be Rigatona (Gaulish), meaning “great queen”, which indicates that she once held a much higher status in the Celtic pantheon than she enjoys today. Rhiannon is a potent symbol of fertility, yet she is also an Otherworld and death Goddess, a bringer of dreams, and a moon deity who is symbolized by a white horse. Her father was Heveydd the Old, and she was married to both Pwyll and Manann. The story of her marriage to Pwyll, and the subsequent accusation of the murder of her child, is well documented and most people are familiar with Rhiannon from this tale.

In her guise as a death Goddess, Rhiannon could sing sweetly enough to lure all those in hearing to their deaths, and therefore she may be related to Germanic stories of lake and river faeries who sing seductively to lure sailors and fishermen to their doom. Her white horse images also link her to Epona, and many scholars feel they are one and the same, or at least are derived from the same archetypal roots.

In today’s magick and ritual, Rhiannon can be called upon to aid you in overcoming enemies, exercising patience, working magick, moon rituals, and enhancing dream work. My personal affinity to this goddess is strong, which turns out not to be too surprising, as though my journey over the years I found that my love of horses, moonstones, and dream work all correspond to her. I have talked to other witches who also are drawn to her, and am reassured that Rhiannon is enjoying a resurgence in importance to the Celtic pagan.

Dagda, the Good God, is the Irish Lord of the Land and the husband of Boann, the goddess of the river Boyne. Druids see him as a God of wisdom with extreme power, abundance and the ability to restore life, a belief sacred to the Celts. Portrayed as ancient man with hair of gray, he is grounded and simple in every way. He possesses a cauldron known as “the Undry”, which came from Murias, one of the Tuatha de Danann’s four mythical cities. This cauldron gave food to all, according to the individual’s merits. No one ever left it unsatisfied.

As Lord of the Land, he was a valiant defender of it, and performed great deeds in the battle between his family, the Tuatha de Danann, and the Fomors. In peace-time the Dagda played his living harp, which has two names – “Oak of the Two Cries”, and “Hand of Fourfold Music”. As he played upon it, the music causes the seasons to change – spring to summer, summer to autumn, autumn to winter, and winter again to spring. The Dagda’s final resting place is said to be a small barrow near the river Boyne, known as the Tomb of the Dagda, which has never been excavated.

In today’s magick and ritual, you can call on Dagda’s energies for almost any purpose you might need. He may be called upon for wisdom, animal magick, warrior skills, fertility, protection, assist in faery contact, elemental magick, or to increase mental prowess. Like Brigid, he is an extremely powerful and prominent deity.

Cernunnos was known to all Celtic areas in one form or another. He was called The Horned God; God of Nature; and the Great Father. The Druids knew him as Hu Gadarn, the Horned God of Fertility. He is usually portrayed sitting in a lotus position with horns or antlers on his head, long curling hair, a beard, naked except for a neck torque, and sometimes holding a spear and shield. His symbols were the stag, ram, bull, and horned serpent. He represented virility, fertility, animals, physical love, Nature, woodlands, reincarnation, crossroads, wealth, commerce, and warriors. Born on Alban Arthuan (Yule) he is often seen holding or wearing a golden torc signifying his connection as a solar deity and the wealth he may share with others.

In today’s magick and ritual, you can call upon Cernunnos for aid in fertility, magick and animals. Cernunnos is perhaps the most prominent and well-known of all Celtic deities, and many pagans of all paths honor him as the god that shares life’s journey with the Triple Goddess.

Wiccans following the Celtic Tradition usually employ various aspects of Celtic lore when creating and performing their spells and rituals that goes beyond simply calling on the various Celtic deities. Some aspects include following the Celtic Calendar, using the Celtic Ogham alphabet in divination or writing spells, utilizing specific sacred trees for spells and healing, and calling on totemic animals for aid and guidance.

The Celts based their calendar on the cycles of the moon instead of the sun. The Celtic year consisted of 13 months, 12 of which were roughly the same as our modern months, and one extra three day ‘make up’ month leading into the new year. Each month was governed by a moon, and had a sacred Ogham tree associated with it.

The Celtic Calendar included two primary fire festivals; Samhain (the beginning of winter,) and Beltane (the beginning of summer,) marking the movement from the dark into the light time of the year. Two other seasonal fire festivals were also celebrated: Imbolc (February 1), and Lughnasadh (August 1). Dates and seasonal associations noted here are that of the Northern hemisphere. For those who reside in the Southern hemisphere, the exact opposite dates and seasonal associations apply.

The onset of each season was observed at the Albans (Solstices and Equinoxes,) although the central point of each season was celebrated and recognized by a Fire Festival. These four Albans were Alban Arthuan (winter solstice or Yule), Alban Eiler (vernal equinox or Ostara), Alban Heruin (summer solstice or Litha), and Alban Elved (autumnal equinox or Mabon).

This Wheel of the Year is widely used among Traditions and pagans worldwide; not just Celtic Wiccans. This celebration of the turning of the seasons is an important part of how we view the world and is a cornerstone for our faith.

Ogham is a form of writing originally used by the Celtic people of the British Isles prior to the introduction of the Roman alphabet and Christianity. Each letter of the Ogham alphabet has the name of a tree or other plant, and each of these trees had a meaning in the Celtic religion.

The alphabet consists of twenty letters. Each letter consists of one to five strokes extending from or crossing a horizontal line. Ancient Ogham inscriptions are generally found cut into the edge of hewn stone, with the edge representing the horizontal line. When the edge is actually horizontal, the letters read from left to right. Vertical edges
were usually written from top to bottom, and in the case of a three-edge structure, such as a dolmen arch, the writing began at the lower left, ran up the left side, across the top, and down the right side.

Today, modern Celtic witches use Ogham for divination and spell work. For divination, the letters can either be carved on sticks and cast, or painted on cards and read like tarot. In other uses, the letters can be carved into candles to assist in spells or used to write out requests that are presented to the gods during rituals.

The culture of the ancient Celts was influenced by a great unity with nature, which we continue today. Reverence is given to all aspects of nature, but perhaps nothing was as sacred to the ancient Celts as the tree. The Druids actually created a calendar from the trees to personify the spirit of the Esbat, and today many people wonder why the tree played such a significant role in the Celtic life. Perhaps one reason is so many cultures modeled the universe and spiritual progression after a “Tree of Life” or a “World Tree”. Trees were a physical representation of unity with all things because of their visible upper parts which reached into the heavens, and the unseen bottom parts, or roots, which reached far into the ground. These bottom parts were virtually identical to the upper parts and perhaps reflected to many the ancient adage “As above, So below”. Trees physically unite the heaven and earth making the Earth Goddess and the Sky God one, united two halves of the whole and making them a powerful source of creative magick

Today the counting of the Celtic tree calendar begins with the full moon nearest Yule.
Once this is pinpointed, count off the thirteen moons of the lunar year and mark them
with their Tree. The Trees’ order is as follows: Birch, Rowan, Ash, Alder, Willow, Hawthorn, Oak, Holly, Hazel, Vine, Ivy, Reed and Elder. Each Tree has its own power, polarity, and magickal significance which we can call upon to strengthen our spells. The Trees also can be used for herbal magick spells, as various parts of these Trees have healing properties. Trees can be an invaluable aid in many of our magickal endeavors, and should be honored with the same respect given them by our Celtic ancestors.

Everywhere one looks in the ancient Celtic myths there are animals. They are the allies of heroes, the helpers of those who travel in search of wisdom, and the companions of shamans and witches. Animal symbolism found in Celtic myths include boars, birds, serpents, fish, horse and cattle, just to name a few. Boars symbolize courage and strong warriors. Fish, especially salmon, are associated with knowledge and secrets. Snakes and dragons are portents of trouble, strife and infertility. Birds also may presage bad luck or bloodshed. Horse and cattle represent fertility, as do many occurrences of animals in Celtic legend.

These legends have helped shape how we, today, relate to these animals in our own mediations and magick. Many following the Celtic path have strong relationships with their animal familiars, both physical and astral, and feel comfortable calling upon the strengths of other animals that are not their familiars. Animals hold a wealth of
knowledge and wisdom (as the ancient Celts well knew) and following the Celtic path allows us to reap the benefits of these close ties with our animal brethren.

As you can see, there is an incredible amount of knowledge a Wiccan of the Celtic Tradition should learn in order to honor their chosen Trad properly. Entire books have been written on Celtic lore and magick alone, and this essay has only been able to touch the tip of the iceberg. However, it is important to remember that following a Celtic Path requires not only knowledge of deities, plants, trees, animals, seasons, rituals, healing, history, etc., but also the appropriate attitude of reverence and celebration of spirit that ties us with Nature and our past. Celtic Wiccans should have both a strong sense of personal responsibility and a code of personal and social ethics that binds us all “in perfect love and perfect trust”.

References:

Conway, D.J. Celtic Magic. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 1990
Conway, D.J. By Oak, Ash, & Thorn – Modern Celtic Shamanism. St. Paul, MN:
Llewellyn Publications, 1995
Cotterell, Arthur and Storm, Rachel. The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Mythology. New
York; Hermes House, 1999
Hutton, Ronald. The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles – Their Nature and
Legacy. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers, 1991
McCoy, Edain. Celtic Myth & Magic. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 1995
Matthews, John. Celtic Totem Animals. London, England: Red Wheel, 2002.