{"collection":"bos","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/bos/bos187.htm","path":"bos/bos187.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/bos/bos187.htm","text":"Internet Book of Shadows, (Various Authors), [1999]\n \n \n History \n \n (c) 1988, by Weyland Smith and \n The Rocky Mountain Pagan Journal \n \n \"Mommy, how old are we?\" Does our faith come down to us in \n Apostolic succession from \"that time whereof the memory of man \n runneth not to the contrary\", or was our religion dreamed up in \n the nineteenfortiesbyaretiredBritishcivilservantwiththe\n collaboration ofa dyingheroin addictandpoet? Does itreally \n matter? \n \n To\n whatextent\n themodern\n practitionersof\n paganismmay\n lay\n ajust claimto themantleof theirpredecessorsfrom thetwelfth \n centuryhas beena matterof greatdebate bothwithin andwithout \n the Craft community almost from the moment Gerald Gardner \n published _Witchcraft Today in 1954.*1* Though the debate is \n continued with somewhat less fervor today than it was in the \n 1960s,ithasnever whollyceasedanditcontinuesto beaCrisis\n of Faith which besets many practitioners of paganism every year. \n \n Itcan\n beatroubling\n questionto\n face,especiallyif\n one's\n early teachers tried to justify their credentials by claiming \n that what they taught had great antiquity. The question isn't \n any easier to answer with truth or objectivity when there is a \n bunch\n ofradicalfundamentalistsrunningaroundseekingtoclaim\n that we aren't really a religion and so of course we aren't \n entitled to protection under the First Amendment. \n \n It is a sign of progress, I think, that there seems to be \n less of that sort of teaching today than there was when I began \n my studies. Today most of the teachers that I know are secure \n enough in their religion that they can face the staggering \n thought that the ethical and philosophical system that guides \n their lives may indeed be younger than some of them are. The \n plain fact is that we simply don't know. \n \n Gerald\n Gardnerand\n CharlesLeland*2*\n mayhave\n triedto\n palm\n fiction off on the world as fact. It's certainly been tried \n before--and since. On the other hand, they may each have been \n reporting the truth as they found it. It certainly is a fact \n thatnoone Iknowhasever comeacrossany BookofShadowsthat \n dates before the beginning of this century. Presumably, if one \n exists,sayintheBritishMuseum, itwouldhavebecomeknownto \n scholars looking into the subject over the last half century. \n GrantedthattherewaslessburninginEnglandthan elsewherein\n Europe, but there was enough that surely some physical evidence \n would have survived in the hands of the government if nowhere \n else. \n \n The\n VaticanLibrary,of\n coursemayyet\n turnup\n sucharelic.\n Theirfailure todosoat thistimecanbeexplained aseasilyby\n the lack of such a document as by a possible desire to suppress \n it. We may never know that one, but when push comes to shove, \n does it really matter? \n \n Thomas\n Jefferson,\n speakingon\n the\n questionof\n whether\n black\n colonial slaves were Americans or not is said to have remarked \n \n \n 788\n \n \"They're people and they're here. If there's any other \n requirement,Ihaven'theardofit.\"Perhapswemightparaphrase\n Jefferson a bit and remark that the modern practitioners of \n Witchcraft are undeniably here and a large number of them are \n sincere intheirbeliefs. Thatinitselfshouldqualify usasa\n religion. \n \n Perhaps as important as the legal question is our own self \n image. Would a \"real witch\" from the middle ages recognize or \n disownone ofhersisters oftoday? Wouldshewant togowith a\n \"New Age\" circle, a Dianic grove, a Gardnerian coven, or would \n she laugh hysterically at the bunch of us and walk off into the \n sunset? \n \n While the antiquity of our current practice of witchcraft \n shouldn't be a matter of serious concern, to us _or to our \n detractors,itsauthenticityshouldbe.Thesearchforourroots\n must continue to be pursued by serious scholars and magicians \n alike in order that we may come as close as possible to the \n ideals andpurposesofourancientpredecessors.Thereisavery\n practical reason why this is so. That reason is tied up in \n somethingcalledan_egregore. Onthesubjectofan egregore,I\n would like to quote extensively from a recent article in _Gnosis \n by Gaetan Delaforge: \n \n ...\"An egregore is a kind of group mind which is created when \n peopleconsciouslycometogetherforacommonpurpose.Whenever\n people gather together to do something and egregore is formed, \n butunlessanattemptismadetomaintain itdeliberatelyitwill\n dissipaterather quickly.Howeverifthe peoplewishtomaintain\n it and know the techniques of how to do so, the egregore will \n continue to grow in strength and can last for centuries. \n \n An egregore has the characteristic of having an effectiveness \n greater than the mere sum of its individual members. It \n continuously interacts with its members, influencing them and \n being influenced by them. The interaction works positively by \n stimulating and assisting its members but only as long as they \n behaveand actinlinewith itsoriginalaim.It willstimulate\n both individually and collectively all those faculties in the \n groupwhichwillpermittherealizationoftheobjectivesof its\n original program. If this process is continued a long time the \n egregore will take on a kind of life of its own, and can become \n so strong that even if all its members should die, it would \n continue to exist on the inner dimensions and can be contacted \n even centuries later by a group of people prepared to live the \n livesoftheoriginalfounders,particularlyiftheyarewilling\n to provide the initial input of energy to get it going again. \n \n \n 789\n \n \n If the egregore is concerned with spiritual or esoteric \n activities its influence will be even greater. People who \n discoverthekeyscantapinonapowerfulegregorerepresenting,\n for example, a spiritual or esoteric tradition, will, if they \n follow the line described above by activating and maintaining \n suchanegregore,obtainaccesstotheabilities,knowledge,and\n driveofall thathasbeen accumulatedin thategregoresince its \n beginnings. Agroup ororder whichmanages to dothis can,with \n a clear conscience, claim to be an authentic order of the \n tradition represented by that egregore. In my view this is the \n only yardstick by which a genuine Templar order should be \n measured.\"*3* \n \n Mr.\n Delaforgewas\n writingabout\n theKnights\n Templarand\n the\n various groupsclaimingto representitin moderntimes, butthe \n parallel with ancient witchcraft and the many diverse groups \n claimingto representittodayisobvious. Ihopethebenefitto\n be gained by reconstructing as faithfully as possible the \n attitudes and goals of our ancient brethren is equally obvious. \n \n In her books \"The Sea Priestess\" and \"Moon Magic\", Dion \n Fortune was demonstrating this technique. Vivien LeFay Morgan \n wasattemptingnothinglessthanthe\n reactivationoftheegregore\n of the Atlantean priesthood. \n \n When Gerald Gardner published \"Witchcraft Today\", he \n embarked upon the outward steps of his part of the reactivation \n of the egregore of the old witch cult in western Europe. The \n inward steps were probably begun by one or more of the magical \n lodgesof\n theearlytwentiethcentury,mostlikelyDionFortune's\n Society of the Inner Light during its \"pagan phase\" in the late \n twentiesandthirties.*4*Gardner'spublic\n worksservedtobring\n the reactivated egregore into contact with an increasingly \n receptive populace where it could gather unto itself the \n additionalpsychicenergyitneededtobecomeonceagainaviable\n force in the world. How well it has achieved this end is to be \n observed by anyone with the eyes to see. \n \n \n I personally think that our job in this generation is to \n deepen and strengthen our ties with this newly reawakened force \n in the world; to learn from it and to draw inspiration from it, \n and to bring the Craft back from the status of a \"cult\" to that \n of a genuine religion. To do this we must learn more of the \n goals,ideals,andambitionsofourbrothersandsisterswhohave\n gone before--as they really were, not as we would like them to \n have been. \n \n \n 790\n \n Please\n notethat\n theidea\n isnot\n necessarilyto\n recreatethe\n _practices of our predecessors, particularly if we are talking \n about things like blood sacrifice. One should note that this \n practicewasfollowedby thejewsinbiblicaltimes,but thatin\n moderntimes theydon't doit. This doesnot keepthemodern jew \n frominteracting withthe egregoreof hisancient faith. Judaism \n has surely progressed since the time of the Ceasars, so has the \n Craft. The idea, when activating and interacting with an \n egregore is to re-create the _goals and _attitudes of the \n founders. That doesn't freeze the practitioner into practices \n which have long since been outgrown. \n \n WhatI\n thinkweneednow\n ismorerealscholarship.\n Whatdid\n Samhainreallymean toourpredecessors;or Beltane;orImbolc? \n Not only howdid theycelebrate it,but how didthey _feelabout \n it? Platitudes about\"fruitfulness and fertility\"are simplytoo \n superficial. This is not madeany easier by the factthat these \n observances were pastoral and agricultural while most of us are \n city dwellers who do well to keep a potted plant alive through \n one summer. \n \n An attempt in this direction was made by the Holy Order of \n SaintBrigitnearFortMorgan,Coloradoabout tenyearsago.The\n farm is gone now and its residents are scattered, yet it cannot \n be said to have entirely failed of its purpose. Many of the \n former participants in the experiments can be found today, \n quietly practicing the Craft. \n \n This is not to say that we all should sell our goods, quit our \n jobs, and move out into communes somewhere, but we must at the \n leastestablishcloseenoughcontactwiththeharshrealitiesof\n this world that we can appreciate how frightening the onset of \n winter must have been to those who had no central heating, food \n storesorwelfare tofallback upon.Whenwe havedonethis, we\n will,perhaps,be ableto recapturethemindset ofthePriestess \n at Samhain. \n \n \n These truths are not to be found in the Fantasy fiction \n sectionofB.Dalton's,butinthehistoryandanthropologylibr-\n aries of our local universities. The reading is much dryer and \n lessfun,but ittalksaboutthe peopleasthey reallywere.It \n isn't afantasy worldto hidefromreality in,but neitheris it \n a dead end. It can take us back in time and forward in our \n understandingsothatwemayreallycontacttheancientreligion\n of witchcraft as it was, learn from it, and pass it on, \n rejuvenated and strengthened to our children. \n \n \n 791\n \n \n \n Notes \n \n 1. Gerald B. Gardner, _Witchcraft _Today, (London: Rider and \n Company, 1954) reprinted (New York: Citadel Press, 1971) \n \n 2. Charles Godfrey Leland, _Aradia, _or _Gospel _of _the \n _Witches, (London: David Nutt, 1899; reprinted (New York: \n Samuel Weiser, 1974) \n \n 3.GaetanDelaforge,_Gnosis,\"TheTemplarTradition:\n yesterday\n and today\", No. 6, (Winter 1988), pp 8-13. \n \n 4. Alan Richardson, _Dancers _to _the _Gods, (London: The \n Aquarian Press, 1985) \n \n \n 792","title":"Internet Book of Shadows: History (Weyland Smith)","type":"page"}