Magickal workings

On occasion other ways of working of a different flavour to the regular Sabbat or Esbat may be of use to the Witch & Coven. We are the inheritors also of varying ways of magick, some more akin the the Ceremonial workings of magicians of renaissance Britain & Europe & beyond. These Rites though are, to a degree echoes of the Ritual worked in late antiquity at the twilight of the Pagan world of imperial Rome, especially within the north African city of Alexandria. Within this bustling metropolis service magicians, possibly priests of then non funded temples worked for clients, who petitioned them to aid their lives. As Christianity became the state cult of the Empire and as followers of that religion along with Jews & Pagans rubbed shoulders in such cities such priests worked syncretic rites of magick, where Helios & Adonai, varying Gods, Goddesses of Egyption religion, Greece & beyond could be conflated in often interesting & startling ways.

Modern pagan Witchcraft Gardnerian & Alexandrian (Which is not named after the afore mentioned city, rather Alex Sanders) does have syncretic elements. Gerald Gardner the father of modern Witchcraft, had drawn on a wide variety of sources for the burgeoning Craft. A Godess of the heavens & of earth, of the moons ebb & flow. A Horned God of death & life. With a Masonic style grading system that harken back to pagan cults of Greece & Rome. All this allied to folklore & poetry loved so by such as Doreen Valiente along with Alex Sanders love of Craft & ceremony have created a magickal mix.

Modern Wicca has fused & syncretised many ideas, utilising them in such a way as to make religion and magick special. It combines a love of life,of love, of mystery with workable ceremony that utlises mind, body and spirit. The Hermetica a work native to north Africa present at the end of the Roman empire tells that as humans we should tend and revere nature. The Greek Magical Papyrai show varying magicks, as do Grimoires of western Europe. Such works & many others are an influence. We look back to such from the past, drawing on what is of value to us in the modern world.

Our most recent workings over the duration of two successive evenings, the former a more ceremonial affair, the latter a more traditional Esbat as we honoured the Goddess & worked as the light of the full moon shone down from above.

The Crafts beauty lies in that it can accommodate our needs, its flexibility to be able to contain varying magickal ways of working. Working under the auspices of the Goddess & Horned God in varying ways is an absolute joy indeed.