Our Praxis

 

Witchcraft, plain and simple. Good old-fashioned village hedge witchery of the practical sort. No dogmatic ceremonialism, no modern astrology, no New Age psychobabble, no heretic Christianity, just plain and simple English-style folk-cunning. We rescind our praxis from our ancestors in the mists of pre-historic Germanic and Celtic folk magic. The ways of Wyrd. The Old Ways. We seldom refer to ourselves as “witches”, usually preferring the more traditional colloquial terms such as The People, Wise Folk, Knowing Folk, or Cunning Folk. In fact, we generally see no real need to define ourselves with a name at all. We simply are what we are and do what we do, as Fate would have it..

 

Here you will find no trace of dramatized ceremonialism. No hint of Gardnerian Wicca, no recycled Freemasonry or Thelema,  no romanticized reenactment of popular fiction, no Satan or Lucifer. We are hedge riders and witch doctors, shamans and sorcerers, simple wyrd-workers and myrk-riders who find more wisdom in the whispers on the wind than in popular feel-good new-age fluffery. The ways of the truly wise are older than any made-up modern "Path" or "Tradition", deeper than the theatrics of a fool dressed up like some latter-day Merlin, truer than any renegade Christian quackery. The ancient core worldview of the old English hedge witch, the clan shaman of the steppes, the wily Seidkrona of Scandinavia, the lonely Zen guru, the tribal Dream-Walker, is older, simpler, and vastly more powerful than superficial play-acting. It is transcendent, transformational, and deeply personal.

 

As a matter of commonality and focus, we work within a framework that could loosely be described as British with an Anglo-Saxon/Germanic frame of reference but encompassing the totality of European folk wisdom whether Teutonic, Celtic, Briton, or Pictish. Real magic is not a religion per se. It transcends cultures and borders. There is, however, a need for common ground from which to communicate and interact with power and clarity. The crooked path, the ghost road, the old fork in the trail not taken, is our route to wisdom.

 

Our wisdom lies in reconnecting with that primal, visceral identity with the sacred Land, the Underworld, and all that is, seen and unseen. We work our magic within a loose frame of reference that honors our ancestral forebears and the mighty spirits they knew so well. The keys and hints to this are to be found in the old ballads, poetry, and surviving folk ways of pre-Christian Europe, and in the Otherworld as taught by the Ancient Ones. We have benefited from teaching from older witches wiser than ourselves. It is mystical and spiritual. It is a transformed state of being one must learn for oneself, with the guidance of other wise spirits.

 

We re-awaken the ancestral memory. We walk in worlds where most fear to tread, and bring back power and wisdom most can only imagine. We work our intent through the web of Wyrd. We preserve and expand the knowledge and practice of natural magic. We enjoy the wholeness and serenity of a life well lived. We live in and between the worlds as mystics have always lived, beyond the understanding of most people.

 

We recognize and practice balance in all things, as an extension of the perfect natural equilibrium of All That Is. We have no use for plagiarized “codes” or “redes”. We abide by honoring one of the oldest maxims known to cunners, “Do what must be done, and pay the coin.”

 

We honor the Red Thread as a bond of love and understanding among the sisters and brothers of The Light. This is a true Family, the company of enlightened mystics of honor and good will from all times and lands, the Fellowship of the Wise that cords us all in the Otherworld. We keep the Silence. The inner workings of the Grove are Hidden, as are the identities of those known to us who wish it so.

 

Our workings most frequently involve acts of healing and wellness, both physical and spiritual. We work to help each other always, and others when asked. There are also times, thankfully rare, when certain works of defense, protection, or vengeance may be done when wise cunning discernment indicates a need. Divination via the Strong Eye, scrying, and good old intuitive keening is integral to our practice. We as Children of the Light must always be prepared to do what we must. 

 

We are not modern neo-pagan religionists. We interact with Fate and the Gods on a far more personal level than just doing rote rituals on a fixed schedule. We hold three powerful tides of the year to be more significant than others: Walpurgis Night, The Hallows, and the Mother Nights. We work by the cycles of the Moon. The solar and agricultural folk-holidays of pagans past and present may be celebrated as joyful festivals, but we do not celebrate the pagan or Christian religious events of the masses. Our Gods and Mighty Ones are secret to us, as are our workings. We are the outcasts, the wyrdlings, the mystics who live and work on the fringes of our society. We are the ones sought for help when science and religion fail. We are the Hidden ones, usually feared, sometimes hated, and always misunderstood. This is as it must be.

 

We are not here to convince, recruit, or convert anyone. We do not seek sanction or approval. If you are fated to find us, you will. Spiritually, we merely wish to be left alone to do what must be done, as it has always been done, in peace and wholeness. Fate it be so.