Cauldrons & Broomsticks:

a magical newsletter SAMHAIN 2005

In this issue:

Merry Meet and Welcome

As I sit here, expecting to write a quick, chatty and informative editorial for the Samhain 2005 edition of Cauldrons and Broomsticks, all I can think to write is “Wow, it’s the Samhain 2005 edition of Cauldrons and Broomsticks!” It seems amazing to me that it was only a year ago that we were handed the reigns and yet, it also seems as if we’ve been at it forever. Where does the time go? Or more to the point, how can Time slow down so that we feel ageless at the same that It is flying?

Paganism is a diverse path, for sure. You need only have a look at the myriad online Pagan forums, websites and chat rooms to realize that no two Pagans celebrate their spirituality in the same manner. Oh, there are similarities, of course but there are no Church fathers telling us what to believe and how to practice and when to perform which rites. Instead, we have authors. Lots of authors. Some are learned, educated, well-spoken and clear-headed. Some are sincere. Some are helpful. Some are in it for a quick buck and some appear not to have a clue as to what they are talking about (usually the last two go hand-in-hand). It befalls the new Pagan to sift the wheat from the chaff and to learn discernment as they begin to grow and to practice and to form their own ideas and opinions. We hope that the Book Review section of C&B will continue to prove helpful to old and new practitioners alike and that our recommended reading list will be a useful tool for choosing new books.

Paganism is also quite a broad umbrella. Beneath its sheltering width crowd as many practices as there are practitioners. Well, nearly. There are always those who will follow blindly and those who band together for fellowship and shared learning. C&B is proud to bring you, over the next 8 issues, a more personal look at individual practices. Starting with Magi’s article on Ceremonial Magick, we will present a series of articles that take an inside look at a range of Pagan beliefs and “religions”.

As diverse as we are, there are two major common themes that run throughout most Pagan belief systems and these are a belief in the Goddess and a reverence for Mother Earth. Pagans the world over and from the dawn of time have equated the natural world around us with the Divine. For some of us, they are one and the same but we all have some concept of the Great Earth Mother. How then, can we begin to reconcile our love of Nature with the destructive forces of such natural disasters as the Indonesian Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and the South Asian earthquake? Starhawk seeks to answer this question for us from the Pagan viewpoint in her thoughtful and provocative essay “A Pagan Response to Katrina”.

From Samhain reflections to the Samhain feast to the crystals that best represent the undercurrents of the coming Sabbat, this edition of Cauldrons and Broomsticks is filled with lore and history and emotion. If Samhain is a time of rest after the arduous task of bringing in the Harvest, then it is also a time of introspection and soul-searching. Having just marked the 65th birthday of John Lennon on October 9th and looking ahead to the 25th anniversary of his death in December, I was trying to find just the right quote from one of his songs to sum up the state of world affairs at this time in history. I considered “Power to the people, right on” and “All we are saying is give peace a chance” and “Better recognize your brother is everyone you meet” and they are all apt. They all fit. But perhaps, in the least imaginative choice I could have made, he said it best when he sang “Imagine all the people sharing all the world”.

Have a blessed Samhain.

Garnet

Imagine

Imagine there's no heaven,
It's easy if you try,
No hell below us,
Above us only sky,
Imagine all the people living for today...

Imagine there's no countries,
It isn’t hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
No religion too,
Imagine all the people living life in peace...

Imagine no possessions,
I wonder if you can,
No need for greed or hunger,
A brotherhood of man,
Imagine all the people Sharing all the world...

You may say I’m a dreamer,
but I’m not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us,
And the world will live as one.

John Winston Ono Lennon, (October 9, 1940 – December 8, 1980)

A Pagan Response to Katrina Sept. 14, 2005

By Starhawk

From the Vedas (Hindu sacred texts)

There is an endless net of threads Throughout the universe. The horizontal threads are in space. The vertical threads are in time. At every crossing of the threads, There is an individual, And every individual Is a crystal bead. The great light of absolute being Illuminates and penetrates Every crystal bead, and also, Every crystal bead reflects Not only the light From every other crystal in the net, But also every reflection Of every reflection Throughout the universe.

Sources and recommended reading:

My path: Ceremonial Magick

by Magi

In setting out to answer the question, ‘what does ceremonial magick mean to me’, I ought to explain that although my background and training lies with Ceremonial Magick, over the past few years I have been working what I call Ceremonial Earth Magick.  This simply involves adding more of the Natural Magick side of things to Ceremonial Magick with the aim of enriching the whole.  I hope what I mean by this will become clearer as you read the article. 

Ceremonial magick is often referred to as high magick with natural magick being known as low magick.  Personally I prefer to stick with the labels of Ceremonial and Natural magick due to the baggage that often comes along with ‘high’ and ‘low’, suggesting one is better than the other – it isn’t, they are just different ways of working.  That being said, Ceremonial Magick does not pretend to deal with such things as love-charms and potions, nor will I design amulets to harm, although I will bind when circumstances dictate and there appears to be no other option available.  The result that any ceremonial magician seeks to accomplish is known as the Great Work; a spiritual reconstruction of his own conscious universe and incidentally that of all mankind and union with the higher self, often referred to as the Holy Guardian Angel

Much of the underlying beliefs and operations of Ceremonial Magick are based on the earliest form of pure tradition found in Egyptian magick.  Another early tradition derives from the Greek mystery schools. There is much written on this area and, as with Egyptian magick, not all of it outlines a working magickal system.  The most coherent works of magick date from the Middle Ages. The works of Cornelius Agrippa, Paracelsus, Abramelin and John Dee, each give a credible magickal system. But when reading texts like the Lesser Key of Solomon which call for bat blood, discrimination becomes important ‚ as does a sense of humour!

Arguably, the two most important sources for high magick are the Corpus Hermeticum and the Qabalah, which approach the same end from entirely different directions and cultural traditions. The hermetic texts were written in Greek-speaking Egypt in the second century and are concerned with the true place of humanity in the universe and how humanity might obtain power over it. The most important is the Pimander which suggests that divine powers are latent in humans, who can recover them by learning their true natures. The Qabalah came out of Hebrew rabbinical culture and took its enduring form in the 13th century. It depends on the notion that the universe is structured around ten names or emanations of the One God, which corresponds with the Hebrew alphabet and forms together the single divine name which is also the repository of the informing power of the cosmos. By contemplating and understanding this structure, in effect by ascending it, one can come to know and understand divinity. The aim of both of these is to develop or release the latent spiritual and mental abilities of humanity by using a framework of traditional ritual magick.

So, back to my path...

First and foremost, I do not see my path as being part of a religion. In addition, the work of the magician has many similarities to that of paganism in general, but it also has some fundamental differences. As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, traditionally, the division between pagan and magician has been termed as the difference between natural and high magick. The magician works with the latter, but is in no way excluded from using natural magick to achieve an end. High magick is a system comprising a practical, psychic and theoretical path and it is essential for the magician to walk all three paths at the same time.  The magickal system is a philosophy and practice I apply to the whole of life. Its aim is my spiritual development, and to this end is highly personal.

I do not worship deity or, put another way, the gods.  Admittedly to do so affords them gratitude, but it results in your service to them. That is, you enter into a relationship of master and servant, worshipper and worshipped.  I have seen many people agonise over wanting to do a particular ritual or place something on their altar but are uncertain whether to do so would offend their particular god.  This is because to worship a thing is to acknowledge its dominion over you and thus to surrender your life to it. That is not what I see as my role. Far richer relationships with gods and goddesses are more familial or personal ones, such as: parent-child, friends, siblings and so on.

But what about the Divine? The word "God" comes as a pre-packaged concept. Quite often the Western European sees it as a personal being of great age, that has a physical existence sitting on a throne somewhere up there! But to make the Divine a human being is to limit it. It is not possible for a finite human form to have the attributes of the Divine, eternal, all powerful, all knowing, and everywhere.  The only way I can conceive of such a being is as something formless, existing not within manifestation, but beyond it also. For it is the formless creator of all things. That it is the absolute, from which all is made manifest. It creates not out of nothing, but of itself. Although this could be argued to be the same thing, as it is no thing in itself. It is not a being, but absolute being. In the process of creation it enters into manifestation, but is not conscious of this process. It does not actively and thoughtfully create, rather it brings forth manifestation as a tree brings forth leaves, it is a spontaneous expression of its very nature.

I do not see my primary role as one of service. Instead, my path concerns pursuit of the Great Work. That is, I seek to accelerate my own spiritual development to the point at which I unite with the divine, entering into the spiritual ecstasy known in Sanskrit as Samadhi.  I have to admit that I have only come close to this a couple of times with a very brief flash this union.  One of the main purposes of ritual is for it to act as a tool enabling me to know myself and transform myself herself in accordance with the divine purpose for which I came into this life, or indeed the purpose for which I came into being. That is to say, I seek to know my True Will and then to try and live in such a way as to realise this Will. The Will in these terms is not personal choice, but that divinely inspired purpose.  This give a whole new meaning to "Do what thou Will".

One fundamental difference between most neo-pagan paths and Ceremonial Magick is that ceremonial magicians do not normally celebrate the Sabbats.  The Equinoxes and Solstices are important times within Ceremonial Magick; especially the Equinoxes which are a time of balance and the Equinox Ritual connects the magician with currents of power linking the earth and the Sun at the moment of equinox.  Also celebrated is Day C. which falls eight weeks after Easter and is directed toward the spiritual and mystical dimensions of the Great Work.

Personally I feel that not to celebrate the Wheel of the Year is a major failing of ceremonial magick.  On the surface the Wheel of the Year is a celebration of the changing seasons and harvests, with Samhain being a celebration of our ancestors as well as being the start of the Celtic New Year.  Yet beneath that, is a deeper meaning of our journey through life and continual evolution.  For this reason, I incorporate a celebration of each Sabbat within my workings.  Well, that and the fact they are fun too!!!

In ritual, I do use use props such as an Athame (dagger), cup, bell, incense and so on are simply that they act as a means by which I am able to understand myself and commune with the invisible but no less real parts of nature.  I have already defined magick as science having for its objective the training and strengthening of Will and Imagination. More than anything else, it is thought and will which really count in magick and the magickal hypothesis is that it is using tools that the enhancements of creative abilities is obtained.  The important point is that tools, robes, incense and so on are symbols representing either an inherent occult force as man or an essence or principle obtaining as an intelligent moving force in the universe. The prime intention is to arouse a harmonious thought or impetus in the imagination which exalts the magician’s being in the direction arranged by the character of the ceremony and by the individual nature of the symbols.

The tools placed on the altar are known as the elemental tools: the wand, sword or dagger (Athame), cup and pentacle which represent the letters of Tetragrammatron and the four elements from which the cosmos has been built. Fire is attributed to the wand which is placed in the south, the cup is water (the west), air is allocated to the Athame (the east) and the pentacle symbolises earth and is placed in the north. There is no weapon representing the fifth element, spirit, for it is invisible.

In the circle I set the quarters, attributing them with elemental characters. In so doing this gives the elements an anthropomorphic character. They are seen to be active energetic forces that effect us and can be controlled by us. Yet as the elements are external to us they are also intrinsically part of us. They have a close relationship to our inner being. Through active ritual work we can explore these aspects of our inner being. That is the purpose of ritual magick. Such an exploration can be a challenging one.  Spirit is often called the fifth element, the quintessence. Perhaps it is the first emanation of all the elements, united as one. In this sense it becomes the fountainhead of all manifestation.

The use of sound is a key part of ceremonial magick. One theory claims that the vibration set up by a mantra has a purifying effect on the whole constitution of a person; that by its vibrating action the coarser elements in the body are gradually expelled, a refining process taking place which affects not only the physical body, but also the Body of Light and the entire mental structure within the scope of its actions. A simple example of the power of sound and vibration can be seen in the opera singer who taps a glass and then matches the note with their voice. After a moment, when the voice is vibrating in unison with the glass, the singer suddenly changes the note to a higher one and wine glass shatters as it tries to match the vibration.

And so the vibration of words of power is an important essential in the practice of magick since the knowledge (and by knowledge I also mean understanding) of the name is to possess a degree of control over it. But it is essential that the name is properly vibrated for it to have full effect. To do this, inhale very deeply, slowly and forcefully. At the moment when the air strikes against the nostrils, it should be imagined that the name of the god (or word of power) is being inhaled with the air. Picture the name in great letters of fire and flame, and as the air slowly fills the lungs, the name should be imagined to permeate and vibrate throughout the whole of the body. Then the god name is vibrated as the air is exhaled. That is to say, one must discover the method or humming of pronouncing the words which will assist in producing a vibration. It may be found through experiment that a moderately deep pitch, slightly higher than the ordinary speaking voice is most suited to produce the required vibration, no-one part being accented at the expense of another. The test of the vibration is that it should detonate in the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet. 

I could go on for hours, but have probably covered enough of my beliefs here.  To those of you that have managed to read the article through to the end, I say thank you for listening.

People in Magick - Doreen Valiente (1922-1999)

Doreen Valiente was perhaps one of the most respected English witches to have influenced the modern day movement of Witchcraft. She was an early initiate and High Priestess of Gerald Gardner and did much to co-write with him the basic rituals and other materials that helped to change and shape contemporary Witchcraft.

Doreen was born Doreen Edith Dominy the daughter of Harry and Edith in Mitcham, South London, on the 4th January 1922. Little is known of her family except that they were Christian and very religious. During her early years the family lived near Horley in Surrey, and here Doreen had her first psychic experiences. When she was just seven years old, she became fascinated with the motion of the moon as she studied and gazed at it from the garden, and while doing so experienced her first spiritual contact:

"I saw what people would call the world of everyday reality as unreal, and saw behind it something that was real and very potent. I saw the world of force behind the world of form".

Far from a disturbing experience, it did more to boost her intrigue in the true nature of life's existence:

"Just for a moment I had experienced what was beyond the physical. It was beautiful, wonderful, it wasn't frightening. That, I think, shaped my live a lot".

At the age of thirteen, Doreen begun to experiment with simple magic. Once when learning that her mother, who worked as a housekeeper, was being constantly harassed and tormented by a co-worker. Doreen was able to obtain a few strands of the women's hair, and concocted a spell to stop her bullying. The spell apparently worked but her devoutly Christian family, perhaps out of fear, were far from happy and sent Doreen away to convent school. Doreen walked out of the convent when she was fifteen and refused ever to return.

As time went by, Doreen became more aware of her own psychic abilities and began to read and study all the occult material she could lay her hands on, including the works of: Charles Godfrey Leland, Aleister Crowley and Margaret Alice Murray whom she particularly admired.

On the 31st January 1941 having just turned 19, Doreen was working as a secretary in Barry, South Wales. There she met and married her first husband 'Joanis Vlachopoulos'. Not a lot is known about Joanis, except that he was a 32 year old 'Able Seaman' serving with the Merchant Navy out of Cardiff. This was a dangerous occupation at that time as the course of World War II spread across Europe and the Navys' struggled to re-supply troops and forces employed over there. On a daily basis, many ships and seamen were lost as they crossed the treacherous waters of the Atlantic. Just six months after their wedding, Joanis was reported missing at sea and presumed dead. Despite her loss, Doreen continued to work as a secretary in Wales, then later moved to London.

On the 29th of May 1944, just a week before the Normandy Landings, Doreen married her second husband Casimiro Valiente. Cosimiro was a refugee from the Spanish Civil War, who while fighting with the Free French Forces against the German occupation, had been wounded and sent back to England as an invalid. He met Doreen while convalescing in London and they were married at St Pancras Registry Office. They remained together for the next 28 years until Cosimiro died in April 1972.

Sometime after the war ended, Doreen and Cosimo moved from London and took up residence in Bournemouth, not to far away from the New Forrest area where Gerald Gardner had first been initiated into Witchcraft. After the bombed-out ruins of war-time London, the peace and tranquility of the area appealed to Doreen and such was it's history steeped in folklore, her interest in Witchcraft, the Occult and Psychic Phenomena was re-kindled. In 1952 shortly after the repeal of the old witchcraft laws, Doreen read an article about Cecil Williamson who was opening a Folklore Center of Superstition and Witchcraft based on the Isle of Man. The article mentioned a coven still operating in the New Forrest area, and this so intrigued Doreen that she wrote to Williamson seeking further information. Williamson in turn passed her letter on to Gerald Gardner.

After corresponding back and forth for a while, Doreen expressed her interest in joining a coven. Gardner invited Doreen to tea at a friend’s house near the New Forrest. During the summer of 1952 in a little town called Christchurch, Hampshire, there still lived a lady called 'Dafo', the very same lady who had introduced Gardner to the New Forrest coven in the autumn of 1939. She wisely used 'Dafo' as a pseudonym, because it was only a year before that the old antiquated 'Witchcraft Act of 1735' was repealed, and 'technically', witchcraft was still considered by many a criminal offence, and to declare oneself a Witch could bring about all sorts of social complications.

At this first meeting in Dafo's home, Gardner didn’t invite her to join his coven, but presented Doreen with a copy of his book 'High Magic’s Aid'. This he did to all potential initiates in order to gauge their reactions to ritual nudity and scourging. After further correspondence, a year later in 1953, Doreen received her first degree initiation into the Craft. Tradition demanded that an opposite member of sex conduct the initiation, and so Gardner decided to conduct it himself. On Midsummer's Eve he was due to attend a 'Druid Solstice' gathering at Stonehenge, where he was to loan the 'Order' his ritual sword. Traveling in from his witchcraft museum on the Isle of Man, on his way he stopped off at the home of Dafo to initiate Doreen. That evening Doreen was reborn as Ameth' the pseudonym or craft name as it is called, by which she was to be known.

During the initiation Gardner used his own Book of Shadows containing as he claimed, information and remnants of rites taken from an Old Religion passed down through the ages to the old New Forest Coven, but from it he also read a passage Doreen instantly recognized. It came not from an old religion, but from a more contemporary source, the 'Gnostic Mass' written by Aleister Crowley. Gardner then gave Doreen free access to his 'Book of Shadows' and other materials he had collected. He still claimed most had been passed down to him from the old coven, but much of it was fragmentary. Doreen immediately recognized some of Crowley's other work among his material, but accepted Gardner’s assertion of how it came to be there. Working in collaboration with Gardner, she began to re-write his 'Book of Shadows' using her considerable poetic gifts. Due to his unsavory reputation, she removed much of Crowley’s influence and instead inserted the influence of Charles G. Leland, this is evident in her most famous piece 'The Charge of the Goddess'. This revised version of the Book of Shadows served as the basis for what was to become known as “Gardnerian Wicca”, which still today is one of the most dominant traditions of contemporary Witchcraft.

From these early beginnings we can see how Doreen Valiente's influence helped to shape and mould the future of modern witchcraft as it evolved into many other traditions. Doreen was also credited with increasing the emphasis on Goddess worship and thus transforming the craft into a fully-fledged Religion.

By 1957 however, a rift was starting to form between Gardner, Doreen (now his High Priestess) and the rest of his coven. It was caused mainly by his relentless pursuit of publicity and would lead to Doreen (and others) leaving his coven. In her autobiography 'The Rebirth of Witchcraft' she explains:

"that as the coven's High Priestess, she felt that by speaking to the press, Gardner was compromising the security of the group and the sincerity of his own teachings".

As was his way, Gardner persisted forcing a separation, so Doreen left to set up her own coven with a man called Ned Grove. Later, before Gardner died, they restored their friendship and mutual respect, but never to the same degree as before.

Life then changed dramatically for Doreen in 1964, when both her mother Edith, and Gerald Gardner died. It was also the year, perhaps due to the growing tensions of internal politics emerging within Gardnerianism, that Doreen decided to move on and take up with another tradition. She was initiated into the 'Clan of Tubal-Cain', a coven run by Robert Cochrane. Cochrane claimed to be a hereditary witch and was the founder of the tradition now referred to as the '1734' tradition, a tradition allegedly handed down through his family. However, Doreen soon became disillusioned with Cochrane as she began to realize he was more fiction than fact. He was openly contemptuous of Gardnerian Witches, which irked her, and when she noticed his obsession with 'witches potions' (Drugs), she left him. Cochrane died in 1966 in what would appear to have been a ritual suicide, he had ingested belladonna leaves, more commonly known as 'Deadly Nightshade'.

Into the 1960's, a time that brought change to many people, in many ways, and a time that changed many public perceptions. Freedom was in the air, a sexual revolution started, rock and roll was here to stay, and peace movements proliferated as people took to the streets against war, racism and environmental issues. Social upheaval led to the old-fashioned ideas that Governmental-control and suppression, as well as public opinion could be changed. The public had finally found a voice.

From this social freedom emerged many alternative 'New Age' traditions as people cast of the restraints of orthodox religion. Some witches took advantage of this new found freedom and the likes of Sybil Leek and Alex and Maxine Saunders became media personalities actively courting publicity. Many Elders of the craft still refused to come forward publicly, and stoically shunned all contact with anyone outside the Craft. Doreen was one of the few who managed to find a middle-ground, she never denied paganism nor feared to speak out in its defence.

After the death of her husband Casimiro in April 1972, Doreen began to devote much of her time to writing. Her first book was 'An ABC of Witchcraft' (1973), which soon became a sought after book. It was followed by 'Natural Magic' (in 1975) and 'Witchcraft for Tomorrow' (in 1978). These three books did much to establish Doreen as an authority on Witchcraft and magic. Many of today's leading authors, researchers and pagans then contacted Doreen, who helped them with her knowledge, anecdotes and personal reminisces of leading craft figures. For those more discerning, she also made available her large and extensive private library, and by guiding their research, proof-read and edited many of their works . In this way Doreen helped and contributed to many of today's leading Wiccan titles.

It was also in the 70's that Doreen spoke out and challenged the British Government, who perhaps out of ignorance were attempting to pass new legislation against Witchcraft. However, they hadn't expected the persistence of someone like Doreen Valiente. She succeeded in lobbying the 'Member of Parliament' concerned, and in the end the new laws were never passed.

In 1980, Doreen began her quest and search for 'Old Dorothy Clutterbuck', the High Priestess who had allegedly initiated Gardner into Witchcraft in 1939. So little was known about Old Dorothy, that many craft skeptics believed she never existed and was merely a figment of Gardner’s imagination. Doreen set out to disprove these allegations and after a diligent and determined search, succeeded in proving through 'Birth and Death records', that Old Dorothy had indeed been a real person. Her account of the search which lasted over two years is published as “Appendix A” in Janet and Stewart Farrar’s book - 'A Witches Bible'. She also wrote and had published her own autobiography, 'The Rebirth of Witchcraft' in 1989.

Through-out the last three decades of her life, Doreen gave freely of her time and energy, and contributed much of her research, knowledge and experience, not only through her writing and poetry, but through her personal appearances and public speaking at events and conventions regularly organized by the 'The Pagan Federation' founded in 1971. In her efforts to provide genuine information on Paganism, and to counter the many misconceptions about it's religion, in 1995 she agreed to become 'Patron' of the 'Center for Pagan Studies'. It was founded by John Belham-Payne, her last High Priest and working partner, and it was to the 'Center for Pagan Studies' that Doreen made her last public speech.

In her later years Doreen lived in Brighton, Sussex, where after a long struggle with cancer, illness finally overcame her. In her last few days she was moved to a nursing home for extra care and attention, and there friends would visit and keep her company. Through-out her final mortal hours, John Belham-Payne and his wife Julie were at her bedside, and at 6.55 a.m. on the 1st September 1999, she cross the threshold into the Otherworld.

Source: http://www.controverscial.com/Doreen%20Valiente.htm

 Witchlet's Samhain Colouring Sheets

A little something for kiddie's and the young at heart: Samhain colouring sheets from Cocaworm.  Just click on the link (downloads in adobe format).  Download colouring book.

A Samhain Feast from the Witch's Kitchen

by Kookie Kit

Seasonal Foods for October and November.

October:
Autumn lamb, Elderberries, Figs, Grouse, Oysters, Watercress, Guinea fowl, Squash, Beetroot, Mushrooms, Courgettes, Marrow, Partridge, Mussels, Apples, Kale, Pumpkin

November:
Pomegranate, Walnuts, Dates, Parsnips, Goose, Chestnuts, Cranberries, Beetroot, Grouse, Swede, cabbage, potatoes, teal, pumpkin, pears, leeks, quinces

The Samhain Feast:

(Note, for temperature conversions, go to: http://www.google.com/help/features.html#calculator)

Cocktail hour:
Black Martini

Starters:
Quinoa (see below) Tabbouleh Pumpkin and goats cheese tart

Main Course:

Meat choice:
Greek Baked Lamb with olives

Vegetarian Choice:
Pumpkin-Baked risotto

Side dishes:
Roasted Root Vegetables
Grilled corn on the cob with garlic butter
Roast Chestnuts
Steamed Green beans
and Brussels sprouts

Desserts:
Ice cream and apple quesadillas

The cocktail hour:

Black martini
 

Ingredients:

Mixing instructions: Combine in shaker. Shake vigorously. Strain into cocktail glass

Starter:
Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah). It’s been around for millennia, but its only just gaining its popularity as being the new rice. The World Health Organization has rated the quality of protein in Quinoa at least equivalent to that in milk. Quinoa offers more iron than other grains and contains high levels of potassium and riboflavin, as well as other B vitamins: B6, niacin, and thiamin. It is also a good source of magnesium, zinc, copper, and manganese, and has some folate (folic acid). It is also known as the supergrain, so starting to eat it now, may just help stave off those winter colds after Samhain!

Quinoa Tabbouleh (Serves 4 for a main, or 6-8 for a starter)

INGREDIENTS:

DIRECTIONS:
In a saucepan bring water to a boil.  Add Quinoa and a pinch of salt.  Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.  Allow cooling to room temperature; fluff with a fork.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, Combine olive oil, sea salt, lemon juice, tomatoes, cucumber, green onions, carrots and parsley. Stir in cooled Quinoa, serve with toasted pitta wedges.

Pumpkin and goat’s cheese tart (Makes 4 (or more depending on size of pumpkin))

Oven 200 degrees C

1) Unroll the pastry onto a baking sheet that has been brushed with olive oil. 2) Slice the pumpkin into 4 large 1cm discs, and remove seeds. 3) Lay on top of pastry, and cut around each, with a 1cm border. 4) Slice cheese into discs and lay on top of pumpkin. Dip sage leaves in egg and lay on top of pumpkin. 5) Brush with egg glaze and bake for 25-30 minutes. 6) Scatter olives on top to garnish.

Main Course

Greek Baked Lamb with olives (Serves 4)

Oven 180C

1) Heat 2 tbsp oil in a large roasting tin on the hob (if you can’t do this for fear of melting your pan, heat it in the oven). 2) Add the onion and garlic and cook for a few minutes. 3) Push the onions and garlic to one side, then add the lamb steaks and brown for a few minutes on each side. 4) Add the potatoes with the tomatoes, lamb or beef stock, bay leaf, dried oregano, olives and caper berries and stir well to combine. Season. 5) Bake for 40 minutes, until the lamb is tender and the potatoes are cooked and the stock reduced. Scatter on the fresh oregano and serve with a salad.

Vegetarian option: (Pumpkin Baked Risotto Serves 4)

Oven to 180C, gas 4

1) Cut tops of the 4 pumpkins, keeping the tops for lids, and scoop out insides. Trim bases so they sit flat. 2) Rub insides with salt, pepper and nutmeg. 3) Melt half butter with oil in frying pan, add butternut, onion, garlic and chestnuts, and sauté until onion is soft. 4) Stir through rice, season well, and divide between the pumpkins. 5) top up with stock you have simmering on stove. 6) put the lids on, and bake in the oven for about an hour, or until rice is cooked through. 7) remove from the oven, remove the lids and stir through some butter, some parmesan and some mascarpone into each one.

Side dishes:

Roasted root vegetables

Toss vegetables in enough oil to cover them, and place in a roasting dish, and roast at 230 degrees Celsius for half an hour, or until the edges are crispy and the rest are golden brown and soft.

Grilled corn on the cob
Take 1 corn on the cob per person, cut in half width wise. Mix some butter with some freshly minced garlic. Cover corn with garlic butter. Grill on a hot griddle pan, or under a medium hot grill.

Steamed green beans and Brussels sprouts

Roast Chestnuts
Get some sweet chestnuts (about 3 handfuls per serving) Boil for a few minutes until skins start to split. Take out and drain, and peel chestnuts (watch… they stay hot in the skins for ages. It’s also best to peel while they are hot, as the skins will still be soft. Discard ANY with black spots) Roast chestnuts dry, using a roasting tray with holes in the bottom, or a cookie sheet with a thin base, for about 20 minutes. If you want, you can mix with the chestnuts and green beans.

Serve main course with gravy, and either some soda biscuits or chunky crusty bread.

Desserts:

Ice cream and apple quesadillas.

Melt butter and sugar together in a heavy pan. Mix in the cinnamon. Add the sliced apples and cook till soft in the caramel mix.

Take a tortilla and spoon the apple mix into the centre of the tortilla and wrap the tortilla round the mix. If you can, put it upside down onto a cookie sheet, and sprinkle more sugar onto the top of each tortilla.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes at 180 degrees or until the tortillas brown and the sugar melts.

Serve with vanilla ice cream on top, to let it melt over the hot quesadilla. An optional topping could be a little maple syrup, and some chocolate curls.

The Triumph of Ronald Hutton
A Review of The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft

By Calypso

I'm coming out of the broom closet.  My name is Calypso, and I am a Pagan Against Bad History.

There is a lot of bad history floating around in the neo-pagan community these days, particularly (and perhaps most unfortunately) in many of the Wicca 101 books that line the shelves of the occult section of Waterstones.  The formula for bad pagan history runs roughly as follows: one pinch of well-intentioned feminist theory, several pints of Margaret Murray, half a cup of Christian-bashing, and voila!  Once you've garnished it with Gardner, you have Pagan history in two pages or less , with no footnotes.

The romantic myths of ancient lineage and plotting patriarchs that bad pagan history generally produces are very seductive because they pervade the work of a lot of pagan authors, which seems to give them added authority.  The problem is that repeating bad history does not and will never make it true, despite the maddening tendency of most pagan authors to quote each other rather than doing their own research (demonstrated on the rare occasions that an author chooses to include a bibliography).  In addition, much of Margaret Murray's work (which informs a lot of bad pagan history) was exposed as problematic in the 1970s, partly on the grounds that she had an unfortunate habit of leaving out material that directly contradicted the points she wanted to prove.

This is why Ronald Hutton's book The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft is an immensely important work for the Wiccan and witch communities upon which it focuses.  Hutton sets out to trace the history of neo-pagan witchcraft as a religious movement in its own right, rather than attempting to prove an ancient lineage which most modern paths do not possess.  The book is divided into two parts: the first looks at the wider contexts out of which modern pagan witchcraft grew (such as the romanticising of ancient religious practice, the growth of secret societies such as the Freemasons, and the history of both high and low magic).  The second focuses on the development of Gardner's Wicca, the public reaction to it, the development of Goddess-worship by the feminist movement, and the explosion in popularity of pagan witchcraft in the present time.  The tone is sympathetic without being patronising, and the enthusiasm which infuses Hutton's narrative reflects his clear fascination with his subject matter.

Hutton tends towards a healthy scepticism about the founders of the religion without dismissing the movement itself altogether; his research is meticulous and thoroughly documented.  This is extremely refreshing: whereas other authors suggest that, since something cannot be disproved, it is safe to assume it may have happened, Hutton concentrates on providing hard evidence to support his thesis and avoids casual speculation.  The fact that he spends over seven pages painstakingly discussing the true identity of Gardner's initiator, "Old Dorothy", is a case in point: although he finds it impossible to come to a definite conclusion due to a lack of evidence, the discussion itself is extremely informative, and offers a new perspective on both Old Dorothy and the personality of Gardner himself.

Hutton takes pains to emphasise that his work is only an early one in a field that deserves much more academic attention.  However, it is a valuable work for precisely this reason, and, I would suggest, should be considered compulsory reading for anyone interested in exploring modern pagan witchcraft.  The critical thought and detailed research contained within it reflect the kind of intellectual discrimination needed to support an overtly counter-cultural spiritual path with no authoritative leaders.  It is not, in comparison to most Wicca 101 books, an easy read, but then, it's not an easy path.  Hutton provides a comprehensive examination of the origins of modern pagan witchcraft, but also mounts a tacit challenge to the identity of the community itself.  Triumph of the Moon demands that, as a community, we examine ourselves in terms of what we actually are, rather than attempting to validate ourselves, through bad history, as what we have never actually been.

Bradley's Successor?

A Review of Diana Paxson's Ancestors of Avalon

by Wyldwytch

I’ll be honest, I bought this book purely because the title across the cover reads Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Ancestors of Avalon and being the Bradley fan that I am, I couldn’t resist another installation in her mind-blowing saga beginning with The Mists of Avalon. However, had I read the title closer, I would have realized she didn’t write the book! Rookie mistake, I still read the work, and tried hard to see the Bradley I had come to love over the years peak through in the words of Paxson. This is what I found; although the reader can pick up on the Bradley style, it is not Bradley. That being said I will move on to a review.

In a nut shell what we have here is a tale of how Atlantis fell into the ocean and the survivors (Sun Worshippers) came to the new land to establish their new tradition, as the prophecy had told. Along the way the two main characters, the love birds of course, Tiriki and Micail get separated and are forced to thrash threw this new land separately. As one can probably deduce their paths lead them in very different directions, one assimilates to their surroundings, the other tries to change the landscape to suit their needs. And that’s as far as I am going with the story line, you’ll just have to read it to find out.

The characters are, interesting. They are cliché in the sense that the reader knows what is going to happen if you’ve read any other of Bradley’s work, but I found Paxson’s development of the (I will refer to them as) “bad guys” was interesting. I enjoyed reading through the alternate chapters (as every other switches landscapes) and seeing how one side would fail from greed and power and the other would flourish and establish the Tor we all have come to enjoy. Things that bothered me about the book you ask? Too many characters that were not fully developed, it is essential that you do not tell the story through various characters eyes if they are not developed enough for the reader to really understand that. I found myself referencing the front of book where there is a name key even in the last chapter trying to figure out who the h-e-double hockey sticks Paxson was talking about now. The other big concern I had for this book is that it was written using Bradley’s name, in Bradley’s idea, but it lacked the passion she conveyed on the topic. Paganism came to light in her words, Paxson’s understanding seemed either not up to par with Bradley, or to be lacking in interest.

From a general readers point of view; good book, I would recommend it to several people. From a Pagan and Bradley fan point of view; I might pass so as not to constantly be wondering when it was going to get good, or where you were going to get so caught up you could smell the herbs the Saji were using to heal the wounded.

To close, the ending threw me off, I so want to discuss this with you all! So please buy the book, read it, and come to Weavings to discuss it with me!

Recommended Reading List

We are often asked what books we would recommend to people so we thought we would create a list of our choices.  All of the books listed we either own or have read but please remember these are just our recommendations.  You can get to the list from our homepage: www.weavings.co.uk

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