A Grimoire for Modern Cunning Folk
Peter Paddon, Pendraig Publishing2010
Don't know if I would call this book a Grimoire as it seems more like an over view and introductory reading of Traditional Witchcraft. There are non spells in this book or rituals per se. There are meditations and there are discussions on covens and the set up of an altar.
In reality though this book is a primer on CED witchcraft, something which is not mentioned in the book. There is mention of a coven in North Hollywood that the author used to belong to but no where is the name mentioned and no where is the coven leader who taught Peter CED witch craft even mentioned. A bridge has been burned in order to make a place.
I had some reservations about reviewing the book as it does have good information yet the sources are all covered up. That being said I shall launch into a summary of the book.
CED witchcraft really focuses on learning lore and there is also a strong emphasis on working with the ancestors both spiritual and biological. The Deities as the author describes them are both living breathing entities and archetypes that dwell with in the psyche. The most prominent deity is auld hornie, the great honred god of the witches. He is normally embodied in Cernunnos, Odin etc. He is agod of fertility, the dead and is a trickster God. He is the king of the Underworld, the Wild man of the forest.
The Queen of Fate or the White Lady is the mistr4ess of mysteries and only comes around as he needed. She is embodied in the Goddess of Goda. THe Dark mother exists outside the wheel of the year. She is the Goddess of Change and is ussually manifested asw Ceridwen. She exist in the North Eastern quadrant in the Circle.
The Lord and Lady are the deities of Nature most Wiccans are familiar with. They are the heads of the Faerie Court. The Male god is the child of promise, warrior, lover., priest, King and wraith. His life cycle follows the wheel of the year and each of the different goddesses discussed plays a part in the mystery thus far discussed.
Wiccans and cermonials will cast a circle and call their quarters after all Wicca is the daughter magic system of Ceremonial Magic. Instead the Crafters as they are so called will "lay the compass" or "plough the bloody field" The techniques that they use are different. There is a simulation of pushing a bolder or starting in the center and moving out. For each quarter there is a pair of deities that serve as guardians or protectors. There are also 4 points that are combo points like the North East and each of those has their own set of deities. THe author has included a meditation to contact those deities and work with them.
There are many different ways of working with deities. The Wiccan way is to call down the deity and have them momentarily possess you. The CED way is for you to go up to there realm so they can communicate with you and/or possess you. Some times they can come down and you move closer to them until their prescence envelopes you.
To do magic or meditate properly one needs to enter into a trance state of gnosis. This can ber done by various mediation techniques or herbs. The two the author reccomends is mugwort and salvia divinorum. You can burn them as an incence of vaporize teh salvia divinorum. There is also a hmome remdy for making absinthe.
The author also describes the parts or tools of the altar, magicians working tools and how they are used. Meditation techniquwes such as raising your dragon are discussed along with the Traditional Crafter atitude for taking oaths.
I wish I could have given this book a review but proper credits must go to the ones who taught him.Enjoy the blog
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