Way of the...Hedgewitch! (a work in progress)

[Cunning Witch Angus]

~The Way of the Hedgewitch~
-As Such by Angus-

((A couple notes before we begin: I use the word "hir" at least once in this recording. This refers to both genders at the same time. I also refer to things as an "our" or "we". This is not necessarily to mean that all hedgewitches share this view or that all of you that are reading this feel the same way that I do about a certain topic; I merely did this for ease of the passages and sentences and it does not mean that I am including you in the topic.))

So here we are my friends! A little about myself: I am a nineteen year old male currently living in the states. I am a homosexual and I am a practicing hedgewitch. I came onto this path about 2 years ago I would say and it has evolved so many times until I have come out most recently with what I am about to record.

I was raised in a Christian family. I never really agreed with it, none of it made any sense to me. I stopped believing in the Christian faith and became a sort of agnostic when I got into the seventh grade. I just stopped believing, I didn't really have a reason. Then I started to read about neo-pagan eclectic witchcraft and paganism in general and began to follow it. At first it was just for show and to seem "cool" or something. Then I met a dear friend Phoenix Lune. I joined her Traditional Witchcraft guild about three years ago...two and a half really.

Since then I have matured (at least a little razz ). I have had time to think about what I really believe and why I believe it and why it is important to me. I have had conversations with people about different cultures and how not to rape them repeatedly with a large black d***o that says "HAHA" on the side. It all comes down to this: Hedgewitchery. It is what I practice, and I am going to talk about it here for you.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. What is Hedgewitchery?
II. What do Hedgewitches Believe?
III. The Underworld
IV. The Feeorin
V. Aulran
VI. Orphendale
VII. The Soul
VIII. Fate
IX. Witchcrafting
X. Celebrations
XI. Code of Ethics

 

[Cunning Witch Angus]

I. What is a Hedgewitch?

The word Hedgewitch means many different things. In a classic sense a hedgewitch is a practitioner of witchcraft that, through trance-inducing techniques that will be discussed later, cross an imaginary hedge that borders the world of the living with the world of the dead to enter into the Underworld. Where does the word come from? Well:

Nigel Jackson

The Saxon word for witch is haegtessa, which means "hedge-rider"; the hedge being the boundary between this world and the mysterious Otherworld which lies beyond the parameters of 'ordinary' reality and consciousness.

(Call of the Horned Piper)

So, there we are, that is a hedgewitch approximately. There are other definitions such as those by Rae Beth but I do not pay any attention to those as I find them to be wrong and insulting to the Wiccan culture. The hedgewitch is "shamanistic" in nature, but that is for lack of a better term. The hedgewitch does practice an underworld tradition much like the Siberian Shaman, save with a different cultural and symbolic background. They were indeed the wise women and men of their villages and were notorious for their ability to fly and to shapeshift.

Law of Vastgotaland

Woman, I saw you riding on a fence switch with loose hair and belt, in the troll skin, at the time when day and night are equal.

 

[Cunning Witch Angus]

II. What do Hedgewitches Believe?

Each hedgewitch is different and it really depends on whom you ask. I, for one, do not really conform to any religion. I don't have one at all. I am a pagan, but this is an umbrella term referring to any person that does not worship the Abrahamic god of the Christians, Jews and the Muslim. It is not a religion as so many people believe. As such all Hedgewitches are pagan by this definition.

I do, however, believe in a god and a goddess. Not all hedgewitches follow this; some are atheistic, some are agnostic. I worship a goddess of the Underworld and Fate and a god of Light (intelligence) and Sorcery. I will touch more on my masters later, this is just an overview.

I believe that the soul manifests outside of the body. In New Age literature this is referred to as the "subtle body" and in a way that is what it is, and yet it is not. The fetch (another word for the soul in this case) usually takes the form of an animal of some kind and exists outside of the physical body in this form. It is the hedgewitch's connection to the Underworld and home. When the witch is able to bring the fetch into hir body then the witch will be a true hedgerider and a walker between both worlds. There are many methods of doing this which I will not mention here but most of them involve a symbolic death and rebirth.

I also believe in the power of Fate (obviously, I worship a goddess of Fate) and the power that it holds over all living and unliving creatures. I will touch on that a bit more as well. I also believe that in this life we are post-mortem of our dead selves and pre-birth of our dead selves. I believe the dead are both post-mortem of our living selves and pre-birth of our living selves as well. More on the specifics later.

I obviously also believe in witchcraft. Now, what does this contain exactly? Witchcraft means many things to many different people. No, it does not mean that I can throw fireballs or curse you with a glance (thought that is up for debate of course, I will expand on that) or anything like that. Witchcraft is the application of sorcery to one's reality in conformity with one's Will. Witchcraft is the bending of your Fate and the Fate's of others and reality with one's Will alone. Witchcraft is the ability to divine the future, protect what is yours, curse what is harming yours, heal what is harmed. Witchcraft is the knowledge of various herbs and their medicinal uses. Witchcraft is first and formerly, however, a craft. It is a practice that one must hone in and work with every day of one's life. It is not a religion as so many people think, it is a practice only.  

[Cunning Witch Angus]

III. The Underworld

The Underworld or the Otherworld as I like to call it also. It is the place that is within and beneath all things. It is the opposite of the land of the living, it is the land of the gods and their servants. All things emerge from the Underworld and all things return to it in time. The Fey reside there (our post-mortem selves) waiting to return to the land of the living once more. It is a place that is beyond our reality. It is there that the hedgewitch goes to learn from the spirits, heal others, heal themselves, divine the future, and dance with the gods.

To, personally, the Underworld represents that dark awareness that is outside of our normal consciousness. It is where our darkest fears and playful pleasures reside. It is the place of our demons. However, it is also the place of our ancestors. I see our ancestors as shades of their former selves. R.J. Stewart calls it the River of Blood, a stream of our Ancestral Dead. Whilst we are there only we can see them and talk to them.

The soul is not an imprint of our memories here in the land of the living. Our memories break away from our souls so that our souls may go on to serve Old Fate. Our memories reside as our Ancestral Dead.

Now, the Ancestors are not necessarily those that are related to us. They are our loved ones, our families and our generations that stretch back to whence we came. And we honor them for the knowledge that they bestow upon us in times of need. We honor them for letting us live.  

[Cunning Witch Angus]

IV. The Fey

The Fey are our post-mortem selves. When we die our souls disconnect from our consciousness and we forget all of our previous lives. We drink deeply from Fate's cauldron and forget. Then we wait and serve Fate in whatever way that she deems necessary. At certain times in the year the Fey will burst out of Underworld in a great rade and move among the living once more before going back down into the mistress's realms.

There are a couple types of Fey. On one spectrum we have the Dark Ones, or Crooked Ones. These are Fate's first children and they are the Ancients. They are as old as time and many of them are not the most politest in the worlds. The are the epitome of chaos and destruction and revel in the dead time of year (that is to say the winter).

On the other end we have the Master Men or the Hidden Company. These are the Fey that have obtained what hedgewitches try to obtain that of the Second Sight, the True Second Sight. The Hidden Company become the teachers and are the servants of the Lord of Light. They are the true hedge riders and are the teachers of the Mystery.

Then in the middle are the average Fey, the faeries, theriomorphs, and omniomorphs, the citizens of Fate's Queendom. And they are waiting to return to consciousness in the world of the living and are waiting for us to return. They want to live, they want to return, they want to become like the Hidden Company forever and always celebrate with Him. Until then they will always be hungry and always be waiting.  

[Cunning Witch Angus]

V. Aulran

Aulran is the Queen of the Witches. She goes by many names: Old Fate, Hyldor, Nicnevin (a personal favorite), Mother Green Gown, Darkest One, Ancient Providence, Mother of All Things Seen and Unseen. She is the creator and the destroyer and the one from whom we all come and to whom we shall all return in time. She is the spinner of Fate, the bearer of Life and the giver of Death. Her messenger is the white Goose and her realm is the Underworld. She is the beautiful enchantress of Love and stealer of men's hearts. She is the teacher of herbalism and teacher of divination. It is said if you know her true name, the name of Creation then you will know how to control Fate itself. She is my Mother and I am her servant.  

[Cunning Witch Angus]

VI. Orphendale

Orphendale is the goat god of Light and Sorcery. He bestowed intelligence unto Man and gave us the ability to learn and to create. He is Lucifer, the Torch Bearer. He is the Master of all Artifice. From him we learn the ways of Sorcery and the Trance and Shapeshifting. He is the Master Turncoat able to quickly change his shape and escape into nothingness. Through him do we learn the Mystery of Death so that we may die and live again a million times and always celebrate with him in his house. He is indeed the Devil of old, that trickster Puck spirit of the Witches. He also goes by Old Hobb, Old Nick (a personal favorite), Robin and Earendile. To know him is to know the terror that is death for he is the Guardian of the Door and he leads the dead to his Mistress. He is the Hunter and Dark Cthonic Father to us all. He is my Master and I am his humble servant, I quake in fear of his Cunning Name.  

[Cunning Witch Angus]

VII. The Soul

The Soul for me manifests outside of my physical form. We do not know the soul, nor does it know us. To discover it and to become one with it we must have it bestowed upon us. The Devil is the beginning of this act, but it is Fate that truly destroys us. Fate deals the death blow and recreates us with our Soul within our hearts. It becomes the Fetch Familiar, that spirit that connects us to Underworld and is the teacher and guide. This coming together is called in some circles the Hairos Gammos or the Sacred Marriage. In some stories this is seen as a battle with a Demon of some sort. Other stories tell of many animals tearing the witch's body to pieces and then recreating it in a different way. It is a frightening experience and truly one that can make a lesser person go mad. I have not attempted such a thing to this day.

The goal of the hedgewitch, at least for me, is to become one with the soul and to become one with the Master: to become the Master Men, the Hidden Company, the Teachers of the Craft. One may have to go through many lifetimes in order to achieve such a feat.  

[Cunning Witch Angus]

VIII. Fate

Every person has hir own Fate. This Fate is dictated by the individual, but it is not exactly a free will type of thing. Old Fate weaves a tapestry for ours and everyone's lives, even her own. One thing affects another thing and so on and so forth. Our past actions dictate our future ones. Something always happens for a reason, there is no such thing as coincidence. There is a reason that I have come to find witchcraft, there is a reason that I believe these things. Did I choose to come to this point in my life or did Fate? I believe Fate chose it. I know not why. I feel this is the same for everyone.  

[Cunning Witch Angus]

IX. Witchcrafting

There are many things that go into my personal brand of witchcraft. One of the very basic tools of my brand of it is the Trance or the Altered State of Consciousness. From this Altered State of Consciousness many wonderful things can come into shape for practitioners of witchcraft. It is the building block for all forms of witchcraft. The Trance helps us get to the Underworld, the Trance helps us to communicate with the Gods and the spirits of the Land. The Trance helps us to stay balanced.

Now, there are many different ways of getting into the Trance. I personally like Breathing and the use of Entheogenic Herbs. If one looks into their history on witchcraft one will see often the use of a certain Flying Ointment. The flying ointment was an animal fat based cream that caused the witch to go onto a hallucinogenic vision to the Underworld and caused the sensation of flight.

The Witch would use certain symbols to open up certain visions. For example: Some witches who worshiped a goose goddess by the name of Holda would use goose fat as the base for their ointments. The witches would mix herbs that were sacred to Holda such as wormwood, belladonna, hemlock et cetera into the ointment and apply it using a white goose-feather. These symbols were sacred to these witches and then they would all experience the same flight to the Underworld and learn the same herbalism properties et cetera. This is precisely what I do except for the use of safer herbs that won't stop my heart if I overdose.

This is, of course, dangerous and I do not want anyone trying it without first consulting a trained herbalist. Please, I do not want anyone killing themselves because they wanted to get a cheap high.

So herbs are rather important in my crafting. I use them for mostly medicinal purposes but at times I will use them to empower a working of some kind. Mostly I use simple charms and such which I have read up in old folklore on witchcraft. I rarely, if ever, use any of the New Age mumbo jumbo, I find it to be too fluffy and not very authentic.

Now, I did say something about cursing with a glance. To some people this seems a little superstitious but through out history and even still in the modern world people have a fear of the Evil Eye. But what is the Evil Eye really? The Evil Eye is a glance made by a stranger that is said to curse a fellow human. There is a certain psychology to this I have discovered. When a stranger looks at you with a long stare out of the corner of his eye there is going to be a certain fear that runs down your spine. This is a purely primal reaction. If you know anything about magic in anyway this is made especially potent if you throw any sort of intent into the stare. So, nothing to worry about there as it is a completely psychological thing. Nothing really "supernatural" about it.