Published on Jun 12, 2015
The operations of magic and
witchcraft deal with the hidden worlds of spirit and the powers innate within
the natural world; within plant, stone and magical loci. The ‘Old One’, who in
folk tradition is often named ‘The Devil’ embodies both the ‘rend in the veil’
and the spanning bridge between the worlds of the material and spiritual, the
revealed and the hidden. It is through union with this entity that witches and
folk magicians gained access to the powers that reside within the hidden realms
and the natural world, and could awaken the potent fire within.
In traditional folk belief, the Devil existed also as an embodiment of the
chaotic forces of nature; a belief quite distinct and separate from that of the
Church with its ‘Satan’ figure. To the witch, he might also represent the
‘darker’ aspects of the divine; the keeper and the revealer of the divine
light, the psychopomp guide of souls, and the sentinel at the threshold unto
the mysteries of death and the Otherworld.
Something, it would seem, of the ‘elder divinity’ and the old ‘spirit of the
wild’ has lingered through to the present; permeating regional faery lore, the
calendar of ritualistic seasonal folk-customs, and traditions attached to
ancient landscape features. The themes of untamed, wild nature; its freedom,
its spirits, its power and its magic, so repugnant and threatening to the
Church, were grafted onto the diabolical; affording yet greater preservation of
the Old One for those who sought to stray from the path of limitation and
conformity, and tread instead the hidden ways of the witch and magician.
Historical witch-lore records varied rites of initiatory contact, via which the
worker of magic and witchcraft entered into a close, working relationship and
union with the Old One and the spirit world. Via such union, would the ways
unto curing ailments, exorcising ill influence, the attainment of desires, and
the destruction of the oppressive be known, and the old artes of the circle,
the spirits, the knotted cord, the pierced candle, the witch-bottle, the
magical image and the spoken, inscribed and herbal charms be mastered.
From this wellspring of inspiration ‘The Devil’s Dozen’; a modern ‘gramarye’,
or ‘black book’ of thirteen Craft rites of the Old One has been created and is
offered by a present day initiate of the ‘Old Craft’
Within its pages there are to be found thirteen rites – for both the ‘lone’
practitioner and the assembled companie – of vision, sacred compact,
dedication, initiation, consecration, empowerment, protection, illumination,
union, transformation and devotion.
‘They are my own creations all; given in hope that they may provide usefulness
or inspiration, and each a personal offering of devotion unto the starlit and
smoking altar of the Old One’ (from the introduction).
Original idea and Concept by Karagan Griffith (c)2013
"On the Blackchair" Opening and Closing theme music: "Holiday
Road" by Alex Collier and Joshua Lee Somak (http://goo.gl/f2qCpr),
Executive Producer: Karagan Griffith
RedBird/Logios Publishing (c)2013 All Rights Reserved
witchcraft deal with the hidden worlds of spirit and the powers innate within
the natural world; within plant, stone and magical loci. The ‘Old One’, who in
folk tradition is often named ‘The Devil’ embodies both the ‘rend in the veil’
and the spanning bridge between the worlds of the material and spiritual, the
revealed and the hidden. It is through union with this entity that witches and
folk magicians gained access to the powers that reside within the hidden realms
and the natural world, and could awaken the potent fire within.
In traditional folk belief, the Devil existed also as an embodiment of the
chaotic forces of nature; a belief quite distinct and separate from that of the
Church with its ‘Satan’ figure. To the witch, he might also represent the
‘darker’ aspects of the divine; the keeper and the revealer of the divine
light, the psychopomp guide of souls, and the sentinel at the threshold unto
the mysteries of death and the Otherworld.
Something, it would seem, of the ‘elder divinity’ and the old ‘spirit of the
wild’ has lingered through to the present; permeating regional faery lore, the
calendar of ritualistic seasonal folk-customs, and traditions attached to
ancient landscape features. The themes of untamed, wild nature; its freedom,
its spirits, its power and its magic, so repugnant and threatening to the
Church, were grafted onto the diabolical; affording yet greater preservation of
the Old One for those who sought to stray from the path of limitation and
conformity, and tread instead the hidden ways of the witch and magician.
Historical witch-lore records varied rites of initiatory contact, via which the
worker of magic and witchcraft entered into a close, working relationship and
union with the Old One and the spirit world. Via such union, would the ways
unto curing ailments, exorcising ill influence, the attainment of desires, and
the destruction of the oppressive be known, and the old artes of the circle,
the spirits, the knotted cord, the pierced candle, the witch-bottle, the
magical image and the spoken, inscribed and herbal charms be mastered.
From this wellspring of inspiration ‘The Devil’s Dozen’; a modern ‘gramarye’,
or ‘black book’ of thirteen Craft rites of the Old One has been created and is
offered by a present day initiate of the ‘Old Craft’
Within its pages there are to be found thirteen rites – for both the ‘lone’
practitioner and the assembled companie – of vision, sacred compact,
dedication, initiation, consecration, empowerment, protection, illumination,
union, transformation and devotion.
‘They are my own creations all; given in hope that they may provide usefulness
or inspiration, and each a personal offering of devotion unto the starlit and
smoking altar of the Old One’ (from the introduction).
Original idea and Concept by Karagan Griffith (c)2013
"On the Blackchair" Opening and Closing theme music: "Holiday
Road" by Alex Collier and Joshua Lee Somak (http://goo.gl/f2qCpr),
Executive Producer: Karagan Griffith
RedBird/Logios Publishing (c)2013 All Rights Reserved
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