The Truth About Traditional Witchcraft Today

A Witch You Say?
The Truth about Traditional Witchcraft: Its Origins and Practice
In the Modern Day
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A Question-and-Answer Session with Robin Artisson
Regarding the origins of Traditional Witchcraft, 'Hereditary Families',
And the Modern Craft

"Old English had many words for the powerful women associated with divination, magical protection, healing, and cursing. One of these was Haegtis or Haegtesse, which appears in glosses for the classical Parcae and Eumenides… another word is Burgrune, from Rune, (feminine) 'one skilled in mysteries' and Burg, which is usually a fortified town or stronghold, but originally was 'any high place'. Meaney associates these women with the Norse Disir, protective (ancestral) Goddesses associated with one place or family. One might also bring here, though, the Norse Seidkona, a woman versed in the magical art of Seidr, which involved entering a trance state while seated on a raised platform, a "high place" in that sense. Burgrune glosses Furiae, 'vengeful female spirits' and Parcae 'fates', both of which are connected to the (generally reviled) cultic practices of these powerful and feared women. The word is also paralleled by the term Leodrune, which may mean 'one skilled at mysteries within the tribe', (possibly "tribal mysteries" or "tribal cult practices")… A further variant is Helrune, Hellerune, 'one skilled in the mysteries of the world of the dead', which sounds rather shamanic, perhaps involving Otherworld journeys and necromancy."

-Stephen Pollington

"Witches still travel to where roads meet and to heathen graves with their illusory skill and call out to the devil and he comes to them in the guise of the person who lies buried there, as if he would arise from the dead… that the dead man should arise through her wizardry…"

-Aelfric, from an ancient Anglo Saxon Manuscript

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* What follows is a transcript of an online live chat interview of Robin Artisson done by Jennifer Brister on October 7th, 2004 *

Robin, people make a lot of claims out there, regarding their participation in groups or even "families" that practise Witchcraft. I am familiar with your website devoted to Witchcraft- and from watching you interact in other forums, I notice that you call yourself a "Witch". What exactly do you mean by "Witch"?

RA: I mean a person, male or female, who takes it upon themselves to induce (on a regular or semi-regular basis) specific trance states whereby they can "leave the body" or perceptually "escape" from the mind-body complex and experience a lucid-dream like "journey" to the Otherworld or Underworld, and there, interact with the Dead, or with various divine or semi-divine beings, for the purposes of acquiring Wisdom, bringing about needed changes in this world, or acquiring personal power.

The Origins of this craft are found in all human cultures, where "shamanic-type" workers went about the practise of trance-based contact with extra-sensory reality. But "Witchcraft" in the sense I am describing it, comes historically from the Germanic Indo-European culture, where the HELLERUNAR or the HAEGTESSE worked to "Cross the Hedge" or move across the spiritual "dividing" line between this world and the next, or made a descent into "Hel" or the Underworld, there to have interactions with the spirits of the Dead and the Divine Powers of the Netherworld. They did this to gain Wisdom and personal power, for themselves and their kin or their communities.

Witches are not only interested in this powerful state of "experience" of the Otherworld, though it is the center of their "Craft"- they are also interested in divination, from various sources, but especially familiar spirits or the dead, and various "sorcerous" operations designed to bring about desired changes in the world- but all of these "crafts" derive from powers or insights gained from contacts in the Otherworlds.

What is Traditional Witchcraft?

RA: It is a modern-day label given to the "Witchcraft" that is non-wiccan and non-new age in its origin, form, and inspiration.

Traditional Witchcraft is a practise that takes its symbolism, aesthetic, and inspiration from the surviving historical records and accounts of Old Germanic and Post-Anglo Saxon British Isles Pagan Sorcery, as well as the various images and folklores sprung up around the figure of the Witch, from the earliest times, till the late 1700's.

It has little to do with "Fertility rites", or even Environmentalism or Radical Feminism- it has more to do with the strange metaphysics of the relationship between the Unseen world and this world, and the awakening of trance states that bring about contact with the Powers and strange orders of beings dwelling "in" the Land, contact with the Dead, and even more primal, powerful figures that exist in the twilight spaces of the Netherworld, who were described as "Gods" by the ancients.

"Traditional Witchcraft" is an experience of the hidden aspect of Nature, the underside of life as we normally see it, a passage from the logical, sunlit world, and an entrance into a timeless, dark, and nonlogical mode of being. The passage to this "underside" is not normally easy on the mind, and can be disturbing or difficult, and is not suited for the idly curious, or anyone that has too strong a reliance on the assurances offered daily by the "rational" or "normal" everyday world.

"Traditional Witchcraft" is a working vision and modern experience of the "craft" of an ancient and mysterious figure (the ancient figure of the Haegtessa, who stands behind the "Witch"), which is only won from scholarship and research, as well as from the stirred memory of the Northern European 'folk-soul'.

No one worth listening to would ever suggest that "families" of Helrunars from ancient Germania or Anglo Saxon England survived directly to the modern day, but enough lore and symbolism has survived from ancient times to allow for the right "type" of sensitive and dedicated individuals to utilize the "historical tracks" and bring about an experience of the Mystical and the Timeless, as the old Witch or Hedge-Crosser once experienced it.

How is "Traditional Witchcraft" found? How is such an undertaking possible?

RA: The reconstruction of the Craft of the Hedge-Crosser, or the Hel-Runer, is possible, but it requires a very intuitive connection to the Mystery of the Land, and a traditional, decidedly pre-modern understanding of the darker mysteries and metaphysics that deal with post-mortem realities as our ancestors experienced and understood them.

The most powerful and historical "locus" one can look for such metaphysics is to the Balladry of the British Isles, particularly to Scotland and the Scottish Borderlands- a place heavily influenced by Norse and Anglo Saxon pagan culture. There are others, to be sure, but the Folkloric Tradition and Old Balladry contain interesting "strands" of intact symbolism and "threads" of a surprisingly cohesive system of Metaphysics, for the eye that can see. "The Underworld Initiation" by RJ Stewart is one of the best books describing the Symbolism in the Traditions of Balladry from Britain.

Another powerful "location" of surviving lore that should be considered is the various legends and probable remnant local mythologies that have passed into the "fairy tale" traditions- the Brothers Grimm collected a veritable treasure trove of surviving Germanic 'Hedge Wisdom' and Legendry in their Massive Volume of Tales, taken mostly from the mouths of old wives and local storytellers in the Black Forest region of Germany. "Faery tales" from any part of Europe, however, tend to contain many keys to deeper places.

The highly symbolic nature of many of the Grimm tales suggests survivals of pagan wisdom and even metaphysical systems- including journeys across dividing rivers into the Otherworld, odd passwords, riddle contests, encounters with witches, sorcerers, Otherworldly royalty, shape shifting, and frightening, decidedly pre-christian moral lessons and images. The strange "rhymes" of "Mother Goose" also contain some interesting hints at a deeper reality- Nigel Jackson has done a fine job discussing the deeper symbolism of the seemingly harmless "Mother Goose" in his book "Call of the Horned Piper".

Nigel has also done a fine job outlining the archetypal figure of the "Witch", placing her in her proper context as the surviving memory of the Haegtessa or Helrunar, and providing all the needed symbolism to awaken the "Witch".

Obviously, another thing that is required for the true experience of "Traditional Witchcraft" is a departure from the basic Christian worldview and spiritual paradigm, and an entry into a more animistic and mystical manner of seeing the world. Alongside this, a strong, respectful awareness of primal powers in the world (and in the depths of the mind) that form the basis of some very harsh and primitive-seeming ancient practises is needed.

So what about the Celts? So many people attach "Witchcraft" to the whole new-age revival of "Celticism"- what part did the Celtic people play, historically, in Witchcraft?

RA: "Witch" is an Anglo-Saxon term, and the historical root-figure of the Witch was a cultural practitioner of a distinctly Germanic "craft" or cultus. However, the Celtic peoples DID have their own particular persons who acted to contact and interact with the Otherworld- but the Celts would not have called them "witches" or "Haegtessa" or anything like that. They would have called them Druids- or any of the various Celtic names for "Seer" or what have you.

As far as the Germanic "Craft" and the influence or contributions of the Celts are concerned, it all goes back to history. The Germanic peoples invaded the British Isles in many places, and Britain especially concerns us when studying about the historical seeds of "Witchcraft".

"The Matter of Britain" is a very broad subject- the Ballads of the Border Country, as well as other legends and ballads from Britain, are mixtures of native British or Celtic myths, concepts, symbols, and cultural ideas with Saxon or Norse mystical symbols and ideas. The Germanic invaders and immigrants did not murder all the native peoples they conquered- they mixed with them.

Celtic or Native Britain acts as the older "layer" of the Matter of Britain- incoming Germanic cultures "mixed in" and "laid on top" of the older native metaphysics and ideas. So, when you study folklore from Britain now, you get a pretty intense mixture of the Germanic, the Celtic, and even perhaps the earlier, truly native strain of symbols, esoterica, and myth-patterns.

Anglo-Saxon mystics or Haegtessa from England, generations after the invasions and migrations, would have had an interesting mixture of lore to look to, to guide them through the mysteries of the Land and Otherworld, just as "witches" or mystics of much later periods- even into the Christian period- would have had the rich treasury of the Ballads and Folklore to guide them. It's important to remember that symbols stay internally potent, even when the dominant metaphysical paradigm of the outside world has changed.

In this way, the contribution of the Celtic peoples to traditional folklore, and their contribution to the sources that Traditional Pagans and Witches tap to learn about genuine older metaphysics, is still large and quite vital.

What are "Pellars"?

RA: The term "Pellar" refers to a Welsh "Cunning Man", who traveled about doing services for people, in the last few centuries- services including "unhexing" those who thought they had been bewitched, divining water, and telling fortunes.

Were Pellars Witches?

RA: No, not as I understand the term.

What are "Cunning Men" and "Cunning Women"? Were they witches?

RA: While all witches were "Cunning"- meaning possessing a keen craftiness, knowledge, and possible deceitfulness or wit that most people don't have, "Cunning Men" and "Cunning Women" aren't what I would call pure "Witches".

Historically, Cunning People were more like Folk-doctors or Fortune Tellers. They operated well within a Christian context, and were a little on the side of con-artists, selling "cures" for people who believed themselves to be "bewitched" and reading palms, that sort of thing.

I have no doubt that some Cunning People possessed a knowledge of Herbalism or other traditional folk-crafts that led them to fulfill the same position in a village or area that a good herb-wife or herbalist from the old days would have fulfilled, a capacity that echoes all the way back to the traditional pre-christian Anglo Saxon Leech-crafters or Leech-doctors.

But to call these people "Witches", as I know it, is a serious stretch.

So no secret families of "Witches" survived through all the years, like these self-proclaimed "Hereditary Witches" Say?

RA: I can't say if there were true non-christian "witches" operating at the same time as the historical "cunning people"- back in the 16th through the 19th centuries; I like to think that there were, but there is little evidence for it. The people of England sure thought there were! But that isn't conclusive evidence, because they believed a lot of silly things.

There is plenty of evidence for mystical societies like the Bonesmen and the Horseman's Word, and others of that sort, and much of their strange lore and many of their strange practices certainly fit the mold of remnant paganism and pre-christian mysticism, but again, that issue is far from clear.

I have met a few people in Ireland and Britain that are from the older generation, who still believe in the old myths and legends of their pagan ancestors, and who knowingly reject Christianity- and I believe in my heart that there have always been people like this, free-thinkers, poets at heart, who just couldn't accept Christian dogmas and dysfunctions, and who might have been naturally called to be mystics or "Hedge Crossers"- and who, in their own hearts, (and possibly alone or together with others, under various models ranging from natural expressions, crude historical reconstructions, or out and out 'diabolism') created concrete expressions of their rejections and mystical longings.

I think that these people could easily have contacted the Old Powers and been the true "witches" of the post-christian world, just as the legends say- and I think the source of their "craft" was soul-longing and perhaps soul-memory, and I think that the wisdom or sorceries of old spirits and Gods were able to come into minor, local recensions through these open-hearted human beings. I think it happened then and can happen now, in the same way.

I make one reservation for Scotland- I think that if a primal cult of paganism could survive into the Christian period anywhere, (aside from Lapland and Finland) It would have been in Scotland, and I think that Isobel Gowdie was probably a part of a true surviving, debased "pagan" remnant-group. There may have been more than one operating at the time of her life, but they would have dried up or died not long after her.

I also believe that some forms of pagan duty have survived, if not the religion- duties to the Land or sacred places on the Land, in the hands of certain families from certain towns of villages. I think most of these minor "survivals" also dried up at the end of the 19th century.

For me, Traditional Paganism and Witchcraft is always a matter of a lonely soul, and a scholar, and a strange guy or girl who loves really odd things. It's a matter of Fate and mystical "regenerations" of older patterns of mysticism that come from a deeper, undying level, and from the Old Powers. It's something that is "passed down" in a deeper way than most people are comfortable with. This doesn't make "appearances" or "reconstructions" of the Craft of the Hedge-Crosser any less authentic than they would have been 1900 years ago. The only judge of Authenticity is the extent to which the mind is in contact with the Powers in the Land, and the extent to which inner transformation takes place.

So what's the case with all these "Crafters" and "Cunning People" that you hear about today?

RA: Many witches today, especially those influenced by Robert Cochrane, and those in a hurry to separate themselves from Wiccans and other fluffy "Neo-Pagan" witches, tend to call themselves "Cunning People" or "Crafters".

The 'Cunning People' part is sort of weak, although the term "Cunning" by itself is always a reference to the "Cunning Serpent" of Genesis, who by the great 'Symbolism Family Tree', gets associated with the Spirit who taught the first men and women the primal Cunning or Knowledge, thus making the Serpent a useful symbol of the Primal "Witch Teacher" or "Witch Master" or perhaps "Witch God".

Woden or Odin himself, the Germanic All-Father, Sometimes took the form of a Serpent in his Mythology, and was the original shaper and teacher/gifter of man and woman with spirit, knowledge, mind, and soul, so that is another example of the same idea. Woden was likewise villainized by the Church (along with the Edenic Serpent) as "the Devil"- but then, Witches did traffic with the Devil, insofar as the Devil is a Christian term for various Heathen Gods and Powers.

At any rate, "Cunning People" is not the best or most historical title that fits the "Witch" in the Sense that I know it- but "Crafter" is quite a bit better. I like that term, insofar as it refers to a person who does a Craft- in this case, Witchcraft. Of course, it is still a modern term, and no ancient trance-inducing Cultus of men and women who trafficked with the Dead or with the Queen of the Dead, or the Dark Gods of the pagan past would have called themselves "Crafter", anymore than they would have said "Witch". A person has to keep in mind what passing time does to terminology. A person must never get to trapped by terminology.

The term "witch" is, I think, good and useful for some modern people primarily because it conjures up powerful, emotional reactions and images in the deep mind, which act as keys to the doors we are trying to open- doors to an older, and very surreal, eldritch experience. The term witch is practically cognate, in MY mind, to "Hexen" and "Haegtessa" and "Hagruna" and "Helrune"- the ancient term for the figure who is the heathen original of the later "Witch".

What's the story on Horned Gods and Devils?

RA: Most people think that Old Pagan Gods, reduced in rank and villainized by the Christian church, became demoted to "demon" status, and if there had been people in early christian times, or even later, devoted to some form of traditional communion with older powers, or people anywhere still practising or believing even debased forms of older lores, stories of "Trafficking with the Devil" would be easy to conjure.

Of course, I take it to a different place; while I do agree that the older Gods tended to get a very bad reputation (as well as shameless character assassination) at the pulpits of priests and clerics, I think that the "witch" and "devil" connection comes straight from the Helrunar or the Haegtessa's connection with the Land of the Dead Below the Ground, down the Well, or across the dividing Hedge- the Underworld of the old Queen Hel.

The Term "Hell" referring to the Underworld derives from this Old Germanic Goddesses' name- and I am of the opinion that she was the patroness of the Craft of the Haegtessa or the Helrunar, or anyone who dealt with the Dead. The Christians made a devil and put him in hell; the Helrunar and Haegtessa all went down to Hel/Hell in their trance-journeys. They became dealers with hellish powers.

The Devil may indeed have been a composite figure, sprung out of the diseased imagination of the Christian church, based on the Hebrew Edenic Serpent, and then associated with fiendish sexuality and temptations of worldliness- and given the form of the ever-popular Goat-Horned God of the Pagan world, which was all around the Classical world at the time of Christianity's maturation- Pan and also Dionysos. Both of these Gods were rather licentious and earthy, very sexual and frightening, disturbing. I believe that the devil god his goat's horns from these Gods, as well as his hooves. It didn't help that Dionysos was heavily associated with serpents. Christians happily ignored the fact that Dionysos' religion was ancient before theirs was even born- he made a good devil.

But the church didn't stop there- As I mentioned above- Woden, the one who bestowed upon Mankind the primal spirit and mind, fit the "devil" mold as well- and it didn't help that Woden was the God of Sorcery, Death, and just about everything dark that you could imagine- shape shifting, divination, sacrifice and war.

Other Gods in Ancient Europe fit in a little too well with the Church's paranoia- any god of fertility, overt sexuality, or worldliness was "devilish"- so Ing-Frey, the Germanic God of earthy fertility, masculinity, and who happened to be called the "Lord of the World", fell prey as well.

It's pretty easy to see how these various native Gods of these pagan people would have had a presence or overlap in the religious practises of the original Helrunars or Haegtessa- even if the original "witches" were part of an archaic cult of people who dealt with the underworld and the dead, Woden was commonly travelling into the Underworld himself to speak with the dead, to find out future events. Woden would have been another patron of the primal Witch-cult, because their darker sorceries "fit" his power well. Woden even learned a form of "witchcraft"- Seid or Seidhr- from Freya, Frey's sister. (It should be noted that Freya was herself a Goddess always associated with Witchcraft under the name "Heath" or Heidr, and a goddess of the Dead.)

The Underworld is also, ironically, associated with the power of new life and fertility- the Underworld falls into the "third function" of production, according to the old Scholars who wrote the textbooks on Indo European studies- because the Underworld is the source of plants and animals and all life that rises up above the surface of the earth. So, nice phallic Gods like Frey, who were associated with stags and boars, fall right in there alongside these "Witches" who spend so much time in and about the Underworld.

Underworld cults are always fertility cults as well, if the evidence from other parts of Europe means anything- Such as Greece, where Kore and Demeter were the subjects of the Greatest Fertility cult of all time, and Kore was the Queen of the Underworld- and daughter of the Fertile Earth mother, the daughter who emerged, yearly, to bring 'up' new life to the world.

Most people associate "Fertility" with real "bright", hippy-like joyful ideas, but fertility was based on blood, death, and sacrifice; it wasn't as "bright" as people might imagine, to the old folks in pagan times.

At any rate, I think all these Gods and "Devils" became attached to the "Witch" because she represents a figure that goes back to Heathen times, and who trafficked with the Heathen Gods who were a constant and normal part of these kinds of Cults, either directly or indirectly.

So do you worship the Devil?

RA: Insofar as the Old Sorcerous Master or Heathen All-Father is "The Devil", yes. Insofar as the Old "Horned" God, or third-function Master of life, death, and fertility, is "The Devil", yes. Insofar as the Old "Serpent" or even the Serpent-entwined Goat-God is "The Devil", yes.

I do believe that there were powerful spirits that the Old Pagans called "Gods", and that these beings were essential, immortal, and radically powerful parts of the World, the Netherworld, of Nature, and human life- and I do think that these ancient beings, or certain of them, dealt with mankind in many important and transformative ways, early in our most ancient history, and continued to influence us throughout our history, and continue to do so today, in the most stealthy of ways.

Insofar as I see the "Master" of the Craft as the divine power that gifted primal humankind with the ability to have imagination, abstract thinking, and inspired states of mind, and insofar as this rather "Luciferian-seeming" Being has been labeled 'The Devil" by the church, I indeed am a "devil worshipper", or at least a "Devil friend", or "Devil admirer" or "Trusting Student of the Devil".

But if a person understands the actual history, you can shed the stigma attached to the word "devil", while still enjoying all the benefits of that deliciously loaded word. It arouses the same "inner excitement" as "witch", to the modern mind, and can also act as a key to some very interesting places in the mind.

I have passed the point where "devil" is anything to me other than some ancient Christians making large fools of themselves, but I understand full well what people mean when they say it, even if they don't know what they mean.

What strikes me as funny is that the church didn't pay attention to the Queen of Hell herself- while they were swift to make the connection between witches and Kore or Hekate in the classical world, they didn't seem to see it (later on) in the North of Europe.

The Queen of Elfhame (the Queen of the Dead) in the British Ballad tradition is clearly the center of much of the Metaphysics and much of the Transformative power- and even though German Churchmen in the very early centuries fulminated against "certain wicked women" (Haegtessa and Helrunar) who "rode through the air with Herodias, or Holda, who is Diana", in their spectral cavalcade on "certain nights", they miss the obvious! The Queen of the Underworld, Queen Hel, Queen Elfhame, IS and always was the center of the primal Witch-cultus.

If I was a "worshipper" of anyone, it would be the Queen of the Dead- the Queen of Dark and Fair Elfland.

Wow! So where do I sign up? What do I do?

RA: You start at your local library or book store, and steer clear of the New Age section. But the real journey begins inside you- every time and place has people who are called to "Cross the boundaries" between this world and the next, and obtain the wisdom that comes from this universal and timeless experience.

If you feel that you are drawn to such a thing, you spend a lot of time out of doors, getting to know the Land itself on a deep, intuitive level. You have to face and shed many of the fears that you live with- fear of the dark, of being alone- whatever you fear in this world, you have to come to terms with it, before you can begin to challenge deeper fears, or the fearful things of the Otherworld.

You have to study death, and come to terms with the idea of a one-way transition into another state, which you cannot stop, help, and which may not be to your liking, or even remotely comfortable to "you". Death is a mystery, and it will always be problematic to the ego-centered mind; it will be disturbing, uncomfortable, and it may spell the end of your personal experience of everything you love and desire. What goes into the land of Death is not the same thing that emerges, and so you have to really study beliefs about death- pre-christian beliefs, and modern non-christian beliefs. You have to work on accepting the hardships of life and death.

You have to get comfortable with the idea of loving and being intimate with dead people- people that you used to know in life- but be intimate spiritually, of course! Do not think of them as gone, but do think of them as transformed into a new kind of being, one that may frighten you if you had to meet them again- the dead are not quite as we knew them! But you can't let the unknown laws of the Netherworld frighten you away- even if the experience is difficult or frightening, you have to be willing to totally embrace it.

You have to recognize your place in the world around you- as a part of Nature, not separate from it, and you have to try to live in such a manner that you do not "struggle" against nature in unduly harmful ways. You have to open your mind and soul to the body of Nature all around you- our ancestors found Nature to be the presence of a Holy Reality, and you have to look at everything that happens as meaningful, to work your way into a more "sharp" awareness of your surroundings. Gods and Spirits speak through our surroundings more than we realize- through the sounds of wind, leaves, the motion of branches, the appearance of birds and animals, and even in storms.

Pay attention to your dreams and always write them down- begin praying to the Spirits of the Dead you once knew in life, and to the Queen of the Dead, to guide you in dreams to what you must do next. Always write down dreams. Pay special attention to dreams you have in Late December, Early November, late January, Late April, and Late July.

From this point, acquire books that deal with the topics that I discussed in this interview- Nigel Jackson's works "Call of the Horned Piper", "Masks of Misrule", and "The Compleat Vampyre" deal very well, and very poetically, with all that I have said. Get the books I mentioned all throughout this interview, study Balladry and Folklore and Faery Tales or Mythology. Try to realize what the Older Worldviews were like, and really see your world like pre-christian people did, as much as you can. This is the way to the Genuine Experience of a Deeper Wisdom than most people have ever known.

Site last updated: November 2, 2005