Lexicon of the Old Craft

The Lexicon of the Old Craft
The Language of Lore

AULRAUN: also ALRAUNE, or AULRAUNE. “Old Mystery”. Name given to OLD FATE herself, the dark, supreme being who birthed all things from within Herself. An “alraun” also refers to a carved manikin made out of rowan wood or the roots of certain plants, and ritually enlivened or quickened, and charged with some goal, usually the protection of a home or a WITCHRING or a COMPASS ROUND.

BELWEATHERS: Spirits, usually of a helpful or benevolent nature.

BESOM: A Ritual Broom, and one of the key symbolic components of most LIFTING rituals.

BENT ONES: Also called RED ONES, RED BENT ONES, RED MEN, GIANTS, CROOKED ONES, RED TWISTED ONES, and the DARK ONES: Names used to refer to those beings who, in Traditional Craft mythology and cosmology, were the first children of OLD FATE, the Dark and Shadowy Mother-Figure who stands behind creation. The Bent Ones were nursed by her and born of the Primal Matter, (her body). The Red Ones represent the titanic and chaotic forces of nature that destroy and break down form, and that dwell at an instinctive and dumb level of awareness. They represent the "Winter Court", the forces of death, darkness, and cold. In the East Country of England, the greatest of them was Wandil, the Giant who brought and ruled over the fierce cold of winter. They were defeated and driven away by the Cunning Father and his Children, the White Ones, who represent the Summer Court, or the Forces of light and life. The Cunning Father (and his cohorts) then bestowed form to the formless world by the power of Naming, and granted mankind the Cunning Fire. (q.v.) Although ‘defeated’, or forever incapable of truly besting the power of the Cunning Fire, the Red Ones still struggle with the forces of light, sometimes gaining an upper hand and bringing darkness to the world- causing the never-ending battle of Summer and Winter. The Red Ones despise the Cunning Fire, and mankind who possess it, and are frightened of its physical manifestation, Fire. The Red Ones also represent the darkness inherent in human nature.

BIDDING: A prayer or an incantation.

BINDING: a rite intended to curse someone or to interfere with his or her free will on some matter. A Binding can also refer to any act of Witchcraft.

BONE FIRE: Sometimes also called ELF FIRE, LIVING FIRE, WATCH FIRE, FEEORIN FIRE, and DEVIL FIRE. A blessed fire usually at the center of a WITCHRING or COMPASS ROUND or used in various rites, sometimes housed in a LAMP OF ART.

BULL’S NOON: Midnight.

CAUDLE: A cauldron or a cast-iron pot.

CHIMERI: the heavenly realm ‘above’; a heavenly or realized version of Elfhame, which represents the perspective of Elfhame as seen and experienced by the MASTER MEN or the HIDDEN COMPANY.

COMPASS ROUND: also called a WITCHRING, a MILL, sometimes a CIRCLESTEAD: A circular area that has blessed or devoted to the patron powers of the CRAFT or to other powers unseen.

CROOKED PATH: A name give to the spiritual path of Witchcraft or Whistcraft. Termed “Crooked” to set it apart from the “straight” path of the masses who only participate in spiritual mysteries on a very superficial or exoteric level. Also termed “crooked” to refer to it’s constantly turning, revealing, and obfuscating nature- making it akin to the idea of a “spiral” path, forever spiraling towards the mystery at the center of all things, and never being predictable or certain.

CUNNING FIRE: (N.) Also called the ‘INVISIBLE FIRE’ , the ‘WHIST FIRE’, the 'SECRET FIRE', the “SERPENT FIRE” and the 'FIRE OF CAIN' or the 'FIRE OF QAYIN'. The Mystical or Numinous "Heat" or "Light" that the Secret Father of the Craft bestowed upon infant humankind in the first mornings of the World, giving mankind an awakened awareness of the Divine Mystery inherent in his nature. This special Awareness makes mankind able to act as the Gods, to create technology, language, craft, and art, and to change the world for better or for worse. "Cunning Fire" refers to the active, Daemonic essence entwined into the human soul-spirit-body complex. It exists in all matter, emerging sometimes as heat, (manifesting in living beings as body heat) but it exists in the realized or initiated, as a Light, concentrated around their heads, which allows them to see through the darkness of human ignorance. The use of the Cunning Fire, (the techniques involved in becoming aware of it, expanding the awareness by its reality-altering powers, and directly experiencing it in moments of mystical ecstasy) form the mysteries of Traditional Witchcraft. Those who bear the awakened Light of Cunning are said to bear the "Mark of Cain".

CROOKED PATH: A name give to the spiritual path of Witchcraft or Whistcraft. Termed “Crooked” to set it apart from the “straight” path of the masses who only participate in spiritual mysteries on a very superficial or exoteric level. Also termed “crooked” to refer to it’s constantly turning, revealing, and obfuscating nature- making it akin to the idea of a “spiral” path, forever spiraling towards the mystery at the center of all things, and never being predictable or certain.

DAME, THE: The Great feminine spirit of Nature or Goddess who is the source of all other beings and forces. See ELFHAME, AULRAUN and YARTH.

DISTAFF LINE: (Old Craft Terminology) The Mother's Line, as opposed to the Father's Line. The Matrilineal bloodline which contains the spiritual, true essence of a person's "self", and by which the spirits of the departed leave the Unseen world and re-enter into their families on earth. The Old Dame, as the Mother of Creation and the Supreme Being, and the Spinner of Fate, holds the "Distaff" by which she Spins the threads of creation. Since all ‘lines’ or threads begin with her and return to her, the Mother's Line is called the "Distaff Line".

DOSSEL: also called a MORCAN. A ceremonial image of someone or something.

EIDOLON: the Appearance or image of the FETCH, or sometimes the appearance of the soul of a deaceased person or beast.

ELFHAME: (Scots Borderlands) also ELFHOME, ELFLAND, ELPHAME, and ELPHEN. The Underworld; the dimension of power and being that lies “beneath” and “within” all things. The great “pool” or “well” of potential that all things emerge from and eventually return to. The commonly Fated estate and resting place of the dead, where they merge with the power below and transform into the HULDU or the FEEORIN state. It’s main “interaction points” with the outer world are at Tree-Roots, Hills, and Caves. Likewise, each human being is also an “interaction point” as all Humans bear a connection to the powers above and below. The QUEEN of ELFHAME (see DAME) is also sometimes just called “Elfhame” or “Elphen”.

ELPHOME KEY: A piece of metal, stone, wood, antler, or bone, inscribed with a symbol that allows the Witch or Whistman/Whistwife to perform a LIFTING and enter into the Underworld.

ELVES: see FEEORIN.

ERTHKIN: Also YARTHKIN. A generally malevolent spirit of the Land.

EYEBITING: also called OVERLOOKING: Cursing with the eyes, by looking at the intended subject. See OWL BLINK.

FAMILIAR: see PUCKEREL

FEEORIN: (Lancashire) also the FAE. Also called HIDDEN FOLK, HULDU FOLK, HYLDOR FOLK, the PALE PEOPLE, or ELVES. The post-mortem state of existence of humans and beasts, (although when used, it almost always refers to the post-mortem human soul) as well as the pre-birth state of being that acts as the source of awareness, or the “soul” of the newly born. The Ancestral stream of powers in the underworld. The Feeorin or Elves dwell in ELFHAME and emerge at certain times of the year, in an event called a “rade”, chiefly around the four HALLOWS. They lead mysterious and subtle existences in the Meadows of Elfhame, and certain among them can be dangerous at times. They are generally classed in two categories, Dark and Light, the Dark Feeorin representing the oldest ancestral spirits in the deepest parts of the Earth, as well as the “common” Feeorin, and the Light Feeorin, who are also called the MASTER MEN, or the Hidden Company, who represent the company of Realized and Advanced souls who have undergone a mysterious metamorphosis and no longer return to earthly life. Collectively, the Feeorin are ruled over by the Queen of Elfhame herself, who represents the force that is dominant in the Inner World. IT is important to remember that the term “Hidden Folk” can refer to the Spirits of the Land itself, that is, the spirits of places, trees, forests, valleys, etc. The overlap between the human and animal dead who go into the spiritual dimension of the earth and the natural spirits of the earth is great, and oftentimes, the distinction is blurred. They may be one and the same power.

FETCH: The term that refers to the portions of the human mind and self that lie beyond the conscious awareness of the self; these powers or “portions” of the human appear as humans, and sometimes as animals, representing the “other self” of the person, and union with the “fetch” is the experience of wholeness, and of the union of the phenomenal self with the Numinous self. “Fetch” refers to the numinous “other self” of each person, and to the state of being that is experienced in otherworldly experiences, visions, and LIFTINGS. The Fetch is also the spiritual entity that each accompanies each person from birth to death, and has a role in helping them beyond.

FORKED WOOD: See STANG.

GOAT ANGEL’S WOOD: Symbolic way of referring to the dark spaces in the human mind that border on the outer spaces of reality, wherein all powers can be conjured or met; the subconscious mind of man, seen as a dark forest with many mysterious paths and turns, at the ultimate center of which, the CUNNING FIRE burns, and the Secret Stone lies. Also called the Cavern of ELFHAME, Pouck's Pinfold, and The Field of the Goat.

GHOST ROADS: also called the DEAD WAYS, LEYS, SERPENT LINES, OWL TRACKS, OWL ROADS, DEAD ROADS, TRACKS, HELL WAYS, OWL LINES, ROADS OF ANKOU, WITCH WAYS, TOAD ROADS, GOBLIN ROADS, STRAIGHT TRACKS, FEEORIN ROADS, TRODS, COFFIN PATHS, HELL-TRACKS and CHURCH WAYS. Invisible places or “lines” on the surface of the earth which connect points that interface with the Unseen world; The spectral landscape of Elfhame is coterminous with the outer world, and places where streams of power flow in Elfhame manifest themselves in the human world as “coincidental” linear arrangements of powerful places or areas. As the HULDU FOLK move through Elfhame, on certain nights of the year (see HALLOWS) the Ghost Roads are the places where they can be most easily sensed. The Ghost Roads, as well as their junctures, act as places where mankind can more easily interact with the unseen reality. Also, the Ghost Roads are the locations or “roads” where the power of the recently deceased “travel” to reach the Underworld itself; a journey which was thought in some places to take nine nights. In many places in the British Isles, the Ghost Roads have actual ancient stone-age roads built on them, and sometimes later roman roads, and sometimes, even medieval or modern roads. In earlier times, coffins and funeral processions moved along these roads to aid the departed in finding and walking the track to the land of the dead. Christian churches and graveyards, and earlier pagan temples and graveyards, tend to be built or found on these alignments, as well as mounds, barrows, and other more ancient sacred sites.

GODSTANE: (God Stone) Also the UPRIGHT STONE, the GOOD TREE, or the GOD TREE. Refers to any lone standing stone, but is a deeper reference to the great cosmic “axis” or center pole, once pictured as a “world tree”, that comes up from the deepest parts of ELFHAME, passes through the ‘center’ of this world, and reaches up to the Heavens of CHIMERI. The Godstane is a phallic and therefore very masculine symbol of fertility and the shaping and impregnating Father deity of the old Indo-Europeans. The Godstane represents the upright force of the human spine, which is analogous to the Godstane in the human body. The Godstane is that which rises, uniting all places and powers, and giving access to them.

GRAMAYRE: A book containing mystical insights or lore. Also, the term used to refer to information gained or learned directly from the Unseen world, or from some other mysterious source. Finally, “gramayre” can refer to the magical arts or to mystical Crafts in general.

HALLOWED: (Adj) Sacred, Blessed, or Holy. Also can refer to something being empowered with some Whisting force.

HALLOWS: the Four Holiest Nights or metaphysical seasons of the year, come down to us from the ancient Celtic tribal religions, when the HULDU FOLK move about, and sometimes into the outer world, and the great Serpent in the Land alters its condition of awareness, causing change in the phenomenal and nouminal worlds; chiefly an increase in the obviousness of the interaction of these two realities. These four nights are HOLLANTIDE, or HALLOWMAS, at the beginning of November, WITCHES NIGHT or CANDLEMAS at the beginning of February, ROODMAS at the beginning of May, and LAMMAS at the beginning of August. In addition, there are twelve very holy nights on and about the Winter Solstice, called the MOTHER’S NIGHTS, in which reality dissolves into primordial darkness and the dead wander freely. The Mother's Nights come from ancient Germanic heathenism.

HELL: Originall HEL. Ancient Northern name for the DAME and the Christian name for ELFHAME.

HOUSLE: Also called a RED MEAL. A sacramental SAINING and sharing of wine and bread or ale and grain cakes, between witches and certain spiritual forces.

HORN CUP: The Cup used to hold wine or ale for RED MEALS or HOUSLES. The Horn Cup is not necessarily made of an animal horn- it is named for Lady Horn, or Maid Hyldor, a great spirit or tutelary witch goddess, herself the fire-bearing daughter of the DAME. Lady Horn is also called the Fair Queen of Elfland.

HULDU: A word that means “Hidden”. HULDU CRAFT or the HULDU WAYS refer to Whistcraft or Witchcraft. The HULDU FOLK are the Hidden Ones in the land, whether they are the spirits of the Dead or the spirits of the Land itself, which are often seen as the same thing. See FEEORIN and HYLDOR.

HULDU FOLK: See HULDU and FEEORIN.

HYLDOR: The Title-Name of the Secret Goddess of the Witches, referring to something that is "hidden", but originally perhaps a form of Ael or Aelda, meaning "Fire" and the root of the word Elder, referring to the Elder Tree. The hollow branches of the Elder Tree were used as fire blowing tubes, and the tree's connection with inner fire is traditional. While the Elder tree is sacred to the great DAME, her manifestation as the Spirit-Lady of Fire, the living spirit in Nature, is the "Queen most secret" of the Craft, the "daughter", the Witch-Goddess or Fair Queen of Elfhame. She is a reflex of the goddess Freya, the Lady Horn, the Goddess of the spiritual fire of Whisting, but also the vital fires of the body. She is called Andred, and is the Herodias-Lilith of the Witch Cult.

LAMPS OF ART: anything that holds candles whose flames will be blessed or SAINED.

LIFTING: also called TRANSVECTION, OOT AND ABOOT and SENDING FORTH THE FETCH. The occurrence of an “out of body” experience in which the witch “leaves” the body and travels into the unseen world. The experience of reality from the perspective of the FETCH. The awakening of extra-sensory perceptions and the experience of extra-sensory reality.

LILITH’S LANTERN: The moon.

MAGISTELLUS: “Little Master”- a FAMILIAR or a quickened DOSSEL that serves as a personal helper or deity.

MASTER: Also the WHISTMAN or the WHISTMASTER. Name given to the Lord of Cunning, the “Light-Bearing” spirit that gifted mankind with the CUNNING FIRE. Seen as a refulgent spirit of light and Insight, this being was pictured often as a Smith, and with Golden Horns, often a Goat’s horns. The Lord of the Mystery which lies beyond life and death; He who is the very image of the Mystery itself. The True God of the Wise. Called “Earendil” or “Orvendale” by Some.

MASTER MEN: Also called the HIDDEN COMPANY. “Perfected” or realized souls that have undergone a mysterious metamorphosis into a new state of being, a state referred to sometimes as CHIMERI. See FEEORIN.

MELL: A ritual hammer.

MOLE COUNTRY: The Underworld, or the Land of the Dead.

MOLLHERN LAND: The Underworld, or the Land of the Dead.

NAYWORD: A password, or a secret word.

NICNEVEN’S CHARNAL HOUSE: The Underworld. See ELFHAME.

NOWL: The Pole Star, or the Northern Star. Also, the center of any area.

OLD FATE: (Traditional Craft). The True Goddess of the Old Faith and of Witches. The Absolute power that reigns over every aspect of creation, as its source and as its devourer, and who appears as the implacable and lethal Dark Goddess who gives all and consumes all, only to give forth once again. That Ultimate Power whose breath and movements cause all events to come to pass, including the creation and destruction of universes. Old Fate was associated with the act of Spinning, and sometimes appeared, classically, as a triplicity of women. Old Fate is as much beyond all things as much as all things are Old Fate. Transcending the unconscious drives and seemingly inescapable events ordained by Old Fate is the goal of True Witchcraft, and Fate is the "cradle that rocks the infant spirit" in preparation for its transcendence. The Granter of True Inspiration. Old Fate's secret Name is the Name of Creation that can bring Fate under the knower’s control. Old Fate is esoterically the “inner reality” within and beyond Yarth, Yarth’s eternal transcendent core. See AULRAUN and YARTH.

OLD FIRES: also called the GOOD PEOPLE, the GREEN FOLK, HIDDEN PEOPLE, and the HIDDEN or HULDU FOLK. Spirits or powers that inhabit the Land itself ; as opposed to the FEEORIN who are merged with the internal power of the Land in the ELFHAME state. The guardians and spirits of natural places and landscape features, and of nature in general. These spirits are the givers of tellurian fertility in their natural areas. Their king is old PUCK.

OWLBLINK: A Curse.

OWL LIGHT: The Twilight.

OWL TRACKS: See GHOST ROADS

PHILTRE: A potion or herbal mixture, usually used in conjunction with a WORKING.

POPPET: also called a MOMMET. Same as a DOSSEL. See DOSSEL.

POUCK’S PINFOLD: Hell, or The Underworld. See ELFHAME.

PUCK: also called POUCK, OLD PUCK, OLD HOB, HOBTHRUST, ROBIN, COCK ROBIN, and ROBIN GOODFELLOW. The masculine Spirit of the Land itself; the Spirit of spring, life and fertility. Seen as cunning, shrewd and knavish, and appearing as a goatish or satyrish Horned man. King of the trees and the Castle of Life- also called Hobthrust Hall. His Cthonic attributes run parallel with his true and most mysterious role as the MASTER.

PUCKEREL: also called a PUCKRIL, a FAMILIAR, a BID, or a FETCH ANIMAL: The portion of the FETCH which appears as an Animal, and acts as the source of the witch’s natural power, and acts as the guide and protector of the witch in the landscapes of ELFHAME. The Puckerel is also the means by which some witches undertake the LIFTING.

RED MEAL: See HOUSLE.

SABBATSELE: The temporal occurrence of one of the HALLOWS.

SAIN: “To Sain”- to make an object, person, or place HALLOWED. Also called “Reddening”.

SERPENT: also called the RED SERPENT, The LAND SERPENT, and the GREAT SERPENT POWER. The symbolic form and term used to describe the power in the ground or in the Land itself; also a reference to the Earth-Mother or Great Mother of Nature herself. As the serpent can coil itself into a spiral, so the “power” in the land eternally spins or cycles in a never-ending spiral of seasons and time. This power is the “underlying” power of all things, places, and forms, as well as all life; in this usage, the Serpent power is the source of Whisting Force. “Tracks” or other concentrations of this power are seen as nearby manifestations in this world of ELFHAME or the unseen world. Sensing and manipulating this force is part of the mystery of operative sorcery in witchcraft.

SHADE: Post mortem Fetch of a dead person; usually only seen following their deaths, as they are on their nine-nights journey down the GHOST ROADS. Also, the earthbound fetch or spirit of the dead.

SHIMMERING: Same as LIFTING. See LIFTING.

SOUTHWAYS: Moving clockwise or with the Sun.

STALE: The handle of a BESOM.

STANG: Also called FORKED WOOD. A forked ritual pole serving chiefly as an altar. Traditionally, it is made of ash wood. The Stang probably has more symbolic significance attached to it than any other implement used in the secret craft; it can represent the GODSTANE or the GOOD TREE; it can represent the Lord of the Dead, or the Horned Master of the Witches; it can represent all manner of dualities, chiefly life and death, and union that resolves them or the Mystery that resolves them. It can represent the portal into the unseen world, and the ward of the OWL-TRACKS or the GHOST ROADS. It can represent many other things as well. Normally, a Stang is a 5-6 foot pole, terminating in a fork or mounted horns, and the term “Forked Wood” can refer to a smaller version of the same, normally 2-3 feet in length, ending in a natural fork. They are interchangeable.

THE ART: See WITCHCRAFT.

THURIBLE: A container for burning WORT or other flammable things in.

THE SHINING WORD: also called the SECRET WORD or sometimes the HORSEMAN’S WORD. The use of the Cunning Fire in the form of spoken incantations, backed by and directed by human will; The “Word” also refers to the MASTER himself, and the “word” also refers to his secret name by which will and the Cunning Fire can shape reality.

THE TOAD’S BOON: The capacity for, or gift of WITCHCRAFT. The presence of the Cunning Fire.

THE OWL YARD: The North; also a euphemism for the Unseen world in general.

TWILIGHT SLEEP: A trance.

THE GREAT NAME: also called the SECRET NAME and the TERRIBLE NAME. The true name of Old Fate, by which a person’s fate can be altered and changed according to their will. This name is not to be thought of as a “word” as much as an experience of the inner nature of reality.

THE WAIN: The constellation of Ursa Major.

WANE: also WAN, HYTERSPRITE or WANEN. A land spirit; a spirit of the natural environment as opposed to the spirit of a dead human or animal, though at times, there is actual and folkloric overlap. See OLD FIRES.

WARD: The spiritual guardian(s) of an area or a place.

WASSAIL: word that means “Be Whole”; also the ceremonial charming of trees after winter.

WATCH FIRE: See BONE FIRE.

WEER: Pale or gaunt in appearance.

WHIST: Also WHISTING, WHISTCRAFT, WHISTFIRE, and WHIST-FORCE: Wist is a west-country word that means “uncanny” or “mysterious”. ‘Whist’ also refers to the breath of serpent power or to magical force inherent in all things. “Whisting” refers to witchcraft or sorcery. “Whistfire” is the same as Serpent Fire or Cunning Fire.

The Whistman or Whistwife is the term for a practicioner of the Whist Way, or the Huldu-ways. “The Whistman” is also the name for the Master of the Huldu-folk himself. He is called the Devil by Christians, although that may be a matter of debate. He is very associated with his hounds, large and black, and with 'saucer eyes' or breathing fire- the hounds of Hell, or the Whist-Hounds. He hunts the lonely countryside with them at times.

He is the Old Dame’s son, as well as the spirit that created the first humans out of two trees that had grown up out of the earth. He gave humans speech, thought and imagination, animation, and taught some of the first people Wisting, or magic. He still acts as the primary agent through which Whist-power is taught and utilized. The greatest secret of Wist-working is the key to becoming an immortal spirit like the greatest spirit Himself.

WITCHCRAFT or CUNNING CRAFT: The conscious and willful use of the CUNNING FIRE. Can also refer to the use of other techniques such as herbal lore or WORTCUNNING.

WORT: Plants or Herbs.

WORTCUNNING: Whistcraft or Witchcraft accomplished completely by the use of the spiritual force in wort, or plants, or craft aided by the same.

YARTH: also called the GREEN GOWN, the FAIR QUEEN, MOTHER, or the GOOD WOMAN. “Mother Nature”, the Land or Earth Mother-Goddess or feminine power that is the source of all life and generation. The greenery of nature, in the form of plants and trees and waters, and indeed, the whole body of Nature’s life and phenomenon are collectively referred to as the GOOD WOMAN’S MANTLE, the FAIR QUEEN’S MANTLE, or as YARTH’S GREEN GOWN.

Site last updated: November 2, 2005