God's Kingdom and the Devil's Kingdom
The Metaphysics of Witchcraft

"Another time my father looked out of the window and saw Aunt Betsy coming. He turned
and said to mother, "There comes that old witch Betsy Dodge." Mother said "Let her come,
she doesn't bother me." Father said "Well, I don't like her. She doesn't strike me right."
Anyway, she came in and sat down right next to the stove where father was
trying to kindle a fire. As long as she sat there, the fire wouldn't burn at all."

-William S. Simmons

* * *

Those who wish to access the mysteries of Witchcraft must begin their journey of understanding in the multi-layered notion of "boundaries". Witchcraft is the art of obtaining the power to make changes in this world of perceptual order by leaving this world and within the strange tangles and landscapes of the unseen world finding a "witching" or a "Hex"- a name given to the strange "concentrations" of weird, transformative power that a cunning Witch can bring back to this world, and use to make the needed or willed changes.

Before a Witch can do this, they must clearly understand what separates this world, the world of light and order, from the world beyond- the unseen world of fluidity and darkness. A powerful mental image must be created of the world that is seen, and its boundaries, beyond which lie the unknown. Witching or Hexing is based on power from the "outside", always.

And this understanding of boundaries, as mentioned, is multi-layered. It applies not just to the apparent world of the senses, and what lies beyond it, but also to the "self" that is known, and that portion of the "self" that belongs to the outside- a "self" that I call "The Other". The Other must be understood as the most crucial aspect of Witchcraft, aside from the simple notion of boundaries- the Other is the Witch's source of power and guidance, the being who will guide the Witch beyond this world, across the boundaries, and to the Hex they are seeking.

The metaphysics of "boundaries" are as ancient as humankind. All ancient mythologies deal with the notion of the emergence of order from chaos, and all ancient religions dealt fearfully and wisely with their understandings of the beings from beyond, who were threats to the order of the human world, and the divine beings who, being a part of this world, protected it. In the book of Genesis, the primordial chaos was shaped, by the word of God, over seven days into the order we now have- and this understanding, the shaping of formlessness into form by the power of the will and word, is crucial to the witching-art as well.

The religious understanding of the Ancients was reflected in daily life in important ways- the villages of old were surrounded by hedges or other barriers, which marked the boundaries of the village. Outside of the hedge was the forest, or the wild- the place where wild beasts were a danger, and outlaws or strangers wandered. Indeed, to be an outlaw was to be "outside of law"- outside of the order of human society, and therefore dangerous, reviled, and untrustworthy. In a sense, the outlaw was also dead- for the dead no longer belong to the human world of order, but become a part of the strange beyond. This is why those condemned to outlawry could be killed by anyone, without penalty to the killers- the outlaw was no longer a living being protected by the law of the world.

Every society or community still has "boundaries"- though they need not be something as simple as a hedge; boundaries now can include acceptable behaviors or thinking.

In Puritan New England, the village was the center of life, and it had boundaries- God's Kingdom, or the ordered world of humans, was at odds with the Devil's Kingdom all around it. The vast forests of New England were a perfect model of the "outside"- just as they were to the Native Peoples who lived there before the Europeans came. Micmac shamans and sorcerers withdrew from their communities into the forest to do their magics. They withdrew into the forest because it was a wilder, untamed place of fluid powers and spiritual beings.

The Red Man, the natives of North America, were reviled by the European colonists as "heathen" and were very much accused of Devil worship, as even a short review of New England colonial folklore will reveal. It was Europeans who had dealings with them- those whites that went back and forth across the boundaries between the White world of churches and the Red world of wild forests and demons, that acted, in a sense, as "witchers" of a type. They had to guard themselves against the corruption of Heathen forces from the outside, but they also found themselves the targets of suspicion among their own people, for nothing can travel to the outside and come back the same, ever.

Native sorceries and beliefs began to creep into the sterile Puritan world, and even as late as the Salem Witch-Trials, we see that it was the presence of a "dark woman"- a non-white woman, the slave Tituba, whose rumored use of Voodoo or Caribbean sorcery helped to touch off a hysteria.



In Old Europe, the Witch was called "HAEGTESSA", a "Hedge-rider" or hedge-crosser. The meaning of that is clear to any who understand the metaphysic of the boundary; their sorceries were disturbing, mysterious powers that they trafficked with, by riding off to another world. The image of the "hedge rider" contains another interesting clue- the picture of a man or woman "riding" a hedge places them sitting on the hedge, with one leg on the "village" side of the hedge, and the other on the "wild" side. The Witch belonged to both worlds simultaneously as a result of their crossing back and forth.

The "Hedge" has many layers of meaning, like anything else- for everything that is seen, nine things are unseen. The hedge refers, historically, to the physical boundary marking off the civilized world of the community from the uncontrolled, unpredictable world beyond it. But it also refers to the dividing line between a human mind and the unknown reaches of the mind; it also refers to the dividing force that literally divides this world as a whole, this cosmos, from the strange "otherworld" which is its unseen depth.

"The Tower of Jerusalem" is a way of referring to God's kingdom, or the ordered world of men and women. But over the boundary of order, we find that the world still exists- after all, the unknown is still a part of reality as a whole. But the "other side" of life, the "reversed world" contains both a dark, chaotic version of this world, as well as other, vaster, and stranger powers. "The Tower of Babylon" is Jerusalem's dark twin- the "Otherness of this world".

If every human being in this world has an "Other" that dwells on the other side of the hedge, then even society has an "Other"- the shadow-self of society is just as real as the shadow of a person. And this analysis goes further and deeper. The divine forces of this world, which are revealed and known to human beings, have their own shadows on the "other side"- this may be the most disturbing, but important, aspect of the dark wisdom of the Witch. Even the good Christ, gentle and loving, dead for the good of humankind, has a dark shadow beyond- Demon Est Deus Inversus- and what a surprise it is for most to realize who he really is...or should I say, who he is, when you see both sides of his mystery, in the wholeness of light and shadow.

I will go further into an analysis of these divisions and opposites. But first, it is important to realize something, at the outset. The world seen and the world unseen make a whole. Everything has a shadow. But when we ignore the shadow- which many do- we do not live a whole life. We do not understand vital things about ourselves, our world, or the Gods of our world. Seeing in terms of "the seen and the unseen" means to see a vision of wholeness.

"World" must have a different meaning to the Witch. It must have a meaning of wholeness; it must be inclusive. The unseen is not unreal, nor divided away from this world. It is a part of the world, the necessary "underside" or "otherness" of all things. And from that place, that otherness, fresh forces flow to cause changes and shake up the order of the world that is seen. The Witch is an agent of "crossing"- a person through which the two worlds can contact one another, and affect one another.

For when the two halves of reality are in communion, they change one another. Nothing is more terrifying to the people of the "sunlit, ordered" world when the powers of the Otherness come too close- and there are times of the year, in the darker half of the year- when the weird forces beyond do come closer, and riot across the world. It is also a powerful time for Witches and their craft: the Hallows season, which we will discuss more later. The people of the sunlit world also feel that fear arise when the Witch comes close. As we shall see later, some Witches are a danger to everyone around them- but not all.

Now, I shall make a list of the five most important "concepts" that one must internalize if they wish to engage the occult practice of Hedge-riding, Hedge-crossing, or "Boundary crossing".

Consider for a moment these pairs, and understand how and why they stand contrary to one another, but also as shadows each of the other.

God's Kingdom... The Devil's Kingdom

The Village... The Forest and Wilds

The Church Building... The Forest Clearing or Hill of the Heathen

Certainty... Uncertainty and Indistinct Shapes

Sanity... Insanity or Irrationality

God's Kingdom and the Devil's Kingdom have already been described well enough. The Village, as a whole, has its opposite in the "Forest and Wilds", which is also easy enough to understand. The Church Building- the building that all old communities were planned around- has its shadow in the Forest Clearing or Hill of the Heathen, the places where Native peoples do their religious rites. Certainty is a quality of this world that is seen- but not perfect certainty. When compared to the indistinct, uncertain, and fluid qualities of the "outside", it seems very certain. Sanity, finally, is described and defined in terms born in the world of order. Insanity is, by definition, living, thinking, and acting in a way that is far outside of the consensus definition of "sanity".

The Witch is a being who can be found in any of these places, or passing through any of these states. The Witch does not "stop" in one place or the other- to "stop" in this world would be to become a non-Witch or normal, worldly person, and to stop in the Unseen world would be to become a strange inhabitant of that place, losing both one's status as a witch, and as a human being.

The Witch circles back and forth between all opposites, draws on the benefits and powers of both, and uses both, to create and transform things according to will and need.


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All Text, aside from given citations, is Copyright © 2009 by Robin Artisson
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