So, You want to follow the old ways?
There is a lot of talk about following the Old Ways, but are we sure what this actually means?
What are the ‘Old Ways’ and is it possible for Witches today to connect to this ancient path?
Is it necessary to do this in order to call oneself a Witch?
History
How far back do we have to go to connect to the Old Ways? A thousand years, two thousand years or more? Think about what England would have been like in pre Roman, pre Christian times, over two thousand years ago. The people would be mainly Celts, living in small settlements surrounded by large forests or wild moors. There would be a sense of awe for nature, for the trees, magic, for all living things and a connection with the spirits of the land and Mother earth.
Then came all the invading tribes, the Romans, the Vikings, the Anglo Saxons, the Normans, the dark ages, the middle ages, Christianity, monks and churches. Those following the Old Ways would have been developing and changing over these centuries as society moved from small settlements to villages and towns to cities and to increased communication with each other and trade with other countries such as the Far East and – after the 15th century - with America.
So where does the Old Ways fit into this? A witch living in the middle ages would have a different environment to live in, access to outside influences and information to the village witch or wise woman of pre Christian England.
Does that mean she wasn’t a Witch?
Tools -
These ancient traditional so called ‘village’ witches so revered by those who would follow them would never have seen much less handled a semi precious stone or crystal – except round the neck of the Lord of the manor. They could not possibly have had access to moonstones, amethyst or any other crystal unless it happened to be from their local area. Amber perhaps or jet washed up on the beach but it would have been beyond their reach to have bags of crystals. They might have been able to own silver, bronze or copper items but they would have been very precious and not available to everyone.
They would not know about oils and incenses from the Far East such as cinnamon and clove oil, how could they without access to trade from these places? They had beeswax candles which were naturally coloured and would not waste precious herbal dyes on colouring candles.
They wouldn’t have had all the elaborate tools some like to have today – a silver chalice was unlikely, a pentagram drawn on wood possibly, a knife almost certainly and a bolline if they were lucky, a sword would have been an extremely precious working weapon only owned by the leader of the clan or village or family and often buried with him, no-one else would have been able to use it. A staff would have been carried by anyone venturing out onto the woods or countryside as it was used for a walking stick, a digging stick for herbs or roots or even a weapon.
Would Witches of the Old Ways have had access to Tarot cards – don’t think so! As they are linked to the Cabbala or ancient eastern symbolism or whatever but only date from 14th century and a village witch living in pre modern England couldn’t possibly have had access to them. Runes made from tree bark or wood they would probably have had, tarot, no.
There would have been no written record of what a Witch would do as they could not read or write or have the materials to use to do this. They may have been able to keep some sort of record of what herbs cured what but mostly this would be an oral tradition. The facts that we do know about ancient beliefs and practises comes from the writing of monks and chroniclers who were nearly always Christian men.
So how do we really know what the Old Way are?
Deities-
Deities from other pantheons such as Greek, Roman or Egyptian couldn’t be known about without having access to these other cultures or to educated people who knew about them, so deities would be those connected to the spirits of the landscape around them.
The sky, the earth, the streams, rivers and sea, the trees, sacred wells and springs, all these would possess life and spirits.
Celtic Gods and Goddesses and the myth and magic of the world around them would have been what they connected to.
The Viking or Norse Deities would have been known to them after about AD as would the pre Christian Roman deities. Norse culture was absorbed as they settled and colonised large areas of England, but the Romans were an invading force and it would have been unlikely that their deities would have been adopted.
So what are we left with?
1. A primitive version of the wheel of the year and the God and Goddess story but
without dates just linked to natural occurrences such as the appearance of May
blossom or the first signs of snowdrops,
2. Casting a circle with a wooden wand or staff,
3. Herbs and their healing powers,
4. Hands on, instinctive healing
5. Natural augury and a deep, physical connection to the earth and Nature.
6. Scrying in a pool or fire, runes or ogham sticks,
7. Broomsticks, cauldrons
8. Fairies and nature spirits,
9. The four elements as seen around them,
10. Stone circles,
11. Magic herbs and moon magic
12. Counselling, watching people and learning their ways
13. Curses and their removal,
14. Domestic animals and wild native animals – who were all seen in an
unsentimental way and used for their skin, meat and bone- or what you could
catch.
15. and dealing with the harsh realities of life without science and modern medicine.
So if you want to ‘follow the Old Ways, the true old ways, ditch the crystals, ditch the tarot, the reiki, the exotic incenses and oils, foreign power animals, anything to do with native American Indians, the chakra system, deities from foreign pantheons, elaborate correspondences and modern day healing methods and elaborate tools.
Get up at dawn, go to bed with the sunset, find a wild place to cast a circle, expect to die at 35 and remember you can’t read or write.
Start growing your own herbs and collect healing plants from the wild (now illegal of course) and eat only local, home grown food.
Many of us long to go back to living in the country surrounded by woods and natural landscapes, but even if we did we have learnt so much about modern way of life how could we go back to seeing the world in the way that the witches of old did, no matter how hard we tried.
Is this possible in today’s society?
And what does it mean to be a Witch today?
Can we ignore everything we have learnt through the ages and go back to being an instinctive, natural Witch, if so, how?
Should we be teaching/ learning only the things in the list above?
Is anything and everything else irrelevant to the Old Ways?
Aren’t we all Witches no matter which way we follow?
Spirits of the Land -
We’re not surrounded by forests and wild places anymore. So where have all the nature spirits, the gnomes, elves, fairies dryads, sprites etc all gone? Are they only confined to truly wild places and are these the only places we can now encounter them?
At the heart of the old Ways is honouring the land and connecting to your local area and your environment. Now that we live in towns and built up areas how do we do that? Some of the proponents and practitioners of the Old Ways say for example, go out into a wild place at dusk near to some ancient trees on a hilltop… how many of us have access to such places? We could drive to them (if we have a car) though some would have to travel a long way to do this. If we did travel to such a place are we then honouring the land around us? Surely we should be connecting to the earth around us as it is now, where we really live where we actually are, this is what the witches of old would have done. Any place where you can touch the earth, feel the wind in your face, connect with a tree isn’t this where the spirits of our land are now? A park, a garden and patch of waste land, you can even see the power of nature by looking at the dandelion pushing up through the pavement.
Lineage
Who initiates Witches, I always thought it was the Goddess and the God not another witch. Do we have to have a lineage traceable back to our ancestors or to another so called ‘high priestess’ or ‘high priest’? Some may be fortunate to be born into the craft and have families who will help and guide them but this can’t be the case for many people. I like to think that the potential for becoming a witch is there in our ‘collective subconscious’ buried deep into the mind, being and blood of each one of us. Whether we choose, or are chosen, to awaken this within us or not is up to each individual and their own (predetermined?) path in life. Calling oneself a higher witch of any description in order to initiate others doesn’t seem to fit with the path of witchcraft. I would rather call it a dedication, a pledge or a promise to yourself and to your deities to follow the craft of a witch, a promise between you and your conscience, between you and your ancestors and your spirit guides and your personal Gods and Goddesses.
