Maundy Thursday: Night of the Witches

Last updated on: March 27, 2025 at 12:24 pm By Ian Chambers

The preeminent day connected with Judas… is Maundy Thursday… To the medieval mind, Maundy Thursday was synonymous with the day of the betrayal and was, therefore, an inauspicious day when markedly dark forces were likely to be afoot, as they surely were at that ancient meal. As Murray notes, it had become customary for “… corresponding folkloric beliefs attaching a malediction to all things smacking of Judas.” For this reason, the medieval convention was to remove and lock away anything... Read more

Traditional Witchcraft and Betrayal…

Last updated on: March 12, 2025 at 2:37 pm By Ian Chambers

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Within the milieu of modern occult arts, the folklore and historicity of witchcraft has developed in tandem with the Craft’s popularity in recent decades, presenting an alternative to traditional initiatory Wicca of yesteryear and notions of a surviving Murrayite pagan cult. With a greater number of people growing within the fold of witchery, combined with the availability of information through unprecedented literary output and social media outlets, a more broad perspective has been brought to the subject. Therefore, modern witchcraft... Read more

Witchcraft in Reality: A Rebuttal

Last updated on: February 17, 2025 at 7:19 pm By Ian Chambers

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A little over a year ago, medieval historian and podcaster, Eleanor Janega wrote a blog post that caused some consternation amongst the witchcraft community for its roughly handled opinion, coupled as it was with assumed scholarly pedigree and a rather haughty mien. Whilst there are some glaring historical errors and misconceptions throughout the modern witch community, and the principal thrust of the post was targeting tasteless t-shirts that use a feminist slogan — “We are the granddaughters of the witches... Read more

The Devil and the Sun King: The Affair of the Poisons

Last updated on: January 22, 2025 at 11:14 pm By Ian Chambers

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Whenever we think of historic accounts of witchcraft, there are a number of cases that are frequently mentioned. In particular, these are the ones that popular authors have included in their studies, from Margaret Murray to Emma Wilby. But there is one incident in history that incorporates all of the tropes and stereotypes of witchcraft and magic in the early modern period, including the black mass, black magic, clergy, love spells, witchcraft, devilish pacts, poisoning, abortions, and child sacrifice. What’s... Read more

To Always Hele, Ever Conceal, and Never Reveal…

Last updated on: December 9, 2024 at 7:45 pm By Ian Chambers

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I swear that I will always conceal and never reveal these secrets… (Society of Esoteric Endeavour 2009, 89) [1] This solemn oath is delivered by the initiate into the secretive Society of the Horseman’s Word, taken from The Ancient Ritual of the Buchan Ploughmen, Incorporated with the Ancient Horsemen. A parallel society to the Freemasons, such initiatory oaths contain similar phraseology, and these binding words have, therefore, a magical context. Indeed, throughout the magical milieu, such oaths of secrecy serve... Read more

Feast of the Gods: Outrage and Parody…

Last updated on: July 29, 2024 at 11:06 am By Ian Chambers

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“Our idea was inclusion… Naturally when we want to include everyone and not exclude anyone questions are raised… We wanted to talk about diversity. Diversity means being together. We wanted to include everybody… In France, we have artistic freedom. We are lucky in France to live in a free country.” – Paris 2024 artistic director Thomas Jolly (extract from The Independent). The Paris Olympic Games 2024 opened this week, with a ceremony at times equally bizarre and uniquely French. Full... Read more

Running Witch…

Last updated on: June 20, 2024 at 1:46 pm By Ian Chambers

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Things I’ve been contemplating lately synchronised for me today when my Facebook feed presented a post from someone whom I respect greatly in our community, BJ Swain. This moral story is both true and representative of something I’ve found great solace in over the last year that I have become a runner in earnest. The running community generally has an encouraging and nourishing ethos as I’ve found it to date, frequently reminding me that the only person I am racing... Read more

Sorcerous Boundaries with the Witch Compass

Last updated on: April 24, 2024 at 8:06 pm By Ian Chambers

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“…And after the said Jane allighted and pulld the bridle of her head, and she and the rest had drawne their compasse nigh to a bridg end, and the devil placed a stone in the middle of the compasse; they sett themselves downe, and bending towards the stone, repeated the Lord’s prayer backwards.” Testimony of Anne Armstrong, 1673 [1] Anne Armstrong was likely just a teenager when she became swept up in a dark cloud following the Newcastle witch trials... Read more

Privilege and Witchcraft

Last updated on: March 23, 2024 at 1:41 pm By Ian Chambers

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Within modern witchcraft, two positions have made themselves apparent in recent years that is somewhat of a surprise — and is perhaps informed in some small way by the increased popularity of witchcraft and its emergence as a mainstream, and commercialised, endeavour. On the one hand are those who recognise, in historic notions of witchcraft and its power, that this practice and archetype has most often been the recourse of the disadvantaged against the abuses of those in some position... Read more

The Devil in Witchcraft – The Witch Compass Extract

Last updated on: February 4, 2024 at 4:58 pm By Ian Chambers

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The figure of the devil, the Black Man of the Sabbat, the adversarial force that presides over all witchery, has become a popular topic for discussion of late. The following is an extract from my book, The Witch Compass: Working with the Winds in Traditional Witchcraft, published by Llewellyn. Signed copies are also available from the Surrey Cunning website. Within the folklore and custom of the common man, we must remember that the Devil manifests a force that challenges... Read more