The Spiral Castle, here, is the Grail Castle and Underworld, bounded by the river of Time, contained within the witches’ circle and approached only after certain rituals are undertaken, incorporating as they do pure witchcraft folklore elements combined with essential grail lore brilliantly.
Ian Chambers, unpublished
Within the cache of publicly available letters of Robert Cochrane, mysterious, mercurial and almost cultic figure of modern traditional craft, are his clear distinctions and definitions of the forms, philosophy and use of the Compass. Explicitly, in his founding notes written to members of his fledgling group (which developed in the 1960s Clan of Tubal Cain*), he makes plain that this dancing ground in which he aims to establish contact is the Spiral Castle, the Underworld of Cerridwen. The implications of this and extrapolations from such a profound starting point lead exponentially into a deep and resplendent philosophy, no less than an enormous praxis whereby the Compass emerges as vehicle, map AND destination.
No amount of blogging and writing will ever suffice to give this subject justice, ranging as it does across vast fields of Merkavah lore, Hekhalot mysticism, Graeco-Roman magico-religious Goetia in its true form, through medieval and Renaissance grimoires and guilds of conjurors, craft sodalities and rural practitioners.
However, there are some few practitioners today to whom a justified and valid podium may be given to illuminate this essential topic and reveal insight into and from within living traditions which bear witness. One such is Stuart Inman, holder of Virtue for 1734 and magister of the Clan of the Entangled Thicket.
Stuart gave a talk on this fertile topic at Treadwells bookshop in London on May 3rd 2016 at 7.30pm. Please follow the link below for details. It promises to be a rare and informative occasion and, if his previous Treadwells talks are anything to go by, well attended including the great and the good of traditional craft.
For more information about this Treadwells talk please follow the link and make sure to book.
*- see John of Monmouth’s Genuine Witchcraft is Explained
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