I am disproportionately pleased to announce that what I have done on my holiday is a) get my cistern fixed so it flushes then stops and b) finally finished reading this book by Philip Heselton.
I say finally because the book seems to have had the most remarkable effect. I have been trying to read it sitting in the park or on the canal bank, and it has been remarkable the number of men who have approached me and insisted I admire their erect penises while I have been reading. Old Doreen has always been one of my heroes and I imagine she would think it hilarious that this stopped me reading her biography.
And yet, she was such a different witch from me. It has been years since I have been inclined to join anything, and my every foray into the pagan community has been blighted by the fact that, frankly, they all annoy me. This probably indicates a lot about me, but I'm interested in how Doreen was repeatedly initiated, into different traditions. You will all know by now that my personal opinion is that the witch is not created by another's initiation and that the craft of the wise is not ancient.
Notwithstanding this, Doreen was so obviously a witch, and a great one. I say this because she lived intentionally and followed the leads of her own world, to explore the invisible mysteries. I particularly like the description of how she once cleared mice out of her flat by playing the recorder to them until they moved in up the road. I love that Gerald Gardners BOS was bound in snake skin, the old rogue. I love the tales of warring witches going back to the 1960s.
My one criticism is that I find this to be an overly denominational work. I didn't need to hear Heselton's opinion that if you're not initiated you shouldn't call yourself a witch, and it was not germane to the book. In fact Doreen's own published opinion was that you tell a witch by her works.
I finished the book on a train and felt a strong, mischievous desire to leave it on the train to be picked up by someone else. Could this have been the mysterious ghost of Doreen inspiring me to spread the magic on?
I say finally because the book seems to have had the most remarkable effect. I have been trying to read it sitting in the park or on the canal bank, and it has been remarkable the number of men who have approached me and insisted I admire their erect penises while I have been reading. Old Doreen has always been one of my heroes and I imagine she would think it hilarious that this stopped me reading her biography.
And yet, she was such a different witch from me. It has been years since I have been inclined to join anything, and my every foray into the pagan community has been blighted by the fact that, frankly, they all annoy me. This probably indicates a lot about me, but I'm interested in how Doreen was repeatedly initiated, into different traditions. You will all know by now that my personal opinion is that the witch is not created by another's initiation and that the craft of the wise is not ancient.
Notwithstanding this, Doreen was so obviously a witch, and a great one. I say this because she lived intentionally and followed the leads of her own world, to explore the invisible mysteries. I particularly like the description of how she once cleared mice out of her flat by playing the recorder to them until they moved in up the road. I love that Gerald Gardners BOS was bound in snake skin, the old rogue. I love the tales of warring witches going back to the 1960s.
My one criticism is that I find this to be an overly denominational work. I didn't need to hear Heselton's opinion that if you're not initiated you shouldn't call yourself a witch, and it was not germane to the book. In fact Doreen's own published opinion was that you tell a witch by her works.
I finished the book on a train and felt a strong, mischievous desire to leave it on the train to be picked up by someone else. Could this have been the mysterious ghost of Doreen inspiring me to spread the magic on?
I bet you deliberately took such a long time reading that book in the park and down by the canal, didn't you? And did you leave it on the train, or keep it for future encounters?
ReplyDelete"frankly, they all annoy me" - Quite. Which is why I find physical covens to be overrated. Online virtual covens are the way forward for witches like us!
Oh quite. And of course you know the workings of my mind so well!
Delete