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Clan Of Tubal Cain
Cochrane's Craft, also known as Cochranianism and The Clan of Tubal Cain, is a religious movement similar to Wicca that considers itself a form of Traditional Witchcraft. It was founded in 1951 by the English witch Robert Cochrane, who himself claimed to have been taught in the tradition by some of his elderly family members, a claim that is disputed by historians such as Ronald Hutton and Leo Ruickbie. Despite many practical and theological similarities to other forms of Wicca, such as Gardnerian Wicca, Cochrane's Craft sets itself apart from other traditions in many ways, such as its emphasis on the pursuit of wisdom as its highest goal and Cochrane's insistence that it is not Pagan and, in fact, has no more in common with Paganism than does Qabbalah. History Around the time that the British Witchcraft Act 1735 was repealed in 1951, Cochrane, who was in his early twenties, founded a coven, and named it the Clan of Tubal Cain after the biblical figure Tubal-cain (the firs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neopagan Witchcraft
Neopagan witchcraft, sometimes referred to as The Craft, is an umbrella term for some neo-pagan traditions that include the practice of magic. They may also incorporate aspects of nature worship, divination, and herbalism. These traditions began in the mid-20th century, and many were influenced by the witch-cult hypothesis, a now-rejected theory that persecuted witches in Europe had actually been followers of a surviving pagan religion. The largest and most influential of these movements was Wicca. Some other groups and movements describe themselves as " Traditional Witchcraft" to distinguish themselves from Wicca. In contemporary Western culture, some adherents of these religions, as well as some followers of New Age belief systems, may self-identify as "witches", and use the term "witchcraft" for their self-help, healing, or divination rituals. Others avoid the term due to its negative connotations. Religious studies scholars class the various neopagan witchcraft trad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Doreen Valiente
Doreen Edith Dominy Valiente (4 January 1922 – 1 September 1999) was an English Wiccan who was responsible for writing much of the early religious liturgy within the tradition of Gardnerian Wicca. An author and poet, she also published five books dealing with Wicca and related esoteric subjects. Born to a middle-class family in Surrey, Valiente began practising magic while a teenager. Working as a translator at Bletchley Park during the Second World War, she also married twice in this period. Developing her interest in occultism after the war, she began practising ceremonial magic with a friend while living in Bournemouth. Learning of Wicca, in 1953 she was initiated into the Gardnerian tradition by its founder, Gerald Gardner. Soon becoming the High Priestess of Gardner's Bricket Wood coven, she helped him to produce or adapt many important scriptural texts for Wicca, such as ''The Witches Rune'' and the '' Charge of the Goddess'', which were incorporated into the early G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wayland Smith
In Germanic mythology, Wayland the Smith (; , ; Old Frisian: Wela(n)du; ; ; (); from ', lit. "crafting one") is a master blacksmith originating in Germanic heroic legend, described by Jessie Weston as "the weird and malicious craftsman, Weyland".Weston, J. (1929). 'Legendary Cycles of the Middle Age', in Tanner, J.R. (ed.), ''The Cambridge Medieval History'' Vol. VI, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, p. 841f. Wayland's story is most clearly told in the Old Norse sources ''Völundarkviða'' (a poem in the ''Poetic Edda'') and '' Þiðreks saga''. In them, Wayland is a smith who is enslaved by a king. Wayland takes revenge by killing the king's sons and then escapes by crafting a winged cloak and flying away. A number of other visual and textual sources clearly allude to similar stories, most prominently the Old English poem ''Deor'' and the Franks Casket. Wayland is also mentioned in passing in a wide range of texts, such as the Old English ''Waldere'' and ''Beowulf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brân The Blessed
Brân the Blessed ( or ''Brân Fendigaidd'', literally "Blessed Crow") is a giant and king of Britain in Welsh mythology. He appears in several of the Welsh Triads, but his most significant role is in the Second Branch of the Mabinogi, '' Branwen ferch Llŷr''. He is a son of Llŷr and Penarddun, and the brother of Brânwen, Manawydan, Nisien and Efnysien. The name "Brân" in Welsh is usually translated as crow or raven. Role in the ''Mabinogion'' The Irish king Matholwch sails to Harlech to speak with Brân the Blessed, high king of the Island of the Mighty and to ask for the hand of his sister Branwen in marriage, thus forging an alliance between the two islands. Brân agrees to Matholwch's request, but the celebrations are cut short when Efnysien, a half-brother of Brân and Branwen, brutally mutilates Matholwch's horses, angry that his permission was not sought in regard to the marriage. Matholwch is deeply offended until Brân offers him compensation in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Germanic Paganism
Germanic paganism or Germanic religion refers to the traditional, culturally significant religion of the Germanic peoples. With a chronological dating, chronological range of at least one thousand years in an area covering Scandinavia, the British Isles, modern Germany, the Netherlands, and at times other parts of Europe, the beliefs and practices of Germanic paganism varied. Scholars typically assume some degree of continuity between the beliefs and practices of the Roman era and those found in Norse paganism, as well as between Germanic religion and reconstructed Indo-European religion and post-conversion folklore, though the precise degree and details of this continuity are subjects of debate. Germanic religion was influenced by neighboring cultures, including that of the Celts, the Roman people, Romans, and, later, by Christianity. Very few sources exist that were written by pagan adherents themselves; instead, most were written by outsiders and can thus present problems for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Norns
The Norns ( , plural: ) are a group of deities in Norse mythology responsible for shaping the course of human destinies.''Nordisk familjebok'' (1907) The Norns are often represented as three goddesses known as Urd ( Urðr), Verðandi, and Skuld, who weave the threads of fate and tend to the world tree, Yggdrasill, ensuring it stays alive at the center of the cosmos.The article Nornor' in ''Nordisk familjebok'' (1913). Etymology The origin of the name is uncertain; it may derive from a word meaning 'to twine', which would refer to their twining the thread of fate. Bek-Pedersen suggests that the word has relation to the Swedish dialect word (), a verb that means 'communicate secretly'. This interpretation relates to the perception of norns as shadowy, background figures who only really ever reveal their fateful secrets to people as their fates come to pass. The name (Old English: , 'weird') means 'fate'. and are etymological cognates, a situation that does not mean nec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Weird Sisters
The Three Witches, also known as the Weird Sisters, Weyward Sisters or Wayward Sisters, are characters in William Shakespeare's play ''Macbeth'' (c. 1603–1607). The witches eventually lead Macbeth to his demise, and they hold a striking resemblance to the three Fates of classical mythology. Their origin lies in Holinshed's ''Chronicles'' (1587), a history of England, Scotland and Ireland. Other possible sources, apart from Shakespeare, include British folklore, contemporary treatises on witchcraft as King James VI of Scotland's ''Daemonologie'', the Witch of Endor from the Bible, the Norns of Norse mythology, and ancient classical myths of the Fates: the Greek Moirai and the Roman Parcae. Shakespeare's witches are prophets who hail Macbeth early in the play, and predict his ascent to kingship. Upon killing the king and gaining the throne of Scotland, Macbeth hears them ambiguously predict his eventual downfall. The witches, and their "filthy" trappings and supernatural act ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The White Goddess
''The White Goddess: a Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth'' is a book-length essay on the nature of poetic myth-making by the English writer Robert Graves. First published in 1948, it is based on earlier articles published in ''Wales'' magazine; corrected, revised and enlarged editions appeared in 1948, 1952 and 1961. ''The White Goddess'' represents an approach to the study of mythology from a decidedly creative and idiosyncratic perspective. Graves proposes the existence of a European deity, the "White Goddess of Birth, Love and Death", much similar to the '' Mother Goddess'', inspired and represented by the phases of the Moon, who lies behind the faces of the diverse goddesses of various European and pagan mythologies. Graves argues that true or pure poetry is inextricably linked with the ancient cult-ritual of his proposed White Goddess and her son. History Graves first wrote the book under the title of ''The Roebuck in the Thicket'' in a three-week period during Januar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Graves
Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was an English poet, soldier, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were both Celticists and students of Irish mythology Irish mythology is the body of myths indigenous to the island of Ireland. It was originally Oral tradition, passed down orally in the Prehistoric Ireland, prehistoric era. In the History of Ireland (795–1169), early medieval era, myths were .... Robert Graves produced more than 140 works in his lifetime. His poems, his translations and innovative analysis of the Greek myths, his memoir of his early life—including his role in World War I—''Good-Bye to All That'' (1929), and his speculative study of poetic inspiration ''The White Goddess'' have never been out of print. He was also a renowned short story writer, with stories such as "The Tenement" still being popular today. He ear ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Horned God
The Horned God is one of the two primary deities found in Wicca and some related forms of Neopaganism. The term ''Horned God'' itself predates Wicca, and is an early 20th-century syncretism, syncretic term for a horned or antlered anthropomorphic god partly based on historical Horned deity, horned deities. The Horned God represents the god (Wicca), male part of the religion's Wiccan ditheism, duotheistic theological system, the Prince consort, consort of the female Triple goddess (Neopaganism), Triple goddess of the Moon or other Mother goddess. In common Wiccan belief, he is associated with nature, wilderness, sexuality, hunting, and the life cycle. Whilst depictions of the deity vary, he is always shown with either horn (anatomy), horns or antlers upon his head, often depicted as being Theriocephaly, theriocephalic (having a beast's head), in this way emphasizing "the union of the divine and the animal", the latter of which includes humanity. In traditional Wicca (British T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
