Upon an Uneasy Seat Above Caer Ochren

In his 1st letter to Norman Gills, Robert Cochrane writes the following about the process of invoking the Goddess of the season:

"... invokes the Goddess through 'The dark of night and the evening star meeting together', which as you should know is brought about in the beginning by 'in an uneasy chair above Caer Ochren'."

Whatever interpretation of the above lines might be considered most accurate, we would like to offer *our* take on it.

Let's start with 'The dark of night and the evening star meeting together.' For reasons that are difficult to articulate clearly, we believe this is a reference to possession/channeling. I suppose the reasons are difficult to explain because they fall into the category of "Mystery." We can understand it, and even try to speak it, but will have some challenge in sharing its deepest meanings with you. We'll try, though, if it means helping others find the way to the Mysteries." Even Cochrane, later in the same letter, says that this process can't be taught in writing. Perhaps we should say that we aren't attempting to actually teach this process, but to shed some insight on this process and its significance to Craft practice.

I think perhaps it is easiest to say that the "dark of night" is a reference to the Self -- that internal place; the opening, yearning for something greater than what is known and seen. We all have it, this chasm that cries out for spiritual experience, for that which is beyond us.

The "evening star," then, is the Goddess who is being invoked. It could be any Goddess, though in our home-coven we only do invocations with the Black Goddess and the White Goddess (and Tubal Qayin, the Red God). We do these at their respective Sabbats, and we do this for the primary purpose of oracular communications from these Deities. We seek their advice and listen to the wisdom that they share throughout the year. We only use the method described above, though, -- the "uneasy seat above Caer Ochren" -- when we are doing oracle invocation with the Black and White Goddesses. (We use other methods with Qayin.)

The "uneasy seat" is perhaps a stellar reference, but we have interpreted it as something more practical. Caer Ochren, we believe, is a reference to the Spiral Castle. Certainly, Caer Ochren is one of the castles of Grail lore, and we believe it is Caer Sidhe itself. Some of this is just our gut instinct, but a little comes from an interesting linguistic find. "Ochren" means "sides." It could be easy to mistake "sidhe" (which means fairy) as "sides" -- or to intentionally muddy the waters by playing language tricks with these words.

So, now we have an uneasy seat above Caer Sidhe, the revolving castle, the Spiral Castle. For us, this is the center point of the compass -- and opens into all the sides. A seat above it, poetically, speaking could be the the starry point to which the central spire of the castle rises. The North Star, Tubelo's nail star, the iron hook.

It reminds us, too, of the oracle of Delphi sitting upon her tripod stand above the fissure within the temple's floor. The temple at Delphi held the omphalos, the world's navel, the center point. 

For us, we use a rocking chair as our tripod, as our "uneasy seat." When one of us sits in the rocking chair at Imbolc (the Black Goddess, Kolyo) or at Lammas (the White Goddess, Goda), we begin the process of ascending to the top of the Spiral Castle. It is the seat of wisdom, the seat of vision. By rocking back and forth as we work toward invocation (possession) we know that we are seething, which is a VERY effective way to alter consciousness.

So, while we can't exactly teach the art of possession, we know it to be one of the important arts or skills within Craft practice. Cochrane, then, is advising new practitioners to use seething as a tool to experience possession until other methods are easier at hand.  

 

Alone by Edgar Allan Poe

From childhood’s hour I have not been
As others were—I have not seen
As others saw—I could not bring
My passions from a common spring—
From the same source I have not taken
My sorrow—I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone—
And all I loved—I loved alone—
Then—in my childhood—in the dawn
Of a most stormy life—was drawn
From every depth of good and ill
The mystery which binds me still—
From the torrent, or the fountain—
From the red cliff of the mountain—
From the sun that ’round me rolled
In its autumn tint of gold—
From the lightning in the sky
As it passed me flying by—
From the thunder, and the storm—
And the cloud that took the form
(When the rest of Heaven was blue)
Of a demon in my view—

~Edgar Allan Poe

The Cauldron

More than the broom, or even the stang, the cauldron is the classic witches’ tool. In classical Greece we find stories of the witch Medea who brewed the elixir of life and death in her cauldron. Across Europe among the Celtic peoples are tales of Cerridwen whose potion of Awen was simmered in her own cauldron for a year and a day, and Bran, whose cauldron would regenerate fallen heroes. The cauldron of Dagda also featured in the celtic myths. His cauldron poured  forth endless food and wealth. It is echoed today in tales of Baba Yaga and Strega Nona  both of whom have special cook pots that are never exhausted of food, provided that the correct magical phrases are uttered over them.

 Even Shakespeare's infamous three witches from his play MacBeth are seen to gather around a cauldron and chant their nefarious rune.

Round about the cauldron go;
In the poisoned entrails throw.—
Toad, that under cold stone,
Days and nights has thirty-one;
Sweltered venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first in the charmed pot!
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake!

~William Shakespeare
MacBeth, Act IV, Scene 1

Robert Cochrane writes on the “two words that do not fit in the cauldron” as a mystery of the Craft. The answer to this riddle is “Be Still” for within the cauldron lies all motion, all potential, and all things. It cannot hold stillness, but this too is a mystery. The cauldron is used not just for the brewing of potions, but also as a vessel for scrying in liquid or flame. To accomplish this we must find stillness within the cauldron, by quieting our own minds.

The cauldron is also very similar to the Holy Grail of legend. We must ever seek it and its mysteries, for in it lies true communion with the Gods, and deep healing of our souls. “Who does the Grail serve?” is the riddle traditionally associated with this quest. The Grail serves all who seek it with honest intent, for it is only in not questing for the mystery that it serves no one.

“In fate and the overcoming of fate, lies the true Grail.” ~ Robert Cochrane

In our tradition the Cauldron is associated with the Grail Queen of the Silver Castle -- Castle Perilous -- as Cerridwen-Babalon. We drink deeply of her bloody cup, and rejoice in the coming of the Season of the Witch at the Autumn Equinox.

A Riddle in Stone

In Justine Glass's book Witchcraft the Sixth Sense is a curious photograph of a menhir from Brittany with many symbols carved in bas-relief on it.  The image is reproduced below.

Menhir image from Witchcraft the Sixth Sense

It is claimed that these images detail the three mysteries of Witchcraft. The first, shown on the right-hand side of the carving are the male mysteries.  The second, shown on the left-hand side are the female mysteries.  The third are the mysteries of the Priesthood, necromancy, the ancestors, and death-and-rebirth, shown in the center.

Robert Cochrane makes the following comments on these mysteries:

The Faith is made of three parts - of which I know two. The first part is the masculine mysteries - in which is enshrined the search for the Holy Graal - and is the basis of the Arthurian legends. This is the order of the Sun - the Clan of Tubal Cain. Under it come learning, teaching, skill, bravery, and truthfulness. In the distant past, the male clan was lead by a woman who was their priestess and chieftan. This is the origin of the legend of Robin Hood - and surprisingly enough began the Old Testament, and later, Christianity since both Jesus and Moses alike preached a version of the Masculine mysteries - Mithriasm was also a development of this - and the tradition was followed through into the middle Ages when the Plantaganet Kings were officers of the masculine aspect of the Faith (The name 'Plantaganet' means 'The Devil's Clan'). The effect of the masculine mysteries upon the world can hardly be under emphasized - since a very considerable portion of civilization owes its origin to them. To name but a few - Commerce, Lawmaking, Law- giving, Parliament, The early forms of universities and craftsmen's guilds - which lead to knowledge being contained and taught, surveying, all sciences such as metallurgy, astronomy and so on ad infinitum. The masculine mysteries were the direct creators of modern civilization as we know it now. It must also be remembered that originally the Mystery was conducted by a woman - and that she was the presiding genius behind many of the fundamental discoveries that created civilization. These mysteries are depicted as a javelin, a cockerel upon a pillar, a ladder, a flail, a twelve-rayed sun and a ladder of eight rungs and a sword or battle ax. Basically they have to do with control over three of four elements, especially that of Fire.

     The feminine Mysteries are the deeper - connected with the slow tides of creation and destruction, of the cycle of life and death. they are best expressed in the pentagram - Life/Birth, Love, Maternity, Wisdom, Death/Resurrection. They are connected with all things that grow - all creatures of flesh - fertility and sterility - the mystery of the woman who is Virgin/Mother/Hag in one person. They are in essence the cycle of life, and the universality of life - and they express themselves in deep intuition and feelings - in other world terms they control the unconscious, as the male controls the conscious. That is they are what the Jews describe as the second emanation of the Sephiroth - emotion, sensation, imagery, empathy and intuition. They are expressed in symbols as a broom, a flask, a cup, a glove, a distaff and a shift - all of which have a symbolic meaning in the Faith. The clan of Women is lead by a man, who acts as a priest, and teaches the feminine mysteries. Each one of these symbols has a value in wisdom, and I will teach you both what I know about them in forthcoming letters. Today, since there are so very few, the old system has broken down and the families teach their children both mysteries, so that the tradition will not be forgotten entirely. In the past the male and female clans were separated except for the nine Rites or 'Knots' of the Year - when they came together and worshipped Godhead. Also, a great deal of traditional rite has been lost - but it will be recovered again one day, since things and thoughts alike do not die, they only change.

The image below is a clearer photo of the menhir, and the symbols may be more easily discerned.

Menhir de St.Uzec II photo.  Click for larger image.

Starting at the lower left hand corner and working up and down, the carvings seem to be:  A broom, a distaff, an ear of grain, a goblet, a moon, a pitcher, a glove, a knife, a tablet or book, a shift, three stacked squares, three nails or keys, a girdle or braided cords, blacksmith tools, a winged fairy supporting the Goddess, a twelve-rayed sun, a cock on a pillar, a skull, a flail, crossed bones, a ladder, a spear, a walking staff, and a bell.  These are not necessarily the same symbols as Cochrane presents in his letter, nor to Justine Glass.  We will explore each of these tools in the future.

Special thanks to our reader Scylla for a source for a clear image of the menhir.

Castle Perilous

Water

Southwest

Autumn

Bloody Castle; Grail Chapel

Womb

Cauldron of Cerridwen = Grail = Silver Quaich

The Spiral Castle Tradition situates the Castle Perilous in the Southwest, as the compass is laid. In Arthurian legend, the knight who finds the grail (sometimes identified as Percival, sometimes Galahad, sometimes Lancelot) discovers the sacred cup in castle surrounded by water. This is proper, as the cup’s elemental association is indeed water.

The power of the grail is its association with blood and, therefore, life – and death. Whether we see it as the cup that caught Christ’s blood, the cauldron of transformative Goddess Cerridwen, or the chalice of the great whore Babalon makes no difference. The treasure of Castle Perilous is the same cup, and we drink the same death and rebirth – the same transformations – by whichever name or image we use.

This castle and its images are associated with Chalice Well in Glastonbury. Chalice Well has a long-standing association with grail-lore, and the iron content of the water lends both the flavor and colored tinge of blood as well as the healing properties attributed to the cup/cauldron. Note the similarity in the Chalice Well symbol and our simple symbol for this castle’s treasure (the silver – bloody – cup).

We envision the cup filled with life-giving blood, just as the fertile womb fills each month with blood. So it is that at the Housle (the Red Meal), we fill the two-handled Quaich with red wine. When we cut the throat of the cup and spill its “blood,” and likewise stab and rend the flesh of the dark bread, we more aptly feel the sacrifice that we associate with this castle and cross-quarter.

Both sacrifices are made with the shelg, the red knife. This is the blade of Castle Perilous, the blade of blood and of sacrifice.

Blood and red wine are a potent mixture. They remind us of the Mithraic Mysteries, in which a bull was sacrificed in a subterranean vault. Killing the bull wasn’t the point of the rite, though – collecting its blood was. The blood was mixed with wine and drunk by the initiates. Later, only the wine was drunk, as a representation of the blood of Mithras himself. We see in this blood-letting ritual the foundational element of many sacrificial meals, including our own Housle.

Cerridwen, the keeper and queen of the Castle Perilous, is an appropriate mistress for the mysteries of sacrifice and transformation. Her myth tells how she set the young Gwion to the task of stirring a cauldron of knowledge and wisdom. The brew within was intended for her son, but when three scalding drops landed on Gwion’s hand, he instinctively sucked away the pain – and wisdom. Enraged, a pursuit ensues in which Gwion shapeshifts to escape Cerridwen’s wrath, but she transforms to capture him. When he was a hare, she was a greyhound. Then he was a fish and she an otter. Next, he was a bird, and she was a hawk. Fourth, he changed into a grain of corn, and she transformed into a hen, pecking every grain until she had consumed him. Once she had him, she transformed again to the shape of a woman, and gave birth in nine months’ time to the great bard Taliesin. This last is their fifth and final transformation.

Women’s blood mysteries are best understood within the Castle Perilous, and the rites of passage associated with them have an obvious home here.

The Mystery of the Cauldron mentioned by Robert Cochrane in his letters is also well contemplated in this cross-quarter. Cochrane asks, “What two words will not fit in the cauldron?” In a later letter he answers his own question with the words, “Be still.” (We’ll talk more about this and other Mysteries mentioned in the Letters later.)

Castle Perilous is the entry point into the compass at the time surrounding the Fall Equinox.