Stang Lore -- Construction, Magic, Dressing

From the version of "1734 Papers" Laurelei got in 1999

We've covered already what a Stang IS. Perhaps it's time we cover what one DOES with it.

Over the years, I've tried to collect as much lore and writing on Stangs as I could find. I'm sad to say there isn't much available. That isn't to say that people aren't using Stangs, just that they aren't writing much about them.

Still, I'm happy to share the little hodge-podge I've cobbled together in the hopes that it's of use to us all. Our cuveen adores the Stang as a working tool -- for group and individual work. I think I can safely speak for all of us in saying that we would LOVE to hear what you all are doing with Stangs, particularly if it varies from the bit of lore accumulated here.

The information shared here comes from a variety of sources, including:

class notes from Clan of the Laughing Dragon (Laurelei's former coven)
Robert Cochrane/Roy Bowers writings
Call of the Horned Piper by Nigel Jackson
Sacred Mask, sacred Dance by EJ Jones
The Roebuck in the Thicket by EJ Jones
Secrets of Modern Witchcraft Revealed by Lady Sabrina
Magickmind.net
Hedgwytchery.com
"What's a Stang and Why do I Have So Many?" earthlink.net/~twyern by VALIRE'BRAND


Construction Basics

A Stang is usually made of Ash, relating it to the World Tree, but Ash is getting hard to come by in the Americas due to the work of the emerald ash borer. At this point. I think most American Traditionalist would suggest using any sacred wood, and I would add, any American sacred wood. I like Oak, and I really like Hickory. (Hickory is the hardwood of choice in these parts for tool handles, and it has a long association with the forge, which makes it a good wood for the Stang in my book.)

You want a nice dry piece of wood that is forked into a Y shape. Otherwise, you'll need a simple pole that you can attach horns or metal prongs in order to create a pitchfork. Of course, you could also *begin* with a pitchfork, and that wouldn't be wrong, either.

If you're using a piece of wood, you'll probably want to remove the bark and give the whole piece plenty of time to dry. You can also treat the wood, once dry, with linseed oil to help preserve it.

"Shoe" the Stang with iron, either by adding a metal cap to the base or by driving an iron nail into it. I prefer to drive an old-fashioned "coffin nail" into the base.

The size of the Stang is really up to you. Our coven Stang is taller than any of us by just a bit. Our personal Stangs are about staff height. And we each have mini Stangs, as well.

You may want to fashion a hook or a flat space between the "horns" of your Stang for placing a candle or hanging a skull, arrows, etc.


Placement of the Stang

According to Lady Sabrina, "when the Stang is accompanied by the cauldron, it represents the totality of life-giving properties of the masculine and feminine powers of the universe." The covens in which I've worked have always located the Stand with the cauldron, along with the anvil. In the case of the Spiral Castle Tradition, we envision this all on the Sacred Mound, the Tor. The Stang is the World Tree, as we have discussed before. The Cauldron is the Well, and the Anvil is the Stone (our Oath Stone). This Mound, Tree, Well, and Stone combination is a powerful one for us and it works very well as the central point, the Axis Mundi, of our Mill.

The Stang is also the tool we use to mark the Moat, the outer edge of the compass. So it is both center point and circumfrence, in a manner of speaking.




Stang Magic

Riding the Stang is a ritual that is used to manhandle one's superiors or to run a person out of village. It is alternatively known as skmmington, skimmity or rough musicking. The basic idea is that a gathering of folks join in the making of loud, obnoxious noises -- often at night -- from the various locations in the village to the doorstep of the offender.

You can make a "sprite trap" or "spirit trap" with a stang by embedding a charged stone between the forks and weaving a pattern of red thread. These are usually made of Rowan or Ash wood and incorporate specific symbols into the woven pattern.


Dressing the Stang


In our Tradition, a ram or goat skull hangs on the Stang most of the time. This represents the Witchfather and the center of intellect.

Atop or behind the the skull, between the horns, is a candle. This is Cunning Fire, and it is also a symbol of balance.

On the shaft of the Stang, hang 2 arrows -- one black, one white. For us, these are all the dualities in our Trad -- the Black & White Goddesses, the light & dark halves of the year, the Summer & Winter Lords. From Spring to Fall, the arrows point up, and the white arrow is on front, representing the dominance of the White Goddess. From Fall to Spring, the opposite is true -- the arrows point down, and the black arrow is in front.

We hang linen shifts (robes) -- one black, one white -- at different times from the Stang, as well. During our Samhain cycle, we hang the black shift from the black arrow. This is also how the Stang looks if the coven is performing blasting magic. We hang the white robe from the white arrow for weddings, initiations, etc.

A bloodied shirt can be hung on the Stang for several types of magic. It can be used in healing and vengeance magics, as well as in maternity and Women's Mysteries.

Seasonal wreaths and garlands can also go on the Stang.

The Elemental Weapons

Each of the four elemental gates is traditionally associated with a martial weapon.  The masculine elements of air and fire are represented by offensive weaponry: the staff (or spear) and the sword.  The feminine elements of earth and water are represented by defensive weaponry: the shield and helm.  These weapons have antecedents in the four suits of the Tarot: swords, staves, coins (shields), and cups (helms).  They are also representative of the four Celtic treasures of Nuada: sword, stone, spear, and cauldron.

The Sword

In the east, the gate of fire, is the forge of Tubal Cain.  Created on this primal forge is that most iconic of forged weapons, the sword.  The sword is a symbol of nobility and initiation.  It is the "sword bridge" we cross to enter the circle of initiation, just as Lancelot had to cross the sword bridge to enter the enchanted country of Melagant.  It is also the "sword that cuts both ways", demonstrating that both initiate and initiator are creating a solemn pact.  In Arthurian legend the sword Excalibur was drawn from a stone, but in the earliest forms of the myth the sword was drawn from an anvil.  In our tradition the "oath stone" of the coven is represented by an anvil in honor of Tubal Cain, Lord of the forge, and the fire of creation.  In the old song "Tubal Cain", we find this refrain:

“Hurra for Tubal Cain,
Our staunch good friend is he;
And for the ploughshare, and the plough,
To him our praise shall be.
But while oppression lifts its head,
Or a tyrant would be lord,
Though we may thank him for the plough,
We’ll not forget the sword.”

The Staff

The staff is the most personal tool of a witch.  It can be a stang, a distaff, a blackthorn blasting staff, a battle staff, a spear, or a simple walking stick.  The form matters far less than the function of the staff.  It is the weapon of the northern gate, sacred to the Black Goddess, who, in her crone aspect walks with a staff.  In her aspect as the spinner of Fate, she bears a distaff, and in her bloodthirsty warrior aspect she carries a spear.

The staff is a truly personal tool of a witch. It is not passed down as a kuthun to students or family.  It is best if the staff is destroyed upon a witch's passing, or that it is given back to earth, water, or fire with the witch's remains.

The Shield

The shield is both a physical and a metaphysical tool.  It can be a literal shield, like a targe, held as a piece of symbolic regalia upon which the symbols of the coven or the witch are emblazoned, or it can be a magical tool which we cultivate through visualization and discipline.  This shield is a semi-permeable barrier of etheric energy that we use for self-defense and cloaking magic.  The shield is a symbol of guardianship of the mysteries.  It is the weapon of the southern gate of earth, and is sacred to the White Goddess.  It is her shining white light which builds the etheric shield, and it is her seelie magic that weaves glamor and cloaking spells that depend on the shield.

The Helm

The helm, upturned, is the cup or cauldron of the western gate of water.  It is the helkapp that Tubal Cain as the Lord of death wears to grant invisibility. The helm is also symbolic of the mask, which we use in transformational magics, and ecstatic ritual.  The helm protects the head, which the Celts perceived as the seat of the soul. Thus, just as the shield protects the physical body from harm, so does the helm, or mask, represent protection of the soul.  It is appropriate, then, that the helm be the weapon of the western gate, that place of rest, that realm of the dead, that healer of the soul.

Widdershins, Sunwise, and Calling the Circle

Because we have set out to make this a family tradition, sometimes our daughter comes to us with questions that we have taken for granted.  Earlier this week she asked us about what widdershins means and what it is used for.

Widdershins (sometimes withershins, widershins or widderschynnes) means to take a course opposite the apparent motion of the sun, to go anticlockwise or lefthandwise, or to circle an object by always keeping it on the left.[1] The Oxford English Dictionary's entry cites the earliest uses of the word from 1513, where it was found in the phrase "widdersyns start my hair", i.e. my hair stood on end.

The use of the word also means "in a direction opposite to the usual", and in a direction contrary to the apparent course of the sun. It is cognate with the German language widersinnig, i.e., "against" + "sense". The term "widdershins" was especially common in Lowland Scots.

~Wikipedia "Widdershins"

There are many groups that choose to work either exclusively widdershins -- especially those that tread the mill -- or its opposite, sunwise (also known as deosil).  

 In Scottish folklore, Sunwise or Sunward was considered the “prosperous course”, turning from east to west in the direction of the sun. The opposite course was known in Scotland as widdershins (Lowland Scots), or tuathal (Scottish Gaelic, lit. northerly), and would have been counterclockwise. It is perhaps no coincidence that, in the Northern Hemisphere, "sunwise" and "clockwise" run in the same direction. This is probably because of the use of the sun as a timekeeper on sundials etc., whose features were in turn transferred to clock faces themselves. Another influence may also have been the right-handed bias in many human cultures.

This is descriptive of the ceremony observed by the druids, of walking round their temples by the south, in the course of their directions, always keeping their temples on their right. This course (deiseal) was deemed propitious, the contrary course, tuathal, fatal, or at least, unpropitious. From this ancient superstition are derived several Gaelic customs which were still observed around the turn of the twentieth century, such as drinking over the left thumb, as Toland expresses it, or according to the course of the sun. Wicca uses the idiosyncratic spelling deosil - however, this is not used in any of the three Gaelic languages.

~Wikipedia "Sunwise"

 We choose to tread the mill in both directions, depending on the nature of the rite.  We use the mill to lead us either up and out or down and within.  When treading sunwise, the energy rises upward spiraling us into the first realm, Ceugent. Treading widdershins brings the energy down into the land where we can access the third realm, Abred.  Neither of these movements is more desirable than the other, they are both as necessary and as benign as the positive and negative poles of a magnet.  

So, when casting the caim by calling in the gates and castles of the circle which way direction do we choose?  Many traditions call sunwise and dismiss widdershins, but we work the circle in a completely different pattern.

When casting the caim we call inward towards the Spiral Castle.  We call the gates and castles two-by-two to create the old straight track that joins each gate to the center like the spokes of a wheel. 

The circle is thrice cast, as of old, but by the power of the gates and guardians, not by the power of ourselves as casters.  The circle is cast not to hold energy out or even in, but to sain the space.

First we call to the realms, Ceugent above, Gwyned between, and Abred below.  This is the first circle. 

Next we call by honoring the station that the Spiral Castle is turned to in the year wheel.  Therefore, since it is now March as I write this, and the Spiral Castle is open to face the Spring Equinox, we would begin by calling the Castle of Revelry, acknowledging its treasure, the Golden Lantern, and its sovereign, the Golden Queen.  We would then call along the Path of the Queens across to the Castle Perilous, home of the Silver Queen and the Holy Grail.  We continue by calling along the Path of the Kings to the Stone Castle and the Glass Castle.  Each of these paths meet in the center at the stang, or Spiral Castle.  This is the second circle.

The third circle is that of the gates, or Airts, where we call to the four elemental quarters and the Great Gods of our Tradition.  We call to the White Goddess and the Black Goddess through the South and North gates, homes of Earth and Air.  This is the Path of the Rose-Painted Wagon, which is a mystery.

We then call along the Path of the Sun, East to West, dawn to twilight, the road of Tubal Cain.  In the East shines Lucifer/Malek Taus/Azazel, light-bringer, lord of creation and inspiration.  Tubal Cain stokes the forge and the sun rises, the cunning fire rises, the light of reason rises.  Fire blazes forth from the Eastern gate, filling us with warmth and force of Will. 

We echo that calling to Tubal Cain in the West, Lord of the quench tank.  Here Tubal Cain is the Dark Lord of Death and Magic, who peacefully shepherds those beyond the veil, and raucously leads out the Wild Hunt.  He comes from the Western gate, place of Water, land of the setting sun, place of the Blessed Isle of Avalon.  Here lies the weapon of the helm, the mask, the Helkapp by which Death comes silent and invisible.

Thus is the third circle cast. 

Together the three circles, sending out rays in all directions: above and below, north and south, east and west, and all places between, build the Spiral Castle, the stang which we use as a gandreigh to travel out to each of the realms, and all of the places between.

By treading the mill sunwise or widdershins we can travel out or send forth energy to wherever and whenever we choose, guarded by our Gods, and the Watchtowers of legend.

The Gandreigh

A gandreigh is a riding pole used to fly out astrally to access different realms.  The gandreigh can be a broom, a staff, a stang, or even a wand that the rider uses to send forth a fetch for the astral body to inhabit.

Nigel Jackson writes:

"The stick is the Gandra which is both the magic wand and stick that straddle the Witch of the North. It is a variant of the classic broom or forked stick of witches in Europe. The armies of the night-flying creatures on sticks are called "the gandreigh" in Old Norse. This applies to the flight of witches and the dead ghost hunting Wild."

The gandreigh is not used for physical flight through consensus reality, rather it acts as a world tree by which we can access levels of being through "flying" (or climbing) up and down the pole.

In our tradition the world tree is symbolized by the Spiral Castle, although the stang, staff, or broom is a personal tool which acts as an expression of this energy.  It is the witches most personal tool and is usually destroyed upon a witch's death or given as a kuthun.

Stang and Distaff

Stangs from Cornish Witchcraft website

Evan John Jones claimed that Robert Cochrane informed him that there were three branches of witchcraft. These were said to be memorialized on a megalith detailed in Justine Glass's much-maligned book Witchcraft: The Sixth Sense for which Cochrane was a source of information.  Though he intentionally provided Ms. Glass with misinformation throughout the book, he claimed until his death that the analysis he provided regarding the menhir and the Mysteries of Witchcraft were true. The meat of his analysis, available in full in Justine Glass's the book, is repeated as Craft teaching in Evan John Jones's work The Roebuck in the Thicket.

Traditional Mysteries

The first branch of mysteries is the masculine mysteries, centering on the legends of the Horn Child and the Sacrificial King (the Oak & Holly King stories).  The second branch is the feminine mysteries, centering on the mysteries outlined in Robert Graves' The White Goddess and the weaving of Fate.  The third branch, which Cochrane claimed was lost to time, were the Necromantic mysteries.  These have been reconstructed somewhat by modern practitioners like ourselves in rituals such as ancestral worship and the Tapping of the Bone.

The stang, revealed by PIE etymology to be a "stick" or "pole," is perhaps the most complex tool of Traditional Craft.  In it are contained each of the three paths of Craft.


The Stang and Male Mysteries

The most common interpretation of the stang concerns the masculine mysteries.  The stang is often thought of as a simple representation of the Horned Lord or Witchfather, with its forked tines standing in for the horns of the God.  Sometimes the skull of a horned animal is bound to the stang to reinforce this idea.  This practice may have old ties to the use of horned animals as a substitute sacrifice for the King.

Many, if not most, versions of Cochranite Craft use the same elemental quarter associations that we have described here before. Furthermore, EJ Jones actually writes about a very similar deity association, as taught to him by Cochrane, to what we use here at AFW.

East = Fire, the birth of the sun, the seat of the Horned Child
West = Water, the place of the dead, the seat of the Master of the Wild Hunt, the Sacrificial King
North = Air, winter, the Dark Goddess
South = Earth, summer, the Light Goddess

In both the East and West, though not always specifically identified with the name Tubal Qayin, we can recognize him in his guises as the light-bringer and the lord of the dead.

East and West, Fire and Water, are opposed in the Traditional Witch's compass, as are North/Air and South/Earth. Elemental opposites are called into the center along roads of power. We very literally have a crossroads at the center of the compass. What's more, we have a Devil who stands there. He is the Witchfather, the Horned One. The stang, with its horns, is symbolic of Qayin himself and of all the masculine mysteries.

The stang is often dressed by hanging two arrows (sometimes with points up, sometimes with them down) on the shaft. These arrows are symbolic of the male msysteries, as well.


The Stang and Necromancy

The stang is also the world-tree upon which we travel through the three realms.  It allows us to move from this realm to the land of the dead, among other places.  It is a gandreigh that we use to ride to the Sabbat, to cast the caim, and to center the compass.  These attributes make it a prime tool of magic, and one without which we would struggle to contact the dead. An animal skull upon the stang speaks of the masculine mysteries, but it also speaks of the Mighty Dead.

Often, a stang is outfitted so that it can hold a candle between its horns. The flame is said to be the Cunning Fire, the light shared by all Witches. When there is no candle, there is often a middle tine. This middle path, neither masculine nor feminine, is attributed to the Dead.

Our coven places skulls and bones (either crossed or uncrossed, depending on whether we intend to access the Dead or not) near the base of the stang, as well.


The Stang and Feminine Mysteries


The third branch of witchcraft, and the third use of the stang, is as a traditional woman's tool -- that of the distaff. The older versions of a spinner's distaff was either a two or three pronged "stang" ("stick"). The distaff and spindle were once the main daily working tools of all women, and Cochrane is very specific in his writings about the distaff being the main working tool of women of the Craft.  The distaff is a traditional handspinner's tool used for holding raw fibers as they are spun into thread on a spindle.  Robert Cochrane in his writing "On Cords" states:

    “The so-called ‘sacred object’ held in such reverence by some witches was in fact a weaver’s distaff–and could easily be mistaken for a phallic symbol. The weaver’s distaff, bound with reeds or straw, appears frequently in rural carvings and elsewhere. It again has reference to the Craft and supreme Deity. It would appear that the witches were not in the least influenced by Freudian concepts.”

Sarah Lawless, in her excellent post about magical sticks, suggests from her studies that the distaff/stang wrapped in flax for spinning was mistaken for a broom in folklore and art. Quite possibly. The stang is certainly a tool for travel.

Laurelei's first coven/Trad, which was also Cochranite in origin, didn't always hang two arrows on the stang. Often, it was a single arrow, with a linen shirt hung from it. The shirt was either white or black, depending on the ritual or time of year. We cannot deny that the stang is the hayfork that represents the Horned God, but it is also the spinner's distaff (a symbol, then, of the Black and White Goddesses).The linen shirt on a single arrow is an allusion to the flax wrapped around the distaff.

When we  view the stang as a feminine tool in the center of the magical space, the compass can be viewed as the spinning wheel of the Fates, our own Black and White Goddesses.

More Stang Lore to Come

Stay tuned for upcoming posts regarding "Magic and the Stang" and "How to Construct and Dress a Stang."

The Stang on the Hill (or, The World Tree, or the Spiral Castle)

The Spiral Castle Tradition doesn't actively work with a "world tree" image, per se. That is to say, we don't use the image of a tree to serve the purpose of what the World Tree does in the cultures in which a World Tree is found. However, both our Spiral Castle and our stang upon the ancestral mound (which sits in the middle of the physical space of the compass as we work magic), serve exactly the same purpose, as I believe you will see.

Background and Purpose of the World Tree

The mythology and function of the World Tree seems to be a universal theme in cultures all over the world. References to a World Tree (or Cosmic Tree, Tree of Life, etc.) can be found in the Scandinavian, Finnish, Baltic, Hindu, Shinto, Native American, Mayan, Siberian, Hebrew, Christian, Egyptian, Mediterranean, Byzantine and Celtic spiritual beliefs and practices (to name only a few – the most easily discovered).

The World Tree takes many forms, extends in to many realms, is associated with many animals, but essentially has the same function in each culture. It always, no matter which version of the world tree is being described, connects the realms of existence in a sort of pathway that is (or is a symbol of) the act of creation. Through it, communication and the gaining of knowledge is possible. It is a symbol of both the macrocosm (the universe) and the microcosm (the person).  It is infinitely complex and surprisingly simple.

Connecting the Realms
   
The World Tree connects the realms of existence as they are seen and numbered according to a particular culture. The most common representation of this seems to be the idea of three realms (sometimes being divided into three sections). The Upper, Middle and Lower Realms – usually described as the heavens, Earth and the Underworld; or the Land of the Gods, the Land of Men and the Land of the Dead.

Communication/Messages

Many of the Gods receive messages from animal or spirit beings who travel up and down the tree. Likewise, shamans and priest/esses the world over are said to have the ability to climb the tree to gain the knowledge/wisdom of the other realms and to communicate with both Deity and the dead. This allows them, then, to bring back the advice or wishes of the spirits that guard and protect human life. Indeed, one of the shaman’s or priest’s responsibilities has always been to know the wishes of Deity (in whatever form it takes) and to communicate those wishes and wisdoms to the people.

Consciousness Unit

There is a body of evidence that suggests that the World Tree is a depiction of the “Consciousness Unit” (or CU) – sometimes also called the Collective Unconscious (though I think that is a misnomer since so many spiritual seekers are, in fact, conscious of it). Those who have been trained in out-of-body, meditative and astral techniques have all witnessed a similar structure that can be described as a tree. However, in some cultures, it was described as a mountain (hill, mound, Tor) or a tent (or in our case, a castle).

It is generally seen as nested spheres of energy or consciousness – one structure that houses several others, which house yet more. Although the people who saw it were all likely to have seen exactly the same structure, they used different words to describe it when they were once again in the physical world. This, of course, would all be based on cultural and linguistic limitations and understandings. The most universal description is that of a tree.

Priestly Training

In many cultures, there is the pervasive use of the World Tree as a tool for the training and initiation of preists/shamans. Though the ceremonies differ somewhat, many of them involve a time of sacrifice upon the tree. Others require that the initiate climb the tree (either physically, spiritually or both) to seek information or to trace the steps of creation/wisdom. It is, of course, not surprising, then, to think of Odin’s 9 nights on Ygdrassil as a sort of initiatory model – leading to the use of vision quests, the witches’ cradle, and the actual climbing of a tree as part of the priest’s initiatory process. (The Hanged Man in the Tarot could be said to be suspended from the World Tree to seek a new perspective or initiation into greater mysteries.)

Stars and the World Tree

There is a great association between the World Tree and two specific celestial bodies. The first is the North Star (Pole Star). In many cultures, this star is said to be the pin or tack at the top of the World Tree. (It reminds me of the star atop a Christmas tree, though the association would have been much older than Christianity. It was probably a part of the Cabalistic mysteries, and therefore absorbed unwittingly into the Christian mythos. Or, which is more likely, since I have seen no reference to the Pole Star in the Cabalistic World Tree information I found, it was probably assimilated from the older Indo-European practices and beliefs. Perhaps the Yule tree used in so many Germanic tribes was, in fact, an echo to Ygdrassil.)

The other celestial body associated with the World Tree, specifically in Mayan culture, is the Milky Way. Of course, I take some liberty in referring to an entire galaxy as one celestial body, but the idea is understood. In some descriptions, the Milky Way is called the World Tree. In others, it is seen as perpendicular to the World Tree.

In fact, the Mayan calendar is said to spring from the World Tree. It is this same calendar which, with the Mayans’ uncanny mathematical understanding of the “wobble (or precession) of the Earth’s axis, dates the Winter Solstice of 2012 as the point when the next cycle of that same wobble will begin. It is on this date that the North Star, from the Earth’s point of view, will point directly into the center of the Milky Way.

The starry connections to the World Tree are significant for the Tradition at hand, as well. In Robert Cochrane's writings, pay attention to his references to "Caer Ochren." They are in close concert and connection to the statement "I am a Hill," which he follows up with a description of a castle of seven gates, upon a gloomy hill, turning to the elements.


Crosses and Mountains

I am grouping crosses and mountains together because I see them as two similar, perpendicular derivations of the World Tree concept. Mountains, specifically, have been mentioned in several works as other ways of seeing the CU (the thing that the World Tree represents – that is to say “everything.”)

I only go into this idea of perpendicularity because its recurrence seems significant to me. In fact, the World Tree itself is sometimes described as vertical, sometimes as horizontal. Perhaps it is both, in a sense. Or, it could be, as the Cabalists have described it, that there are two different trees that are essentially one World Tree. The Tree of Life, in this line of thought, is vertical, and the Tree of Knowledge is horizontal. (They are depicted as columns running between certain spheres.)

This perpendicular meeting between two poles/columns/pillars is the symbol of a cross. It is balance. It is life hinged on wisdom, and wisdom hinged on life. It is the cross of sacrifice as seen in the Christian mythologies. It is the equilateral cross of the elements in the Celtic cosmology. It is the tree on which Odin hung. Moreover, it is the crossroads at which magic and initiation happen.

Then there is the mountain, whose base is the horizontal axis. The line from the base to the peak is the vertical axis. In some cultures, a specific mountain has been their World Mount. And mountains the world over have been deemed as sacred. In fact, many cultures have created mountains as representations of the concepts embodied within the World Mount/World Tree concept. The Great Pyramid of Egypt is a prime example of this, while the Celtic Tors are examples known to many others. The sacred mountain connects the realms just as the World Tree does. The Torprovides access to the three realms. Medieval witches, too, were said to fly to Bald Mountain at Samhain for their great revel.

 

The Animals of the World Tree


Typically, eagles are said to dwell in the uppermost branches of the World Tree, with other birds living in some of the lower ones. Deer and horses are associated with the trunk of the tree, while snakes are seen twisting around the roots.

Although these images are fairly consistent throughout the various cultures, the Norse Ygdrassil houses all of them, and a few others. Specifically, there is an eagle at the top (which associates the eagle in my mind, then, with the Pole Star). Between the eagle’s eyes perches a hawk. There is a dragon that is twisted among the roots, as well as other snakes and serpents who help him gnaw at those roots. A certain squirrel delivers messages between the Dragon and the Eagle, who are feuding. Other bringers of messages associated with Ygdrassil are the ravens who bring messages to Odin of Midgard and Niflheim (the middle and lower realms). There are also stags, a goat, and a hart who roam the branches and trunk and eat the leaves of the tree.

Interestingly, the name of the tree means “Odin’s Horse” (because he rode it to attain enlightenment). This is interesting because so many of the other World Tree mythologies have sacred kings or gods tethering their horses to the trunk of the World Tree. Furthermore, the word Cabala is derived from the same Latin word as the word for horse (equus). (I know it seems like a stretch, but the Spanish word for horse is caballo, and the Italian is cavallo,which certainly show the progression of the word into derivations.) Therefore, horses are largely associated with the World Tree. So much so that at least one version of the World Tree is named as a sort of horse -- a means in itself of "traveling."

Stang-Rider

Just as a priest or shaman is trained to ride the tree, so is a witch or anyone of us of sorcerous ilk trained to ride the stang, walk through the Spiral Castle, fly on the broom. The broom, after all, is fashioned from a forked staff -- a stang at its heart! These tools are aids in achieving soul flight, in fully experiencing the world around and within us, before and behind us, below and above us. In a great many ways, they are all the same tool, just fashioned in a different package.

The Stang, The Broom and the Spiral Castle

I (Laurelei) have worked exclusively in covens that have used the Stang as a central point of focus in ritual. Because of this, I have a couple of nifty pics of Stangs that were once near and dear to my heart.

The picture above depicts the Stang adorned for a wedding -- hung with an arrow, which is draped with a white linen shirt. This adornment is used in other situations, as well, which we'll describe in detail in another post. (In the covens of my former Tradition, the Stang was located behind the main altar, which was oriented to one side of the ritual space. You'll note how that differs from the Spiral Castle Tradition's placement of the Stang in a moment.)


This particular Stang was made by one of my coven brothers. It had an Ash handle, iron horns (or prongs), iron foot, and an iron hook between the horns for hanging the ram's skull, arrow and candle. It was a tremendous piece!

Fore-running Configuration of the Spiral Castle

The Stang in the picture above was the tool of the coven for which I served as HPS. It was a converted pitchfork, which meant that it also had an Ash handle and iron (cast-iron) horns. One of my coven brothers cut and ground down the middle prongs to provide us with the piece you see. At the time of this photo, it still needed its branding sanded off and its foot shod with iron.

In the Spiral Castle Tradition, the Spiral Castle itself  sits at the middle of our cosmological system. When we lay the compass, we signify this central focus by placing the Stang at the epicenter of the circle. At its base we place the anvil (and hammer), which is our Oath Stone; the skulls and crossed bones (representations and keys to the Ancestors); and our personal fetishes.

We envision the Spiral Castle as sitting atop a Tor, a ritual mound with a sacred chamber inside.

The Spiral Castle, the Stang and the Broom share a certain transvective power with each other. (In truth, the Broom's base staff is a small Stang, as you will see soon.) What the Spiral Castle does for the entire Tradition (accesses ALL wisdom, ALL experience, ALL the realms, gates and airts), the Stang does for the Coven, and the Broom does for the individual Witch.

In his letters (have you started reading those yet?), Cochrane says that the Mystery of the Broom is "spinning without motion between three elements." He also relates this Mystery to the Qabbalistic Middle Pillar and the "path to the 7 gates of perception." He is, of course, talking about the practice of trance-work and meditation -- and using these tools (the Broom, is the metaphor for the tool) in order to access ALL THAT IS.

The Broom (according to copies of Cochrane's letters which I have that actually include illustrations) is constructed from a small, forked Ash staff. Between the prongs of the fork, a sacred stone is bound. The strips used for binding, the broom twigs, and the handle, are each different sacred woods. (Glaux is planning to reproduce the illustration soon.) The stone is a specific stone (which he calls "balanite," and we have researched to be none other than basalt).

The Witches' Stang

The stang is the central tool and main altar of our tradition. A stang, in its most basic form is simply a forked stick set with its long end into the ground. It acts as an axis on which magic can turn, and as a pole that can be "ridden" by the shaman or witch into different realms. Its forks represent the horns of the Witch Lord.

The stang entered modern Craft by the hand of Robert Cochrane, who called it as "sacred to the People as the Crucifix is to the Christians."  I've written about Cochrane's use of the stang in my July 2011 post on Treading the Mill.

The stang is sometimes represented by a iron-tined pitchfork or a pole with the skull of a horned beast on it. Often in these configurations there will be a candle or torch lit between the two horns or tines, in the style of the icon of Baphomet, or as is shown in this woodcut from 1594 of a sabbat at Treves.

The Horned God with the cunning light between his horns.

Any wood is suitable for use as a stang, although ash, with its connections to Yggdrasill, the tree on which Odin was hung shaman-like for nine days, is a popular choice. Our own stang is based on Him that we honor as the Witch Lord, T'Qain. It is therefore represented by a ram's skull.  It represents both His presence and the Spiral Castle.

Although not as popular as motif as, say, riding a broomstick, there are many examples of witches using the stang to fly in early woodcuts as is shown by the examples below.

Using the stang to carry a cauldron while riding backwards on a goat. It has all the things. ;)

A masked family flies out on their stang.

A witch and her demonic familiar fly to the clouds on a stang.

The stang has antecedents in the Yggdrasill of Norse lore, the Poteau Mitan of Haitian Voudon, and the ascending-pole birch tree of the Yakut shamans.  It is both a world-pillar on which the cosmos (represented by the witches compass) turns and a gandreigh.

Admit it. You want to try out magic with a stang.

For more information I suggest reading the writings of Robert Cochrane, and Nigel Jackson and exploring the links below.

How to Use a Stang
A Special One, But Still a Pole
Posts Labeled "Stang" from This Blog

Treading the Mill

Once you have the compass laid, it is time to begin the magical work. But how does one act when in the circle?  In Wicca movement is always clockwise 'round the circle, but in Traditional Craft movement can be deosil or widdershins, depending on the rite.  Also there is a particular form of movement by which we raise power.  This is known as treading the mill.

Robert Cochrane discusses treading the mill in his typically riddling style in one of his letters to Joe Wilson.  Included below is the text.

This is known as "Approaching or Greeting the Altar". There are many altars, one is raised to every aspect you can think upon, but there is only one way to approach an altar or Godstone. There is a practice in the East known as "Kundeline", or shifting the sexual power from it's basic source to the spine and then to the mind. Cattle use this principle extensively, as you will note if you creep silently up to a deer or cow -- since there is always one beast that will turn its back to you, and then twist it's [sic] neck until it regards you out of it's [sic] left or right eye alone. It is interpreting you by what is laughingly known as "psi" power and that is how an altar is used -- with your back to it, and head turned right or left to regard the cross of the Elements and Tripod that are sacred to the People as the Crucifix is to the Christians.

If this business of cattle and kundalini sound confusing, it's only Cochrane's way of veiling the mysteries.  What he is getting at is that you are simply circling the "altar... of the Elements and Tripod" while looking over your shoulder at the altar.  You would look over your right shoulder to the center of the circle if you are moving clockwise, and over your left shoulder if moving widdershins.

So what is this secret "cross of the Elements and Tripod that are sacred to the People as the Crucifix is to the Christians"?  Cochrane appends a diagram of the device at the end of his letter to Wilson.  It is shown below.

Looks rather ceremonial and pretentious, doesn't it?  Not at all like shamanic, folkloric, Traditional Craft.  Again, this was Cochrane revealing by concealing.  The item that forms the altar in the center of the circle that is as "sacred to the People as the Crucifix is to the Christians" is the stang.  The cross is the base of the symbol for the stang [ + ] and the tripod is the horns of the stang, the three rays of awen [ \|/ ]. Together they create the glyph that Cochrane signs with his name:

So, treading the mill is simply walking around the perimeter of a circle that has a stang raised at its center, while looking directly and intensely at the stang. It is the "crooked path".  The mill can be tread using the lame step, adding honor to Tubal Cain, and special purpose to the use of the staff.

The mill can be danced, although moving through the mill grounds can feel very much like one is hooked up to an old-fashioned mill stone like some beast of burden.  Treading the mill sometimes feels very much like walking against a swift current.

It can be helpful to sing or chant together in order to keep rhythm.  Collected below are some mill songs, some of which we have written ourselves, others which are traditional.

The Mill of Magic

Fire flame and fire burn, make the Mill of Magic turn.
Work the Will for which we tread by the Black and White and Red.

Earth without and earth within, make the Mill of Magic spin.
Work the Will for which we tread by the Black and White and Red.

Water bubble, water boil, make the Mill of Magic toil.
Work the Will for which we tread by the Black and White and Red.

Air breathe and air blow, make the Mill of Magic go.
Work the Will for which we tread by the Black and White and Red.

Power of the Elements

Power of Sky and power of Wind and power of Air the North doth send,
We tread the Mill to work our spell, both by your Breath and by out Will.

Power of Spark and power of Fire, power of all our hearts' desire,
We tread the Mill to work our spell, both by your Flame and by out Will.

Power of Ice and Water free and power that hides in depth of Sea,
We tread the Mill to work our spell, both by your Wave and by out Will.

Power of Stone and power of Land and power of rich Soil in our hands,
We tread the Mill to work our spell, both by your Earth and by out Will.

Lady Weave

Lady weave the Witches' fire
'Round the ring of Caer Sidhe's spire,
Earth and Air and Fire and Water
Bind us to you.

Basque Akelarre Chant

Har har, hou hou!
Eman hetan!  Eman hetan!
Har har, hou hou!
Janicot! Janicot! Janicot! Janicot!
Har har, hou hou!
Jauna Gorril, Jauna Gorril,
Akhera Goiti, Akhera Beiti.

A very rough translation of which is:

White Worm, White Worm!
Look ancients, look ancients!
White Worm, White Worm!
Black-Goat-God! Black-Goat-God! Black-Goat-God! Black-Goat-God!
Look ancients, look ancients!
Red Lord, Red Lord,
Goat above, goat below.

Apparently it was popular with some older curveens to dance the mill with their back to the stang, as is shown in this woodcut from 1594 of a sabbat at Treves.  You can see the dancers in the red box.

This sabbat's stang is alluded to by the enthroned goat with a flaming torch on his head, reminiscent of the stang, Janicot, and Baphomet.  Indeed, I wonder if this was once the way sabbats were held, with a horned God enthroned overseeing the proceedings in place of the stang?