The Watchers

The Watchers, or Grigori, are ancient angelic beings associated with stellar lore that watch over witches. They are sometimes envisioned as the Watchtowers of the witch’s circle.

In the stellar cults of Mesopotamia there were fourstars known as Lords or Watchers. Each of these stars “ruled” over a cardinal point of the compass, circa 3000 BCE. Aldebaran was the star of the Vernal Equinox, and was the Watcher of the East. Regulus, star of the Summer Solstice was the Watcher of the South. Antares was the star of the Autumnal Equinox and was the Watcher of the West. Finally Formalhaut was the star of the Winter Solstice and Watcher of the North. Seven-stepped pyramid towers were constructed bearing symbols of each of these four stars and times of year. These ziggurats formed the first instance of the Watchtowers.

The Watchers are echoed in the four winds of the ancient Greeks, and in the four Archangels of Christian belief: Michael (Fire), Gabriel (Water), Raphael (Air), and Auriel (Earth). However, the Watchers are also mentioned as fallen angels in the apocryphal  Book of Enoch. These Watchers are said to have instructed the daughters of men in certain magical arts. The usual associations are as follows:

• Araqiel: signs of the earth
• Armaros: enchantments
• Azazel: masking, smithing, and witchcraft
• Barqel: astrology
• Ezequeel: signs of the clouds
• Gadreel: making weapons
• Kokabeel: stellar lore
• Penemue: written spells
• Sariel: lunar magic
• Semjaza: herbal magic
• Shamshiel: solar magic

These Enochian Watchers were said to have mated with the daughters of men and produced a race of giants, the Nephilim, who were gifted with magical powers. These Nephilim possessed odd genetic traits that are similar to the “Witches’ Marks” of old, such as giantism, extra teeth, polydactylism, and supernumery nipples. Indeed, some modern witches still claim descent from certain specific fallen angels.

The Line of Cain

Are Cain, Tubal Cain, and Azazel the same entity?  Yes!   And no...

Cain, Son of Eve

Cain/Qayin is the son of Eve through the serpent, Ha-satan. In Genesis when Eve says "I have begotten a man with the Lord" she is referring to Lord Satan-Lucifer.  His brother Abel was the son of Adam and Eve, a creature of clay made flesh, whereas Cain was a creature of spirit made flesh.

Cain was the first to till the earth and harvest plant matter. For this reason he is known as the Lord of the Green Kingdom.  While Cain harvested plants, Abel shepherded flocks of beasts.  When the time came for Cain and Abel to make offerings to Yahweh Abel's offerings of blood pleased Yahweh, but Cain's offerings of burnt plants did not.

It was for this slight in the eyes of Yahweh that Cain killed Abel.  Cain offered forth his most cherished gift of blood (his own brother) to Yahweh.  Abel's blood watered the field and made it fertile. The Necrosophic tradition claims that the blood of Abel that 'watered' the garden also empowered it, making the plants within linked to the bloodline of Cain. This is also the origin of plant spirits or the "Black in Green."

Because of the fact that Cain was the first murderer of man, he eventually became the reaper.  He is the Lord of the Western realms, and the guide of the dead.  Cain was also marked for his crime, and it is this mark (the Witches' Mark) that all children of Cain carry, though in diluted form.

Azazel and Tubal Cain

Azazel was chief among the angels in the story of The Fall of the B'nai Elohim in the Book of Enoch.  The B'nai Elohim is a term that refers to angels. It occurs four times in the Old Testament and is rendered "Angels of God" in the ancient Septuagin translation. These fallen angels, or Watchers, descended to the realm of matter (earth) where they took the descendants of Cain as human vessels. They took women as their wives, taught them, witchcraft and other skills. Azazel took Tubal-Cain, the blacksmith, as his vessel and further improved the arts of smith craft and witchery. Naamah was the human vessel of Nahema-Lilith (Lilith the younger or Lilith's daughter).


The Nephilim

The children of the watchers were the giants known as the Nephilim, which derives from the Hebrew naphal (to fall), or the Fallen Ones. (The Greek Septuagint renders this term gigantes, which actually means "earth-born." This is often misunderstood to mean "giants".  They were marked by extra teeth, extra fingers and toes, double crowned skulls, giant-ism, and other traits that future generations would interpret as witch marks.

The Watchers were originally the four stars Aldebaran (the East), Regulus (the South), Antares (the West), and Fomalhaut (the North).  Witches then, are those who can trace their bloodline to Cain -- the Red Thread -- and are the children of the stars.

For more information:
http://theisticsatanism.com/CoEvan/arguments/henotheism/Devil.html
http://www.ixaxaar.com/

Familiars and Familiar Spirits

Woodcut depicting witches giving the names of their familiars.

Witchcraft, as we have said before, is a kind of survival or revival of ancient European shamanism.  Just as shamans work with totemic spirits and spirit guides, so do we work with our familiars and familiar spirits.

A familiar is a creature that regularly helps a witch with her Craft.  A familiar can be corporeal (existing in flesh and blood in this realm) or incorporeal (a spirit or astral body).

Corporeal Familiars

The first kind of familiar is usually a common household pet that the witch has a very special kind of working relationship with.  There is a bond (an energy link) created between the witch and her corporeal familiar that is forged through mutual love and trust.  Sometimes this bond is formalized through the creation of a blood link.  This is done by feeding the creature a bit of your own blood.

In the Middle Ages, the Inquisitors of the Catholic Church believed the pets of accused witches to be possessed by demons. A witch was supposed to feed her familiar spirit with her own blood, which the animal sucked from her body at a special nipple that became known as a witch's mark. This nipple might be anywhere on the body. It was identifiable to the witch-finders of the Inquisition because it was completely insensitive to pain. A long needle might be thrust into it without the awareness of the witch, if her eyes were covered or averted during the operation.

Mr. Jinx on the main altar.

A corporeal familiar is usually a singular creature, even if the witch has a plethora of animal companions with which she is close.  This animal will make itself useful whenever the witch is practicing the ways of the Craft in its presence.  Indeed, my own precious companion gets excited whenever I even so much as approach an altar, or talk a bit about the Craft.  He is at my side now as I write this entry.  He has, in accordance with the lore of familiars, even taught me certain types of magic.

Also existing in this realm is the plant familiar.  A plant familiar is a plant grown with offerings of energy and intent to a specific purpose.  The most famous of plant familiars is the storied Aluran, which I will write about more in another entry.

Incorporeal Familiars

The spirit familiar is a creature that most witches are less... ahem... familiar with.  The spirit familiar fits the classical idea of an imp or demon spirit that the witch associates with that gives her workings special power.  The spirits of the Goetia, or the Lesser Key of Solomon, fit the requirements for a spirit familiar nicely, and many of them (Valfor, Paimon, Buer, Purson, Gaap, Malphas, Shax, Alloces, Amy, Amdusias, and Belial) specifically manifest and act as familiars.

Spirit bottles on an altar.

In Vodoun the familiar spirit is known as the Ti Bon Ange or "little good angel".  This spirit is housed in a lidded jar draped with beads, and made offerings to maintain its energy.  This concept can be translated for our purposes by use of a spirit bottle or jar.  A suitable vessel is selected, such as a fancy sugar bowl, or an empty liquor bottle with some character to it.  If you are fortunate you may find a spirit bottle in the shape of an animal, or with a human face, or even an impish one.  Fill the spirit jar with nail clippings, a lock of your hair, and a bit of your blood (if you are a woman of childbearing age some of your menstrual blood would be ideal, as this is the very blood of life).  Add any herbs or charms you feel are appropriate for the type of spirit you want to attract.  Lodestones painted red and fed iron fillings are a good start.  Drawing powder (powdered sugar) or honey are also good additions.

When you have created a spirit jar ready to house a spirit you will need to lay a compass and tread the mill, asking the Gods of our tradition, the Ancestors, and the Mighty Dead to send forth a familiar.  Traditionally it is the Witch Father, in our tradition named Azazel or Tubal Qayn, who offers a familiar spirit to a witch. The payment for this service is determined by the stone bowl, but is traditionally a piece of silver. After receiving a familiar spirit offer it food -- your own blood is best, but milk, bread, honey, or alcohol are all acceptable.  Keep your familiar spirit's jar in a safe place, and adorn it with offerings.  Feed it on a regular schedule, at least once a month.  The familiar spirit can be sent forth to do tasks for you, can teach you the Craft through inspiration and dreams, and can add its energy to any spell as you see fit.

I have also heard of familiars being tied to pieces of jewelry, such a a ring, certain stones, and even mojo hands.  Let your intuition guide you.

In fairy tales familiar spirits come in times of need or crisis, such as Rumplestiltskin (who notably can be controlled by knowledge of his true name), and Puss in Boots (who is inherited as a kuthun and serves his master in exchange for a pair of boots).  Familiars are also alluded to in many Mother Goose rhymes, the most useful of which gives a formula for procuring a familiar spirit.

There was a crooked man, he walked a crooked mile.

He found a crooked sixpence upon a crooked stile.
He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse.
And they all lived together in a little crooked house.

"There was a crooked man" -- there was a cunning man, or a witch.

"he walked a crooked mile." -- he tread the mill.

"He found a crooked sixpence" -- he made an offering of a bent sixpence, or silver (see Peter Paddon's Grimore for Modern Cunning Folk for an excellent explanation of this custom).

"upon a crooked stile." -- in liminal space, astral space (a stile is a structure which provides people a passage through or over a fence or boundary via steps, ladders, or narrow gaps).
"He bought a crooked cat," -- he received a familiar.

"which caught a crooked mouse." -- the familiar needed to be fed immediately.
"And they all lived together in a little crooked house." -- he took the familiar in and gave it a place of rest, such as a spirit bottle.

The Red Thread (and the Initiatory Process)

I have the sense that the Red Thread is one of the deeper Mysteries of the Craft as we are coming to know it. This sense is based on the fact that both Glaux and I find ourselves referring to it regularly in symbolic ways and during Craft discussions, but I am having difficulty putting my thoughts together in any coherent manner in this blog entry. The fact that we are able to point to the symbol as a deep point of connection for our magic, but verbalization seems to fail on some level, tells me that "here be a grave Mystery."

Perhaps in order to approach the Mystery, we should only look at one aspect of it in this post. The Red Thread and the Initiatory Process. 

The "Red Thread" is the moniker we use to refer to the line of Witch Blood that connects us to Tubal Qayin. A few of us come to this Tradition with ties to Qayin, bonds or possibly even Witch Marks that we reinforce through charms or the process of admission into a curveen. Many create that link through specific ritual.

Our system of admission is actually quite simple. We have a beginning level which we call Greening. I'll reserve full discussion of this level for another post, but I'll say here that this is the level for "children" within this path -- whether literal or figurative.

Next is Adoption, and it is at this time when the Red Thread is linked. This Tradition is linked very intimately to flow and nature of the family, so the Adoption corresponds to the time of puberty. When a child has come into physical, mental and emotional maturity sufficient for the study of basic magic, she may be brought into her Craft family. When a Seeker, regardless of physical age, has passed the period of initial giddiness and done some serious work and review of his aims as a Witch, he too is eligible for adoption into the Craft family.

The goals of the Adoption Rite (which you can also think of as a Dedication) are to forge a formal magical link between the student and the coven and to establish a formal training period of at least a year and a day. (This period is until the age of adulthood, in the case of family trad practitioners performing the Adoption with teens and tweens.)

This rite can happen at any of the Gates or Castles. In other words, it can happen at any Sabbat.

During the course of the ritual, the candidate is challenged and queried by the curveen members. Provided that she meets with approval at the end of all challenges, she will take blood oath on the anvil. There are two points to make note of here: 1) participation in the ritual doesn't guarantee success; and 2) the anvil is the "oath stone" of the Tradition and is intimately linked in symbolic terms to Tubal Qayin. 

The candidate is given a Red Cord to wear at the waist, which is a reminder of the Red Thread itself, the umbilical cord, and the fire of Qayin's forge. He is also given a bone and silver ring, which is symbolic of the bone soul (intimately related to the Red Thread and the Ancestors). The ring should be fitted to the Witch's index finger in his power hand, as this is the ultimate location where he will be tattooed with the Stang (or Witch's Mark) at his Raising.

Witch Marks, Witch Blood, and the Kuthun

Witch Marks

Some witches are born with a special mark upon them that singles then out as a person gifted with power.  Some traditional variations on this mark include: a specially shaped birthmark, a supernumerary nipple, polydactylism, red hair, extra teeth, and being born with a caul (a portion of the birth sac over the head).

Witch marks are created at certain rites of passage within our tradition.  They consist of a special symbol marked on the body, either astrally or physically, as in a tattoo.  Both the symbol and its placement of the body are significant to our tradition.

Witch Blood

Some witches claim blood lineage from witches who have gone before.  This is known as possessing witch blood.  It is based on a very ancient notion from the book of Enoch that T'Qayin once mixed his seed with that of the daughters of Adam, producing a race of supernaturally gifted beings.  These beings are sometimes referred to as The Watchers.  It is said that this divine spark runs through the veins and sings from the bones of every witch.  Remember that you are made of the same materials as the stars, and that magic lives within you.  Even if you cannot trace your familial lineage to that of a known witch, know that through the forging of the Red Thread, the magical link that this tradition creates between you and the Mighty Dead, you share the blood of T'Qayin.

The Kuthun

Is is told that for a witch to pass from this life into the next, she must pass her power on to another.  This provides incentive for teaching the Craft to others, ensuring that our ways do not die with us.  The Kuthun is a tangible object that links the power of a witch to her descendant. It may be a beloved magical tool, a piece of jewelry or regalia, or a formal document of lineage.