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.

Meditation: Visiting the Oak King Cernunnos

 Our tradition uses guided meditation to help impress certain symbols on our member's consciousness. Below is our Midsummer meditation. It takes place in the Castle of Stone, which is the southeast area of our compass.  It is the home of the Oak King, who we honor as Cernunnos.  To use this meditation let yourself relax comfortably and picture yourself drifting downward and inward to the third realm, the lower realm. Briefly, the three realms are Sky above (first realm), Land around (second realm), and Sea below (third realm).  The third realm is a place of darkness and mystery.  Let yourself sink down into the third realm and rest there peacefully.

Meditation: Visiting the Oak King Cernunnos

You awake in a forest of oak trees at midday.  Red breasted robins sing from the trees, and the forest is green with the radiance of nature in summertime.

A rustling from behind you causes you to turn around quickly.  Only a few yards from you is a magnificent stag.  His antlers are as broad as your arms when fully outstretched.  His hide is rich russet.  He bears seven tines on each antler.

The stag gives you a loud snort and tosses his head.    You are consumed with a desire to capture this roebuck, and as if it knew what you were thinking, the stag suddenly bolts away from you.  You give chase.  You run through the oak forest as quickly as any deer could, bounding over creeks and fallen trees.  You can see the stag ahead of you, and you keep pace behind him.  You run at full tilt past mighty oak trees that dwarf you and your quarry.

The stag clears the forest ahead of you and enters a green grass field.  You follow behind him.  He disappears into a huge sloping green valley, and still you rush down the slope after him.  Although your focus remains on chasing the stag, you notice that the valley seems to be constructed like a massive ancient earthwork.  In the center of the valley rises a high grassy hill and upon this hill appears to be a stone fort of some kind.  The stag pauses briefly at the base of the great hill and then bounds up it.

You reach the base of the hill and are momentarily daunted by its steepness and height.  Yet you find force of will to begin the climb upwards.  Up the hill you climb, your legs scrambling.  Up the hill of grass, your fingers struggling to find holds in the emerald green turf.  Up to the top of the earthwork mound, your arms aching from pulling along the weight of your body.

Although you are nearly exhausted you have reached the top of the hill.  You do not see the stag but you notice that you are near a set of enormous oaken doors.  The doors are the entrance to a massive fort of gray stone.  The fort's turrets are adorned with the standards of warriors and kings.  From within the fort you can hear sounds of steel clashing and voices yelling commands.

You approach the doors and knock, but they remain closed to you.  To your side you hear a snort.  It is the stag.  He walks up to the oak doors and touches them with his antlers.  The doors open with a wooden thud.

Within the fort is a field where thousands of warriors from myth and legend are training for battle.  Achilles wrestles with Lancelot as Parzival and Sigurd cross steel.  Spartans train next to samurai.  You watch as Scathac demonstrates for Hector how she wields a spear.  A voice from behind addresses you.  You turn to see it is the Arthurian knight Sir Gawain.  “We've been expecting you,” he says gravely.  You ask him where you are and he replies, “There are many names for this place.  Some call it Troy Town.  Others call it Camelot.  I call it the Castle of Stone.  It is the home of King Cernunnos and his stone bowl.”

Gawain points to a set of double doors across the field.  The doors are of oak intricately carved with countless symbols.  Among these you notice a stag and a robin.  You move to touch the doors and they swing open at your gesture.

Inside the room is a tan and muscular man with thick brown hair.  He wears a crown of antlers.  He is seated on a throne of stone and he wears tanned leather and a green cloak.  His eyes are as green as emeralds and he is smiling broadly at you.  To his right is a table with a stone saucer on it.  To his left is a staff of oak bearing leaves, catkins, and acorns.

“I am called Cernunnos” he says.  His voice is deep and musical and reminds you of the sounds of animals.  You can feel your pulse quicken as he speaks.  The scent of moss and musk fills your nostrils.  Your eyes widen in wonder as you realize that his antlered crown isn't really a crown at all.  He has antlers as broad and majestic as the stag you chased to this place.

His eyes sparkle as he gestures to the stone saucer to his right.  “This is the treasure of the Stone Castle.” You approach the bowl and peer into it.  Inside of the bowl it is very black.  There are three stones and a silver spiral floating in the darkness.  The stones roll in circles as the spiral spins and shifts.  They create patterns and symbols that you understand are related to the pattern of your life.  Peering deeper into the blackness of the bowl you are filled with wisdom and peace.  In the bowl you begin to perceive the purpose of your life's journey and the path you must take to accomplish your destiny.

The symbols shift further, making your head spin in wonder.  Cernunnos chuckles knowingly. His laugh is deep and rolling. You can feel it envelop you like the  shade of a great and ancient forest.  Cernunnos set his hand on your shoulder to steady you. “I have a message for you,” he says.  He leans forward and whispers his secret message in your ear. [long pause]

Cernunnos bids you farewell.  He and shakes your hand and claps you to his chest.  He is warm and smells of musk and loam.  Around you the room seems to fill with foliage.  Leave it hastily, hurrying past the field where warriors are training.  Gawain salutes you as you pass.  Beyond the oaken doors of the fort awaits the great stag that lead you here.  He now regards you with a knowing respect. You follow him as he runs down the great hill and into the valley.  He waits for you to catch up to him, glancing behind.  You enter with him into the oak forest .  The stag leaves you in an oak grove with the midday sun shining upon you.  You settle in beneath a large oak tree and rest.

The Triple Soul

In our tradition, as in many world shamanic traditions, we recognize that all living beings are born into this world with three souls. These three souls correspond to the triple colors of witchcraft. 

The first soul is the Black Soul, or spirit.  It is our astral body, and is capable of traveling beyond this world into other realms.  The spirit is what we identify as our self, our ego.  It is our identity in this lifetime, and is an exact copy of us, although it can take any form you wish for it to (the fetch).  Upon death the spirit may wander as a ghost or revenant, or it may travel back to the cauldron where its energy will dissolve to create new spirits.

The second soul is the Red Soul, or eternal soul.  It lives in the bones of each of us, and cannot be destroyed.  It is the divine spark of Qayin's blood within every true witch's heart.  It is this spirit that after death is awarded a period of rest in Ynys Avalon, or Elphame, after which it is reborn.  The eternal soul holds our past life memories, and our connection to our ancestors.

The third soul is the White Soul, or higher self.  It is also known as the Holy Guardian Angel.  The higher self exists just above our bodies, like a crown or halo.  Inspiration, enlightenment, and divine wisdom all come to us through the higher self.  It is one of the main goals of a witch to gain knowledge of this higher self, and to commune with it regularly.  Upon death the eternal soul is alchemically married to the higher self, so that true lasting communion is reveled to us.

The Ancestors

The most important link that a witch makes is the one that links her to the ancestors of the tradition.  This link is the Red Thread.  Once made it cannot be severed except by the will of the witch alone.  It is this link that creates a witch in our tradition.  It is the link that creates us as family.

The ancestors are more than just names on our family tree.  They are the guardians and guides that shape our practice from the other side.  They are our allies in magic and our protectors in spirit.

Although none can truly claim full knowledge of what happens to our spirits after our bodies expire, we believe that the spirit and the eternal soul continue on.  The eternal soul flies from us to the shining realm of the ancients, the land of fey, Elphame, the isle of apples, Ynys Avalon, where it takes its repose. This expression of the soul lives in our bones, and it is for that reason that we honor our ancestors through the symbolism of bones. The spirit, an expression of our ego and “self”, may wander here for a time after death, creating the phenomenon we recognize as ghosts, or it may return to the source, the great cauldron, from which we are reborn anew.

Of special interest to us are the Mighty Dead.  These are the dead that have returned to the cauldron and have retained themselves in whole (both spirit and eternal soul) through many lives.  They are the great heroes and heroines of myth and history.  Their influence shapes our world, and their guidance can teach us much.

We access the ancestors by honoring them in word and deed.  The names we take are a litany of the generations before us.  We make offerings to the dead throughout the year, and especially when the veil is thinnest at Samhain.  We learn to tap the bone, to create communication with our guiding ancestors, through meditation and offerings.

The ancestors are honored at the center of the compass for our rites, by the skull placed at the foot of the stang.

The Three Knives

Lay of the Arthame

by Nigel Jackson

This is the Metal: it dropp’d from the sky,

A ferrous tear of the Fire-Drake’s eye,

That burned through cloud and seared the soil 

and set the furious seas a boil,

That lay in ancient pores of earth,

Til Blacksmith’s brought it to birth,

Thrice-purified in Tubalo’s fire

It suffered the ordeal of the pyre; cast into waters, hissed it’s song,

The starry viper’s iron tongue was tempered on the anvil-stone,

Til radiant as changeless bone, 

With whispered charge and wordless spell,

The gramarye of Azazel. 

The edge was ground and thus was made,

The narrow road of sharpened blade. 

This is the metal: ‘twas shaped by Cain

Who wrought the heavenly Arthame.

There are three knives associated with our tradition. These knives each represent the three realms, and the White Goddess, the Black Goddess, and the Red God. Each knife is used in a very specific and exclusive way.

The first of the knives is the black-handled blade, the Athame. It is the tool of the first realm and relates to the Black Goddess. The Athame is used for cutting and describing numen. It is used primarily to cut and direct energy links and sometimes to delineate sacred space. Gate portals are cut with the Athame, and it is the Witch's primary weapon when in liminal space.

The second knife is the white-handled blade, the Kerfane. It is the tool of the second realm and relates to the White Goddess. The Kerfane is used for cutting and carving in the physical realm. It may be used to fashion a wand, carve into a candle, cut cords, or harvest herbs. If the Kerfane is sickle-shaped and used for harvesting plant materials it is referred to as a boline. If the Kerfane is shaped like a pin and is used for inscribing materials it is referred to as a burin.

The third knife is the red blade, the Shelg. It is the tool of the third realm and relates to the Red God of the Forge, Tubal Qayin. The Shelg is used for blood magic and sacrifice. It may be used to open a small wound in the flesh in order to produce blood for oath-taking or binding links. It is also used during the Housle to activate the Red Meal as a true sacrifice. Although sterile lancets are often used in place of the Shelg for safe bloodletting in small amounts, the Shelg is still symbolically passed over the wound to seal the link to Qayin.

The three knives are used in a test of fate during initiation to bind the Witch in service to one of the three deities of our Clan.