I read an article written by Maxine Sanders that was passed on by some Alexandrian Witches in a FaceBook comment. In that article, Maxine seemed to be decrying those who have used the traditional Godhead names and words of power with a certain impunity and a lack of deference to the traditional lore given to them. While I do not approve of people abusing what they have received from their teachers and sponsors in a traditional religious practice, what she said also made me wonder to myself what could possibly be sacred about a tradition that was mostly invented by Gardener and later, Alex Sanders? If it was all invented, contrived and cobbled together by a handful of people where only individual gnosis could be considered as original contributions, then what is actually being abused? If a student goes off on their own path and makes use of what they have been taught and mixes it with other material found in other non-traditional or uncanonical sources, then is that not their own business?
Alexandrians initiate third degree witches to be autonomous, and there is no process where any initiatory degree can be recalled or nullified. Gardnerians, on the other hand, can recall or nullify an initiation through their initiating High Priestess, since even after a Gardnerian Witch is initiated to third degree they are not autonomous. Everyone is held accountable to their upstream lineage elders, but this is not so with Alexandrians. That means that an Alexandrian initiate is only accountable to themselves and possibly, to the community at large, but nothing can be done to unmake an initiate. I know this fact from personal experience, yet overall, we are made to realize that mistakes can be made in choosing individuals for elevation who later turn out to be bad actors in their communities.
People can be banned from covens or community gatherings, but they can still function as High Priestesses or High Priests whether local community covens and groups like it or not. That also means that an Alexandrian Third degree initiate can also determine what their tradition looks like, what they would practice as liturgical or magical ceremonies and operations, and there is no one who has the authority to countermand them or punish them if they do bad things, thereby making them accountable. That kind of authority doesn’t exist, so if someone invents new things in their version of Alexandrian Witchcraft, or appears to abuse their teachings, then even Maxine Sanders cannot really do anything about it. It is what it is, and autonomy means that an initiate can comport themselves however they see fit. Can we as a community criticize their behavior? Yes, indeed, although it will be a kind of toothless criticism unless a large majority agree, and even then there is nothing to disenfranchise an autonomous third degree initiate.
Then there is the issue that what is taught by a High Priestess or High Priest in an Alexandrian coven is somehow sacred. It was always the case back in the days when I was a witchling that the coven and traditional lore had a provenance that made it sacred and magically powerful. We were told that Witchcraft was the old religion and that various elements of that tradition were passed down from witches going back to antiquity. Of course, that was determined to be an urban myth that accurate historical research showed through the writings of academics and initiated practitioners. Gardner invented the rituals of Wicca and plagiarized many sources, including Crowley’s Gnostic Mass and the Masonic initiations for Entered Apprentice and Fellow Craft. All of the Deity names and words of power were taken from various sources or just invented. Some of the best liturgical rites were penned by Doreen Valiente, and we owe her a great debt of gratitude.
So, since nothing actually has an ancient provenance and it was invented at some point in the last 75 years or so, is it truly sacred? Oath bound material is given in trust between teacher and student, but it is not sacred because it is only confidential to that specific traditional line. Since the various Books of Shadows have been either published or exist online, there doesn’t seem to be any secrets except those related to an individual’s personal gnosis and to the confidentiality of the members of a coven and what goes on in that group. That is, as far as I am concerned, the extent of oath-bound boundaries and what they should actually cover. Coven histories, membership, covenstead Deities and group developed rites and ceremonies should be covered by an oath of secrecy, or better yet, of confidentiality. Everything else is already known about the various traditions of Witchcraft by the writings of practitioners and folk religion academics. I have maintained in my various articles that the true mysteries of modern Witchcraft and Paganism are what the many individuals experience first hand in their encounters with nature and spirit.
This brings me, of course, to my own case. I took what my teachers gave me, adding it to my own personal system of magic and developed, over the years, an advanced system of magic. I did this without any permission from my teachers, and seemingly without any thought to keeping the traditional practices intact in my work. I am guilty as charged as to having no awe or even appreciation for the traditional teachings. This is because my quest was not to either preserve or promote the teachings that I had been given, but to continue its development and evolve it to highest extent possible to me. I still have the traditional teachings kept separate and intact, although they are, for all practical purposes, been replaced with the more advanced lore that I developed. That includes the seasonal Sabbats and the Esbats and all liturgical as well as magical operations. In my current practice, there is nothing of the traditional lore that I had received so many decades ago.
I also have organized and published this lore that I have developed, and my task is to eventually publish it all. That makes me the consummate oath-breaker, although since what I have developed is my personal system and so far removed from what I received when I was freshly initiated as to not be covered by any oath that I made when undergoing my training and initiation. Still, what Maxine said in her article would identify me as one of those individuals who have used the traditional lore as a stepping stone to gain greater glory while supposedly denigrating the tradition that I was given in sacred trust by no longer using it. However, I have a simple excuse that makes what I have done acceptable, perhaps even admirable. That is the fact that this advanced lore which I have developed and published was an obligation I assumed years ago, even before I was initiated, to my personal Goddess who urged and inspired me to greater complexity and who directed me to share what I had developed with others similar to myself. So, I can say that I am an oath-breaker, sort of, and that I have blithely passed beyond my traditional lore, and I am a published author, simply because my Goddess obliged me to do these things. In other words, the Goddess made me do it!
Frater Barrabas
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