Where Witches Go and How to Get There!

There is a metaphorical place that is really a state of awareness in which those of us practicing Traditional Craft attempt to achieve. The idea is akin to one our ritual axioms where we say we are building our circle and temple space in a “time that is not a time and a place that is not a place.” This is also us talking about ourselves. We, our Craft, is designed to create our life about us, just like the casting of circle, a place that is not a place and a time that is not a time. In essence this state in which we aspire transcends but also permeates immanently throughout the entirety of our life—if we make it so.

Mythically this state of being is spoken of as the Witches Sabbat(h) unto which the Witches would travel. At the Sabbat they would metaphorically sing and dance the story of life and intimately, meaning on the personal level, enter into ecstatic congress with divinity. For those of you familiar with flying ointments and the practices of hedge-riding, I’m not talking about those practices at this junction but the whole of the Craft. On that note it is important to remember that our praxis and lore can have multiple meanings. The Witches’ Sabbat is one of those items that is also a symbol of the aforementioned state of being.

Reaching the Witches’ Sabbat is in one sense the same as being the time that is not a time and place that is not a place. The trick is getting to the Sabbat so that the Witch can create about them a life that echoes throughout the whole of existence as the indistinguishable marriage to the sacred. In this our praxis is the vehicle for getting there. This is the reason that Traditionalists stress orthopraxy, or at least one of the reasons.

In the story of the Witches’ Sabbat, Witches travel to the Sabbat by flying on their besom. Our practice, the Craft that we are the legacy of, is like the besom. The besom is our vehicle. Likewise, our practice is the vehicle that allows us to travel to the goal. For this to happen successfully the Witch must become adept at their magick or the besom will never take flight. Additionally, the Witch must come to know and trust the workings of the besom (read as our practice) in order to traverse the journey. In this the focus has to be on the flight and not the eventual destination, continually adjusting one’s heading, grip, and magick, or the Sabbat won’t be reached. This of course is all a teaching story.

Ultimately, the Sabbat is not there, it is here. It is right now, right here. The praxis is not a besom but it is the means. In time the illusions of place and time, and the metaphor, fall away. That is if the Witch takes refuge in the heart of their Craft. To do all of this, the Witch must climb upon the besom and make it their tool.

Boidh Se!

-SM

“Lost in a thicket bare-foot upon a thorned path.”