TRADITIONAL WITCHCRAFT RESEARCH NETWORK
(Previously – British Council of Traditional Witchcraft)
An Introduction
Traditional and Hereditary Witchcraft have been around a long time and predate the modern Wiccan revival of Gardnerian and Alexandrian Witchcraft. But few people outside of the Old Craft Witchcraft know of the existence of, and the traditions involved in, such an ancient form of the Craft.
The Craft Revival
The last 40 years or so have seen a tremendous upsurge of interest in the Craft. Wicca and the modern revival had its pioneers in such well-known personages as Gerald Gardner and Alex Sanders. But how many people can claim to know about the Witchcraft taught and practised by others, such as Robert Cochrane/Roy Bowers or Bob Clay-Egerton? Not so many, perhaps. And critics a plenty still scoff and jest and claim there is no such thing as Traditional or Hereditary Witchcraft. But for those of us on the inside and receiving these teachings, well... we know different!
Why A Traditional Witchcraft Research Network?
We plan to build bridges, not barriers. For many years now various Traditional Witchcraft Orders have appeared and vanished, or re-appeared. These were specifically aimed at, and focused around, the teachings of a single tradition within the Old Craft movement without any regard or interest in the forms and teachings of other traditions. Some Orders have ploughed on in self-focused abandon. Other traditions, old and new, have tried to belittle each other in public to try and gain prestige within the Pagan community.
But there has been a recent change in attitude as more and more people begin to dig deeper and deeper to seek out older roots and alternative traditions to the modern 'Craft Revival'. More and more people are becoming less and less concerned with statements like ''Who initiated you then?'' or ''I have an initiatory lineage that goes back to the grand maids of Poo Blah of such and such a time''. The current focus has swung full circle, to the concern of spiritual growth within an environment that is both traditional (for traditional values are as important a focus and discipline to any individual seeking apprenticeship into a magickal order) and flexible to today's social needs and cultural focus.
The Wytches' Standard
We acknowledge that there will of course be many Traditional and Hereditary groups, covens, and orders who will wish to remain secretive (and have nothing to do with any form of 'Council' or 'autonomous network' that represents the Old-Craft of Traditional Witchcraft) and we will naturally respect those wishes. Each group or individual is entitled to complete freedom of thought and choice and we do not want to alienate them in any way.
The British Council of Traditional Witchcraft, was formed at Beltaine 2000, from the ashes of the previous organization the Traditional Witchcraft Research Network has been founded, at Lammas/Lugnasadh 2005. Our aims as yet? Will not be to provide teachings within any particular tradition but to act as a forum/network for discussion, research, communication and information on behalf of all traditions within the Old Craft (Traditional Witchcraft), and therefore to act as a contact/communications and research network with hopefully a discreet introduction service for persons seeking entry into the Old Craft. The Membership is organised into autonomous regions and is non-heirarchical and member-controlled. We also publish an official magazine - The Wytches' Standard.
Membership is currently FREE although donations to help with administration costs are much appreciated. For more information contact us via email or via our online yahoo group at:
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.freewebs.com/twrn/
Yahoo Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TWRN_chat/
We also have a profile page on Witchvox: http://www.witchvox.com/vn/vn_detail/dt_gr.html?a=ukgb2&id=27555
and a profile page on WitchVox for our official magazine - The Wytches' Standard at: http://www.witchvox.com/lx/dt_lx.html?a=ukgb2&id=29157
For more information, or if you have any queries or questions write to the address below enclosing and sae and don't forget to mention that you heard about it here.
TWRN,
299 Martin Street,
Sheffield, S6 3DS,
United Kingdom.
An Introduction
Traditional and Hereditary Witchcraft have been around a long time and predate the modern Wiccan revival of Gardnerian and Alexandrian Witchcraft. But few people outside of the Old Craft Witchcraft know of the existence of, and the traditions involved in, such an ancient form of the Craft.
The Craft Revival
The last 40 years or so have seen a tremendous upsurge of interest in the Craft. Wicca and the modern revival had its pioneers in such well-known personages as Gerald Gardner and Alex Sanders. But how many people can claim to know about the Witchcraft taught and practised by others, such as Robert Cochrane/Roy Bowers or Bob Clay-Egerton? Not so many, perhaps. And critics a plenty still scoff and jest and claim there is no such thing as Traditional or Hereditary Witchcraft. But for those of us on the inside and receiving these teachings, well... we know different!
Why A Traditional Witchcraft Research Network?
We plan to build bridges, not barriers. For many years now various Traditional Witchcraft Orders have appeared and vanished, or re-appeared. These were specifically aimed at, and focused around, the teachings of a single tradition within the Old Craft movement without any regard or interest in the forms and teachings of other traditions. Some Orders have ploughed on in self-focused abandon. Other traditions, old and new, have tried to belittle each other in public to try and gain prestige within the Pagan community.
But there has been a recent change in attitude as more and more people begin to dig deeper and deeper to seek out older roots and alternative traditions to the modern 'Craft Revival'. More and more people are becoming less and less concerned with statements like ''Who initiated you then?'' or ''I have an initiatory lineage that goes back to the grand maids of Poo Blah of such and such a time''. The current focus has swung full circle, to the concern of spiritual growth within an environment that is both traditional (for traditional values are as important a focus and discipline to any individual seeking apprenticeship into a magickal order) and flexible to today's social needs and cultural focus.
The Wytches' Standard
We acknowledge that there will of course be many Traditional and Hereditary groups, covens, and orders who will wish to remain secretive (and have nothing to do with any form of 'Council' or 'autonomous network' that represents the Old-Craft of Traditional Witchcraft) and we will naturally respect those wishes. Each group or individual is entitled to complete freedom of thought and choice and we do not want to alienate them in any way.
The British Council of Traditional Witchcraft, was formed at Beltaine 2000, from the ashes of the previous organization the Traditional Witchcraft Research Network has been founded, at Lammas/Lugnasadh 2005. Our aims as yet? Will not be to provide teachings within any particular tradition but to act as a forum/network for discussion, research, communication and information on behalf of all traditions within the Old Craft (Traditional Witchcraft), and therefore to act as a contact/communications and research network with hopefully a discreet introduction service for persons seeking entry into the Old Craft. The Membership is organised into autonomous regions and is non-heirarchical and member-controlled. We also publish an official magazine - The Wytches' Standard.
Membership is currently FREE although donations to help with administration costs are much appreciated. For more information contact us via email or via our online yahoo group at:
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.freewebs.com/twrn/
Yahoo Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TWRN_chat/
We also have a profile page on Witchvox: http://www.witchvox.com/vn/vn_detail/dt_gr.html?a=ukgb2&id=27555
and a profile page on WitchVox for our official magazine - The Wytches' Standard at: http://www.witchvox.com/lx/dt_lx.html?a=ukgb2&id=29157
For more information, or if you have any queries or questions write to the address below enclosing and sae and don't forget to mention that you heard about it here.
TWRN,
299 Martin Street,
Sheffield, S6 3DS,
United Kingdom.
