Lexonis Draconius
Being a dictionary of terms relative to this website

ATHWART: Also overwart, the act of ploughing east-west and then tilling the rings or rows (usually barley, corn or wheat) north-south to assure the rows would be warmed on both sides by the Sun.

AULRAUN: Also ALRAUNE, AULRAUNE, THE DAME, and OLRAUN. “Old Mystery”, name given to OLD FATE herself, the Dark Primordial Goddess who birthed all things from within Herself. An “alraun” also refers to a carved manikin made out of rowan wood or the roots of certain plants, and ritually enlivened or quickened, and charged with some goal, usually the protection of a home or COMPASS ROUND. Talismanic image made from the root of the Mandrake, also has several other more esoteric meanings.

BAN: Another word for a curse.

BALEFIRE: The fire usually lit at the center of a Compass for hallowing and saining purposes, providing illumination as well as heat, and overlapping both mundane and magical functions.

BEATING THE BOUNDS: This act is performed by a group of local folk perambulating their farms, manors, kirkyards or specific geographical boundaries stopping at particular markers such as trees, walls, hedges, wells and standing stones that mark the extent of the boundary in order to ritually “beat” specific landmarks with sticks (of Ash and Birch) to chase off such things as the lingering effects of the old year and negative energies for protective measures. 

BENT ONES: Also called the RED ONES, RED BENT ONES, RED MEN, GIANTS, RED TWISTED ONES, and the DARK ONES: Names used to refer to those beings who, in Traditional Craft mythology and cosmology, were the first children of OLD FATE, the Dark and Shadowy Mother who is beyond creation in the Void. The Bent Ones were nursed by her and born of the Primal Matter (her body). The Red Ones represent the titanic and chaotic forces of Nature that destroy and break down form, and that dwell at an instinctive and dumb level of awareness. They represent the forces of death, darkness and cold. In the East Country of England the greatest of them was Wandil, the Giant who brought and ruled over the fierce cold of winter. They were defeated and driven away by the Cunning Father and his Children the White Ones, who represent the Forces of light and life. The Ellfed, the All-Father (and his cohorts) then bestowed form to the formless world by the power of Naming, and granted mankind Cunning Fire. Although ‘defeated’, or forever incapable of truly besting the power of Cunning Fire, the Red Ones still struggle with the forces of light, sometimes gaining an upper hand and bringing darkness to the world causing the never-ending battle of Summer and Winter. The Red Ones despise Cunning Fire, and the People of the Fire who possess it, and are frightened of its physical manifestation. The Red Ones also represent the darkness inherent in human nature.

BONE FIRE: Sometimes also called ELF FIRE, LIVING FIRE, WATCH FIRE, FEEORIN FIRE, and DEVIL FIRE. A Hallowed Fire usually at the center of a COMPASS ROUND used in various rites, sometimes as a LAMP OF ARTE.

BESOM: A Ritual Broomstick, one of the key components of LIFTING or Hedge Witchery rites.

BIDDING: A prayer or an incantation.

BINDING: A rite intended to curse someone or to interfere with his or her free will on some matter.

BOUGHT: Another term for the Compass Round.

BUD-WILL: A “magical child” or spirit created by a Witch and covenmates (can be made on a solo basis as well). Long term bud-wills are usually created from a concentrated group effort and charged with devotion from all the members of a group or coven. The bud-will is sometimes used for the purpose of sacrifice in a rite. The bud-will may take the form of a cake, a doll or poppet, a witch bottle, or even a written glyph, and feeds off the life-force of the Witch.

BULL’S NOON: Midnight.

COMPASS ROUND: Also called a MILL, CASTLE or a CIRCLESTEAD, the Bloody Acre, Caer Siddi, or the Furrowed Ground, is a circular area that has been hallowed or devoted to the spirits of Witchcraft or Whisting. Traditionally nine foot in diameter, created by using the red or white cord and a dod at the nowl.

CROOKS AND STRAITS: Also the Crooked Path. In any direction but a straight line, a path fraught with difficulties and beset with both joys and sorrows, synonymous with the life of a Witch; known as walking or trodding the Crooked Path. This term often used in initiations into the Toadsmen and Horsemen societies with regard to the path to the altar, absolute trust of the initiators being ideally anticipated, and all instructions from the initiators being followed to the letter by the initiate in order to avoid pitfalls and errors that may cause one to become hurt physically, or in the least made quite uncomfortable.

CROOMSTICK: Magical stave with a hooked end similar to a shepherd's crook.

CUNNING FIRE: Called the ‘INVISIBLE FIRE’, the ‘WHIST FIRE’, the 'SECRET FIRE', the “SERPENT FIRE”, the “FIRE OF CAIN”, the “Fires in the Head”, and the “Red Dragon Power”. In some Witchcraft Traditions it is the Mystical or Numinous "Heat" or "Light" that the Horned One of the Old Craft, bestowed upon infant humankind in the first mornings of the world, giving mankind an awakened awareness of the Divine Mystery inherent in our nature. This special awareness allows mankind to act as the Ancient Gods, to create technology, language, craft, and art, and to change the world for better or for worse. "Cunning Fire" refers to the active Divine Essence entwined into the human soul-spirit-body-mind concept. It exists in all matter emerging as heat, (manifesting in living beings as body heat) but it exists in the Cunning, or the initiated “People of Fire”, as a Light concentrated within their heads which allows them to see through the darkness of human ignorance. The use of Cunning Fire, (the techniques involved in becoming aware of it, expanding the awareness by its reality-altering powers, and directly experiencing it in moments of mystical ecstasy) form the Mysteries of Traditional Witchcraft. Some of those who bear the Awakened Light of Cunning are said to bear the "Mark of Cain".

CROOKED PATH: The spiritual journey of Witchcraft or Whistcraft of Cunning Folk termed “Crooked” to set it apart from the journey of the Pagan masses that only participate in spiritual mysteries on a very superficial level. Also termed “Crooked” to refer to it’s constantly turning, revealing, and obfuscating nature making it akin to the idea of a “Spiral Path”, forever spiraling towards the Mystery of Witchcraft at the center of all things.

CUNNING ARTE: See WITCHCRAFT, WHISTCRAFT, also the Nameless Arte.

DAGYDE: Traditional Witches' dolly image or figure that is used with needles or pins.

DAME, THE: The Great Feminine Spirit of the Underworlds, the Old Veiled One, the Dark Matriarch Goddess who is the source of all other beings and forces. See AULRAUN

DELYVA: A piece of metal, stone, wood, antler, or bone inscribed with a symbol that allows the Witch or Whistman/Whistwife to perform a LIFTING and enter into the Underworld.

DOD: A stake or peg of wood, generally used for ritual purposes, and used in the formal creation of the bought or compass when attached to the cord and used as a measuring device across the ground's surface.

DOSSEL: also called a MORCAN, a ceremonial image of someone or something.

DREWARY: A sexual praxis conducted between consenting magical partners that is a ways and mean to a sacred and venerable spiritual expression of the Nameless Arte, as well as an emulation of the Dame herself, in the ecstatic and erotic act of sensual enjoyment using prolonged intercourse near the edge of orgasm.

DISTAFF LINE: (Old Craft terminology) The Mother's Line, as opposed to the Father's Line. The Matrilineal Bloodline which contains the spiritual true essence of a person's "self", and by which the Ancestral Souls of the departed leave the Underworld and re-enter Middle Earth. In the Underworld the Old Veiled One, as the Mother of Creation and the Spinner of Fate, holds the "Distaff" by which she spins the threads of creation. Since the Old Thread, all “lines” or “threads”, begin with her and return to her in the Underworld, the Mother's Line is called the "Distaff Line". In the Upperworld the Distaff Line is from Don, as the Mother of Creation and the Spinner of Fate. The alternative Fathers Line is called the “Spear Line”, from various Tribal Father Gods.

ELDRITCH: Strange or unearthly; eerie.

ELFHAME: (Scots Borderlands) Also ELFHOME, ELFLAND, ELPHAME, and ELPHEN, a Land of the Hollow Earth, a Realm of the Underworld; the dimension of power and being that lies “beneath” and “within” all things, the great “pool” or “well” of unmanifested potential that all things emerge from and eventually return to. The commonly Fated resting place of the dead, where they merge with the power below and transform into the HULDU or the DARK FEEORIN state. It’s main “interaction points” with Middle Earth are at tree roots, Standing Stones, wells, hills, and caves. Likewise, each human being is also an “interaction point” as all humans bear a connection to the Ancestors above and below. The QUEEN of ELFHAME is also sometimes just called “Elfhame” or “Elphen” and is one of THE NINE.

EIDOLON: The appearance or image of the FETCH.

ELLFED: Also called Beli Mawr, ELLVED, ALLFAOD, the DRYTEN, TUBAL CAIN. “All Father” Tribal Father God of the Cymry; the great, active, impregnating and shaping power of creation; the most primal strand or conception is the Master of the Whisting Faith; the root-power of consciousness, discrimination and will; the Lord of the Powers of the Otherworld, and the “Father” of all that live in this world; the God that wields the MELL and is thought of as the dominant force of the Sky itself, and the Sky’s power to fertilize the ground with lightning and rain; the God that overcame the BENT ONES. As Father, Protector, and Fertilizer, the Ellfed was common to the Old Pagan Faiths. But Witches, particularly post-medieval Witches, venerate the Ellfed in his stasis of the CUNNING MASTER, or the WHISTMAN, the Cunning Lord of Sorcery.

ENHAZELLED: A plot of earth sained by Hazel staves and red strings.

EYEBITING: also called OVERLOOKING: Cursing with the eyes by looking at the intended subject. See OWL BLINK.

FETCH: The term that refers to the ‘Other’ aspects of Witches and Cunning Folk; these spirits appear as humans and as animals. Union with the FETCH is the experience of wholeness, the union of Witches or Cunning Folk with the Fetch-Lover. FETCH refers to the Soul Mate, the Otherworldly Lover of a Witch, and to the state of being that is experienced in Otherworldly experiences, visions, and LIFTINGS. The FETCH is the Otherworldly spirit that accompanies each person from birth to death, and has a role in helping them beyond, who may also be an Ancestor.

FORKED WOOD: see STANG.



GAST: A physical place that is considered infertile and desolate, or a place in which benevolent spirits have been driven away. Such places are recognized immediately by the feeling, of wanting to flee, or being driven away. Continued exposure to such locations when it has been made apparent that such contact is unwelcome can be dangerous.

 

GREEN GOWN: “Green Gown” figures are synonymous with female Witches and Cunning Folk who are representative of a Nature Goddess, whereas “Green Coats” are male Witches and Cunning Folk representative of a Nature God. They were often noted to be the apparel of Cunning Folk or Witches in traditional lore and faerie tales. Called the EARTH MOTHER or the GOOD WOMAN, “Mother Nature”, the Earth Mother Goddess of feminine power that is the source of all life and generation. The greenery of Nature in the form of plants, trees and water, as well as the whole body of Nature’s life and phenomenon are collectively referred to as the GOOD WOMAN’S MANTLE, the FAIR QUEEN’S MANTLE, or as the GREEN GOWN.

GREY MAGIC: The noble art of obfuscation, not revealing certain things about one's self or one's magical praxis in order to always keep those who may have thought they had a good indication who you were, and what you were about unsteady and uncertain. Robert Cochrane claimed this gave him an advantage over those folks who assumed they had a definite bead on his character.

GUDEMAN'S FAULD:  Also called Jack's Land or No-Man's Land. It is a fold or enclosure of Land that is left wild and never tilled in homage to the Gudeman or Devil. This plot is left as dead ground, and considered a permanent habitation for the spirits of the dead. Variants include the Dame's Acre in homage to Dame Wisdome.

GHOST ROADS: Also called the DEAD WAYS, SERPENT LINES, DRAGON PATHS, OWL TRACKS, OWL ROADS, DEAD ROADS, TRACKS, HEL WAYS, OWL LINES, TOAD ROADS, GOBLIN ROADS, OLD STRAIGHT TRACKS, FEEORIN ROADS, TRODS, and COFFIN PATHS; the invisible “lines” on the surface of the Land which connect points of Hallowed Land inter-relating with the Underworld. The spectral landscape of the Underworld is coterminous with Middle Earth, and places where streams of power flow in the Underworld manifest themselves in the this world as linear arrangements of powerful places or areas. As the HULDU FOLK move through the Underworld, on certain nights of the year (see HALLOWS), the Ghost Roads are the places where they can be most easily perceived. The Ghost Roads, as well as their junctures, act as places where Witches or Cunning Folk can more easily interact with the Otherworld. The Ghost Roads are the locations or “roads” where the power of the recently deceased “travel” to reach the Underworld, a journey which was thought in some places in Europe to take nine nights. In many places in the British Isles, the Ghost Roads have actual ancient stone-age roads built on them, later Roman Roads, and sometimes medieval or modern roads. In earlier times funeral processions moved along these roads to aid the departed in finding and walking the Dead Roads to the Lands of the dead. Christian Churches and graveyards, and earlier Pagan Temples and graveyards, tend to be built or found on these alignments, as well as mounds, barrows, and other more ancient sacred sites.

GOAT- ANGEL’S WOOD: Symbolic way of referring to the Otherworldly place in connection the Witch’s soul that border the Middle World, wherein all spirits can be conjured or met. It is seen as a Land with many mysterious paths and turns, at the center of which CUNNING FIRE burns, rising through the World Tree.

GODSTANE: Also the MENHIR, STANDING STONE, the GOOD TREE, or the GOD TREE. Refers to any lone standing stone, but is a deeper reference to the great cosmic “axis” or center pole pictured as the World Tree that comes up from the deepest parts of the Underworld, passes through the ‘center’ of the Middle World and MIDDLE EARTH, and reaches up to the Upperworld. The Godstane is phallic shaped, therefore a very masculine symbol of fertility, the shaping and impregnating Celtic Father Gods. The Godstane represents the upright force of the human spine, which is analogous to the Godstane in the human body. The Godstane is that which rises, uniting all places and powers, and giving access to them.

GRAMAYRE: A book containing mystical insights or lore. Also, the term used to refer to information gained or learned directly from the Otherworld, or from some other mysterious source.

HALLOWED: Sacred, Sained, Blessed, or Holy. It can also refer to something being empowered with Whisting Force (Witchcraft). To make holy or sained, additionally something that has been empowered with Spirament.

HALLOWS or HALLOWED NIGHTS: The Four Holiest Nights of the year when the HULDU FOLK or FEEORIN move about, sometimes entering MIDDLE EARTH. The great Serpent (Nwyf) of the World Tree alters its condition and awareness causing change in the Physical World and the Otherworld, chiefly an increase in the obviousness of the interaction of these cosmological realities. These four nights are Gymanfa Mawr, Dychweliad, Briodas Lan, and Cyhiraeth. In addition, there are twelve holy nights on and about the Winter Solstice, called the YULETIDE, or MOTHER’S NIGHTS, in which cosmologic reality of the World Tree stops dissolving into primordial darkness and reforms, and the dead no longer wander freely.

HIDDEN COMPANY: HULDU FOLK, ANCESTORS, and the PALE PEOPLE; The post-mortem state of existence of humans, (although it almost always refers to the post-mortem human soul) as well as the pre-birth state of being that acts as the source of awareness, or the “soul” of the newly born, the Ancestor Spirits who dwell in the Underworld and Upperworld. The Dark Ancestors emerge at certain times of the year, in an event called the “Dark Rade”, chiefly between Hallowmas and Yuletide. They lead mysterious and subtle existences in the Upperworld and Underworld, and certain among them can be dangerous at times. They are generally classed in two categories, Dark and Light. The Dark Ancestors represents the Ancestral Spirits in the deepest parts of Hollow Earth. The Light Ancestors, who are also called the MASTER MEN or the Hidden Company, represent the company of realized Ancestral Spirits in the Upperworld who have undergone a mysterious metamorphosis and no longer return to earthly life. Collectively the Feeorin are ruled over by the Mother Goddesses, who are dominant in the Upperworld and the Underworld. It is important to remember that the term “Hidden Folk” refers to the Spirits of the Land itself, that is, the spirits of places, trees, forests, valleys, etc. The overlap between the human and animal dead is great, and oftentimes, the distinction is blurred. 

HORN CUP: The Cup used to hold wine, mead, or ale for RED MEALS and HOUSLES. The Horn Cup is not necessarily made of an animal horn. It is named for Lady Horn, a tutelary Witch Queen, herself the Cunning Fire bearing daughter of the Old Veiled One and Don. Lady Horn is referred to as one of the Nine Ancestral Queens.

HOUSLE: Also called a Aberth, a RED MEAL or a Sacramental Meal SAINING and sharing of wine and bread or ale and grain cakes, between witches and certain spirits.

HAGSTONE: A holed stone that symbolizes a Hag Goddess. Often used by prudent Farriers after having a piece of string run through the holed stone and being attached to the door of the stable with the express purpose being to keep the horses within from being hag-ridden. It can also have additional oneiric uses.

Hang up hooks and shears to scare
Hence the hag that rides the mare,
Till they be all over wet
With the mire and the sweat.
This observed the manes shall be
Of your horses all knot free.

 Robert Herrick

HAEGTESSA:  A “Hedge Rider”, a Saxon term for a Witch.

HIDDEN COMPANY: Cunning Folk or Witches who are Ancestral Spirits of the Dead.

HOUNCES: Colorful worsted braids usually worn by farm horses to keep them from being fascinated by the evil eye or pixie-led.

KA!: This term is similar in scope and use to the phrase “So Mote it Be” and follows at the end of most workings and is also of East Anglian descent.

KUTHUN: An object that a dying witch gives to another witch in order to pass the power.

KARINDER: An East Anglian term with deliberate incantory uses that draws attention and is used at the beginnings of most workings.

LAMP OF CUNNING ARTE: Anything that holds candles whose flames will be blessed or SAINED to be used as a WATCH FIRE.

LILITH’S LANTERN: Also called PHAYEE’S LANTERN; the Moon.

LIFTING: Also called TRANSVECTION, OOT AND ABOOT and OTHERWORD JOURNEYING; the occurrence of an “out of body” experience in which the witch “leaves” the body and travels into the Otherworld; the experience of reality from the perspective of the FETCH or the PUCKERIL. It is the awakening of extra-sensory perceptions and the experience of extra-sensory reality during Hedge Witchery. Additionally known as “Faring Forth the Fetch”, “Traveling Oot and Aboot” (transvection), and refers to the spiritual travel when Witches or Cunning Folk leaves their body and travels into the Otherworld. This form of reality is most often experienced by the Fetch and Familiars.

MAN IN BLACK: Archaic term for Magister of a Cuveen.

MARK OF CAIN: The invisible, numinous mark usually bestowed upon initiation that marks and denotes that one is of the Old Craft Persuasion. Also known as the Witches Mark.

MASTER: Also the WHISTMAN, the WHISTMASTER, LUCIFIER, Beli Mawr, CUNNING MASTER, OLD TUBAL or TUBAL CAIN. It is the name given to the Lord of Cunning, the “Light-Bearing” spirit that gifted Witche sand Cunning Folk with the CUNNING FIRE. Seen as a refulgent spirit of light and insight, this All-Father God is pictured often as a Coal Black Smith with Golden Ram horns or Goat’s horns. The Lord of the Mystery which lies beyond life and death; He who is the very image of the Mystery itself, the God of the Wise also called “Earendil” or “Orvendale” by British Witches, and the Devil by Christains. Ambiguous title given to the Lord that bears the Light between his Horns recognized often in his primal forms of a Blacksmith as well as an Archer.

MASTER MEN: Also called the HIDDEN COMPANY. “Perfected” or realized souls that have undergone a mysterious metamorphosis into a new state of being, a state of being in the Upperworld.

MIDDLE EARTH: The Physical World, which is not the Otherworld Realm of the Middle World.

MOLLHERN LAND: The Underworld, or the Land of the Dead.

MAGISTELLUS: “Little Master”- a FAMILIAR or a quickened DOSSEL that serves as a personal helper.



MELL: A ritual hammer.

MOLE COUNTRY: The Underworld, the HOLLOW EARTH; the Land of the Dark Feeorin. See ELPHAME.

MYRKRIDER: Alternate term for Hedge Wytches, Hedge Riders.

NAMELESS ARTE: A euphemism for Wisdom and Mysteries of the Old Craft, Traditional Witchcraft, Whistcraft, Traditional Craft or the Elder Craft, that which integrates with Cunning Arte.

NAYWORD: A secret password or watchword, or a specific term or phrase that allowed one to gain access to a rite or celebratory Hallows with others and must be given correctly in order to advance into the Cuveen.

NORTHWAYS: Moving in a counter-clockwise fashion, Moonwise with the Moon's movement.

NOWL: The center, navel or omphalos as in the Pole star or the center of a Compass or some other area used for magical workings. The Pole Star or the Northern Star is the center of a Compass relating to the Godstane or World Tree.

NUMEN: A presiding spirit of a Hallowed Land. A spirit believed by Witches to inhabit certain natural phenomena or objects.

OLD FATE: (Traditional Old Craft). Also known as the Old Veiled One, she is the Primordial Dark Goddess of the Old Faith of British Witches, the absolute power that reigns over every aspect of creation, as its source and as its devourer, and who appears as the implacable and harsh Dark Matriarchal Goddess who gives all and consumes all, only to give forth once again. The Serpentine Goddess of the Old Thread whose breath and movements cause all events to come to pass, including the creation and destruction. Old Fate is associated with the act of Spinning and sometimes appeared as a triplicity of women, or a Serpent Mother Goddess. Old Fate is as much beyond all things as much as all things are Old Fate. Transcending the unconscious drives and seemingly inescapable events ordained by Old Fate is the goal of British Witchcraft, and Fate is the "briar cradle that rocks the infant spirit" in preparation for its transcendence. She is the granter of Awakening and Unmanifested Fate. Old Fate's secret name is the Name of Creation that can bring one’s own Fate under the knower’s control. Old Fate is esoterically the “inner reality” within and beyond Nature, Nature’s eternal transcendent core; see AULRAUN
Known also as the Old Veiled One, the Serpent Mother, Dame Fate, the Spinner of the Threads of Fate in the Underworld. Seen sometimes as a Serpent Goddess and sometimes Primordial Dark Matriarch All-Goddess of the Underworld, She of the Old Thread whose secret and unknown name is said with fear and dread, sometimes appeared as Three Separate Women in different cultural contexts as the Morai, the Parcae, the Norns.

OLD FIRES: Also called the GOOD PEOPLE, the GREEN FOLK, HIDDEN PEOPLE, the HIDDEN FOLK or HULDU FOLK. They are the Spirits that inhabit the Land itself, as opposed to the FEEORIN who are merged with the internal power of the Underworld. They are guardians and spirits of Hallowed Places, landscape features, and of Nature in general. These spirits are the givers of tellurian fertility in their natural areas.
OLD HOB: Also called GREEN COAT, POUCK, OLD PUCK, HOBTHRUST, COCK ROBIN, and ROBIN GOODFELLOW. He is the masculine Spirit of the Land itself, the Spirit of Nature, life and fertility. King of the OLD FIRES seen as cunning, shrewd and knavish, appearing as a goatish or satyrish Horned Man. King of the Trees and the Castle of Life, also called Hobthrust Hall. He is a God of the Somerset Witches.

ONEIRIC: Of relating to, or suggestive of dreams and the dream state, the stage between sleep and wakefulness, also known as the trance state of Twilyte Sleep.

ON-LAY: The act of “laying on” or creating new magical virtues by the use of Cunning Arte at a specific place, be it indoors or out, though those out of doors are preferred. It is the Cunning Arte of placing an “overlay’ of relevant power, of mythical and magical patterns, on a particular area of land for specific intentions and purposes. Under an on-lay, the attributes brought on from the Spirits of the Land are minimally kept and can even be overridden.

OOT AND ABOOT: The Scottish Cunning Arte called LIFTING, also Faring Forth the Fetch or Hedge Witchery.

OWLBLINK: Also Eyebiting or Witching; a type of curse.

OWL LIGHT: The Twilight, dusk and dawn

OWL TRACKS: See GHOST ROADS
 

POPPET: Also called a Mommet. A small figure made from wax and cloth, and created as an image of a person or thing in order to work a form of sympathetic magic. They are stuffed with herbs, hair, fingernails and sometimes bodily fluids; also called a MOMMET or a DOSSEL.


POUK'S PINFOLD: An alternate term for an Underworld Realm with Pouk being the Devil and a Pinfold being a type of enclosure or pen for stray animals. 

 

PUCKEREL: Also called a PUCKRIL, a BID, or a FETCH; the Otherworldly Lover of Cunning Folk and Witches that is a beast, acts as one source of the Witch’s power, and acts as the guide and protector of the Witch in the Otherworld. The Puckerel is also the means by which some Witches undertake the LIFTING.

PHILTRE: A potion or herbal mixture, usually used in conjunction with a WORKING.



RED THREAD: A reference relating to the idea and concept of the Witch Blood, the Bloodline that is passed from generation to generation in a physical sense, or in reference to those who have had it awakened spiritually through some form of initiation, spiritual death and rebirth.

RIG: A cord or line that runs across a Compass or Caer that was created while attached to two dods. It usually runs from the center to the very northernmost edge.

ROUGH MUSICKING: Also Riding the Stang, Skimmington, or Skimmity. This custom apparently began as a new year's tradition unique to the regions of Cumberland, Westmorland and the Yorkshire areas. The act of “Riding the Stang” belongs to a range of customs that were particular to the working classes in which they claim the right to manhandle their superiors. Can be compared to similar traditions enacted at the Corby Pole Fair as well. This custom involved a gathering of folks going about the village to a particular place or home with metal plates, tins, poles and such being struck loudly so as to make obnoxious noises (usually done at night). Also used as a way to “drum a man (or woman) out of the village” for such offenses as adultery, incest, spousal abuse. Another symbol of social disproval is the leaving of or scattering of chaff at the threshold of the home of the offender.

SCORE ABOVE THE BREATH: The belief carried over from medieval times that causing a Witch to bleed above the mouth and nose (by intentionally scratching, slashing or poking) would cause any workings that had been done or magical acts performed to become null and void.

SECRET GRANARY:  The legendary and elusive Gramarye or grammar book containing the Craft Secrets of East Anglia.

SIT YE MERRY: East Anglian phrase meaning “Behold, the End” and used at the end of an invocation or working. 

SOUTHWAYS: Moving in a clockwise fashion, deosil or Sunwise with the Sun's movement.

SMOOR: To smother the flames of a Balefire or Watch Fire.

SPIRIT TRAPS: A protective charm made by several means, from a small magically charged stone nestled between the forks of a small stang, to more elaborate creations involving weaving a particular pattern with red thread atop a forked ash or rowan wand. Such woven traps incorporated design elements as runes of protection and were planted firmly at the front and back doors of structures.
STANG: Also called FORKED WOOD, it is a forked ritual pole serving chiefly as an altar. Traditionally it is made of ash wood, although other woods representing the World Tree are also used. The Stang probably has more symbolic significance attached to it than any other implement used in the British Old Craft besides the Cord; it represents the GODSTANE, the White Tree, or the World Tree. It also represents the Goat Horned Master of Witches. It can represent all manner of dualities, chiefly life and death, and the union or the Mystery that resolves them. It can represent a threshold into the Otherworld, and a Ward of the OWL-TRACKS or the GHOST ROADS. It can represent many other things as well. Normally, a Stang is a 5-6 foot pole, terminating in a natural fork or mounted horns, and the term “Forked Wood” can refer to a smaller version of the same, normally 2-3 feet in length, and ending in a natural fork. The Stang is a physical representation of the World Tree showing the illusion of duality, as well as being a staff of office for the Cuveen Magister or Magistra, or the Clan Chieftain. It also functions as a walking stick. The Stang is also used to mark Serpent Lines and used as tools to survey the surrounding countryside.

GREAT SERPENT POWER: The Green Dragon Power, the Land Serpent, the Serpent Fire of the Land, or the CUNNING FIRE of the Land. It is the symbolic form and term used to describe the power in the Land itself as an aspect of the Nwyf. As the serpent can coil itself into a spiral, the Power in the Land eternally spins or cycles in a never-ending spiral of seasons and change of the Mill Stone. This power is the “underlying” power of all things, places, and forms, as well as all life in Middle Earth. In this usage, the Serpent Power of the Land is one of the sources of Whisting Force. SERPENT LINES or other concentrations of this power are seen as nearby manifestations in the Underworld and MIDDLE EARTH. Sensing and manipulating this force is part of the Mystery of Land Craft and Cunning Craft in the Old Craft.

SAIN: “To Sain”; to make an object, person, or place HALLOWED; also called “Reddening”.

SHIMMERING: The same as LIFTING experienced during Hedge Witchery.

SHADE: Post-mortem spirit of a dead person, usually only seen following their deaths, while they are on their journey down the GHOST ROADS. Also a Land bound Spirit of the Dead, a FEEORIN WARD.

 

THE TOAD’S BOON: The capacity for, or gift of, WITCHCRAFT. It is the presence of CUNNING FIRE in Awakened Witches and Cunning Folk. Distinctive powers of Witchcraft given to the Toad Men through a complicated ritual using the specific crotch shaped bones of a certain type of toad, and known in a similar vein to the Horsemen and the Horseman's Word in their abilities and praxis.

THE OWL YARD: The North; also a euphemism for the Otherworld in general.

TO LIE BY THE WALL: To be dead.

TWYLITE SLEEP: A trance state in the Old Craft.

THE SHINING WORD: Also called the SECRET WORD or sometimes the HORSEMAN’S WORD. The use of the CUNNING FIRE in the form of spoken incantations backed by and directed by human will. The “Word” also refers to the MASTER himself, and the “Word” also refers to his secret name by which Will and the CUNNING FIRE can shape reality.

THE GREAT NAME: Also called the SECRET NAME and the TERRIBLE NAME. The true name of Old Fate, by which a person’s Fate can be altered and changed according to their will. This name is not to be thought of as a “word” as much as an experience of the inner nature of reality.

UNDER THE ROSE: Referring to the specific symbol of the red and white rose representing confidentiality and secrecy in matters shared. The thorned rose symbolizes the soul of Awakened Witches and Cunning Folk trodding the Crooked Path.

WARD: The FEEORIN spiritual guardian(s) of a Hallowed Area or a place. The spiritual guarding of an area or a place, or the act of using magic to protect a place, by a SHADE.


WASSAIL: Word that means “be whole”; also the ceremonial charming of trees after winter.

WATCH FIRE: See BONE FIRE.

WEER: Pale or gaunt in appearance.

TRADITONAL WITCHCRAFT, TRADITONAL CRAFT, WHISTCRAFT, NAMELESS ARTE, or the OLD CRAFT: The conscious and willful use of WHIST FIRE or CUNNING FIRE. It also refers to the use of other techniques such as CUNNING CRAFT, WORTCUNNING, HEDGE WITCHERY, and LAND CRAFT of the Cunning Arte of Britain.



WHIST: Also WHISTING, WHISTCRAFT, WHISTFIRE, and WHISTFORCE; Wist is a West Country word that means “uncanny” or “mysterious”. Also refers to the breath of SERPENT POWER, the magical force inherent in all things. “Whisting” refers to Witchcraft. “Whistfire” is the same as SERPENT FIRE or CUNNING FIRE. The Whistman or Whistwife is the term for a practitioner of the Whist Way. “The Whistman” is the West Country name for the Horned Master, also called Hnik (Nick), Bucca or Robin. He is called the Devil by Christians. He is associated with his hounds, large and black, with 'saucer eyes' or breathing fire (the Whist-Hounds). He hunts the lonely countryside with them at times. He is Old Fate’s consort, as well as the spirit that created the first humans out of two trees that had grown up out of the Land. He gave humans speech, thought and imagination, animation, and taught some of the first Cunning Folk Wisting, or Witchcraft. He acts as the primary Brythonic Celtic God through which Whist-Power is taught and utilized. The greatest secret of Whistcraft is the key to becoming an immortal Awakened Spirit like “The Whistman”.

WITCH BOTTLES: Also known as Bellarmines or Greybeards. Squat, narrow necked stoneware bottles designed to act as a repellent against Witches. They are usually filled with such things as bent nails, urine, broken glass and needles and set in a pot of boiling water till they burst with the idea being that a form of linkage would occur that would cause great suffering to the bewitcher. They can additionally be buried to work over a longer period of time.

“To house the Hag you must do this;
Commix with meal a little Pisse
Of him bewitcht: then forthwith make
A little Wafer or a Cake.
And this raw'ly bak't will bring
The old Hag in. No surer thing.”

Robert Herrick

WITCHES LADDER:  A length of cord that has been knotted to hold feathers, shells, stones, or other objects that is used as a form of cord magic.

WORT: Plant matter or herbs either in the green, living state or dried.

WORTCUNNING: Whistcraft or Witchcraft accomplished solely by the use of the magickal force in wort. A Strand in the Old Craft called Land Craft.



WRAINGATES: Going widdershins, Moonwise, or against the Sun's movement, counterclockwise.

WYRD: The process of the unseen Web of Fate, synchronicity and cause and effect throughout the World Tree.