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      мллллллл  ллллллллн оллллллллн     ллл       лллллл
     млллллллн  олллллллл олллллллл       п        оллллллм   мл
    млллллллн    лллллллл  ллллллллн               оолллллллллп
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  млпллллллмллллмолллллллл ол пллллл           м   лнллллл             м
 мл оллллллллллп  ллллллллл плм  плллмм    ммлллп ол олллн         ммлл
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    ппппп                ппллп      ппппп        ппппппппппппп
          ARRoGANT                CoURiERS      WiTH     ESSaYS

Grade Level:       Type of Work           Subject/Topic is on:
 [ ]6-8                 [ ]Class Notes    [Re-Thinking the Watch-  ]
 [ ]9-10                [ ]Cliff Notes    [Towers                  ]
 [x]11-12               [ ]Essay/Report   [                        ]
 [ ]College             [x]Misc           [                        ]

 Dizzed: o4/95  # of Words:1710  School: ?              State: ?
ФФФФФФФФФ>ФФФФФФФФФ>ФФФФФФФФФ>Chop Here>ФФФФФФФФФ>ФФФФФФФФФ>ФФФФФФФФФ>ФФФФФФФФФ

      RE-THINKING THE WATCHTOWERS
                   or
 13 Reasons Air should be in the North
=======================================
            by Mike Nichols
    copyright 1989 by Mike Nichols
 (fondly dedicated to Kathy Whitworth)


INTRODUCTION

    It all started 20 years ago.  I was 16 years old then, and a recent
initiate to the religion of Wicca.  Like most neophytes, I was eager to
begin work on my Book of Shadows, the traditional manuscript liturgical
book kept by most practicing Witches.  I copied down rituals, spells,
recipes, poems, and tables of correspondences from every source I could lay
hands on.  Those generally fell into two broad catagories: published works,
such as the many books available on Witchcraft and magic; and unpublished
works, mainly other Witches' Books of Shadows.

     Twenty years ago, most of us were "traditonal" enough to copy
everything by hand.  (Today, photocopying and even computer modem transfers
are becoming de rigueur.)  Always, we were admonished to copy "every dot
and comma", making an exact transcription of the original, since any
variation in the ceremony might cause major problems for the magician.
Seldom, if ever, did anyone pause to consider where these rituals came from
in the first place, or who composed them.  Most of us, alas, did not know
and did not care.  It was enough just to follow the rubrics and do the
rituals as prescribed.

     But something brought me to an abrupt halt in my copying frenzy.  I
had dutifully copied rituals from different sources, and suddenly realized
they contained conflicting elements.  I found myself comparing the two
versions, wondering which one was "right", "correct", "authentic",
"original", "older", etc.  This gave rise to the more general questions
about where a ritual came from in the first place.  Who created it?  Was it
created by one person or many?  Was it ever altered in transmission?  If
so, was it by accident or intent?  Do we know?  Is there ever any way to
find out?  How did a particular ritual get into a Coven's Book of Shadows?
From another, older, Book of Shadows? Or from a published source?  If so,
where did the author of the published work get it?

     I had barely scratched the surface, and yet I could already see that
the questions being raised were very complex.  (Now, all these years later,
I am more convinced than ever of the daunting complexity of Neo-Pagan
liturgical history.  And I am equally convinced of the great importance of
this topic for a thorough understanding of modern Witchcraft.  It may well
be a mare's nest, but imagine the value it will have to future Craft
historians.  And you are unconditionally guaranteed to see me fly into a
passionate tirade whenever I'm confronted with such banal
over-simplifications as "Crowley is the REAL author of the Third Degree
initiation," or "Everyone KNOWS Gardner INVENTED modern Witchcraft.")

CONFLICTING TRADITIONS

     The first time I noticed conflicting ritual elements was when I was
invited as a guest to attend another Coven's esbat celebration.  When the
time came to "invoke the Watchtowers" (a ritual salutation to the four
directions), I was amazed to learn that this group associated the element
of Earth with the North. My own Coven equated North with Air.  How odd, I
thought. Where'd they get that?  The High Priestess told me it had been
copied out of a number of published sources.  Further, she said she had
never seen it listed any other way.  I raced home and began tearing books
from my own library shelves.  And sure enough!  Practically every book I
consulted gave the following assoications as standard: North = Earth, East
= Air, South = Fire, West = Water.

     Then where the heck did I get the idea that Air belonged in the North?
After much thought, I remembered having copied my own elemental/directional
associations from another Witch's Book of Shadows, her Book representing
(so she claimed) an old Welsh tradition.  Perhaps I'd copied it down wrong?
A quick long-distance phone call put my mind at ease on that score. (When I
asked her where she'd gotten it, she said she THOUGHT it was from an even
older Book of Shadows, but she wasn't certain.)

     By now, I felt miffed that my own traditon seemed to be at variance
with most published sources.  Still, my own rituals didn't seem to be
adversely affected.  Nor were those of my fellow Coven members, all of whom
put Air in the North. Further, over the years I had amassed lots of
associations and correspondences that seemed to REQUIRE Air to be in the
North. The very thought of Air in the East offended both my sense of reason
and my gut-level mythic sensibilities.  There are good REASONS to place Air
in the North.  And the whole mythological superstructure would collapse if
Air were in the East, instead. If this is so, then why do most published
sources place Earth in the North and Air in the East?

RITUAL TAMPERING

     Suddenly, I felt sure I knew the reason!  Somewhere along the line,
someone had deliberately tampered with the information!  Such tampering is
a long and venerable practice within certain branches of magic.  In Western
culture, it is most typically seen among Hermetic, Cabalistic and
"ceremonial" magic lodges.  It is common among such groups that, when
publishing their rituals for public consumption, they will publish versions
that are INCOMPLETE and/or deliberately ALTERED in some way from the
authentic practice.  This prevents someone who is NOT a member of the group
from simply buying a book, and performing the rituals, without benefit of
formal training.  It is only when you are initiated into the lodge that you
will be given the COMPLETE and/or CORRECTED versions of their rituals. This
is how such groups guard their secrets.  (And it is a telling postscript
that many scholars now believe modern Witchcraft to have "borrowed" its
directional/elemental correspondences from ceremonial magic sources!  What
a laugh if this was Crowley's last best joke on his friend Gerald Gardner!)

     I remember the first time I became aware of such deliberate ritual
tampering.  A friend of mine had been making a study of the so-called
"planetary squares", talismans that look like magic squares consisting of a
grid of numbers in some cryptic order.  There are seven such squares -- one
for each of the "old" planets.  While making this study, he began coloring
the grids (more for his own pleasure than anything else), making colorful
mini-mosaics, using first two colors, then three, then four, and on up to
the total number of squares in the grid.  Six of the planetary squares
yeilded pleasing patterns of color. Then there was the Sun square!  Against
all expectation, the colors were a random jumble, with no patterns
emerging.  Thus, he began his quest for the CORRECTED Sun square.  And I
became convinced of the reality of ritual tampering.

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    7. MYTHOLOGICAL: In Celtic mythology, north is invariably associated
with air.  The pre-Christian Irish gods and goddesses, the Tuatha De
Danann, were "airy" faeries (later versions came equiped with wings,
relating them to sylphs).  The Book of Conquests states their original home
was in the north, "at the back of the north wind".  And when they came to
Ireland, they came in ships, THROUGH THE UPPER AIR (!), settling on the
mountain tops.  (It has always struck me as odd that some modern writers
see mountains as a symbol of earth.  The crucial symbolism of the mountain
is its height, rising into the air, touching the sky.  Virtually all
Eastern traditions associate mountains, favorite abodes of gurus, with air.
A CAVE would be a better symbol of earth than a mountain.)  In Welsh
mythology, too, Math the Ancient, chief god of Gwynedd (or NORTH Wales), is
specifically associated with wind, which can carry people's thoughts to
him.

     8. YIN/YANG: Many occultists believe that the four elements have
yin/yang connections.  Both air and fire are seen as masculine, while earth
and water are seen as feminine.  If air is associated with the north point
of the magic circle, and earth is east, then one achieves a yin/yang
alternation as one circumnambulates the circle.  As one passes the cardinal
points of east, south, west, and north, one passes feminine, masculine,
feminine, masculine energies.  This alternating flux of plus/minus,
push/pull, masculine/feminine, is the very pulse of the universe,
considered of great importance by most occultists. That it was equally
important to our ancestors is evidenced by standing stones in the British
Isles.  At sites like the Kennet Avenue of Braga, the tall, slender,
masculine, phallic stones alternate precisely with the shorter,
diamond-shaped yoni stones.

     9. GENERATOR: This argument flows out of the previous one. Practicing
magicians often think of the magic circle as a kind of psychic generator.
Witches in particular like to perform circle dances to "raise the cone of
power".  Hand in hand, and alternating man and woman, they dance clockwise
(deosil) around the circle, moving faster and faster until the power is
released.  This model has an uncanny resemblance to an electrical
generator, as man and woman alternately pass each of the four "poles" of
the magic circle.  These poles themselves MUST alternate between plus and
minus if power is to be raised. This means that if the masculine fire is in
the south, then the masculine air MUST be in the north.  If the feminine
water is in the west, then the feminine earth MUST be in the east.  If any
adjacent pair were switched, the generator would stop dead.

     10. MASCULINE/FEMININE AXIS: When you look at a typical map, north
(the cardinal direction) is at the top.  Any north-south road is a vertical
line, and any east-west road is a horizonatal line.  Likewise, a "map" of a
magic circle makes the vertical north-south axis masculine (with air and
fire), while the horizontal east-west axis is feminine (earth and water).
This makes logical sense.  When we look at the horizon of the earth, we see
a horizontal line.  Water also seeks a horizontal plane.  Feminine
elements, considered "passive", have a natural tendency to "lay down".
Fire, on the other hand, alway assumes an erect or vertical position.  Air,
too, can rise upward, as earth and water cannot.  Masculine elements, being
"active", have a natural tendency to "stand up".
