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Children of Cain - Book Review


anjeaunot

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Children of Cain - A Study of Modern Traditional Witches. Michael Howard (Three Hands Press USA. www.threehandspress.com)

 

Readers might be interested in this definitive study of modern traditional witchcraft and its publicly known personalities who have pioneered the movement. It examines in-depth the lives, beliefs and practices of leading modern traditional witches such as Cecil Williamson, Robert Cochrane, Norman Gills, Rosaleen Norton, Monica English, Charles Cardell, Victor Anderson, E.W. Liddell, (whee, I made the list, lol) Ronald White, George Stannard, and Andrew Chumbley. This book also describes the history, beliefs, mythos and rituals of modern Traditonal Craft covines and groups such as the Cultus Sabbati, the Clan of Tubal Cain, the Goatfold, the Regency, the Coven of Atho, the Grey Goosefeather Coven, Whitesone, the Pickingill Craft, the Greenwood Craft of Arden, Skull and Bones, the Feri tradition etc.

 

Standard hard back with dust jacket $US 50.00 including postage. Available in the UK from Midian Books www.midianbooks.co.uk. I don't know the UK price.

 

I haven't read the book yet but it could be informative and a useful guide to the modern trad craft.

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Honest truth? , I have not read any books on Modern Traditional Witchcraft but I do like Michael Howard, I think I have his Traditional Folk Remedies somewhere and one on magical plants.

 

I know my view of traditional witchcraft varies from others, but I'd at least like to know what people are on about when discussing 'trad craft' and that I could actually join in with a conversation without looking like a complete tool. I may take a look at this after I've seen the reviews.

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Guest copperhedge

Michael Howard writing about Whitestone?!?!?!?! Okay now i am intrigued. Have several people i now need to immediately call!!! hahahahaha.

Edited by copperhedge
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Guest copperhedge

Really? Now I'm intrigued?

 

You UK based Spinney? Have you ever interacted with any of the Whitestone group? Or followers, or enthusiasts or on the other end of the spectrum the controversy hounds and The Whitestone Survivors Group? In one sentence; Shit got nasty.

 

Michael Howard, a controversial figure but in my opinion possibly the best person to write this kind of book! Although I hear he is biased towards believing that Whitestone was a survival of actual ancient pagan old Craft and there are those that believe it was totally reconstructed. Whatever you believe, Whitestone lives on as the stuff of Myth and Legend. I've not heard of anything being published by any of the Whitestone members or indeed about Whitestone for a very long time. But I have friends that have been involved with this stuff for a long time. I've just told them about the book and they're sobbing at the price tag as too skint to buy it!

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You UK based Spinney? Have you ever interacted with any of the Whitestone group? Or followers, or enthusiasts or on the other end of the spectrum the controversy hounds and The Whitestone Survivors Group? In one sentence; Shit got nasty.
Yes |'m in the UK but not really interested in covens ( shit gets nasty). When researching the trad witchcraft covens I found nothing but bitter splits, petty arguments and a "We are right, you are wrong " mentality on all sides which bores me to death and has taken everything sacred out of Traditional Witchcraft covens and turned them into a bit of a joke, which is why I wouldn't mind reading a book about them rather than websites I have joined(and left quite quickly)

As I said in my above post other peoples idea of what Traditional Witchcraft probably differs hugely from mine

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Guest copperhedge

Yes |'m in the UK but not really interested in covens ( shit gets nasty). When researching the trad witchcraft covens I found nothing but bitter splits, petty arguments and a "We are right, you are wrong " mentality on all sides which bores me to death and has taken everything sacred out of Traditional Witchcraft covens and turned them into a bit of a joke, which is why I wouldn't mind reading a book about them rather than websites I have joined(and left quite quickly)

 

Well with the Whitestone line, it got particularly nasty, with allegations of sexual abuse and all sorts (although many believe that this was part of a smear campaign).

 

 

As I said in my above post other peoples idea of what Traditional Witchcraft probably differs hugely from mine

 

People can become very territorial about terms and some of the lineages of "Trad witches" in the UK are no different. Some of the definitions vary wildly even within those of the same Traditiion. So for similar reasons to you, i'll be very interested to read this book! My own definitions are probably quite different from many on this forum, for instance. Although, i like that. A lot. It's spicy hahahaha!

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Guest Jack Dark

I found this a very frustrating book.

 

Michael Howard is absolutely the main point of contact between traditional witches in Britain and around the world and as such is eminently qualified to write a book like this. However, he's also biased towards belief in modern witchcraft being remnants of older practices. Which may well be the case and he does give *some* evidence for this here, but in the main it's not examined in as much depth or with as much scrutiny as I'd hoped. This is sadly no 'Triumph of the Moon' in terms of being an academic tome, although it does cover some of the same ground that Hutton did.

 

Where it is excellent is in regards to Robert Cochrane and Andrew Chumbley. Howard knew Chumbley well and and is also in touch with the current magister of the group, so with regards to the Cultus Sabatti he's providing as much history and information as he reasonably can. On Cochrane and Clan of Tubal Cain and related groups, it's virtually the same case, as although I don't think Howard knew Cochrane, he clearly knows very many people who were involved there and the information presented is essentially first hand material, which builds up an excellent picture and checkable history.

 

Where the book is very disappointing is in its treatment of groups like the Horsemen's Word and other rural guilds such as these. I had been hoping for some genuine insider material of the sort mentioned above, but it wasn't there and whilst Howard describes these groups and how they operated, this isn't well referenced and falls far short of an academic approach, leaving the claims made to be contentious and poorly sourced. I don't think that there was anything here which isn't available elsewhere and sadly I feel that Howard may even have been relying on the other sources of material that I'd already read to prepare this chapter rather than anything unique.

 

Howard's section on the Coven of Atho also tends towards the extremely generous. Doreen Valiente became extremely sceptical of Charles Cardell's claims and found problems with them to the extent that it seems she was fairly sure he'd made up the whole of the 'tradition'. Melissa Siems has done some excellent work on the Coven of Atho and also seems to agree. Perhaps Howard is presenting it all at face value because that's the brief he's given himself, but again I would have liked to seen a little more rigour. Although, that has been extensively performed elsewhere.

 

As an aside, the sections in Doreen Valiente's diaries where she writes about how she went to investigate the Coven of Atho and planned her train times and bus routes and where to hide in trees and bushes to watch them, before approaching them are wonderful reading and show her strong her dedication to finding the old craft was.

 

The chapter on Traditional Witches in the USA was also interesting in that it showed how some of the European traditions may have transferred over there, but I don't know enough about this to comment as to how rigorous a piece of investigation this was. It's something that this book will spur me on to look into in greater depth, however.

 

The very short section about Whitestone does mention some of the trouble that the group got into and very briefly describes the claimed origins of the group without interrogating these or offering any supporting evidence. Whitestone was a massive can of worms for the UK's traditional witch community, such as it was, and this perhaps wisely doesn't open that, but again it would have been interesting to see Michael Howard's take on it and to finally put it all into the public domain.

 

All in all, this is perhaps an essential book, but not the final word on the subject that I had very much hoped that it would be.

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Hey - That was a wonderful review, thank you. I have bought the book but as I've been off work all week I have been mostly out in the yard (which in Florida is just waking up and starting its growing season) and haven't had time to sit down and read yet.

 

I have found that of the three of them (Chumbley, Schulke, Howard) and their writing styles Howard is the most academic/historical, Schulke the most "connection", and Chumbly very grimorie/ritualistic. Perhaps as a trio they give a more complete picture. Although I did once read of Chumbly that at heart he was just a country witch. I think there is a lot to be said for that. With all the academia about the craft (which I do much love) it has to have at its heart a connection - a "country witch" - or it is purely an academic pursuit no matter how enjoyable that is.

 

Re oral lore of Europe there are several books by George Ewart Evans where he toured various villages talking to the "old people" and wrote down much of their oral lore. His books don't read like craft books (I don't even remember his actually mentioning craft but I also haven't read all of his books) but they are very good records of the life and lore of village living including the "waters over the moon" (toad-bone) rite and some other beliefs of the village people.

 

M

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Guest Jack Dark

Yes, I've read a lot of George Ewart Evans material and that's also, it seems, the source for the info on the Horsemen in this book. Together with 'Rowan Tree and Red Thread' he's pretty much the main printed source of much of what's passed off as Trad Craft these days. That's why I was disappointed, as I'd hoped Howard would be able to add something more from additional sources.

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Yes, I've read a lot of George Ewart Evans material and that's also, it seems, the source for the info on the Horsemen in this book. Together with 'Rowan Tree and Red Thread' he's pretty much the main printed source of much of what's passed off as Trad Craft these days. That's why I was disappointed, as I'd hoped Howard would be able to add something more from additional sources.

 

I believe that much of European craft was based on the land. Even if it were being practiced by nobility, it would still be practiced according to the culture and lifestyle of their times and it is only in the last few hundred years or so that the indurtrial revolution has had its drastic impact onlifestyles. Not so long ago people did freeze to death and starve in the winter. Wiinter was a time gathered around a hearth-fire at night. With no TV and no X-Box winter was a time when entertainment was story telling - including the stories of heros and loved-ones remembered. Winter was a time of knitting and weaving. The hearth of a home WAS the heart of a home and/or a castle. But nature was always the master over it. It mattered not who ruled the castle, the garden always knew its gardener. These oral traditions have largely died out and been taken over by books (which reflect not the family lore) and by TV to numb and entertain the mind, by locks for safety which give the view that other humans are the only threat, and by central heating and air conditioning that give the false perception that the human is in control of the land. Ask anyone whose been through a hurricane or a tsunami and they'll tell you the truth. There are ones who can tell the witch the oral lore, but they're the ones you will find out in nature. And old people. I love the elderly and I chat with them wherever I can find them - the line at the grocery store, the client who comes in with her grandma, and my mother's tales of growing up in rural-ish England which was much behind America in industrialization. I love books, I love reading, I love debate over books, and I love hearing academic and historical views of the craft, but without finding my own connection and my own beliefs and lore, I would have nothing.

 

M

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  • 3 months later...

So I was looking at getting this book. However, after reading a couple of reviews im a little torn. Is it purely just a modern historical view of who's who in modern traditional witchcraft. Or does it delve deeper into the history of some of the practices? Is it worth the $60 at fields?

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