To be ‘holy’ is to be whole, to have all parts reintegrated as One. By default this must include All, from creature to environment, divinity to human, all as One, All is One. Separation is but an illusion (albeit a necessary one in circumstance). Let it be known that it is no coincidence that health, wholeness and holiness all share the same root in the Germanic tongue.
Living in an age where global boundaries have been broken to degree, and yet paradoxically there seems a greater isolation (at grass-roots level) than ever before. Community is all but gone, no longer there seems cohesive units but merely a greater collection of parts.
Immaturely there seems to be an attitude that persists of “me against society”, an “adversarial” two-fingers up at the World and its rules. People actively seek and shape themselves to become an adversarial character, holding a sense of pride for being an outcast. Traditionally, communities thrived – outcasts died. Traditional Craft is no different, its roots aren’t to be found in a faux revival of academia’s portrayal of “historical witchcraft”, complete with its imps drinking from secret teats. It’s roots are to be found in groups of Peoples. What may have been labelled as “witchcraft” by outsiders was simply the “our way” of the People. A folk, a People within the clanship system lived and passed on through the generations certain forms, ways of living, ways of perceiving, ways of being within the whole, their way. As a folk, this will be a living, breathing transmission of reality, not a stagnant worldview entrapped as words on paper.
Today we are living tomorrow’s folklore.Please reflect on what these words may mean for you. This, I believe, is the essence of traditional transmission.
However, there cannot be a folklore in the absence of a ‘folk’, a community. So, those who pride themselves on being on the fringes of society or outcast by all, realise it is a false rebellion, you are only there because society has put you there, you have merely willingly cut off your connection to community. But may I ask, for what end?
To be outside of your clanship, your own people, is a dark prospect; to willingly be banished from such is a dread-filled circumstance. Traditionally, individuals were known primarily via their relation to others (so-and-so’s son or daughter), rather than individual notions of “achievement”, this was merely a secondary concern after provision and safety of the community is secure. Is it a coincidence that with the development of Christianity and it’s supplanting of more indigenous values that concern for the individual self became more apparent? Individual salvation and individual damnation the just desserts of an individual’s life. I think it is difficult to ascertain with confidence one way or the other. What is clear to see now though, is the allure of individual over community, “modernity” over traditional values.
When the stars fall from the skies which will you be a part of; the “adversarial” one-person island of self, or the cohesive whole of true community? A people, a clanship, a tribe, call it what you will – it is traditional mechanics of existence at any rate.
These words may be seen as “adversarial” to some cherished view, yet this is never a label which I childishly covet. Instead, I aspire to be holy, healthy, whole. It is my hope that these words aren’t greeted as the Enemy but instead are viewed as a hope to heal. From self-imposed isolation to a necessary wholeness.
Flags, Flax & Fodder,
Gestumblindi
Man of Goda 