Chivalry Inspired Wicca

You may ask, why should chivalry be a part of Wicca?  If you go back to the roots of Wicca, you’ll find that chivalry was one of the things that inspired Wicca in the first place. 

In 1900 an American (though born in Canada), Ernest Thompson Seton, attempted to deal with issues of juvenile delinquency by creating an organization that woodcraft and civilized values based on his knowledge of First Nations peoples.  “Seton’s Indians” rapidly became popular, and in 1912 resulted in the publishing of his book The Book of Woodcraft and Indian Lore.  This was one of the principal influences leading to Robert Baden-Powell founding the Boy Scouts movement.  In fact, Baden-Powell originally gave leadership of the North American part of his organization to Seton.  Seton ultimately resigned from Baden-Powell’s organization in 1915.  Where Baden-Powell’s views were jingoistic and militaristic, Seton’s were not and this ultimately led to differences between them.  In 1916 Ernest Westlake, was a naturalist, anthropologist and traveller of Quaker upbringing, founded the Order of Woodcraft Chivalry in the United Kingdom, making Seton its honorary Grand Chieftain. 1909 Westlake had forsaken Quakerism for the “old gods” of Paganism, inspired by authors such as Edward Carpenter, Nietzsche, Havelock Ellis, Jane Ellen Harrison, Tylor and Frazer. Westlake’s Order of Woodland Chivalry avoided the military overtones of Scouting, instead focusing on the virtues of kindness, fellowship, animal conservation and woodcraft.  Westlake saw women as incarnations of God, revered the Jack-in-the-Green, which he considered to be the English equivalent of Dionysus, and held that the “Trinity of Woodcraft” consisted of Pan, Artemis and Dionysus.

So it is not surprising that the Order of Woodcraft Chivalry, unlike Scouting, accepted many of the premises of modern Neopaganism. Nature was described as the Mistress and Mother, God as Creator and All-Father and Christ as a teacher rather than as God incarnate.  The greatest ceremony of the Order of Woodcraft Chivalry was lighting the campfire:  At their first folkmoot ceremony at Lammas 1921, held on an estate at Sandy Balls on the northern edge of the New Forest, the sacred fire was lit by four people dressed in colors of the elements of each quarter, bringing greetings from the elemental powers in succession from north round to west.  

The Order of Woodcraft Chivalry in turn inspired other organizations such as the Young Soldiers/Handmaidens of Pan, founded by music hall actress Audrey Auckland in Middle Wallop in Hampshire in the 1940s.  Boys in this organization were initiated as “Warriors of Pan”, swearing an oath to care for the land.  Indeed, scholars such as Ronald Hutton have the Order of Woodcraft Chivalry  provided the basis for George Pickingill’s New Forest coven, from which the modern religion of Wicca grew. 

Incidentally, the Order of Woodcraft Chivalry, though small, has survived:  In the 1990s Martin Westlake, son of Aubrey and grandson of Ernest, allowed the Order to celebrate its anniversary at Sandy Balls estate.

It is Official

The Certificate of Incorporation from the British Columbia Registrar of Companies arrived in the mail today.  The Order of Scathach of British Columbia Society (DBA “Order of Scathach”) is now officially incorporated (as of 29 January 2010).

In Her Service, Kerr Cuhulain

Mentors

All students within the Order of Scáthach are assigned a Mentor to assist them with their training.  Previously these Mentors were assigned by me, but now that our Chancellor is in charge of training she has come up with a system which I believe will simplify this process and allow the student the ability to chose who they’d like to train with.  You’ll find instructions on this new system on the “About Us” page of this blog.   On line students should study this list and chose a Mentor to work with.  Next the prospective on line student should contact this Mentor.  The Mentor will then either accept the student and forward this information to the Chancellor and Secretary or decline.  If the mentor declines your request, you’ll have to go back to the mentor list and chose another Mentor to contact.  Attaining a Mentor is a prerequisite for members who are studying on line and not associated to a particular Preceptory (what we call “Ancillary Members”).  Of course you can still work with the material on this training site without a Mentor, since its an open source curriculum, but you will not be counted in our official registry as a member of the Order if you do not register with us and work with a Mentor.  If a Mentor has a full class of students or is temporarily on leave their profile will indicate that they are not accepting new students at this time.  Please be patient for a week or two while we put together the profiles of our Mentors and add them to the list. 

In Her Service, Kerr Cuhulain, Preceptor General

Tinctures Class

Just a reminder that Janus will be teaching a tinctures class at the Surrey Motherhouse at 6 PM on Sunday, January 24.  Bring small jars or bottles if you have any.

In Her Service, Kerr Cuhulain

Bylaws for the Order Adopted

Last night the new Grand Preceptory of the Order of Scáthach finished the process of drawing up the bylaws for our new order.  They can now be submitted to the province of British Columbia so that we can officially be incorporated.  I’ve posted some photos of the signing ceremony here. 

Please note that for the time being the Grand Preceptory will double as the headquarters of the Surrey Preceptory.   Each of the Preceptories that are now operating can apply to the Grand Preceptory for Charters to officially form their Preceptories. 

We voted on dues for the organization as well last night.  We’ve got certain administrative and operating costs including maintaining the web site and its domains.  So far the cost of these has been taken care of by me up to this point (and I don’t expect to be reimbursed for them; you’re all worth it).  The Grand Preceptory has decided that annual dues for members of the Order of Scáthach will be $5 per person; these are the tithes referred to in the bylaws.  These funds will go to the Grand Preceptory.  Each Preceptory can additionally decide upon dues for their own operating costs based on their local needs; the Surrey Preceptory is charging its members $20 per year for this.  

The next thing that we will be doing is putting together an “Operating Manual” to explain details and procedures such as those outlined in this note. 

In Her Service

Kerr Cuhulain

Preceptor General

Samhain and Yule Rituals 2009

Just uploaded our Samhain and Yule 2009 rituals to the rituals page.  Enjoy!

In Her Service, Kerr

Yule 2009

Celtic Pronunciation

I’ve had several people ask me for the pronunciation of some of the Celtic names and terms in our Armoring ritual and Circle Casting.  So I’ve put a short list of terms and their pronunciation on the Rituals Page of this blog.  It is a work in progress and we’ll expand it in the New Year.  

In Her Service, Kerr Cuhulain

Pagans Tonight Interview, 15 December

I’ll be interviewed on the internet radio program Pagans Tonight on 15 December, 2009, at 9PM CST: www.paganstonight.com. Hope to see some of you there. BB Kerr

White Knights

I’m sure that the image of the Knight in shining armor is one of the things that attracts people to our Order. The image of this White Knight is a romantic, compelling, seductive image: The White Knight who is always right and stands for goodness striving against the powers of Darkness and evil who are always wrong.

The White Knight is a fictional character.

This powerful image of the White Knight has attracted people to other religious groups. Jesus is often presented this way. Many Christian churches speak about putting on the “armor of light” to do battle against the forces of evil. Some of them go on to try to depict Pagans as being the aforementioned powers of darkness and evil. The principle characteristic of the 100 Years War wasn’t chivalry: It was the chevauchée.

This image of the perfect White Knight has a lot in common with the Wiccan Rede. Both are ideals. The Wiccan Rede says “harm none”. But consider: To stay alive, we must eat. We live because we consume dead plants and animals. Death comes from life and life from death. The challenge, then, is to find the balance. To be the steward who tries to be responsible and maintain balance within the natural world, knowing that they are part of it. A popular Wiccan song reminds us that we all come from the Goddess, and to her we all return.

So it is with the fictional story of the White Knight. Is it possible to be entirely on the side of right? As I’ve pointed out in earlier lessons, everyone is looking at the same thing, but our perception is colored by our differing cultural, social and educational backgrounds. Even though we are looking at the same thing, we often perceive different things. That is why it is so important for us to communicate effectively with one another. This allows us to see each other’s points of view and come up with a more accurate perception. If we don’t do this we slip from sympathy and understanding into intolerance and judgment.

Our Code of Chivalry is there to remind us of the traits that we must develop to avoid this trap: Sincerity, Self-Discipline, Compassion, Perseverance, Truth, Industriousness, Justice, Largesse, Courage, Humility, Courtesy, Loyalty, and Honor. If we can keep these principles in mind we’ll become stronger as a group.

In Her Service, Kerr Cuhulain, Grand Master

Precept of the Month

One of our members asked me to post our “Precept of the Month” table on the Lessons page, and I have just done so. 

The Precept of the Month for December is:  Do not engage in useless activity.  The principle of Chivalry for December is loyalty.

In Her Service, Kerr Cuhulain