It only occurred to me when replying to comments on this post, where I mentioned the Simon Goodman collection, that I have (copied and stored somewhere) some information that may be of interest to Witches and other Pagans.
Simon Goodman was one of the most influential early Wiccans and occultists in Australia, particularly Perth and Canberra. Shortly before his premature death (age 40) in 1991 Simon kindly donated his not inconsiderable library to the Murdoch University.
Some items of the collection were stolen within a week of its arrival at Murdoch, by three self-identified Wiccan women who gave false names. The rest I shelved, catalogued and read over the following months, copying items of interest.
Amongst my papers this morning I found this chant, based on the pursuit of Gwion-Bach by the Witch-Goddess Ceridwen. Now Celtic Wiccan stuff leaves me breathless – but only in the sense of being bored to death. But, whatever blows your hair back I guess. To be fair when I heard Phillip Carr-Gomm, Chosen Chief of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids tell the story of Gwion-Bach/Taliesin I was strongly touched and felt a transmission of spiritual blessings.
NOT FOR RELEASE
Cunning and arte he did not lack,
By, aye, Her whistle will fetch him back -
“I flee from thee as an autumn hare,
A Child born of Earth without a care.
Forever I’ll stay in earthy form,
Wishing to be as I was born.”
“A speckled trout now I flee from thee.
A Child of Water rather I’ll be.
From Truth I hide in flowing form,
Wishing to stay as I was born. “
“Into a bee then I shall go.
Dust-covered hummer, all secrets I know.
A Child of Air I’d rather be.
Like a thought I shall be free”
“From open fields to the miller’s house,
I flee from thee as a summer mouse.
From ripening grain a Fire Child,
Soul of crops and woodlands wild.”
“A seed, earth-grain, within this sack,
I shant be found, nor fetched back.
Grain of wheat, or grain of sand -
Each is made by the Mother’s hand.”
This chant was the subject of some secrecy and discussion in the 80s in Perth. As you can see, it is marked “Not for release” which meant it was originally to stay inside Simon’s circles of initiates. Since however, it was included in his donation to a library, obviously later on he was happy for it to be made available to a wider audience. I am unclear why so much fuss was made over this (and other) elements of Simon’s tradition.
Personally, Simon was unfailingly kind, polite and considerate in all his dealings with me, even though we disagreed on many topics. He also had a lovely habit of using his work facilities to make literally dozens of copies of entire books and handing them out to his students and friends without charge. He ran the Occult Reference Centre in Canberra for many years and shared an immense amount of resources and information over that time.
Of course Simon was not without his faults or detractors, including at times the King of the Witches himself, as this letter talking about the Pickingall Wicca theory shows:
5th Sept ’83.
Dear Simon,
I was born into the craft and having been born my grandmother told me to keep my hands out of my pockets and stand up straight. I think your ‘Pickingsgill disitation’ ( I can’t find words for it ) is very trite. You are keeping your hands in your pockets. You are teaching a type of Wicca I know not what of forsooth and forsake me you varlot.
This is not the way of the Wicca.
So, he moved steam rollers and threshing machines (so what) to me that is not Wicca. This is not the way of the Wicca. The Wicca is the worship of the Great Mother and the Mighty One who grants Her the power. Do something original that works not only in theory but in practice. Use your past experience with knowledge and wisdom you useless cunt.
I remain,
The King of Witches,
Alex Sanders.
Simon also played the leader-politics game of Wicca very well, which obviously annoyed people. One of his habits was to place fake adverts in the Sunday Times personal column requesting occult training and then see who would respond. He got some colourful replies, as this one shows. I have removed identifying names (the Baron bit is obviously false), but if you must know the gentleman in question is now running a coven in Queensland that insists on full sexual initiations to orgasm at each degree (whose orgasm, I would like to know 
) That should be enough for you to track him down if you must
Dear Sir/Madam,
I have read your advertisement in the Sunday Times with interest. This advertisement has been discussed, and at least one of us – vis myself, were instructed to contact you.’ We assume that you have heard of the hermetic order of the Golden Dawn, which makes up the first five initiations or stations. The R.C. ( which is my own lodge), makes up the next three, whilst the S.S. makes up the last three stations of purety. The whole group of the ten stations aligning to the Tree of life is usually taken as being the Golden Dawn.
I should therefore, like to meet with you, and discuss your requirements. Training, I must warn you is long and hard. I therefore greet you, and look forward to receiving your reply.
I remain,
Yours sincerely
The Rt. Hon. XXX (Baron Von XXX)
Adeptus Minor (the order of the RC) G.D.
High Priest – Wicca – Fide Defendem
G.O.K.T., S.O.K.O, K.E.P., Dr. Occ. Th, F.S.W.S.T., M.S.E.S., S.S.I.O.S.
*Sigh* Occultism in Australia in the 70s and 80s may be described by any number of adjectives, but certainly not boring More from the Simon Goodman collection in later posts.
"We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. And whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. For some strange reason I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. And you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the way God’s universe is made; this is the way it is structured." ~
“A religion without a goddess is halfway to atheism” ~
How does my spiritual practice and daily life serve the earth?
How does my spiritual practice and daily life affect the poorest third of humanity?
How will my spiritual practice and daily life affect the generations to come in the future?
"It is through your body that you realize you are a spark of divinity."
“For most of us, however, we only think seriously of food or sex or money when it becomes a problem, which is to say when we feel we are not getting our share. When we find ourselves in that situation then I regret to say that meditational visualisations are really not the best way to remedy the lack. … We are here in a physical condition in a physical world and while in that state we have to abide by the laws appropriate to it.”
"The biblical texts have been strained out through a Greek/Latin mindset, which is very surface and static. I sometimes think it would have actually have been better if Western culture had based so called "Western religion" on Greek philosophy, rather than middle-eastern, because then at least you'd have all one thing. It would be eternally consistent. But what we have now is sort of half of each. And you're left with a basically schizophrenic tradition." 
"Can a horse tell you what it means to be human? How can a horse get beyond the boundaries of being a horse and say what it means to be human? Why do we think a human being can say what it means to be God? And yet we’ve done that; we’ve done that and we said that we’ve got it so right that if you don’t believe it we’ll burn you at the stake. That’s a very strange idea." ~
