Jonson’s Witches

 culture, Stage  2 Responses »
Apr 172012
 

Once the medieval church assimilated Witchcraft to Devil-Worship in the 15th century, the stereotypical image of a Witch was that of a perverse, amoral, ghoul-like creature; after two hundred years, this stereotype appeared to have the solidness of oak. As James (the first Stuart king of England) was known as a proponent for the maligned view of Witches, play-writer Ben Jonson is very careful to indulge his Majesty’s prejudices when he puts up The Masque of Queens in 1609, at the royal court. Charles Manson and Jack the Ripper together had nothing on these Hags, who (as one can see from the copy of the play posted on The Holloway Pages) make their various entrances (p. 348) boasting of killing infants with a dagger, in order to gain their infant-fat; rifling the hanged corpse of a murderer for grotesque trophies; and killing a black cat for its brain. Demented and psychotic as the Hags undoubtedly are in their characterizations, there is a logic to the performance of their rite, and a layer to their presentation, that suggests the deliberate demonizing of something otherwise “real” in the culture. In describing the outfitting of the Hags (p. 345), Jonson indicates quite a bit of folklore-association going on in their costuming; they are “all differently attyr’d [attired]: some with Rats on their Head; some on their Shoulders; others with Ointment Pots at their Girdles; all with Spindles, Timbrels, Rattles, or other veneficall Instruments, making a confused noise, with strange Gestures.” Other than the “rats on the head” (surely one of the most unusual costume-directions in the history of theater), nothing about this presentation of Witches fails to conform to what we might imagine of early 17th century village Wise-Women- identified by their “ointment pots” worn on their belts (“girdles”); with the spindle of a spinning wheel; and with timbrels (tambourines), rattles, and other “veneficall” (for being associated with Witches) music-making instruments.

The fact that the Hags gather for a Witch-Ceremony, tricked out with rats on their heads, ointment-pots at their girdles, and with music-making instruments in their hands, indicates that rhythm and music-making were an important part of 17th century Witchcraft. Jonson goes on to describe how he “prescribed them [the Witches] their Properties of Vipers, Snakes, Bones, Herbs, Roots, and other Ensigns of their Magick, out of the Authority of ancient and late Writers.” Jonson wants to assure us that his Witches are as realistic as possible, so he carefully makes a point to tell us that he has consulted both “ancient” (meaning “Classical”) writers, as well as “late” ones (meaning, “more modern ones”) as “authorities” on the subject. In addition to vipers and snakes (possibly used in traditional English Witchcraft, but more likely, in my opinion, to be a grotesque detail of a kind with the “rats on the head”), Jonson’s Hags are presented with such Magick-Working devices as bones, herbs, roots, and other “ensigns of their Magick.” One notes a portrait based upon traditional elements- ointment-pots; bones, roots, and herbs; and musical-instruments- “Hagged up,” or made sensationalistic, by being combined with vipers, and rats worn as chapeaus.

Further insight into what Jacobean English culture considered “the Witches’ Craft” is seen in the fact that the Witches join in a collective, collaborative “Working”: they function as a coven (although they do not use that word). This Magickal dynamic is seen in other dramatic works, notably Macbeth and Middleton’s The Witch. One important element is missing, however: as soon as the Witches gather, “one of them missed their Chief.” Utilizing invocation, the Witches summon their Dame- or what we would term their “High Priestess.” (“Dame” being a medieval term intended to confer honor upon a lady as one high-ranking, the highest honor that the British Empire can bestow upon a female still being the title of “Dame,” akin to a male “Knight.”) Jonson assures us of the habit of making some Witch of the coven the “Dame Witch,” or what we would call the “High Priestess,” in somewhat confusing form. As the English of the 1500s-1600s are excessively well-educated in Latin, they tend to accept the Romans as cultural authorities; moreover they don’t seem to make much distinction between Classical Witchcraft and that of their own English milieu: as Jonson demonstrates in his Notes (e) to The Masque of Queens (p. 345, in Holloway), when he says that, “amongst our vulgar Witches [meaning the 'lower-class Witches' of his own time], the honor of Dame (for so I translate it) [he is here referring to the Latin writers, explaining that he translates their Latin term for 'High-Ranking Female' as 'Dame'] is given with a kind of preeminence to some special one at their meetings.” As his authority, he cites Delrio, quoting Apuleius.

In essence, what Jonson is saying is, that both “our own vulgar Witches” (the Witches of his time, stereotypically thought of as uncouth and of the lower orders), and the Classical Witches, gave “with a kind of preeminence” the title “Dame” to “some special one” when they met in a Witches’ Meeting. He is basically describing a High Priestess, a practice otherwise seen in the leadership-role assumed by Hecate in Middleton’s The Witch, as well as in an authentic Elizabethan Witch-Case- that of the Windsor Witches, who seemed genuinely to have formed themselves into a coven (although that word is not used), with “some special one” acknowledged as the “Mistress-Witch” to the rest (a “Mistress” being the same as a “Dame,” both words meaning “women whose orders one must obey”).

In short order, the Dame appears, and is She a sight. (If you pursue Jonson’s Notes, you will see that he has modeled Her upon Classical depictions of Witches, say, with snakes intertwined, a la Medusa, in Her hair. But soft: She gives an Invocation to the Powers of Witchcraft, which the Elizabethan/ Jacobean theater-going types recognized as essential in the Performance of the Witch’s Arts- because that is what Medea does, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses (held by all in the time to be among the greatest of the Latin writers). According to Jonson (p. 349), this speech boasts “all the power attributed to Witches by the Ancients; of which, every Poet (or the most) doth give some.”

In this speech (and in imitation of Medea), the Dame does something very interesting from the point-of-view of Witches; She pauses to venerate the Moon. It’s a little difficult to tell if this is purely something derived from Classical literature, or if venerating the Moon was something that native English Witches did as well. On the one hand, A Midsummer Night’s Dream contains so many Moon-references as seemingly to make plain an English culture-observation (at least, if not outright veneration) of the lunar orb, and I believe that I am right in saying that both Anglo-Saxon and Celtic culture at least suggest Moon-Worship.

“And thou three-formed Star, that on these Nights art only powerful, to whose triple Name thus we incline, once, twice, thrice, and thrice the same.”

In other words, at this time of the Full Moon (who of all the Heavens art the “Only” Powerful “these Nights,” or the Nights of Her Majesty’s Brilliance, Goddess of the Night Skies), the Witches gather to work their secretive Craft: stopping first to honor Her Glory, by bowing, first three times- then “thrice the same.”

The Full Moon presents an interesting association for us: we tend to associate the Full Moon with Diana, Luna, Selena- maybe Isis (Heathen Traditions, I understand, consider the Moon as a God, and the Sun as a Goddess). However- to Jonson’s mind (and perhaps to the general mind of early 17th century England), the Full Moon represented Hecate (perhaps, again, because of Ovid’s Medea, who specifically invokes Hecate at the time of the Full Moon). In Note (c), Jonson refers to Hecate, called Trivia and Triformis, “believed to govern in witchcraft; and is remembered in all their Invocations.” As authorities, he cites Virgil, Seneca, and Lucan.

In fictionalizing a Witches’ Rite, Jonson draws upon the Classic writers for inspiration, and because Elizabethan/ Jacobean England was used to deferring to the Ancients as experts. However, the Rite that he begins to assemble at this point (one hopefully agrees) represents nothing so much as an Energy-Raising Ceremony, punctuated and energized by deliberately intensifying energies, assisted by rhythmic chanting, hand-clapping, and (so we were told at the very beginning) musical-instruments.

This is a procedure not encountered in Classical literature (that I know of); assuming that it is of English (Celtic-Anglo-Saxon) derivation: the best explanation that I can think of for performing such a (mutually cooperative) ritual, is that offered by Gerald Gardner in Witchcraft Today- that Witches believe that they can generate an Energy- a Witch-Power- out of their bodies, and that this Energy-Raising is beneficial to Witchcraft.

The thing is, that Witches consistently act out the same Ceremony, in three notable Jacobean plays: The Masque of Queens, Macbeth, and Middleton’s The Witch. Each time, the best explanation (to my mind) for, why do they keep doing this?- Is, as Mr. Gardner stated: to raise their Witch-Energy.

Ben Jonson, Shooting Drakes

 culture, Stage  1 Response »
Mar 072012
 

The exciting thing about the work of Mr. Philip Heselton (whose most recent book Witchfather was reviewed by Scott, here at the Juggler) is that, in making the claim that there was a pre-exisiting New Forest coven that genuinely initiated Gerald Gardner, he pushes the onus for Wicca (or modern Witchcraft, as Mr. Gardner called it) back upon these earlier individuals- and then potentially back into English Culture itself. Now, in the ideal world of worlds, we would be able to find connections between this “modern survival of English Witchcraft” (as Gerald called it, in Witchcraft Today) and what we know of Witchcraft, back in the last period when we know all of England maintained a firm belief in the Power of English Witches, to influence and change the future, through their Craft.

Such was the early 1600s, the Jacobean Era of the first of the Stuart Kings of England, King James I (formerly King James VI of Scotland, and Elizabeth’s nearest relative when she dies in 1603). James believes in Witches (having published the anti-Witch book Daemonology, and having interviewed suspected Witches, both in Scotland and in England). All of His Majesty’s subjects believe in Witchcraft- including his son, Prince Henry, who dies a teen-ager in 1612, and (most importantly) the popular play-writer Ben Jonson (who, if he does not actually believe in Witchcraft, is at least clearly very, very knowledgable and educated on the subject).

A favorite writer for the court, Johnson scripted The Masque of Queens, performed at the royal palace the day after Candlemas (Feb. 2), 1609, intended obviously to play upon the King’s interest in the Arts of Witches- as well as Prince Henry’s, who is fifteen years-old at the time, and whose excitement over Witches is so keen, that Jonson gifts him with a special copy of the Masque, copiously outlined with Jonson’s notes upon the habits and behaviors of Witches, drawn from both the English culture of Jonson and His Highness’ time, as well as from an impressive array of Roman writers, to whose Latin works Jonson often refers the young prince. How exciting, then, to discover that Jonson’s original script is available for study at The Holloway Pages (I find this very exciting: although I have read the Masque before, in the Norton anthology, as well as in Witchcraft in Europe, 400-1700: A Documentary History, as well as Katharine Briggs‘ notes), I have never had the opportunity to study at length Jonson’s asides, which are quite insightful as to understanding the attitudes of the learned Jacobeans regarding Witches (both of their own period, and of the Classical Era).

The Masque can be difficult because (as I’ve discovered before), one finally wishes to pursue it line-by-line. A number of things- the commanding presence of a Dame or “High Priestess”; the formation of Witches into a Working-Circle; the Veneration of the Moon- suggest the need for a Juggler follow-up on The Masque of Queens, and what it says it presents as English Culture-Witchcraft. The dramatic presentation of Witches under James (author of the anti-Witch book Daemonology) needs to be considered, as does the overall impression of the Masque, which suggests strongly a modern Energy-Raising ceremony.

However: the Fourth Charm (found on Page 349 of The Holloway Pages) is probably the most significant thing to Pagans immediately, as it suggests so clearly a conception of Energy-Raising. The Witches have gathered various Implements and Tools of Witchcraft, which they are burying into the earth, chanting this Incantation over:

“Deep, O Deep, we lay Thee to sleep: we leave Thee drink by, if Thy chance to be dry [the Witches are pouring out Libations upon the earth]- both milk and blood, the dew and the flood. We breath in Thy bed, at the foot and the head; we cover Thee warm that Thou take no harm [check out how these Jacobean Hags sound oddly like grandmothers putting little children to sleep]:

And when Thou dost wake, Dame Earth shall quake, and the Houses shake, and Her Belly shall ache, as Her Back were break, such a Birth to make, as is the Blue Drake whose Form Thou shalt take.”

Whoa! Intense Charm, right? It starts off so gently, burying these Magickal Devices in the ground, covering them up with blankets of earth, quenching their thirst with poured Libations- and when these Charms wake up: there will be earth-quakes, as Dame Earth apparently goes into a sort of Child-Birth, in releasing the Manifested Form of the Witches’ Spell: a Blue Drake.

“Drake” being both a dragon, and a comet- commentators tend to interpret the Blue Drake Manifestation of the Witches’ Charm as akin to firing off a shooting star out of the earth, or something; as indeed the Dame seems to, in her next line, when she observes with annoyance, “Never a Star yet shot?,” meaning that the Drake (the Star) has not yet “shot” out of the earth into the skies of the Heavens (as Above, so Below).

This perception of Jonson’s Jacobean Hags, that their ritual intends to “shoot” a Star from the earth into the Heavens, creating a Magickal Event that will be equal to both an earthquake as well as a Cosmic Birth of some kind- can actually be explained by Gerald Gardner’s descriptions of Energy-Raising, in Witchcraft Today: especially when compared to other examples of Witchcraft in period-drama (such as Macbeth).

In his notes to the teen-aged Royal Prince to whom he is addressing this copy of his script, Jonson explains the Witches’ Intention, in this Fourth Charm: “they speak as if they were creating some new feature.” Their Intention is to “create some new feature,” or something that has not existed before. Granted (according to Jonson’s careful clarification), this is done under the Devil’s “persuasion.” But he says that this Ceremony of Creating some New Feature- resulting in the Shooting of Star, that is the Blue Drake-Manifested result of the Witches’ Charm- is often accompanied by the “pronouncing of words and pouring out of liquors on the earth.” As his authority, he cites Agrippa, and then Apuleius.

Magick Circles

 culture, Stage  1 Response »
Jan 262012
 

With so much interesting research emerging attesting to Magick-Workers in Early America, it seems undeniable that the Magickal Traditions of the Old World made their way into America through the immigration of European settlers. While such people may not have exerted monstrous amounts of influence in the settling of the New World (preferring, apparently, to seek out relatively unpopulated places such as the Appalachian mountains, or the mountains of the American Northeast, or at least in one case- to judge from the “Joshua Gordon Witchcraft Book” held at the University of South Carolina- the 1600s Southern frontier), it is noteworthy that we- meaning, Magickally-minded Folks, inclined towards the Old Ways- have had our place in America (hidden, secret, living “on the down-low”), but there, and hence, here.

Fascinating as that is, what really intrigues me is the extent to which early American Magick-Use reflects back upon the Europe of the late 1500s/ early 1600s- still the Age of Magick, with the Burning Times still going on (the 1600s, the first period of settlement in the New World, is also the last century of the Witch-Burnings). Early American Magick-Use provides another prism through which to judge the Magickal beliefs and practices of the Old World; what is most intriguing is the degree to which these beliefs and practices appear to involve Circle-Casting, or the Formation of a Magickal Circle-Space.

For instance, in The Silver Bullet and Other American Witch Stories, we learned of Magickal Folk-Beliefs carried into the Appalachian mountains by Irish, English, Scots, and German settlers- which apparently were preserved long enough to be recorded in the stories found in this book, which were generated in the 1930s. Another book, Signs, Cures, & Witchery, also finds copious amounts of Old World Magick-Belief transported into Appalachia- this time, specifically looking at the activities of German pioneers. What is especially interesting (to my mind) is the number of times that someone in The Silver Bullet describes casting a Magick Circle in order to perform Magick: casting a Magick Circle exactly as we are accustomed to casting Circles, but described in the context of Depression Era mountaintop Folk-Magick.

However, not surprising: if one considers the evidence that Circle-Casting was widely associated with Magick-Work in England during the Elizabethan Age of the late 1500s and the Jacobean Age of the early 1600s.

Circle-Casting- or Circle-Formation, as perhaps the case may be- divides in the Time into two categories: (1) the Grimoire-Tradition, carried in medieval grimoires innumerable issued throughout the Middle Ages; these will be the Traditions that seem to us most like those of the Gardnerians, the Alexandrians, and all those influenced by the writings of Gardner, Valiente, Crowther, the Sanders, the Farrars (et al), and which will be reflected by the learned elite of the medieval period, able to read said written occult-works, the Grimoires (2) as well as the Oral-Folk Culture Traditions carried by Oral-Folk Culture practitioners such as village Wise-Women and Cunning-Men; these are reflected in the “Witch” Plays (as opposed to the “Wizard” Plays, inspired by the educated Grimoire-Tradition), and are based upon the sometimes-raucous, often improvisational Tradition that we associate with “Energy-Raising.”

Perhaps the most famous example of the Elizabethan Grimoire-derived (Ceremonial-Traditional) Circle-Casting known to us is that presented to us by Marlowe in Doctor Faustus (c. 1592), in Act I, scene iii, lines 8-24: Faustus formally charges into being the Circle that he has transcribed on his floor (as per the illustration attached to the printed play, seen above). Being of the Christian Magick variety, this Circle is particularly “anagrammatized” with the Name of Jehovah, as well as laid out by the “figures of every adjunct to the Heavens, and characters of signs and erring stars”- that is, it has been made to resemble in miniature an outline of the Astrological Heavens themselves, in a very Microcosm/ Macrocosm, “As Above, So Below” sort of deal. This Circle is further empowered by calling in the Spirits of the Four Elements.

Caveat: as the Wikipedia entry on the play will tell you, Marlowe’s play was published in two versions, known as the Text A and the Text B versions: the Text A is thought to resemble more closely Marlowe’s original script, with Text B representing an “improved-upon” version of the play reworked after Marlowe’s untimely death. As the Wikipedia entry notes, there are differences between the two versions of the play- but as the Wikipedia entry fails to point out, in Text B (the text most often reproduced, as people tend to play it safe by putting into print the greatest possible number of words potentially committed by Marlowe to paper), the Names of only three of the Four Elements are called (“Earth” is omitted). Text A calls in all Four Elements- which makes the most sense- and demonstrates to us a genuine late 1500s Tradition of Consecrating a Magick-Circle by Calling In all Four of the Mystical Elements of Life. (The reason for “Earth’s” absence is surely as simple as, the type-setter blanked. Maybe it was getting close to lunchtime, and he was hungry and distracted.)

Another caveat: in the interest of being totally responsible in the transmission of Magickal Knowledge- Dr. Faustus’ Legend comes to us as the Supreme Example of the Perils of Trafficking with the Forces of Darkness. The Middle Ages took such things strenuously seriously, and so we have the cautionary Tale of Faustus: who was Fool enough to believe that he could contract with the Forces of [Christian] Hell and live to tell the tale.

In short, Faust represents the ultimate in Christian Theology cautioning one against Magickal Practicing. But you know what? Here’s how I look at it: Faustus actually ASKS the Devil to come into his Circle (the Devil being represented as the reptilian sort-of creature in the picture next to Faust, just outside of his Magickally Protective Circle). Never mind the Pagan Thealogical Question: Do we as Pagans even give credence to the Thought-Form of the Devil? (I, for one, do not, and therefore- it seems to me- avoid the obvious pratfall of Faust by Calling In only such Deities as Whom I judge to be Honorable and Just, and with Whom I feel comfortable that I have established a fair Working-Relationship.)

Another example of Circle-Casting in a play whose Cultural influence is extremely difficult to question, is that presented by Shakespeare in The Tempest (c. 1610). Although explained merely by a stage-direction- following Line 57, Act V, scene i: “They all enter the Circle which Prospero had made, and there stand charmed”- Prospero’s famous speech “Ye Elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes, and groves” is meant to be understood as a Circle-Invocation inspired by Ovid’s account of Medea’s Invocation to the Spirits of Nature in Metamorphoses. As represented in Julie Taymor’s 2010 movie-version starring (in a status-changing gender-bending performance) Helen Mirren as the Female Wizard Prospera, the speech is every bit a Circle-Invocation as much as that presented by Shakespeare’s contemporary Marlowe- but oriented from a very Nature-driven perspective. It demonstrates to us that- at least for Shakespeare, in the early 1600s- Circle-Casting could be thought effective if engaged purely from an orientation towards Nature, rather than from a strictly Ceremonial Traditional point-of-view. (It might be, if you watch enough productions of The Tempest, that you don’t see many examples of Prospero or Prospera actually Casting a Circle during this speech; I believe that is because so many people nowadays simply do not know what to make of the stage-direction “the Circle that Prospero had made,” having no cultural context through which to formulate the Magick-Circle. In short, I don’t think many theater-folk today understand a “Magick Circle,” and so, have no idea how to stage this segment of The Tempest.)

And then there is the Circle-Casting found in singular form in the “Witch-Plays” of the late 1500s-early 1600s: whereas the Grimoire-Traditions are preserved in written manuscripts read by the educated and the literate, the Ways of Witchcraft must have been maintained through oral Folk-Culture. Apparently there was, at least in England, a coherent system identified as “Witchcraft : the Witches in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Jonson’s The Sad Shepherd and The Masque of Queens, and Middleton’s The Witch all do the same thing as “Witchcraft” in all four plays, what we would consider to be the most significant Witch-Plays of the early 1600s. This involves forming a Magickal Circle- but unlike the Ceremonial Magicians, who enact recorded ritual in a dignified manner, the Witches generate their mystical Spaces through intention, rhythm, movement, music, and excitement: very much what we would term “Raising Energy.” So much folklore surrounds the idea that Witches (like Faeries) danced in Circles, that we should not be surprised to find Circle-Dancing associated with all these Jacobean Witches: the Witches in Macbeth (c. 1605), for instance, dance “hand in hand” in order to “wind up their Charm” in Act One, scene iii; similarly, in Act Four, scene i, they dance around their Cauldron (which will cause one to dance in a Circle) in order to “set the stage” for the Thane of Glamis and for the Spirits that they will raise for him, ending the scene by performing a last “antic Round,” or excited Circle-Dance.

The male Ceremonial Traditions of the late Middle Ages are driven by the performance of prescribed ritual; the female Witchcraft Traditions of Jacobean England are set in motion through “Energy-Raising” spectacles (as we would think of them); yet both Traditions depend upon an understanding of an enchanted, specialized (Circular) Magickal Space.

Far from being held super-secret, however, Magickal Traditions appear to have been openly embraced in England during the time of Elizabeth: there was a flourishing business of printing and selling pamphlet-edition Spell-Books and “How to” Magickal manuals, with George Lyman Kittredge providing many examples of “grass-roots” Magickal experimentation in Witchcraft in Old and New England. The fact that plays which deal with Magickal matters are clearly popular is an indication of the Elizabethan/ Jacobean interest in Magick, and the fact that Magickal Ceremonies are performed in Magickal Plays presented as popular theater plainly indicates all by itself a means of transmission of this knowledge.

Assuming that Circle-Casting is indeed well-established as late 1500s/ early 1600s English Magickal custom, we would imagine English settlers in the New World to transport faith in Magickal Circle-Casting with them into America: exactly as we seem to find in early 20th century Appalachia.

All of this might be understood as cultural encouragement to consider Circle-Casting as primary in the performance of the Magickal Arts.