Five 'old skills'

[Carla]

The book '13 Moons' by F Walker Craven makes mention of 'five old skills' of the witch:
shapeshifting, divining, summoning, hexing/healing, and 'telling the maze'. I'm pretty sure I've got a handle on what she means by 3 out of 5. Could anyone point me in the direction of good basic resources on what is meant by shapeshifting, and in particular 'telling the maze'?

Any thoughts?

'Telling the maze' seems very evocative of the path of the witch, it seems to me to mean interpreting/making sense of the experiences that we have during journeying/pathwork...and also just the many stops and starts and unexpected turns of the mundane daily life of the witch. So could 'telling the maze' mean seeing the deeper significances of everyday things, and relating them to pathwork?

 

[Dain]

Umm, it's probably no help to you as I'm almost certain you've seen this before but your question sounded interesting so I performed a "deep" search on Google.
I found this blog post: http://strategicsorcery.blogspot.gr/2008_10_01_archive.html
where there's a reference to "tell the maze" quoting Robert Cochrane (aka Roy Bowers) with a link to his essays and letters even to Robert Graves!

"If one who claims he or she is a witch can perform the tasks of witchcraft, that is they can summon spirits and spirits will come, they can turn hot into cold and cold into hot, they can divine with rod, fingers and birds, they can claim the right to omens and have them. Above all they can tell the Maze and cross the Lethe. If they can do these things, than you have a witch”

His essays are available online here: http://www.cyberwitch.com/bowers/

Perhaps they contain more information?

 

[Zephyros]

Could it be something like astral projection? Or literally turning into a tree?

 

[Carla]

Umm, it's probably no help to you as I'm almost certain you've seen this before but your question sounded interesting so I performed a "deep" search on Google.
I found this blog post: http://strategicsorcery.blogspot.gr/2008_10_01_archive.html
where there's a reference to "tell the maze" quoting Robert Cochrane (aka Roy Bowers) with a link to his essays and letters even to Robert Graves!

"If one who claims he or she is a witch can perform the tasks of witchcraft, that is they can summon spirits and spirits will come, they can turn hot into cold and cold into hot, they can divine with rod, fingers and birds, they can claim the right to omens and have them. Above all they can tell the Maze and cross the Lethe. If they can do these things, than you have a witch”

His essays are available online here: http://www.cyberwitch.com/bowers/

Perhaps they contain more information?

Omigosh, THANK YOU! Brilliant!

 

[Dain]

Oh! lol I'm glad it was helpful for you!

As for shapeshifting, I know this is just fantasy but... in Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, a major witch Granny Weatherwax "borrowed" the mind of animals and for all intents and purposes she "became" the animals, even though her body was in bed (holding a sign in her hands with "I ATEN'T DEAD" written on it). That was a shamanic travel, obviously, and as the author often uses English folklore, and the folklore of other nations, there may be some connection there. I'll have to find my copy of The Folklore of Discworld co-written by Pratchett and folklorist Jacqueline Simpson to see if "borrowing"/shapeshifting it's an actual reference to some form of British magical practices.

 

[Carla]

Looking at the Cochrane quotation with the context of the Lethe--I think 'telling the maze' means to journey/trance, and 'cross the Lethe' means to recall past lives.

 

[Dain]

Looking at the Cochrane quotation with the context of the Lethe--I think 'telling the maze' means to journey/trance, and 'cross the Lethe' means to recall past lives.

Yes, to cross the Lethe (oblivion, forgetfulness) seems about right. Crossing the river of oblivion means surpassing it to reach memories of the past, or even remember something of the "otherworld".
In the quotation, the other skills are separated by commas, while "telling the maze" and "crossing the Lethe" are connected. It could be just poetically written but somehow they seem part of the same thing to me .

 

[missy]

Looking at the Cochrane quotation with the context of the Lethe--I think 'telling the maze' means to journey/trance, and 'cross the Lethe' means to recall past lives.

I do not have a spiritual background (well, early years I had a traditional upbringing ...)

Could you explain what is meant by journey/trance?

I have seen references to trance but I do not understand what is meant by it.

Thank you.

 

[Carla]

I do not have a spiritual background (well, early years I had a traditional upbringing ...)

Could you explain what is meant by journey/trance?

I have seen references to trance but I do not understand what is meant by it.

Thank you.

Trance is an altered state of awareness. It can be ecstatic or appear insensible. You may say things that you can't clearly remember later. Some people do automatic writing while in trance and can't clearly remember writing those things.

Journeying is a type of trance or meditation in which you have a vivid experience in your imagination (or spirit, or some people would say on a different plane of existence) in which you may meet spirit guides or people who are no longer living, etc. You may or may not remember much of this experience, most people try to write it down as soon after so as not to forget.

Those are my definitions, anyway.

 

[missy]

Trance is an altered state of awareness. It can be ecstatic or appear insensible. You may say things that you can't clearly remember later. Some people do automatic writing while in trance and can't clearly remember writing those things.

Journeying is a type of trance or meditation in which you have a vivid experience in your imagination (or spirit, or some people would say on a different plane of existence) in which you may meet spirit guides or people who are no longer living, etc. You may or may not remember much of this experience, most people try to write it down as soon after so as not to forget.

Those are my definitions, anyway.

Thank you, Carla. That was very helpful.