After prompting from a delightful Anon, I’ve decided to write up a small something on the enigmatic Witch Mother.
I certainly won’t say this is an exhaustive description, for She is too vast to contain in simple words.
Within many strains of Traditional Witchcraft, there is a Great Spirit known as the Witch Mother. The Witch Mother is the Mother of all Witches and creatures of old. She is one of the Great Initiators, helping to light the Witch Fire and teach new witches the ways of the Crooked Path. She is often seen as a consort or partner to the Witch Father, though She is certainly autonomous in Her dealings.
The Witch Mother can be seen two ways, either as an archetype that many spirits can fulfill (a hard polytheistic view, like saying the Witch Mother role is fulfilled by Lilith to one witch and by Melusine to another) or as a spirit that takes on many forms but it still one (a softer polytheistic view, like saying The Witch Mother is one spirit but she presents to people under different guises and names). She goes by names such as Lilith, Hecate, Babylon/Babalon the Great, Melusine, Frau Hulda, Nicnevin, etc. By simply searching these names, you’ll find rich mythologies and a common fulfillment of the Witch Mother archetype.
The following pertains only to my practices and is not universally shared by followers of the Crooked Path.
I personally see the Witch Mother as a Great Spirit that takes on multiple guises to best commune with Her children. In my practice, I engage with Her through a Gnostic lens. I worship the Witch Mother through two different guises: as the Dark Mother and Babylon the Great. The Dark Mother is the primordial predecessor of all things, She is the beginning and end forevermore. I see Her best personified as the entropy of the universe, the chaos found at the center of a blackhole. I don’t believe She can be reached by us, as She is so far removed from this world. Thus, I see Her other guises as emanations of Her we can readily access. This is a very Gnostic concept, indeed. My tags for the Dark Mother is #ourladyofthevoid
The primary guise of the Witch Mother I work with and worship is Babylon the Great. Babylon the Great can be found in Christian writings and is known as the Mother of Abominations. A quick search of Her name will give a better background of Her than I ever could. My tags for Her are #babylonthegreat #redmother and #redgoddess
On a personal note, the Witch Mother was not my Initiator into Traditional Witchcraft. Nevertheless, She holds a special place in my Craft. I do hope this was informative and as always, please feel free to send me more questions on the subject. I hope this finds you well, Anon
@magicianmew made a lovely point in a comment on my last post (the one about researching spell ingredients before you mess around with them). They implied that big-name Witch and Pagan authors are at a risk of being sued when they put forth potentially dangerous content. I disagree. Because….
This. This is part of the copyright page of Gemma Gary’s “Traditional Witchcraft: A Cornish Book of Ways.”
But don’t think Gary is alone. In her “Encyclopedia of 5,000 Spells”, Judika Illes spells it out quite plainly. She uses up an entire page.
Even Scott Cunningham and/or his publisher, Llewellyn, smacked this on the copyright page of “The Complete Book of Incense, Oils, and Brews.”
A lot of books with spells in them have these little warnings. Check it out.
And I think this is a-OK. It is not an author’s job to say whether a historical practice is safe or not. Safe is relative. It depends on the person and their circumstances. Some people love eating peanut butter, but for others it leads to anaphylaxis.
Witches take pride in being fiercely independent. We are the other. We go against the status quo. Part of being independent is figuring out if something is right for you. So much of witchcraft can be risky. We deal with shifty spiritual beings, we use poisonous plants, we curse, etc. Even something as simple as taking a walk in a dark forest can be dangerous. You can get attacked by an animal. You can slip and break your leg.
We do risky things every day. Getting in a car is terribly dangerous, statistically speaking. But most people do it on a regular basis. You need to figure out what is right for you. I’ll walk into the woods at night, no problem. Boiling some paint thinner is not right for me. Maybe it’s fine for you. Independent thinking and cross-referencing things is the witch’s job.
Not the author’s.
This is pretty common among authors who translate some of the more gruesome grimoires as well. For example from Peterson’s Secrets of Solomon:
Relevant to a recent post of mine. You should always do your own research and consult a physician before consuming new substances.
I warn you, whoever you are, oh! You who want to probe the secrets of Nature, that if you do not find within what you are looking for, neither will you find it outside. If you ignore the excellences of your own house, how do you pretend to find other excellences? Within you is hidden the treasure of treasures. Oh! Man know thyself and you will know the Universe and the Gods.
~Phrase inscribed in the ancient Temple of Delphi~
What wonderful questions! Thank you for taking the time to ask them. I have always felt a connection to the Divine Feminine, but never had the right words to express what was resonating with me. I never felt a connection to a “white light” goddess with a gentle touch and a penchant for perpetual fertility. When I began to investigate Gnosticism, paired with my background in Traditional Witchcraft, it all fell into place for me. I finally had a name for the vibrant, chaotic energy I felt knocking about in my chest: Witch Mother. Once I knocked on that door, She made Her presence known as Babylon the Great and welcomed me with open arms. I have always been an outcast, a sinner who’s heart was reserved for the damned and downtrodden. The Mother of Abominations, Babylon, is forever a Mother to me. The concept of the Dark Mother draws heavily from Gnosticism and is a big factor on my cosmogony.
I see Her as separate from Satan, but with similar goals in mind. Self sufficiency, breaking that which binds you, strength, ecstatic indulgence… They both seek to help me push past the barriers that would slow me and achieve greatness. While the Devil is the flames that lick my feet and urge me to keep running towards success, the Witch Mother is heady red wine that spills from the cup of abundance leaving me feeling drunk and victorious.
I do hope those were sufficient answers. I adore talking about the Witch Mother in all Her forms.
