Customer Reviews

The Call of the Horned Piper

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I really wanted to like this book. I swear, I did. I was all psyched up after seeing the other reviews, but alas, no.

As per the usual for trad witchcraft books, the author feels the need to use Random Capital Letters and Owlde Antiquatede Spellinges to prove just how much of a Srs Witch (TM) he is, along with an incredibly overwrought writing style. For example:

"The recondite arcanae of toad-lore can be seen to illuminate the moste esoteric recesses of the Craft of the Wise as one of it's [sic] cardinal totemic symbols. ... It would seem prudent to hearken once again to his oracular croaking amidst the reeds at twilight and to pay heed to the chthonic wisdom from the haunted fens of Andumnos." p 47

Now that I'm done picking on the style, on to the content.

This is a fundamental problem I have with most traditional witchcraft sources and not just Jackson, so maybe it's unfair to state it in a review, but he is also very fond of the whole "let's smoosh a bunch of different deities together to make one Witch Goddess and Witch God (TM). Throughout the course of the book he either states or implies that Freyja, Hela, Holda, Perchta, Morgan Le Faye, the Morrigan, Epona, Rigantona, the Cailleach, Brighid, Herodias, and Rhiannon are all the same goddess and that they're actually all one universal European witch goddess. He says the same of Gwynn Ap Nudd, Odin, Vindonos, Cernunnos, and Herne. He also consistently refers to Hel and Annwyn as the same place. I am not a fan of this philosophy and this is one of my main picking points with traditional witchcraft: ancient, pre-Christian magical practitioners were polytheists, not duotheists. They did not have just one god and just one goddess. Setting out to try and act like there was some ancient unified witch-cult across all of Eurasia, from Ireland to Russia, and that they all worshipped the same god and the same goddess and that those deities were the only ones they worked with is...well, it's just kind of silly. And there's simply no evidence at all that Freyja and Hela, for example, were ever treated as the same deity in antiquity (and the same for the most of the other deities).

The back of the book says "This book covers the symbolism, archetypes, and myths of the Traditional Craft, or Old Religion, in the British Isles and Europe." I guess that's technically true, although when making his cross-cultural comparisons in an attempt to prove the above hypothesis, he sources everything from Greek to Siberian to Slavic to German to Celtic mythology. He also throws in a few references to Aztec, Navajo, and Haitian Vodoun beliefs as well, just for kicks I guess.

And he is terrible about citing sources, as in, he doesn't do it. At all. Ever. This really troubles me because there were several statements in the book that I've either never read before or know to be false. And there were some statements that I knew to be true from my reading, which creates the rather infuriating situation of having no idea about whether I can trust the rest of the information in the book that I've never heard of, since some of what he says is true and some of it isn't.

Examples of suspect material:

He repeatedly refers to Gwynn as a horned or antlered god - I've never seen anything in my research to back this up.

"...the Northern Earth Mother Jord/Hlodyn was carried out at hills and mounds, symbols of the womb of the earth." p 19 I don't know where he got that from, at all. Records of Jord/Hlodyn are incredibly thin on the ground; something similar to what he describes happened with Nerthus, but academics & pagans alike seem to be fairly divided over whether Nerthus and Jord are the same deity.

He refers to Hagalaz as the "mother rune" - nothing to support that in any of the rune poems, or even in others' interpretations that I've read. p 19

He refers to dwarves as huldrafolk, when huldrafolk are different creatures with different lore surrounding them. p 20

He refers to seidr as the "the shamanism of 'inner fire' ", which doesn't match any of the historical sources on seidr. He also says that Freyja is associated with hares, which isn't supported in any of the ancient lore, and the only source I could find that mentioned anything of the sort was a book from 1863 with one sentence about that. p 20-21

"The connection between canines and death powers is of ancient origin for dogs are supposed to be able to perceive the goddess Hela."

He continually uses the name Berchtholda, which wasn't used historically. Many scholars are of the opinion that Perchta & Holda are the same goddess (it's not my opinion/experience, but whatever), but if so, she was never called Berchtholda, that's the author adding his own two bits in and not stating it as such.

"This energy is called seidhfire, from the Old Norse 'seidh' - burning - and 'seydir' - cooking fire." p 34 The etymology of the word 'seidh' is still rather contested, but I've never heard any educated guess that links it to 'burning' or cooking fire.

"...the spider as a weaver of webs is sacred to the spinning goddesses of fate such as the Norns, Parcae, and Matronae." p 37 I've never seen the Norns linked to spiders before, nor the Matronae, and AFAIK none of the evidence we have suggests such a link in ancient times. (I'm not even for sure if the Matronae, from what very little information we have about them, were linked to spinning at all, to be honest.)

Last but not least, he quotes Grimm stating that "The dead were known to the Norsemen as elves." and goes on to state that the Celtic Sidhe and faeries and the Norse Ljossalfar, Svartalfar, and disir were all actually the same things. I'm not aware of historical sources linking the disir and any of the tribes of alfar. There's really not a lot to support that the disir were actually just female elves, either, since there are already female elves called "alfar" (or elves) in Germanic and Scandinavian lore. And we still have no idea whether the alfar were viewed as ancestors in ancient times or not.

This is intensely frustrating for a reader and a pretty lazy tactic as a writer.

As a last note, the book is only 115 pages long, in large type on small pages, with large illustrations throughout. It's a very slim volume with just not a lot of information in it in between all of the pontificating, especially because even if you are into this sort of thing, you can find most of it online at Robin Artisson's website.

tl;dr: save your money, if you're going to spend $30-40 on a book don't spend it on this one - just get this through your library or interlibrary loan (the chapters on masks and herbalism aren't terrible, and are the only things bringing this review up from one star), and get Cunning Folk & Familiar Spirits instead.

The first book to ever adequately explain and describe the beliefs and practices which are held within traditional Witchcraft. To some this book tends to be rather dark, however Witchcraft is not always light and happiness - there is a very real edge and Jackson's work demonstrates this very clearly. Although some of the rituals supplied in the book seem to be there for mass consumption, everything else seems to provide an accurate portrayal of both the folklore and the beliefs.

The largest problem with this book is that Mr. Jackson fails to provide citations or a decent bibliography. I can easily see where the author seems to rely on books republished by Kraus Reprint Limited as some of the sentences are merely the re-phrasing of these resources - the least he could do was cite the works he referenced!

Truly one of the great books on the subject ever written. This book can stand on a shelf with Mastering Witchcraft, Azoetia, and the Viridarium Umbris as truly great works on the Old Faith. You will find no "wiccan" fluff here.

A wonderful look at the aspet of Divine that is often overlooked or ignored in explanations of modern Paganism. The general public gets so saturated with the idea that Paganism is all Goddess worship, that this book becomes an invaluable resource for explaining and presenting the Horned God in His true nature. A must for anyone looking for a more accurate protrayal of Wicca and its belief in balance among all things, including the Divine.

Any Nigel Jackson book is a "must-read" for anyone who follows oldcraft practices or who has an interest in folklore. Nigel Jackson has carved a niche for himself as the pre-eminent craft writer of our time, more accessable than Nigel Pennick and not as esoterically arcane as Andrew Chumbley. And his imagery is as profound as his prose. If I knew Mr. Jackson's email address, I would happily tell him my thoughts on his books, but as I don't, I'll have to settle for this brief (but glowing) review.

This was a very enjoyable excursion into an out of the ordinary look at the Old One and various old ways. I didn't always agree with it, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and I recommend it.

I recommend this book for all students as well as masters of the art of Witchcraft and Paganism. I think of this work as a modern classic based on hereditary witchcraft, very different from the modern term Wicca. This book has a lot of mythology and info that is rooted in old witchcraft style workings.

The devils mark which witch hunter made much a do about. Often it was left on the hand and was a red, black or blue mark . It can be left anywhere on the body. Witch hunters thought it was left with teeth or claws. Some times the mark took the form of a sigil or animal. Cernunnos left a rat shaped mark.

The witches familiar was inferred upon the novice upon being initiated a novice. The animal helped the witch do their magic. Sometimes the familiar dwelt within the witch it could be evoked at will. The cat was associated with Freya and the fae in Celtic lore. The cat had eyes that dilate with the fazes of the moon. The hare was associated with fertility and moon fazes. The horned god was master of the forest. He commanded the animal's every action. He also controlled fertility and wealth. Peolpe left him offering.

Toads held a special place in which lore. They could live underground as well as above ground. Like shaman they could travel to the underworld and back. Toad blood and skin secretion has hallucinogenic properties used in flying ointment. The Toadmen would put. A dead toad on an anthill. Later they would float the bones down a stream. The screaching bone was there's and it was magic. The horned god tried to trick the bearer into giving it up. Toadmen were still around in 1938.