Reflections on the Dream of Raventree

Raventree has always stood at the periphery of my dreams. A vision of an academy, a community, a garden devoted to the artes and practice of magick and the esoteric, a tapestry in which myriad skeins of myth, legend, magick, and the enchanted were woven together. Raventree stood as a tower in the center of a forest I am still only just beginning to map: I have found some stern, but wise, alder trees, and in their shadows marveled at Lady's Mantle and Belladonna. I have listened to the whispering of dryads and the singing of the Good Folk, meandering down paths dappled in light and shadow, pondering the language of the birds and the murmur of the wind. I have set my feet down paths lined with magick, traipsing along with the wonder and amazement of someone in another world entirely. And ever, rising above the treetops, have I seen the spire of that tower gleaming, a challenge and an invitation.

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The reasons that Raventree's foundations have slowly begun to rise from the morass of mine own mind and into the wider world are admittedly manifold, and I hope to elucidate a few of them here, not only that the curious wanderer might gain more insight into the dreams behind Raventree, but also that students and faculty might get a sense of the paths we are collectively treading upon, from my own humble perspective.

Perhaps the first Path to Raventree I have been observing is the Renaissance of Magick occurring in our day. One could argue (quite convincingly) that this Renaissance is neither new nor young anymore, and trace its roots back to Gardner and Valiente (in the form of the magickal religion Wicca) ; an even more astute Devil's Advocate (how quickly the Old Horned One has entered our discourse!) could argue that this renewal of magick reaches back to Frazer, Graves, Crowley, Leland, and Murray, with their postulations on witch-cults, prehistoric religion, and Goddess worship in Europe and well beyond (I). And - well, why not - the truly rigorous proponent might simply wave their hand and point out that magick has never gone away, never left its place in the human psyche, and therefore has no need of any Renaissance, having never gone out of fashion.

Polemics and verbal sparring aside, I would argue that the present day Renaissance of Magick, while neither entirely unique nor entirely iterative, has been spurred onwards by newfound interest from academia, fracturing societies, and a maturation of the early Wiccan/Neo-Pagan movements from the late 20th century. Let's take a look at each of those components:

Academic Interests

Perhaps most fascinatingly, modern day scholars have been taking serious approaches to magick, witchcraft, and the esoteric, utilizing the best of the methodologies from the social and natural sciences to study the entire 'enchanted' landscape with the joy and rigor of those encountering the Other for the first time. Authors such as Sophie Page, Richard Kieckhefer, Wouter Hanegraaff, Nevill Drury, Eva Pocs, Emma Wilby, Valerie Flint, Stuart Clark, (amongst many others) as well as the towering Ronald Hutton, have spilled considerable ink mapping out and characterizing the esoteric from historical perspectives. Sabina Magliocco, Michael Bailey, Gerhard Mayer and Susan Greenwood have all utilized sociological and anthropological perspectives to broaden our understanding of the magickal landscape, especially with regards to modern magickal practitioners. Series such as Penn State's Magic in History or Palgrave's Historical Studies in Witchcraft and Magic offer further venues for scholars to explore hitherto sidelined geographical regionalities or subtopics. Journals such as Magic, Ritual & Witchcraft or The Journal for the Academic Study of Magic (which is now sadly no longer publishing) also enhance the diversity and rigor of discourse.

Together, this literary outpouring of the last 25 years or so has provided magick not only with a grounded philosophical and anthropological current upon which to rest itself, but also unearthed countless troves of information for practitioners. New translations of grimoires, surveys of folk traditions, anthropological studies, and advances in comparative mythology have provided modern practitioners with what is surely the richest wealth of magickal knowledge in an Aeon or two.

One feels that this point does not need belaboring (merely celebrating!) as one takes a peek at the flip side of the coin: the publishers and authors wielding their pens in the services of intensely practical magickal workings. Andrew Chumbley, Jake Stratton-Kent, Corinne Boyer, Gemma Gary, Stephen Skinner, Daniel Schulke, Peter Grey, Shani Oates, Michael Howard, Daniel Harms, Frater Acher, Val Thomas -- each of these authors, and many more besides, has taken this outpouring of new material and mined it for new traditions, magickal workings, spirits, realms, and practices to incorporate into the modern magician's repertoire (II). With such a wealth of material both inside and outside of academia at our disposal, we are in the best position to continue to push the boundaries of magickal thought, philosophy, and magick. We have been given the maps and guidebooks to unexplored wilds - now we can go forth and explore!

Fracturing Societies

I hope it will not be considered unduly radical to state that modern society, in its present form (writing here in 2023) has become rather fractured and a touch perilous. Political turmoil, climate disasters, civil unrest, poisonous societal discourse, and the unravelling of social institutions has led to so many of us retreating into our spheres of comfort, while we seek some respite from the external onslaught. What recourse do the disempowered masses have against the forces of tyranny and oppression, of evil and greed?

Well, it seems that one form of recourse is magick. This skein in the tapestry of modern magick is one which I find endlessly fascinating and intriguing. While I would be the last to advocate for the mixing of magick and politics (has another essay found its lodestone?), I nevertheless have been fascinated to witness magick becoming a source of empowerment for the disempowered (III). Peter Grey argues this most forcefully, with the force of a primordial thunder clap, in Apocalyptic Witchcraft, his tour-de-force of witchcraft as a philosophy and a political vein. Grey writes that "Witchcraft is the recourse of the dispossessed, the powerless, the hungry, and the abused" and that "the practice of witchcraft is one of revolution" (IV). Grey is not alone in this, though - traditional witch and author Laura Tempest Zakroff channels the frustrations of many through her sigils for voting protection, social justice, and 'magical resistance' (I encourage interested readers to find her blog & work here). Author Michael Hughes sparked the popular (and perhaps successful, depending on one's definition thereof) large-scale binding of Donald Trump, and authored a book on magickal resistance and political action as well (his website can be found here).

However, I think that beyond beings a mean of political action, magick has also found its resurgence in a fracturing society as a means towards a wilder, Fey sort of spirituality. Although an atheist could happily practice magick (just as a Muslim or Pentecostal Christian could practice magick), magick offers its own form of spirituality if one seeks it out (V). While I can never miss an opportunity to quote Marx - "Religion is the opiate of the masses" - perhaps it is more one's approach to and dialogue with religion that transforms it from opiate to opal. Magick is an umbrella term - precisely why I find it so enchanting and useful, especially with regards to the present Academy - as well as its own form of human behavior (just like science or art - see LR 101: Magickal Philosophy for more rigorous definitions and distinctions) (VI). Hence, we find magick as a component of religions (such as Wicca or diverse strains of Neo-Paganism), or as its own form of spirituality (such as Traditional Witchcraft or Druidry). It offers a key with which to unlock doors into worlds both alien from our modern world and comfortingly familiar. Through magick and superstition, folklore and myth, we find ourselves treading paths into Faery realms, Avalon, or the very Sabbat itself.

As we find ourselves drifting away from each other and seemingly Nature itself, magick is one of few streams leading back to the source, tapping into not a deity or religious text (i.e. intercessors or intermediaries), but directly in the mysteries of Life and the world around us. On the one hand, it casts us out into a vivid landscape, populated with spirits, deities, demons, faery, and wights, in which we are suddenly wandering around without entirely having been taught the first thing about this world (do I eat from the table beneath the Mounds? Do I speak with the genii loci slumbering in my garden? Is transplanting my parsley plant going to spell doom for my household (VII)?). On the other hand…we find ourselves dealing with philosophies and practices far predating us or our ancestors (VIII)! By casting runes or reading Tarot cards, blending ritual incenses or casting a circle, we are picking up ancient skeins and weaving new cloth with them. The magickal practitioner is drawn back into a story as old as our earth, united in spirit with those who have come before and those who will come after. These spirits, practices, and artes have been in constant dialogue with humanity for millennia, for those who dared to engage.

Magick offers an enchanted world, a richer world, and a livelier world than the one modernity has painted for us (IX). It offers a world freed of dogma and governed instead by personal exploration and experimentation, in which the practitioner is responsible for their own mishaps and successes. In our tumultuous society, is it any wonder that this form of spirituality and reconnection has gained traction amongst the disillusioned, frustrated, or disappointed?

Magick Matures

Another critical element in the distillation from which Raventree is born is the maturation of the magickal movements of the latter half of the 20th century, as well as the aforementioned academic offshoots of magick. From my admittedly distinct, and intensely personal, perspective, one can view the Wiccan and Neo-Pagan movements of the 1960s and 1970s as the roots of magick: early offshoots, critical for its survival, but shallow at first (X). The magickal literature was sparse, magick itself carried something of a bad rap (famously, the last law banning Witchcraft in England was not repealed until 1951 (XI)), and Wicca was gaining steam as a dualistic religion which championed women's rights and eco-feminism (both counts for which it should be applauded). Magick was merely a component of Wicca - integral, but ultimately only a subset of the beliefs and practices involved.

As time progressed, and practitioners began to branch out (along with various Wiccan spin-offs and Neo-Pagan revivals), magick remained the common denominator. Asatru, Druidry, Wicca, Thelema, Obeah, and so forth all maintained magick as a cornerstone of their foundations. Eventually, Witchcraft too began to develop as a distinct tradition, in which the foci was magick itself. At the same time this was occurring, however, popular culture began to exert a not insignificant amount of force on these traditions: enter Harry Potter! While Rowling's Harry Potter series was far from the first to popularize magic and witchcraft, it must certainly remain the most successful (XII). An entire generation was drawn into magic through this fantasy series, and the idea of a 'school of magic' became alluring to all those who wanted to escape the drudgery of the modern world (XIII).

Alas, Hogwarts remains just that: a fantasy. While it can certainly be credited with drawing more individuals into magic as an idea and an attraction, I would also argue that it led to a glut of introductory level texts and practices capitalizing on the (brief yet intense) fame of Harry Potter,  which overwhelmed the discourse for a while. Given modern day attention spans, it was not the Farrar's A Witches' Bible which was suddenly flying off the shelves, nevermind Hutton's historical texts or Huson's Mastering Witchcraft; rather it was any short, snappy text the equivalent of Wicca 100 or Witchcraft 101 (XIV). While waiting for the acceptance letter to Hogwarts, one might as well leaf through a slim volume on the basics of Wicca!

I hope the reader will hear the simultaneous snark and quirk in my words here. Poking fun at what one can politely call 'fluffy' texts on Wicca or witchcraft is a popular pastime, and while I think these texts deserve some gentle ribbing every now and again, I have no wish to consign these books to the dustbins. They are a product of their times, and they would not be selling so well if there were not an audience for them (XV)!

However, my argument in this section stems from the observation that the community and literary market has now had its fill of introductory texts and Magick 101 pamphlets. While there are certainly more and more texts available on advanced workings, I believe (and hope!) that we are just at the forefront of new avenues of exploration and practice. With the interest in magick continuing to rise, with its position as a doorway into worlds both alien yet seemingly kinder than our modern world, and its maturation from a few thinkers and practitioners to a community with libraries of research and primary sources at its fingertips, I think that the time is fortuitous for an institution to sit at the crossroads of the academy, the wilderness, and the practitioner themselves.

The Academy & The Magician

Which brings us, at long last, to the idea of Raventree. I see Raventree as drawing upon the pillars of the magickal Renaissance as outlined above, and serving as nexus of practice, arte, and scholasticism. Magick can never fully be encapsulated by a single branch: magick without arte is lifeless and dull; magick without practice is stifling and contrived; magick without scholasticism can be rudderless and narrow (XVI). Hence, the goal of Raventree is to see magick realized to its fullest potential: by drawing on the research of scholars, folklorists, and historians, incorporating the visions of poets and artists, and pushing the boundaries of praxis.

There are certainly those who will take issue with these broad strokes, and I welcome the opportunity to engage in dialogue. I preempt many avenues of questioning regarding the seed I have planted for Raventree to grow from: by utilizing the idea of the archetypal Academy. Why not a school devoted to practical artes? Or a university solely devoted to scholarly pursuits? Again, I emphasize my hope and dream that by rooting the study of magick in the rigor of the Academy, while cultivating its many practical branches, will allow for an entirely new tree to flourish. To harken back to an earlier passage in this essay, I also hope to provide an institution which allows for a magickal community to expand well beyond Magick 100. Students at Raventree should learn the components of spellcasting only as one of myriad skills. A grounding in magickal history, philosophy, and theory will help foster new researchers and practitioners to carry the mystic artes into the future, while enriching their own lives and study. Not only that, but we have the resources and understanding now to continue venturing into the higher arcane arts, expanding into more complex, advanced, and diverse modalities.

Furthermore, the institution of the Academy provides fertile grounds for research, authorship, debate, and innovation (XVII). The solitary magician, or the practitioner who has no desire or need for scholastic illuminations on their art, will always find successes in their praxis. Indeed, it aught to be possible to be entirely self-sufficient as a magician: by dealing solely with the Land and with the spirits, with the tides of the earth and the mysteries within, one could discover all one wishes to discover. However, as a laboratory scientist myself, I use my own work to paint an analogy: it is entirely possible that I could discover the synthetic routes for myriad target molecules all on my own, using nothing but logic, fortune, and my own skills. But to truly drive my craft forward, and to heighten my praxis, I rely on the research and knowledge of a thousand thousand scientists who have come before me, to spark my own creativity as well as to save me countless hours of pointless side endeavors (XVIII). In much the same way do I view magickal practice: we have so much to learn and discover, and truly magick is entirely deserving of being studied and researched just as much as chemistry or literature (XIV).

Finally, and perhaps most poetically, the Academy stands as a beacon of preservation in the world. While technology has the opportunity to enhance our access to forgotten or sidelined traditions, it equally has the power to erase much of our collective knowledge. Oral traditions, native myths, and even entire languages face the relentless scythe of modernity. The Academy has an opportunity to aid in the preservation of these important cultural and magickal components, and increase our understanding of these currents of thought.

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So take up your staff, pull on your boots, and start down the winding path into the witchwoods. I hope your travels are fruitful, enchanting, and fulfilling - and should your travels take you to Raventree, I look forward to seeing you! 

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Footnotes & Citations 

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(I) For histories of modern and early modern magick, Ronald Hutton remains a giant in the field; The Triumph of the Moon traces the path from murky druidic revivals through to modern Wicca. Hutton writes as a historian, and remains grounded in scholastic truths (in particular, Margaret Murray and Gerald Gardner face criticisms for their contrasting lack of academic integrity). For a more practitioner focused survey, I would encourage the reader to seek out The Children of Cain: A Study of Modern Traditional Witches by the late Michael Howard. As the title suggests, Howard writes from the perspective of a practicing traditional Witch, and as such, delves into some currents or paths Hutton left unexplored. However, Howard cannot be said to have pursued his work with the same meticulousness for which Hutton is rightly praised, though it ultimately remains a valuable tome for any student. Unfortunately, as with many books from Three Hands Press, The Children of Cain remains an elusive title (and rather disappointingly is also riddled with grammatic and editorial mistakes). 

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(II) With regards to publishing houses, I will list a few of the luminaries in the field: Three Hands Press/Xoanon, Anathema Publishing, Scarlet Imprint, Hadean Press, Atramentous Press, Ixaxaar, and Troy Books have all been publishing absolutely incredible works, and deserve endless praise for their dedication to magick. 

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(III) Part of it is simply personal preference. Magick is at its core intensely personal, so mixing it with politics seems to have a tendency to instantly inflame passions. 

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(IV) Grey, Apocalyptic Witchcraft, Scarlet Imprint, 2013, pg. 14 - 16

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(V) I hesitate to equate spirituality with religion here - the two seem to me to be cousins, but perhaps once or twice removed from each other. I would almost argue that for myself, reenchantment in the modern world serves as my form of spirituality. Future essays, more writing...

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(VI) Even though magick is an umbrella term, I willfully throw around the phrases "mystic artes" and "esoteric practices" as well, to expand the umbrella even more. Take a look at our course offerings - Cryptozoology or Herbalism likely do not fall under most individual's initial definition of magick. However, by broadening our focus, I believe we offer ourselves ever more opportunities for comparison and innovation. 

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(VII) This tidbit of folklore pertaining to Parsley stems (pun intended) originally from Germany, and was carried to North America by the Pennsylvania Dutch. Parsley has a long history of being connected to the Dead, but in particular, transplanting it is supposed to bring misfortune and doom upon the hapless gardener and their household. See Cleene & Lejeune, Compendium of Symbolic and Ritual Plants in Europe, vol. II, Man & Culture Publishers, 2003, pg. 87

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(VIII) As in, there are more exciting and positive benefits to this modality of belief, than no longer being able to transplant your Parsley! Of course, as a form of belief, we have to consider what superstition and folklore really means to us as individuals...

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(IX) 'Richer' used here in a spiritual fashion, as in: we may grow rich with knowledge! Magick is not a pathway to material riches, full stop. And the pursuit of material riches through magick has rarely ended well (Faust, anyone?). 

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(X) I wish to stress that this portion in particular is a personal set of observations, and not a diatribe against these earlier movements. We owe much to those who trod this path before us, paving the way that we might discuss 'magick' and 'witchcraft' without instantly landing in hot water with society in general. This is more of a gentle critique and overall observation of this stage of magick, than any sort of diminishment.

(XI) Hutton, citing Owen Davies, provides this date in The Triumph of the Moon, pg. 107 - 108. Owen Davies is yet another author I recommend every student read, both for his histories of magick and his histories of grimoires. 

(XII) This is admittedly watering down the overall story of society in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and it is easy to point fingers at Harry Potter ; however, J.K. Rowling can certainly be credited as well with bringing some folkloric elements such as boggarts and kelpies back into the mainstream. Perhaps my point at its core is that Hogwarts made for a really poor institution of learning: no one seemed interested in conducting any research (besides perhaps Bathilda Bagshot), faculty literally recited the same lectures for centuries in a row, and nevermind the fact that no one taught Harry & co. how to write a decent paper or avoid plagiarism (poor Hermionie!). Add to that the completely unrealistic notions of magick & the esoteric portrayed in the books, and I think you have something which simply does no one any good as a model for any sort of magickal institute of learning. 

(XIII) I purposely refer to 'magic' in the Harry Potter sense without the 'k'. This is a little bit snobbish, but I am trying to underscore major differences here, and as a proponent for the reclaiming of the word magick this seemed an opportune moment to belabor my point. 

(XIV) Paul Huson's Mastering Witchcraft, published in 1970, is one of the earliest attempts at reaching back into folklore and history for more 'authentic' practices than some of the, err, liberties taken by Gardner et al. at the time. I am writing this with my copy on my desk before me, the proud owner of a battered paperback copy, and while it certainly has some gems and tidbits, it also has rather sigh-inducing (or groan-inducing, perhaps) instructions such as reciting the Lord's Prayer backwards. 

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(XV) And I certainly have purchased my fair share of them! Again - snappy introductory texts are handy. But when you have cast your first spell and learned that Gardner is the Father of Modern Wicca, what's next? Students and practitioners are left adrift. You can go buy the next Wicca 100 text or a full translation of the Greek Magical Papyri - there is a lot of ground for an individual to cover in between those two archetypes, I think, and the literary (as well as instructional) gap is one we are trying to address at Raventree. 

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(XVI) I hopefully pre-empted ruffling any feathers here by underscoring that magick without scholasticism can be rudderless or adrift. Much of magickal history is characterized by a distinct lack of magickal treatises or texts, and practitioners had to rely on their own wits and fate to guide them. I am aware of plenty of modern practitioners who follow in these footsteps, and have no wish to bulldoze anyone aside with my stacks of books. There are many paths into the witchwoods, and the scholarly one is the one I am most interested in, both because of personal conviction as well as it being one of the paths I see least trod these days. 

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(XVII) One could say that one of my guiding philosophies is "Knowledge begets knowledge". 

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(XVIII) And of course -- so much in life is about the journey, not the destination. Even (or especially?) at Raventree, there will be failures and setbacks to be explored. This is not about avoiding opportunities to make and learn from mistakes. Rather, it is about allowing us to collectively move our knowledge forward and benefit from each other's experience. 

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(XIV) I truly believe this, but at the same time, there will not be any Bachelor's degrees in Practical Magick coming out anytime soon.