Historical introduction

Taliesin describes a West Country wood and an alleged hereditary initiation, contrasting it with Gardnerian initiatory forms. This account prompted part of the correspondence printed in a later issue of Pentagram. The ritual description is treated as the author’s testimony, not independent verification of each claim.

Original publication: Taliesin, “A Wood in the West Country”, Pentagram, no. 4, August 1965. Source consulted: Documentos Completos da Tradição 1734 (1734 Foundations), compiled by Joseph B. Wilson, Speculum Lunae private collection.

Complete English transcription

In the West Country, and I shall be no more explicit geographically than that, there is a wood that covers three or four acres of ground. It is known locally as “Annie’s Wood” and is strongly reputed to be haunted. In these few facts, there is nothing really out of the ordinary, and certainly little to stimulate the imagination of any student of the Old Religion. The wood, however, is a sacred spot to a small group of those who still owe their allegiance to The Lady, and this stimulates the mind instantly.

The wood is used mainly as a spot for initiations when aspirant members of this hereditary group are deemed ready to learn something of the mysteries. But there is no trace of the Gardnerian cloak and dagger initiation here, no binding, no oath-taking or flagellation. The aspirant, after being prepared mentally by his or her sponsor, and drinking of the potion, is left alone to spend the night by the three stones that stand overgrown in the centre of the wood. Anyone who has even walked in an English wood at night will readily appreciate that to spend the night there, alone, is a test for only those secure in their genuine desire to serve and, holding on to this desire, unafraid of what they may see. The inquisition on the following day by experienced Elders will determine whether the aspirant stays permanently on the fringe of the group or assumes his heritage.

Now all this is interesting, but the really interesting thing is the story that is told as to why the wood is haunted. The versions vary slightly; this one is contained in a 17th-century book on the area prepared by the local priest. Long ago, they say, there was a woman living on the hill at the foot of which the wood sprawls. She was neither young nor beautiful but men loved her. She was, however, evil and would give her favours to any man. But any man who went into the wood with her was in danger of his life because once a year, while the man she had favoured was sleeping beside her, she would change into a cat and tear his throat out. Eventually she was slain by a monk who wore a magic crucifix that was proof against her charms. The monk burned down her hut and buried her beneath three rocks that he magically raised up to keep her buried.

This story is a fascinating one–although as it stands it is bunkum. Any story wherein a monk or any sort of cleric goes up against what the story calls evil is a pretty clear case of Christianity versus the Old Religion, and this is no exception. Let us look at the name of the wood first–“Annie’s Wood.” This, I think, is a clear corruption over the years of “Annis Wood,” so let us call it “The Wood of Annis,” the daylight begins to show– for Annis is a name of the old Goddess (in Leicestershire she was “Black Annis,” but “Anna” and “Angnesse” are all the same name). So we have, I postulate, a priestess of the Goddess living, rightly, at the top of a hill with a sacred wood below who would take a man–a younger man most certainly–as her lover, probably for a year, and murder him as Divine King, probably in midsummer. The alleged method of murder is interesting, as is the transformation into a cat, for Annis is also known as “Cat Annis” although her symbol is more normally an owl. The slaying by the monk is obviously a way of saying that Christianity suppressed the worship of Annis and took over. The raising of the stones is nonsense since they are still there today, are of very great antiquity and form, I think, part of a circle now almost all buried under earth and grass. They ought, I suppose, to be excavated for all to see but the thought of their desecration by the hordes such as descend on Stonehenge would be too much to bear.

One more link in this interesting chain: the deed to the land on which the wood stands gives as an alternative name for it “Three Sisters Wood”–though I know of nobody who uses it now. The most obvious three sisters that spring to mind are the Fate- Trinity, Ana, Badb and “Sean”ha–known collectively as the “Morrigan” or “Great Queen.” They are, as Robert Cochrane has pointed out, the true object(s) of the Witch’s worship.

As a postscript, I may say that among the people who regard the wood as sacred there are a quite disproportionate number of “Annes” and “Agnesses.” There’s an unconscious race-memory for you!

Editorial notes

Transcription follows the text preserved in the private compilation. Original periodical text is kept distinct from later editorial remarks by the compiler. The contributors’ historical statements are preserved as documentary claims. Distribution and translation authorised according to the collection holder.

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