PREFACE

any years have passed since I first began to write about my experience of Witchcraft and to teach what I understood about it. Naturally, all of this has grown and evolved over time. Although I've been taught by other Witches along the way, I eventually formed relationships with the spirits of moon and night, and these had a profound influence on me. Others before me certainly had the same experience and understanding of such a connection. I believe that this is how our ancestors came to obtain knowledge of mystical and hidden things. It's not an invention by an individual; it's a revealing to one from something outside. It comes through an alignment that establishes communication with beings dwelling in nonmaterial reality.

I first came into contact with the Rose and Thorn Path of Witchery through conversations with Old World Witches whom I met by way of the opportunities that being an author can provide. This made it possible for me to meet key people in occult circles. Additionally, I came into contact with various individuals who wrote me letters that were inspired by my books and articles. I hasten to add that none of these passed the system on to me but were instead instrumental to me in finding the enchanted garden of the Rose and Thorn.

Over the years, I was guided to meet other practitioners of related paths through my network of authors, festival coordinators, and event planners. From them, I learned a variety of concepts and techniques that eventually led me to this particular expression of the Greenwood Realm, that is to say, the Ways of the Rose and Thorn. It was there in the center of the enchanted garden that I met the deepest core of teachers; they are the spirits of plants and the spirits of places. It was here in direct contact with the deep places within the Greenwood that very profound things were revealed to me.

When I first encountered the Path of the Rose and Thorn, I arrived with four decades of experience in various forms of Witchcraft and Wicca. I see now that this was a necessary foundation for me in order to be receptive to an expanded vision and a needed change. This change came about by releasing my adherence to any specific cultural form of Witchcraft. When I left behind my finite connections, I became open to the formless ways that preceded them. I fell back into the brewing cauldron from which all things emerge. When I surfaced, my self-identity as a Witch of any specific cultural expression of Witchcraft had dissolved away. I felt closer to the larger concept of Witch than to being a Witch singled out by cultural imprint. This release from a lifelong identity was one of powerful transformation and liberation.

I don't regard my detachment from a cultural definition of my Witchcraft as an abandoning of my previous Path. Instead, I regard the Rose and Thorn Path as a means of expanding upon its enchanted world-view. The Old Path of Witchery is about rootedness, and beneath the surface, it runs a network of currents that feed traditions. These traditions rise from it and recede back into it over time. Nothing is ever forgotten at the rooted level even though the exterior forms may die away over time.

The Ancestral Spirit speaks to us from the blood flowing through our veins, for it contains the memory of our lineage. There are other voices willing to inform us, and they whisper in the quiet times when we are receptive. We are connected to them when our spirits embrace the same things. A kindred connection forms when we emanate with the love of the plant realm, when we sense the moon's light as sacred, and when we understand Nature as self-aware. These are the stepping stones that lead from the Witches' garden to the threshold of the Otherworld.

What I offer you in this book isn't about faith or belief; it's about experiences. Through those experiences, I have come to know and to realize. This is very different from dealing with faith or holding to beliefs. To this I add my long-acquired understanding of Witchcraft, one that was not easily formed or attained. It came at great cost to me, and I've endured much in my personal and professional life to hold true to the Ways.

My past experiences have proven to me that there are people who don't want you to know that they do not know. So they hide it through distraction in the form of criticizing other individuals. There are people who hold ill will toward others who have done the work and achieved the things that they have not, dreamers who never put forth the effort required to attain them in their own lives. My book is not for them. It's for you who realize that the thorns are worth the attainment of the rose.

The pages that lie ahead in this book are filled with the meadows of old lore. With each one, you walk the rustic paths leading into the deep wooded places. If you are open to it, moonlight will reflect from the written word. There's enchantment to be found. Awaiting you are the old spirits who can part the thickets, reveal the thresholds to what lies beyond, and dance with you all through the moonlit night in a realm few mortals know.