{"id":64,"date":"2003-11-09T15:45:00","date_gmt":"2003-11-09T15:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=64"},"modified":"2003-11-09T15:45:00","modified_gmt":"2003-11-09T15:45:00","slug":"a-voice-in-the-forest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=64","title":{"rendered":"A Voice in the Forest"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here is something that you won’t read about in The Spiral Dance<\/em> or most of the other how-to-be-a-witch <\/a>books. It’s rare, but it happens: covens that claim mediumistic communication with their Craft ancestors. I’ve heard it claimed for followers of Robert Cochrane<\/a> and http:\/\/www.cog.org\/wicca\/trads\/faery.html”>Gwydion Pendderwen<\/a> both. Gwydion was a friend of mine, too, and I’ve had some experiences there, but I don’t go for pestering the Mighty Dead on a regular basis.<\/p>\n

About three years ago I read the first edition of A Voice in the Forest<\/em>, published by a small press<\/a> in Massachusetts and presented as spiritual communication with Alex Sanders (1926?-1988). Sanders was one the leading figures in Britain’s Craft scene in the 1960s and 1970s–a bigger publicity hound than Gerald Gardner, even, but still, according to people who knew him, an effective and daring magician. <\/p>\n

As far as publishers were concerned, one of his best assets was his then-wife and high priestess Maxine (b. 1946). The camera loved Maxine. And Maxine, although she broke with Alex in the 1970s, apparently endorses this book: “The contact described within the book was so obviously true it gave me goose bumps.”<\/p>\n

This book’s author, Jimahl di Fiosa of Boston, says that the communication began in 1998, ten years after Sanders’ death, and continues to the present day. A new, expanded edition of A Voice in the Forest<\/em> Is to be published in April 2004.<\/p>\n

I never knew Sanders, but I did know several of his students. I can’t say whether the communications are genuine or not, but I’m more interested in the idea of them as yet another example of the constant discourse about Wiccan lineage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here is something that you won’t read about in The Spiral Dance or most of the other how-to-be-a-witch books. It’s rare, but it happens: covens that claim mediumistic communication with their Craft ancestors. I’ve heard it claimed for followers of Robert Cochrane and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[6,12],"class_list":["post-64","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-wicca","tag-writing"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-12","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1014,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1014","url_meta":{"origin":64,"position":0},"title":"Cora Anderson","author":"Chas S. 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On the\u00a0Agora Patheos blog, Dana Corby tells the story of how it was made (part 1), including why\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"California\"","block_context":{"text":"California","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=california"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":569,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=569","url_meta":{"origin":64,"position":3},"title":"Bringing back The Faerie ShamanAnne\u2026","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"December 1, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Bringing back The Faerie ShamanAnne Hill of Serpentine Music updates us on the progress of a new CD of Pagan songwriter Gwydion Pendderwen's music.There is nothing like producing an album to make you absolutely sick of whatever music it is you\u2019re producing, no matter what you thought of it before....I\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":526,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=526","url_meta":{"origin":64,"position":4},"title":"Celto-Pagan MusicI am not exactly\u2026","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"September 29, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Celto-Pagan MusicI am not exactly the go-to guy on Pagan music. Jason Pitzl-Waters, who is an actual DJ, has much broader knowledge, and once he has finished re-doing it, you should drop by his music site, check the links, and download his \"Darker Shade of Pagan\" mp3 files.Being more a\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6487,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=6487","url_meta":{"origin":64,"position":5},"title":"The Zells’ Biographer on “Living Your Myth”","author":"Chas S. 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