Gender, Possible New Series

I may be studying Tarot with a friend soon. It'll be informal and probably sporadic, but we both want to get better at reading, so we're attempting to set something up.

But, now on to the first of the "Beyond" part of this blog, a piece I wrote about gender polarity/equality issues in Trad Craft, as seen, of course, from the outside:

There exists the notion that male-to-female initiations and workings in Gardnerianism indicate a (repressive) hetero-dominant system, and that the Tradition itself is also highly misogynistic. These accusations are, in a word, ludicrous. In his book, Witchcraft Today, author Gerald B. Gardner easily counters and dispels both of them, albeit proactively.

In this book, Gardner repeatedly compared the raising of energy as he had learned it to charging a battery, which very well explains the reasoning for the male-female pairings; a battery has both a negative and positive end, and without both present and connected to the opposite (yet still equal) node, the battery is of absolutely no use. Each male-female pairing was (and is) seen as a battery, and also representative of the Ultimate Feminine and Masculine Divinities, the God and Goddess. Gardner never claimed that this was the best or only way to raise Magickal energy, and in fact stated explicitly many times that this was simply as he had learned it. One also has to consider context, the times in which he was learning and writing, the late 1940s and early ‘50s. So-called “alternative” sexualities were generally not discussed or indeed really ever considered at that time. However, none of this means that Gardner, nor his teachers or students, were purposely acting in an intolerant or homophobic manner, nor that they would consider such unions "unnatural" or any lesser than heterosexual unions. They were simply working with what they already knew to be highly effective; they found a way that made Things Work very well, and so kept up the practice.

I've also read the argument that male-female initiations are unsuitable because men don't solely have daughters, nor women solely sons. While this is true, one must also consider the story of the God and Goddess as they move through the Wheel of the Year; the God is born of the Goddess as Her Son, then becomes Her Consort and Lover, and in fact His own Father. The same can be said of male-female initiations; a female initiate is first "born of" the HP, when she then becomes representative of the Goddess, and the HP the God. They have created a new polarity, a new battery, with which to lend energy to the Coven as a whole (and, of course, the same is true of the HPS initiating a man). Yes, the family metaphor is very present (insofar as my understanding goes) in Gardnerianism, but just as the God and Goddess shift in Their relation and interaction with One Another, so too do the initiates with the HP and HPS, because every Witch is, without question, a physical representation and manifestation of Divinity. And so, with a system that recognizes and reveres the Union of God and Goddess, it logically follows that Magickal work be done in the same sort of male-female pairings, so that the Witches are as attuned and aligned to the Ultimates as possible.

Gardner also wrote at length about pre-historic fertility cults, wherein the women kept the home and were the primary Magick workers who called upon a Mother Goddess, and the men were the hunters and revered an animal God of Death and Resurrection (sound familiar?). He seemed to be saying that as often as these two groups worked together to ensure a good life for the entire tribe, they also worked as separate entities, establishing both men's and women's mysteries. This only illustrates further that the system itself was not hetero-centric, but simply utilized the combining of the male and female energies to receive increased results. As is my admittedly uninitiated understanding, such is also the way of Gardner's Craft.

Also mentioned in the book were a few of the practices of the British Witches he knew and claims to have worked with himself. Among them was the explanation that the HPS of the Coven was allowed to take on the role of the HP in his absence by strapping on a sword (one presumes both for the phallic and hunter/warrior symbolism). However, Gardner also stated that the HP could not fulfill the duties of the HPS. He also speaks of a particular "prayer" (one can assume that here "prayer" is synonymous with "spell“ or "rite") performed by these Witches in which the HPS assumes both the God position (arms crossed over chest, feet together) and the Goddess position (legs apart, arms up-spread). He states that this signifies the HPS is capable of expressing and assuming both male and female Divinity (he used the term "bisexual," and one surmises this means something more akin to having the characteristics of two genders, rather than being sexually attracted to them). I’m told that similar provisions exist in modern Gardnerian Craft, that a HPS may run a Coven and lead a ritual alone, but a HP cannot. Aside from all that though, one‘s Gardnerian lineage is traced through the HPSs only. Those who claim this Tradition to be misogynistic must have overlooked or ignored these facets, or at best were heretofore ignorant of them.

Of course, if these practices and their reasoning still seem irreconcilable with your way of thinking and choice of lifestyle, there is a simple way around that. Don’t become Gardnerian.