In this class, Robin will present historical perspectives on the important differences between sorcery and magic, and how historical witchcraft from Europe from Late Antiquity all the way to the dawn of the Industrial revolution was a continuation of sorcerous arts engaged in by rural peoples who had maintained a very real connection to the distant past of animism and place-centered spirit worship. Though some small elements of Christian heresy or diabolism worked their way into these rural sorcerous arts, this witchery of the common people maintained an important presence throughout Europe's Dark ages and Middle Ages, and well into the Rennaisance.
Robin will discuss how his own sorcerous practice and that of his Covenanted allies is drawn from the patterns of witchery as established by folklorists and historians, but also from particular spiritual practices that can be used to put people in touch with the underlying "other than human persons" that inhabit the place where they live, and who can be related to, as people from every age have related to spirits of place.
This class will cover certain aspects of sorcerous theory, as well as practical techniques. Highlights include: