We are the Witchcraft, and although one may not know another, yet we are united by an indissoluble bond. And when the high wild cry of the eagle sounds in your mind, know that you are not alone in your desire for freedom. And when the howl of the wolf echoes in the forests of your night, know that there are those who also prowl. And when the ways of your fellows about you seem the ways of idiocy and madness, know that there are also others who have seen and judged - and acted.
…
Our way is not for all men. There are those who are so constricted and sick in themselves that the thought of their own freedom is a horror, and that of others a fierce pain; so that they would enslave all men. And these you should shun, or, if you must, destroy them as you will know how, for this also is bounty. Nor think the life power should manifest in those who have no trouble or turmoil, for these may be mere dumb cattle, innocents out of season. Rather does the power often show the most where conflict rages, since at any time, and especially in a false civilization, the way must be won through. Surrender is disaster. The other side of the coin is a song in the sunlight and a dance in the moonlight, where all mists are dispersed. But the way must be won.
-- Jack Parsons, “The Witchcraft”

The Path is not a matter of finding the “True” religion or God. It is, rather the assimilation of the Entirety (as the Gnostics put it) and this means embracing the Darkness of the Starless Night as well as the Light of the Sun. Parsons, toward the end of his life wrote concerning the Way as he saw it, pointed out in Liber 49 by Babalon and sketched out in the quote reproduced above. This Way or path has many names, and is the subject of much distortion, though this is inevitable, for the road we are speaking about is the road of Shadows that winds it’s way through the country of Nightmares. It is a knowledge that, no doubt, would be better of unlearnt for the vast majority of humanity. Indeed, there are those who, perhaps touched by this Shadow, are repulsed by it and would do anything to destroy it. It is the nature of that which is from the dark or negative side of the Tree, however, that they are not things of themselves and can only manifest, as shadows do, when the light is blotted out. And so the witch hunters, it seems, evoked into the world that which they feared, and which, perhaps, haunted their dreams. The shadows were evoked, certainly, in the light of the auto-de-fe by which the Church and its allies hoped to destroy it.

Such is the nature of Shadow. As to what this mystery reveals, I can only, yet again, quote Kenneth Grant: When the occult significance of primal symbols is fathomed at the Draconian level, …all magical circles, sorceries, and cults, are seen as manifestations of the Shadow. (Cults of the Shadow) Thus we see the road that we would travel is far older than the oldest grimoire and the Powers we would invoke are the most primal of those known to man.[1]

Anyone can reconstruct certain formula, as I have, from the writings of others (and make contact with the force behind them),. Thereby one can call again to the Dark Angel as well as the Holy Angel, the Spirits of the (double) Moon and those beyond the stars, as well as the Sun (solar divinities). There are many books that are much more explicit[2] , and much more sure of the Path than what I have written here. Whether these authors truly understand what it is they write about, and whether they have in fact walked the roads they are describing, I do not know. I can only say, as I have and those whom I have learned from have, to walk the Path that leads to the Abyss with caution and care. The road truly ends at the gate of Da’ath, beyond which there is no aid, from men, god or angel.

With the key of the Primal Gnosis, the Draconian or Typhonian Tradition, as Massey and Grant call it, it is now possible to unlock doors that have been hidden from sight and secrets that have been degraded through time and the entropy of history. As for the rectification of Witchcraft, we possess the key formula, the formula of reversion. A. E. Waite, the occult writer of the early 20th century says, in the introduction to his Ceremonial Magic:
It remains now to be said that there is a tradition à rebours, and though it may seem very hard to put it so roughly and frankly, I have not taken all the consciousness of the inward man for my province to smooth or reduce any of the distinctions between the loss and gain of the soul. The tradition a` rebours is definitely and clearly that of miraculous power in the quest and attainment thereof. It is summarized by the ambition of the Magus in its contrast with the desire of the eyes and the hope which fills the heart of the true mystic. [3]

This may be so, at least from the point of view of someone such as Waite. And yet, the Left-hand, the negative or whatever one may call it is a part of the universe as surely as the Light of the Sun. While we must acknowledge the dangers of the Tree of Da’ath, is it the forces that dwell there that cause such open handed dismissal or is there something more? It seems to me that the blanket condemnation of the Left-hand conceals something more, something that lies beneath the surface of waking consciousness. It does not matter if we call it fear or failure, it is the rejection of the totality of our existence, for there is no light without darkness. As Crowley himself says concerning the crossing of the Abyss
your Universe [must be] perfect—and perfection includes the idea of balance… If there be missing or redundant even one atom, the entire monstrous, the portentous mass must tend to move with irresistible impact, in such direction as to restore the equilibrium.
Ultimately, the destruction of the ego before the Ordeal of the Abyss is necessary because the ego makes the distinction between I and not I. One cannot gain such equilibrium (per this schema) if either the Severity or Mercy[4] are rejected.[5]
We have already briefly touched on the idea of the Left-hand path. Now that we elucidated the key of the “shadow”, that is, the formula of reversion or inversion, we can know consider the symbols associated with witchcraft or sorcery in light of this understanding. Grant, discussing theses symbols writes
The principal symbols of the original cult have survived the passage of aeon- long cycles of time. They all suggest the Backward Way; The Sabbath sacred to Sevekh or Sebt, the number Seven, the Moon, the Cat, Jackal, Hyaena, Pig, Black Snake, and other animals considered unclean by later traditions; the Widdershins and Back-to-Back dance, the Anal Kiss, the number Thirteen, the Witch mounted on the besom handle, the Bat, and other forms of webbed or winged nocturnal creature; the Batrachia generally, of which the Toad, Frog, or Hekt was preeminent. These and similar symbols originally typified the Draconian Tradition which was degraded by the pseudo witch-cults during centuries of Christian persecution. The Mysteries were profaned and the sacred rites were condemned as anti-Christian. The Cult thus became the repository of inverted and perverted religious rites and symbols having no inner meaning; mere affirmations of the witches' total commitment to anti-Christian doctrine whereas- originally- they were living emblems, sentient symbols, of ante-Christian faith. [6]
The Origins of Witchcraft are obscure; the Neo-pagan revival has tried, and failed, to find the “roots” the Witch cult in pre-Christian paganism, Medieval pagan survivals and pre-historic shamanism.
Grant writes; Sorcery and witchcraft are the degenerate offspring of occult traditions coeval with those described in the second chapter. The popular conception of witchcraft, shaped by the anti-Christian manifestations that occurred in the Middle Ages is so distorted and so inadequate that to try and interpret the symbols of its mysteries, perverted and debased as they are, without reference to the vastly ancient systems from which they derive is like mistaking the tip of an iceberg for its total mass .[7]

In mistaking the outward form (and formulae) for the inner meaning, interpreters of Witchcraft, from the Roman Poets to the Medieval witch-finders have failed to grasp the phenomena of the various cults. It is the source of Witchcraft, both in the sense of the idea and the power behind it that provides the key. As we have already seen, this source is the Qliphotic realm of the averse Tree of Life and also the very Abyss itself. As Grant says, (It has been suggested that) the original witches sprang from a race of Mongol origin …(but) these 'Mongols' were not human. They were degenerate survivals of a pre-human phase of our planet's history ... The characteristic that distinguished them from the others of their kind was the ability to project consciousness into animal forms, and the power they possessed of reifying[8] thought-forms. The bestiaries of all the races of the earth are littered with the results of their sorceries. [9]
This passage provides two important insights. First, the origin of witchcraft is extra-terrestrial, or at least pre human. This parallels the myth of the Watchers or “Sons of God” from Genesis
Genesis: 6 : 2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
Genesis: 6 : 4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. [10]

These “Sons of God” or Nephilim are treated extensively in the non canonical Book of Enoch. Compare the description of them with the passage from Genesis above:
And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto 2 them beautiful and comely daughters. And the angels, the children of the heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: 'Come, let us choose us wives from among the children of men 3 and beget us children.' And Semjâzâ, who was their leader, said unto them: 'I fear ye will not 4 indeed agree to do this deed, and I alone shall have to pay the penalty of a great sin.' And they all answered him and said: 'Let us all swear an oath, and all bind ourselves by mutual imprecations 5 not to abandon this plan but to do this thing.' Then sware they all together and bound themselves 6 by mutual imprecations upon it. And they were in all two hundred; who descended in the days of Jared on the summit of Mount Hermon, and they called it Mount Hermon, because they had sworn 7 and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it. And these are the names of their leaders: Samîazâz, their leader, Arâkîba, Râmêêl, Kôkabîêl, Tâmîêl, Râmîêl, Dânêl, Êzêqêêl, Barâqîjâl, 8 Asâêl, Armârôs, Batârêl, Anânêl, Zaqîêl, Samsâpêêl, Satarêl, Tûrêl, Jômjâêl, Sariêl. These are their chiefs of tens.
1 And all the others together with them took unto themselves wives, and each chose for himself one, and they began to go in unto them and to defile themselves with them, and they taught them charms 2 and enchantments, and the cutting of roots, and made them acquainted with plants. And they 3 became pregnant, and they bare great giants, whose height was three thousand ells: Who consumed 4 all the acquisitions of men. And when men could no longer sustain them, the giants turned against 5 them and devoured mankind. And they began to sin against birds, and beasts, and reptiles, and 6 fish, and to devour one another's flesh, and drink the blood. Then the earth laid accusation against the lawless ones. [11]

The offspring of these Angels, the Nephilim, were the inheritors of some of the powers of their (non-human) parents. In I Enoch and Genesis, the Angels or “Sons of God” mingled with humanity but Grant sees this as a myth which survives from the pre-history, as mankind did not yet exist but was, in a sense created by the Nephilim:
They were non-human entities; that is to say they pre-dated the human life-wave on this planet, and their powers- which would today appear unearthly-derived from extra-spatial dimensions. They impregnated the aura of the earth with the magical seed from which the human foetus was ultimately generated .[12]

The call to Babalon’s children in Liber 49 to Gather together in the covens as of old…Gather together in public, in song and dance and festival. Gather together in secret, be naked and shameless and rejoice in my name is, I believe, an invitation to reconnect with the ancient, primal Universe as experienced by our ancestors. While Wicca has focused on being a “nature” religion, the Witchcraft envisioned by Parsons is, as described in the fore-going chapter, the reversion of the norms of society and, in connecting with these hidden currents, restore the balance of light and dark, Night and Day. It is not, I think, a retreat into a pastoral Golden Age (which never existed, in any case) but an exhortation to become as the gods we are.

For the ultimate goal of every “Star” must be ascend the Tree of Life unto the brink of Da’ath and face the guardian of the Gate, the Dweller on the Threshold, and pass the final pylon. This Work, the “Great Work” of Crowley, etc., was called by Parsons the Black Pilgrimage.

A final note: Two Names often associated with the Witchcult are Lucifer and Baphomet and while these beings will be dealt with in future works I have planned, I should mention that NAEQ6 provides a clue to deciphering these symbols as Baphomet has the NAEQ6 value 128, Lucifer the value 110 and the “dreaded Nahsi” who worshipped NSR-RA[13] , as Nahsi = 47. 128, 110 and 47 all reduce to 11 as they are “of us”. (see Lucifer and the 11 Key for an update on Lucifer)

[1] Kenneth Grant, Cults of the Shadow, Skoob
[2] See for instance, Michael Ford, Book of the Witch Moon, Succubus
[3] Arthur Edward Waite, The Book of Ceremonial Magic
[4] Concerning the Pillars, the Sepher Yetzirah tells us
First Division. He let the letter Aleph predominate in primitive air, crowned it {made it the top letter of the column in the middle of the Tree of Life. Descending the Tree of Life, the order of the three letters is Aleph, Mem and Shin (male) in Kether, Tiphereth and Yesod. The female order, Shin, Mem and Aleph is encountered by rising up the middle pillar of the Tree and thereby reversing this order.}, combining one with the other and formed by them the air in the world, moistness in the year, and the breast in man, male and female: in male by Aleph-Mem-Shin and in female by Shin-Mem-Aleph
Second Division. He let the letter Mem predominate in primitive water, and crowned it, combined one with the other {made Mem the top letter of the column of Mercy on the right side of the Tree of Life. The order of the three letters is Mem, Shin and Aleph in the Sephiroth Chokmah, Chesed and Netzach {a male ring} going down, and the opposite order {female ring going up. This symbolically makes the pillar of Mercy Male as viewed from the bottom and female as viewed from the top -- there is another way of considering it predominantly male -- by application of the letters of the name Jehovah or Yahweh to the Tree.}, and formed by them the earth {with water over land} coldness in the year, and the belly in male and female; in male by Mem-Shin-Aleph, in female by Aleph-Mem-Shin.
Third Division. He let the letter Shin predominate in primitive fire, crowned it, combined one with the other {made Shin the top of the column of severity on the Tree of Life. The order of these three letters is Shin, Aleph, Mem in the Sephiroth Binah, Geburah and Hod going down (Male ring) and Mem, Aleph, Shin going up (Female ring). This makes the pillar of Severity, the left column of the Tree of Life, Male when viewed from the top and Female when viewed from the bottom. By the method of placing Tetragrammaton on the Tree of Life this column is considered predominantly Female}, and formed by them, heaven in the world, heat in the year, and the head of male and female
[5] Aleister Crowley, Magick Without Tears, New Falcon
[6] Kenneth Grant, Cults of the Shadow, Skoob
[7] Kenneth Grant, Cults of the Shadow, Skoob
[8] To regard or treat (an abstraction) as if it had concrete or material existence. (American Heritage dictionary) Grants use of the term also indicates that these abstract “thought forms” are actually brought into material existence via the power of the sorcerer or witch.
[9] Kenneth Grant, ibid.
[10] Genesis 6 : 2, 4
[11] The Book of Enoch, 6-7
[12] Kenneth Grant, Cults of the Shadow, Skoob ibid.
[13] Kenneth Grant, Outer Gateways, Skoob. NSR-RA symbolically equates with Lucifer.