The Western Gate

The Witches Bible
by Janet and Stewart Farrar
Hell Fire Press

Oh dear, yet another book from the pariah of the occult and esoteric world, Hell Fire Books, (bought via a reputable source as opposed to the HellFire website-where you might as well indulge in whistling down the wind) …., The Witches Bible. Principally this is a combination of two books by Janet and Stewart Farrar, namely ‘Eight Sabbats for Witches’ and ‘The Witches Way’.
Of course Hellfire capitalising on ‘title most likely to sell’, have declared the book the be all and end all for anyone who deems themselves a “witch”, thereby creating at once a divisive issue. For a start, what is a witch, and for seconds ‘Bible’ ?
Of course, the REAL, witches bible will be the persons own journal, their diary and collection of correspondences, notes, rituals, observations, songs, poems,etc.

However! Janet and Stewart Farrar were initiated by Alex and Maxine Sanders into the offshoot of Gerald Gardners ‘Wiccan’ way. Herein then, they list all the rites and observations as conducted and relayed to them from that path, also, by their own admission have adapted some, much to Alex Sanders objection.
In that respect, for a complete and overview of the ‘Wiccan’ way this book will serve the needs of all who wish to pry into that structured path, albeit with perhaps a few organic and personal alterations by the authors.
My first real book on Wicca was Vivianne Crowleys (no relation to the old boy) book ‘Wicca’, and also, ‘A book of Pagan Rituals’ by Herman Slater. These very much are parallel to the tome created here by the Farrars, and no doubt plagiarised by HellFire with no recompense to the authors or their benefactors.

Within are listed all the ‘bog’ standard rites from ‘Wicca’, from Opening rituals, The ‘Great’ Rite and closing rituals and then rites, perhaps with a twist of the Farrars own spice and juice, for all the Sabbats, these being the natural festivals that occur over the year, the Equinoxes and the Solstices, and also those dates mid point of those natural seasonal cycles, Samhain, Beltaine etc. The second Book within then guides through the Three degrees of initiation, consecrations and other miscellaneous rituals before embarking on a full discourse of the Wiccan path covering such topics as Ethics, Nudism, Astral projection, Healing etc.
For those that want to follow the Wiccan path it is a comprehensive work and therefore, perhaps could be considered somewhat as a Bible. It suggests a prerequisite to join a coven, and thus for the solo and Hedgewitches there is little in the way to adapt the rites and rituals for the solo practitioner. There is little likewise discussing the oral and hereditary traditions of (sic)witch of course wouldn’t be written for unknown readers anyway.
There is discussion on all the regalia as used in this path, but am left feeling it is all an exercise in drama and showboating (which has its place) rather than its humble beginnings namely that all the tools of witchcraft were the only possessions one had. In a cluttered and technological modern home we forget how important an implement such as a dagger was to anybody hundreds of years ago. To each piece of ‘regalia’ this meaning should be remembered, but it is never delivered in hardly any books on ‘witchcraft’ or ‘wicca’, instead delving into peculiar symbols and etchings one would apparently need to make active any wand/athame etc. These symbols of course should all play second fiddle to the moniker or design one crafts for themselves to denote it is their property and thus, their spirit is enabled within it, together with the spirit of its function, be it to be a receptacle for water or wine, or a bowl for salt or charcoal, cakes or bread. Be it a knife for sacrifice/cutting/butchering or for crafting /etching/marking.
There isn’t a ‘Witches’ Bible for the witch, for each stand in the path of their own gnosis built on the foundation of the barriers and obstacles they are confronted with, whether it is the pressure of privilege or austerity, the limits of their environment and the natural development born of heritage, ancestry and history.
It would go without saying that the most concise and essential chapter would be how one should prepare their own ‘Book of Shadows’ and its content, which effectively would be THE Witches Bible.. This isn’t so. We are dealt the hand from somebody’s own shuffling and as an accuser we can only assess whether it would better to serve and follow this path or would it not be just as well to pray to a once desert God who has now the better churches?
This is the problem with Wicca. Wicca has a formal garden, its plan is set, it flowers on the South facing garden, everything is structured, we merely have to follow, adopt and copy. Wicca itself was plagiarised and copied from other paths, like it or not, whether from the Freemasons, The Golden Dawn and philosophies and ethics drawn from other sources congealed to one mass and sculptured into form. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this. You can still adopt and follow your own evolution in parallel with this just as you could be a Christian Witch or any other orthodox or structured path, it could be argued, and I disagree with this. I don’t think anybody should follow without hesitation or accusation any path, however the Farrars have adapted, as they make clear, some elements of this tradition. Likewise, and just as the Farrars have done, each person reading and studying this work should, in their own hand copy that which reflects them, that which inspires them and which their mind absorbs naturally in a stream of wisdom as opposed to a forced acceptance of knowledge. Adapt to your own environment, that IS the path of witchcraft. It would be a very conflicting path if someone could only draw in symbols but was told to reproduce the mona lisa. That’s the problem with any structured path. This is before we even begin to discuss the benefits and the problems with joining a coven. There are benefits to group work, a hive mind intent and focused on one objective will undoubtably be more successful and powerful than one mind in its own fixed objective. But, how best to structure a coven? There is much in Wicca which determines and emphasises that which is masculine and that which is feminine. It is, as Farrar states and therefore must be assumed this is the same policy from Sanders and Gardner, that the masculine and feminine are central to Wiccan workings. Therein lies more divisive murmurings, not least for the solo practitioner already dealt a rebuff by having been told they must be in a coven. That all who stand as a witch are in fact devoid of gender is something that will be championed and yet misunderstood by many in the current non-binary et al zeitgeist.
For instance consider the following from the unpublished, of course, personal, book of shadows (Devas Sublime book 2) –
The symbol of Mercury , that which dances closest to light, is seen as both masculine and feminine. In fact the symbol is feminine that is crowned by the moon, itself feminine, but the crescent shown depicting masculine – The Bull, being of another form, neither equal nor reflected, or opposite, but in dynamism, hence it is a crown upon the feminine. In truth, there is only feminine, the masculine being a polarising force of herself, all things begin as female and inherently all things are female. The ‘man’ which dances the tides of the moon understands this just as a woman instinctively and naturally does. Terms such as androgynous still serve no purpose as it places a subjective design upon what it is to be either Woman or Man. In essence we are neither, nor are we both. A witch is therefore only a witch beyond those illusions and just as knowledge is an interpretation of that we can express as a fixed idea, so wisdom is of itself beyond division. A witch is of the path of wisdom, not of defined knowledge.
And there we arrive back at the start.
How can witchcraft be structured, defined and the now crucified and bound soul declaring “It is done”. Nothing is fixed, everything is in a constant state of movement.
As an analogy, a herbalist using plants natural to their local environment will serve no use to somebody in a completely different setting, just as, ahem, a desert God will not serve nor listen to those that dwell in a temperate or lush green land.
That all said, and let’s face it, its all subject to criticism and opinion, this book is worthy of study, but witches bible it is not. An Altered and Organic Offshoot of Wiccan Introduction, yes, but that title wouldn’t sell.
It is subject to discussion, argument and ultimately change and there is much in its content that could each warrant a lengthy response from the point of view of every denomination of those whom call themselves witches, of this path or that, and that in itself would be a very good book, albeit a much larger one, but there would be no definitive sword cast in stone, only those who are rightfully crowned would wield that knowing full well it belongs to the tides of the sea and is perpetual.

Contents as shown below (no apologies for reproducing as HF press probably reproduced without permission anyway, but hey, I didn’t condemn the book in this review)