One of the things we study extensively here at COFF is Sacred Landscapes. There seems to be some confusion about this particular concept. Even the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn claimed to have assigned the Elements to the four cardinal directions based on the prevailing winds of Britain. However, many times (perhaps even most of the time), when we’re talking about a Sacred Landscape, we’re not actually referring to a physical place like the Delphi Oracle, Machu Picchu, or Stonehenge (which are Sacred Places or Sacred Sites), or even the area within a Magick Circle (which encompasses a temporary Sacred Space). Rather, we’re talking about a landscape on another plane of existence, an Otherworldly plane.
The primary purpose of a Witch’s Compass or Wind Rose is, in fact, to enable us to access just such landscapes (along with the Otherworlds). These landscapes differ from person to person and from Tradition to Tradition. Here’s an excerpt from a lengthier article I wrote a couple of years or so ago:
It was [Robert] Cochrane who popularized, among many other things, such concepts as the Stang, the Compass Rose, Rings of Arte, and the Sacred Landscape (including the Cosmic Mill, the Spiral Castle, the Rose Garden, etc.), Cochrane who recognized the importance of the Blacksmith God(s) and the Roebuck, Cochrane who developed what is now known as Cochrane’s Craft, Cochrane who founded the Clan of Tubal Cain (the People of Goda), and whose beliefs and works also contributed to the founding of the 1734, Roebuck, Ancient Celtic Church, American Folkloric Witchcraft, and Crossroads Coven Traditions, and influenced many other Traditions, as well — and all this, despite the fact that Cochrane was neither “Witch-Born” nor likely to have actually been formally initiated into Witchcraft or any coven by anyone other than himself, and thus was not a “Made-Witch,” either.
As you can see, Cochrane drew freely from Celtic myth for his own Sacred Landscape and other concepts. American Folkloric Witchcraft also has a Sacred Landscape that draws from Celtic myth. If you want to work with a Sacred Landscape, you can develop one however you wish. My own draws from Celtic myth, as well, but also from Arthurian literature. Because I’m personally very big on wheels, I started mine with a simple Wheel of the Seasons:
Over time, it’s grown, expanded, and altered as I’ve become increasingly certain about who’s who, what’s what, and where’s where. My wheel turns, depending what I want to accomplish with the Airts and the Quarters (which shift over the millennia). Earth, of course, goes through the astrological signs backward: Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn, Sagittarius, Scorpio, Libra, Virgo, Leo, Cancer, Gemini, Taurus, and Aries.
Here at COFF, we employ astrological timing, so this year, we celebrated Imbolg and the first day of spring on February 3, when the Sun had reached 15 degrees Aquarius. Continuing on around the Wheel of the Seasons, for us here at COFF, Beltaine and the first day of summer will arrive on May 5, when the sun has reached 15 degrees Taurus. Lugnasad and the first day of autumn will occur on August 7, when the sun has reached 15 degrees Leo; and Samain and the first day of winter will take place on November 7, when the sun has reached 15 degrees Scorpio. All this means that the equinoxes and the solstices fall at the proper midpoints (hence, Midsummer and Midwinter). So you see this particular timing reflected in my Wheel of the Seasons.
You might not be familiar with the Cosmic Mill in connection with Celtic myth. Yet it was an important structure, and the Cailleach an Mhuilinn (Hag or Old Woman of the Mill) was an equally important figure. We know this because unlike many other concepts in Celtic myth, this one has been immortalized in an intricate folk dance known as the “Cailleach an Dùdain” (Hag or Old Woman of the Mill-Dust), and one of the two most important dances in Witchcraft is “Treading the Mill,” which is a vigorous dance of a sort employed either to reach a trance state or else to raise energy, depending on the purpose of the Circle. The other, of course, is the Spiral Dance, which goes hand-in-hand with the Spiral Castle.
So give some thought to a Sacred Landscape of your own. What concepts are important to you? What do you think your own landscape will consist of — and, equally important — who will people it?
Blessings!
APs Rhianwen Bendigaid
