Oak, Ash, and Thorn (TIW)
I thought I would share a bit of my own Tradition, the one in which I personally trained and still work.
Our roots actually go back to Southern California in the late 1960's. A young man from the Los Angeles area who went by the magical name of Valcor studied there with a couple with whom he worked. The husband was a ceremonial magician and the wife was possibly Wiccan, or at least followed a path of religious Witchcraft.
In about 1969 Valcor decided that he needed to be moving on and he hopped a freight train heading east and ended up in New Orleans. He worked with several groups in New Orleans until he eventually formed his own group SouthShire Tradition in the very early 1970's. One of the first High Priestesses of SouthShire trained with a BTW group with roots going back to the Long Island Coven. She brought with her much of the structure she'd learned in Outer Court training there. In many ways she was the Doreen Valiente of our Trad as she was truly instrumental in developing our liturgy and ritual format.
By the late 1970's SouthShire had grown tremendously with a large coven in New Orleans, one in Biloxi, and another in Shreveport. Fox, who was the HPS that taught me, had been a student of Valcor's, and she became HPS of the Biloxi group, Far Meadows Coven, in the early l980's.
Then some of the SouthShire folk moved up to Nashville around 1985. They hadn't planned on starting an open coven. It was to be just the five of them who were going to work together...but it didn't work out that way. People sought them out and wanted to be taught. And the Oak, Ash, and Thorn Coven..and then Tradition was born.
Oak, Ash, and Thorn, or OATh as we refer to it, was specifically designed to be a Trad aimed at training "caring, competent Wiccan clergy". There was always a high standard of teaching, research, and scholarship in the training program. Fox set high standards for initiation. You not only had to prove that you had read the material in the books..but that you could also demonstrate competency in all areas of practice before an initiation would be granted.
My husband and I joined OATh in 1990, and we received our 3rd Degree from them at Samhain in 1996. We founded Tangled Moon Coven at Yule 1996 and the group is still going strong.
In 2001 Fox decided that it was time for her to step down as HPS of OATh and handed the hat of HPS of the Trad to me. Fox has since moved to Oregon but we chat regularly and she is always there when I need advice or just a sounding board for things.
I had the chance to meet Valcor a few years ago. He was still reading cards in Jackson Square and running a small group. But the heyday of SouthShire was long past. Valcor passed into the Summerland in March 2009
On the other hand, OATh is healthy and growing. We have a daughter coven here in Tennessee and we also have a coven in Germany, and a large training circle working towards coven status in Michigan.
-Lark-
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Lark on
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Just to add a bit of clarification here. When I first became part of OATh we referred to what we did as "American eclectic Wicca". I eventually dropped the "eclectic" part because it came to mean taking from anywhere without any consideration as to why something might be spiritually useful in our context, and OATh was always careful to understand what we borrowed and why. Although we still use the term Wicca in describing ourselves I understand perfectly that such usage is problematic since we have no direct lineage to the New Forest Coven. A more accurate description of what we do would be Traditional Initiatory Witchcraft (TIW).
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Permalink Reply by Tambyr (Rissa) on -
...as I had no idea about a group in New Orleans. This has been quite insightful. :)
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Permalink Reply by MoonCrone on -
Thank you, Lark, for posting this.
I find it very interesting and would like to learn more.
MoonCrone xx
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Permalink Reply by Asdea (Jasper) on -
Can I ask for a little clarification Lark? When you say "I eventually dropped the "eclectic" part because it came to mean taking from anywhere without any consideration as to why something might be spiritually useful in our context, and OATh was always careful to understand what we borrowed and why," do you mean that eclecticism means to take from anywhere without consideration to the spiritual context in general, or that for you particular tradition, that was what was happening? If it was the first, I must say that I completely disagree with your definition of eclecticism, in terms of religious witchcraft.
Lark said:Just to add a bit of clarification here. When I first became part of OATh we referred to what we did as "American eclectic Wicca". I eventually dropped the "eclectic" part because it came to mean taking from anywhere without any consideration as to why something might be spiritually useful in our context, and OATh was always careful to understand what we borrowed and why. Although we still use the term Wicca in describing ourselves I understand perfectly that such usage is problematic since we have no direct lineage to the New Forest Coven. A more accurate description of what we do would be Traditional Initiatory Witchcraft (TIW).
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Permalink Reply by Lark on
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No, what I was saying is that the term "eclectic" has come to have a different meaning in much of the modern Witchcraft community. I have no issue with the idea of borrowing things from here and there to use in one's practice; although I think this should be done with consideration as to both what the practice meant in its initial context and how it would prove useful in my own practice.
What I have seen "eclectic" come to mean is grabbing one from column A and one from column B at random without any sort of thought about what that practice originally meant or even if it truly fits what you are trying to do. Sadly when one uses the term "eclectic" now the assumption is that one means that it is the latter practice and not the former. So to keep from having to explain myself over and over and to avoid misconception of what OATh was doing we decided to drop the term "eclectic" entirely. Syncretic we certainly were....eclectic in the commonly accepted format...not so much.
Asdea (Jasper) said:Can I ask for a little clarification Lark? When you say "I eventually dropped the "eclectic" part because it came to mean taking from anywhere without any consideration as to why something might be spiritually useful in our context, and OATh was always careful to understand what we borrowed and why," do you mean that eclecticism means to take from anywhere without consideration to the spiritual context in general, or that for you particular tradition, that was what was happening? If it was the first, I must say that I completely disagree with your definition of eclecticism, in terms of religious witchcraft.
Lark said:Just to add a bit of clarification here. When I first became part of OATh we referred to what we did as "American eclectic Wicca". I eventually dropped the "eclectic" part because it came to mean taking from anywhere without any consideration as to why something might be spiritually useful in our context, and OATh was always careful to understand what we borrowed and why. Although we still use the term Wicca in describing ourselves I understand perfectly that such usage is problematic since we have no direct lineage to the New Forest Coven. A more accurate description of what we do would be Traditional Initiatory Witchcraft (TIW).
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Permalink Reply by Asdea (Jasper) on
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I can see how one could draw that conclusion about eclecticism in these modern times. Though, I think, that we should be mindful that there are still those out there, even if they are few and far between, that are, indeed, eclectic, but they take what they do from other traditions and spiritualities because they do see how, through these different and significant practices, they are better connected to the divine in the universe. I personally am very picky about which practices I pick up. I personally do not do something because I found it on the internet or in a book. I do my research, and try to stay and clear and concise in those practices. I try to embody what I see as true eclecticism, in terms of modern religious witchcraft.
Lark said:No, what I was saying is that the term "eclectic" has come to have a different meaning in much of the modern Witchcraft community. I have no issue with the idea of borrowing things from here and there to use in one's practice; although I think this should be done with consideration as to both what the practice meant in its initial context and how it would prove useful in my own practice.
What I have seen "eclectic" come to mean is grabbing one from column A and one from column B at random without any sort of thought about what that practice originally meant or even if it truly fits what you are trying to do. Sadly when one uses the term "eclectic" now the assumption is that one means that it is the latter practice and not the former. So to keep from having to explain myself over and over and to avoid misconception of what OATh was doing we decided to drop the term "eclectic" entirely. Syncretic we certainly were....eclectic in the commonly accepted format...not so much.
Asdea (Jasper) said:Can I ask for a little clarification Lark? When you say "I eventually dropped the "eclectic" part because it came to mean taking from anywhere without any consideration as to why something might be spiritually useful in our context, and OATh was always careful to understand what we borrowed and why," do you mean that eclecticism means to take from anywhere without consideration to the spiritual context in general, or that for you particular tradition, that was what was happening? If it was the first, I must say that I completely disagree with your definition of eclecticism, in terms of religious witchcraft.
Lark said:Just to add a bit of clarification here. When I first became part of OATh we referred to what we did as "American eclectic Wicca". I eventually dropped the "eclectic" part because it came to mean taking from anywhere without any consideration as to why something might be spiritually useful in our context, and OATh was always careful to understand what we borrowed and why. Although we still use the term Wicca in describing ourselves I understand perfectly that such usage is problematic since we have no direct lineage to the New Forest Coven. A more accurate description of what we do would be Traditional Initiatory Witchcraft (TIW).
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Permalink Reply by Kim Klink on -
After reading the different Traditions ; I believe this is where I may find my beliefs :D
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Permalink Reply by Kim Klink on
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I have an intense hunger to learn all I can right now and with no other practicing Wiccans near me ; I'm feeling at a compllete loss?
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Permalink Reply by Charlie on -
I live in New Orleans...are there any covens of OATh still in New Orleans?
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