'Raising the Stang'
"From certain branches of the Craft, the stang has arisen to such prominence as to arguably have become a prime cultic emblem of modern traditional witchcraft', in perhaps the way the pentacle or the athame have become emblematic tools of the Wica.
The origins of the stang of the witches, and its point of entry into the Craft cannot be stated with any great certainty, and so will perhaps forever be the subject of mystery and debate. The 'stang', as a witches' ritual 'pole', topped with two or more tines, is of a form recognisable in many 'woodcuts' and other old depictions of witcherie, in which a forked poleobject may be seen employed by witches in various magical or ritual acts.
Numerous forked wooden implements have their varied uses within folk-magical and cunning practice; for ritualistic, divinatory and operative magical purposes.
The stick or staff is anciently depicted in the possession of witches, magicians, Cunning men and Wise women, but it is, however, cognate with wand, and thus traditional magician's hand-tool of both ritual and operative magic; for the conjuring of spirits, the raising and directing of powers, the drawing of magical circles, the banishing of evil and the blasting of wrongdoers.
The stang however, as employed in many branches of the Craft, is not a hand-tool of operative practice, but an item of pure ritual symbolism. Within such usage, the witches' stang is a consecrated hallowed item of power low and and which is stood within the ground, either at the circle's centre, or at its edge. It isfor this reason that some branches of the Craft 'shod' their stang with one or more iron nails to prevent the power within it from draining out into the earth; following the old tradition that spirits and magical power cannot cross a barrier of iron. Iron is itself seen, however, as a potent magical tool which, according to usage and intent, can be used to direct and impart magical influences as well as acting as a barrier to halt them. Thus the act of 'shodding the stang' is made with the appropriate intent, mindful of the directional nail pointing upward into the shaft of the stang, and therefore a barrier to any downward draining flow of power. To do such a thing however to the wand or conjuring stick/staff would not be desirable, for it is its purpose within
many magical workings to allow power to flow through it, or to be directed from it. Whilst both may be forked and share some symbolism, the conjuring stick and stang are quite distinct in their uses.
Foremost, the stang may be said to be an image of the Old Horned One; the tines of the fork of course being cognate with the horns, and an altar of the Mysteries. As a representation of the Old One, it is not merely an image, but a charged vessel, for the power raised and stored within it is that of the Old One himself, and it is at the stang that the manifest presence of the old witch-god is called forth.
In form, the witches' stang is often the traditional pitchfork; with its shaft of ash, that most magical of trees, and topped with two or more tines of iron. This is of course a most fitting representation of the old witch-god, for its hand forged iron-work we may see as evocative of the old blacksmith; the witch-god as Tubal Cain, and the knowledge of the artes of agriculture and husbandry of the land given by the Old One unto man. In magical thought, iron is also a manifestation of the telluric fire, and the stang is also seen in some branches of the Craft as the Old Serpent of the earth, raised and forked of tongue, to pour forth its power unto the circle of the Wise.
The ritual shodding of the stang is an act further emblematic of the old smith,the tradition of the stang as the horse, the fire of creation/gnosis fallen from the heavens and the serpentine telluric fire - thus in the shodding are the worlds above and below united.
As both a representation of the witch-god, and an altar, the stang is often set to stand at the northern edge of the circle; a direction often regarded in 'Old Craft' circles as a portal or gateway to the numinous, spirit presences and the otherworldly. So placed, the stang is representative of the witch-god as keeper of the way between the worlds; the psychopomp guide of the witch going forth, and of otherworldly virtues and presences entering into the circle or arte. As 'the horse' the stang represents the vehicle of power and spirit ingress and egress; the bearer of spirit forces and divine presence, cognate with the lore of the wild hunt and the horse as bearer of the witch god and wild hunter, chasing spirits between the worlds. As a vehicle of spirit, and opener of the ways to the death mysteries, the stang is also the initiatic tree of sacrifice; the tau cross.
Although a prime Craft symbol of the old witch-god, the stang stands in union betwixt the female and male mysteries within those traditions that set female symbols to the left of the stang, such as the cup or horn, and the male symbols to the right such as the iron blade. In union of these dualities, the stang may represent either, or both, the divine androgyne and the divine 'child of light'. The Old One is himself a god of duality; reflected throughout the seasonal cyclic tides of light, and dark, waxing and waning, life and death, via which each of his faces is revealed. Further dualities are brought into union in the stang stood within the ground; heaven and earth, the physical and the spiritual, ‘as above, so below'. The theme of duality and its uniting is potently depicted in the 'horns' of the twain-forked stang, united at the single shaft. Here, at this point of mystic union, the lantern or candle is sometimes affixed; emblematic of the light of 'All wisdom' arising from the realising of 'One Pointedness' or that 'All is One'."
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The Devil's Dozen:
Thirteen Craft Rites of the Old One
4 - 'Raising the Stang'
by Gemma Gary
