Welsh Witchcraft by Mhara Starling

Limited hardback edition

Archival transcript material provides the foundation of Cochrane’s early works constructed as a gramarye supplemented with insights and intimate knowledge of the Clan from within its discreet conclave. Driven by an insatiable thirst for Wisdom, Cochrane’s ruthless pursuit of Truth led him to explore all aspects of the Craft. This book reveals those early forays and formative experiences that molded Cochrane’s articulation of the Craft and his vision for the Clan he founded to demonstrate it as a lived tradition.

Tubelo’s Forge is an accessible work of immense value to those interested in Cochrane’s approach to the Craft, whether as a newcomer to his work, or a seasoned follower of his art. Capturing a significant moment of history, this unique body of work offers, for the first time, a working model as a platform for understanding the origins of the Clan of Tubal Cain, but most importantly, its evolution since, both in his time, and in continuance, through the legacy of the Clan in accordance with the tenets he prescribed for it.

Following the popular format of Tubelo’s Green Fire by Shani Oates, and Witchcraft: A Tradition Renewed by Evan John Jones and Doreen Valiente, Tubelo’s Forge incorporates information relating to the Cosmology, Mythos and Ethos of the Clan, with writings that explore the working Compass, the Working Tools, Induction, Transmission, Tutelary Spirits, the Egregore, The Old Covenant, the Winds, Castles of the Mind and Compass, and Cochrane’s views on the use of Entheogens.

As a practical guide, Cochrane’s desire to combine all aspects mythical and mystical shine through these early works and Seasonal Rites that continue to inspire and intrigue. Though focussed heavily upon the practical elements of a working tradition, Tubelo’s Forge is substantially supplemented with Cochrane’s cerebral philosophy, being inexorably entwined, it could not be otherwise. Original sketches gathered from works relating to this period are sensitively recreated while other artworks offer inspired glimpses into his visionary world; words and images combine in this incredible tome to share a novel perspective on the Clan’s sacred mysteries.

During the chaotic but colourful 1960s, witchcraft was reborn as a modern mystical practice. Many are familiar with Wicca, founded by Gerald Gardner, but there was a counter-current, now known as Traditional Witchcraft, which saw the art from a verydifferent angle. Its chief thinker was Robert Cochrane, who envisioned witchcraft as a gnostic quest for ultimate knowledge and union with the divine. This volume explores his most important ideas, especially the way in which he re-envisioned ancient mythology, putting a new spin on old deities as well as on folkloric figures like Robin Hood and King Arthur and naming Tubal Cain, whom the Bible calls the first blacksmith, as his avatar of knowledge both sacred and profane. Though he wrote very little and died young, Cochrane left enough material behind for us to reconstruct the steps by which he urged each aspiring witch to take a crooked path to complete gnosis.