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| Cochrane's Craft | |
|---|---|
| Type | Traditional Witchcraft |
| Theology | Polytheism / Pluriform Monotheism |
| Founder | Robert Cochrane (legally Roy Bowers) |
| Origin | 1951 |
| Members | Unknown |
| Other name(s) | Cochranianism |
Cochrane's Craft, also known asCochranianism andThe Clan of Tubal Cain, is a religious movement similar toWicca that considers itself a form ofTraditional Witchcraft. It was founded in 1951 by theEnglish witchRobert Cochrane, who himself claimed to have been taught in the tradition by some of his elderly family members, a claim that is disputed by historians such asRonald Hutton andLeo Ruickbie.[1]
Despite many practical and theological similarities to other forms of Wicca, such asGardnerian Wicca, Cochrane's Craft sets itself apart from other traditions in many ways, such as its emphasis on the pursuit of wisdom as its highest goal[2] and Cochrane's insistence that it is notPagan and, in fact, has no more in common with Paganism than doesQabbalah.[3]
Around the time that the BritishWitchcraft Act 1735 was repealed in 1951, Cochrane, who was in his early twenties, founded acoven, and named it theClan of Tubal Cain after the biblical figureTubal-cain (the first blacksmith), as a reference to his work in that profession. At first, he worked withGerald Gardner, the founder ofWicca, but broke with him on creative differences.[4] This created a rivalry that continued through Gardner's death.
Cochraneinitiated his wife Jane and several others into the craft, and they then joined the coven. Among these was Evan John Jones, who would one day replace Robert Cochrane as the Magister of the Clan of Tubal Cain. Jones had met Cochrane through his wife Jane, as they both worked for the same company.[1] The group performed their rituals either at Cochrane's house, or, more often, atBurnham Beeches, though they also performed rituals at theSouth Downs, after which they would stay the night atDoreen Valiente's flat inBrighton.[1]
According to Kelden,[4] Doreen Valiente, after the schism with Gardner, joined Cochrane in 1964 contributing to the bulk of Cochrane's "Traditional Witchcraft" as she had to Wicca.
In 1966, Robert Cochrane died. Jane, Robert's widow, then named Jones as the Magister of the Clan of Tubal Cain.[5]
In 1982, two Americans named Dave and Ann Finnin reached out to Gray and Jones.[6] In 1986, after four years of correspondence, Jones adopted the Finnins into the Clan of Tubal Cain and named them Magister and Maid of a satellite group called The Roebuck. Conflicts later arose between Jones and the Finnians, and he ceased communications with the couple[7] In 1996, Mike Howard, editor of The Cauldron, introduced Jones to a woman named Shani Oates. In 1998, Jones felt Oates to be the best person to lead the Clan of Tubal Cain and formally named her its Maid, giving her "supreme and undivided authority over the whole Clan".[8] Oates then named as her Magister Robin the Dart. On the Winter Solstice 2017, Oates appointed Ulric Goding as Magister of the Clan, as the successor to lead the Clan to future generations.
Describing Cochrane's creation of his religious tradition, Oates remarked that "Like any true craftsman, he was able to mold raw material into a magicalsynthesis, creating a marvelous working system, at once instinctively true and intrinsically beautiful."[9]
As in most forms of Neopagan Witchcraft, Cochranians worship both aHorned God and aTriple Goddess. The Goddess is viewed as the White Goddess, a term taken fromRobert Graves' book on poetry,The White Goddess.[1] She is also viewed as a triad of three mothers or three sisters, which both Cochrane andEvan John Jones noted as having similarities with theweird sisters orNorns ofGermanic paganism.[1]
In Cochrane's Craft, the God is associated with fire, the underworld and time, and has been described as "the goat-god of fire, craft, lower magics, fertility and death". The God was known by several names, most notableTubal Cain,Brân,Wayland andHerne.[1] Cochrane's tradition held that these two deities had a son, the Horn Child, who was a young sun god.[1]
Cochrane, like Gardner, believed that there was a being beyond the God and the Goddess; theGodhead, although he referred to this deity as "the Hidden Goddess". He also referred to it as "Truth".[1]
Cochrane told of acosmogony myth, which involved Night, "a feminine being with force, but without form, giving birth to man and with him she discovered love, and so all things began".[1] He said that the Elder Gods had seven children who each created a realm to rule over from a castle, as well as creating the elements of earth, air, fire and water, each of which had a god ruling over it.[1]
No mention is made in Cochrane's writings to the Wiccan Rede or "Threefold Law". Cochrane instead offers an "old witch 'law'" that reads:
Do not do what you desire - do what is necessary.
Take all you are given - give all of yourself.
What I have - - - I hold!
When all else is lost, and not until then, prepare to die with dignity.[10]
In a letter to occultistWilliam G. Gray, Cochrane said:
Nothing is purely good or evil, these are relative terms that man has hung upon unacceptable mysteries. To my particular belief the Goddess, white with works of good, is also black with works of darkness, yet both of them are compassionate, albeit the compassion is a cover for the ruthlesness of total Truth.[1]
Cochranians wearrobes whilst performingrituals and adhere to the traditionalGreat Rite.
An iconic part of Cochrane's Craft is the tool known as the stang. A stang is a forked staff used, primarily, as a portable altar. InThe Roebuck in the Thicket, Evan John Johns describes the acquisition and adornment of a stang intended for use by acoven. According to Jones, the shaft of the stang should be made from ash; the fork of the stang should be made of iron; the base should be shod in iron; two upward-facing crossed arrows should adorn the shaft below the fork; and, on the four "Great Sabbats" (i.e. Candlemas, May Eve, Lammas, and Halloween), the arrows should be garlanded as fits the season.[1] The stang is similar to the tool described in Buckland's bookScottish Witchcraft,[11] but Cochrane is credited with being the first witch to use one.
The 2015 filmThe Coven used the premise that a ring of trees inQueen's Wood was a meeting place for practitioners of Cochrane's Craft. The plot features a contemporary group of Cochranians who go missing after last being seen among the ring of trees.
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