Transgressive Craft — The Arte of the In-Between
The western craft and magickal traditions have served generations of practitioners very well. There is a huge number of varied practices from which one can draw, and this seems to satisfy a majority of seekers. However, I have long found that the focus on a “synthesis of opposites” that permeates most Western craft and magickal systems does not work very well for me. God / Goddess, Sun / Moon, Male / Female, Priest / Priestess, the “Great Rite” in Wicca, the intense focus on heterosexual tantra and sex magick in Grant’s Typhonian Tradition (to which I am otherwise strongly drawn) … all of these concepts and practices leave me cold. To take something that I perceive as a spectrum, reduce it such that it is represented only by its extreme poles, and then to undertake work to blend and unify these poles as a way of combining their “oppositeness” is a step backward, in my own life and practice.
As I mentioned above, the “traditional” sort of approach works for very many, and I will not insult anyone else’s practice or lived experience. If any of the systems that focus on unification of opposites call to you and fulfill you, that is wonderful – and this book is not for you. For me, and I suspect for quite a few others, something different calls. I tried for many years to make things work within the mainstream, starting as a very young Wiccan, decades past. I gave up long ago, after exploring many eclectic paths, and only returned to working toward a magickal practice that truly fits me within the last 5 years or so. Perhaps my experience can also benefit others who have gone through similar struggles. To this end, I’m working on something I’m calling Transgressive Craft, and I’m excited to be able to explore and develop it as part of my work with the Artus Collective. More to come soon – watch this space!
~Inara Cauldwell, 17 Nov 2018, Seattle
ARTUS 