Hurray, Kevin appeared!

 So Kevin Carlyon rang the show last week and I was able to pose some of the questions hinted at in my earlier blog post.

I guess  the first issue was, for me, about trying to work out ‘where he was coming from’.

Some of the key issues were his apparent titles – “High Priest of British White Witchcraft” and the way he was presenting modern witchcraft to the world. The very title ‘White Witch’ is, for many, an immediate indication of pandering to a particular set of Judaeo-Christian constructs.

A history of ‘modern witchcraft’ is perhaps the topic for another post, suffice it to say here that there are broadly four flavours of witchery in the UK.

Firstly we have those who adhere to the ‘systems’ created by Gerald Gardener and Alex Sanders…

Secondly there are those who make a claim to a more ancient lineage of ‘real witchcraft’ – they were trained by a a ‘wise’ person who in turn was trained by an ‘older’ wise person who in turn – well you get the drift.

Thirdly there are those who claim they were born a witch!

Finally there are those who we could call ‘modern-self-initiated’ witches who have created their own patchwork of beliefs drawn from several sources.

Kevin is, according to his website and what I could glean from the interview, both a ‘born’ and ‘self-initiated’ witch who has now set up his own system called The Covenant of Earth Magic.

So here we have the first answer to one of my questions…

Of course Kevin is High Priest of Witches initiated into his system – he’s the head of that ‘covenant’ after all, and he does present a strong case for the fact that this title has been quoted out of context by the various media pundits who have spoken to him.

In many ways it is easy to see how this could happen – newspapers and TV want simple ‘sound bytes’ and the catchy title “High Priest of White Witches” does have that snappy feel.

Kevin certainly courts media attention, and hence he is very aware of how to get the attention of a particular audience. He makes it very clear in the interview that he will ‘pitch’ his presentation to the audience – and I guess that means sometimes to the lowest common denominator.

His core message seems to be genuine and heartfelt – it is one which seeks to challenge some of the negative stereotypes about witches, witchcraft and associated pagan beliefs.

I can’t help thinking, however, that some of his actions and media appearances actually serve to reinforce some of the ideas he seeks to challenge and, in a few cases, creates a parody of himself and the cause for which he stands.

I have no doubt in my mind that Kevin does follow an Earth Magic Path but I do worry about the apparent over simplification of the image he tends to present to those inside and outside of ‘the craft’. It is clear that he has a well developed sense of humour and I would guess enjoys leading some of the less wary along a serpentine path causing them to jump to conclusions about his ‘outrageous’ claims – claims which he may never have made but which he has let go unchallenged. The ‘joke’ photograph of him being ‘edited into’ a scene from the Wicker Man being a particular example….

There is a sincerity that creeps through the rhetoric and I think I would enjoy some more detailed conversations about his magical beliefs and adaptations of shamanic practices. In the interview on Haunted Cornwall FM I felt that there was a degree of wooliness in this regard but also expect that was due in a large part to the nature of the interview and the way the focus of questions was split between John Forster (Haunted Cornwall FM founder), the listeners on the chat rooms and myself. This tending towards the superficial is always going to be an issue in show with the format Haunted Cornwall FM currently has – however perhaps the shows popularity is that it does move quickly over so many topics.

As a Rational Mystic I would like to probe more deeply into his claims for the ‘power’ of his spells, the specific nature of this “electroparanormal power” he speaks of (which to me is very woo woo) and the way he can validate the claims he makes for magic. Now don’t get me wrong here, I am not challenging a belief system but a specific set of claims made by Kevin on his websites (www.kevwitch.co.uk and www.kevincarlyon.co.uk). Of course the Mystic in me is extremely interested in the specifics of his magical cosmology, occult background and contextual elements of the Covenant of Earth Magic – is it a ‘brand’ or does it have internal metaphysical consistency?

Kevin is the ‘trickster’ and a well practiced, media savvy, self-publicist. Hell, nothing wrong with that – we all need to be able to promote what we do and aspects of ourselves at one time or another. Is he the ‘real’ wizard, sorceror, oracle and sage well only time will tell – and by that I mean by having the opportunity to talk to the man behind the media image. Many think that he is and are looking to him for ‘instruction’ … that I think creates a whole new set of questions.

Alan