Welcome to the Grove of the Blessed Thistle. I am Typhaeus. I have been a practicing warlock (or witch*) in the British tradition for over 35 years. My ancestry is English, Norwegian, and Scottish/Welsh/Irish. I grew up on the coast of Maine and moved full-time to New Orleans seven years ago.
The majority of my immigrant ancestors came to New England in the early to mid 17th century during the Puritan migration. They settled in the area of Salem, Essex, Ipswich, and Wenhem. My patrilineal 10th great grandfather was a Scottish covenanter captured by Oliver Cromwell and the New Model Army during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms (the English Civil War). He was exiled to the Colonies and sold as an indentured servant likely to or near a newly formed iron works in what is now Saugus, Massachusetts.
On my mother’s side, I am the direct descendent of several accused “witches” including Goody Dutch (accused in Gloucester 1653), as well as those caught up in the Salem hysteria of 1692: Ann Foster, Rebecca Nurse, Samuel Wardwell, Elizabeth Johnson, Mary Lacy, Mary Kemp, Abigail Johnson, and Mercy Wardwell. My fifth great grandmother “Aunt Nabby Joab” (Abigail Gray) of Sedgwick, Maine was said by her neighbors to practice witchcraft and could “charm” and “put on curses.” These are interesting historical facts only, as I am not one to use the descriptor of ‘hereditary witch’.
My great aunt, a gifted story-teller, often told how women of the Maine’s offshore islands were known to be witches. She was proud of her descent from the Salem accused. She would often tell stories of the accidental tapping of these ‘witch’ powers during her eventful life. Well into a glass of Scotch, she related how a gas main blew up in the street as she headed out of Los Angeles having just told the city to ‘go to hell’ following a unrewarding stint as a ‘lady’ scriptwriter. Angered by the continual traffic of dump trucks driving past her house toward the gravel pit, she again issued a curse and the transmission promptly dropped out on the road.
I was brought in to the Brotherhood by Minos Hermes as a member of Temenos ta Theia and took the name Typhaeus. I studied and practiced with them until our Minos relocated to Chicago.
I studied Cultural Studies and Photography (aka Queer Theory). I have a passion for photography, write a little when I can find time, and run a small independent publishing house. I hate self promotion so I’ll leave it there.
In addition to witchcraft, I have interest in diverse spiritual traditions. My studies involved a deep dive into the magical mythology of William S. Burroughs. For many years I worked with a small queer group of experimental magicians, The Brotherhood of SeTh.
I have undergone the jukai ceremony receiving the sixteen bodhisattva precepts in Zen Buddhism. To steal a term from Lady Rhea, I guess that makes me a WiccaBu.
My husband, Satyros, is also a brother. We live with our three canine companions just outside of New Orleans.
*Some eschew use of the word warlock citing the etymology of ‘oath-breaker’ preferring to use the unisex witch. While historically during the burning times it was the case in most regions that witch was used to denote both female and male accused, however, as Michael Howard observes in Scotland warlock was the usual term employed to describe a male wizard, sorcerer, or witch (Scottish Witches and Warlocks).