The Red Thread in Trad Craft
-Some Traditions have the concept of Lineage in which their Tradition is passed on to a student or an initiate.
Traditional Witchcraft - unlike Gardnerian Wicca is more or less a solitary practice, however - some Crafters practice in groups that are sometimes known as Hearths.
There are some groups that claim their tradition pre-dates Christianity & use a term called Red Thread to describe an unbroken lineage to their Tradition, which in all honesty is very hard to believe!
This then begs the question," is there such a thing as "Red Thread".
What we have to consider is the fact that all paths/traditions had to start somewhere. What we are then left with is the idea of the Tribal Shaman or Village wise person who gains their Lore or Knowledge from the Gods, Ancestors or Wights & Spirits; who then passes this on to the next natural successor & so on. This is all well & good but then Christianity came along & outlawed these practices!
The conversion to Christianity took centuries & some of these practices would have been hard to wipe out altogether especially in rural areas, so the possibility of Hereditary Craft is feasible, but to what degree!
We are then left with nothing much to go on but to seek our own paths to the Gods ; this is where the Term White Thread comes into the equation.
It was the late Andrew Chumberly who coined the phrase "Silver Thread" in which he describes as the special transmission of Lore that a person receives directly from spiritual contacts or the Gods etc, much like the Shamans I discussed earlier !
This then leads us to when the lore & praxis - the white thread gained by the Crafter - is then passed down to a student or an initiate, the white thread of the path or tradition *then* becomes Red!
There really is no need for ridiculous claims! Whether your path is Ten years, Ten Months or Ten weeks, let it stand on its own merits. !
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