The Order of 1734 in America

The Hermetic Hour for Thursday May 10th, 2012 will feature a discussion, moderated by host Poke Runyon, on the origins and the establishment of the "1734" Witchcraft tradition in the United States. This was an American version of Roy Bowers' (Robert Cochrane's) "Clan of Tubal Cain" that surfaced in England in the 1960s as a rival to the Gardnerian Craft. Bowers' claimed to belong to a hereditary tradition more indigenous and authentic than Gardner's popular version of "The Craft." While Gardner drew from Margeret Murray's "Witch Cult in Western Europe", Bowers drew from Robert Graves "The White Goddess." Bowers' American correspondent Joseph Wilson received numerous letters from Roy, forming an enigmatic, mystical corpus of material from which the talented Joe Wilson fashioned the American version called "1734" from a cypher included in the manuscripts. Like Johnny Appleseed, Joe Wilson seeded 1734 covens across the nation. Some of these groups still don't know where their Book of Shadows came from. As featured guests we will have Ann and Dave Finnin of the Roebuck, a "Clan of Tubal Cain," who are perhaps the most knowledgeable elders of the tradition. Ann is the author of "The Forge of Tubal Cain." We will cover the strange life and stranger death of Roy Bowers, the mysterious symbolism of the St. Uzec Menhir (1734's Stele of Revealing), the meaning(s) of "1734," the shamanic talents and prankster antics of Joe Wilson, and other tales of high adventure on the inner and outer planes -- so, if you want to know which witch is which, tune in and we'll lift the veil.