Dwólma ond Ginning - Confusion and Chaos

I don't participate on email lists very often these days. In all honesty I am tired of going over the same dozen or so topics, and have found that the trouble and energy invested in such discourse far outweighs the return. If your investment surpasses your return, it’s a bad investment. I value my time and try not to squander it.

With that said, I have recently made the online acquaintance of a Mr. Robin Artisson. Robin writes on subjects relating to traditional witchcraft and paganism (paleo, meso, and reconstructionist) and I must say that our interactions have been interesting. I joined one of the lists he hosts, and thus far it has been at least entertaining. The people who engage in discussion seem genuinely nice, and have a good sense of humor.

The other day, someone mentioned a web page purporting to tell the secrets of Anglo-Saxon wiccecræft, so I looked upon it. I recognized it as a work by a Mr. Michael Rayborn, an old acquaintance, and so I responded to the post. I first met Mr. Rayborn when I was a member of Edred Thorsson's Rune-Gild, and my impression of him at the time was less than flattering. Over time I started to see a great deal of potential in the young man, and so I started to pay attention to his ideas and theories. Now mind you, I still think he has a flawed understanding of the way of Wóden, and of Heathenry in general, but there are a few gems in his bag of marbles. This web page is one of them.

Now, if you look to the "soul" of the piece, you will find some very interesting concepts at play. I honestly don't know how old the page is, but I think it was around before I was forced to take a hiatus from the heathen community. Perhaps the most interesting part of the page is Master Rayborn's understanding of the numinous power of creation. Master Rayborn refers to the numinous power of creation as dwólma, and equates it with the Greek xaos. Now many translators have used the word "chaos" as a gloss for dwólma, but this is an essentially flawed connection.

Bosworth and Toller give the following examples Betweox us and eów is mycel dwolma getrymed and translate it into Latin as inter nos et vos chaos magnum firmátum est. I translate this into Modern English as "Between us and you is great confusion confirmed". This sentence does not deal with a notion of unformed power, but a confusion of understanding between two groups of people. Also, Bosworth and Toller give Ða twegen tregan teóþ to-somne wið ðæt mód fóran mistes dwoleman and the equally poetic translation of "the two vexations draw together before the mind a chaos of darkness". Seems pretty good, and my translation is very similar: "The two troubles draw together in front of the mind/mood as mists of confusion". So why do I insists that the word dwólma means "confusion"?

Dwólma doesn’t mean chaos in the sense Michael Rayborn is using it, but is instead related to the archaic but Modern English word "dwale" often glossed as "potion" or "poison", and specifically linked with Atropa Belladonna. It is etymologically related to the word "dull", in the sense that a dull person is befuddled, foolish, and confused. Dwalecræft, or dwólecræft, is the art of making poisons and other chemicals, or enchantments to produce said states. In many ways it is the English version of glamour.

The word for the state Master Rayborn is really trying to explain, in Old English is ginning from which our modern English word "beginning" derives. THE beginning is the unformed mass of potentia which the entire cosmos was formed, and in many ways, the mass of unformed chaos that the ordered universe floats in and continually consumes as it is becoming (weorðan). This is the same ginning that is found in the Old Norse Ginnungagap, or the "chasm of chaos"; a similar idea to the Hellenic xaos. It is this "substance" or æthyr that wicce would use in their workings, according to Master Rayborn.

Further, Michael states on one of his amazon.com lists

"Witchcraft and chaos magic pretty much dovetail each other in almost everyway
and are based on the same theory. In fact, one of the names for witchcraftin
England is *dwolcraft*, which means "the craft of chaos". This points to
theformless and fluid nature of witchcraft."

Now, as I have stated, Master Rayborn's use of language may be imprecise, but he does understand the underlying concepts. If one accepts an ætheric model of magical theory (as good as any other mental construct of how magic works), where an underlying "substance" or æthyr allows for the non-linear connections for magic to occur, as Peter Carrol presents in his book "Liber Null & Psychonaut", and not unlike the mana of Polynesian societies, then this magical substance that was at the beginning (there's that word again) would be the same unformed potentia used in acts of sorcery. Even acts of dwólecræft.

"So, what's the big deal?" you may be asking. The big deal is that language is the bedrock of culture, and the way with which we communicate ideas. Therefore it is imperative that we be as precise as possible in its application. If we were to assume that dwólecræft was in effect "chaos magic" we would loose the potential development of the true dwólecræft, the making of poisons, potions, and befuddling enchantments.

The devil is always in the details.