Ellanna's Studies in The Ocult

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Studies in the Occult
And Recollections of Aggatha

There are two things that I see consistently, which tie together an incarnation that seems to span across three separate centuries. They are her music and her books. Ironically, it is her music that she uses to pay the bills, and the occult which takes up the rest of her time. Occasionally, she is "taken on" by the various Orders of The Clan (not her own clan) to research, tutor, or do "grunt work". This love of History, Anthropology, and Magick did not arise in a vacuum. I owe them to the Wic she lived with after escaping from Ireland.

I remember her as short, rotund, bent, with grey brown hair, an ancient woman, 40, at least ;). She was slow moving, fusty, cranky, blunt, and at times, downright intimidating, but she took good care of me, and I was tremendously fond of her.

We lived in a small cottage somewhere near Liverpoole, along with her books. She didn't have as many as I would later collect, but it seemed to me, that in the time and place we were living, books were expensive and rare... doubly so if they had anything to do with magick. What she did have represented a small fortune, and it was a wonder that she had it. (this detail alone makes me wonder if this was not much earlier than I had originally thought; I currently estimate that it was around 1790ish) All of the books she had occupied a small bookshelf, about waist high, an arm span wide, and made of dark brown wood. There were certain books that I was not allowed to read, and she told me so right off. They were "too dangerous" for a young girl to be playing with. Naturally, I simply waited until she was asleep, and read them anyway.

This is another detail which confuses me. I have no idea when it was that I, as Ellanna, learned to read. As I drew from my recollections of being questioned by "Father", I knew how when I was twelve, however, I don't remember going to school, and I certainly don't think that my parents would or could have taught me. This remains to be seen.

Of those forbidden books, I get the sense that I hardly understood what I read, but the forbidden fruit aspect was irresistible.

I remember she taught me, probably as a result of my impetuous curiosity, how to cast a circle, and to do protection spells. She taught me that God was a woman, but that there were smaller gods, such as the Christian god, Jesus, and those all had their points of validity as well. She told me things that I don't think most girls were told in that day, such as what my body would do when I came of age, and what herbs would make my moon cycles easier on me. Apart from the health and magick lessons, she also gave me a standard boy's education. In return, I was to cook and clean for her, and generally run around and fetch things that she was to old to reach for, or to bend over and pick up. I was more than eager to do so, especially if it had anything to do with the mysterious rituals she would do in the house. My attraction to this religion she followed was fierce, and I asked her no end of questions about it. I received a sort of informal initiation, (as there was obviously no coven) though she warned me that most people would not understand, and that though the magick I knew would never hurt anyone, Christians were taught that it was evil. Anything different was evil, and understanding was the pinnacle of evil. Recalling how I had nearly been hung on suspicion of sorcery, I determined that the problem was simply that Christians themselves were unkowningly led by an evil force that made them hate and kill, and confused their minds with wrong notions of righteousness. (You'll be happy to know that I/Ellanna later revised these ideas. I was 13, cut me some slack.)

Then, when I was 14 or 15, I was introduced to Patrick. More on that in the next recollection.