I'm curious about the place that cain (qayin) plays in sabbatic craft, and how his position as first murderer relates to the theology and ethical stance of the tradition. I only ask because I like a lot of the thought behind traditional witchcraft, but have trouble with a patron ancestor defined by a fundamentally evil act.

Within the Blood Acre:The Path beneath the Wanderer’s Heels

Addressing the fairly complex spiritual concept raised by the question demands I providesome framework for discussion. Allow me to first touch upon a few of the preliminarypoints. We should beclear in our understanding that ‘traditional witchcraft’ as a term describes acollection of traditions, threads (no matter how loosely bound) or currents of ritual magic,spellcraft, and/or devotional mysticism whose commonality rests in an ethos ofpraxis. Within the coterie of initiatory lineages that are described by thatterm exist a number of different modes of belief that inform these separatepractices. With this in mind, we see there are a number of forms of TraditionalCraft that do not necessarily hold the same reverence for Cain/Qayin as a patronancestor or primogenitor of the Mighty Dead. Those who do typically fall underthe heading of what has been coined ‘modern traditional witchcraft’, yet evenhere we see varying degrees of emphasis placed on the lineage of Cain. 

SabbaticCraft is one such form that observes and acknowledges the ancestry of Cain/Qayin, and whose inherent devotional gnosis is structured around Qayinite lore. Ifwe want to be technical, as Chumbley was (1), Sabbatic Craft more specifically refers to the lineageof practices existing solely within the initiatory body of the Cultus Sabbati, but in many respects has become synonymous with most magical work within the wider SabbaticCurrent with which the Cultus shares reciprocal influence.  (and no, this does not include Michael W. Ford)

For the purpose of this missive I will address Cain and Cainite Gnosis as they apply to the Sabbatic Craft tradition and its mysteries, as best I understand them, from a point of perspective grounded in the greater Sabbatic Current.

Qayinite lore covers the entire breadth of mysteries surrounding the figure of Cain/Qayin, of which his role as First Murderer is an integral part. However, to consider this the sole defining feature of Cain, while observing it exclusively from within the paradigm of Sin and exclusion from Salvation, is a particularly Judeo-Christian or Abrahamic stance. As a whole, it is the transformationaljourney of Cain as ‘First Sorcerer’ that is embraced within the Sabbatictradition: the birthright resulting from the union of the Serpent/Samael/Lucifer (the Illuminer) and Eve/Lilith, the killing of Abel, and his subsequent path in exile. The last is of utmost importance, for it is here from which the exilicwisdom of Cain’s journey may be extracted. This is exemplified by Andrew Chumbley’sdescription of the devotional mysticism inherent within Sabbatic Craft (2),referring to it as the Faith beneath the Wanderer’s Heels. 

It is not merely his birthright as the begetter of witchblood that presents Cain as an illuminative figure, but his extricationfrom societal bonds, the transgression beyond the boundaries or constraints ofimposed belief – even death, to arrive on the other side as the embodiment of theperfected sorcerer. The murder of Abel is the gnostic representation of that spark of transformation which ignites the flames of the torch that lights thepath through exile. To better understand this one must look at the relationship of Cain and Abel from both an allegorical and gnostic perspective. 

Cain was known as ‘the tiller of soil,’ a farmer and ploughman, and indeed it was his offering of the fruits of the earth to Yahweh which led to his dispute with Abel. As we know from the tale, Yahweh showed favor for Abel the herdsman’s offering of animal sacrifice. This embittered Cain, thus leading to the slaying of his brother. On a purely mundane and material level, the biblical myth of Cain and Abel could serve as an allegory for early Middle Eastern civilization’s transition from that of nomadic herdsmen to a more agrarian based culture (3). Seen in this light, the third brother, Seth, would come to represent the joining of agriculture and animal domestication to form the future means of economic capital and resources.

But within the Cain mythos, the struggle between Cain and Abel also serves as a spiritual metaphor for the process of self-overcoming that is intrinsic to the Gnosis of the Crooked Path. The clay-born Abel (son of Adam) is slain by the half-angelic Cain, whose true father is Samael/Lucifer (whom some call Lumiel). As Michael Howard notes in his book The Children of Cain, “This struggle between the bright and dark ‘twins’ is reconciled by the third brother Seth, the ‘Man of Light’ or ‘Perfected Man’ (no gender bias is suggested by these terms and they should be regarded as unisexual in nature). In some forms of modern traditional witchcraft the bright and dark twins Cain and Abel are represented by the Oak and Holly Kings and the Green Man and Lord of the Wild Hunt who rule summer and winter.”

From an historical perspective, Cainite Gnosis may possibly be traced to the ancient doctrines of the Cainites, an antinomian Gnostic sect described by the 2nd century CE Church Father Irenaeus in his heresiological treatise Against the Heresies. Among its teachings, the Cainite sect is notable for its “soteriology of ‘Passing through All Things’ in order to receive […] illumination. This antinomian and transgressive view of Ordeal as a specifically spiritual arena finds philosophical resonance in the Sabbatic Tradition (4).” A similar notion of self-overcoming by way of ‘passing through the Fire,’ so to speak, is apparent in some Qabalistic teachings and Left-Hand Tantric practices, as well as playing a key role in the non-dualistic form of gnosis present within Sabbatic praxis.

Daniel A. Schulke, current Magister of Cultus Sabbati, further expounds upon this philosophy and its spiritual processes as they apply to the Sabbatic Craft in his essay Cainite Gnosis and the Sabbatic Tradition:

The CrookedPath in both ritual praxis and as a way and means of mental re-conditioning promotes self-liberationfrom imposed ideals and outer constructs of belief, however, in no way does it encourage “fundamentally ‘evil’ acts.” It is the way of Bane and Blessing,placing moral choices firmly within the domain of personal responsibility as tended by each individual practitioner. This is quite in keeping with the overall ethos of Traditional Craft.

“Thus is the sorcerer, wherever he may wander, become one with the Path of Cain, and the wisdom of the step is declared anew. First, by the stance of Exile as one apart and alone. Second, for the path declared, but also transgressed, its points of oscillation betwixt cure and curse: here the way is bifurcated and become Crooked. Third, for the threefold patterning of Exile, Pilgrimage, and Sojourn that is the bridge linking point-to-point-to-point in crystallisation of knowledge of the Way.”   – Andrew D. Chumbley 

                                 References and Resources

1. Opuscula Magica Vol.1, Andrew D. Chumbley, Three Hands Press.2. Cultus Sabbati: Provenance, Dream, and Magistry, Andrew D. Chumbley.     3. The Children of Cain, Michael Howard, Three Hands Press.4. Cainite Gnosis and the Sabbatic Tradition, Daniel A. Schulke.

additional readingQutub, Andrew D. Chumbley, Xoanon Publishing.Way and Waymark: Considerations of Exilic Wisdom in the Old Craft, Daniel Schulke, Xoanon.