I have decided to research Seax Wicca, I was looking through a list of Traditions on The Witch's Voice and was drawn to this one partly because I know nothing about it and partly because I happen to live in Essex and the triple Seax is our county emblem. Essex has a lot of important Saxon archaeology and the famous Battle of Maldon took place here too. So obviously it's something that piques my interest.
Seax Wicca was founded by Englishman Raymond Buckland in America during the 1970s. He had been a part of a Gardnarian Coven but became disillusioned with some of the pomp and circumstance and holier-than-thou attitudes inherent in Gardnarian Wicca as he experienced it. So he left and in order not to break his vows of secrecy he created a new tradition based on Saxon beliefs. He has made it clear though that he is not trying to recreate authentic Saxon religion.
Seax Wicca differs from traditional Gardnarian in a lot of key ways. I think the most important difference is that Seax Wicca does not have a degree system or set of initiatory systems. In fact there is only the one initiation and that can even be a self initiation. Before initiation individuals are known as Ceorl (pronounced Cawl) and then afterwards as Gesith (Yehsith) at which stage they are seen as equal to the rest of the group. Nor is there an oath of secrecy, the closest thing is the creed “Love is the law, Love is the bond” On initiation members also swear: “As this libation drains from the horn, so shall all blood drain from by body if I should do ought to hurt the God and Goddess or those in kinship with their love.”
Another major difference is that the High Priest and Priestess are elected democratically either both at once or at different times of the year, the reason for which I'll go into later. As well as the High Priest and High Priestess there are two other positions, these two unique to Seax Wicca, that of Thegn (pronounced Thane) who acts as Coven guardian, or steward. They are in charge of giving the call to come to ritual and stage managing the rituals themselves, they use the spear as a sign of office. The second unique position is that of Scribe who controls all the coven paperwork and records.
Seax Wiccans worship Woden and Freya (Woden isn't to be confused with Odin) neither of which are more important than the other. Uniquely to the Seax tradition the Lord is seen as ruler of the winter half of the year and the Lady as ruler of the Summer half which is why the High Priest and Priestess are sometimes elected at different times of the year, Priest in winter and Priestess in Summer.
One of the most extraordinary things about Seax Wicca, if considered from a Gardnarian point of view, is the way in which they treat their athames, which they call Seaxes. The seax is used not only to direct energy but to cut things in the physical plane as well. In fact they believe that the more they use the seax, even for mundane jobs, the better as it becomes more imbued with the individual's energy.
In this tradition magic is known as Galdra and divination as Hwata. Runes are favoured as are the Saxon Wands, a selection of different length sticks which are cast over a single stick known as the Wittan wand. The way in which they fall is how the wands are interpreted.
Today Seax Wicca is still practised in America as well as the UK and further a field. The main book detailing the tradition is The Tree by Raymond Buckland.
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