It was Christmas Season 2018, Yule time if you prefer, when I was browsing for books online one evening & I stumbled upon a title known as “The Pillars of Tubal Cain”. I was not entirely sure what to expect from the book, I ordered it on a whim, and shortly after its arrival my life would be changed forever. To shortly summarize the Pillars of Tubal Cain is a book written by Michael Howard and Nigel Jackson. To my knowledge the book is a collection of articles from Michael Howard’s “The Cauldron” magazine and website that provided a series of articles regarding traditional witchcraft running from the 1970’s until Michael Howard’s passing in 2015. The book covers many topics such as the roots of Angelic Magick, Yezidism and the Peacock Angel, Esoteric Taromancy, the Knights Templar, Solomons Temple, the Fallen Angels etc.
I post this blog to give credit to Michael Howard for providing a gateway for me into Sabbatic Craft which later on sparked my deeper interest into Arabic sorcery and their potential relationship. Michael Howard’s work sparked me greatly, I began to research everything about him, as knowing the author can sometimes teach you more than the books themselves. I started by purchasing associated titles involving Michael Howard, one of which was “The Luminous Stone” edited by him partially. It was when I opened this book that I realized Michael Howard had died in 2015. I felt this strange coldness in my chest when I read this, knowing I would never be able to speak to this man. It was then when I was lead to the work of Andrew Chumbley and the Cultus Sabbati, as for me this seemed an accessible root into Howards influences. Michael Howard had been initiated into the Sabbatic Cultus in 1999. It was not until I read Eikostos, the Xoanon Bibliography that I learned that Michael Howard was credited for "facilitating the placement of our grimoires in the hands of worthy owners." This quote is from Daniel A. Schulke, found in the forward of Eikostos.
About a few months after my reading of Pillars that I had acquired a copy of the Azoetia by Andrew Chumbley, following my digestion of Michael Howards work. At this time, I am trying to narrow down exactly how much is respectable to say of my work with this grimoire, one thing I will say is it birthed the coven and its structure which I currently oversee. The Pillars of Tubal Cain spoke of the legend of the battle in heaven between the Arch angel Michael/Mik’hail and the fallen angel Lucifer. It was said in the battle of heaven that the arch angel struck Lucifer’s brow, which lead an emerald to fall to the earth. This emerald would be proposed to be many things, or a part of many things, such as the Emerald Tablets of Thoth, and the “emerald table” of King Arthur. It was theorized this strike towards Lucifer’s brow created what is known as the Mark of Qayin, synonymous with the Third Eye, or Ajna Chakra in many witchcraft traditions around Britain especially.
So, what is the Emerald Scar? The exact same thing to me. If the emerald falls to earth from Lucifer’s brow, it creates an Emerald Scar. This legend and Michael’s work along with practice of the Azoetic arcana led me to form a small circle that would “embody the entirety of witch blood “. The concept of Via Nocturna propounded by Nigel Jackson referenced by Andrew Chumbley in Opuscula Magica Vol. 1 stuck with me greatly the more I learned about it.
It is termed as "the invisible conclave of initiates conjoined through parity of experience within trance-ecstasis, Its wisdom is accessible to those whom have passed through the transliminal gateways of this world and whom have undertaken the initiatory night-journey to the oneiric realms of the Sabbatic revelry." Within the Sabbatic conclaves of the Greater Dream, the dream beyond the dream, I glimpsed through the Emerald Jewel a series of phantasmagoric visions which lead me to believe that an initiatory path via the Golden Chain had opened for me. I want to add that the Golden Chain of initiation isn’t even a concept coined entirely by Andrew, it is very much related to the Naqshbandi Sufi order as a way of initiation via lineage. This Golden Chain is discussed as a concept in Pillars early on. I believe Andrew Chumbley understood this concept to a deep degree, considering his vast crediting towards Sufic orders in his 1995 work, Qutub. Qutub especially had an impact on my desire to find missing links between Arabic Magic and Sabbatic Craft, especially due to Chumbley's reference of many terms used in Sabbatic tradition which are directly linked to Arabic Etymology and practice, as well his reference of the Sufic sect of the Mullamatiyah, the Jhakri of Nepal, the Yezidi of Kurdistan, the Dhu'l-qarneni of medieval Morocco. Over time I had begun to form my own view of the cosmos based mostly (at least at first) on the work of the Cultus Sabbati and associates.
With the launch of the Emerald Scar website, we find it fitting to give credit to those who helped spark our inception. We have no direct affiliation with the Cultus Sabbati whatsoever, their works however were a major focal point for us.
I personally also had the pleasure of visiting Essex, Andrew’s home county in England for the Nameless Arte Conference in 2019. There I was able to meet A.D Mercer author of Liber Coronzom & Runen Wisdom of the Runes, Gemma Gary Co-owner of Troy Books & author of Traditional Witchcraft: A Cornish Book of Ways, The Devils’s Dozen, & the Charmers Psalter, last but not least Martin Duffy author of Effigy, The Devils Raiments, and the newly published Anathema Maranatha. Meeting these authors and associates of Three Hands Press provided me with a lot of inspiration to continue the workings that I was undergoing at that time. It’s been 3 years now since I first got into the works of Cultus Sabbati and its associates and I still continue this work within my chosen "Cells" of Magical Arcana. I would also like to thank James Hunter-Ralston for being a dynamic figure in my journey and helping me to meet many of authors who inspired me. Throughout the "unfoldment" of the work more credit to inspirations will be given and more exposition shall be offered into the arcanum of the Emerald Scar. We look forward to those who wish to join us at the Emerald Flame of the High Witch Sabbat.