When I was at the Crucible, I mentioned the passing of a magician called Andrew Chumbley. Nobody seemed to know who he was, not surprising considering he was somewhat reclusive and his books were all limited printings. I decided to write an introduction to his works for those that might be interested. The article will be in this seasons Behutet magazine, but I figured that I would post it here and on a few lists first.
Jason
Requiem for a Cunning Man: Andrew D Chumbley
9/15/1967 - 9/15/2004
Andrew Chumbley described himself as a Cunning Man, who lived in Essex
England. Like A. O. Spare, Robert Cochrane, Evan John Jones, and Paul
Huson, he was a traditional Witch, but most definitely not a Wiccan.
He practiced what he called the Sabbatic Craft. In his own words:
"The Sabbatic Craft is a name for a Nameless Faith. It is a term used
to describe an ongoing tradition of sorcerous wisdom, an initiatory
path proceeding from both immediate vision and historical succession.
In a historical sense, the Sabbatic Craft is usefully set against the
background of both rural folk-magic, the so-called Cunning-craft, and
the learned practices of European high ritual magic."
Sadly, on September 15th, 2004 – his 37th birthday, Andrew Chumbley,
aka Alogos Dhu'l-qarnen Khidir, passed from this world into the next,
due to a heart attack brought on by a severe Asthma attack. I never
got the chance to meet the reclusive Artist, Author, and Witch in
person, but I did correspond with him on occasion. I had followed his
career for 12 years and had managed to read all of his books, even
though some were in extremely limited editions. Three days after his
passing I spoke at "The Crucible" a convention of Mages, Mystics, and
Pagans held in New Jersey. When I mentioned Andrew's passing, I was
shocked to find out that nobody knew who he was. I decided to write a
small introduction to serve as a spring-board to anyone that wanted to
investigate the work of this Archmage that contributed so much to the
craft of the wise.
A very private man, Andrew Chumbley presided as Magister over the
closed circle of initiates known as the Cultus Sabbati, a group who
uses the mythos of the European Witches' Sabbath as the basis and
idiom for their rituals and practices. He first received public
attention for in 1992 when he published his first book: "The Azoetia:
A Grimoire of the Sabbatic Craft". The book details the basics of the
craft such as tools, circle casting etc, than gets into much more
complex territory like the three rites of Ingress, Congress, and
Egress, and 22 Letters of the Sorcerer's Alphabet. The book is also
filled with Chumbley's incredible art, which picks up where A.O. Spare
left off. If that wasn't compelling enough, there were only 300 copies
of this talismanic book made. The rarity of the book, combined
Chumbleys somewhat reclusive nature led to much speculation about the
activities and the Cultus Sabbati, a group that had a stated tradition
of refusing entry to anyone that asked.
In 1995 Chumbley published "Quotub: The Point". Consisting of 72
poetic verses, a detailed commentary and a substantial glossary of
esoteric terms and names this book dealt with the Rite of the Opposer
and shed some light on the connection between European Witchcraft and
Islamic Sufism. Again, the text was illustrated with Chumbleys art. It
was published in 500 standard copies, 36 deluxe copies in quarter
morocco and slip-case (each with a hand-drawn talisman by the author),
and 5 copies in full morocco for private distribution.
In 2000 came "The Grimoire of the Golden Toad". Only 77 copies of this
book were printed in faux leather accompanied by hand-painted toad skin
talismans and accompanying card talismans adorned in gold, silver and
bronze sigils. An additional three, in full black calf-skin inset
with toad skin panels and toad head affixed to the cover were privately
distributed to initiates. This book detailed Chumbley's take on the
ancient Witch rite of the toad bone amulet. He also wrote an essay for
the magazine The Cauldron on the history of the rite entitled 'The
Leaper Between'. The essay can be found on line at
www.the-cauldron.fsnet.co.uk
In 2003, Chumbley re-issued the Azoetia. The new Sethos Edition (named
for the patron daimon of the book) had additional formulae and around
45 illustrations, many previously unseen. The work was published in
three editions:- a standard edition of 484 numbered copies hand-bound
in gilt-stamped hollen-green cloth, a deluxe edition of 44 copies,
quarter-bound in fair goatskin, with gilt-stamped cloth and slip-case;
and a special edition of eleven slip-cased copies in full goatskin for
private distribution only. Later that year, he released the
Sethos-Behena or Black edition. Only 77 copies were issued, each
accompanied by a an eight-page text in plain card covers, entitled
'The Rite of Amethystine Light', hand-produced and signed by the
author; also a small talisman hand-painted in walnut ink on oriental
snakeskin paper. According to Xoanon, the publisher:
From the perspective of the author, the ritual serves to complete the
foundation of the Azoetic phase of magical work 1992-2003 and to open
the way for the Draconist Path ahead.
Which brings us to the "The Draconian Grimoire: The Dragon-Book of
Essex ". This book is supposedly contains the second step in the
Sabbatic Trilogy – the Azoetia being the first, and the other books
since than, being individual manifestations of the Azoetic work. Ten
private copies of this book were printed around 1998 in three volumes
each, and stood about 1200 pages. The book was soon to be published
and only time will tell if the Cultus, and Xoanon, their publisher
will continue on after Chumbleys death. It seems likely though since
they have already published a book by another member of the cultus:
The Ars Philtron by Daniel A. Schulke.
In an age where most occult knowledge is available either on-line or
in cheaply printed paper-backs at Barnes & Noble, many have voiced
frustration at the inaccessibility of the books. When I think back to
what practitioners a few hundred years ago had to go through just to
VIEW a famous Grimoire like the Key of Solomon or the Arbatel of
Magic, these frustrated protests just make me laugh. Perhaps one of
Andrew Chumbleys greatest contributions to the occult community was
re-establishing the tradition of the Grimoire itself as a Talisman.
Certainly there is some work and expense involved in finding any of
these books today, even just finding someone else's that you can read
and take notes from can be difficult, but knowledge hard won is valued
all the higher, and seldom forgotten. As for the expense, it should be
remembered that Andrew Chumbley didn't get rich from these books. The
original offering price was very reasonable on all the texts listed
above, he didn't make a dime off the used copies that now sell in the
hundreds. His efforts to make truly grand magickal texts insure that
his readers will not, as The Azoetia warns, mistake the book for the
words on its pages.
Aart from the books Chumbley wrote many articles for such magazines as
The Cauldron, Widdershins, Chaos International, and Mezlim. Many
articles are also on-line, most notably his essay "What is the
Traditional Craft ? A Brief Discourse regarding the nature of
Traditional Witchcraft and allied forms of Magical Practice in
present". This article and several others are only a google search
away. Also on the web is a collection of his art at the occult art
gallery: http://www.caduceusbooks.com/occultartgallery/. There are
also several e-mail that discuss the Sabbatic Craft, notably The
Witches Sabbath at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/The_Witches_Sabbath/
As I said above, I am not a member of the Cultus Sabbati. I didn't
know Andrew Chumbley personally. I am simply a cunning man myself,
mourning the passing of another Sorcerer that I will not get to meet
face to face with in this lifetime. Being lucky enough to come into
contact with all of his published works, I wanted to reach an audience
of people that perhaps had not heard of him, and provide a glimpse
into the work of this incredible Cunning Man.
May the Blessing, Cursing and Cunning Be.
Inominandum
Autumnal Equinox, 2004
). They don't seem to value it either.
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