GALDRAHEIM COVEN 

Who we are- real people

With anything like Witchcraft that has so many negative associations for many people, and which like anything at all "underground" sometimes attracts very dysfunctional, disturbed individuals, or exploitive people seeking to prey on those who are vulnerable, it is important to be 'upfront' in who we are.

This way all can clearly see that we are not seeking to exploit the vulnerable, that we are not disturbed, psychotic or obsessive, and that we are not linked to anything satanic or dangerous.

We obviously cannot give information about our Coveners, and we have to be careful about not creating problems at work, with family, or similar for any of our Coveners. However I (Alan Tickhill) have always been very open and "Out of the closet" about all that I do, so let me share something of my background and life with you to let you see who I am, and from which you'll be able to understand the kind of people who are Coveners of Galdraheim. On the principle that "Birds of a feather flock together".

My date of birth is 8th of June 1955- which makes me 46 years young this year. I was born in Scotland, but moved just three years later to England. My Father was in the Army and so we moved around the country quite a lot till I was 12 years old, when we settled in Dover in Kent.

My ancestry is mostly Yorkshire/Derbyshire with a touch of Irish from one Grandmother. Anyone with any knowledge of Yorkshire and Derbyshire will recognise my surname as being of a local place name- my ancestry and connection to that part of the world can be traced easily to Domes-day book- in which it is mentioned, and beyond that to Tica- an Anglo-Saxon who gave his name to the town- "Ticas-Hill".

I was always one of those "strange" children- I had no interest in the things that most boys are interested in such as football and cars, I spent all the time I possibly could out in the countryside, finding out things, gathering anything interesting- stones, shells, sticks, etc. I talked with Little people, people others couldn't see, and could feel the life in trees, plants and everything alive so much that I couldn't harm or damage anything without feeling its pain.

By the time I was 7 years old I was an avid reader of mythology and mythological based stories. I read Shakespeare, and then a little later on- by about 11-12 years old I was reading books on the occult, Spiritualism, Theosophy and similar.  Around this time also I began experimenting with magick, spells, invocations of Goddesses and Gods and nature spirits.

At 16 I was a regular attendee of Spiritualist development circles, and an active member of a Native American study group- the "Four Winds". By the age of 19 I'd moved back to Sheffield in Yorkshire where my Mothers family came from, and was naming myself a Witch. I was also by then working deeply with ceremonial magick based on the Golden Dawn system and similar.

At that time there were not that many books available, and of course the Internet was twenty years in the future...

I moved back to Kent in 1978, met and married my High Priestess, Pauline, and from there Galdraheim Coven was born. As detailed in the "Lineage and Connections" section of this website.

We have three children- one elder son and two younger's- who are old enough that we're no longer allowed to call them children! All of whom have excelled at school/college and who are set to live good, fulfilling and exciting lives.

My interests and hobbies outside the Craft: From gardening to carving and other crafts, reading, writing, walking, driving my family mad with folk-songs either sang loudly, or played on the harmonica.  

Favourite TV series are "Buffy" and Angel"- pure occult escapism.

Music- everything from Jimi Hendrix to Mozart, with occasional country and blues in bouts. Including modern rock and other modern music- except rap!!

'Favourite authors- Sheri S Tepper, Terry Pratchett, Jerry Pournelle.

I work full time, and also work in alternative ways- I make craftwork of various kinds- Rattles, Fans, Wands, and similar, and also do some Internet work and desk top publishing and similar work. None of which will make me a millionaire, but which keeps me busy doing the kinds of things I like to do while generating income. Have a browse around my craft work web site for more information about this- there's a link on the front page of this site- 'Wiccan, Shamanic and Druidic craftwork'.

My favourite way to relax- a warm summer evening, me in shorts, tee-shirt and barefoot, sitting on a log in my garden with birds singing, a very cold beer in hand, and that feeling of the whole world in harmony- if only just in that time, in that place, and for that moment. Feeling the Goddess and Horned God pulsating through and within the life all around me, hearing their words through the songs of birds and the breeze in the trees, and knowing myself to be a part of that- "Dancing into Truth".

And finally- to answer the question of 'Why am I a Witch?'

Being a Witch doesn't make my life simple, it hasn't answered all of life's questions, and it hasn't solved all the problems and conflicts that have ever arisen in my life from time to time.

What it has done; and continues to do on a daily basis; is to provide me with the means to solve problems for myself, it provides me with access to the wisdom sources to answer life's questions as I deepen my capacity to access those sources, and it enriches my life every single day:-

The community of like minded people who know what the hell I'm talking about, the empowerment and connection to be experienced through group rituals, the wisdom of the Goddess and God to draw from, the constant daily reminders of life's power and mystery, the new challenges that arise, the empowerment of magick, ritual and circle-work, the wisdom and lore that is shared among Witches, the joy to be experienced among the richness of all that is... many, many  treasures that I could never have gained from any other source- I'm a spiritual being and have looked at other religions and ways and found them all lacking- some of them have good things to offer, none of them have ever offered me as much as Witchcraft does. 

Go wise and well and Blessed Be,

Alan Tickhill. Beltaine season. 2000

A photograph of me- 

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