The Taper That Lights the Way: Robert Cochrane's Letters Revealed

The Star Crossed Serpent #3

by Shani Oates, Robert Cochrane

"Those that speak of secret and secrecy, and not of discretion or wisdom, are those who have not discovered Truth." Subject to continual speculation and study, the enigmatic words of this erstwhile poet have touched the Craft, influencing all called to it, irrespective of their path or journeying. Such was his genius, such was his unique gift, ever the barb of fate, he was beyond his era. His legacy has enriched the tone of all seekers and all pilgrims who would cast aside the veil of illusion in favour of the 'Real.' For the first time, his own Clan are able to offer clarification on the mystery of his Faith through his evolving Craft, begun officially at the onset of the decade that witnessed his tragic death. Finally, through the gift of several early letters, now brought together with those already published, their message is consciously revealed. Under a carefully constructed chronology, this is 'his' story, unfurled through his words and works. As the 'Order of the Sun,' his People of Goda, of the Clan of Tubal Cain, we continue to hold aloft his brave taper, that for the 'Hound' and 'Pale Guiden,' in the Great Hall of Caer Ochran, is 'worth a light!'

476 pages, Hardcover

First published June 21, 2016

Reviews

[Archeangelous]

TLDR; there's way more letters/writings than his correspondence with Wilson on the 1734 website and as free PDFs where you can find them. At the end of the book Oates does what she should have done all along - textual criticism. After Bowers'/Cochrane's ignoble end, he basically self-destructed his coven (I'm a touch harsh here, but I got a thing about sexual relationships between leaders and vulnerable members) and loses everything, people are editing his material. They aren't thinking of historical purposes and can't exactly copy/paste/rename documents. So they scribble, type around, and re-type his rituals and such for doing workings.

Probably given the gouger insanity (an anthology of Cochrane's letters is listed on Amazon at the time of this posting for one penny shy of $3k USD), the book might be the cheapest way to get most of his writings if you can find a way to personally mitigate Oates.

She's basically contending with two existential crises for her coven's existence [in her mind]: 1) it's the truest expression of the lineage [versus some unknown rival group - think two tiny country churches have split, each with less than 20 members each] and 2) the most important expression of this lineage [versus an author who claims a successor group is - and oddly she has some author credit on the book in the third position].

Sadly for the rest of us, I wish she had just mentioned each of these in a line or two and moved on to answer our three main concerns: 1) who was Roy Bowers/Robert Cochrane, 2) what did he actually write, and 3) how do these writings impact us today.