1734 Tradition

From Traditional Witchcraft Wiki Project

1734 is a Craft tradition that was established in the United States in the latter half of the 1960's early 1970's by the late Joseph B. Wilson.

Joseph combined the teachings given to him by his mentor, Sean, with those received in correspondence with Roy Bowers (alias Robert Cochrane) and inspirational and personal guidance from Ruth Wynn-Owen,(the matriarch of the Plant Bran) Roy provided magical and mystical supplementation to Sean's teachings, while Ruth provided guidance for group workings.

There has been some confusion over who was the founder of 1734 because of Roy Bowers well known teachings, however it was Joseph and not Roy that founded 1734. Roy had his own tradition, The Clan of Tubal Cain, that is not the same as Joseph's 1734 tradition. The Clan of Tubal Cain has different orientation and practices than 1734.

A few things that make the 1734 tradition different from some of the other Traditions that have been created in the last century are:

The prohibition of taking Oaths, in Joseph's own words:

<blockquote>An oath is a solemn, formal declaration or promise to fulfill a pledge, often calling on God, a god, or a sacred object as witness. On the surface this seems harmless enough, but as was explained in the oral tradition if you take an oath what you are doing is saying that under other circumstances you can't be trusted to keep your word. Also, if you have to require an oath from someone it means that you don't trust that person without Divine compulsion.[1]</blockquote>