Mother goose and the key of Solomon the king.

The nights are noticeably drawing in now, a welcome cry amidst the familiar beat of wings as Dame Holda returns once more to our magical isle, her flock in pursuit pulled along in her magnetic wake.
As the wildness returns our friends and masters of the air prepare to likewise make the long voyage, back to the welcome warmth of the African continent, fly well my friends and see you once more at the change of tides.
The fruit of the may now hangs heavy with waxen red haws, the sloe and the elder both black with fruit where only yesterday it seemed they were heralds of white and blossoming summer, Blackberries, Chestnuts, mushrooms and the return of the biannual Jack o the hedge, the wild harvest springs forth to tell all that autumn is arriving.
This is our time, the season of the witch if you like, as early dusk comes to shelter us from the outside world and our chthonic activity can go unnoticed , when the fires of the midnight rite bring warmth to our bodies as well as our hearts, venturing out to those places we love rarely to be disturbed by others, too cold or dark for the normal folks.
Tales told and woven, seated before the open hearth fires, plans discussed, deals made and sealed, the Dame brings with her the beginnings of all these things, excitement is rising within the craft community as the time to get things done draws near.

It has been a disjointed summer for this one, work has dominated the past five months, great in the financial department, yet distracting from the real passions of life and living, reading, learning and exploring the nature of the worlds, life and love all continue, yet at a slower pace than the Cunning Man would like.
In this time of plans and reflection I have got to thinking of the similarities of my own activities to those of others, in order to try and understand the esoteric nature of things I have found it better to do this , rather than just randomly dismiss that with which I seem to have no love for.
The key of Solomon has been and interesting peruse of recent times, the foundation,( or one of the foundations) to the nature of qabalist magic and ritual, much of which I find does not fit in with my nature, I do not like the idea of one who demands service of anything, many might disagree but there is much in common with Gardnarian Wicca a fact that proponents of both might find quite disturbing, there is also common ground within this text with traditional craft.
This begs the question of origins, Wicca aside as this is only a reconstructed faith of modern time and as such can be ignored within the context of this piece, but does Traditional craft have its beginnings in the key of Solomon, perhaps it does, or maybe all esoteric work has to have some common ground.
Preparations prior to ritual, the tools of the practitioner and such like, the symbology of shapes and numbers are common to both, the main difference being that one seeks servitude while the other seeks to become more one with the divine.
There are no real Ancient texts on Witchcraft, yet we know that there were witches in the time of Solomon, perhaps Solomon was the Gardner of his time, perhaps he has taken knowledge from the craft practitioners of his day and transformed it to suit himself and the ruling elite, who knows.

So before we openly dismiss an others practices we must at the least attempt to understand them, there is usually some common ground, and common ground is better than hostile ground.
There are too many claiming to "know" and many of those stopped looking a long time ago, to Know all is to be divinity, it may be our goal but it is not attainable in any sense of our time here.
Wisdom is to be a student and to want to know.
And we do not all have to be naked and spank each other to start learning, unless that is your thing of course.
fff.