Joseph Bearwalker Wilson (1942–2004) was a

shaman Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritu ...

and

witch Witchcraft traditionally means the use of Magic (supernatural), magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In Middle Ages, medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually ...

, founder of the 1734 Tradition of witchcraft, the Toteg Tribe, Metista, and a founding member of the

Covenant of the Goddess The Covenant of the Goddess (CoG) is a cross-traditional Wiccan group of solitary Wiccan practitioners and over one hundred affiliated covens (or congregations). It was founded in 1975 in order to increase co-operation among witches and to secur ...

. Wilson was born December 11, 1942 and raised just inside the city limits of St. Johns in

Clinton County, Michigan Clinton County is a county in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 79,128. The county seat is St. Johns. The county was created in 1831 and organized in 1839. It is named after early American politician DeWitt ...

. He grew up with some Christian influence, but developed an early interest in the occult and in fully utilizing the powers of the mind, which he felt were barely tapped. During his early adult life he studied

comparative religion Comparative religion is the branch of the study of religions with the systematic comparison of the doctrines and practices, themes and impacts (including migration) of the world's religions. In general the comparative study of religion yie ...

, or more specifically, encouraged his teaching: "what they all have in common must be close to the truth." He died August 4, 2004 from complications of

chronic obstructive pulmonary disease Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a type of progressive lung disease characterized by long-term respiratory symptoms and airflow limitation. The main symptoms include shortness of breath and a cough, which may or may not produce ...

Air Force career and spirituality

Wilson joined the Air Force in September 1961, and in autumn 1962 he met another airman called Sean who introduced him to ritual practices designed to bring mental focus. Sean's wife also taught Wilson the use of roots and herbs to perform magic spells. Sean coached in a type of spiritual awareness which Joe felt was similar to, but not the same as,

witchcraft Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have us ...

., chapter 5. Sean also recommended readings to him, of which the most influential were ''

The White Goddess ''The White Goddess: a Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth'' is a book-length essay on the nature of poetic myth-making by author and poet Robert Graves. First published in 1948, the book is based on earlier articles published in ''Wales'' magazi ...

'' by

Robert Graves Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was a British poet, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were both Celtic ...

, ''The Magic Arts in Celtic Britain'' by

Lewis Spence James Lewis Thomas Chalmers Spence (25 November 1874 – 3 March 1955) was a Scottish journalist, poet, author, folklorist and occult scholar. Spence was a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, and vice- ...

, and ''

The Golden Bough ''The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion'' (retitled ''The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion'' in its second edition) is a wide-ranging, comparative study of mythology and religion, written by the Scottish anthropologist Sir ...

'' by Sir

James George Frazer Sir James George Frazer (; 1 January 1854 – 7 May 1941) was a Scottish social anthropologist and folklorist influential in the early stages of the modern studies of mythology and comparative religion. Personal life He was born on 1 Janua ...

, however Wilson found Sean's practical teachings more valuable than these written works. In 1964 Wilson started a four-page newsletter he called ''The Waxing Moon'' which was "a journal of the old religion" or "a witchcraft newsletter". In 1965 an advertisement for Pentagram in ''The Waxing Moon'' put him in contact with

Roy Bowers Robert Cochrane (26 January 1931 – 3 July 1966), who was born as Roy Bowers, was an English occultist who founded the tradition of Witchcraft known as The Clan of Tubal Cain. Born in a working-class family in West London, he became interes ...

, alias "Robert Cochrane", with whom he studied by mail until Bowers' death in 1966. Copies of their letters can be found online. Wilson founded the " 1734 Tradition" late 1973 and 1974 when he compiled the Flags, Flax and Fodder booklet. He also participated in the formation of the

, eventually leaving following their insistence that he adopt the

Wiccan Rede The Wiccan Rede is a statement that provides the key moral system in the neopagan religion of Wicca and certain other related witchcraft-based faiths. A common form of the Rede is ''An ye harm none, do what ye will'' which was taken from a longe ...

OSI agent

In 1971 Wilson was a staff sergeant stationed at Lakenheath, England, who became a "secret agent" for the

Air Force Office of Special Investigations The Department of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI) is a U.S. federal law enforcement agency that reports directly to the Secretary of the Air Force. OSI is also a U.S. Air Force field operating agency under the administrative ...

, spying upon his fellow servicemen who were working from within the military to protest American involvement in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

. Wilson's testimony against Air Force Captain Thomas Culver led to the latter's court martial; subsequently, writers in the

Neo-Pagan Modern paganism, also known as contemporary paganism and neopaganism, is a term for a religion or family of religions influenced by the various historical pre-Christian beliefs of pre-modern peoples in Europe and adjacent areas of North Afric ...

and

Wicca Wicca () is a modern Pagan religion. Scholars of religion categorise it as both a new religious movement and as part of the occultist stream of Western esotericism. It was developed in England during the first half of the 20th century and was ...

communities of the time branded Wilson as a "warlock" or traitor to paganism. As Wilson describes it, he spent most of 1971 and 1972 in a "blur" caused by alcoholism. After his testimony against captain Culver, he received "hate mail" from the pagan community, "literally hundreds of letters from people throughout the United States and England. ..95% of those letters condemned me. ..People ..wrote to tell me what a traitor I was and how much they hated me. Some of the letters threatened my life and the lives of my family. ..I think this is when I started serious drinking. Tim Zell of the

Church of All Worlds The Church of All Worlds (CAW) is an American Neopagan religious group whose stated mission is to evolve a network of information, mythology, and experience that provides a context and stimulus for reawakening Gaia and reuniting her children thr ...

and Green Egg wrote something like, 'Joe, how could you. This is terrible. You could have gone down in history as an important founder of the pagan movement. Now you are nothing but a traitor.'", chapters 16-19

Toteg Tribe

The bulk of Joseph's work in his later life had to do with his shamanic walk, which produced first Metista, a spiritual system for non-native people which introduced the concept of interaction with the spirits of ancestry and land which belonged, not to an indigenous tribe, but to the actual familial stream and current geographical location of the practitioner. Metista developed into Toteg Tribe, which is a fully enabled spiritual system consisting of interaction with Mother Earth, Father Sky, the genus loci of a person's geographical location, one's own familial ancestors, and ancestors of culture, heritage, and artistic and intellectual teachers. He also became a student of Catherine Yronwode, studying

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

hoodoo

folk magic In religious studies and folkloristics, folk religion, popular religion, traditional religion or vernacular religion comprises various forms and expressions of religion that are distinct from the official doctrines and practices of organized rel ...

, and recommending this tradition to his own students in the Toteg Tribe. The Toteg Tribe website may be found a
Toteg Tribe
The entire text of Joseph's book, "Nature Religion..." is contained on the page, and the book itself is in the process of reprint and will again be available through Amazon in early summer of 2010. His more recent work, "So You Wanna Be A Shaman, Eh?" which was in the process of being edited at the time of his death in 2004, is expected to be released late in 2010 or early in 2011.

References

External links

1734 Witchcraft: The Authentic Method of Robert Cochrane and Joseph Bearwalker Wilson

Toteg Tribe
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Joseph Bearwalker American occultists Neoshamanism 1942 births 2004 deaths People from St. Johns, Michigan United States Air Force Office of Special Investigations American Wiccans Founders of new religious movements