Templi Kalendae
Templi Kalendæ (TK) was an influential Traditional Witchcraft coven based in Birmingham, England, with additional centres in Wolverhampton and Durham. Its practices are derived from the Ophidian magical teachings of Bob Clay-Egerton.
Ophidian traditional witchcraft
The adjective ophidian means 'of, relating to, or resembling snakes' and in the context of the Traditional Craft refers to those branches of it for which the snake - or serpent - forms the basis of their symbolism and practices. Serpents are also equated with dragons, and - through Old English folklore - with worms. Norse mythology has a sea-dwelling deity known as the 'World Serpent' - Jörmungandr.
The Leviathan of the Biblical Psalms, Job, and Isaiah is equated with the Seven-headed Dragon of Revelation, and also with the Sumerian deity Tiamat. This primordial creature of chaos, that dwells in the eternal waters of the Abyss, represents all that is raw and unformed in nature, and also within our own selves. With seven heads and ten horns it is directly related to the Qliphoth, and to the seven hells beneath the earth. Each of these hells contains different inhabitants and attributes, and a practitioner of this type of magic will visit the hells in order to understand and master those who dwell therein. As described in the Bible, the Dragon of Revelation has seven heads and ten horns, and although the correct distribution of horns to heads is not mentioned, it can easily be determined by reference to the Kabbalah. An eighth head with an eleventh horn may also be formed. The heads and horns are related to the Kings and Dukes of Edom, as mentioned in Genesis (and possess many, many other correspondences). Ophidian rituals often involve actual, living snakes, sometimes in large numbers.
Leading figures
With clear similarities, and possibly even a direct lineage, to early Gnostic sects such as the Ophites of the 1st century (and through them to Sumerian, Egyptian, Hebrew, and Greek Paganism), in the medieval period these types of heretical practices often manifested as Satanism and Witchcraft. A major 20th century figure associated with what we now call the Ophidian Tradition was the writer D. H. Lawrence (1885-1930), though this particular aspect of his life is often forgotten by the modern literary establishment. Interestingly, Lawrence seems to have come to these beliefs late in life through a process of personal introspection and illumination. Certainly there is no evidence that he received these teachings by means of any extant coven or society, and there is likewise no suggestion that he founded any such group of his own. This, however, cannot be said for that other great 20th century writer Aleister Crowley (1875-1947), whose influence on all forms of modern Occultism, to which the Ophidian Craft is no exception, has been both profound and immense.
In the later 20th century one figure stands out as the leading light within the Ophidian Craft - Alastair Robert ('Bob') Clay-Egerton (1930-1998), who was initiated at the age of thirteen by one of the few surviving traditionalist covens at Alderley Edge, Cheshire. This group was part of a network that existed across North Wales and Shropshire, in addition to Cheshire, and there is a certain amount of circumstantial evidence that Bob's initiatrix was known by the magical name 'Medea' (who apparently died in 1963), and that she was a native of Shropshire - she was also the source of Alex Sanders' Traditional Craft lineage, and Alex was a close personal friend of Bob's (see Ronald Hutton, The Triumph of the Moon, pp. 302, 321-2). Along with his wife Meriem ('Mim'), Bob founded a large number of Occult organisations during his long magical career, including, most famously, the Esoteric Order of the Serpent (EOS), which was based in Warwickshire during the 1960s, but later fragmented because of controversy surrounding the alleged use of prostitutes during rituals. As its name suggests, this organisation was at least partly inspired by the 'Esoteric Order of Dagon' described by the American writer H. P. Lovecraft in his 1936 story The Shadow Over Innsmouth. Templi Kalendæ was affiliated with the EOS during Bob's lifetime, but the order effectively ceased to exist upon his death.
Foundation of Templi Kalendæ
TK's predecessor coven, Talras, was founded in January 1986 by Wendy Keyes, who had previously trained with an Alexandrian coven in London during 1981, and already had long experience with magical practice. Based in Erdington, Birmingham, the name Talras was chosen by numerology and means 'seven' - the original intention being to have a maximum of seven members. As it turned out, for most of its existence Talras had a membership of just four, comprising two couples.
In 1989, as a result of Wendy's membership of Paganlink (an organisation set up by the Pagan activist, Rich Westwood), Talras gained a number of new members - including Tony Steele and Alexa Tallis. By this time, however, Talras had become involved in a dispute with a self-proclaimed body calling itself the 'Pagan Council of Elders'. The upshot of this was that Wendy decided that the coven should adopt a new name, and distance itself from the petty bickering that was undermining the Pagan movement. After much discussion it was agreed that the new name should be Templi Kalendæ, meaning 'Temple of the New Moon'. The new moon in question was that of Friday 5th May 1989.
Subsequent developments
Following its rebirth, TK began to attract members from far and wide, and soon became well known as Birmingham's most active and vocal coven. This was the period of the Satanic Ritual Abuse Myth, and TK saw it as its role to educate the public about the true nature of Paganism and the Occult. To this end the coven began organising annual charity pub-crawls, collecting money for the local children's hospital each Samhain (Halloween). From 1990 TK also ran monthly pub moots at the Pen & Wig (now called Scruffy Murphy's) in the city centre, later transferred to the Crown just up the road. In addition, the coven opened negotiations with the Birmingham Fellowship of Faiths, and eventually gained a seat thereon as a representative of Paganism - one of the first in the whole country.
In April 1991 TK established an inner group known as the Clan of the Raven specifically for Shamanic workings, which was followed in January 1992 by the Temple of Chaos - a training group for those new to Paganism. This latter was run in conjunction with the Temple of Leviathan, for experienced initiates. Yet another organisation, the Gehennan Order, was established as a magical correspondence course for those who lived too far away to attend meetings in person. Meanwhile Alexa had been running TK's first hive-off coven, the Circle of the Grail, in Wolverhampton since 1989. This group was closely involved with the Wolverhampton University student union Pagan Society, which it helped to create and organise.
From 1990 Wendy began to receive training in the Ophidian Traditional Craft from Bob and Mim Clay-Egerton who at that time lived in Newcastle, and continued to do so until their deaths in 1998. She received her initiation from them on 13 August 1992. Following this, in September, she established the Veils of the Ancient Serpent, a group for TK members to learn and practice Ophidian magical techniques. In the later 1990s TK's influence spread around the world, when Tony popularised the Ordo Anno Mundi (OAM), as a continuation of the Gehennan Order. Coinciding with the sudden emergence of the Internet into public consciousness, at its peak the OAM had several hundred members on five continents, and active groups in the UK, USA, Singapore, and Australia. Its training programme was based on the Ophidian teachings of Bob and Mim, though these were deliberately concealed in a manner designed to protect them from casual observers and time-wasters. Tony also wrote two books detailing this - Water Witches (Capall Bann, 1998), and The Rites and Rituals of Traditional Witchcraft (Capall Bann, 2001).
In 2006 Wendy, High Priestess of TK, saw fit to close the Coven - the name of which is to be handed down to her daughter to work with in the future. She also stated that there has never been any links to outside organisations.