WICCA & THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE
by David Wadsworth
(This article first appeared in Children of Sekhmet, May 1988. It was originally
given by Dave as a talk at a Wiccan Workshop organized by Chris and Vivianne
Crowley in 1987)
This talk aims to illustrate the all-pervading nature of Wicca. If a system of
natural laws or beliefs is true, it can be applied to virtually anything. I
intend to try and apply parts of Wiccan beliefs to my other passion, biking.
There is a peculiar sort of bonding between a real biker and his machine. The
biker will put the well-being of his machine far above his own. I have seen men
cry over a bent bike, or after an accident tell the driver off for hitting his
bike rather than him. I have personally fought off two ambulance men so that I
could hop to my bike to inspect the damage before being taken to hospital. My
theory for this strange bond is that the motorcycle and rider form a sort of
Gestalt being, a complete entity, either part of which is incomplete or useless
without the other.
The motorcycle represents the male part of this entity. It provides all the
force and power, but lacks control and direction. It is all potential, in Wiccan
terms, the God force, waiting for the female aspect, the Goddess, in the form of
a horrible grubby motorcycle rider. The rider takes the force and harnesses it,
giving purpose, form and direction. Controlling the raw male potential, and
together, in harmony, they will be capable of reaching heights impossible to
either on their own.
The motorcycle can be seen as a way through which to tap a source of cosmic
energy. The energy which we in the Wicca use for healing, spells, divination,
as a gateway to alternative universes. Just as a witch wouldn't attempt to tap
this awesome power with-out protection, neither would a biker. The biker will
put on boots, gloves, helmet and leathers in a similar sort of way as a member
of the Craft would surround themselves with a protective circle to preserve the
power and keep out undesirable spirits. In the biker's case he is also aiming to
keep in the heat, and protect him from the road, onto which demon car drivers
possessed of evil spirits (gin, vodka, whiskey etc.) would lure him to his
death!
This brings us neatly (?) to the subject of reincarnation. Most of you reading
this will have some knowledge of the ideas of reincarnation; i.e. that we are
born, live in the world, die, and are then reborn to develop further. Not many
of you will realize that motorcycles go through a similar process. They leave
the factory to roam about the face of the earth, then some parts wear out, and
they descend into the dark underworld of the workshop. Here they are consoled
and repaired by the creative force of the female, who is the biker, to emerge
re-born in Spring, once more blooming with refresh-ed color of restored
paintwork, and the cycle starts again. Many British machines go through this
every year. About Yule they are ready, and in the first days of Spring they roar
about in the first flush of youth. Then at the peak of their power, at Lammas,
they are cut down, usually due to some terminal mechanical problem. They dwell
for the remainder of the year in Hades, the garage, thus mirroring the cycle of
the God.
The spirituality of bikes is perceived by man in different forms, and each has
its followers. Here are some of the major religions:
THE CHRISTIAN
This newcomer to the spiritual motorcycle rides a modern Japanese bike. He pays
little more than lip service to his religion. He has few rituals, all he has to
do is turn the key and start the starter engine. He tends to be into power and
speed, tearing past older machines which he regards with contempt. He cares
little for the inner workings of the machine, running to his priest/mechanic
whenever he has a problem. Should his machine pass on, i.e., wear out, it will
believed to be irreparable, i.e., too expensive, and gone to the great scrap
heap in the sky. The makers of this are the great salesmen and evangelists of
the bike, not to mention the profit makers.
THE MAGICIAN
He will typically be an older bearded gentleman, who rides an immaculate old
British motorcycle. They are into status, and will pootle along at 40 mph all
day, imagining themselves the envy of all who see them. They are into ritual
and mystery. The perfor-mance required to summon some older bikes into life is
awesome and dangerous. Yet these fellows will watch in silence as a machine
spits at a new initiate and breaks his shin. They will endlessly pontificate on
the correct shade of color for the petrol tank, or whether a part is the right
year for the model; mostly that's all they do.
THE WITCH
The bike will most likely be filthy, not from lack of care, but from constant
use in all sorts of conditions. The rider knows and understands the inner
workings of his machine, its every click and whistle. He relies on no guru for
his understanding, he is not afraid to try things out and see if it works. Not
for him the search for power or acclaim. He is just out to explore the universe
and glean its mysteries. He will get there in the end, there's plenty of time.
He will rebuild bikes time after time, not sticking to rigid formulae, but with
whatever comes to hand. He enjoys his bike and is in-tune with it.
As a biker-witch, I am now going to use two useful tools to explain my theory of
Life, the Universe and Everything: i.e., the Kaballah and the four-stroke cycle.
Firstly the act of invocation and the four-stroke cycle. For those of you who
are not mechanically minded, I'll try and keep this simple. Officially the four-
stroke cycle is referred to as Induction, Compression, Power and Exhaust. I
prefer the much more evocative Suck, Squeeze, Bang, Blow. There are a few parts
that really matter: the crankshaft, the con rod, the piston and the inlet plus
exhaust valves.
1) Suck: Initially the piston is at the top and both valves are closed.
As the crank- shaft turns, the inlet valve opens, the con rod pulls the piston
down which draws air and fuel in. At this point in an invocation, the invoker is
opening his chakras and drawing the cosmic energy which surrounds us into his
body.
2) Squeeze: The crankshaft continues around, the inlet valve shuts, and the
piston is pushed up, squeezing the gases together. This is when the invoker says
the invocation and passes the power to the invokee.
3) Bang: The fuel/air mixture ignites and pushes the piston down. The priest/ess
takes on the aspect of God/dess being invoked.
4) Blow: The exhaust valve opens and the piston pushes the charge into the
exhaust pipe. The God/dess charges and shares his/her power with those
assembled.
And now - motorcycles on the Tree of Life:
Kether - traditionally the godhead from which all energy flows. It is formless.
This is the high tension spark which ignites the fuel and without which the bike
is naught.
Chokmah - Formless, directionless energy, raw untamed power. In the engine this
is the burning fuel mixture.
Binah - this takes the raw force and starts organizing and forming it. The
piston, conrod and crankshaft takes the power of the expanding gases and
converts it to rotary motion.
Chesed - Takes the potential energy of Binah, gives it order, and makes it more
solid and usable. In the engine, the gearbox and final drive take the power from
the crank- shaft and make it usable to the whole machine.
Geburah - An essential breaking down. Where there is life, there must be death.
In an engine when you have got two lumps of metal thrashing about in violent
motion, they must wear each other away.
Tiphareth - This is the image of the godhead, the way-shower, Lucifer, Prince of
Light. In the bike this is represented by the electrical system and the ignition
system, and the lights, which on British machines are provided by Joe Lucas,
Prince of Darkness!
Netzach - This is the spirit of nature, intuition and sexuality. This is more
concerned with what bikers do. They are in tune with nature and tend to get
drawn to ancient sites, e.g. Stonehenge, Avebury and Wayland Smithy, or just
standing around in a muddy field communing with nature and the local brewery.
This is also the source of the sexual bond between man and machine.
Hod - Communication, intellect and travel. It is also where your will produces
power. The traveling aspect of motorcycles is fairly obvious, and hordes of
dispatch riders fulfill the communication role. This is where we get the
knowledge of the workings of the bike. It definitely takes Hodic willpower on a
cold, wet morning, along with highly verbal expletives, leaping up and down on
the kickstart to get the bugger moving.
Yesod - This is the lunar aspect of biking, linked to Tiphareth on the Middle
Pillar (refer Joe Lucas, Prince of Darkness). Many bikers will, by the light of
the Full Moon, switch their lights off and ride by moonlight in their lunatic
hunt for the local hostelry. In the event of a biker meeting his death through
this ridiculous activity, look into the sky. For there you will espy, on his
silver machine, the spirit of the biker riding across the astral heavens.
Scientists tend to think these are meteors. There is also the illusion of
security one gets from riding around with one's head in a goldfish bowl,
colloquially known as a blood bucket.
Malkuth - The concrete world, reality. On a bike you are cold, wet, tired,
frequently uncomfortable, and very vulnerable, and no-one in their right mind
would do it if it wasn't for something else......
Despite Malkuth, biking opens up other realms, other worlds (Birmingham, London,
Glasgow, etc.) and puts you in tune with the inner and outer universes.
The End.
Free Forum Hosting
Important Announcement
First 