THE RED THREAD OF HETH

Or
The Hethite Thread of Artful Sacred Craft

Mastery of Shape : Fire-Touched Sight : Wisdom of Wholeness

Hethite Philosophy, Sorcerous Craftwork, and the Recondite Arts

I. Concerning the Hollow Hill Fellowship and the Covenant of

Heth

THE HOLLOW HILL FELLOWSHIP

A Search for the Secret Heart
Brothers and Sisters of the Quest
Key-holders of the Grave-Mound, Warm in the Hope of the Deathless

The “Hollow Hill Fellowship” is a name given to the informal congregation of men and
women worldwide who seek for the rare strains of wisdom that were once available to
humankind through the Mysteries of old. Some today- an occult minority- seek the wise
perspectives of ancient peoples who consciously lived alongside the sacred, living
potencies of the natural world and the uncanny presence of the world unseen. Ancient
Pagan religions mediated something of that wisdom to men and women; mystery cults
and mystery-religions mediated other forms of vision and insight.

Through happenstance of Fate and the turning of world events, the perennial sources of
wisdom that were key to sustaining the true inner life of humankind became obscured; a
world was left bereft of the deepest wisdom, and seekers of the truth were left with a
crooked and difficult path to uncover it. In the annals of folklore and faery-tale, in certain
tomes of occult learning, and in the rites and rituals of certain historical secret societies
and orders were embedded obscure keys and worn-out maps to the Greatest of Journeys
and Attainments, but Fortune has blessed few with the honor of discovering the hidden
promises embedded in these things.

Blessed are they who have uncovered the Great Mystery, via these long and circuitous
routes! Their resilience and wisdom make them gemstones in the crown of the True
Human Being. Those whom Fate has decreed must dredge the mirk-bog of secrets in
another manner may find themselves among the Fellowship of the Hollow Hill,
constrained to seek in another manner, though it is a manner no less oriented to the great
goal. In that fellowship, those who become members will have the true strength of man-
the warmth of human friendship and co-operation with other minds illuminated by the
hope of the deathless.

Everything that dies in this world goes “below the earth.” The grave-mound is a potent
symbol of the grave-passage below the earth, into the shadowy underworld which is the
storehouse and treasure-house of lost knowledge and ancient lore. It is also a symbol of
the portal that connects the “surface” of the living mind with the hidden reaches of the
self, the ebony halls of the deep self that sit still and silent, frozen without the warmth of
consciousness.

In the lordly vaults of the deep mind, that region of mankind which is most like unto the
dead and their Land of Unlight (by virtue of its closeness to them) there are precious
treasures, crafted in previous ages, waiting to be found. Death, its serene sister
“meditation”, and its shimmering twin brother “trance” are all pass-ways to the Sidhe-
world, to the place where everything precious eventually ends up. There is found the
Grail-stone, the Fire-Emerald, the Serpent-Mother’s Tablet of Fate, or the Secret Heart-
the key to our successful future in our suffering world, and our destinies beyond anything
we can conceive of.

It is written: if you bring forth what is buried within you, what you bring forth will save
you; if you do not bring forth what is buried within you, what you do not bring forth will
destroy you.

The true promise of the grave and the deep self- the Summa Medicina, or the supreme
cure to all ills of body, mind, or world- masquerades in many forms, but remains well-
hidden below, in the place that nearly everyone neglects to look. The most precious thing
is always that which people ignore the most.

Robin Artisson, in the course of his occult development, and with the aid of allied human
occultists and aligned spiritual powers, retrieved and hermeneutically described several
techniques of extraordinary insight and trance-acquisition, and used them to unseal a
space within himself of visionary guidance. Those techniques and some aspects of that
vision were correlated and published as “The Witching Way of the Hollow Hill”, “The
Horn of Evenwood” and “The Toad Bone Treatise”, and expressed in various forms in
other writings made available to the public between 1999 and 2007, with more
forthcoming.

From these works, and his original efforts and research, the members of the Hollow Hill
Fellowship take inspiration and instruction, until such a time that they need these works
no longer. Their goal is Robin’s goal, and the goal of many throughout the ages. It is
three-fold: illumination, conscious awareness of the deathless, and lasting wisdom. The
only “craft” or “art” worth studying and placing above all others is the craft and art that
defeats all obscurity and death, revealing the truth of all things.

The ordinary realization of the above-stated goal is not achieved quickly or overnight.
However, the space of a human lifetime, wed with bravery, a cunning mind and strength
of personal character, all finally balanced by a unique and rare wisdom, can bring this
end about, unfailingly. Success in achieving these sublime goals is not defined in terms of
the quest’s ending, but with the creativity, vigor, and devotion that one evidences during
the ongoing journey.

Membership in the Hollow Hill Fellowship is open, and there are neither dues nor
officers. Anyone who defines their spiritual search in the terms expressed here, looks to
Robin’s work for inspiration, and utilizes the techniques laid out by him and others that
are connected to his work, (inspirationally or through occult relationship) are members.
Anyone who understands these things and consciously self-identifies as a questing soul
into the depths below the hollow grave-hill, is a member for as long as they wish to be.

THE COVENANT OF HETH

Lady Annua’s Secret Sons and Daughters
Given to Old Grandmother Fate, Pilgrims to the Gallows
The Mercurial Master’s Own, Draped in Heth’s Turnskin Hide

The Covenant of Heth is a name given to a select group of allied occultists that exist
parallel to the Hollow Hill Fellowship, and work to inspire its members with sorcerously
crafted works of insight and sacred art. It is an operating covenant and spiritual family of
occultists, spread apart in space and time, who devote effort to certain key occult
doctrines and practices, again for the purposes of illumination and lasting wisdom.

The name Heth refers to the legendary eponymous ancestor of the Hethite people, an
Indo-European people who lived in Asia Minor, and aspects of whose culture spread all
over the world, even as far away as Britain. One important and world-transforming aspect
of their culture was the first widespread use of smithing and metalcraft, a sacred art and
activity which can be considered in terms of a metaphor for a deeper transformative
spiritual process.

The Covenant of Heth has two sources- a spectral “white” source or “thread” channeled
and mediated from the Unseen World by Ule Heth-Bucca (Robin Artisson’s daimonic
and ceremonial title within the covenant) and the blood and flesh of the woman that
establishes and anchors the thread in the world of manifestation, sound, and motion. Her
physical life makes the thread “red” or living- the good Lady Annua.

Utilizing techniques of extraordinary cognition, and under the guidance of his Fetch-
beast, the Caller in the Owl Light, Ule Heth-Bucca was led to the doorstep of an
initiatrix, the Elder Tree Mother, and received of her an empowerment which inspired
him to share the workings of shimmering or “hare leaping”- moving without moving, for
the purposes of attaining insight, transformation, and wisdom.

The disturbing and grotesque nature of the Elder Tree Mother’s interactions, as well as
the sheer wonder of discovering a way into the living, hidden dimension which is itself
the true mother of all mythologies and sorcerous arts, drove Ule to reach out to those
whom Fate would join to him, and all people interested in gaining a new (and very old)
perspective on what hidden corners our “lives” truly contain.

His public and private works are devoted to sharing the subtle perspectives and the
operations by which these transformations in the mind can be experienced. The “thread”-
the moving power and outwardly-spreading web of changes that began in his visionary
experiences, have come to affect this world, and entwine and entangle powerful and
insightful occultists who were “ripe and ready” to join in that event, be transformed by it,
and then transform it with their own insights and input. The Covenant belongs to all of its
members.

And so it was that this deeper fraternity began and continues to this day: no endeavor of
this kind can ever be static. The “Heth Bucca” of this covenant will not always be Ule;
others will hold the title, and see, as he does, to the transformations and expanding of this
small philosophical brotherhood and sisterhood.

Not everyone is called to the deepest and most transformative of sorcerous works. Some
are, but would prefer not to engage the Hethite Thread, and this fact is fortunately and
Fatefully ordained, for quality must always trump quantity in these precious and
recondite matters.

The Covenant is inspired by powerful visions from an unseen world; it is protected by

Divinity; and it is righteous, for the blood of its members is not stained with contempt for
Fate. It is known and accepted that those who will increase the Covenant will be called to
it by greater powers, and they will be threaded, and no man or woman can prevent that. In
all things, Fate will weave forever as She will and the wise do not resist her with
rebellious minds.

As it is, very few people who find themselves interested in Robin’s work or the Hollow
Hill Fellowship will ever enter into direct and full communion with the Hethite Covenant.
However, all can and will benefit from its many secret endeavors and involvements.

The Hethite Covenant is not a hierarchical nightmare of egos clashing. Titles like
“Magister” and “Lady” are bestowed for the sake of tradition only; the officers- local
chapter organizers, guidance-givers, and supervisors within the covenant- are nearly
completely autonomous and linked with the Heth-Bucca and the Lady by friendly
affection and a spirit of sharing.

Guidance for members is co-created through speaking with others and bringing intuition
to bear on important issues; “orders” and “commands”, as though issued from some
medieval inquisition, are beneath the dignity of the covenant. Too many rigid hierarchy-
games stand squarely in the way of real personal transformation and the blossoming of
real wisdom, which are the ultimate goals of the Hethite Covenant.

II. Concerning Hethite Philosophy, Initiation, and Magistry

Much has been said in the writings of Ule Heth-Bucca or Robin Artisson, regarding many
philosophical perspectives of value to the modern occultist who seeks a path to the
mysteries that is not harmfully and hatefully infected by the degraded forces of the “new
age” and the equally as degrading forces of mainstream, absolutist religious movements.
If one were asked to define “native Hethite” philosophy, the answer would first be found
in the axiomatic “trinity” of gifts promised to the devotees of the Hethite Throng:

Mastery of Shape : Fire-Touched Sight : Wisdom of Wholeness

“Mastery of Shape” refers to the art and reality of “shape-shifting”, of becoming so

mentally and spiritually flexible, that the mind can assume any “form” it needs to “blend
in” with a situation- blending and transforming in such a manner that the mind is not
hindered or harmed by any situation or condition cast upon it by the vicissitudes of Fate.
This transformative ability is an expression of the Virtue of Flexibility- the first virtue of
Hethite philosophy. This “shape shifting” isn’t just mental flexibility “writ mystical”; it is
the key and core of unlocking deeper powers of endurance, survival, deception, cunning,
and insight. It is, in a way, the most precious and dangerous gift of the Covenant Master-
the Guiding Spirit or Tutelary Divine Being of the Covenant as a whole, who can be
called “Heth” for the purposes of this short treatise.

“Fire-touched Sight” refers to the art of learning to experience the world in extraordinary
ways, the ability to sense and dimension extra-sensory reality, and gain poetic and
visionary inspiration from it. This ability is an expression, in the human person, of the
Virtue of Perceptiveness- the second lauded virtue in Hethite philosophy. To be truly
perceptive means to see what others cannot or will not see- and for everything that is
seen, nine things are unseen.

On the outer level, this “fire-touched sight” is a vibrant communion with the divine
imagination, the spark of which supplies mankind with the creativity that has given birth
to empires and every wonder of technology. On the inner level, it is a full sensory and
extra-sensory experience of the wholeness of things- all of the non-human persons or
unseen beings who inhabit the many reaches of reality, and all of the hidden potencies
and influences of the natural worlds. It is also an activated intuition and awareness of
deeper reaches of causality that can make a person aware of the shape of things to come,
or the shape of things that have been.

“Wisdom of Wholeness” refers to the art of releasing oneself from the many mental
blinders and limiting mental habits that prevent a man or woman from consciously
experiencing their true place in the great and timeless weave of things. This involves a
rejection of pernicious, unwise mainstream ideas such as the doctrine (so popular today)
of absolute, unqualified “free will”, and from the harmful ego-building addiction to
unqualified notions of “self and other” or “self and world”.

There is no possibility of a “free will” apart from the great web-work of natural powers
which give birth, shape and condition to each part of the web, including each human
being. There is only a conditioned will, and ultimately, we are all in the hands of greater
powers and the unfolding of things. To free oneself from undue concern and obsession
with “controlling” everything and learning to surrender, in an important way, to Fate, is
key to letting the ego that blocks a man or woman’s progress towards the true Mysteries
die.

The great and defiled mistake of perception that convinces the half-wise that they are
absolutely and totally “apart” from others and the world that appears to be “outside of
them” is also a stumbling block to attainment. We are all part of a great wholeness, and
our fates and destinies and ultimate well-being is intimately tied to every other living
being and form in nature’s infinite body. There is no escapism, no isolationism, and no
ignoring special duty to the wholeness of things, in the mind of the wise.

When one accepts that they are part of a whole- a part which, paradoxically, can
experience itself as though it were quite separate- one finds a true home and peace
wherever they go, and a natural, intuitive code of ethical and truly moral behavior arises
spontaneously in the mind and heart. The ability to find wisdom in wholeness is an
expression (naturally) of the Virtue of Wisdom, the last and greatest of virtues in Hethite
Philosophy. Wisdom is the power to know what is real, as opposed to what seems to be
real.

Those who develop these three virtues, and the gifts and arts that spring from them, are
invulnerable to evil and harm, in the true and ultimate sense- though their bodies may die,
their minds are flexible enough to ride the waves of transformation brought about by
death; they can shift their shapes and shed their skin (‘skin” referring either to their
physical bodies or the cherished desires and ideas in their minds) however they need to.
No spiritual power nor human person can deceive a master of the fire-sight; and no lesser
trap of greed, lust, or pettiness can seduce a person away from their wise and conscious
participation in wholeness- a person will accept nothing less than wholeness once that
person understands that being an intimate part of everything means lacking in nothing.

Initiation and Sorcerous Perspectives

Besides the three “Cardinal Virtues” described above- collectively called the “Master’s
Trident” or the “Great Trishula”, there are other sorcerous, philosophical perspectives
that inform the Covenant’s ethical and moral journey through life, and which inform their
occult endeavors.
The concept of “initiation” often causes a heated debate in most occult circles; all can
agree that a genuine initiation includes the end of one life and the regeneration into
another; it is a deep, psychic transformation and rebirth that allows for a new order of
mind to begin, and new opportunities for spiritual engagement. Any genuine new way of
life and thinking requires the death of old things and the birth of something new.

Initiations into occult societies today normally include pledges and oaths, and elaborate
rituals. Anyone who is interested in such initiations can join the Worshipful Brotherhood
of the Masons, or their counterpart orders, and gain their fill in this way. Those who wish
to undergo a deeper transformation can trust this event to no physical initiation hall or
tangible place of rituals- it must occur in the unseen reaches of reality, which have so
many hidden overlaps with the unseen reaches of the human self.

This hall of initiation cannot be destroyed. It cannot be destroyed because it was never
built; it is as perpetual as the spirit of humanity, or the spirit of nature, or the twisting and
turning of Old Grandmother Fate. Because it is perpetual and indestructible, it is called
“Adamantine”. Moreover, its entrance is found everywhere. The cunning and prepared
already know where to look.

This is part and parcel of the old axiom:

“For those who understand the mystery, no explanation is needed. For those who do
not, none is possible.”

Those words must be considered carefully for the sublime insight they contain. When a
man or woman is truly prepared to meet the Powers that bear the scythe and crown of
initiation- dread and subtle as they are- that candidate will have already realized that the
“forms” of initiation that they are seeking are useless, just so much straw and ashes. Real
initiation is not a thing, a ritual, or an event, but an ongoing realization that pulls a person
out of their limited self and into something irrational, inconceivable, and sublime.

A person “rises from the ashes” of the old self, into a suit of flesh and conception that
seems very similar to the old self, and which carries on like the old self- but which is no
longer the old self. One may slip into this Adamantine Hall of Initiation suddenly and
without warning, or after a long search, but once the portal is known, nothing is ever the
same.

Thus it is held by the Hethites: the world is stranger than we realize. Nothing is really as
it appears. Our true origins as spiritual and material persons are beyond belief, odder and
stranger than any creation myth or story invented to explain it, ever. To try and capture
the ultimate mystery in terms of a simple story can be a pleasing exercise in poetry, but it
fails the spirit in us that scorns to be limited by anything.

The Magister’s Charge

In the documents of investiture given to each Magister or Magistra of the Covenant, they
are enjoined to protect the dignity and integrity of the group in these ways:

“You will master your path of sorcerous and spiritual development, bringing
together all red threads and serpent's tongues as you discover them in the land
below you, melding them with the cunning and lasting principles of the Art of the
Hollow Hill and the Craft of Heth”

The “red threads” and “serpent’s tongues” so mentioned represent the individual powers
and sorcerous characteristics of the land that each will live upon. No one can claim the
title “master” or “teacher”- or be thought worthy of them- without merging with the very
land beneath their feet, to know its secrets and arts. Local mystical arts, insights, and
lores are key to any success when working the craft of the wise in any given place.
Hethites are at home wherever they go, and learn to speak the language of their land.

A true Hethite Magister or Magistra will be vigilant in protecting the covenant from the
introduction of certain peoples and influences, and introduce themselves to their charges
in a manner proscribed by the investiture:

“At no time will you bring those into our fold who incline to monotheism, atheism,
or materialism. You will tell them that you are a Magister of our Covenant, a way-
shower and discoverer of the Hidden Road between Day and Night, which leads
below the Hollow Hills, to the deep halls of initiation. You will collect their names in
writing, finished with a droplet of their own blood, and extract from them a binding
oath to join us in the promulgation and protection of our way of Artful craft and
our way of life.”

The unholy trinity of monotheism, a denial of the multiplicity of divine beings who were
known and honored by every human culture since the dawn of time, atheism, the ultimate
narcissistic denial of objective meaning and of the invisible orders of sentient life that
dwell alongside and beyond our own, and materialism, the poisonous thinking that
reduces all things to mere material and denies the unseen, mysterious, and powerful
aspect of all things and creatures, are anathema to the Covenant, and contrary to the
spiritual and mental well-being of humans in our world. The evils done in the name of
these three powers stand completely at odds with the real quest for wisdom, and the
discovery of the divine spirit within man and all things.

Inducted members of the Covenant are encouraged and expected to bring their own
mystical insights and personal force to the Art of the Covenant as a whole- to contribute
to its growth and flourishing. The investiture papers say “They will be encouraged to
join their own creativity to the Art, so long as it strays not in the direction of the
ignorance of the monotheists, the arrogance of the atheists, or the soul-crushing
dullness of the materialists.”

The Wisdom of Wholeness and the virtue of Wisdom informs our reason and our
intuition- it naturally reveals to us that how we act towards other beings- human or
otherwise- has a deep impact on our progress towards wisdom and lasting peace. When
selecting prospective members of the Covenant of Heth, officers are asked to look into
the hearts and minds of their prospects, looking especially for those who meet this
description:

“They must and will treasure life in all its manifestations as sacred, and sacred
throughout its cycle of natural growth, life, and death, and not destroy it or suggest
it be destroyed without good reason, as discovered after a searching moral inventory
of their own conscience.”

Like the fellows of the Hollow Hill, the Hethite spirit tends towards a celebration of life
and a deep acceptance of death, and the urgency to attain the needed wisdom and
flexibility to transform the death-experience into one that will be positive, mystically
transformative in a conscious manner, and peaceful- the ultimate initiation, undergone in
full consciousness with full acceptance. Those who overcome the fear of death overcome
death’s only real terror- the terror of forgetfulness and what is experienced as
“disintegration.”

Fate’s hard and icy noose falls around the necks of all, eventually, and drags them away
whether they would like it or not; the world as we know it appears to be a sacred
conglomeration of forces, all undergoing constant and unavoidable change. Death alone
is immune to human pleading or prayers or offerings for clemency, for death is nothing
more- or less- than the expression of immortal change, of timeless transformation. We
can be a part of that, willingly- pilgrims to the gallows- or we can be fugitives from what
Fate intends, from the way the universe works, and our deaths can be occasions of shame
and nightmarish encounters with terror. At the very least, all mortals doomed to die can
attempt to understand that death is a necessary condition for new life: “scythe to the
grain ere the hare leaps again.”

The Hethite symbolic language system considers the “face of pale white” to be the
symbol not just of death, but of the wise and undying spirit, so the Heth Covenant
inspires its members to think of themselves as dead already, as a spiritual exercise- “The
dead in their mounds recognize us, for we have made our faces dead for them.
Pearl-white above and ghastly white below, yet I am below and they are above. Let
us wear out our time preparing for metamorphosis, so that it will be a familiar
presence to us, a road many times ridden; not a terror, as it will be for so many.”

The Hethite creed is about fearlessness and cunning in the face of obstacles and foes,
whomever or wherever they may be, or what shape they may take. It requires a shape-
shifter to defeat or outwit a shape-shifter, and the three great enemies met along the road
on the quest for wisdom- Fear, the malevolent entity that mingles ice with blood,
Despair, the spirit that drinks the water of the soul, and Dullness- the entity that
smothers the fire of the head- are powerful shape-shifters, met in countless forms.

Hethite craft and philosophy is about retrieving, heating, hammering, and shaping the raw
and deadly material of the deep psyche into precious treasures, in honor of the Sorcerous
Father, the Lord of Artifice. It is about attaining the supreme flexibility, the deepest
perceptiveness, and the most essential wisdom, which are themselves the three great
“sacrifices” that Fate will look upon as worthy and accept- She will accept only them as
ransom and exchange for her best gift in return, the gift of the Secret Heart that humanity
cannot survive for long without.