Victor Anderson: An American Shaman

Dedication

This book is dedicated to all the indigenous people of this planet, whose hearts as much as their feet are connected to Mother Earth.

To Victor and Cora Anderson, who honored their way of life. Whose hearts sang a simple love and truth in a complex world. For you Victor who championed the spiritually oppressed everywhere.

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Thank You

How can one adequately thank those that have birthed you? Be it body, in mind or spirit or any combination thereof. My parents and many others midwifed me to full adulthood and bloom, Victor Anderson could never be thanked enough for bringing me into his family and wisdom. Thanks, and hugs to my husband John Doyle for his steadfast love and support. To William Wallworth for his sound research and to Sara Star for her essay and all the help she provided in making this project possible.

Proceeds from this book will be donated to H.E.A.R. (Hearing Education and Awareness for Rockers). In honor of Victor’s love for music.

In the Bay Area, California, and gradually by osmosis to many parts of the world, stories about Victor and Cora Anderson comprise a mysterious underground regarding Feri... what it is, was, may not be. I even heard something about it in the early 1970s, from my teacher W. G. Gray, who was in correspondence with the famous Qabalist and magician, Israel Regardie, (living in California), who somehow knew of Victor. Bill Gray was trying to clarify the difference between Feri and Feriferia.

I visited Victor and Cora several times in the late 1990s, and found them to be wonderful people. This book offers us all insights, history, and teachings from recordings made of Victor in his home, rather than from third party claims upon Feri. A remarkable book about a remarkable subject, with some significant editorial commentary that clarifies many aspects. 

R. J. Stewart

Author of ‘Advanced Magical Arts’

Fig. 1

Table of Contents

Yesterday by Cornelia Benavidez

Introduction

Foreword

Interviews and Conversations with Victor Anderson

Tape Side A: The Way of Feri

Birth, Family and Early Years

Side B

My Beginnings with Victor

The Cora Anderson Interview

Discussion with Victor on Sexuality

More on Sexuality

Victor Quotes

Part II

The Path to Wisdom

Side B

The Last Days...

The Coming of the Storm

Eulogy for Victor H Anderson

Considerations on Victor H. Anderson by Sara Star

Quakoralina, the Star Goddess

Word breakdown for Quakoralina

The Mystery of the Name

The Black Heart of Innocence

Victor’s Longest Teacher

The Split that happened in Victor’s Tradition

The Future of the Tradition

The Anderson Family

Victor’s Mother’s Side

The Path to Victor Anderson’s Native American Ancestors

A Victor Day by Cornelia Benavidez

About the Author

Yesterday

Yesterday the sun shown

Through the trees

Like cupid’s arrows

Two mated Robins

Sang of devotion

As tree frogs chorused

I thought of your lifetime

Deserts, waterfalls of mystery

Now spirit in the thunder

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Cornelia Benavidez

Introduction

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Many articles have been written and shared concerning misuse of the term Shaman. One would think Shaman is most useful in reference to the European and Eastern European Evenki and Sami/Laplander cultures of its origin, and we have argued for some time that the term refers to the primary priest, mystic, medium, healer, and psychologist serving the animist community and is quite useful in that context. Nevertheless, the Shamanistic phenomenon is very rare outside of tribal cultures. Most people in the communities of the modern world have their intrinsic needs served by separate pastors, doctors, psychologists, spiritualists and psychics of one sort or another. There, animism has fallen by the wayside completely. We now experience a rational pseudoscientific meld with platonic monotheism.

If anyone ever deserved the term Shaman in modern America it would be Victor Anderson. During the 1920’s to the 1950’s folk animism was still quite strong, and not just in the Appalachian Mountains, the Ozarks and Bayous; it was quietly practiced across the farmlands and small towns of the United States. The safety of the crops still focused around rural spring festivals, symbolized by princesses on flowered floats. The doctor wasn’t the first stop when one could take Grandma’s remedy or a recommended tonic. Traveling sales people and tent revivals where everyday people sought cures and wisdom were not just fringes. It was common throughout America for people to go to church on Sunday and then go to meetings,—what kind of meetings depended on what part of the country, what cultural roots, natural leanings and knowledge of the people involved.

Victor knew who he was and claimed his calling at a very young age. He married his beloved Cora after just three days of meeting her because they both remembered that, as children years before, they had met fell in love in the astral dream world. Cora came from the Ozarks where her uncle served the role of Shaman under the folk-survival term Druid. Victor and Cora’s shamanism predates the origin of modern core shamanism in the 1980’s, a variation neglecting the vitality of the community’s role while making way for the rash of plastic shamans in dyed goose feathers typical of the postmodern age. Victor neither charged for teaching nor for providing healing and mystic services, as he traditionally functioned through the gift exchange system. At the end of his life, Victor even bargained with his Goddess so he could live another few weeks to help ferry the souls of those departed due to the greatest foreign attack on American soil to their next home. During his life Victor served his Goddess and Lord with great love and respect, transmitting his knowledge of his Lady and Lord by teaching in the apprentice style fashion. Earlier in his life he did teach for a short while in a type of poetic mail correspondence but only to a certain point. Thereafter, Victor and Cora both found that the best way to teach was mouth to ear and hand to hand.

While Victor called himself Priest, Witch, Kahuna, Bokor, he was Shaman by his initiations and training. Victor’s manner and sensibilities were influenced not just by the many cultures that crossed his path but by the subtle grip that the Victorian and Edwardian age still had on the world. Both Victor and Cora were the trendsetters who presaged the Sixties and their coming collision of science, myth, art, music, religion and popular culture. Still, even then it was difficult to relate the story of one of Victor’s more infamous initiations as told in Margot Adler’s famous book Drawing Down the Moon. Such an intimate and profound moment can be so easily misinterpreted by our modern sensibilities. Hence it is confusing and difficult for us to comprehend an older African priestess sexually initiating a nine or ten-year-old Victor. Yet such was the way of ancient tribal societies, perhaps still practiced in some faraway tribes today. These rites were held very sacred; they are unlike what was common at one time in old Europe among the aristocratic elite or the American old West, for men to take their pubescent sons to prostitutes as a means of sexual initiation leading to manhood. It is a very complex issue that Victor and Cora always handled with grace, affirming that although the founder of Feri was initiated as an adolescent sexually that they in no way endorse such a practice in their modern tradition.

The tribal rite of initiation was an introduction to the seasons of time and the power of life as divine force and expression. It would fully call into Victor’s being his soul’s purpose. Yes, Victor knew exactly what was happening and why. He was not afraid, nervous, nor ashamed. The fact that Victor shared this very deep and private moment with the world was his way of letting all of us know that he had faith in humanity’s ability to return to a wiser and considered discernment of the multitude of ways we as people come to stand at the doorways of knowledge and faith. We each have our own door that our soul must find and personally walk through. Victor’s door helped him to tie together his past lifetimes with his present, showing him the means to take that which appears incompatible to modern sensibilities and reveals the deeper meanings and paths to healing the future. This became Victor’s magic; this transmission of wisdom, his life’s work.

The traditional shamanic ways of Feri are not gone, but they aren’t readily available either. They still are handed down, for those that practice this style teacher to student, in tight familial friendship. Long hours over many years are spent in the teacher’s home talking and apprenticing, be it among and within farmlands, high mountains, far ocean islands, or among more civilized settings in towns and cities. In this manner, we become bound to one another and committed to deep spiritual and ethical reflection with the goal of providing service to a larger community. This is far beyond self-aggrandizement, nor is Feri open for any seeker with their PayPal account ready online or his or her credit card at the register in a new age store classroom. If you read this and feel slighted that the tradition isn’t at your fingertips, you are becoming part of the problem by thinking of yourself only. If you read this and feel longing, a wish to seek the currents of wisdom rather than the prestige of a tradition’s name or lineage, you will become able to seek it out within and it will lead you to where it may be. As a deeper consequence, you can find meaningful experiences and won’t be blinded by glitz and glamor.

Cornelia Benavidez and Sara Star

Foreword

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It is truly hard for me to believe that I had known Victor for about 18 or 19 years when I started to make these tape recordings with him. Before then it was intense listening, at times taking notes or in later years, the gifts of his words were typed with such patience on his old-fashioned typewriter that he so loved. He was still so full of passion for his work and the strength of his voice did not waver in the twenty years that I knew both him and his beloved wife Cora. In Pagan circles, he was a figure of controversy as well as a respected elder. Over the years there have been many rumors and tales as to who or even what Victor and his teachings were. What exactly is Feri/ Faerie/Faery/Fairy? Why the confusion in the spellings? This book hopes to put to rest many of the questions and issues that have come up over the years and put an end to the many misinterpretations of Victor’s ideas and teachings. This confusion, especially since Cora passed, has been very painful to many honest seekers of wisdom. Victor told me shortly before his death that after he would pass that I would have to deal with several challenges, both in my personal life and in the tradition, itself. Then, in about ten or so years, the troubles will slowly lessen and things would present themselves more clearly especially after Cora was gone as well. I should then share his words with the world when the time was right. So, it has been. In this work, I will edit myself in the interview so that the questions are clear to the reader. I will annotate when necessary and include notes and personal teachings and observations as necessary to clarify a point in brackets. It was Victor’s style to go over things at various times even if you heard it before. It was his way of making sure you knew the story. Also, sometimes there were a few months between tapes. So here and there a few things are repeated by myself or him. This I believe gives a taste of Victor’s teaching style. It has been an honor and privilege to call Victor and Cora Anderson my teachers and friends as well as to finally fulfill the trust that they placed with me.

Cornelia Benavidez

Interviews and Conversations with Victor Anderson

Tape Side A

The Way of Feri

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[It is July 27th, 1999. This is an interview conducted with Victor Anderson and Cora Anderson in their home in San Leandro, California and myself, Cornelia Benavidez, as the interviewer. We are going to be discussing the Feri Tradition, and the nature of the true Feri way. This memorialization was initiated by Victor. He announced to me that it was to be his final say on matters of importance to him and his message to the world.]

C: Victor, there seems that there is a lot of confusion about the word Feri itself, like you have fairy which is the little magical beings that you see in cartoons and often in fantasy movies and novels. Then there is Faerie that is spelled similarly. These are magical people that live in other dimensions. There are also those that can be of different sizes and of different natures. There are the classic elemental creatures that are called faery, and then there is the Feri religion, which some people think is an actual worship of elemental beings. So, could you explain to us what exactly your tradition is, and how the word is spelled, and exactly, what it means?

V: Yes, the word is spelled F-e-r-i. Now the fe is from the old Scot fey, which means to have psychic power, and also so in ancient Irish. So that f-e-r-i, the I is like the Y in ry in carpentry, it means you can practice (and build) this power, you use this power. It applies to the nature spirits, simply in the same way like in the voodoo they speak of the Loa representing the gods. But they are real beings in themselves, so it applies to human beings or whoever works this kind of magic, whatever their size or whatever their spiritual condition, like etheric or physical or so forth. Now, there is another word, f-a-i-r-y, which actually had an almost independent origin in Britain, meaning fair ones, the lovely ones, because the Fairy people, which were really Vicha, like in Norway or the Vicia in Italy were originally about four feet, two inches tall, and as they mingled with other people they became somewhat larger.

[These names also represent ancient little people or spirits in Scandinavia. In the Winter Olympics in Norway the people of the old way blessed the land and asked for favor from the Vicha and that none of the athletes be killed during the games. Such rites and blessing are very much like those done in Hawaii where the Kahunas are called upon to either ask permission to build on the land and then place blessings on the building or construction itself.]

V: In Portugal, the small people were about four feet eight. But they all had this same slender build and the same type of features.

[When Victor told me about this I was a little skeptical even though our Italian elderly Landlady was barely 4’8. She was from northern Italy and she told me that many people were small in her family from the old country. Then not a day or two later I ran into a family from Portugal that were all small people the men about 4’8 to 5 feet and the women barely 4’7. This was about 1985. The children spoke better English and said they felt they were visiting the land of Giants.]

V: Now, our Feri Tradition is a nature way, it’s the way of Nature, and it’s a way of accepting and developing all your talents, all of your nature in such a way that you are worthy to be called a god in the making.

C: Now, many people say that you are the founder of the Feri Tradition, and this, I think, has confused some people too, because they believe that this is your own personal philosophy, and that you have named it thus, for it is your own personal religion, combined with different neo-Pagan-type beliefs. But you differ with this, and you differ with this very strongly. Could you explain, how old is your tradition, and exactly how you came by it?

V: I think the best way to explain that is like, how did Amadeus Mozart begin to be a composer? How did Andre Bocelli learn how to sing? You are a musician, you know the magic, and the beauty of music. Therefore, if you know magic, it is in you. It can include everything, because magic is derived from a word that means to cook, like the word bruja or brujo in Mexico.

C: So, in essence then you were. – well, let’s start at the very beginning. When you were initiated this woman, and you said was from the Congo, did she use the word Feri or did she have a black equivalent of the word Feri that she used to initiate you?

V: Her word was ichauwi, which means the working ones. [Interviewer confirms spelling.]

C: So, this means the Feri Tradition is in her culture?

V: The working, the tradition of our people.

C: Yes, so it is the shamanistic way of looking at life?

V: Yes, it is also the way to work things, to commune with the spirits and work with them, and how to work with ourselves and others, and everything in Nature.

[It was when I heard these types of words that I knew I had found a kindred spirit and teacher. I had been totally fascinated by the teaching tales of my parents and grandparents. Part of my degree had been in Philosophy plus religious thinking had been an important part of my life from my Lutheran beginnings and ecumenical explorations as a teen. It was not long after I came to San Francisco that I encountered the Native American and Pagan movements. So, I already could guess why there was so much confusion in the Pagan and New Age ranks even from its early years. As Victor predicted at that time we have made so many stunning archeological and scientific discoveries about humankind’s ancient history and even not so ancient history. This is even despite the extremists that want to destroy their own cultural foundations. The spiritualist movements of the 1800’s was humankind getting its toe in the door of understanding that the desire for truth, knowledge and faith was just not enough. Humanity has a need to understand and express its spiritual nature as much as it needs food, water and art; finding its roots was essential, believing the source of those roots though was another matter.]

C: How did this woman find you?

V: The Order of... a certain order, I must not give the name publicly, a certain order in Africa. The witch doctors, had already chosen me because, in another life, I remember being a witch doctor there. And there, these people commissioned her to find me. And she found me by going out of her body and then picked me to give this initiation too because I was ripe and ready for it, because I had retained much of my previous life memories, and because of the person that I am, and I was very honored in this, and later I joined this order, which one of the names which I can say is The Order of Sikana (interviewer confirms spelling]. I am the only light-skinned member of that order, even to this day, so I am an African witch doctor, too. If people don’t like it, they know what they can do with it.

C: Are you in touch with people from this order? Are you still, or is this something which you work on the astral with people?

V: I am very much in touch with them. I have my sacred things, you know, the things of the type of medicine we use. The thing I can mention is an elephant’s foot bracelet, made from the sole of an elephant’s foot that died of old age, the tooth of a lion which was killed by the Maasai, and other things like that. So, I am definitely in connection with Black people. I am considered, and which I really am Houngan also I am a Bokor, because I work with both hands, so I am of the Voudou also, very strongly. Just as I said, and as Cora said in the book, we all come from Africa, and I do have very strong spiritual connections with Mother Africa.

C: So, in a sense, what you are saying is that your way is not a philosophy or a set of beliefs, but it is a perspective and a knowledge that is inherent within you because of who you are biologically and who you are spiritually. Is that correct?

V: Up to a point, except that we believe that all people, all human beings have a right to this knowledge, they have a right to this thing that we have kept for so long, because it was once the property of all proto-humans and all human beings. And that is one thing I must insist on, because if I say Feri Tradition it is not the way they’re using it now, I simply mean I want my tradition to be authentic. I don’t say pure, that’s a mistake, but it is authentic. And the other kind no matter what they do or what they practice, they should not put my name to it, nor the name of my tradition, if it isn’t that tradition.

[Long before Victor died, people took up nuggets of his teachings or partially formed ideas that were just being discussed when they visited him, sometimes only for a few days or a few weeks. They would run with these ideas, teach classes and or write books, and when questioned they would say that this is what they had been taught by Victor. It became truly ironic that some of these people in later years very publicly spoke out on misappropriating lore, rites and teachings of other cultures, yet had built their own practice and careers on Victor’s work or opinions of the moment, drawn from casual discussions. Let me also be clear that yes, the road to wisdom is for everyone that wants it but Victor made it clear to me that a part of this wisdom is the discernment to be able to identify those that are ready or not ready to be a practicing Priest or Priestess in an aware and responsible manner. Feri is not a spiritual free-for-all. Later some individuals had the gall to either ignore, disrespect, or challenge Victor in his own home. By the time, I came along Victor was very careful about what he said. Let me be clear here: I too, at times, questioned him closely or even had a different opinion. At times, we had some deep toe to toe discussions but never did either of us cross lines with each other or be rude, disrespectful, or unkind. Also, looking back now I understand how some people were confused by some of Victor’s statements, because they did not stick around to hear the whole picture.]

C: And that tradition, the reason why you can say your tradition, is because, not just because of who initiated you, but because of who and what you’re in touch with, spiritually, astrally, magically, and only those who are open to that real perspective can truly say that they are following your tradition. Is that, right?

V: Yes, it is. And I have all these other connections simply because I’m a very sensitive human being, I perceive things, and because of my heritage and because of who I really am. [this refers to Victor being a Shaman, Priest, Witch, Bard and Kahuna in many lives] So people that accuse me of merely shifting around are wrong because I’m speaking as a person of experience. Just like, if you came from Alabama, you would speak with an Alabama accent. And if you play music, and you play different kinds of music, no one calls you shifty. But if you speak in different ways, which is another way of sounding out your humanness to other human beings. You are shifty? That is not true. So, I am what I am, and in Italia I am referred to as un capo della vecchia religione, a head person in the old religion.

C: So Feri is the old religion, internationally speaking, all over the world?

V: Yes, it is. For the simple reason that it never was the sole property of simply one race of people. It began in Prehistoric times when we all saw each other as just who we were, no matter how different we looked, even the Neanderthal. So, that’s why that the word Feri has been exaggerated and overused, because we should just use whatever word is in our language, if it’s a Native American word, a Japanese word, whatever. Or as it is Hawaiian, kahuna, the science, the specialty, the thing that really works. And that is the way I would explain this. And that would avoid a lot of confusion if that was understood, because I’m not here to tell people to be white, black, green or yellow, I’m just telling them to be themselves.

[I can add here as an example, an experience I had in the Bahamas around 1985. My husband and I were out there on vacation. Something I said or did caused this Black young man who worked for the hotel to say, You have to meet my Grandma Rosie, she would like you I think. Grandma Rosie had a little hat stand for the tourists and there she sat weaving a straw hat. Her hair was as white as snow and her skin black and shiny. We both broke out in big grins right away. Well hello there Cuz... she said warmly to me.

Grandma! How can you call her Cuz? She is lily white! How can she be a cuz? burst out the black young man.

Grandma Rosie gave a hardy chuckle. Boy, you need to come to me to open your eyes before I die, then you would see easy that this young woman is very much a cuz in the spirit where it really counts.

She and I spoke about many things that afternoon; such a lovely and wise woman. She and Victor had many things in common regarding philosophy and teachings and when I told him about her he was not in the least surprised.]

C: So, do you think that because – especially here in America even though I think this is happening all over the world, but it seems especially evident in the melting pot of America,