Joseph Bearwalker Wilson Joseph Bearwalker Wilson ( 1942 – 2004 ) was a shaman and witch , founder of the 1734 Tradition of witchcraft , toteg Tribe , Metista , and a founding member of the Covenant of the Goddess . Wilson was born December 11 , 1942 and raised just inside the city limits of St . Johns in Clinton County , Michigan . 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 , and encouraged such study in 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 , and is recognized for his contributions to modern spiritual practice . 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 . Sean also recommended readings to him , of which the most influential were " The White Goddess " by Robert Graves , " The Magic Arts in Celtic Britain " by Lewis Spence , and " The Golden Bough " by Sir James George Frazer , 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 , 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 Covenant of the Goddess , eventually leaving following their insistence that he adopt the Wiccan Rede . 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 , spying upon his fellow servicemen who were working from within the military to protest American involvement in the Vietnam War . Wilson ' s testimony against Air Force Captain Thomas Culver led to the latter ' s court martial ; subsequently , writers in the Neo - Pagan and Wicca 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 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 . ' " 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 hoodoo folk magic , and recommending this tradition to his own students in the Toteg Tribe . The Toteg Tribe website may be found at 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 .