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Avebury
Written
and compiled by George Knowles Avebury a Neolithic stone henge monument dating to around 2800 - 2700 BC is located in the undulating county of north Wiltshire, England. Avebury is part of the oldest, largest and best-known prehistoric site complex in Europe, as well as the famous megalithic stone circle, it includes: the remains of two stone lined avenues the Beckhampton Avenue and the spectacular West Kennet Avenue, the mysterious Sanctuary circles on Overton Hill, Silbury Hill the largest artificial man-made mound in Europe, the West Kennet Long Barrow an ancient burial site which when fully excavated contained the remains of 46 people, and Windmill Hill believed to be a gathering place for the ancient Neolithic peoples responsible for building the complex. Many other ancient sites in the area have been discovered, but are still awaiting archaeological evaluation.
The Great Outer Circle
Avebury stone circle consists of a bank and ditch 421 meters (1381 feet) in diameter enclosing an area of 115,000 square metres (28.5 acres). The bank which stands outermost is 6 meters (19 feet) high, while the ditch was once 21 metres (69 feet) wide and 11 metres (37 feet) deep. Carbon dating of the bank and ditch places its construction to between 3400 and 2625 BC. Within the bank and ditch stands a circle of 27 megalithic Sarsen (sandstone) stones. Originally there were at least 98 stones, each weighing from 40 to 60 tons in weight and varying in height from 3.6 to 4.2 metres (12 to 14 feet). Carbon dating from the contents of the stoneholes date to between 2800 and 2400 BC.
The Bank and Ditch When Alexander Keiller (1889-1955) an amateur archaeologist and businessman bought the site in 1934, only one of the great outer circle of stones remained standing, most had fallen over, been buried or simply destroyed. Many of the original stones are thought to have been destroyed in the early 14th century by the local Christian population in their efforts to eradicate anything associated with Pagan symbolism and “old world religions”, others were broken up to provide local building materials and to make room for agriculture. After such wanton destruction and desecration of the site, Keiller began a series of excavations and beautifications to restore what was left of our ancient heritage.
Alexander Keiller (1889-1955) From 1934 through to 1939 and the start of World War II, Keiller with the help of Stuart Ernest Piggott CBE (1910-1996) cleared those parts of the site which nature had re-claimed and emptied the surrounding ditch of years of accumulated debris. Starting along the West Kennet Avenue as it approached the west side of the henge, they excavated and re-erected the surviving stones in their original holes. Where stone-holes were found but the stones were missing, these were replaced with concrete plinths. As recent as 2003 other megalithic stones that once formed part of the great outer circle have been discovered using scanning equipment. As the excavations progressed through the bank and ditch into the west side of the great outer circle, one stone of particular importance was unearthed, the Barber Stone. In 1938 the skeletal remains of a man was discovered while excavating one of the buried stones. Evidence found with the skeleton indicates that the man may have been a barber-surgeon or tailor placed in a hole or grave before the stone was toppled upon him. Items found with the skeleton include the remains of a leather purse containing a pair of scissors, a probe and some coins. The scissors are believed to be among the earliest examples to have ever been found, while the coins consisted of a French sterling from the city of Toulon, and two early 14th Century pennies belonging to the reign of Edward I. After the stone marking the grave was re-erected it was re-named the Barber Stone.
The Barber Stone - The Skeleton
Inside the great outer circle of stones are the remains of two smaller stone circles. The northern inner circle is 98 metres (321 feet) in diameter and originally had 27 stones, but only 4 of these remain today. In the center of this there once stood a Cove of 3 stones, thought to be among the largest and finest stones in the whole monument complex. Today however only 2 of the cove stones remain, the third fell over in 1713 and was destroyed. Dated to about 3000 BC the coves stones are thought to be the earliest components of the henge.
The Cove Stones
The southern inner circle is 108 metres (354 feet) in diameter and initially had 29 stones, but the passage of time has now reduced these to 5, one of which is the “Vulva Stone” named because of it’s obvious female like feature. In the center of the circle there once stood one of the largest stones in the complex “The Obelisk”. Sadly this has long since disappeared and today a large concrete plinth marks the position where it once stood. It was last recorded by the antiquarian William Stukeley (1687–1765) who found it lying on its side, he described it as: “The central obelisk of this temple is of circular form at base, of a vast bulk, 21 feet long and 8 feet 9 inches in diameter; when standing, higher than the rest”.
The Vulva Stone - The Obelisk Plinth When Alexander Keiller began excavating the southern inner circle in the late 1930s, he also found a curious set of smaller stones known as the “Z Feature”. Evidence shows that these smaller stones were a later addition to the southern circle, and earlier research led by Harold St George Gray (1872-1963) another archaeologist who surveyed and excavated the site between 1908 and 1922, indicates that a similar set stones may once have existed in the northern inner circle, their function however still remains a mystery. It is thought that the two inner circles were constructed before the great outer circle, sometime around 2600 BC.
The Z Feature stones
There are four entrances through the bank and ditch leading into the stone circle at Avebury, each roughly aligned with the four cardinal points of the compass: north by northwest, west by southwest, south by southeast and east by northeast. Each entrance would once have been guarded by 2 massive stones, but only 4 of these now remain. At the northern entrance close to the road is the impressive diamond-shaped “Swindon Stone”, its opposite partner is now long gone having been toppled in 1722 and destroyed. Only one of the stones guarding the eastern entrance remains and although this has since toppled onto its side, its impressive size is still worth a visit.
The Swindon Stone (north entrance) - East Entrance Stone
More fortunate are the 2 stones guarding the southern entrance of the henge. On one of the stones weathering has created a small natural ledge known as “The Devil’s Chair”. Facing out from the henge down the West Kennet Avenue, it has now become associated with local legends and folklore. The stones that would once have stood guard at the western entrance have long since disappeared, most likely broken up for building material as the village of Avebury expanded and encroached onto the henge itself. Their likely position would have been somewhere near what is now the village High Street.
The Devil’s Chair (south entrance) Of particular interest are the remains of the two stone lined avenues leading away from the henge by the West and South entrances. These are thought to be the last components of the henge to be constructed, and date to around 2400 BC. From the west entrance the Beckhampton Avenue is barely evident today, except for 2 large stones called the Longstones (known locally as the “Adam & Eve” stones). These are situated about a mile way from the henge and reveal where the avenue may once have existed. When William Stukeley (1687–1765) visited the site in the 1740s, he recorded the Beckhampton Avenue as being similar to the West Kennet Avenue, but since then it has become so decimated that some researchers doubted that it ever existed. In 1999 new excavations made by the Universities of Southampton, Leicester and Newport in Wales, found place evidence of another 10 stones in the avenue, 3 of which were buried intact proving beyond doubt that the avenue did once exist.
The
Longstones (known locally as the “Adam & Eve” stones)
The Beckhampton Avenue buried new stones
The stones of the West Kennet Avenue leading away from the South entrance have survived the passage of time much better than those of the Beckhampton Avenue, and present a spectacular view as they stretch across the countryside on their way to the mysterious “Sanctuary circle” located on Overton Hill. The Kennet Avenue originally had about 100 stones spread 25 metres (82 feet) apart and arranged in male and female pairs facing each other across the 15 metres (49feet) width of the avenue. Burial sites have also been found next to some of the Kennet Avenue stones.
The West Kennet Avenue
Situated on Overton Hill at the end of the West Kennet Avenue is the mysterious Sanctuary circle. Dated to around 3000 BC, about the same time period as the Cove in the northern inner circle of the henge, it only became linked to the henge when the avenue was built about 2400 BC, so its original use and connection to the henge remains uncertain. The Sanctuary circle once contained a double ring of stones, which sadly have since been completely destroyed. Today only small concrete markers show where the various stones once stood. The antiquarian John Aubrey (1626-1697) first recorded evidence of a double ring of stones at the Sanctuary in the late 1600s. Then later William Stukeley (1687–1765) another antiquarian made a more detailed study of the Sanctuary, which he published in his book “Abury, A Temple of the British Druids” in 1743. During his many visits to Avebury throughout the 1720s, Stukeley also witnessed much of its destruction. So complete was the destruction that the site later became lost and was not found again until Mrs. Maud Cunnington (1869-1951) a well known Wiltshire archaeologist re-discovered it in 1930 prior to her excavation of it.
Mrs. Maud Cunnington (1869-1951) The Sanctuary appears to have begun as a series of small circles composed of huge wooden posts, indicating that at sometime it may have contained a roofed building or maybe that single wooden posts were erected with the intention of being replaced later by stones, an hypothesis that is still a subject of much debate. After many alterations through the centuries, it eventually evolved into a stone circle 40 metres (130 feet) in diameter. Whatever its use and purpose may have been, it still remains an important and fascinating part of the Avebury complex.
The Sanctuary
The circles at Avebury and those of the Sanctuary form only a
small part of a vast complex of ancient sites dotted around this area of
Wiltshire, which includes Silbury Hill. Situated
close to the busy A4 roadway, once
the route of an old Roman road between the Beckhampton and West Kennett avenues,
it stands about a mile to the south of the Avebury circles. The hill is a large man-made mound that dominates the
area and is perhaps the most
enigmatic of all the sites in the area. The
base of the hill is circular and stands some 40 metres (131
feet) high and 167 metres (547
feet) in diameter enclosing an
area of 5 acres making it
one of the largest artificial mounds in Europe.
The summit of the hill is
flat-topped and 30 metres (98 ft) in diameter.
At the base of the hill was once an extensive ditch, thought to
have been filled with water when the hill was first constructed. The hill was constructed in three phases;
the initial mound was about 5 metres (16 feet) high and 35 metres (120
feet) in diameter. This first phase
consisted of a gravel core of
sarsen (sandstone) boulders, on top of which alternate layers of chalk and earth
were built up. The second phase
involved placing more chalk on top of the base core, using material excavated
from an encircling ditch. In the
final phase the ditch was refilled and work was concentrated on increasing the
size of the mound to its present height using material from elsewhere.
Each construction
phase of the hill was accomplished in steps, each step being filled in with
packed chalk and then smoothed or weathered into the slope.
The first phase of construction has been carbon-dated to around 2750 BC,
roughly to about the same time period as the henge at Avebury.
Carbon dating of some antler-picks found at the summit of the hill
indicate that its final phase of construction was completed about 2500 BC which
pre-dates the building of the avenues by about a century. The earliest detailed records of Silbury Hill are those made by the antiquarians John Aubrey (1626-1697) and William Stukeley (1687–1765), but it was not until 1776 that the first extensive excavation of the hill began. The Duke of Northumberland using a team of Cornish miners sank a shaft from top to bottom down through the center of the hill, thus showing how the hill was constructed in three phases. Another excavation was started in 1849 by Dean John Merewether, this time a tunnel was dug from the edge of the hill into the center, further revealing how the hill was constructed. Other excavations followed in 1867 and 1886.
John Aubrey (1626-1697) - William Stukeley (1687–1765) In 1968 Professor Richard J. C. Atkinson CBE (1920-1994) an archaeologist from the University of Cardiff started another excavation as part of an aborted BBC television documentary series on the monument, during which another tunnel was dug into the base of the hill. Sadly these constant excavations and tunneling of the hill eventually led to disaster. On the 29th of May 2000 heavy rains caused a partial collapse of the 1776 excavation shaft, and a large hole nearly 20 metres (66 feet) deep appeared on the summit. English Heritage who now own the site undertook a seismic survey of the hill to identify the extent of the damage, and a major program of stabilisation was started. Hundreds of tonnes of chalk was used to re-fill all the tunnels, shafts and voids left by over excavating.
Professor Richard J. C. Atkinson CBE (1920-1994) According to local legend Silbury Hill is the last resting place of King Sil, who was buried here sitting on a fabled golden horse. Another legend states that the mound holds a life size solid gold statue of King Sil. A third legend tells of how the Devil was carrying an apron of soil to drop on the citizens of Marlborough, but he was stopped by the priests of nearby Avebury Henge and forced to drop his load thus creating Silbury Hill.
Silbury Hill
Situated on the other side of the A4 roadway just a half-mile walk from Silbury Hill is the West Kennet Long Barrow, the largest example of a chambered long barrow accessible to the public in the UK. Dated to around 3700BC, it predates Silbury Hill and Avebury henge by centuries. The barrow is 104 metres (341 feet) long and 2.4 metres (8ft) high and has a row of large upright sarsen stones at the opening end. Behind these is the passage-grave, which occupies only an eighth of the barrow’s length running back into the mound for about 10 metres (33 feet). Inside and beyond the passage there are two burial chambers on each side (SW, SE, NW, NE) with a larger one measuring 2.3 metres (7.5 feet) high at the end (N). The barrow appears to have been in use up until about 2200 BC, at which time the passage and chambers were closed and filled up with earth and stones. In 1859 a John Thurnham excavated 4 and a half metres of the SW burial chamber, but the landowner at that time refused him permission to move any stones, so his digging was confined to just that one small area. Among the thick layers of chalk and rubble he dug away was found pieces of bone, flint and pottery shards as well as the burial remains of an infant (skull only) and 5 adults. Despite the finds of John Thurnham it was nearly a hundred years later in 1955-56 that a large-scale excavation and restoration project was carried out by Stuart Piggott and Richard Atkinson, during which the remains of a further 40 people were found ranging from infants to old people. Scientific examination of the bones has revealed a very high incidence of arthritis, indicating that life in those times must have been a painful existence. It has now been accepted that long barrows were more than just funerary tombs to the ancient peoples, and may have been the focus for other rituals important to the people who built them. The prominent hillside position of the barrow and the fact that it is aligned east to west would appear to be meaningful. The direction of the rising sun would seem the most obvious reason for its orientation. A local legend now tells how a ghostly priest and a large white hound visit the tomb each Midsummer Day.
West Kennet Long Barrow Avebury today is a
major gathering place and spiritual center for many practicing a belief in
Paganism, Wicca, Druidry and other New Age religions, and for some it is revered
more highly than Stonehenge. Annual
and seasonal pagan festivals attract visitors from all around the country, and
indeed from abroad, most particularly for the summer solstice which draws
increasingly large crowds from people
of all faiths and religions who now make Avebury an annual pilgrimage. While walking amongst the stones of Avebury one cannot but imagine the enormous effort, organization and manpower it would have required to build such a complex. But who did build it, and for what reason??? The answer to the second question may never be found, but great strides in the science of archeology are ever bringing us nearer to answering the first. Situated a mile to the northwest overlooking of the henge is Windmill Hill, upon which has been found an early Neolithic settlement dating to around 3700 BC, about the same time period as when the West Kennet Long Barrow was built. Windmill Hill as it evolved became a causewayed enclosure when banks and ditches were dug around it in about 3250 BC. First excavated in the 1920s, the site has proved to be a veritable treasure trove of archaeological finds. As well as numerous items of pottery and flint artefacts there was much evidence of farming, which included crop-growing, cattle-rearing and the raising of pig, sheep and goats, proving that by the time Silbury Hill and Avebury Henge were built hundreds of years later, a large and sophisticated societal culture already existed in the area. In the early 1920s the rector of Winterbourne Basset, H.G.O.
Kendall, an amateur archaeologist,
carried out a small excavation at Windmill Hill. He had been prompted to do so by the existence of a ditch
around the top of the hill, which had been noted some 200 years earlier by the
antiquarian William Stukeley. The
site was known as a rich source of worked flint implements, which Kendall and
others had collected from the ploughed up soil.
Kendall suspected that the pottery he found during his excavation was
Neolithic, an interpretation confirmed by other leading experts. Later the well known aerial archaeologist Osbert Guy Stanhope Crawford (1886-1957) led a campaign to save the hill from a threat by Marconi, the electrical and radio pioneer, who was intent on setting up a radio aerial and wireless station upon it. In 1922 Crawford and Alexander Keiller did an aerial survey of archaeological sites in southwest of England, which led to the publication of "Wessex from the Air in 1928, the first book of aerial archaeology to be published in the UK. Crawford’s campaign led to the involvement of his old friend Keiller, who bought a large part of the hill in 1925. Alexander Keiller’s subsequent excavations on the hill lasted five seasons from 1925 to 1929, and produced a huge quantity of pottery (over 1,300 pieces from different pots), worked flint (approximately 95,000 pieces) and animal bones, including the skeletons of a dog, a pig and a goat, smaller amounts of human bone, worked stone and charred plant remains were also found. Carbon dating from the bulk of his finds on the hill date to between 3600-3300 BC.
Osbert Guy Stanhope Crawford (1886-1957) Further analysis on the items found demonstrates a diverse societal mix among the people who lived in the area in those times. Some of the pots were identified as having been made in the area of Lizard Point on the extreme southwest coast of Cornwall, some 115 miles away from Windmill Hill. Some of the stone axes had travelled a similar distance from Cornish sources, while others, in later Neolithic levels, had come from sources in North Wales and the Lake District. Keiller only published a few of his findings from the hill and left the rest to be used and publicised through the work of his friend Stuart Piggott. Piggott used his material to better define the Neolithic culture that once occupied Windmill Hill, including their uses of causewayed enclosures, long barrows, leaf-shaped arrowheads and flint axes, and documented almost the entire repertoire of features still being used to define the early Neolithic cultures of southern Britain.
Stuart Ernest Piggott CBE (1910-1996) Later excavations on the site included work carried out by Isobel Smith during the late 1950s as she prepared a publication of Keiller’s work for and on behalf of his widow Gabrielle. Her book entitled “Windmill Hill and Avebury - Excavations by Alexander Keiller 1925-1939” was published in 1965. In 1988 another team led by Alasdair Whittle the professor of archaeology at Cardiff University spent a season employing all the latest most up-to-date techniques of excavation and analysis to reveal more about the ancient site, his findings were published in 1999. Today there is little to see or excite the casual tourist to the hill, for all that remains are some small round-barrows and ditches dating from the Bronze Age, which once belonged to an extensive barrow cemetery, of which many have now been ploughed up to make way for agriculture. It is still well worth a visit though, for its elevation and quietness offers a wonderful view of Silbury Hill and the surrounding landscape of Avebury. Much of what remains at Windmill Hill still needs to be investigated in order to gain a fuller understanding of how Avebury evolved. Indeed what has already been found there gives us a glimpse of life from a remote period of time for which there is still a great scarcity of evidence. We now know from the finds on Windmill Hill that the culture of the early Neolithic people was one of richness, variety and complexity. Windmill Hill was clearly a great gathering place, the mass of cattle bones found and apparent absence of domestic structures has led Stuart Piggott to interpret it as a large corral for cattle as well as a general market place. As a place for exchanging goods and animals, the people who gathered here would also have engaged in complex social relations and rituals, and almost certainly in feasting and other ceremonies. Most would have lived large parts of their lives in small settlements, represented by isolated pits and scattered artefacts that have been found in other areas, and would have needed to come together at a place like Windmill Hill for a variety of reasons, like looking for marriage partners or acquiring stone axes and other equipments.
Windmill
Hill Round Barrow Today a large portion of Avebury village now lies within the ancient henge, but it wasn’t until the Saxon period about the 5th century AD that evidence of a village at Avebury began to appear. Initially the village appears to have started further to the west, were traces of its early buildings are still visible today situated between the present village and that of Avebury Trusloe. Over the centuries as the village grew and expanded, its buildings approached and eventually spread into the interior of the henge itself. While the encroachment of the village among the ancient stones may be deemed regrettable, today the village itself holds much of interest, such as the medieval old church of St. James, which has a history going back to Saxon times. Inside there is a rare example of a medieval rood-loft, once hidden but re-discovered in 1810. It also contains a font believed to be of Saxon origin and later adorned with some interesting carvings from the Norman period.
St. James Church Alongside the church is a fine Elizabethan manor house containing the Alexander Keiller Museum, donated to the Nation in 1966 by his last wife and widow Gabrielle, and dedicated to the man whose dream and ambition saved and restored what is left of henge as we see it today. The museum gives detailed information regarding the many archaeological achievements of the henge and its monuments, and has many fascinating artefacts from the area on display. Nearby is the Barn Gallery which also contains some interesting exhibits and other information supplied by the National Trust.
Alexander Keiller Museum / The Barn Gallery The village also boasts a pub the Red Lion Inn, built in the 17th century it features a well inside which is supposed to have been the scene of several grisly murders. A legend now has it that a ghost called Florrie, who was murdered by her husband in Cromwellian times, haunts the pub. The pub has two bars and an extensive dining room which caters for families, as well as Bed and Breakfast accommodation. The village also has a Post Office, a Restaurant and quaint Shops retailing crafts, books and souvenirs.
The Red Lion Inn In 1943 Alexander
Keiller sold his holdings in
Avebury to the National Trust for £12,000, which was the agricultural value of
the 950 acres he had acquired since he first bought Windmill Hill in 1925, a
price which does not reflect the immense amount of time and money he had
invested in the area. Since then the village and its surrounding sacred sites have
belonged to the Nation, and are now administered by the National Trust. In
1986 Avebury gained status as a UNESCO (United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization)
World Heritage Site. End
Sources: Penguin Hutchinson Reference Library Copyright (c) 1996 Helicon Publishing and Penguin Books Ltd Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2006. © 1993-2005 Microsoft Corporation. The
Atlas of Mysterious Places - By Jennifer Westwood (Ed.) Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc - Copyright © 1994-2002 Websites: http://www.bbc.co.uk/wiltshire/content/articles/2005/12/05/pwaod_silbury_feature.shtml http://www.stonepages.com/england/avebury.html http://www.britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba67/index.shtml http://www.avebury-web.co.uk/index.html First published on the 04th December 2007 © George Knowles
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Pagan
Pioneers: Founders, Elders, Leaders and Others
Abramelin the Mage / Agrippa / Aidan A Kelly / Albertus Magnus - “Albert the Great” / Aleister Crowley - “The Great Beast” / Alex Sanders - “King of the Witches” / Alison Harlow / Allan Bennett - the Ven. Ananda Metteyya / Allan Kardec (Spiritism) / Alphonsus de Spina / Amber K / Ann Moura / Anna Franklin / Anodea Judith / Anton Szandor LaVey / Arnold Crowther / Arthur Edward Waite / Austin Osman Spare / Balthasar Bekker / Biddy Early / Barbara Vickers / Bridget Cleary - The Fairy Witch of Clonmel / Carl " Llewellyn" Weschcke / Cecil Hugh Williamson / Charles Godfrey Leland / Charles Walton / Christopher Penczak / Christina Oakley Harrington / Cornelius Loos / Damh the Bard - "Dave Smith" / Dion Fortune / Dolores Aschroft-Nowicki / Donald Michael Kraig / Doreen Valiente / Dorothy Morrison / Dr. John Dee & Edward Kelly / Dr. Leo Louis Martello / Edain McCoy / Edward Fitch / Eleanor Ray Bone - “Matriarch of British Witchcraft” / Eliphas Levi / Ernest Thompson Seton / Ernest Westlake / Fiona Horne / Frederick McLaren Adams - Feraferia / Friedrich von Spee / Francis Barrett / Gavin and Yvonne Frost and the School and Church of Wicca / Gerald B. Gardner - The father of contemporary Witchcraft / Gwydion Pendderwen / Hans Holzer / Helen Duncan / Herman Slater - Horrible Herman / Heinrich Kramer / Isaac Bonewits / Israel Regardie / Ivo Domínguez Jr. / Jack Whiteside Parsons - Rocket Science and Magick / James "Cunning" Murrell - The Master of Witches / Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone / Jean Bodin / Jessie Wicker Bell - “Lady Sheba” / Johann Weyer / Johannes Junius - "The Burgomaster of Bamberg" / Johann Georg Fuchs von Dornheim - the “Hexenbrenner” (witch burner) / John Belham-Payne / John George Hohman - "Pow-wow" / John Gerard / John Gordon Hargrave and the Kibbo Kith Kindred / John Michael Greer / John Score / Joseph “Bearwalker” Wilson / Joseph John Campbell / Karl von Eckartshausen / Lady Gwen Thompson - and "The Rede of the Wiccae" / Laurie Cabot - "the Official Witch of Salem" / Lewis Spence / Lodovico Maria Sinistrari / Ludwig Lavater / Madeline Montalban and the Order of the Morning Star / Margaret Alice Murray / Margot Adler / Michael Howard and the UK "Cauldron Magazine" / Margaret St. Clair - the “Sign of the Labrys” / Marie Laveau - " the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans" / Marion Weinstein / Martin Antoine Del Rio / Matthew Hopkins - “The Witch-Finder General” / Max Ehrmann and the "Desiderata" / Michael A. Aquino - and The Temple of Set / Monique Wilson / Montague Summers / Nicholas Culpeper / Nicholas Remy / M. R. Sellars / Mrs. Maud Grieve - "A Modern Herbal" / Oberon Zell-Ravenheart and Morning Glory / Old Dorothy Clutterbuck / Old George Pickingill / Olivia Durdin-Robertson - co-founder of the Fellowship of Isis / Paddy Slade / Pamela Colman-Smith / Paracelsus / Patricia Crowther / Patricia Monaghan / Patricia “Trish” Telesco / Paul Foster Case and the “Builders of the Adytum” mystery school / Peter Binsfeld / Philip Heselton / Raven Grimassi / Raymond Buckland / Reginald Scot / Richard Baxter / Robert Cochrane / Robert ‘von Ranke’ Graves and the "The White Goddess" / Rosaleen Norton - “The Witch of Kings Cross” / Rossell Hope Robbins / Ross Nichols and the " Order of Bards, Ovates & Druids" (OBOD) / Rudolf Steiner / Sabrina Underwood - "The Ink Witch" / Scott Cunningham / Selena Fox - founder of "Circle Sanctuary" / Silver Ravenwolf / Sir Francis Dashwood / Sir James George Frazer and the " The Golden Bough" / S.L. MacGregor Mathers and the “Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn” / Starhawk / Stewart Farrar / Sybil Leek / Ted Andrews / The Mather Family - (includes: Richard Mather, Increase Mather and Cotton Mather ) / Thomas Ady / T. Thorn Coyle / Vera Chapman / Victor & Cora Anderson and the " Feri Tradition" / Vivianne Crowley / Walter Brown Gibson / Walter Ernest Butler / William Butler Yeats / Zsuzsanna Budapest /
Many of the above biographies are briefs and far from complete. If you know about any of these individuals and can help with additional information, please contact me privately at my email address below. Many thanks for reading :-)
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