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Pagan Pioneers: Founders, Elders, Leaders and OthersGerald Brosseau Gardner (1884-1964)
Written and compiled by George Knowles Gerald
B. Gardner is perhaps one of the best known and talked about figures in modern
witchcraft to date. An English
hereditary Witch (allegedly), he was the founder of the Gardnerian tradition of
contemporary Witchcraft. Some
consider him a man of great vision and creativity, one who had the courage to
try outrageous things during difficult times.
Others look on him as a con man, deceitful and manipulative.
He authored the now famous books "Witchcraft Today" and
"The Meaning of Witchcraft", both he wrote in the 1950’s.
These two classic books inspired the growth and development of many
traditions of modern Witchcraft throughout the United Kingdom, Europe and the
United States. Gerald B. Gardner was born on the 13th June 1884 in a small northern town called Blundellsands, near Liverpool, England. Born of Scottish descent into a well-to-do family, his father was a merchant and Justice of the Peace. His grandfather is reputed to have married a witch, and he claims others of his distant family had psychic gifts. Gardner believed himself to be a descendant of Grissell Gairdner, who was burned as a witch at Newburgh in 1610. Of his ancestors, several became Mayor’s of Liverpool, and one Alan Gardner, a naval Commander was later made a Peer of the Land having distinguished himself as Commander in Chief of the Channel Fleet and helped to deter the invasion of Napoleon in 1807.
Mother and Father Gardner
was the middle of three sons, but was kept distanced from his two brothers as he
suffered severely with bouts of asthma. As
a result of this, his parents employed a nanny called Josephine “Com”
McCombie to care for him separately. To
help alleviate his condition, Com persuaded his parents to allow her to take him
travelling during the winter months. During
their travels across Europe, Gardner was often left alone, but was content to
read and study academic subjects, his main interests being Archaeology,
Anthropology and Folklore. Later as
a young man, Com married and went to live with her husband in Ceylon.
Gardner went with her and started work first on a tea plantation and
later managing a family rubber plantation his father had invested in.
He then moved on to Borneo before finally settling in Malaysia. While
in Malaysia, given his interest in anthropology and folklore, Gardner became
fascinated with the local culture and its religious and magical beliefs.
He also had a keen interest in all things occult, and was particularly
drawn to ritual knives and daggers, especially the Malay Kris (a dagger with a
wavy blade). He made a name for
himself in academic circles with his pioneering research into Malaya’s early
civilizations. He also wrote and
had some of his writings published in the journal of the Malayan branch of the
Royal Asiatic Society. Later he wrote the first authoritative book on the history
and folklore of the Malay Kris entitled: "Kris and other Malay Weapons"
(Singapore 1936). From 1923 until he retired in 1936, Gardner worked as a civil servant for the British Government, first as a rubber plantation inspector, then as a Customs official and inspector of opium establishments. In 1927 while on a trip back to England he met and married his future wife, an English woman called Dorothea Frances Rosedale (Donna). After a very short engagement they were married on the 16th August 1927 at St. Jude's Church in Kensington, before eventually returning to Malaysia to live-out their working lives together. Overtime Gardner was able to make a comfortable living from his dealings within the rubber and opium trades, which in turn allowed him to indulge in his favourite pastimes History and Archaeology. On one expedition during his travels, he claimed to have found the site of the ancient city of Singapura.
Gardner and his new wife aboard his Customs launch on the "Johore River" in Malaya After
his retirement in 1936, Gardner and his wife returned to England and initially
resided in central London, before settling for a time in 1938 in a more
permanent home in Highcliffe (a house called Southridge), located in the New
Forrest area of Hampshire. During
this time he continued to indulge his main interests and spent much of his time
travelling around Europe and Asia Minor. In
Cyprus he found places he claims to have dreamed about, and was convinced he had
lived there in a previous lifetime. In
1939 he wrote and published his second book:
"A Goddess Arrives".
It was based in Cyprus and concerned the worship of a Goddess called
Aphrodite in the year 1450 B.C. By
this time the Second World War was looming, and Gardner anxious to do his piece
for King and Country turned his thoughts to Civil Defence.
He wrote a letter publish in the Daily Telegraph stating that:
“As decreed in the Magna Carta, every free-born Englishman is
entitled to bear arms in the defence of himself and his household”.
He further suggested that the civilian population should be armed and
trained in the event of invasion. The
German press picked up the article and front-page headlines appeared in the
Frankfurter Zeitung, they where furious, and raged against the man who had made
such a “medieval” suggestion. Shortly
thereafter the famous Home Guard came into being, known first as the Local
Defence Volunteers. We shall
probably never know if the “Magna Carta letter” was the impetus that
instigated it? Having
settled in the New Forrest area of Hampshire, one of the oldest forests in
England, Gardner began to explore its history.
He soon found that local folklore was steeped in Witchcraft, and his
curiosity ignited, began to seek out involvement. Through neighbours he became acquainted with a local group of
occultist Co-Masons, a fraternity that called themselves "The Fellowship of
Crotona". It was established
by Mrs. Besant-Scott, daughter of Annie Besant, the famous Theosophist and
founder of the women’s Co-Masonry movement in England (Co-Masonry was
affiliated to the Grand Orient of France and therefore not recognized by the
Masonic Grand Lodge of England). They
had built a small community theatre called "The First Rosicrucian Theatre
in England", and it was here Gardner joined them and helped them produce
amateur plays with occult and spiritual themes. Within the Fellowship another but secret group operated, a member of which spoke to Gardner and claimed to have net him in a previous life, he then went on to describe the places Gardner had found in Cyprus. Soon after they took Gardner into their confidence claiming to be a group of hereditary Witches practicing a Craft passed down to them through the centuries. The group met in the New Forest where he was introduced to Mrs. Dorothy Clutterbuck. Old Dorothy as she was affectionately known accepted Gardner for initiation and in September 1939 at her home “a big house in the neighbourhood”, he was initiated into the Old Religion.
Old Dorothy Clutterbuck Old Dorothy’s coven was believed to have been the last remains of a coven directly descendant from one of the Nine Coven’s founded by Old George Pickingill some forty years earlier. In the following year 1940, Gardner claimed to have helped with and took part in the now famous “Coven Rite” aimed at and against the Nazi High Command and the threatened invasion of Hitler’s forces. This we now know was not true. That ritual had been orchestrated by Cecil Williamson, founder of the Witchcraft Research Centre. It had taken place in Ashdown Forest, Crowbourgh in Sussex, and employed the services of the infamous Aleister Crowley and his son Amado. It’s possible though and more probable that Gardner and his coven performed some sort of ritual of their own making?
Old George Pickingill - Cecil Hugh Williamson - Aleister Crowley Just before the outbreak of war, Gardner met with Arnold Crowther, a professional Stage Magician and Ventriloquist, and formed a friendship that would last for many years. It was after the war in 1946, that Gardner first met Cecil Williamson. They met at the famous Atlantis Bookshop in London, where Gardner was giving an informal talk. Gardner had been eager to meet Williamson in order to extend his network of occult contacts. While they met frequently thereafter, their relationship was strained and would later end on bad terms. Williamson described Gardner as a “Vain, self-centred man, tight with his money, and more interested in outlets for his nudist and voyeuristic activities, than in learning anything about authentic witchcraft”.
In 1947, his friend Arnold Crowther introduced Gardner to Aleister Crowley. Their brief association would later lead to controversy over the authenticity of Gardner’s original “Book of Shadows”. Crowley had allegedly been a member of one of Old George Pickingill’s original Nine Covens in the New Forest, and Gardner was especially interested in the rituals they used. He asked Crowley to write down what he could remember and later incorporated some his writings together other magical materials into his own Book of Shadows. Crowley by this time was in poor health and only months away from death. Perhaps seeing a kindred spirit, he made Gardner an honorary member of the Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO), a Tantric sex magic organisation at one time under his leadership and granted him a charter to operate his own Lodge. In
the mean time, Gardner had moved from the New Forrest to Bricketts Wood outside
St Albans. There he had bought a
cottage on the grounds of a nudist club, from where he ran his own coven.
Not having a car or able to drive, Gardner prevailed on Cecil Williamson
to drive him down to Crowley’s lodgings in Hastings for consultations.
Williamson later claimed to have participated as an observer in some of
Gardner’s “Lodge” activities. The
alter he said was made up of an old “Anderson” air raid table with a metal
top and was used to perform the Great Rite (A rite involving sexual
intercourse). The Lodge he say’s, had far more men than women with about
80 to 20 percent splitting the difference, this because many of the women who
joined his lodge didn't favour the sexual rites.
At one point Gardner had to resort to hiring a London prostitute to
play-act the role of High Priestess and engage in the sex act? Over time Gardner accumulated a vast amount of knowledge on Folklore, Witchcraft, and Magic, and had collected many artefacts and materials associated with ritual procedures and ceremonial magic. Much as he wanted to write about and pass on this knowledge, he was prevented from being too public. Witchcraft was still against the law in England and he was cautioned by Old Dorothy to remain secretive. Later she allowed him to write in the form of fiction. The result was an occult novel called "High Magic’s Aid". The book was published in 1949 by Michael Houghton (also known as Michael Juste) the proprietor of the famous Atlantis Bookshop in London and contained Gardner's basic ideas for what was later to become “Gardnerian Wicca”. In 1951 there was a resurgence of belief and new interest shown in the Old Religion brought on by the repeal of the last antiquated Witchcraft Laws still being enforced in England. Gardner was now free to go public and breaking away from the New Forest coven began to establish his own. This change in the law also made it possible for Cecil Williamson to open the famous "Museum of Magic and Witchcraft" (formerly called the Folklore Centre) in Castletown on the Isle of Man. Later that year after a dispute with his trust fund, Gardner turned up on Williamson’s doorstep in financial trouble. Williamson took him on as the museum's director and soon he became known as the “Resident Witch”.
Gardner in front of an exhibit showing in the "Museum of Magic and Witchcraft" Through his association with the museum, Gardner became acquainted with everyone there was to know in Occult circles at that time. His reputation as a leading authority on Witchcraft began to spread. A year later in 1952, with his financial problems resolved, Gardner bought the museum buildings together with its display cases from Williamson. However, Gardner’s collection of artefacts and materials were not as extensive as Williamson’s and he found he hadn’t enough objects to fill all the cases, he therefore asked Williamson for the loan of his talismans and amulets. Weary, if not openly disliking Gardner, Williamson reluctantly agreed but took the precaution of making plaster casts and imprints of each item before allowing Gardner to re-opened the museum and show them.
The Witches Mill home of the museum in Castletown In 1953 Gardner met Doreen Valiente and initiated her into his coven. Doreen proved to be his greatest asset, it was she who helped him rewrite and expand his existing “Book of Shadows”. Together they rewrote and embellished the numerous texts and rituals he had collected, many of which he claimed had been passed down to him from the New Forrest Coven. Doreen also weeded out much of Aleister Crowley’s material on account of his notoriety and put more emphasis onto Goddess worship. So it was between them, that Doreen and Gardner established a new working practice that evolved into what is today one of the leading traditions of the Wicca movement, Gardnerian Wicca.
In 1954 Gardner wrote and published his first non-fiction book on witchcraft entitled "Witchcraft Today". In this he supported the theories of anthropologist Margaret A. Murray who purported that Witchcraft was a surviving remnant of an old organized Pagan Religion, one that had existed before the Witch-hunts. Murray also wrote the introduction to the book, which on its release was an immediate success. As a result and because of it, new covens sprang up all over England and the Gardnerian tradition of modern Witchcraft was born.
Margaret A. Murray Soon
after its release, Gardner became a media celebrity and began courting their
attention. He loved to be in the
spotlight and made numerous public appearances being dubbed by the popular press
as “Britain’s Chief Witch”. However
not all the publicity was beneficial, he was a keen naturist and his penchant
for ritual nudity was incorporated into the new tradition.
This caused conflict with other hereditary Witches who claimed that they
had always worked robed. Many also
believed he was wrong to make so much information public, information which to
them had always been considered secret. They
also believed that so much publicity would eventually harm the Craft. Gardner became difficult to work with, his egotism and publicity seeking tried the patience of his coven members, even that of Doreen Valiente, by now his High Priestess, causing rifts to develop in his coven. He also insisted on using what he claimed were “ancient” Craft laws that gave dominance to the God over the Goddess. A final revolt happened when he declared that the High Priestess should retire when he considered her to old. In 1957, Doreen Valiente and other members having had enough of the “gospel according to Gardner” left and went their separate ways. Undaunted, Gardner continued on and wrote his last book "The Meaning of Witchcraft" (1959). In May 1960, Gardner was invited to a garden party at Buckingham Palace, this in recognition of his distinguished Civil Service work in the Far East. A few weeks later on the 6th June, he initiated Patricia Dawson into his coven, and she in turn initiated his old friend Arnold Crowther. On the 8th November, Patricia and Arnold were married in a private handfasting officiated by Gardner. Sadly that same year his devoted wife Donna died, and while she had never taken part in the Craft or his activities within it, she had remained his loyal companion for 33 years. Gardner was devastated and began to suffer once more his childhood affliction of asthma.
Patricia Dawson - Patricia and Arnold Crowther with Gardner In 1962, Gardner started to correspond with an Englishman in America called Raymond Buckland. Buckland would later be responsible for introducing the Gardnerian tradition into the United States. In 1963 Buckland and his wife Rosemary flew back to the UK to be initiated and raised in Perth, Scotland, at the home of Gardner’s then High Priestess, Monique Wilson (Lady Olwen). Gardner joined them for the initiation ceremony, during which Buckland was given the craft name “Robat” and Rosemary named “Lady Rowen”. Shortly after their meeting Gardner left to vacation the winter months in the Lebanon, from which while returning on the 12th February 1964, he suffered a fatal heart attack and died at the breakfast table onboard ship. The following day he was buried ashore in Tunis, his funeral attended only by the Captain of the ship, "The Scottish Prince" on which he had been travelling.
In
his will, Gardner bequeathed the Museum in Castletown to his High Priestess,
Monique Wilson, together with all its artefacts; these included his personal
ritual tools, notebooks and copyrights to his books.
Monique and her husband continued to run the museum and hold weekly Coven
meetings in his old cottage, but only for a short time.
They later closed the museum and sold its contents to the “Ripley’s,
Believe It Or Not” organization in America.
They in turn dispersed the many artefacts amongst their various museums,
and some they sold on to private collections.
Many of Gardner’s supporters were dismayed, even angered by these
events and Monique was forced from grace as High Priestess.
Other beneficiaries of Gardner’s estate were Patricia and Arnold
Crowther (his old friends), and Jack L. Bracelin, author of his biography
entitled: Gerald Gardner: Witch
(1960). Postscript:In 1968 Eleanor Ray Bone one of Gardner's later High Priestesses went on a pilgrimage to Tunis where she visited the grave of Gerald B. Gardner. While there she learned from the Chaplin that the Tunisian Government would shortly be turning the cemetery into a public park. He explained that if she wished to disinter his remains and move them to another location, that this could be arranged. Through donations made by members of the Craft, Gardner’s remains were later laid to rest in a more fitting place close to the ancient city of Carthage, once a prominent religious centre where they worshiped the Moon goddess Tanit and the Sun god Baal, the equivalent of the Phoenician goddess Astarte. Cults associated with the Greek goddesses Demeter and Persephone and the Roman goddess Juno were also worshiped there.
Eleanor Ray Bone Sadly 40 years later after Gardner’s grave had been left untended, while undisturbed and unmarked, through time it had gradually settled and subsided unevenly into the ground and become overgrown with weeds and strewn with rubble. However, in 2007 a meeting took place between Patricia Crowther and Larry Jones, a member of the Craft from Washington State, U.S.A. Larry at the time was working in North Africa, and Patricia took the opportunity to charge Larry with finding his grave. Taking a short break from his work to visit Tunis, he managed to track down the location of the grave and in the short time available to him, arranged for the ground to be cleared and the gravestone re-erected. A new plaque was then added on top of the gravestone.
In
2007, a new plaque was added on top of Gardner’s grave that
reads in the words of Patricia Crowther: Gerald Brosseau Gardner 13th
June 1884 - 12th February 1964 Author
Archaeologist Artist Father
of Modern Wica Beloved
of the Great Goddess
Let those remembered never be forgotten, for we shall not see their like again. End.
Sources Witchcraft for Tomorrow - by Doreen Valiente Encyclopedia of Wicca & Witchcraft - by Raven Grimassi An ABC of Witchcraft Past and Present - By Doreen Valiente Witchfather:
A Life of Gerald Gardner -
By Philip Heselton http://www.thewica.co.uk/Gerald%20Gardner.htm
First published on the 26th May 2001, last updated on the 11th February 2018 © George Knowles
Best wishes and Blessed Be
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Site Contents - Links to all Pages
A Universal Message:
Let there be peace in the world - Where have all the flowers gone?
About me: My Personal Page / My Place in England / My Family Tree (Ancestry)
Wicca & Witchcraft
Wicca/Witchcraft / What is Wicca / What is Magick
Traditional Writings:
The Wiccan Rede / Charge of the Goddess / Charge of the God / The Three-Fold Law (includes The Law of Power and The Four Powers of the Magus) / The Witches Chant / The Witches Creed / Descent of the Goddess / Drawing Down the Moon / The Great Rite Invocation / Invocation of the Horned God / The 13 Principles of Wiccan Belief / The Witches Rede of Chivalry / A Pledge to Pagan Spirituality
Correspondence Tables:
Incense / Candles / Colours / Magickal Days / Stones and Gems / Elements and Elementals
Traditions:
Traditions Part 1 - Alexandrian Wicca / Aquarian Tabernacle Church (ATC) / Ár Ndraíocht Féin (ADF) / Blue Star Wicca / British Traditional (Druidic Witchcraft) / Celtic Wicca / Ceremonial Magic / Chaos Magic / Church and School of Wicca / Circle Sanctuary / Covenant of the Goddess (COG) / Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans (CUUPS) / Cyber Wicca / Dianic Wicca / Eclectic Wicca / Feri Wicca /
Traditions Part 2 - Gardnerian Wicca / Georgian Tradition / Henge of Keltria / Hereditary Witchcraft / Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (H.O.G.D.) / Kitchen Witch (Hedge Witch) / Minoan Brotherhood and Minoan Sisterhood Tradition / Nordic Paganism / Pagan Federation / Pectic-Wita / Seax-Wica / Shamanism / Solitary / Strega / Sylvan Tradition / Vodoun or Voodoo / Witches League of Public Awareness (WLPA) /
Other things of interest:
Gods and Goddesses (Greek
Mythology) / Esbats &
Full Moons / Links
to Personal Friends & Resources / Wicca/Witchcraft
Resources / What's a spell? /
Circle Casting and
Sacred Space / Pentagram
- Pentacle / Marks
of a Witch / The Witches
Power / The Witches Hat
/ An
esoteric guide to visiting London / Satanism
/ Pow-wow
/ The
Unitarian Universalist Association / Numerology: Part 1
/ Part 2 / Part
3 / A
history of the Malleus Maleficarum: includes: Pope
Innocent VIII /
The
papal Bull /
The
Malleus Maleficarum /
An extract from the Malleus Maleficarum
/ The letter of approbation
/ Johann
Nider’s Formicarius /
Jacob
Sprenger /
Heinrich Kramer /
Stefano Infessura
/ Montague Summers /
The Waldenses
/ The Albigenses
/
The Hussites / The
Native American Sun Dance
/ Shielding (Occult
and Psychic Protection) /
Sabbats and Festivals:
The Sabbats in History and Mythology / Samhain (October 31st) / Yule (December 21st) / Imbolc (February 2nd) / Ostara (March 21st) / Beltane (April 30th) / Litha (June 21st) / Lammas/Lughnasadh (August 1st) / Mabon (September 21st)
Rituals contributed by Crone:
Samhain / Yule / Imbolc / Ostara / Beltane / Litha / Lammas / Mabon
Tools:
Tools of a Witch / The Besom (Broom) / Poppets and Dolls / Pendulums / Cauldron Magick / Mirror Gazing
Animals:
Animals in Witchcraft (The Witches Familiar and Totem Animals) / Antelope / Bats / Crow / Fox / Frog and Toads / Goat / Honeybee / Kangaroo / Lion / Owl / Phoenix / Rabbits and Hares / Raven / Robin Redbreast / Sheep / Spider / Squirrel / Swans / Unicorn / Wild Boar / Wolf / Serpent / Pig / Stag / Horse / Mouse / Cat / Rats / Unicorn
Trees:
In Worship of Trees - Myths, Lore and the Celtic Tree Calendar. For descriptions and correspondences of the thirteen sacred trees of Wicca/Witchcraft see the following: Birch / Rowan / Ash / Alder / Willow / Hawthorn / Oak / Holly / Hazel / Vine / Ivy / Reed / Elder
Sacred Sites:
Mystical Sacred Sites - Stonehenge / Glastonbury Tor / Malta - The Hypogeum of Hal Saflieni / Avebury / Cerne Abbas - The Chalk Giant / Ireland - Newgrange /
Rocks and Stones:
Stones - History, Myths and Lore
Articles contributed by Patricia Jean Martin:
Apophyllite / Amber / Amethyst / Aquamarine / Aragonite / Aventurine / Black Tourmaline / Bloodstone / Calcite / Carnelian / Celestite / Citrine / Chrysanthemum Stone / Diamond / Emerald / Fluorite / Garnet / Hematite / Herkimer Diamond / Labradorite / Lapis Lazuli / Malachite / Moonstone / Obsidian / Opal / Pyrite / Quartz (Rock Crystal) / Rose Quartz / Ruby / Selenite / Seraphinite / Silver and Gold / Smoky Quartz / Sodalite / Sunstone / Thunderegg / Tree Agate / Zebra Marble
Wisdom and Inspiration:
Knowledge vs Wisdom by Ardriana Cahill / I Talk to the Trees / Awakening / The Witch in You / A Tale of the Woods / I have a Dream by Martin Luther King /
Articles and Stories about Witchcraft:
Murdered by Witchcraft / The Fairy Witch of Clonmel / A Battleship, U-boat, and a Witch / The Troll-Tear (A story for Children) / Goody Hawkins - The Wise Goodwife / The Story of Jack-O-Lantern / The Murder of the Hammersmith Ghost / Josephine Gray (The Infamous Black Widow) / The Two Brothers - Light and Dark
Old Masters of Academia:
Pliny the Elder / Hesiod / Pythagoras
Biographies
A "Who's Who" of Witches, Pagans and other associated People (Ancient, Past and Present)
(Departed Pagan Pioneers, Founders, Elders and Others)
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 :-)
"FAIR USE NOTICE"While I have taken due care and diligence to credit all sources where possible, this website may contain copyrighted material which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. My use of making such material available here is done so in my efforts to advance our understanding of religious discrimination, the environmental and social justice issues etc. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this website for purposes of your own then you must obtain permission from the relevant copyright owner yourself.Any queries please contact me at email - George@controverscial.com
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