Merry we meet - Merry we meet - Merry we meet
Welcome to
Controverscial.Com
Merry we meet - Merry we meet - Merry we meet
Welcome to
Controverscial.Com
|
|
Pagan Pioneers: Founders, Elders, Leaders and Others
Raymond Buckland
Written and compiled by George Knowles
Raymond Buckland, Englishman, prolific Author and a Witch. He was probably best known as an agent of Gerald B. Gardner. It was Buckland who was responsible for introducing Gardnerian Witchcraft into America in 1964, which spread like wildfire across all States. A decade later he founded his own tradition of Witchcraft called Seax-Wica and for a time operated his own Museum of Witchcraft. He was a leading spokesman for the Craft in America for more than five decades.
Buckland was born in London, England, on the 31st August 1934; he was the second of two sons (his brother Gerard was 2 years older) born to Stanley Thomas Buckland and his wife Eileen Lizzie née Wells. Stanley his father was a full-blood Romany Gypsy and a highly regarded Executive Officer in the British Ministry of Health. In his spare time he freelanced as a writer of plays, short stories, poetry and music, talents he encouraged his sons to work on. In 1939 with the outbreak of war, the family moved to Nottingham to escape the bombing raids on London. There the two boys attended Waverly School, a private school to continue their early education.
Gerard - (Buckland Major) and Ray - (Buckland Minor) in school uniform circa 1940’s
As a child Buckland was brought up in the Church of England, but had no particular interest in religion. When he was 12 years old his father’s brother “uncle” George, a practising Spiritualist introduced him to Spiritualism and sparked his life long interest in all things occult. By this time Buckland was already an avid reader and started to read all he could find on alternative religions and such related subjects as: Ghosts, ESP, Magick, Voodoo and Witchcraft. After the war had passed Buckland became interested in acting and soon became involved with theatre. He regularly performed at the People’s Theatre in Nottingham and the Nottingham Repertory Theatre. In 1951 his family moved back to London where he studied first at King's College School in Wimbledon, before gaining a doctorate degree in anthropology from Brantridge Forest College, in Sussex.
After leaving college he worked as a draftsman for an engineering firm and in 1955 met and married his first wife Rosemary née Moss. Together they had two sons Robert and Regnauld. In 1957 he joined the Royal Air Force (RAF) but only served a short term leaving in 1959. After leaving the RAF he worked for two years as a retail manager in a London publishing firm, during which time he taught himself to play the trombone and joined a Dixieland-style jazz band called Count Rudolph’s Syncopated Jazz Men. In their spare time during evening and weekends they played regularly at the Piccadilly Jazz Club, the Baker Street Jazz Club and other like venues.
Buckland and Rosemary In February of 1962, Buckland with his family immigrated to the United States and settled in Brentwood, Long Island, New York. There for the next ten years he worked for British Airways (then known as BOAC), which enabled him to travel extensively. Buckland’s interest in Spiritualism and the occult had continued up until this time, but he was still without a religion and felt there was something missing. Shortly after his arrival in the States two books came into his possession that would greatly influence his life and beliefs, The Witch-Cult In Western Europe by Margaret A. Murray (1921), and Witchcraft Today by Gerald B. Gardner (1954).
Until reading these two books Buckland had never looked upon Witchcraft as a religion, but now realized he had found what he felt was missing, an old but new religion that appealed to his own beliefs and sense of history “Wicca”. For more information about Wicca he contacted Gerald B. Gardner on the Isle of Man, and soon began a long-distance mail and telephone friendship with him. As their friendship matured Buckland became Gardner’s spokesman in the United States, and whenever Gardner received a query from the U.S., it was forwarded to and answered by Buckland.
In 1963 Buckland and his wife Rosemary flew back to the UK to be initiated and raised in Perth, Scotland by Gardner’s main High Priestess Monique Wilson. Gardner joined them for the initiation ceremony, during which Buckland was given the craft name “Robat” and Rosemary named “Lady Rowen”. This was the first and only physical meeting between Buckland and Gardner, for shortly after, Gardner left the UK to vacation the winter months in the Lebanon. On the 12th February 1964 while returning on board a ship called The Scottish Prince, Gerald B. Gardner suffered a fatal heart attack and was buried on shore in Tunis the following day.
In America interest in Witchcraft was catching on quickly, but Buckland built his coven (known simply as the New York Coven and located in Bay Shore, Long Island) slowly and with caution, and stuck to the traditional intensive screening program and “year-and-a-day” probationary period before accepting new initiates. However, many people who wanted to become Gardnerian Witches felt that Buckland was being over cautious, and those who didn’t want to wait for initiation simply went away and started their own. Buckland persisted; he wanted only those people with a genuine interest in the craft as a religion. Initially secretive, he strove to keep his name and address from the press, but eventually his name was published by journalist Lisa Hoffman in the New York Sunday News, and this focused attention on him as a leading authority and spokesman of the craft. On the other hand it also led to a deal of negative persecution on himself, his wife and two children.
Buckland and Rosemary The first Museum
In imitation of Gerald B. Gardner’s Museum of Witchcraft and Magic on the Isle of Man, and perhaps inspired by it, Buckland also began collecting artefacts and pieces for his own museum. He called it “The First Museum of Witchcraft and Magic in the United States” which was formally opened to view (by appointment only) in 1968. His collection started in a bookcase and then as it grew it took over the basement of their home. Eventually it grew so large that in 1973 he was forced to move it into an old Victorian house in Bay Shore. The museum proved a popular success and was featured in numerous national magazine and newspaper articles; it was also the subject of a television documentary. At various other times a selection of his artefacts was loaned to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and other museums.
Writing career
Buckland started to write about witchcraft in 1968, and in 1969 published his first book A Pocket Guide to the Supernatural. He followed this in 1970 with Witchcraft Ancient and Modern and Practical Candleburning Rituals. That same year he wrote his first novel Mu Revealed under the pseudonym Tony Earll (an anagram for – ‘not really’). Writing became a passion for Buckland and he wanted more time to devote to it. By 1973 when his collection of museum artefacts had grown large enough for him to occupy a rented building in Bay Shore, he quit his job with BOAC and opened the museum full-time to the public. Running the museum himself while at the same time concentrating on his writing, writing became an occupation that lasted his lifetime producing an average of one book a year.
That same year in 1969 his marriage to Rosemary broke up and they parted company after first handing leadership of their Long Island coven over to Lady Theos and Phoenix (Judy and Tom Kneitel), who became the High Priest and Priestess of the first and original Gardnerian coven in America. Since its inception in 1964 other covens had hived off the original and slowly but surely began spreading the Gardnerian tradition of Wicca/Witchcraft across America. As other traditions began to appear with their own varying styles of practice, so the craft became a viable alternative religion in America with legal status.
After the break up of his marriage, Buckland moved to Weirs Beach in New Hampshire where he reopened his museum in a new building and continued with his writing. He then remarried in 1974 to Joan Helen Taylor. At about this time he decided to leave the Gardnerian tradition altogether feeling it no longer met his religious needs, he was also fed-up with the egotism and power trips exhibited by others within the craft. To fill the gap he developed and founded a new tradition called “Seax-Wica” which he based on a Saxon theme. Leaving behind the degree system of Gardnerian witchcraft he made Seax-Wica more open and democratic and published its rituals in The Tree: A Complete Book of Saxon Witchcraft (1974). Today the Seax-Wica tradition is practiced worldwide.
Buckland moved again in 1978, this time to Virginia Beach in southeastern Virginia. There he became the Educational Director of the Poseidia Institute, but sadly without suitable premises to house the museum he was forced to place all his artefacts into storage. While still in Virginia, Buckland started a Seax-Wica correspondence course, which soon grew to over 1,000 students worldwide. Initially he had plans to build a campus for it and turn it into a physical school, but these fell flat due to a lack of funds.
Into the early 1980’s he and his second wife Joan began to drift apart and were divorced in 1982. Just a year later he married again to his third and current wife Tara Cochran of Cleveland. They lived for a couple of years in Charlottesville, Virginia, before moving to San Diego, California. There they re-established the correspondence course and also set up a publishing company called Taray Publications, using this to published the Seax-Wica Voys, a Wiccan magazine. Eventually running the correspondence course took to much time away from his writing, so Buckland decided to close it down and phased it out. By this time however the Seax-Wica tradition was well established worldwide.
Ray with his brother Gerard circa 1982. Sadly he died in 2002.
Over the next few years while he continued to write, Buckland rekindled his teenage passion for acting and theatre, and began working for a theatrical film casting company in San Diego. During this period he became a close friend of the character actor John Carradine, and worked with him through the last few years of his life. He also worked with Vincent Price, and served as Technical Consultant Director on the Orson Welles film Necromancy. Other films he was involve with included The French Connection and The Exorcist by director William Friedkin. As well as meeting some of the movie industries elite directors and actors, Buckland played some minor character parts himself, such like the crazy psychiatrist in the cult movie Mutants in Paradise directed by Scott Apostolou. In 1992 after more than a quarter of a century working in and leading the craft in America, Buckland decided to retire from active participation. He moved his family to a small farmstead in north central Ohio. There except for occasional public appearances, lectures, workshops and book signings, he was content to concentrate on his writing and work with his wife Tara as solitary practitioners. His leisure interests included flying ultra-light aircraft and building unusual automobiles.
Buckland was a much sort-after authority on the occult, magic and the supernatural. He was a prolific and diverse writer, covering such subjects as mystery and fantasy fiction, screenplays, divination systems, spiritualism and metaphysical non-fiction. In the US he wrote numerous magazine and newspaper articles, and appeared in public promoting the craft all across America. In England, UK, he penned television scripts for the ITV’s The Army Game, a pilot script for the BBC’s Sly Digs, and for a short time was the personal scriptwriter for the English comedian “Ted Lane”. He has been seen on the BBC-TV in England, the RAI-TV in Italy, and the CBC-TV in Canada. As a distinguished teacher he has taught courses at New York State University, Hofstra University, New Hampshire Technical Collage and for Hampton, Virginia City Council.
(Photo's by Gregory C. Ford taken at the Lily Dale Spiritualist Assembly, NY) Buckland still working and presenting circa July 2011 Health
concerns
In 2015 it was reported that Buckland had suffered a massive life threatening heart attack brought on by a bad case of pneumonia. This necessitated him being airlifted to hospital and placed on a ventilator for more than several days severely debilitating the then 81 year old. He was then reported as making slow but steady progress back to health through physical therapy, about which he stated: “I am now walking two miles every morning and spending an hour on exercises every afternoon. I no longer will travel any great distances, don’t do public appearances, and keep pretty low key with my writing (all fiction these days). But on the bright side, I feel so much better and am keeping very active locally, though not in any way pagan-oriented.”
The
Buckland Museum Collection
Buckland’s contribution to the revival of Witchcraft in America is perhaps without equal, but “What happened to his Museum of Witchcraft and Magic”??? The last I had heard after more than twenty years in storage gathering dust it was moved and relocated in New Orleans and supposedly re-opened at 523 Dumaine St., situated in the French Quarter. In 2001, I personally visited New Orleans to experience the famous Mardi gras festival and research a bio-brief about Marie Laveau, the famous Voodoo Queen. While there I also went in search of Buckland’s museum, but was told he had run out of funds and it never opened?? Disappointed but still curious, I wondered what had become of it?? Further research revealed what happened.
Unable to take timeout from his busy writing schedule, and as book promotions and lectures increasingly demanded more of his time, rather than allow his collection to languish forever unseen in storage, in April 1999 Buckland sold the collection into the custody of a Gardnerian High Priest and Priestess in Houma, Louisiana. Monte Plaisance and his wife Tolia-Ann (aka Kirios Museos and Kiria Gypsy) were founders of the Church of Thessaly (a Graeco-Roman Coven) and organizers of a “WitchFest”, an annual gathering of witches in New Orleans. Together they owned and ran a metaphysical store called the “Crossroads”, which as well as being the base for their Church of Thessaly also hosted the “Buckland Museum Collection”.
The “Collection”, comprising of over 500 artefacts from broomsticks to torture devices is said to chart the History of Witchcraft, Ceremonial Magic and contemporary Paganism through the ages. Among the items are a 200-year-old mandrake root used in magic to bring wealth, love and fertility, a broom (circa 1850) used to sweep away misfortune and bad luck, a herb collection and many aged bottles said to be used by witches for the making of spells. The past fear and hatred of witches is evident in some of the European torture devices it contains, such as nail pullers, thumbscrews and tongue extractors used to force confessions out of witches during the hysteria. Historical documentation also sheds light on the “burning times” when women were burned at the stake for being suspected of witchcraft.
Since I last reviewed it, it appears that the custody and operating deal Buckland agreed to with Monte Plaisance had turned sour, and in 2008/2009 he was forced to take legal action to have the Collection returned to him. However there is still controversy as to whether the contents of the Collection had been returned in its entirety?? Since then Arch Priestess the Rev. Velvet Rieth of “The Covenant of the Pentacle Wiccan Church” (CPWC) based in New Orleans took over as the next owner/curator of the Collection and tasked with returning it to its original intended purpose – that of being viewed as a historical representation and teaching tool for and about Witchcraft and Magic. Sadly however in 2015, Velvet Rieth became so ill she could no longer manage and continue the task and so once again the Collection was returned to Buckland.
By this time after years of having been stored then packed-up, boxed, and shipped to several locations across the country, many important artefacts in the Collection were showing signs of disrepair and badly in need of restoration. Undaunted Buckland began looking for another owner/custodian and eventually found two friends in Ohio willing to take on the task. They are Kat Tigner and Toni Rotonda, owners of ‘The Cat & The Cauldron’, a Witchy Shop in Columbus, Ohio, and the home of the ‘Temple of Sacrifice’, a coven following an Egyptian pantheon they had co-founded with Buckland in 2005. Buckland was delighted and is quoted as saying: “These two ladies have taken on a formidable task but are doing wonderfully well with it. I have absolute trust in them and am extremely grateful to them for taking this on.”
Kat Tigner, Ray Buckland and Toni Rotonda
In July of 2015, while plans were being made to find a physical place to house the new museum, work also began on restoring some of the original artefacts, and as news of the project filtered out into the Pagan community more and more items were donated and added to supplement the collection, including items that once belonged to the likes of: Gerald B. Gardner, Patricia Crowther, Eleanor “Ray” Bone, Lady Rowan (Buckland’s first wife), Aleister Crowley, Israel Regardie, Sybil Leek, Anton LaVey and Leo Martello, to mention just a few. Many current Elders and Leaders of Paganism also donated items to the collection, they include: Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone, Laurie and Penny Cabot, Christopher Penczak, Sam Webster and Oberon Zell-Ravenheart who presented a gorgeous headdress that belonged to his late wife Morning Glory. From his own private collection Buckland also added the original manuscript of his now famous Blue Book - “Buckland’s Complete Book of Witchcraft.”
Left - Anne Duthers, Dean of Students at the Grey School of Wizardry - Center - Oberon Zell-Ravenheart who donated to the Collection - Right - Toni Rotonda owner of The Cat & The Cauldron - Buckland’s famous Blue Book. Eventually a suitable space to house the museum was found and made available inside a building occupied by “A Separate Reality Records” (a store that stocks Vintage, Rare and Collectable vinyl records) located at 2678 West 14th Street, Cleveland, Ohio. The new museum was renamed and called “The Buckland Gallery of Witchcraft & Magick”. Finally after all the hard work of relocating and restoring the collection, and then furnishing the new premises, on the 29th of April 2017 some 300 people attended the venue as Raymond Buckland cut the ribbon and officially opened the Museum to the public.
Ray Buckland cuts the ribbon at the official opening on the 29th April 2017.
Initially plain fronted to test local acceptance, just a few months later the entrance to the museum has been decorated.
While Toni Rotonda and Kat Tigner remain the official owners of the Buckland Collection artefacts, the management and day to day running of the museum has been turned over to professional museum curators Jillian Slane and her husband Steven Intermill as Directors of the business (Jillian has worked at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, while Steven is the curator for A Christmas Story House & Museum). Steven explains that currently only about 40% of the total Buckland Collection can be displayed at any one time due to limited space, and Jillian explains that they plan to rotate things on a regular bases to show the full Collection. They also plan to hold contemporary art shows, classes, and lectures in the museum as well as special events. In October 2017, the Columbus-based medium Susan Rawlings will be hosting a séance in the museum to start the ball rolling. The summer opening hours of the museum are currently Tuesday & Thursday: 5pm – 7 pm, Friday: 5pm – 8pm, Saturday & Sunday: 12pm – 5 pm, or you can email the museum at: “bucklandmuseum@gmail.com” for a special appointment. Admission to the museum has been set at $5. In the meantime the search for larger premises continues.
As official owners of the Buckland Collection, Toni Rotonda and Kat Tigner are acutely aware of the importance and need to preserve the Collection for the future history of Paganism in America. To that end they intend to follow the example of the late “John Belham-Payne” founder of the Centre of Pagan Studies (CFPS) in the UK, and once the sole owner of the “Doreen Valiente Collection” (bequeathed to him after her death on the 01st September 1999), by creating a legally binding “Trust Foundation” and turning ownership of the Collection over to a “Board of Trustees” to safe guard it for future generations.
Raymond Buckland passes over
Sadly on 28th October 2017 it was announced by Tara Buckland that her husband of 34 years Raymond Buckland had passed away in hospital at approximately 22.30 hrs on the evening of 27th October 2017. He had been recovering from fluid in the lungs that was affecting his breathing (perhaps a residual effect from the pneumonia attack he had suffered in 2015??). As she explains it: “He passed last night around 10:30 pm. “Buck had a bit of a hard time breathing yet was in no pain whatsoever. He had gone into the hospital as precaution and his lungs were filling with liquid. Again, no pain. He was talking and cracking jokes as usual. He got up last night and took two steps, turned to the nurse and said, “My chest hurts”, and that was it.”
A few days later as tributes and remembrance statements flooded in, Tara appeared on his FaceBook page with this to say:
This
is Raymond's wife, Tara. I have just come onto Ray's Facebook site and am
totally overwhelmed by the kind and loving thoughts of everyone. Thank you so
much. I know it would mean a lot to Ray (and it certainly does to me). Ray
was active right up until the very end. He walked 2 miles every day, ate a
healthy diet, lifted weights and worked so hard to maintain a vigorous life. He
far out-lived his father and brother who shared the same genetics so he did a
great job at staying vibrant. Ray
died of a failing heart on Wednesday evening but his death was painless. He was
in the hospital awaiting a procedure that would have possibly been of help when
he felt a flutter and then lost consciousness. There was no pulse. Hospital
staff worked for about 40 minutes to bring him back and then let him go. That
was it. I am grateful for the ease of it but of course am deeply saddened by the
loss. I
know that Ray loved to come onto Facebook and read all the comments by people.
He wasn't the best at keeping up communicating this way but he did read the
posts and was always touched by them. Thank you so much to each and every one of
you. I will try to post more soon. Blessed
be,
It has been stated elsewhere that the family is keeping his funeral and memorial service private, and further that they plan to hold a memorial celebration of his life sometime in 2018, this to be held at the Lily Dale Spiritualist Assembly in NY, a camp for spiritualists and freethinkers, and a place to where in his later years he reconnected with his spiritualist roots and became a frequent visitor and presenter.
Finally of all the tributes and remembrance statements I have seem and read, one in particular stands out as a fitting end to this bio-brief, and with permission from it's author I append it here:
A remembrance tribute by Anthony Murphy
The moon is half, and so are our hearts, for the great Raymond Buckland has been laid low. I pen here now a remembrance in his name, that he may be honored in his passing. Fare you well, kind sir, and may the ghosts of days past welcome you to the ethereal with warm embrace.
THE
WITCH
Wisdom,
legacy, imparted well
|
|
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
Email_Witches My online email discussion group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Email_Witches
Dove of Peace Help send a message of peace around the world! The Dove of Peace flies from site to site, through as many countries as possible. It does not belong to ANY belief system. Please help make a line around the globe by taking it with you to your site, by giving it to someone for their site, by passing it on to another continent or to the conflict areas of the world. May trouble and strife be vanquished in it's path.
mailto:George@controverscial.com
|
