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
Robert ‘von Ranke’ Graves
Written and compiled by George Knowles
Robert ‘von Ranke’ Graves was a noted English poet, a classical scholar, novelist and critic, a prolific writer who during his life produced more than 140 books including: fifty-five collections of poetry, fifteen novels, ten classical translations, forty works of non-fiction, an autobiography and many literary essays. Among his best selling books were his autobiography: “Good-Bye to all That” (1929), and two historical novels: “I, Claudius” (1934) and it’s sequel “Claudius the God” (1943), both of which continue their commercial success through the popularity of BBC television adaptations. His most controversial best seller was his study of the myths and folklore of religion, called: “The White Goddess” (1948).
THE WHITE GODDESS
Robert Graves was born on the 24th of July 1895 in Wimbledon, England. He was the third of five children descendant from lines of academic ancestry. His grandfather Charles Graves (1812-1899) had been Bishop of Limerick, a prominent Irish antiquarian and a pioneer in deciphering Ogham inscriptions (see - http://www.shee-eire.com/Magic&Mythology/Ogham/Bethluinnin/ogam.htm
Charles
Graves
His father Alfred Percival Graves (1846-1931) was a minor poet and Gaelic scholar who played an important part in the revival of Irish literature, he was also the author of a popular song called “Father O’Flynn”.
Alfred
Percival Graves
His mother was Amalie von Ranke Graves, a great-niece of the German historian Leopold von Ranke (1795-1866). Leopold was a historian and educator of some renowned, whose quest for objectivity in history had a great impact on other historians of his day. The son of an attorney, Leopold was born in Wiehe on the 12th December 1795, and after studying at Leipzig University he worked for a time as a schoolmaster. His first book was called: “History of the Latin and Teutonic Nations” 1494-1514 (published in 1824). In it he criticised contemporary historians by condemning their reliance on what had been proposed and theorised, instead of relying on “what is” and what was “fact”. He then introduced his own more objective methods, which inspired the modern day school of history writing by relying primarily on eyewitness documentation of actual historical events. He also introduced the “seminar” as a method of teaching history and trained a generation of influential scholars. A
year later in 1825, Leopold was rewarded with a professorship at the University
of Berlin, a position he would hold until 1871. His studies took him to Vienna and Italy; where his research
into state archives provided the material for some of the most respected
historical writings of his age. His
works cover the history’s of some major European countries and include:
“The History of the Popes During the 16th and 17th Centuries”
(1834-36), “The History of the Reformation in Germany” (1839-47) and “
Wars and Monarchy in France in the 16th and 17th Centuries” (1852).
He also wrote an incomplete World History in nine volumes (1881-88).
Leopold von Ranke died on the 23rd of May 1886.
In the village of Wiehe, Germany, where he grew up, a museum has been
named in his honour outside of which stands a commemorative statue.
Leopold von Ranke - Museum in Wiehe
A more contemporary family connection of note can be made to “Olivia Melian Durdin-Robertson” and her brother “Reverend Lawrence Alexander Robertson” (the 21st Baron of Strathloch) owners of Clonegal Castle, Clonegal, Co Wexford in the Republic of Ireland. While there seems to have been little social contact between their families, it was here at the Vernal Equinox (21st March) 1976 that Olivia with her brother Lawrence and his wife Pamela, co-founded and established the now highly respected “Fellowship of Isis”.
Olivia Robertson (Cousin)
Robert Graves
As a young man, Robert Graves was greatly influenced by his mother’s patriotic beliefs in God, King and Country, mixed with his father’s love of Celtic poetry and mythology. Coming from a fair well to do family, during his early education Graves attended a number of London’s top preparatory schools but proved a difficult student more interested in boxing and mountain climbing than studying. He preferred the freedom of summer holidays in Wales, where he was able to explore the rugged countryside at his family’s home near Harlech. His roving experiences to historic Harlech Castle and the mountainous slopes of Snowdonia would influence much of his early poetry. In
1908 he won a scholarship to “Charterhouse” one of England’s most
famous and notable public schools. He
is said to have hated the school because of bullying about his name including ‘von
Ranke’ alluding to his German ancestry, and the propensity toward
homosexuality prevalent in public schools during his time there: In his autobiography:
“Goodbye to All That” (1929), Graves wrote about his time at
Charterhouse:
“In English
preparatory and public schools romance is necessarily homosexual. The opposite sex is despised and treated as something
obscene. Many boys never recover
from this perversion. For every one
born homosexual, at least ten permanent pseudo-homosexuals are made by the
public school system: nine of these
ten as honourably chaste and sentimental as I was.
In the second term the
trouble began. A number of things
naturally made for my unpopularity. Besides
being a scholar and not outstandingly good at games, I was always short of
pocket money. Since I could not
conform to the social custom of treating my contemporaries to tuck at the school
shop, I could not accept their treating. My clothes, though conforming outwardly to the school
pattern, were ready-made and not of the best-quality cloth that all the other
boys wore.
The most unfortunate
disability of all was that my name appeared on the school list as “R. von R.
Graves”. I had hitherto believed
my second name to be “Ranke”; the “von”,
encountered on my birth certificate, disconcerted me. Carthusians behaved secretively about their second names, and
usually managed to conceal fancy ones. I
could no doubt have passed off “Ranke”, without the “von”,
as monosyllabic and English, but “von
Ranke” was glaring.
Businessmen’s sons, at this time, used to discuss hotly the threat, and
even the necessity of a trade war with the Reich. ”German”
meant “dirty German”.
It meant: “cheap”,
shoddy goods competing with our sterling industries. It also meant military menace, Prussianism, useless
philosophy, tedious scholarship, loving music and sabre-rattling.
One of my last recollections at Charterhouse is a school debate on the motion “that this House is in favour of compulsory military service”. The Empire Service League, with Earl Roberts of Kandahar, V.C., as its President, sent down apropagandist in support. Only six votes out of one hundred and nineteen were noes. I was the principal opposition speaker, having recently resigned from the Officers Training Corps in revolt against the theory of implicit obedience to orders. And during a fortnight spent the previous summer at the O.T.C. camp near Tidworth on Salisbury Plain, I had been frightened by a special display of the latest military fortifications: barbed-wire entanglements, machine-guns, and field artillery in action. General, now Field-Marshal Sir William Robertson, who had a son at the school, visited the camp and impressed upon us that war with Germany must inevitably break out within two or three years, and that we must be prepared to take our part in it as leaders of the new forces which would assuredly be called into being. Of the six noes, Nevill Barbour and I are, I believe, the only ones who survived the war”.
Charterhouse
While life at Charterhouse may have proved difficult for Graves, in order to avoid it’s rigid routine, he often escaped into the world of poetic fancy. His first published poem: “The Mountain Side at Evening” appeared in the schools magazine: “The Carthusian” in June of 1911:
The Mountain Side at Evening
The poem caught the
attention of George Mallory, who at the time was one of the schools History
masters. Mallory would later claim
fame himself as the mountaineer whose name became synonymous with Mt. Everest.
As an expert mountaineer, he was one of the first to attempt to climb its
summit, leading three British expeditions to Mt Everest in the early 1920s.
On the third expedition in 1924, Mallory and his climbing partner Andrew
Irvine mysteriously disappeared in heavy weather. It seemed certain they had died somewhere on the
mountainside, whether they reached the summit before they died was unknown.
In 1999, another expedition found Mallory's frozen body 27,000 feet up on
the north face of the mountain. The
body while well preserved due to the freezing temperatures, offered no evidence
that he had reached the summit before his death.
Nearly 30 years after his death, Sir Edmund Hillary would become the
first man to officially reach the summit of Mt. Everest in 1953.
George Mallory - On Mount Everest Mallory was impressed by the poetic ability of Graves, and introduced him to the works of other writers, such as: John Masefield, George Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells and Rupert Brooke. Once he had started, Graves became increasingly fascinated with literature and by 1913, he co-edited a new school magazine called: “The Green Chartreuse”. In it Graves wrote a number of witty and eccentric essays, written in a style similar to those he wrote in the 1950s and 1960s. Mallory was also instrumental in launching his career as a poet and writer by introducing Graves to Sir Edward Marsh, a patron of the Arts and Poetry. Marsh
was a high-ranking Civil Servant who served as private secretary to Sir Winston
Churchill for more than 20 years. An avid collector of contemporary art he
became the patron of young aspiring artists, writers and particularly poets.
He was also the editor of the influential anthology “Georgian Poetry”. In 1912 together with the publisher Harold Monro (owner of
The Poetry Bookshop in London), he collated the first of five anthologies
containing contributions from some of the days most noted writers and poets
including: Rupert Brooke, Wilfred
Gibson, John Drinkwater, John Masefield, James Flecker, Walter de la Mare and D.
H. Lawrence. Later in 1917 he would
add contributions from: Siegfried
Sassoon, Robert Graves, Robert Nichols and Wilfred Owen. Through Marsh’s encouragement, Graves continued to experiment with verse forms and language, and poems such as “The Jolly Yellow Moon”, convinced Marsh that he had discovered in Graves a potential poet in the making: The Jolly Yellow Moon
Oh,
now has faded from the West In
1913, Graves won a scholarship to continue his studies at St. John’s College,
Oxford. However by this time
conflict in Europe had been brewing for sometime, and in August 1914, just a
week before he was to start at St. Johns, war was declared against Germany.
Graves at home in Harlech, Wales, immediately enrolled as a Junior
Officer in the Royal Welch Fusiliers. After initial training in Wrexham, NE Wales, in May 1915 he was sent and stationed in the trenches near Cuinchy in France. While waiting to see action on the battlefield he continued to write poetry, many of which poems he sent back to Edward Marsh. In September 1915 Graves took part in the “Battle of Loos”, surviving that he was then sent back to base camp for further training. While there he met Siegfried Sassoon who had joined his regiment and the two became firm friends.
Robert Graves - Siegfried Sassoon In July of 1916 during the first offensive of the “Battle of the Somme” both men were wounded, Graves seriously when shrapnel from an exploding shell pierced his chest and thigh. Returned to England to recover from their wounds, the army mistakenly informed Graves’ father that his son had been killed, and forwarded his personal belongings back to the family. His obituary was even published in “The Times” newspaper before it was realised he was still alive: Letter from Lieutenant Colonel Crawshay
informing Robert Graves’s parents of their son’s death on 22nd July 1916.
“I very much regret to have to write and tell you
your son has died of wounds. He was very gallant, and was doing so well and is a
great loss. He was hit by a shell and very badly wounded, and died on the way
down to the base I believe. He was not in bad pain, and our doctor managed to
get across and attend to him at once. We have had a very hard time, and our casualties have been
large. Believe me you have all our sympathy in your loss, and we have lost a
very gallant soldier. Please write to me if I can tell you or do anything”.
Graves
had been fortunate given the extent and nature of his wounds, but would suffer
the rest of his life due to permanent damage he sustained to his lungs.
Sent to north Wales to convalesce he resumed his friendship Siegfried
Sassoon, though some contend their relationship developed into more than just
friendship. Graves also published
his first collection of poetry called “Over the Brazier” (London: The
Poetry Bookshop, 1916; and New York: St Martins Press, 1975).
At the same hospital Sassoon introduced Graves to Wilfred Owen who was
being treated for shell shock. Graves
recognised his talent as a poet and recommended him to Edward Marsh, thus
furthering his short career. Graves
and Sassoon began to edit each other’s work and both were critical of the way
the war effort was being mismanaged. Sassoon
however was not afraid to write about it, and after going “absent without
leave” to highlight his protest, he wrote to his Commanding Officer
denouncing the war. Graves then
played an important part in saving Sassoon from court-martial.
He managed to persuade the Commanding Officer that Sassoon was mentally
unbalanced due to the effects and stress of the war, and that instead of a
court-martial; a Medical Board should be
convened to assess his mental state. As a result, Sassoon was sent to a
convalescent home in Craiglockhart near Edinburgh, and placed into the care of
Dr W.H.R. Rivers for psychological evaluation. Before
returning to active duty in January of 1917 Graves suffered a relapse brought on
by a respiratory infection leading to bronchitis. He was then sent to Somerville College, Oxford, now being
used as a temporary a military hospital. While
there, he had two more books on poetry published: “Goliath and David” (London: Chiswick Press, 1917)
and “Fairies and Fusiliers” (London: William Heinemann, 1917; New
York: Alfred. A. Knopf, 1918), both helped to established his reputation as a
wartime poet. Due
to the extent of his wounds Graves was assured of home-service for the rest of
the war, but like many other injured veterans, he could not overcome the
feelings of guilt that while he was safe, the rest of his men were still at war
and in peril. As soon as he was
sufficiently capable, Graves managed to get himself posted back to the front.
However, before he could see any further action, his company’s surgeon
spotted him. The surgeon considered Graves to be unfit for active duty and
threatened him with court-martial if he did not immediately remove himself back
to England. On his return to England and for the rest of the war, Graves was stationed at the regiment’s headquarters in Wales. There he was kept occupied in training Officer cadets for active duty in France and Germany. In the autumn of 1917, Graves met and began his first serious romance with Nancy Nicholson, the seventeen-year-old daughter of painter William Nicholson.
Nancy, a portrait by her father In January 1918, Graves and Nancy Nicholson were married. Their wedding was attended by Wilfred Owen who was home on leave from the war in France. As a wedding present, Owen presented Graves with a set of twelve “apostolic spoons”, perhaps igniting the theme of religion that would occupy much of Graves’ later life. This was the last time Graves would meet Owen, for he returned to the battlefields of France were he died just a week before the armistice was called on the 11th of November 1918. Shortly after the end of the war, Graves was demobbed from the army. Still quite traumatized by his experiences in the war, Graves decided to take up his position reading English at St. John’s College in Oxford.
St. Johns College - Main Entrance - Bridge of Sighs
There he was befriended and taken under the wing of T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) who at that time was a research fellow at Oxford while serving as a political adviser to the Middle East Department of the Colonial Office. Graves would later write his first official biography, which became his first commercially successful book: “Lawrence and the Arabs” (London: Jonathan Cape, 1927) and as “Lawrence and the Arabian Adventure” (New York: Doubleday, 1928).
T.E. Lawrence
Over the next few years within the peaceful surrounds of the Oxfordshire countryside, he and Nancy produced four children: Jenny, David, Catherine and Sam. Initially their relationship was happy and they even worked together on a children’s book of poems which Nancy illustrated: “Treasure Box” (London: Chiswick Press, 1920) and as “Country Sentiment” (London: Martin Secker, 1920; New York: Alfred. A. Knopf, 1920), but the stress of family life, little money and Robert’s still traumatized condition made for an unstable marriage. While completing his “BLitt degree” in 1926, Graves then met and began an intense and personal relationship with the American poet and theorist “Laura Riding”. Possessed of a strong and domineering personality, Riding’s influence would have a dramatic effect on Graves’ future writings, as well as his marriage to Nancy, for they soon became lovers.
Laura Riding That same year in 1926, Graves accepted a short-term position as Professor teaching English at the University of Cairo in Egypt. He left England with his wife and children, accompanied by Laura Riding, ostensively to collaborate with him on a study of modern poetry. While in Cairo, he and Riding established a small publishing business called the “Seizin Press”, through which they would later produce a semi annual magazine called “Epilogue”. Returning
to England his sometimes stormy relationship with Riding continued, but was
fraught with infidelities on both sides, indeed at one point in order to keep
his attention, Riding even attempted suicide by jumping from a third floor
apartment window causing damage to her back and pelvic bone.
Due to stress resulting from his relationship with Riding, his marriage
to Nancy seriously deteriorated and they separated permanently in 1927. By
this time Graves was a prolific writer and had published numerous books, mainly
on poetry. As Riding recuperated in
hospital, they collaborated and published two successful academic books:
“A Survey of Modernist Poetry” (London: William Heinemann,
1927; and New York: Doubleday, 1928), and “A Pamphlet Against Anthologies”
(London: Jonathan Cape, 1928) and as “Against Anthologies” (New York:
Doubleday, 1928), both of which became influential books on modern literary
criticism. Two
more books followed: “Mrs.
Fischer or The Future of Humour” (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner,
1928) and “The Shout” (London: Mathews & Marrot, 1929) before he
wrote his first best seller, a somewhat controversial autobiography called:
“Good-Bye to all That” (London: Jonathan Cape, 1929; New York:
Jonathan Cape and Smith, 1930; revised. Re-issued
by New York: Doubleday, 1957; London: Cassell, 1957; and Penguin: Harmondsworth,
1960). This book describes his
unhappy time at school, his horror and disillusionment of war, and the end of
his marriage to Nancy. While the
book became a huge bestseller, it also alienated several of his friends, most
notably Siegfried Sassoon and another poet Edmund Blunden. The
success of “Good-Bye to all That” allowed Graves the means to escape
from England, a country he had long been dissatisfied with and move with Laura
Riding to the little village of Deya in Majorca. There in a secluded area just outside of the village, he
built him himself a house and set himself up as a full time writer.
Deya in Majorca
Graves still considered himself primarily a poet and from Majorca produced a series of books on poetry: “Poems: 1914-26” (London: William Heinemann, 1927; New York: Doubleday, 1929) and “Poems: 1926-1930” (London: William Heinemann, 1931), but poetry alone could not sustain his life style, so he turned his attention to Classical literature and Mythology. With the growing tension of civil unrest and another war looming, he produced his two most successful historical novels: “I, Claudius” (London: Arthur Barker, 1934; New York: Smith & Haas, 1934) and its sequel “Claudius the God and his Wife Messalina” (London: Arthur Barker, 1934; New York: Smith & Haas, 1935). Later in the 1970’s, the BBC would adopted both these novels and turn them into an internationally popular television series. In
1936 at the start of hostilities brought on by the Spanish Civil War, Graves and
Riding where forced to leave Majorca. After
staying for brief periods in Lugano, Italy and Brittany in France, they settled
for a time in London were their relationship began to deteriorate.
While in London, Graves was introduced to Alan Hodge and his fiancée
Beryl Pritchard, members of the Graves-Riding literary circle.
He would later collaborate with Hodge on a number of projects, but his
fiancée would play a more important role in his life. Early
in 1939 Graves and Riding sailed for a brief tour of America were they were
invited to visit and stay with friends. After
one particularly good review of Ridings poetry appeared in the press, written by
American journalist Schuyler Jackson, they were invited to stay and visit with
him at his family home in Pennsylvania. Despite
his being married with four children, Riding quickly fell in love with Jackson
and determined she would have him, abruptly she announced to Graves that their
relationship was over. Graves was
shocked at the speed in which it had happened, but realised the futility of
arguing with her once her mind was made up, reluctantly he returned to London,
England on his own. A year later
having ousted his wife Kit, Laura Riding and Schuyler Jackson were married. Back in England, Graves had started to collaborate with Alan Hodge on “The Long Weekend” (London: Faber & Faber, 1940; New York: Macmillan, 1941), and “The Reader Over Your Shoulder” (London: Jonathan Cape, 1943; New York: Macmillan, 1943) reproduced in 1947 as “The Use and Abuse of the English Language”. At the same time he also began a relationship with his wife, Beryl Hodge (nee Pritchard) who would later become his second wife, and remain with him for the rest of his life.
Beryl Hodge When war against Germany was declared on the 3rd of September 1939, Graves and Beryl Hodge already living together, settled into the peaceful village of Galmpton in Devon. There they began to build a new life and despite the privation’s and restrictions afforded by the war, produced a new family of four children: William, Lucia, Juan and Tomas. In the meantime, Graves continued writing and collaborating with Alan Hodge, who surprisingly seemed to bear no grudge against him for stealing his wife. More
books on poetry followed, including: “No
More Ghosts: Selected Poems” (London: Faber & Faber, 1940), “Work
in Hand” with Norman Cameron and Alan Hodge (London: Hogarth Press, 1942),
and “Poems 1938-1945” (London: Cassell, 1945; New York: Creative Age
Press, 1946). He also wrote a
number of novels including: ”Sergeant
Lamb of the Ninth” (London: Methuen, 1940; reproduced as ”Sergeant
Lamb’s America” (New York: Random House, 1940), “Proceed, Sergeant
Lamb” (London: Methuen, 1941; New York: Random House, 1941) and “The
Story of Marie Powell: Wife to Mr. Milton” (London: Cassell, 1943)
reproduced as “Wife to Mr Milton: The Story of Marie Powell”
(New York: Creative Age Press, 1944). More
significant were his next two books: “The
Golden Fleece” (London: Cassell, 1944) reproduced as “Hercules, My
Shipmate” (New York: Creative Age Press, 1945) and “King Jesus”
(New York: Creative Age Press, 1946; London: Cassell, 1946), these were his
first ventures into the mythology of religion, a theme that would consume the
rest of his life in his search to find and understand the “White Goddess”,
and nearly all of his poetry from here on in is dedicated to her in token of his
adoration. However
domesticated and idyllic this time may have seemed to them, and as they
struggled to ignore the turmoil caused by a war raging all around them, like
most people during that time, they couldn’t entirely escape it’s effects.
In 1943 they received news that David, his second son from his first
marriage, was missing in action. They
later learned that while attempting to single-handedly take out a well-defended
enemy position, he had been shot and sadly didn’t survive. By the end of the war in May of 1945, Graves surveyed the war ravaged ruins of a country he had never really been happy in, and longed to return to the peace and seclusion of his home in Deya, Majorca. In May 1946, together with Beryl and his four children, he managed to secure transport and return to Majorca. There they set up home in the house he had built himself, which would remain his permanent place of residence for the rest of his life.
The Robert Graves house in Deya, Majorca Back in the seclusion of his home in Majorca, Graves began his quest for the “White Goddess” in earnest producing his first draught in 1948 which would go through a number of revisions: “The White Goddess” (London: Faber & Faber, 1948; New York: Creative Age Press, 1948; rev., London: Faber & Faber, 1952, and 1961; New York: Alfred. A. Knopf, 1958). In 1950 he and Beryl were married and while he would remain loyal to her for the rest of his life, he also sought additional poetic inspiration from the auspices of four younger muses. The first being Judith Bledsoe, followed by Margot and Cindy, and toward the end of his life Juli. From them he was inspired to write over 500 poems dedicated to the “White Goddess” in her various aspects of maiden, mother and crone. Except for annual trips to England to confer with publishers, give lectures and TV interviews, meetings with other writers, poets and friends, such as: T. S. Eliot and Gertrude Stein, among which can be added such celebrities as: Ava Gardner and Ingrid Bergman, he was not a lonely man. Graves also made occasional trips to Europe and even fewer trips to the United States, but for the most part of his time he preferred to remain in Majorca and concentrate on his writing. Not only did he write poetry, his main genre, but such a prolific writer had he become, he began producing books on criticism, fiction and mythology, and even translated some of the Greek and Latin classics such as: Apuleius – “The Golden Ass”, Seutonius – “The Twelve Caesars” and Homer’s – “Iliad”.
Study at Home In 1961, Graves returned to England briefly and served as Professor of Poetry at Oxford University until 1966. In 1968 he received the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry, and was also offered a CBE, but such an honour he declined, as he didn’t agree with the British honours system. Through the 1970’s as age and senility began to over take him, and to ensure his reputation as a poet, he collated what he felt was his finest work in “Collected Poems, 1975” (London: Cassell, 1975). Robert Graves died in Majorca following a long illness and gradual mental decline on the 07th of December 1985. He is buried at Deyá Church on the Island of Majorca, the place he called his home. The church with its tiny cemetery is located at the top of the village on a ledge above a deep gorge. He has no fancy gravestone, only a small area of concrete into which his name and dates were scratched before it dried.
The last resting place of Robert ‘von Ranke’ Graves Robert Graves toward the end of his life was unquestionably an eccentric man. What cannot be questioned was his important contribution to English literature. He foremost wanted to be known as a poet, but by the time of his death in 1985, his works were being published throughout the world and his literary reputation as a critic, novelist and classical writer of mythological history, seems to have exceeded this goal. One legacy he did leave behind was his total belief in the “White Goddess”.
Sources:
To be added.
First published on the 04 March 2007, 18:22:06 © George Knowles
Best wishes and Blessed Be
|
|
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: (Our Ancestors)
Pliny the Elder / Hesiod / Pythagoras / Paracelsus / Abramelin the Mage / Archimedes / Agrippa / Socrates / Aristotle / Albertus Magnus - “Albert the Great” / 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
Aidan A Kelly / 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 Praetorius / 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 / Hermann Löher / Herman Slater - Horrible Herman / Heinrich Kramer and the “Malleus Maleficarum” / Idries Shah / Isaac Bonewits / Israel Regardie / Ivo Domínguez Jr. / Jack Whiteside Parsons - Rocket Science and Magick / James "Cunning" Murrell - The Master of Witches / James Sprenger and the “Malleus Maleficarum” / 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" / Lambert Daneau / 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” / 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 / 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
|
