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Pagan Pioneers: Founders, Elders, Leaders and Others
Stewart Farrar (1916-2000)
Written and compiled by George Knowles
Stewart Farrar was a journalist and prolific author of contemporary fiction and non-fiction books and articles about Witchcraft. Through his books, Farrar with his seventh wife Janet did much to explain the workings of modern witchcraft to the curious. Initiated into the craft in 1970 by the flamboyant Alex Sanders, over the following 30 years until his death in 2000, Stewart Farrar became the UK’s leading voice and expert on matters pertaining to Witchcraft.
Stewart Farrar was born on the 28th of June 1916, at 239 Winchester Road, Highams Park in Walthamstow, London. The son of a bank official Frank Farrar and Agnes (nee Picken) a schoolteacher, he was brought up in middle-class suburbia as a Christian scientist, but turned agnostic by the time he was 20. For his early education he attended the City of London School for Boys, before enrolling at University College London to study journalism. While in college he served as President of the London University Journalism Union and Editor of the London Union Magazine before graduating with a degree in journalism in 1937.
At the outset of World War II in 1939, Farrar voluntarily joined the Army where he remained for the duration. Commissioned as a Captain, he became an officer instructor in charge of Anti-aircraft gunnery, in which capacity he was asked to write the instruction manual for the 40mm Bofors gun, his first taste of serious writing. Discharged in 1946 with the rank of Major, Farrar decided to stay on in Germany and worked as a civilian for the Allied Control Commission as liaison/public relations and press officer for the German Coal Board. His experiences in post-war Germany and the things he saw in the immediate aftermath of war (he was one of the first British officers to enter Auschwitz) greatly influenced his personal and political beliefs.
Capt. Stewart Farrar aged 24
Returning to England in 1947, he again took up journalism and by 1953 was working out of London's Reuters office. In 1954, he quit his job with Reuters and joined the British Communist Party as editor of the Daily Worker. He remained a member of the Communist Party until the Hungarian uprisings, during which time he became disillusioned with the force the Soviets were using and left the party.
During the next six years, Farrar worked for the Associated British-Pathe and A. B. C. Television as a scriptwriter, he also did freelance work for the BBC (the British Broadcasting Company). His work for the BBC during the 1960's included the award-winning radio play “Watch the Wall my Darling”, a children's TV series called “The Boy Merlin” and “Pity About the Abbey”, a play for television that he co-wrote with the poet John Betjeman.
In 1958, Farrar wrote his first fiction novel, a detective thriller called ‘The Snake on 99’ (published by Collins Press, London), followed by two more detective novels ‘Zero in the Gate’ (published by Walker, NY in 1961) and ‘Death in the Wrong Bed’ (also by Walker, NY in 1963). Using the pen name ‘Laurie Stewart’, Farrar also wrote a romance novel called ‘ Delphine, Be a Darling’ (published by Hurst & Blackett, London in 1963).
In 1969 while working as a reporter for the weekly newspaper Reveille, Farrar was sent to review a film called “Legend of the Witches”. His assignment was to write an article on Alex Sanders, the so-called “King of the Witches” and his wife Maxine. Both had appeared in and provided technical advice on the film. Alex Sanders was something of a showman and was gaining notoriety in the news of that time, and Farrar’s editor felt there might be a story to tell.
Farrar succeeded in gaining an interview with Alex Sanders and from it wrote a two-part feature, this was later published in the Reveille. Due to the success of this feature, Sanders invited Farrar to write a new book, a compliment to his already published biography the “King of the Witches” written sometime earlier by June Johns. The new book was be about modern witches, “What they do, believe and why”. The result was the writing of Farrar’s most famous book, now a classic in it’s own time “What Witches Do”.
While writing “What Witches Do”, Stewart decided that in order to write a true account of ‘what they do’, he would need to become a witch himself. Maxine Sanders, Alex Sanders’ wife and High priestess, initiated Stewart into their craft tradition on the 21 February 1970. While training with their coven, Farrar met another initiate called Janet Owen (thirty-four years his junior), who later became his wife. According to Janet, they were both elevated to the second degree by Sanders on the 17th October 1970, and received their third degree on the 24th April 1971, but some Alexandrian revisionists have disputed these events.
“What Witches Do”, Farrar’s first non-fiction book was published in 1971 by Peter Davies of London. The book clearly established Farrar as a voice promoting Wicca in the community. However the book was controversial, for it included incidents that Sanders had fabricated about himself. Farrar also asserted that Sanders ranked above Gerald B. Gardner and alongside Aleister Crowley and Eliphas Levi in terms of magical achievement, a statement that was ridiculed by many. To his credit, Farrar later admitted that he may have been too credulous, and no long placed Sanders on the same level as Crowley, Levi and Gardner. Nevertheless, he refused to disparage Sanders by adding that in his own way he had made a significant contribution to Contemporary Witchcraft.
After taking their second degree Stewart and Janet decided to leave the Sanders’ coven and set up on their own, but under supervision. They founded their own coven during the Yule festivities of 1970,and after gaining their third degrees in April 1971 became independent. While indebted to the Sanders’ for their initial training in the craft, both Stewart and Janet felt that much of their teaching was sparse in content. From the start of their own coven in 1970, they both worked to develop and structure their own rituals and training methods for use within their own covens. Stewart and Janet handfasted in 1972, and were legally married at the Registry Office in Woking, Surrey in 1975, attended by Farrar's two daughters and two sons from three previous marriages. His marriage to Janet Owen was his seventh.
In April 1976, fed-up with the pace and toil of life in the crowded streets of London, they turned their coven over to Susan and David Buckingham and moved to the Republic of Ireland for the peace and quiet of the fields and mountains in County Mayo and County Wicklow, finally settling in at a two-bedroom cottage on the bog called “Herne Cottage” in Kells, County Meath. From there they continued to expand and found new covens. The structure and method of their workings had by this time developed and had changed radically from their original Alexandrian beginnings. Today some seventy five percent of Wiccans, both in the Republic and Northern Ireland, can trace their roots back to the Farrar’s.
Living in peaceful surrounding they each collaborated on writing some of the most influential books on modern witchcraft published to date. Such books as: Eight Sabbats for Witches and The Witches Way (jointly published as The Witches Bible), also The Witches Goddess, The Witches God, and Spells and How They Work (see Bibliography below). Their writings, some of which have now reached classic status, are an influence to both practitioners and future craft writers alike. They have also lectured in the United States, as well as Europe and the Netherlands, and are now exploring video as a medium for presenting further information on modern Paganism.
The Farrar’s returned to England in 1988, but returned to Ireland in 1993. There they were joined by Gavin Bone and entered into a “polyamory relationship”. In 1995, Stewart Farrar suffered a stroke, and Gavin as a trained nurse and healer was instrumental in helping him back to good health. The three of them co-author two more books ‘The Healing Craft’ and ‘The Pagan Path’.
Having developed their own brand of witchcraft, the Farrar’s became honorary initiates of several other traditions including “Traditional Italian Strega”. In 1999, they were ordained as third-level clergy with the Aquarian Tabernacle Church, and also hold the charter for the same in Ireland. This is now based at the Tempal Na Callaighe in Ireland.
Despite all their achievements and adornments, the Farrar’s prefer to be known simply as “Wiccans”, working on the Pagan Path. They believed strongly in the idea of Wicca being a progressive and dynamic religion that is accessible to all whom wanted to belong. After a brief illness Stewart Farrar passed into the next world on the 7th of February 2000.
Bibliography
Books by Stewart Farrar as the sole author:
The
Snake on 99
(1958) Collins Press, London Zero in the Gate (1961) Walker, NY Death in the Wrong Bed (1963) Walker, NY Delphine, Be a Darling (1963) (under pen name Laurie Stewart) Hurst & Blackett, London What Witches Do: A Modern Coven Revealed (1971) Peter Davies, London - ISBN: 0963065777 The Twelve Maidens (1973) Michael Joseph, London - ISBN 1578633907 The Serpent of Lilith (1976) (under pen name Margot Villiers) Arrow Books, London The Dance of Blood (1977) Arrow Books, London The Sword of Orley (1977) Michael Joseph, London Omega (1980) Arrow Books, London - ISBN 1578633893 Forcible Entry (1986) Robert Hale, London Blacklash (1988) Robert Hale, London Witches' Dozen (1996) Godolphin House, New Bern, NC Books with Janet Farrar:
A Witches' Bible: The Complete Witches' Handbook (1981 re-issue of The Witches' Way and Eight Sabbats for Witches) Robert Hale, London - ISBN 0919345921 Eight Sabbats for Witches (1981) Robert Hale, London (Hardcover) - ISBN 0-7091-8579-0 The Witches' Way (1984) Robert Hale, London - ISBN 0-7090-1293-4 The Witches' Goddess: The Feminine Principle of Divinity (1987) Robert Hale, London - ISBN 0919345913 The Life and Times of a Modern Witch (1987) Piatkus Books, London The Witches' God: Lord of the Dance (1989) Robert Hale, London - ISBN 0919345476 Spells and How They Work (1990) Robert Hale, London - ISBN 0-7090-3842-9 Books with Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone:
Pagan Path: The Wiccan Way of Life (1995) Phoenix Publishing - ISBN 0-919345-40-9 The Healing Craft: Healing Practices for Witches and Pagans (1999) Phoenix Publications Inc., Custer, WA - ISBN 0-7090-6563-9 The Complete Dictionary of European Gods and Goddesses (2000) Capall Bann Publishers - ISBN 1-86163-122-7
Up-date
There is a new autobiography about Stewart Farrar written posthumously by his last wife Janet Farrar and family friend Elizabeth Guerra
Sources
Encyclopedia of Wicca & Witchcraft - By Raven Grimassi A Witches' Bible - By Janet and Stewart Farrar What Witches Do - By Stewart Farrar
First published on the 25th April 2001, 22:01:18 © 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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