The Gerald Gardner – WICCA Archive

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The archive information below may be found online at http://geraldgardner.com/archive/index.php ********************************************** Gerald Gardner Archive This archive contains reproductions of several documents pertinent to Gerald Gardner and Wicca's history. Within each section, thumbnail pictures show the documents and links beside them give different resolutions with which to view them. The O.T.O. Charter The Witches' Mill Booklet The Memphis Material Letters from Doreen Valiente to Rev. T. Allen Greenfield Excerpts from a 1976 issue of Earth Religion News Press Articles Here are reproductions of several period news articles centering around Gerald Gardner and his associates. Most of these come from the impressive collection of Melissa Seims, featured on her website: www.thewica.co.uk. There are several other articles and books reproduced there, and the website includes Seims excellent original research. Illustrated article from September 27, 1952 large file Daily Dispatch article from August 5, 1954 on Gardner part 1 Daily Dispatch article from August 5, 1954 on Gardner part 2 Unknown Publication article on a talk Gardner gave at the Marylebone Spiritualist Association c. 1955 Weekend magazine article on Gardner from June 24, 1957 Daily Mail article from November 3, 1958 interviewing 'Dayonis' Sunday Times article from October 2, 1963 featuring Jack Bracelin News of the World article on Gardner's death from February 23, 1964 Evening Standard article on Monique Wilson from September 9, 1964 Tid Bits interview with Ray Bone from June 6, 1964 Saga US magazine article featuring Raymond and Rosemary Buckland from March, 1966 Obeserver article on Monique Wilson from December 1, 1968 Manx Star article about Monique Wilson / sale of Witches Mill from January 1973 part 1 Manx Star article about Monique Wilson / sale of Witches Mill from January 1973 part 2 Manx Star article about Monique Wilson / sale of Witches Mill from January 1973 part 3 Isle of Man Courier article about Monique Wilson / sale of Witches Mill from January 1973 Articles on Gardner/Wicca http://geraldgardner.com/essays.php .

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Constructing the Witch in Contemporary American Popular Culture
"SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES": CONSTRUCTING THE WITCH IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN POPULAR CULTURE Catherine Armetta Shufelt A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY December 2007 Committee: Dr. Angela Nelson, Advisor Dr. Andrew M. Schocket Graduate Faculty Representative Dr. Donald McQuarie Dr. Esther Clinton © 2007 Catherine A. Shufelt All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Dr. Angela Nelson, Advisor What is a Witch? Traditional mainstream media images of Witches tell us they are evil “devil worshipping baby killers,” green-skinned hags who fly on brooms, or flaky tree huggers who dance naked in the woods. A variety of mainstream media has worked to support these notions as well as develop new ones. Contemporary American popular culture shows us images of Witches on television shows and in films vanquishing demons, traveling back and forth in time and from one reality to another, speaking with dead relatives, and attending private schools, among other things. None of these mainstream images acknowledge the very real beliefs and traditions of modern Witches and Pagans, or speak to the depth and variety of social, cultural, political, and environmental work being undertaken by Pagan and Wiccan groups and individuals around the world. Utilizing social construction theory, this study examines the “historical process” of the construction of stereotypes surrounding Witches in mainstream American society as well as how groups and individuals who call themselves Pagan and/or Wiccan have utilized the only media technology available to them, the internet, to resist and re- construct these images in order to present more positive images of themselves as well as build community between and among Pagans and nonPagans.
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Surviving and Thriving in a Hostile Religious Culture Michelle Mitchell Florida International University, [email protected]
Florida International University FIU Digital Commons FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations University Graduate School 11-14-2014 Surviving and Thriving in a Hostile Religious Culture Michelle Mitchell Florida International University, [email protected] DOI: 10.25148/etd.FI14110747 Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd Part of the New Religious Movements Commons Recommended Citation Mitchell, Michelle, "Surviving and Thriving in a Hostile Religious Culture" (2014). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1639. https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/1639 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the University Graduate School at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY Miami, Florida SURVIVING AND THRIVING IN A HOSTILE RELIGIOUS CULTURE: CASE STUDY OF A GARDNERIAN WICCAN COMMUNITY A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in RELIGIOUS STUDIES by Michelle Irene Mitchell 2014 To: Interim Dean Michael R. Heithaus College of Arts and Sciences This thesis, written by Michelle Irene Mitchell, and entitled Surviving and Thriving in a Hostile Religious Culture: Case Study of a Gardnerian Wiccan Community, having been approved in respect to style and intellectual content, is referred to you for judgment. We have read this thesis and recommend that it be approved. _______________________________________ Lesley Northup _______________________________________ Dennis Wiedman _______________________________________ Whitney A. Bauman, Major Professor Date of Defense: November 14, 2014 The thesis of Michelle Irene Mitchell is approved.
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The Methodology of Resistance in Contemporary Neopaganism
University of Puget Sound Sound Ideas Summer Research 2012 The ethoM dology of Resistance in Contemporary NeoPaganism Rebecca Short [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://soundideas.pugetsound.edu/summer_research Part of the Comparative Methodologies and Theories Commons, History of Religions of Western Origin Commons, New Religious Movements Commons, and the Other Religion Commons Recommended Citation Short, Rebecca, "The eM thodology of Resistance in Contemporary NeoPaganism" (2012). Summer Research. Paper 151. http://soundideas.pugetsound.edu/summer_research/151 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Sound Ideas. It has been accepted for inclusion in Summer Research by an authorized administrator of Sound Ideas. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Rebecca Short 24 September 2012 Professor Greta Austin The Methodology of Resistance in Contemporary NeoPagan Culture The number of adherents of NeoPaganism is one of the fastest growing, doubling in numbers about every eighteen months. 1 NeoPaganism is a set of several religious traditions and spiritualities that seek to either (1) painstakingly reconstruct the indigenous religions of the Christianized world, especially those of Europe, or (2) reinterpret these religions in the contemporary era to formulate new religious traditions. Reconstructionist NeoPagan traditions include Asatru , a Norse Reconstructionist path, and Hellenismos , a Greek Reconstructionist religion. More contemporary, eclectic, new religious movements include Wicca, a tradition of religious witchcraft born out of the ancient Hermetic school of spirituality and magic practice. Wicca is by far the most popular tradition (or, now, set of traditions) in all of NeoPaganism. This religious tradition was started by a man named Gerald Gardner in 1950s England.
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The Meaning of Witchcraft
THE MEANING OF WITCHCRAFT By G. B. GARDNER Introduction by Dr. Leo Louis Martello MAGICKAL CHILDE, INC. 35 W. 19th St. (Gerald Gardner) GARDNER GRAND OLD MAN OF WITCHCRAFT By DR. LEO LOUIS MARTELLO Gerald B. Gardner’s biography has been published many times, including a chapter on him in my own Witchcraft: The Old Religion. For the record his first Craft book was High Magic’s Aid published in 1949, a self-published work. His second was Witchcraft Today in 1954 and his last was The Meaning of Witchcraft, 1959, five years before his death. Prior to these he had written A Goddess Arrives, 1948, and Keris and Other Malay Weapons, 1936. The latter and High Magic’s Aid were published under his pen-name of Scire. In Witchcraft Today the Bibliography has no listing of Charles Godfrey Leland and in this book he lists only Leland’s Gypsy Sorcery. Yet a careful study of the Gardnerian Book of Shadows reveals that many passages were copied directly from Leland’s Aradia. The secret name of the Goddess used in Gardnerian rites is also most revealing. His new converts shed lots of heat but not too much light, especially in view of all the hagiographical hogwash written about him. Those converts who saw the light preferred to keep others in the dark. This is characteristic of all new converts to any faith. And today none of this matters as the Craft... The Old Religion... Paganism has grown and expanded worldwide where the myths of the past, the factual inconsistencies, the claims and counterclaims fade into insignificance.
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An Elusive Roebuck Luciferianism and Paganism in Robert Cochrane’S Witchcraft
Correspondences 1.1 (2013) 75–101 ISSN 2053-7158 (Online) correspondencesjournal.com An Elusive Roebuck Luciferianism and Paganism in Robert Cochrane’s Witchcraft Ethan Doyle White E-mail: [email protected] Web: http://ethandoylewhite.blogspot.com Abstract The English occultist Robert Cochrane (1931–1966) has remained an enigmatic figure ever since his death under mysterious circumstances almost fifty years ago. The Magister of a coven known as the Clan of Tubal Cain, Cochrane was a co-founder of Cochranian Witchcraft and a vocal critic of Gerald Gardner (1884–1964) and mainstream elements of the Wiccan movement. Cochrane’s legacy is today evident in a variety of contemporary magico-religious groups, including the rejuvenated Clan, the 1734 tradition and the wider “Traditional Witchcraft” current of Western esotericism. Recent academic thought has maintained that Cochrane’s tradition was a form of contemporary Paganism akin to that of Gardner, although this has not gone unchallenged; in recent years, Cochrane’s successor Shani Oates (1959–) has argued that Cochranianism is not a tradition of the Pagan Craft, but should instead be understood as a Luciferian and Gnostic spiritual path quite distinct from contemporary Paganism. In this article, the author endeavours to explore this complicated issue, using both historical textual sources and information obtained from oral histories. Keywords Traditional Witchcraft; Robert Cochrane; Luciferianism; Contemporary Paganism; Contemporary Witchcraft Introduction © 2013 Ethan Doyle
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From Man to Witch Gerald Gardner 1946-1949 Morgan Davis
From Man to Witch Gerald Gardner 1946-1949 Morgan Davis www.geraldgardner.com From Man to Witch, Gerald Gardner 1946-1949 www.geraldgardner.com © Morgan Davis & www.geraldgardner.com Version 1.1 2 From Man to Witch, Gerald Gardner 1946-1949 www.geraldgardner.com Guide to Sections The Comment 4 Acknowledgements 4 Introduction 5 1946: Old Catholics and Freemasons 9 1946-1947: Museums and Naturists 14 1947-1948: Aleister Crowley and the O.T.O. 22 1947-1948: America and Family 39 1949: High Magic's Aid 42 Conclusion: 1949 and Beyond 46 Works Cited 48 Version 1.1 3 From Man to Witch, Gerald Gardner 1946-1949 www.geraldgardner.com The Comment This essay is an internet document, and, as such, it represents a notable draft of a work in progress. This gives you, the reader, a number of opportunities not commonly available from a paper-published essay. For instance, the on-line copy of this essay will always contain the most current information that I have, and you have the opportunity of helping contribute to this work by sending any comments, corrections, or new information to [email protected]. Also, since this essay will always be changing (hopefully for the better), it is especially important that the copy available for download on the website is the only copy available on the internet. This means that, in addition to the normal copyright restrictions, this essay should not be mirrored or copied to any other website. However, linking to it is encouraged! The address where you can find it is: http://www.gerladgardner.com/index/Gardner46-49.PDF I call this work a draft because I do not think it is entirely accurate, complete, or well written.
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Philip Heselton, Doreen Valiente: Witch
[The Pomegranate 18.1 (2016) 108-111] ISSN 1528-0268 (print) doi: 10.1558/pome.v18i1.30254 ISSN 1743-1735 (online) Philip Heselton, Doreen Valiente: Witch (Nottingham, UK: The Doreen Valiente Foundation in association with The Centre for Pagan Stud- ies, 2016), 357 pp., £21.99 (hardcover) £14.99 (paper) While it is Gerald Gardner (1884–1964), the internationally renowned “Father of Wicca,” who is most often credited with helping to bring this Pagan new religious movement out of the shadows and into public consciousness, there is a strong argument to be made that he would never have been anywhere near as successful had it not been for the work of his most influential and significant high priestess, Doreen Valiente (1922–1999). Born in the southern English county of Surrey, Valiente began practicing magic as a child and later became acquainted with Gardner after learning of him from a magazine arti- cle. Being initiated into his Gardnerian tradition of Wicca at Mid- summer 1953, Valiente subsequently became the high priestess of his Bricket Wood coven, during which time she rewrote much of the ritual liturgies and poems contained within his Book of Shad- ows. Although she broke from him in 1957, she retained her belief in Wicca and involved herself in the traditions of rivals like Raymond Howard and Robert Cochrane. From the early 1960s through to the late 1980s she published a series of five books on Wicca, through which she sought to publicize the faith to a far wider audience. By the time of her death she was well-respected as an elder in the Craft, coming to be widely known as the “Mother of Modern Witchcraft” or “Mother of Wicca.” The author of this biography, Philip Heselton, first made a name for himself in the British Earth Mysteries movement, establishing The Ley Hunter magazine and later authoring volumes on ley lines and earth spirits in the 1980s and 90s.
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Embracing the Lash
JO PEARSON Embracing the lash Pain and ritual as spiritual tools Introduction ‘When the whip is raised, when leather, scourge, and cane strike against covered or naked flesh, we stand before a stage—a stage on which ritual unfolds’ (Largier 2007: 13). This chapter explores the use of scourging in Wicca, where the unfolding of ritual takes place within a larger ritual context, potentially magnifying the efficacy of pain as a nexus of trans- formation and transcendence, in which flagellation ‘is not merely a type of beating or a manner of generating pain. Instead, it evokes a complex, multi-layered, imaginary horizon that encompasses religious, erotic, and legal frames of reference’. (Largier 2007: 14.) Whilst the use of flagellation for the purposes of purification, punishment or redemptive salvific activity has long been accepted in Christianity, its use in newly emergent religions such as Wicca, where the religious use of pain cannot be sidelined as an historical aberration but must instead be under- stood within the context of (post)modern spirituality, has elicited little de- bate. Whilst purification and, to a far lesser extent, punishment still have their place, in Wicca submission to pain must also be explored in terms of initi- atory ordeal, as well as an opportunity for transcendence and as arousal, sen- sation, and energy generation. However, voluntary submission to the inflic- tion of pain, especially in order to enable religious/spiritual experience, tends to be regarded as anathema and as such, remains largely hidden, concealed behind a veil of categorisations of sexuality and psychopathology developed since Krafft-Ebing in 1886.
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Inside, Outside and In-Between: Ambiguity, Fieldwork and Ethnography
The Journal of the British Association for the Study of Religions (www.basr.ac.uk) ISSN: 0967-8948 Diskus 17.1 (2015), 47-53 Inside, outside and in-between: ambiguity, fieldwork and ethnography. Helen Cornish Goldsmiths, University of London [email protected] ABSTRACT The extent to which researchers in religious fields claim membership of the group has long been a subject of debate in the social sciences. While many theoretical and methodological concerns have been thrashed out since the 1980s, which have resulted in a general consensus that prioritises “good research”, regardless of membership or position. However, in practice, the faith status of the researcher continues to raise its head, either from practitioner or scholarly quarters. In this short reflexive account I consider some implications of insider/outsider debates: I start by reflecting on recent conversations about my research status, and use these to explore the shadow the “Lurhmann effect” has cast on my relationships with British Witches and Wiccans and the ambiguous boundaries between inside and outside. * * * PROLOGUE In the autumn of 2014, a week or so after the BASR Roundtable at the heart of this publication, a conversation drew my attention to some the ambiguities around my fieldwork status and relationships. I attended a book launch at Atlantis, an independent occult bookshop near the British Museum in central London. A hub for magical encounters since 1922, it has witnessed the meetings of many twentieth century Occultists and writers. We were celebrating the publication of a collection of writing by Cecil Williamson, the founder of the Museum of Witchcraft in Boscastle, Cornwall (Patterson 2014).1 In the aftermath of the BASR conference my attention was still focused on the dynamics around insider-outsider claims in research.
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From Man to Witch Gerald Gardner 1946-1949 Morgan Davis
From Man to Witch Gerald Gardner 1946-1949 Morgan Davis © Morgan Davis & www.geraldgardner.com From Man to Witch, Gerald Gardner 1946-1949 www.geraldgardner.com Guide to Sections The Comment 3 Acknowledgements 3 Introduction 4 1946: Old Catholics and Freemasons 6 1946-1947: Museums and Naturists 9 1947-1948: Aleister Crowley and the O.T.O. 14 1947-1948: America and Family 25 1949: High Magic's Aid 27 Conclusion: 1949 and Beyond 30 Works Cited 31 Print Version 1.1 2 From Man to Witch, Gerald Gardner 1946-1949 www.geraldgardner.com The Comment This essay is an internet document, and, as such, it represents a notable draft of a work in progress. This gives you, the reader, a number of opportunities not commonly available from a paper-published essay. For instance, the on-line copy of this essay will always contain the most current information that I have, and you have the opportunity of helping contribute to this work by sending any comments, corrections, or new information to [email protected]. Also, since this essay will always be changing (hopefully for the better), it is especially important that the copy available for download on the website is the only copy available on the internet. This means that, in addition to the normal copyright restrictions, this essay should not be mirrored or copied to any other website. However, linking to it is encouraged! The address where you can find it is: http://www.gerladgardner.com/index/Gardner46-49.PDF I call this work a draft because I do not think it is entirely accurate, complete, or well written.
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P>Modern Witchcraft / Wicca
Modern Witchcraft / Wicca Witchcraft and Wicca are one of many Pagan paths that could be classified under the umbrella term ‘Paganism’ along with things like Druidry and Asatru. It is a nature- based, mystery religion that honours the Goddess and the Horned God in their many guises, which can be viewed as psychological archetypes. The terms Witchcraft and Wicca are often used interchangeably and seen as synonymous, although not everyone would agree with this definition. It is perhaps truer to say that Wicca is a form of Witchcraft but not all Witches practice Wicca. There are now many forms, branches and traditions of Witchcraft, with rituals and beliefs that can vary quite widely, the main ones are summarised below. Probably the most well-known manifestations of modern Witchcraft are often referred to as ‘Gardnerian’ and ‘Alexandrian’ Witchcraft; so-called due to the people who are seen as being mainly responsible for their growth, namely one Gerald Gardner and Alex Sanders. Although Alexandrian Witchcraft could also be considered to be a slightly later variation on Gardnerian Wicca, with its main distinguishing feature being its greater use of ceremonial magic. It tends to be these two branches that are more readily identified with the terms ‘Wicca’ and ‘The Wica’. People following these paths tend to be a member of a Coven that meets regularly to celebrate the festivals and work magic. Rituals are often performed ‘skyclad’ (naked), and ideally there should be a balance of male and female members, though this is often not achieved in practice. There is an overall emphasis on fertility, and the natural cycles of the year.
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Spencerneopagrit.Pdf (873.8Kb)
NEO-PAGANISM: RITUAL AND LIFE FORGED BY THE BURNING TIMES A THESIS IN Sociology Presented to the Faculty of the University of Missouri-Kansas City in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree MASTER OF ARTS by LINDA SPENCER A.A., Johnson County Community College, 1994 B.A., University of Missouri-Kansas City, 1998 Kansas City, Missouri 2011 © 2011 LINDA SPENCER ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii NEO-PAGANISM: RITUAL AND LIFE FORGED BY THE BURNING TIMES Linda Spencer, Candidate for the Master of Arts University of Missouri-Kansas City, 2011 ABSTRACT The Burning Times has been of interest to both scholars and practitioners alike over the past few decades. The interest typically focuses on those that died and the discrepancy of the number of those who perished. While the historical and sociological aspects of the Burning Times are fascinating, when the analytical lens is shifted to examine how the Burning Times affect present-day practitioners, it proves to be just as fascinating and much more subtle. Paganism’s practitioners greet the Burning Times with a sense of ambivalence. The Burning Times balances between being meaningful and meaningless. The Burning Times can be understood through legitimacy, myth, and space and time through two means. First, it can be seen, through Ritual practice within Pagan covens. Second, the Burning Times can be seen when Pagans make the decision whether to be “out” or closeted. Throughout both of these areas of study, the element of ambivalence can be seen. iii The faculty listed below, appointed by the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, have examined a thesis titled “Neo-Paganism: Ritual Forged by the Burning Times,” presented by Linda Spencer, candidate for the Master of Arts degree, and certify that in their opinion it is worthy of acceptance.
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