The Wild Hunt » Gardnerian Wicca

Wicca Has a “Founding Document”?

Jason — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 13:56:58 +0000

There’s a rather entertaining “top 10″ list of grimoires (both fictional and authentic) in a recent Guardian article that has been making the rounds on the Pagan web. What interested me was the entry (coming in at #10) for “Book of Shadows”.

“Last but not least there is the founding text of modern Wicca – a pagan religion founded in the 1940s by the retired civil servant, folklorist, freemason and occultist Gerald Gardner. He claimed to have received a copy of this “ancient” magical text from a secret coven of witches, one of the last of a line of worshippers of an ancient fertility religion, which he and his followers believed had survived centuries of persecution by Christian authorities. Through its mention in such popular occult television dramas as Charmed, it has achieved considerable cultural recognition.”

Now this was obviously a puff piece, not meant for serious scrutiny, but there are all sorts of small quibbles here. First, in this instance it should probably be called “Gerald Gardner’s Book of Shadows”, or the “Gardnerian Book of Shadows”, since all Witches are supposed to keep their own BOS and there are literally thousands of them around today. Secondly, Gardner’s BOS is Wicca’s “founding text” in only the loosest sense of the term (and try telling some other traditional Wiccan groups that Gardner wrote their “founding document”) since the religion is far more about practice (praxis) than text, and many of the rituals and poetry we associate with Wicca today were added after Gardner introduced the book to his group (just think of the additions of Doreen Valiente alone). Thirdly, the modern pop-culture associations with a “book of shadows” have almost nothing to do with Gardner’s book. Charmed is hardly paying some subtle tribute to “Ye Bok of ye Art Magical”.

This isn’t to say that the Gardnerian Book of Shadows hasn’t been hugely influential on the development of what we now call Wicca, only that the author assigns Gardner’s original book a certain kind of importance and centrality that it no longer possesses. Nor was Gardner some sort of Moses bringing the tablets of Wiccan law down from on high. I was under the impression it was more cookbook than holy writ, added and changed to adapt to the changing times. I’m sure Owen Davies, who has written at some length on witchcraft (and is flogging a new book concerning grimoires), knows all this and was simply trying to put an entertaining list together. What he’s really in trouble for is ranking Wicca’s “founding text” lower than the entirely fictitious Necronomicon!

PS – Thanks to Brendan Myers for tipping me off to this story.

Tom K. (Phoenix) 1933 – 2008

Jason — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 16:51:00 +0000

Gardnerian Wicca elder Tom K. (aka Phoenix) passed away on Friday, August 22nd, at the age of 75. Phoenix, along with his wife Judy (aka Theos), was hugely influential on the development of Wicca in America.

Tom K./Phoenix

Phoenix and Lady Theos were initiated into the Craft by Rosemary and Raymond Buckland, who were largely responsible for bringing British Traditional Wicca to America. When Rosemary Buckland retired as High Priestess in 1972, Phoenix and Theos took over the coven and became spokespersons and leaders for the Gardnerian tradition in America.

These new duties included Phoenix editing and publishing a Gardnerian Craft newsletter entitled “Gardnerian Aspects” within the Church of All World’s “Green Egg” magazine, and co-writing a set of notes and guidelines for American covens to use. Phoenix also contributed to Margot Adler’s landmark book on modern Paganism “Drawing Down the Moon” where he explored questions regarding initiations, validity, and ego that many in the Craft continue to wrestle with.

“I have come across those who have carefully and proudly constructed their own “Traditions.” initiated themselves, and have gone on to keep their secrets and to function with inspiration, sincerity, and effectiveness. On the other hand, I think we have all, from time to time, had contact with those who are apparently well able to substantiate a so-called “valid initiation” (in fact, more than likely a dozen initiations, the majority being “honorary” or otherwise non-working and non-learning) but to whom the Wicca means little or no more than a publicity gimmick, or a way of supporting themselves, a power/ego excursion… Who of these, then, is truly of the Wicca?”

In addition to all this, Phoenix, along with Raymond Buckland, Rosemary Buckland, Lady Theos, and other elders, created what they designated as the authentic first-degree Book of Shadows for American Gardnerian Craft. An ever-evolving work that is still used in active covens across America today. Phoenix’s contributions to Wicca, and modern Paganism, are hard to fully quantify. Needless to say, we owe him a debt of gratitude for his service and dedication. May he rest with the Lord and the Lady in the Summerland, and return to us again.

The Kelly Conspiracy

Jason — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 15:29:00 +0000

Fellow Pagan blogger (and academic) Chas Clifton punches massive holes in the conspiracy theories being manufactured by Aidan Kelly and Thoth Publications on the release of “Inventing Witchcraft: A Case Study in the Creation of a New Religion”.

“The book they tried to ban. When the first edition of this book was released, conservative Gardnerian Witches attempted to suppress it, claiming that it discredited their religion. Even though its first printing quickly sold out, the original publisher, faced with death threats and boycotts, agreed to abandon the project, and no other publisher has dared to reprint it before now.”

To which Clifton replies: “Horse s**t. Elephant dung. Monkey poop.” He then proceeds to debunk the conspiratorial claims one by one, including the “fact” that Llewellyn would be intimidated by controversy or anger from Gardnerian Witches.

“[Llewellyn] wanted to publish it. After thirty years in the occult publishing business, [Llewellyn president Carl Weschcke] probably treated the displeasure of his reading public less seriously than he treated Minnesota mosquitoes. Death threats indeed. Controversy is good for publishers, as Thoth is obliquely admitting by trying to manufacture some.”

So why all the ruckus? “Inventing Witchcraft” is an expansion and re-working of “Crafting the Art of Magic” (published in 1991), the first book entirely devoted to tracking down the origins of Wicca using textual criticism on various copies of the Gardnerian Book of Shadows. In short, the book challenged the idea that Wicca was an ancient lineaged mystery religion, an action that made him controversial.

“In 1991, Llewellyn published a book written by Kelly titled Crafting the Art of Magic, which he describes as a trade version of the scholarly work the publisher rejected, in which he challenges Gerald Gardner’s claim that Wicca is an ancient tradition. Rather, Kelly wrote, Wicca was something that Gardner made up himself. Kelly claims that his research indicates that Gerald Gardner invented modern witchcraft in 1946 and that Aradia was one of Gardner’s major sources. Kelly also charges that certain aspects of Gardnerian practice were a result of Gardner’s alleged ’sexual addictions.’ In his book, Kelly defends Wicca as ‘a thriving, beautiful religion in its own right (that) does not require an appeal to the past for legitimacy.’”

While Kelly’s work is still considered a valuable asset by scholars studying the history of Wicca (it is acknowledged as an essential resource in Ronald Hutton’s “Triumph of the Moon”), and it is nice to see the book back in print again, the need to drum up controversy by talking about death-threats and a supposedly cowed former publisher does nothing but stir up bad blood over an old issue that most of us have collectively moved on from.