Witch: a Magickal Journey: A Guide to Modern Witchcraft

Anthony Kemp’s Witchcraft and Paganism Today has an easy to read and comprehensive examination of the historical background of Witchcraft and Paganism, starting in primitive times and then moving on to cover the Egyptians and then the Celts – specifically the Druids whose teachings and lore have greatly influenced contemporary Wicca. He then discusses the Middle Ages, specifically the persecution of Witches during the Inquisition, and continues to move through herstory until the present day.

I also recommend Diane Purkiss’s The Witch in History. It is interesting in that she has thoroughly researched the presence of Witch figures throughout modern history yet ultimately construes that the Witch is only a fantasy figure. If you want to know everything that Witchcraft never was nor will be, track down a copy of Montague Summers’ The History of Witchcraft. Written in 1925 by a Catholic priest, it celebrates the atrocities committed during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries by the Church in its attempts to wipe out ‘witchcraft’ and heresy – otherwise known as ‘The Burning Times’ – where many people in Europe were burned at the stake or hung after being forced to admit they were Witches and in league with the Devil. It is alternately horrifying and laughable.

Modern Witchcraft, specifically Wicca, probably owes much of its origins to an Englishman named Gerald Gardner. In 1939 he claimed that he was initiated into a traditional Witchcraft coven in England and from his teachings and writings, especially his book Witchcraft Today written in 1954, the Gardnerian tradition established itself. Before discovering Wicca, Gardner was involved in Co-Masonry, Rosicrucianism and travelled for many years in the Far East observing the lives of indigenous people and spiritual beliefs.

The Wiccan tradition reflects a lot of the teachings and experiences Gardner himself was exposed to in the first half of his life and many wonder if he truly was initiated into an established tradition or if he just made it up himself. But as the Craft isn’t into gurus and most religions are initiated in one form by individuals (from Moses to Manson, and Hubbard to Koresh) before morphing drastically into something else altogether, most Witches aren’t too concerned about the issue of who invented the Craft. In fact the Craft is often described by Witches as a ‘non-prophet disorganization’!

Anti-witchcraft laws were only repealed in England in 1951 and suburban covens sprang up everywhere. Gardner died in 1964 and subsequently the worldwide Witchcraft movement divided somewhat as other individuals made their presence noticed. One in particular was Alex Sanders, founder of the Alexandrian Tradition, a prominent Wiccan tradition today. He based his rituals on Gardner’s work, but introduced more material from other Western magickal practices when he established his own tradition.

Sanders claimed to be a hereditary Witch initiated by his grandmother, but who knows? He was a bit of an attention-seeker, claiming to have been crowned ‘King of the Witches’ in 1965, presumably nominated by over 2,000 English Witches. This is debatable because Wiccans are really way too independent to ever accept a ‘King’ or ‘Queen’. He also recorded an album and appeared on lots of TV and radio shows and … sounds a bit like me, eh? I’m kidding! He continued to popularize the Craft in the Western World until his death in 1988. Many Wiccan covens now will have their open coven meetings in the Alexandrian tradition, reserving the Gardnerian work for their initiated and more experienced members.

A lot of other traditions established themselves in the late 1960s and early 1970s. One which has had a big influence on me is the Dianic Tradition, popularized by the charismatic Hungarian, Zsuzsanna Budapest, who now lives in America. Her mother was an artist and Witch who initiated Zsuzsanna into Witchcraft when she was very young. In the 1970s when Zsuzsanna became a feminist, she realized her Witchcraft background was an appropriate expression of feminist spirituality and wrote The Holy Book of Women’s Mysteries, which is an excellent and thorough guide book for anyone wanting to practise Witchcraft with an emphasis on feminism and women’s mysteries.

Zsuzsanna is a colourful and controversial public figure in America. In 1975 she was arrested reading Tarot for an undercover policewoman, tried, and found guilty of ‘predicting the future’(!) leading her to fight against anti-prophecy laws for nine years before the laws were repealed. She now has her own Cable TV show in America on women’s spirituality, broadcasts on radio and regularly releases books and articles on feminist Wicca.

Overall, I have a pretty ambivalent attitude towards the herstory of Wicca. While I value the wisdom gained from trial and error, tradition and experience, I like to focus on the present. That the herstory is as nebulous as it is makes the present-day Craft no less valid for me than if it did have a seamlessly documented record of existence back to prehistoric times.

I sometimes think herstory is given too much importance in the present day scheme of things. To have an elitist attitude because your tradition has the longest documented herstory; or because your mother initiated you, her mother initiated her, her mother’s mother initiated her, (i.e. you’re a Hereditary), etc, etc, seems a bit narrow-minded. It goes against one of the few things I actually believe in, which is everyone has the right to their own opinion and there’s plenty of room in the Universe for everyone’s opinion. Herstory is so subjective – what we often perceive as indisputable fact is, in most cases, just one person’s opinion, and the events viewed through the veil of that person’s scrutiny are often incomplete. It’s obvious that the only person that can preach on a pedestal and say, ‘This is what really happened’ would have to have actually been there, which, in the case of ancient magickal practices, is impossible.

What I like about Witchcraft is that it creates its own herstory as it goes. There’s very little documentation from before the last hundred years or so and most of what is available is dubious in accuracy. Lots of present day individuals will make up an ancient history that fits their current view of the Craft. I like this: the stories people fabricate of the past are fascinating insights into the structure of the present. I also like the fact that the present-day Craft draws from so many different cultures’ spiritual traditions from all over the world. It truly is a holistic religion that acknowledges and respects all manifestations of spirit in humans on the planet, even the ones it doesn’t necessarily relate to or agree with.

For example, throughout this book there are many references to my frustration and disillusionment with Christianity; however I dig Jesus and so do many other Witches. It’s not his fault that Christianity is so confused today, and as a person he was a very special guy, wise and generous, selfless and loving. I think he’d be horrified to see what his teachings have come to today. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that if he was around today, with his values of tolerance, acceptance, respect for Nature and fellow people, he’d be a Witch!

One more thing before finishing up this chapter – why the word ‘Witch’? There is an old Germanic root word wit meaning ‘to know’, which some consider to be the origin, but there are many other possible origins. The one that seems most likely is that it is evolved from the Anglo-Saxon root word wicce meaning ‘to bend or shape’. Witches relate to this from the premise that we bend the energies of nature to promote healing and growth and we shape our lives and environments to be harmonious with Nature. I like the word ‘Witch’. For so long, because of fear and ignorance, it has been considered a negative term. I enjoy being a part of reinstating its rightful meaning. In a nutshell, the word Witch describes a person who sees divinity in nature, worships Goddesses always, and Gods most of the time, practises the healing arts, is in touch with their psychic abilities, practises magick and experiences their lives as an ever-evolving miracle.

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