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Craft Biographies
Dorothy Clutterbuck (1880-1951)
Dorothy Clutterbuck is perhaps the most elusive and secretive of the witches to have figured in the rise of the modern era of witchcraft. She is also perhaps the most intriguing. Old Dorothy as she was affectionately known, was the witch who initiated Gerald B. Gardner into the Old Religion during September 1939. She was then the head of an old time witches coven, the last remains of a coven directly descendant from one of the famed "Nine Covens" founded by Old George Pickingill.
So little is known about Old Dorothy that for many years skeptics and historians had believed that Gardner, through a figment of his imagination had invented her solely to justify his belief that there was still in existence practicing witches of the Old Religion. In 1980 Doreen Valiente a great friend and colleague of Gardner's, set out to disprove these allegations. After two years of research she succeeded, and was able to prove through birth and death records that Old Dorothy was indeed a real person.
Through ecclesiastical records held at India House, London. Doreen was able to establish Dorothy's parents, and to find a record of Dorothy's birth. It began in India were one Capt. Thomas St Quintin Clutterbuck, aged 38, was married to Ellen Anne Morgan, aged 20, at Lahore, India, in 1877. Three years later they had a child and Dorothy was born, in India, in Bengal on the 19th January 1880. She was later baptized in the church of St Paul's, Umbala, on the 21st February 1880.
Her father must have been a man of means to hold a commission in the Colonial Forces, most officers of that time where. At the time of Dorothy's birth he was still a Captain, and serving with the 14th Sikhs Regiment, Indian Local Forces. Later that same year he was promoted to Major and from Dorothy's death certificate, we know he reached the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. From this we can surmise that Dorothy was brought up with all the privileges and prestige that go along with wealth and position.
Nothing further is known of Dorothy until 1933. Doreen through the aid of a Reference Librarian at the Bournemouth County Library was able to locate her as living at "Mill House", Lymington Road, Highcliffe. Highcliffe being in the Borough of Christchurch. Curiously though, listed at the same address was a Rupert Fordham? Further research using the Register of Electors at the Christchurch Town Hall, revealed that Miss Clutterbuck became Mrs. Fordham in the 1937/38 list.
This prompt's me to speculate about the intervening years between 1933 and 1937? Who was Rupert Fordham? Why was he listed at the same address some four years before they married? Was he a lodger, or were they living in sin? The later seems a little unlikely given the strict moral and social standards prevalent in those times. At the time Dorothy was a wealthy and respected member of the community. She would also have been 53 years old in 1933, and 57 when they married, but then? Perhaps we shall never know?
Through her researches, Doreen was able to corroborated most of Gardner's claims of the events leading up to his initiation. She had collated records showing that Gardner and his wife Donna lived in the same area of Highcliffe, as did Dorothy. His official biography, (Gerald Gardner: Witch. - By Jack Bracelin, The Octagon Press, London. 1960.), states that the initiation took place in Old Dorothy's home "a big house in the neighborhood", Dorothy's "Mill House", was also a big house in the neighborhood!
Doreen also obtained press cuttings proving the existence of the "Rosicrucian Theatre". This was situated in Somerford a village near to Christchurch, and had opened in June 1938. A Mrs. Mabel Besant-Scott also lived nearby and had been associated with it. In Gerald Gardner's account, it was a Mrs. Mabel Besant-Scott who first introduced him to Dorothy.
In his biography Gardner also describes Dorothy as, "A lady of note in the district/county, and very well to do. She invariable wore a pearl necklace, worth some £5,000 at that time". Doreen had been able to trace a copy of Dorothy's will, the gross value of her estate after her death had been well over £60,000, a small fortune in 1951. It also stated that she owned some valuable pearls. She was certainly "well to do"!
Dorothy's death certificate stated that: "Dorothy St Quintin Fordham died at Highcliffe in the registration district of Christchurch on the 12 January 1951, the primary cause of death being "cerebral thrombosis", a stroke". It also described her as "Spinster of independent means, daughter of Thomas St Quintin Clutterbuck, Lieutenant Colonel, Indian Army (deceased).
The existence of Old Dorothy having been proven, thanks to the diligence of Doreen Valiente. The skeptics and historians now changed their tune, claiming she had not been a practicing witch. After her death and upon an examination of her personal effects, no evidence could be found to indicate her involvement in witchcraft.
Once again Doreen Valiente steps in to refute these claims. During her research she had come across an old pamphlet entitled "The Museum of Magic and Witchcraft: "The story of Famous Witches" Mill at Castletown, Isle of Man. This was a guidebook of the famous museum, written and published by Gerald Gardner during his tenure as its director. Describing one of the exhibits, it states: "Case No. 1. - A large number of objects belonging to a witch, who had died in 1951, lent by her relatives who wish to remain anonymous". Had these objects once belonged to Old Dorothy, who had also died in 1951? While its not proof positive, I find it hard to disbelieve.
We can surmise from the time era and from many of Gardner's writings, that Old Dorothy was a witch of the old school, and to her secrecy was paramount. During her time witchcraft was still illegal and disclosure of its practice fraught with difficulty and danger. Indeed it was she who restricted Gardner from going public. Not until near her end, did she relent with misgivings, and allow him to write about the craft, but then only in fictional form (High Magic's Aid - published in 1949.). In death it would seem her secrecy still prevailed, and she had all traces of her witchcraft past removed.
Matthew Hopkins"The Witch-Finder General"
Matthew Hopkins is perhaps the most notorious name in the history of English witchcraft, more commonly he was known as "The Witch-Finder General". Throughout his reign of terror 1645-1646, Hopkins acquired a feared and evil reputation as a 'fingerman' (informer), paid by local authorities to commit perjury. Together with his henchman and fellow 'Witch-Pricker' John Sterne, in just 14 months, Hopkins was responsible for the condemnations and executions of some 230 alleged witches, more than all the other witch-hunters that proliferated during the 160-year peak of the country's witchcraft hysteria.
Montague Summers (1880-1948) a Catholic Priest devoutly against witchcraft, an eminent scholar of Trinity College Oxford, a prolific author who wrote extensively about the darker sides of witchcraft, demonology and vampirism, and who believed adamantly that witches were evil servants of the devil 'Satan' who throughout history deserved all the punishments they received, describes Matthew Hopkins as: "an orthodox Puritan of narrowest views, which were certainly adopted for convenience rather than from conviction, he was energetic enough so far as his own pockets were concerned, and his crusade up and down the eastern counties, which created something like a reign of terror at the time, has caused his name to stink in the nostrils of all decent persons ever since".
The origins and early life of Matthew Hopkins had for centuries been a complete mystery, no factual evidence about him had ever been uncovered, no birth certificate, no educational records and no death certificate existed. It was therefore only possible to trace his origins through the use of speculative association from other known sources and second-hand information. After nearly two centuries in obscurity new evidence about his death was found in Mistley, Essex. An entry in "Notes & Queries, 1st series, vol. 10, p. 283, 7th Oct 1854", stated that:
"In an ancient parish register belonging to the parish of Midley-cun-Manningtree, commencing in 1559 is the following entry":
"Matthew Hopkins, son of Mr James Hopkins, Minister of Wenham, was buried at Mistley, August 12th, 1647.
There is reason to believe that this was the noted Matthew Hopkins, Witch Finder General to the associated counties, who had frequently been mentioned by various writers. Sir Walter Scott says: "He was perhaps a native of Manningtree in Essex, at any rate he resided there in the year 1644, when an epidemic cry of witchcraft arose in that town"… It is not known that any writer has made any mention of Hopkins after 1647. The inference therefore is, that the particulars in that register refer to him".
The actual register is now in a somewhat faded condition, and is held among the archives of the combined parishes of Manningtree and Mistley (not Midley, as stated above), and is kept by the Suffolk Records Office in Ipswich. The actual entry reads:
"1647 Aug 12 Matthew s M : James HOPKINGS, Minister of Wenham, buried at Mistley".
Brief though this confirmation is, it also mentions his father, the first factual evidence ever found concerning the origins of Matthew Hopkins. From what we learn of his father James Hopkins, leads us to a clearer insight into the early life of the notorious Witch Finder General.
Hopkins senior turns out to have been a clergyman of the Church of England. The 'Alumni Cantabrigienses, Pt. 1, vol. Ii, 1922, p. 405, Venn' shows that James Hopkins was Vicar of Great Wenham in Suffolk from 1612, and that he died in 1634. However, the Great Wenham parish records are incomplete for the period he was incumbent, and its earliest burial records begin in 1665, so neither is his death recorded. What has been found is the Will of one of his parishioners: Daniel Wyles of Great Wenham dated 1619, which by association gives us a little insight into the man and his family. In his Will, Wyles made a bequest to:
"James Hopkins, preacher of the word of God at Great Wenham and to his wife", leaving "6s. 8d each to their children, James, Thomas and John when able to read a chapter in the New Testament, to buy a Bible".
From this we can speculate that James Hopkins and his wife were well liked and respected in the community, and had a young family of three boys not yet able or old enough to read the bible. As Matthew Hopkins is not mentioned in this Will, we can surmise that he may not yet have been born. We can also speculate that as the boys had been named after Apostles and Saints, that Matthew may have followed soon after, making his birth date somewhere around or after 1619.
As can be seen, by the time of his death in 1634, the Hopkins family had grown to include six children. Being fairly well off and comfortable, they appear to have had close associations with various parts of East Anglia, owning lands and tenements throughout Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex, most especially around Ipswich and Framlingham, and the surrounding villages of Hadleigh, Great Leighs and Great Waldingfield. It is also interesting to note their association with: "our frinds in Newe England", reference perhaps to the puritans who left England and settled in Salem, Massachusetts during 1626, and their decision to send their son Thomas out to join them. It would also indicate that the family had contacts and connections with shipping interests.
In September 1645, John Hopkins of Wenham (almost certainly James' son) is described in parish records as being Presbyterian and was the appointed 'Minister of South Fambridge' in Essex. There is also an additional note from a year later in June 1646, stating that there had been complaints that John Hopkins had neglected his work and been replaced.
Again the parish records for both North and South Fambridge are incomplete but one reference indicates: "a list of eight subscribers to brief for French Protestants". The area of Fambridge during this time had strong Puritan associations with many links to the French Huguenots. After the St Bartholomew's day Massacre in France 1572, an estimated 40,000 Huguenot refugees left France for England, and many settled in this area of East Anglia. Marie Hopkins is thought to have come from Huguenot stock and provided the Puritan influence in the Hopkins family.
If we speculate as before, that Matthew Hopkins was born sometime around 1619, by the time of his father's death, he would have been a young and impressionable teenager of around 15 years. Coming from a fairly well to do family, he would undoubtedly have gained considerable knowledge of this area of Essex, an area particularly steeped in the legends and traditions of witchcraft.
His education however, still remains in the realm of mystery and speculation. No records of his attending school in Essex have ever been found, nor did he go to any University. Yet we can surmise from his later life and writings, that he must have received an adequate education. He could read and write Latin as well as English, although his style was stilted and formal. He had clearly acquired some knowledge of maritime law having worked for a time as a clerk for a ship-owner at Mistley in Essex. We can also see from his later dealings during the Witchcraft Trails, that he had an extensive knowledge of the intricacies of the Witchcraft Act and laws against Witchcraft prevalent during those times, and used those laws adroitly to his own advantage.
How then did he gain his education? Again we can only speculate and his father's Will gives some indication. Education to the masses during the early 1600's would at best have been rudimentary. Most elementary schools of the times would have been annexed to the local church, and the appointed Vicar or Priest would have been its primary teacher. It seems fair to assume therefore that James Hopkins may have home tutored his own children. We need also consider that those of stature and wealth would undoubtedly have employed private tutors for the education of their children, before sending them off to higher education at colleges or university. As can be seen in his will, James Hopkins was obviously concerned about the education of his children, and so left their further education to his wife.
It seems probable therefore as no records of his education exists in this country, that Marie Hopkins may have sent Matthew to relatives on the continent to further his education? This would explain the scarcity of information about his early life, being due to the fact that for a period of his youth he was abroad. If indeed he was sent abroad and had gained some knowledge of Flemish or French, and given his families contacts within the shipping trade, this would have aided his chances of being articled to a ship-owner in Mistley on his return, conceivably involved with maritime law or insurance.
The first indication that he was back and resident in the U.K, is at best circumstantial, and comes from the much quoted reference made in an article posted in 'Notes & Queries of 16th Nov, 1850', which refers to a manuscript belonging to one 'W.S. Fitch of Ipswich'. This supposedly gives an account of his residence in that town as: "a lawyer of but little note" and his removal to Manningtree. However this cannot be confirmed, as the original manuscript has never been found. While again we are in the realm of speculation, supplementary though second-hand information came to light in 1974, when the eminent author 'Richard Deacon' conducted a detailed research into Hopkins' life (Published in 1976 by Fredrick Muller Ltd entitled "Matthew Hopkins: Witch Finder General"). Indeed it is from this book that I make much reference.
After advertising for information, Deacon received a letter from a 'Mr A.T. Percival of Amersham, dated 4th June 1974. In it Mr Percival claims to be a descendant of W. S. Fitch, and states:
"Most sources have indicated that Manningtree was where Hopkins resided. In fact, though he may for a time have lived there, it was the adjacent village of Mistley where he carried out most of his activities and where he lived. As a youth he had worked as a clerk for a ship-owner at Mistley and it was through this experience that he gained the chance later to buy some property in Mistley, which included an interest in the old Thorn Inn. I was always told by my grandfather that the so called Fitch manuscript was really only part of several diaries compiled by W.S. Fitch, of Ipswich, and that the item in Notes & Queries was only partially correct. My grandfather was a member of the Fitch family and he used to say that the phrase quoted in Notes & Queries was misleading. What Fitch had said was that Hopkins "made little note in the law", and not that he was a lawyer. I imagine he was something of the equivalent of a solicitor's clerk today. The Fitch manuscript also made it clear that Hopkins received some of his education in Holland and that it was from the Low Countries that he obtained the idea of becoming a witch-hunter".
While what he says is indeed secondhand and circumstantial, it goes a long way to support what little factual information we do have.
The first factual and physical evidence that he was back and resident in England was found in the Suffolk Record Office, there they have a conveyance for a tenement in Bramford, a small town located just outside Ipswich dated 1641, and which bears the signature of Matthew Hopkins as a witness. While this does not prove he was a lawyer, it does indicate that he was back and resident in this country, involved and working to some degree within the legal profession.
Again if we speculate that Hopkins was born sometime around 1619, in 1941 he would have been eligible to collect on the inheritance left to him by his father in 1634. It seems probable therefore that having resided for a time in Manningtree and worked for a ship-owner in Mistley, having accumulated some wealth he would then have prospected for property within the same area.
Most writings about Hopkins mention the Thorn Inn at Mistley as his place of residence, and from where he began his crusade against witches. While the later is most certainly true, the former cannot positively be proved. The present building only dates back to the eighteenth century, and while we know there has been an Inn on the same site for at least four hundred years, tracing ownership is almost impossible. In the Essex Record Office indexes, there are no references to the Thorn Inn earlier than 1750.
It is possible however, that he may have had some financial interest in the Thorn Inn and surrounding property, maybe not as the owner, but perhaps as a lessee or tenant. This seems to be implicated by a mention in 'The Tendring Witchcraft Revelations' (the title of an unpublished manuscript by C. S. Perryman dated 1725, which incorporates material compiled by "divers informers" in 1645, 1646, 1647 and 1648-50). In it is the mention that Matthew Hopkins: "set himselfe up at Mistley Thorn, from which place he embraced for his conspiracies and to which cam his manie informers againste the Witches and at the Thorn alsoe there cam such celebrated personnes as the Number One Argus, John Thurlowe and William Lilly, the astrological prophet and almanacker".
From this we can see that Hopkins also used the Thorn Inn as the base from which to increase his influence among the countries celebrated and political elite. John Thurlowe it turns out was the son of Thomas Thurlowe, the rector of Abbess Roding in Essex. Being about the same age as Hopkins, he had studied law as a young man through which profession they may have made initial contact. At the time of their meetings in the Thorn Inn, and as the title of 'Number One Argus' would indicate, he had become Cromwell's 'Chief of Secret Service'. In 1645, Thurlowe was appointed one of the Secretaries to the Commissioners of Parliament at the Treaty of Uxbridge, and thus may well have become Hopkins' link to other sources of Government in London.
William Lilly, by the time of the Thorn Inn meetings had become one the countries leading and most influential astrologers. He had contacts on both sides of the political 'civil war' divide, as well as prominent members of the countries aristocracy. The same source above indicates that Hopkins undoubtedly consulted with Lilly: "on various matters relating to shippes and cargoes as well as some darker aspects of the Signes of the Times appertayning to witchcraft amonge other things".
Hopkins was also able to call on influential family friends to aid and pave the way for his future campaign. In his fathers will, one of the executors was a Nathaniel Bacon. Research shows that Nathaniel Bacon (1593-1660) was the third son of Edward Bacon of Shrubland Hall. According to the 'Tendring Witchcraft Revelations', he was an extreme Puritan and violently anti-Catholic. In 1643, he was elected the Recorder of Ipswich, and later Recorder of Bury St Edmonds. He was also chairman of the Central Committee (sitting at Cambridge) which presided over the seven counties of the Eastern Counties' Association. In 1645, he was involved with the Long Parliament as one of the members for Cambridge University.
Since 1642, civil war had been raging throughout the country and Essex was a backbone area for the Roundheads. Hopkins, like other ruthless men before him, was able to use the prevailing mood of uncertainty, fear, tension and anxiety to turn public opinion to his own advantage. As the war raged, the need to exchange information was perhaps what brought such a diverse group of people together at the Thorn Inn. Hopkins it seems was ideally located and able to exploit and gain through them, the approbation and support he needed for the holocaust which followed.
The fate of Hopkins remains a mystery and in the realms of speculation, for many accounts of his demise abounds. One account by "William Andrews" (a 19th century writer on Essex folklore), wrote in his book "Bygone Essex" (1892), that Hopkins was passing through Suffolk and was himself accused of being a witch. Hopkins he alleges was charged with having stolen a book containing a list of all the witches in England, he supposedly obtained the book by means of sorcery. Hopkins pleaded innocent but an angry mob had formed and he was forced to under go his own ordeal of Swimming. In some accounts he drowned, while others say he floated and was condemned and hanged. However no records of his trial exist, if ever there was one?
A more likely cause of his death was given by Stearne his faithful assistant, who relates in his own book "A Confirmation and Discovery of Witch-craft" - (London 1648), that he passed away "peacefully, after a long sicknesse of a Consumption". Records show that he died in the nearby village of Mistley, where according to the "Church Registers" he was buried on the 12th August 1647. Today according to local legend, Hopkins' ghost is said to haunt Mistley Pond. An apparition wearing 17th-century attire is reportedly seen roaming the vicinity, particularly on Friday nights near to the Witches Sabbats.
The Witch Hunts
S.L. MacGregor Mathers (1854-1918)
S.L. MacGregor Mathers was a prominent occult scholar, author and a leader of the occult revival in the late 1880's. He had a life long fascination with magic, mysticism and Celtic symbolism that led him to hold high office in the S.R.I.A. (Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia). He, together with Dr. William Wynn Westcott and Dr. William Woodman was a co-founder of the influential occult Order known as the "Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn".
Little is documented about the early life of Mathers, though we do know he came from a humble background and spent most of his life on the borders of poverty surviving mainly on the charity of his friends and peers. He was born on the 8th of January 1854 at 11 De Beauvoir Place in Hackney in London. His father William M. Mathers was a commercial clerk and his mother is known only as "Miss Collins". His father died during his early childhood after which his mother moved from London to Bournemouth where they lived until her death in 1885.
Early in his life Mathers developed an interest in boxing, fencing and military strategy. During his early twenties with aspirations of a military career, he joined the First Hampshire Infantry Volunteers. A self-portrait photograph he had taken depicts him wearing the uniform of a Lieutenant, though in fact he never rose above the rank of private. His first book was actually a military manual, Practical Instruction in Infantry Campaigning Exercise (1884), which was based on a French military manual and adapted for the needs of the British Army.
Masonic and Rosicrucian interests:
Shortly after, Mathers began to take an interest in Freemasonry and on the 4th October 1877 was initiated into the "Lodge of Hengest - No. 195" in Bournemouth. His sponsor was E.L.V. Rebbeck a well-known real estate agent in the area. Mathers quickly progressed through the grades of Entered Apprentice and Fellow Craft, and was raised to Master Mason on January 30, 1878. A fellow member of the lodge was a student of Hebrew philosophy and Qabalah called Frederick Holland and it was he that introduced Mathers into occult studies. Holland was also a metallurgist, alchemist and avid crystal gazer, and without doubt they did some work together. Holland had a definite influence on Mathers particularly his teachings related to scrying and Spirit Vision.
In 1882 Mathers dropped out of Freemasonry and was admitted into the S.R.I.A. (Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia). He took to Rosicrucianism with serious enthusiasm and used for his motto "S Rioghail Mo Dhream (SRMD)", which is Gaelic for "Royal is my Race". Mathers quickly showed his aptitude for ceremonial magic, occult philosophy and esoteric languages, and within four years had become a member of the societies High Council. There he made the acquaintance of Dr. William Woodman (Magus of the society), and Dr. William Wynn Westcott (the Secretary General), he also served as Celebrant of the London College.
After the death of his mother in 1885, Mathers was left in poor circumstances and moved back to London. He took modest lodgings in Great Percy Street, King's Cross, from where he was able to take up an appointment as the assistant librarian to Frederick Horniman M.P, founder of the famous Horniman Museum and an affluent tea importer. Encouraged by Dr. Woodman and Westcott from the S.R.I.A, Mathers continued with his occult studies and as a consummate student made considerable progress. So much so that with the aid of Dr. Westcott he was able to publish his first translation of Knorr Von Rosenroth's - Kabalab Denudata, which ran through several editions and earned him high regard in occult circles.
Mathers by now was an accomplished ritualist and transcriber of old texts, and it was to him after obtaining some old the Cipher Manuscripts in 1887, that Dr. Westcott approached to flesh out the ritual outlines contained with in them, and to turn them into functional initiation ceremonies (the code of the Cipher is believed to have come from a 15th century code originated by the Abbott Trithemius). Westcott also invited him to join a triumvirate of Chiefs with himself and Dr. Woodman in a newly created order to be called the "Hermetic Order Golden Dawn". Mathers agreed and started work on the rituals.
In the meantime Mathers had made the acquaintance of Dr. Anna Kingsford and her associate Edward Maitland. They were founders of their own Hermetic Society based on esoteric Christianity, and became very close friends with Mathers. Dr. Kingsford was very knowledgeable on theoretical occultism, and it was to her that he dedicated his later translation the Qabbalah Unveiled. She was also one of the early fighters for women's rights and her belief in equally for women was shared and adopted by Mathers, who would later demanded that women share in the new Order of the Golden Dawn. She was also an anti-vivisectionist and a vegetarian. Mathers was also a vegetarian, and at a time when almost every male in English society smoked a pipe or cigar, Mathers was also a non-smoker. Without doubt Dr. Kingsford as a friend and leader of her own Society, greatly influenced Mathers.
In 1888 on a visit to the British Museum, Mathers met his future wife Mina Bergson. She was an artist and graduate of the Slade School of Art, and was at the museum studying Egyptian art. They became engaged and were married on the 16th June 1890 at Chacombe in Oxfordshire. The "Rev W.A. Ayton" conducted the service, himself a prominent mystic student and researcher into Alchemy, later he would also became a member of the Golden Dawn. Mina became an important life-long partner of Mathers, though strangely their marriage was never consummated. She was also the first woman initiate into the Golden Dawn (for which she changed her name to Moina).
Moina introduced Mathers to "Annie Horniman", a wealthy and influential friend and fellow student from the Slade School of Art. She was also the daughter of his employer Fredrick Horniman M.P. of the Horniman Museum. In 1891 Horniman donated the Museum to the nation and Mathers after a quarrel with the new management was dismissed. Until then he and Moina had resided at Stent Lodge in Forest Hill, but with Mathers facing poverty again they moved to rented rooms in central London where they lived on Annie Horniman's charity.
Meanwhile in Paris, Mathers and his wife Moina had started working on a series of Egyptian rituals called the "The Rites of Isis". These they acted out as ritual dramas, performed publicly on stage at the Theatre Bodiniere on the Rue Saint-Lazare. They were well received and earned them a meager living after Horniman's support had been withdrawn. That same year in 1898, Aleister Crowley was initiated into the London branch and rose quickly through the outer order ranks. But as was his way, trouble soon followed. Crowley was not a well-liked man and while no one could doubt his capabilities as a magician, he constantly argued with Farr and other Adept members in London. In December 1899 when Crowley became eligible for initiation into the Second Order, Farr supported by other London Adepts retaliated and rejected his initiation. They saw him as a questionable candidate for such high office
After a final clash with Crowley in 1909, Mathers retired back to Paris where he lived out the rest of his days in relative obscurity. Aside from his dealings with the Golden Dawn, Mathers had always remained a very private individual, and very little is known about his final years, even his death is shrouded in mystery. No one really knows how he died, and so we can only speculate. We are led to believe that he died in his apartment in the Rue Rivera on the 20th November 1918, where according to statements by his wife Moina, he died of the Spanish influenza pandemic that reportedly killed 22 million people worldwide. However, while Moina was in possession of a death certificate, it did not record or state a cause of death. Further, no other records of his death have been discovered and neither has a grave ever been found.
The Golden Dawn
Israel Regardie (1907 - 1985)
Francis Israel Regardie was an occultist, author and one time secretary to the legendary Aleister Crowley. As an adept of the now defunct secret order known as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, he became infamous among the occultists of his day for breaking his oath of secrecy and publishing the order's complete rituals in his book "The Golden Dawn". Today this book is a classic best seller and has been revised and re-issued several times. Overshadowed by his association with Crowley, much of his work has been left unappreciated by those outside of the realms of high magic and occultism.
Regardie was born Francis Israel Regudy in London, England on the 17th November 1907. His parents were poor Jewish immigrants and during the course of WW1 when his older brother joined the army, his name was accidentally written down as "Regardie". Rather than change it, it was then adopted as the family name. Later Regardie also dropped the use of Francis, preferring to be known simply as Israel Regardie.
In August 1921 at the age of 13, his family immigrated to the United States and settled in Washington D.C. There Regardie was educated and studied art in schools in Washington and Philadelphia. A bright an intuitive scholar, even at that age, he became interested in the theosophical works of Madame Blavatsky, yoga, and Hindu philosophy. He would often be found at the Library of Congress conducting his own studies. Soon after he found a Hebrew tutor who taught him to read Hebrew, an ability that aided him enormously when he started his Qabalistic studies.
On the 18th February 1926, Regardie applied for membership to the Washington College of the Societas Rosicruciana in America (S.R.I.A.). He was initiated into the Neophyte grade on 18th March 1926 and advanced to the Zelator grade on 2nd June 1927. It was during this time that Regardie became interested in occultism and having discovered a book by Aleister Crowley, was soon captivated by his activities and writings.
Regardie wrote to Crowley in Paris and eventually received a reply. Soon after he was offered the job as his secretary in Paris. Regardie saw this as an opportunity to learn magic from a published authority, and in October 1928 he traveled to France and accepted the job. For the next three years Regardie tried to get Crowley to teach him the magical arts. However Crowley never offered and Regardie, a reserved and modest young man, did not pursue the matter. Instead he continued to study on his own, reading every book, article or manuscript that became available to him.
As would happen with Crowley, fueled on by the British tabloids, his reputation got the better of him and the French authorities asked him to leave the country. Crowley returned to England and later married his second wife Maria Ferrari de Miramar in 1929. In an effort to repair Crowley's damaged image, Regardie co-authored with P.R. Stephenson (another of Crowley's associates), the book called "The Legend of Aleister Crowley ". It was published in 1930, by which time they were gradually drifting apart.
Regardie continued with his occult studies and already established as a co-author, published the first of his own books A Garden of Pomegranates and The Tree of Life in 1932. The first contained his Qabalistic studies and was based on research and knowledge gleaned from various sources. The Tree of Life however was based on the teachings of the Golden Dawn, which had ceased to exist in 1903. When published it caused a lot of excitement among the occult elite and was considered one of the most complete and understandable texts on practical magic ever written. That same year 1932 he became secretary to Thomas Burke.
Although the original Golden Dawn had ceased to exist, it continued to live on through its descendant orders, the Stella Matutina and the Alpha et Omega. As a result of The Tree of Life and with the encouragement and assistance of one of its members, Dion Fortune, Regardie was invited to join the Stella Matutina in 1933. However as had happened to the original order, there was much infighting among its leaders and the order was in an advanced state of decline. Regardie due to his extraordinary abilities made rapid progress through the grades, but considered the chiefs to be more concerned with attaining grandiose titles than with the practice of magic. He also concluded that the Order and its teachings would not survive much longer without some effort to place its teachings in the hands of a greater number of people, those who could appreciate them. After reaching the grade of Theoricus Adeptus Minor, he left the Order in December of 1934.
That same year in 1934, Aleister Crowley became embroiled in a famous and sensational libel case in which he sued Nina Hamnett, a prominent sculptress. Losing the case he was forced into bankruptcy and could no longer afford to keep Regardie on as his secretary. As a result, and as would happen with many of Crowley's friends and associates, they suffered a complete falling out. Regardie was deeply wounded by the break-up of their friendship, and was only able to pardon him in later years. Regardie throw himself into his work writing The Art of True Healing, and doing his groundwork for The Philosopher's Stone.
Regardie next turned his attention to psychology and psychotherapy, and began studying psychoanalysis with Dr. E. Clegg and Dr. J. L. Bendit in London. He also continued writing and in 1936 published My Rosicrucian Adventure followed by The Philosopher's Stone, a book about alchemy from a Jungian perspective. At the time he didn't believe in the validity of laboratory alchemy, (but later in the 1970's while working with practical alchemists such as Frater Albertus of the Paracelsus Research Society, he changed his mind on the matter. Unfortunately one of his alchemical experiments went wrong and he seriously burned his lungs in the lab. He gave up the practice of alchemy and suffered from the effects of the accident until the end of his life).
In 1937 breaking his oath of secrecy to the Stella Matutina, he published the bulk of the Golden Dawn's rituals and teachings. Written in four volumes he called it simply The Golden Dawn. It caused a storm of protest at the time and some people openly criticized him for his actions, although many Adepts of the Order were secretly grateful to him. His reasons for doing so he explains in his book My Rosicrucian Adventure:
"...it is essential that the whole system should be publicly exhibited so that it may not be lost to mankind, for it is the heritage of every man and woman and their spiritual birthright. My motives have been to prove without a doubt that no longer is the Order the ideal medium for the transmission of Magic, and that since there have already been several partial and irresponsible disclosures of the Order's teachings, a more adequate presentation of that system is urgently called for. Only thus may the widespread misconceptions as to Magic be removed."
Later that year Regardie returned to the U.S. where he entered the Chiropractic College in New York City to study psychology. Studying psychotherapy under Dr. Nandor, his training encompassed Freudian, Jungian, and Reichian methods and techniques. A year later in 1938 he published The Middle Pillar, which gives a step-by-step account on how to perform the practical exercises of Golden Dawn's ceremonial magic. In the same book he also compares these magical techniques to the methods and hypotheses of psychoanalysis. He sought to remove the synthetic walls that had been erected between magic and psychotherapy.
After graduating in 1941, Regardie served in the U.S. Army till the end of WWII, during which time he explored Christian mysticism and wrote about his ideas in The Romance of Metaphysics published in 1946. After leaving the army he relocated to southern California and set up practice as a chiropractor and Reichian therapist. He taught psychiatry at the Los Angeles College of Chiropractic and contributed articles to various psychology magazines. He also wrote several more books including: The Art and Meaning of Magic, Roll Away the Stone, Twelve Steps to Spiritual Enlightenment, A Practical Guide to Geomantic Divination, How to Make and Use Talismans, and Foundations of Practical Magic.
During the 1960's an old acquaintance of Aleister Crowley moved into Los Angeles and made herself known to him. They met occasionally for he and Sybil Leek had much to reminisced about the great man.
Through out his career, Regardie's own achievements were often overshadowed by his association with Aleister Crowley, which often frustrated him, but his charitable nature and his ability to be forgiving toward his old friend was evident when he authored perhaps the most definitive biography on Crowley called The Eye in the Triangle. But he was also irritated when people linked him solely to Crowley's teachings:
"One of his pet hates was people associating him with Crowley's brand of Thelemic Magic and the Book of the Law. I can still recall him thumping the table at dinner one night saying "Dammit, I'm a Golden Dawn man and not a Thelemite, and I wish people would realize it", writes Pat Zalewski author of The Secret Inner Order Rituals of the Golden Dawn."
Regardie retired from his practice in 1981 and moved to Sedona, Arizona where he continued to write. His later books included Ceremonial Magic, The Lazy Man's Guide to Relaxation, and The Complete Golden Dawn System of Magic. While retired he continued to give advice on health and magical matters until the end of his life. He died of a heart attack on the 10th March 1985 while having dinner with friends at one of his favorite restaurants. Although he is gone, his legacy remains in his written works, which continue to teach and inspire new generations of students.
One of Regardie's primary objectives throughout his career had been to preserve the teachings of the Golden Dawn, but he had also set himself another task. As an Adept of the Golden Dawn, he felt it was down to him to bring a valid branch of the initiatory lineage of the order to America. He waited patiently for four decades before he was able to achieve his goal. A couple in Georgia were inspired to build a Rosicrucian Vault, the powerful ritual chamber required to pass on the Adept Initiation. At the same time two magicians (one on the east coast of the United States and one on the west coast), unknown to each other or to the Georgia couple, came to be ready to receive that Initiation. Regardie was the connecting link between them and using his title and order motto A. M. A. G. he had the right to confer the Initiation in such a Vault. And so in one remarkable weekend, Regardie presided over two Initiations into the Inner Order, the first and the last that he ever performed, and with the following oath the Lamp of the Keryx was passed into American hands:
"I further promise and swear that with the Divine Permission, I will from this day forward, apply myself to the Great Work, which is: to purify and exalt my Spiritual Nature so that with the Divine Aid I may at length attain to be more than human, and thus gradually raise and unite to my Higher and Divine Genius, and that in this event I will not abuse the great power entrusted to me."
Gerald Brosseau Gardner (1884-1964)
Gerald Gardner is perhaps one of the best known and talked about figures in modern witchcraft to date. An English hereditary Witch, he was the founder of contemporary Witchcraft practiced as a religion. Some considers him a man of great vision and creativity who had the courage to try outrageous things during difficult times. Others look on him as a con man, deceitful and manipulative. He authored the now famous books "Witchcraft Today" and "The Meaning of Witchcraft", both he wrote in the 1950's. These two classic books inspired the growth and development of many traditions of modern Witchcraft throughout the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States.
Gerald Gardner was born on the 13th June 1884 in a small northern town called "Blundellsands" near Liverpool, England. Born of Scottish descent into a well-to-do family, his father was a merchant and justice of the peace. His grandfather is reputed to have married a witch, and he claims others of his distant family had psychic gifts. Gardner believed himself to be a descendant of "Grissell Gairdner", who was burned as a witch at Newburgh in 1610. Of his ancestors, several became Mayor's of Liverpool, and one "Alan Gardner" a naval commander, was later made a Peer of the Land, he had distinguished himself as commander in chief of the Channel Fleet and helped to deter the invasion of Napoleon in 1807.
Gardner was the middle of three sons, but was kept distanced from his two brothers as he suffered severely with bouts of asthma. As a result his parents employed a nanny "Josephine 'Com' McCombie" to raise him separately. Com persuaded his parents to allow her to take him traveling during the winter months to help alleviate his condition. Traveling across Europe, Gardner was often left alone to his own devices, but was content to read and study academic subject such as History and Archaeology. Later when he became a young man, his nanny married and went to live with her husband in Ceylon. Gardner went with her and started work on a tea plantation. He then moved on to Borneo and finally settled in Malaysia.
There with his interest in history and archaeology, Gardner became fascinated with the local culture and its religious and magical beliefs. Gardner also had a keen interest in all things occult and was particularly drawn to ritual knives and daggers, especially the Malay "Kris" (a dagger with a wavy blade). He made a name for himself in academic circles with his pioneering research into Malaya's early civilizations. He also gained respect as an Author, and had some of his writings published in the journal of the Malayan branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. After 20 years of study he wrote his first book on the history and folklore of the Malay called "Keris and other Malay Weapons - Singapore, 1936", and became the world's foremost authority on Malaya's indigenous people and their weapons.
From 1923 until he retired in 1936, Gardner worked as a civil servant for the British government, first as a rubber plantation inspector, then as a customs official and inspector of opium establishments. Gardner made a considerable amount of money in his dealings with rubber, which allowed him to indulge in his favorite pastime, Archaeology. On one expedition he claimed to have found the site of the ancient city of Singapura. In 1927 he met and married an English woman called "Donna".
After his retirement in Malaya in 1936, Gardner and his wife returned to England and settled in the New Forrest area of Hampshire. Gardner continued to indulge his archaeological interests and spent much of his time traveling around Europe and Asia Minor. In Cyprus he found places he claims to have dreamed about, and was convinced he had lived there in a previous lifetime. In 1939 he wrote and had published his second book, A Goddess Arrives. It was based in Cyprus and concerned the worship of a goddess called "Aphrodite" in the year 1450 B.C.
By now the Second World War was looming and Gardner, anxious to do his piece for King and Country, turn his thoughts to Civil Defense. He wrote a letter publish in the Daily Telegraph stating that, "As decreed in the Magna Carta, every free-born Englishman is entitled to bear arms in the defense of himself and his household". He further suggested that the civilian population should be armed and trained in the event of invasion. The German press picked up the article and front-page headlines appeared in the "Frankfurter Zeitung", they where furious, raging against the man who had made such a "medieval" suggestion. Shortly thereafter the famous "Home Guard" came into being, known first as the "Local Defense Volunteers". We shall probably never know if the "Magna Carta letter" was the impetus that instigated it?
Having settled in the New Forrest area of Hampshire, one of the oldest forests in England, Gardner began to explore its history. He soon found that local folklore was steeped in Witchcraft, and curiosity ignited he began to seek out involvement. Through neighbors he became acquainted with a local group of occultist Co-masons, a fraternity that called themselves "The Fellowship of Crotona". A "Mrs. Besant-Scott" the daughter of "Annie Besant" a Theosophist, and founder of the women's Co-Masonry movement in England, had established it. (The order was affiliated to the Grand Orient of France, and therefore not recognized by the Masonic Grand Lodge of England.). They had built a small community theatre called "The First Rosicrucian Theatre in England", and there they used to meet. Gardner joined them and helped to put on amateur plays with occult and spiritual themes.
Within the fellowship another but secret group operated, a member of which spoke to Gardner and claimed to have net him in a previous life, he went on to describe the places Gardner had found in Cyprus. Soon after they drew Gardner into their confidence, claiming to be a group of hereditary Witches practicing a craft passed down to them through the centuries. The group met in the New Forest where he was introduced to "Mrs. Dorothy Clutterbuck". Old Dorothy as she was affectionately known, accepted Gardner for initiation and in September 1939 at her own home, a big house in the neighborhood, and he was initiated into the old religion.
Old Dorothy's coven was believed to have been the last remains of a coven directly descendant from one of the famed "Nine Coven's" founded by "Old George Pickingill" some forty years earlier. In the following year 1940, while working with this coven, Gardner claimed to have helped with and took part in the now famous "Coven Rites", aimed at and against the Nazi High Command and the threatened invasion of Hitler's forces. This we now know was not true. The "Coven Rites" against Hitler had been orchestrated by "Cecil Williamson", the founder of the Witchcraft Research Center, and was performed by "Aleister Crowley" the famous occultist. It's possible though and more probable, that they performed some sort of rite of their own recognizance.
Just before the outbreak of war, Gardner met with Arnold Crowther, a professional stage Magician and Ventriloquist, he and Gardener formed a friendship that would last for many years. It was after the war in 1946, that Gardner first met Cecil Williamson. They met at the famous Atlantis Bookshop in London, where Gardner was giving an informal talk. Gardner had been eager to meet Williamson in order to extend his network of occult contacts. While they would meet frequently thereafter, their relationship was strained and would later end on bad terms. Williamson describes Gardner as a "Vain, self-centered man, tight with his money, and more interested in outlets for his nudist and voyeuristic activities, than in learning anything about authentic witchcraft".
In 1947, his friend Arnold Crowther introduced Gardner to Aleister Crowley. Their brief association would later lead to controversy over the authenticity of Gardner's original "Book of Shadows". Crowley had allegedly been a member of one of Old George Pickingill's original Nine Covens in the New Forest, and Gardner was especially interested in the rituals used by that coven, so to augment the fragmented rituals used by his own. He asked Crowley to write down what he could remember and implement them with other magical materials. Crowley by this time was in poor health and only months away from death, but he acquiesced to Gardner's request. He also made Gardner an honorary member of the Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO), a Tantric sex magic order at one time under his leadership, and granted him a charter to operate his own lodge. Crowley was also an acquaintance of Cecil Williamson.
In the mean time, Gardner had moved from the New Forrest, to Bricketts Wood, outside St Albans. There he had bought a cottage on the grounds of a nudist club, from where he ran his own lodge. Not having a car or able to drive, Gardner would prevail on Williamson to drive him down to Crowley's lodgings in Hastings for consultations. Williamson later claimed to have participated as an observer in some of Gardner's, new lodge activities. The alter he said, was made up of an old "Anderson" air raid table with a metal top, and was used to perform the Great Rite (A rite involving sexual intercourse.). The lodge he say's, had far more men than women with about 80 to 20 percent splitting the difference, this because many of the women who joined his lodge, didn't favor the sexual rites. At one point Gardner had to resort to hiring a London prostitute to play-act the role of High Priestess, and engage in the sex act.
Over time Gardner accumulated a vast amount of knowledge on Folklore, Witchcraft, and Magic, and had collected many artifacts and materials on magical procedures and ceremonial magic. Much as he wanted to write about and pass on this knowledge, he was prevented from being too public. Witchcraft was still against the law in England and he was cautioned by Old Dorothy to remain secretive and not to write. Later she reluctantly allowed him to write in the form of fiction. The result was an occult novel called "High Magic's Aid". It was published in 1949, by "Michael Houghton" who was also known as "Michael Juste", the proprietor of the famous Atlantis Bookshop in London. The book contained the basic ideas for what was later to become "Gardnerian Wicca".
In 1951 there was a resurgence of belief and new interest shown in the Old Religion, brought on by the repeal of the last antiquated witchcraft laws still being enforced in England. Gardner was now free to go public and breaking away from the New Forest coven, he began to establish his own. This change in the law also made it possible for Cecil H. Williamson to open the famous "Museum of Magic and Witchcraft", (formerly called the Folklore Center) at Castletown in the Isle of Man. Later that year after a dispute with his trust fund, Gardner turned up on his doorstep in financial trouble. Williamson took him in as the museum's director, and soon he became known as the "Resident Witch".
Through his association with the museum, Gardner became acquainted with everyone there was to know in occult circles at that time. His reputation as a leading authority on witchcraft began to spread. A year later in 1952, with his financial problems resolved, Gardner bought the museum buildings together with its display cases from Williamson. Gardner's collection of artifacts and materials were not as extensive as Williamson's, and he found that he hadn't enough objects to fill all the cases. He asked Williamson to loan him some of his talismans and amulets. By now weary, if not openly disliking Gardner, Williamson reluctantly agreed but took the precaution of making plaster casts and imprints of each item. Gardner reopened the museum and operated it on his own.
In 1953 Gardner met "Doreen Valiente", and initiated her into his coven. Doreen proved to be his greatest asset, it was she who helped Gardner rewrite and expand his existing "Book of Shadows". Collaborating together, they embellished the numerous text and rituals he had collected and claimed to have been passed down to him from the New Forrest Coven. Doreen also weeded out much of Aleister Crowley's materials on account of his black name, and put more emphasis onto Goddess worship. So it was between them, that Doreen and Gardner established a new working practice, which evolved into what is today one of the leading traditions of the Wicca movement, "Gardnerian Wicca".
In 1954 Gardner wrote and had published his first non-fiction book on witchcraft, "Witchcraft Today". In it he supported the theories of anthropologist "Margaret A. Murray" who purported that modern Witchcraft is the surviving remnant of an organized Pagan religion that had existed before the witch-hunts. Murray also wrote the introduction to the book. The book on its release was an immediate success and because of it new covens sprang up all over England, each practicing its dictates. The Gardnerian tradition had been born.
Gardner soon became a media celebrity and courted their attention. He loved being in the spotlight and made numerous public appearances, dubbed by the press as "Britain's Chief Witch". However not all the publicity was beneficial. Gardner was a keen naturist and his penchant for ritual nudity was incorporated into the new tradition. This caused conflict with other hereditary witches who claimed that they had always worked robed. Many also believed he was wrong to make so much public, what had always been to them considered secret. They believed that so much publicity would eventually harm the craft.
Gardner became difficult to work with, his egotism and publicity seeking tried the patience of his coven members, even that of Valiente, by now his High Priestess. Splits began to develop in his coven over his relentless pursuit of publicity. He also insisted on using what he claimed were "ancient" Craft laws that gave dominance to the God over the Goddess. The final revolt happened when he declared that the High Priestess should retire when he considered her to old. In 1957, Doreen Valiente and others members having had enough of the gospel according to Gardner, left and went their separate ways. Undaunted, Gardner continued on, he wrote and had published his last book "The Meaning of Witchcraft" in 1959.
In May of the following year 1960, Gardner was invited to a garden party at Buckingham Palace, this in recognition of his distinguished civil service work in the Far East. A few weeks later on the 6th June, he initiated Patricia Dawson into his coven and she in turn initiated his old friend Arnold Crowther. On the 8th November, Patricia and Arnold were married in a private handfasting, officiated by Gardner, and followed the next day with a civil ceremony. That same year his devoted wife Donna died. While she had never taken part in the craft or his activities within it, she had remained his loyal companion for 33 years. Gardner was devastated and began to suffer once more his childhood affliction of asthma.
In 1962, Gardner started to correspond with an Englishman in America, "Raymond Buckland". Buckland would later be responsible for introducing the Gardnerian tradition into the United States. They met 1963 in Perth, Scotland, at the home of Gardner's then High Priestess, "Monique Wilson" (Lady Olwen). Monique initiated Buckland into the craft, just shortly before Gardner left to vacation the winter months in the Lebanon. Gardner would never get to see the impact of his tradition in America. Returning by ship from his vacation, Gardner suffered a fatal heart attack. On the 12th February 1964, he died at the breakfast table on board ship. The following day he was buried on shore in Tunis, his funeral attended only by the Captain of the vessel he had traveled on.
In his will, Gardner bequeathed the museum in Castletown to his High Priestess, Monique Wilson, together with all its artifacts, his personal ritual tools, notebooks, and copyrights to his books. Monique and her husband continued to run the museum, and hold weekly coven meetings in Gardner's old cottage, - but only for a short time. When they could, they closed the museum down and sold its contents to the "Ripley's, Believe It Or Not" organization in America. They in turn dispersed the many artifacts amongst its various museums, some they sold on to private collections. Many of Gardner's supporters were dismayed, even angered by these events and Monique was forced from grace as High Priestess. Other beneficiaries of Gardner's estate were Patricia and Arnold Crowther (his old friends), and "Jack L. Bracelin" the author of his biography written in 1960 entitled, "Gerald Gardner: Witch".
Eliphas Levi (1810-1875).
Eliphas Levi is the pseudonym of Alphonse Louis Constant, a French occultist and author whose work greatly influenced many of the early revivalists of the 19th century. Interestingly Aleister Crowley was born the same year Levi died and later claimed to be his reincarnation.
Constant was born in Paris 1810 and was the only son of a shoemaker. He was an intelligent young boy and quick to learn but his father did not have the funds to privately educate him. Determined his son should have a decent education, he sent Constant to a church in St-Sulpice there to be educated and trained as a priest. While he was there he became intrigued by a lesson received from his headmaster, who during the course of the lesson explained his belief that animal magnetism was a vital energy of the human body controlled by the "Devil". This sparked his curiosity and surreptitiously he began to study all that he could find out about magic and the occult. His interest had been ignited.
Constant continued to pursue his ecclesiastical career and was ordained as a priest. Later he was thrown out of the church and excommunicated due to his left-wing political views and writings, also because he refused to observe his vows of chastity. He became an out spoken journalist and his writings led on to him serving three short jail sentences.
In the 1830's Constant became acquainted with an old couple called 'Ganneau' who practiced witchcraft. Ganneau believed himself a prophet and a reincarnation of Louis XVII, his wife he believed was the reincarnation of Marie Antoinette. Constant joined Ganneau and became one of his followers delving deeper into the mysteries of magic and the occult.
In 1846 when he was 36 years old, Constant met and married Noemie Cadot who was less than 18 years old. Together they had one child but sadly it died in early childhood. After the loss of the child the marriage deteriorated, they separated in 1853 and finally had it annulled in 1865. Constant continued to earn a living writing as a journalist and by giving lessons in occult studies. He took on the pen name 'Magus Eliphas Levi', which he arrived at by translating his first and second names from Hebrew.
Levi first tried necromancy during a trip to London in 1854. A mysterious woman claiming to be an adept asked him to conjure the spirit of 'Apollonius' a famous magician of ancient times. During three week of preparation including dieting and fasting, he meditated on Apollonius and imagined conversations with him. The Ritual of Conjuration he performed consisted of 12 hours of incantations after which the floor began to shake and a ghostly apparition appeared. Levi admitted to feeling extremely cold and frightened and when the apparition touched his ritual sword his arm went suddenly numb. He dropped the sword and fainted. He claimed later that his sword arm was sore and numb for days after the incident, but that he was unconvinced he had conjured the spirit of Appollonius. In subsequent attempts though he claims to have called him up several times.
In 1861 Levi published his first and perhaps most important book - The Dogma and Ritual of High Magic. He followed this with - A History of Magic, Transcendental Magic, The Key of Great Mysteries and other occult books. For his time Levi's writings and beliefs were highly imaginative. He believed in the existence of a universal 'secret doctrine of magic' that had prevailed throughout history and was evident everywhere in the world. He also expounded the theory of 'Astral Light', based on his belief in animal magnetism. Astral light is likened to the ether, the life force and power source that fills all space and living things, a popular belief in the 19th century. A magicians 'will' was limitless in its power and to control the astral light he says, was to control all things.
Levi was greatly influenced by "The Magus, 1801" written by Francis Barrett. He in turn would influence other great writers and occultists. One example is "Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton", the author of The Last Days of Pompeii and other occult books. They met in England in 1861, and together joined an occult group to study clairvoyance, magic, astrology and mesmerism. Up until his death in 1875, Levi earned his living from his writings and giving occult lessons, he was a popular man and gained a respectable cult following. His magic greatly influenced S.L. MacGregor Mathers who wrote much of the rituals adopted by the "Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn" and which continues today as a leading influence in occultism.
Doreen Valiente (1922-1999)
Doreen Valiente was perhaps one of the most respected English witches to have influenced the modern day movement of Witchcraft. She was an early initiate and High Priestess of Gerald Gardner and did much to co-write with him the basic rituals and other materials that helped to changed and shaped contemporary Witchcraft.
Doreen was born Doreen Edith Dominy the daughter of Harry and Edith in Mitcham, South London, on the 4th January 1922. Little is known of her family except that they were Christian and very religious. During her early years the family lived near Horley in Surrey, and here Doreen had her first psychic experiences. When she was just seven years old, she became fascinated with the motion of the moon as she studied and gazed at it from the garden, and while doing so experienced her first spiritual contact:
"I saw what people would call the world of everyday reality as unreal, and saw behind it something that was real and very potent. I saw the world of force behind the world of form".
Far from a disturbing experience, it did more to boost her intrigue in the true nature of life's existence:
"Just for a moment I had experienced what was beyond the physical. It was beautiful, wonderful, it wasn't frightening. That, I think, shaped my live a lot".
At the age of thirteen, Doreen begun to experiment with simple magic. Once when learning that her mother, who worked as a housekeeper, was being constantly harassed and tormented by a co-worker. Doreen was able to obtain a few strands of the women's hair, and concocted a spell to stop her bullying. The spell apparently worked but her devoutly Christian family, perhaps out of fear, were far from happy and sent Doreen away to convent school. Doreen walked out of the convent when she was fifteen and refused ever to return.
As time went by, Doreen became more aware of her own psychic abilities and began to read and study all the occult material she could lay her hands on, including the works of: Charles Godfrey Leland, Aleister Crowley and Margaret Alice Murray whom she particularly admired.
On the 31st January 1941 having just turned 19, Doreen was working as a secretary in Barry, South Wales. There she met and married her first husband 'Joanis Vlachopoulos'. Not a lot is known about Joanis, except that he was a 32 year old 'Able Seaman' serving with the Merchant Navy out of Cardiff. This was a dangerous occupation at that time as the course of World War 11 spread across Europe and our navy's struggled to re-supply troops and forces employed over there. On a daily bases, many ships and seamen were lost as they crossed the treacherous waters of the Atlantic. Just six months after their wedding, Joanis was reported missing at sea and presumed dead. Despite her loss, Doreen continued to work as a secretary in Wales, then later moved to London.
On the 29th of May 1944, just a week before the Normandy Landings, Doreen married her second husband Casimiro Valiente. Cosimiro was a refugee from the Spanish Civil War, who while fighting with the Free French Forces against the German occupation, had been wounded and sent back to England as an invalid. He met Doreen while convalescing in London and they were married at St Pancras Registry Office. They would remained together for the next 28 years until Cosimiro died in April 1972.
Sometime after the war ended, Doreen and Cosimo moved from London and took up residence in Bournemouth, not to far away from the New Forrest area where Gerald Gardner had first been initiated into Witchcraft. After the bombed-out ruins of war-time London, the peace and tranquility of the area appealed to Doreen and such was it's history steeped in folklore, her interest in Witchcraft, the Occult and Psychic Phenomena was re-kindled. In 1952 shortly after the repeal of the old witchcraft laws, Doreen read an article about Cecil Williamson who was opening a Folklore Center of Superstition and Witchcraft based on the Isle of Man. The article mentioned a coven still operating in the New Forrest area, and this so intrigued Doreen that she wrote to Williamson seeking further information. Williamson in turn passed her letter on to Gerald Gardner.
After corresponding back and forth for a while, Doreen expressed her interest in joining a coven. Gardner invited Doreen to tea at a friend's house near the New Forrest. During the summer of 1952 in a little town called Christchurch, Hampshire, there still lived a lady called 'Dafo', the very same lady who had introduced Gardner to the New Forrest coven in the autumn of 1939. She wisely used 'Dafo' as a pseudonym, because it was only a year before that the old antiquated 'Witchcraft Act of 1735' was repealed, and 'technically', witchcraft was still considered by many a criminal offence, and to declare oneself a Witch could bring about all sorts of social complications.
At this first meeting in Dafo's home, Gardner didn't invite her to join his coven, but presented Doreen with a copy of his book 'High Magic's Aid'. This he did to all potential initiates in order to gauge their reactions to ritual nudity and scourging. After further correspondence, a year later in 1953, Doreen received her first degree initiation into the Craft. Tradition demanded that an opposite member of sex conduct the initiation, and so Gardner decided to conduct it himself. On Midsummer's Eve he was due to attend a 'Druid Solstice' gathering at Stonehenge, where he was to loan the 'Order' his ritual sword. Traveling in from his witchcraft museum on the Isle of Man, on his way he stopped off at the home of Dafo to initiate Doreen. That evening Doreen was reborn as Ameth' the pseudonym or craft name as it is called, by which she was to be known.
During the initiation Gardner used his own Book of Shadows containing as he claimed, information and remnants of rites taken from an Old Religion passed down through the ages to the old New Forest Coven, but from it he also read a passage Doreen instantly recognized. It came not from an old religion, but from a more contemporary source, the 'Gnostic Mass' written by Aleister Crowley. Gardner then gave Doreen free access to his 'Book of Shadows' and other materials he had collected. He still claimed most had been passed down to him from the old coven, but much of it was fragmentary. Doreen immediately recognized some of Crowley's other work among his material, but accepted Gardner's assertion of how it came to be there. Working in collaboration with Gardner, she began to re-write his 'Book of Shadows' using her considerable poetic gifts. Due to his unsavory reputation, she removed much of Crowley's influence and instead inserted the influence of Charles G. Leland, this is evident in her most famous piece 'The Charge of the Goddess'. This revised version of the Book of Shadows served as the basis for what was to become known as "Gardnerian Wicca", which still today is one of the most dominant traditions of contemporary Witchcraft.
From these early beginnings we can how Doreen Valiente's influence helped to shape and mould the future of modern witchcraft as it evolved into many other traditions. Doreen was also credited with increasing the emphasis on Goddess worship and thus transforming the craft into a fully-fledged Religion.
By 1957 however, a rift was starting to form between Gardner, Doreen (now his High Priestess) and the rest of his coven. It was caused mainly by his relentless pursuit of publicity and would lead to Doreen (and others) leaving his coven. In her autobiography 'The Rebirth of Witchcraft' she explains:
"that as the coven's High Priestess, she felt that by speaking to the press, Gardner was compromising the security of the group and the sincerity of his own teachings".
As was his way, Gardner persisted forcing a separation, so Doreen left to set up her own coven with a man called Ned Grove. Later, before Gardner died, they restored their friendship and mutual respect, but never to the same degree as before.
Life then changed dramatically for Doreen in 1964, when both her mother Edith, and Gerald Gardner died. It was also the year, perhaps due to the growing tensions of internal politics emerging within Gardnerianism, that Doreen decided to move on and take up with another tradition. She was initiated into the 'Clan of Tubal-Cain', a coven run by Robert Cochrane. Cochrane claimed to be a hereditary witch and was the founder of the tradition now referred to as the '1734' tradition, a tradition allegedly handed down through his family. However, Doreen soon became disillusioned with Cochrane as she began to realize he was more fiction than fact. He was openly contemptuous of Gardnerian Witches, which irked her, and when she noticed his obsession with 'witches potions' (Drugs), she left him. Cochrane died in 1966 in what would appear to have been a ritual suicide, he had ingested belladonna leaves, more commonly known as 'Deadly Nightshade'.
Into the 1960's, a time that brought change to many people, in many ways, and a time that changed many public perceptions. Freedom was in the air, a sexual revolution started, rock and roll was here to stay, and peace movements proliferated as people took to the streets against war, racism and environmental issues. Social upheaval led to the old-fashioned ideas that Governmental-control and suppression, as well as public opinion could be changed. The public had finally found a voice.
From this social freedom emerged many alternative 'New Age' traditions as people cast of the restraints of orthodox religion. Some witches took advantage of this new found freedom and the likes of Sybil Leek and Alex and Maxine Saunders became media personalities actively courting publicity. Many Elders of the craft still refused to come forward publicly, and stoically shunned all contact with anyone outside the Craft. Doreen was one of the few who managed to find a middle-ground, she never denied paganism nor feared to speak out in its defense.
After the death of her husband Casimiro in April 1972, Doreen began to devote much of her time to writing. Her first book was 'An ABC of Witchcraft' (1973), which soon became a sought after book. It was followed by 'Natural Magic' (in 1975) and 'Witchcraft for Tomorrow' (in 1978). These three books did much to established Doreen as an authority on Witchcraft and magic. Many of today's leading authors, researchers and pagans then contacted Doreen, who helped them with her knowledge, anecdotes and personal reminisces of leading craft figures. For those more discerning, she also made available her large and extensive private library, and by guiding their research, proof-read and edited many of their works . In this way Doreen helped and contributed to many of today's leading Wiccan titles.
It was also in the 70's that Doreen spoke out and challenged the British Government, who perhaps out of ignorance were attempting to pass new legislation against Witchcraft. However, they hadn't expected the persistence of someone like Doreen Valiente. She succeeded in lobbying the 'Member of Parliament' concerned, and in the end the new laws were never passed.
In 1980, Doreen began her quest and search for 'Old Dorothy Clutterbuck', the High Priestess who had allegedly initiated Gardner into Witchcraft in 1939. So little was known about Old Dorothy, that many craft skeptics believed she never existed and was merely a figment of Gardner's imagination. Doreen set out to disprove these allegations and after a diligent and determined search, succeeded in proving through 'Birth and Death records', that Old Dorothy had indeed been a real person. Her account of the search which lasted over two years is published as "Appendix A" in Janet and Stewart Farrar's book - 'A Witches Bible'. She also wrote and had published her own autobiography, 'The Rebirth of Witchcraft' in 1989.
Through-out the last three decades of her life, Doreen gave freely of her time and energy, and contributed much of her research, knowledge and experience, not only through her writing and poetry, but through her personal appearances and public speaking at events and conventions regularly organized by the 'The Pagan Federation' founded in 1971. In her efforts to provide genuine information on Paganism, and to counter the many misconceptions about it's religion, in 1995 she agreed to become 'Patron' of the 'Center for Pagan Studies'. It was founded by John Belham-Payne, her last High Priest and working partner, and it was to the 'Center for Pagan Studies' that Doreen made her last public speech.
In her later years Doreen lived in Brighton, Sussex, where after a long struggle with cancer, illness finally overcame her. In her last few days she was moved to a nursing home for extra care and attention, and there friends would visit and keep her company. Through-out her final mortal hours, John Belham-Payne and his wife Julie were at her bedside, and at 6.55 a.m. on the 1st September 1999, she cross the threshold into the Otherworld.
Doreen had been a strong person in life, strong in her belief's through-out her life, and while her illness sapped her physical strength, she retained her mental strength right up until the end. Just two weeks before she passed away, Doreen notarized her 'Last Will and Testament'. In it she bequeathed to John Belham-Payne her extensive collection of witchcraft artifacts, her personal library, and copyrights to all her writings, research material and poetry for prosperity. The artifacts included many items made for her by Gerald Gardner, together with some of his ritual items, his original Book of Shadows and her own Book of Shadows, thought by many to be contemporary witchcraft's most important documents. She also requested John to perform a simple pagan service for her funeral and invite all her friends to the same.
One of her last wishes John tells us, was that the poetry she had written over the years, be published. To achieve this last wish, John and his wife Julie moved to Spain in the following year 2000. This allowed them the time and freedom to restore and archive Doreen's now famous collection, and more importantly, to publish posthumously her final gift to the community, a new book of her poetry entitled "Charge of The Goddess" (published in 2000 by Hexagon Hoopix, the publishing arm of the Hexagon Archive). The book is available to order on-line from www.centre-for-pagan-studies.org/main/howtoOrder.htm
Doreen's contributions to modern day Witchcraft are immeasurable, and yet she was one of the few early pioneers who shunned publicity. She believed that a certain amount of secrecy on the part of covens should and ought to be maintained, and that the future of paganism in the age of Aquarius, lies in feminism and Green issues associated with the environment. In her last address to the National Conference of the Pagan Federation, held at Fairfield Hall in Croydon, London on the 22nd November 1997, she stated that:
"The initiates of the ancient pagan Mysteries were taught to say 'I am the child of earth and Starry Heaven and there is no part of me that is not of the Gods". If we in our own day believe this, then we will not only see it as true of ourselves, but of other people also. We will for instance cease to have silly bickering between covens, because they happen to do things differently from the way we do them. This incidentally is the reason why I eventually parted from Robert Cochrane, because he wanted to declare a sort of Holy War against the followers of Gerald Gardner, in the name of traditional witchcraft. This made no sense to me, because it seemed to me, and still does, that as witches, pagans or whatever we choose to call ourselves, the things which unite us are more important than the things which divide us".
"I was saying this back in the 1960s", she continues, "in the days of the old Witchcraft Research Association and I repeat it today. However since those days we have, I believe, made great progress. We have literally spread worldwide. We are a creative and fertile movement. We have inspired art, literature, television, music and historical research. We have lived down the calumny and abuse. We have survived treachery. So it seems to me that the 'Powers That Be' must have a purpose for us in the Aquarian Age that is coming into being - "So Mote It Be".
Time will tell whether her new book of verse will be recognized for its spiritual and literary values. Designed for practical use in Witchcraft, it may well in time be used for fresh inspiration and contemporary thought, and even become a template for a new generation of Wiccans, those who have finally arrived in the new age of Aquarius, a new era in a new millennium
Alex Sanders (1916 (26)*-1988)
Alex Sanders - the "King of the Witches" as he became known - was responsible for founding the Alexandrian Tradition of Wicca, now one of the main traditions of the Wicca/Witchcraft movement. But his reign was fraught with criticism and controversy.
Alex Sanders was born in Manchester, England and was the oldest of six children. His father was a music hall entertainer who suffered from alcoholism. As a young boy aged seven, he is believed to have happened upon his grandmother "Mary Biddy" performing some sort of pagan ritual. Taken by surprise she immediately swore young Sanders to secrecy, and initiated him on the spot claiming, "Now, you are one of us". Thus he became her student and started on the path of the Old Religion.
Sanders was a natural psychic who learned all he could from his grandmother. He claimed that she gave him her "Book of Shadows" to copy and taught him all the rites and magic of the witches. After her death he tried to contact other witches, but failing he continued his own studies reading all the material he could find. Working as an analytical chemist at a laboratory in Manchester, he met and then married a co-worker called "Doreen". Alex was 21 at the time and Doreen 19, together they had two children "Paul and Janice". Five years later the marriage deteriorated and Doreen took the two children and left him.
Depressed Sanders began drinking; he drifted from one low paid job to another and indulged in sex with both men and women. He started on the left-hand path, worshiped the devil and studied "Abra-Melin" magic, hoping to use it to gain wealth and fame. He regularly boosted about his feats of magic and made some amazing claims, like one made by "Aleister Crowley" before him, he claimed to have created a "magical child". He created it during a rite of ritual masturbation with the aide of a male assistant. He says, "the baby disappeared shortly after its creation and grew up as a spirit called Michael".
"Michael" was the spirit he used during trance work, and it was Michael (he claims) who was responsible for forcing him to act badly at wild parties, to insult people, and generally act in an abominable way. "Eventually the spirit of Michael settled down and I was able to control it", he says. When channeling Sanders used a familiar entity called "Nick Demdike", who claimed to have been a persecuted witch from Lancaster during the trails of the 17th century.
In the early 60's, Sanders is reported to have sought entrance to some Gardnerian covens, including that run by "Patricia and Arnold Crowther", but they refused to accept him. Not to be put off so easily, he somehow managed to obtain a copy of the Gardnerian Book of Shadows. This he copied (badly from all accounts) and embellished it with a few of his own amendments. He then used this as the bases to found his own coven, claiming it to be a copy of his grandmother's Book of Shadows.
Sanders was a born showman who avidly courted publicity. He soon attracted a large following. One of his initiates was "Maxine Morris", a Roman Catholic 20 years his junior. After her initiation, they handfasted and she became his High Priestess. They were married in a civil ceremony in 1967 and moved into a basement flat near Nottinghill Gate, London. Later that same year, Maxine bore him a daughter they called "Maya".
From the new home Sanders ran his coven and taught training classes, he claims to have initiated 1,623 witches all-practicing what had become known as the Alexandrian Tradition. At one meeting, a gathering of sixteen of his covens, Sanders was bestowed with the title of "King of the Witches".
In 1968-69, Sanders with Maxine appeared in and gave technical advice on a film called "Legend of the Witches". During the press preview of the film, they met with and were introduced to "Stewart Farrar", then a reporter for the Reveille. Stewart would later be initiated by Maxine, and move on to become famous himself as a witch and author.
In 1972 Maxine gave birth to another child, a son they named "Victor", then just a year later in 1973 they separated. Sanders moved to Sussex were he resided in relative obscurity until he died on the 30th April 1988 after a long battle with lung cancer. His funeral was a mass media event, Witches and Pagans from all over the country attended to pay their respects. During the course of the funeral a pre-recorded tape was played in which he declared that his son "Victor" should succeed him as "King of the Witches".
Victor Sanders had no desire to take up the title and left the country for the United States. Maxine stay on in London and continued to run a coven and teach the craft, her half-brother "David Goddard" acting as High Priest. A short time after his funeral, a Witches Council of Elders was convened formed mainly from the Alexandrian tradition. They decided there would be no successor to the "King of Witches" and the title was discontinued.
Without doubt Alex Sanders was a controversial and flamboyant man, who without scruples plagiarized the work of others to embellish he own. Whither he did so with malice, remains a question? Personally I don't think so. More I assume through innocuous indifference, and mainly for the benefit of his students, even though it resulted in criticism from many in the craft. He was also without doubt a very skilled witch, and powerful magician, whose contribution to the newly evolving movement, brought witchcraft back into the public arena and changed the face of Wicca. He helped to influence many newcomers entering the craft and Alexandrian Wicca remains today one of the largest traditions of the craft.
* Update *
An email posted on an Alexandrian site from a lady called Carole, an old student of Alex Sanders reads: "Merry meet. I knew Alex Sanders very well, I studied at his School of Occult lectures in the 70s. I feel I must point out that Alex was born on 6.6.16, at 6am. So many articles about him seem to knock 10 years off of his age, please do not take offence, I am trying to put the record straight. Blessed be. Carole".
Aleister Crowley (1875-1947)
Aleister Crowley was perhaps the most controversial and misunderstood personality to figure in the new era of modern day witchcraft. Known by the popular press of his time as "The Great Beast" and "The Wickedest Man in the World", Crowley was a powerful magician, poet, prophet and famed occultist. He was also a one-time witch, though most of the elders of the craft would discredit him the title.
Crowley like many great men before him, was a man before his time. He lived in a society that could little understand him or appreciated his latent genius. His writings so shocked the peoples of his era that he was robbed of the praise that it merited, and as a poet he never received the recognition he deserved.
Crowley was born on the 12th October 1875 in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire. His parents Edward Crowley and his wife Emily were wealthy brewers and the epitome of respectability. They were also devout Christians and staunch members of the Plymouth Brethren sect. They brought up young Crowley in an atmosphere of pious religious narrow-mindedness, against which he constantly rebelled. His whole life thereafter seems to have been a revolt against his parents and everything they stood for. His father died when he was 11 years old.
After the death of his father, Crowley inherited the family fortune and went on to be educated at Trinity College Cambridge. There he wrote and studied poetry. He loved the out-doors life and was a capable mountain climber, in pursuit of which he attempted some of the highest peaks in the Himalayas. In 1898 he published his first book of poetry called "Aceldama, A Place to Bury Strangers In", a philosophical poem by a 'Gentleman of the University of Cambridge' in 1898'. In the preface he describes how God and Satan had fought for his soul and states: "God conquered - and now I have only one doubt left - which of the twain was God"?
It was while he was at Trinity that Crowley became interested in the occult and with his roommate Allan Bennett, they began to study whatever they could. Crowley soon discovered that he was excited by descriptions of torture and blood. He liked to fantasize about being degraded and abused by a 'Scarlet Women', one who was dominant, wicked and independent.
One of the books he read about this time was by the author 'Arthur Edward Waite', entitled "The Book of Black Magic and of Pacts". It hinted at a secret brotherhood of occultists and Crowley became even more intrigued. He wrote to Waite for more information and was referred to "The Cloud upon the Sanctuary - By Carl von Exkartshausen". This book tells of the 'Great White Brotherhood' and Crowley determined he wanted to join this group and advance to its highest levels. Later that year on the 18th November 1898, he and Bennett both joined the 'Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn', the elusive Great White Brotherhood (see 'S.L. MacGregor Mathers and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn').
In 1899 Crowley is reported to have become a member of one of "Old George Pickingill's" hereditary covens situated in the New Forrest, although apparently he was not welcome for long (see 'Old George Pickingill'). It is alleged that he obtained his 'Second Degree' before being dismissed due to his contemptuous attitude toward women, failure to attend rituals with regularity, his personal ego and sexual perversion (Crowley had a bias toward homosexuality and the bizarre, shocking during his time even amongst witches). The priestess of his coven later described him as "a dirty-minded, evilly-disposed and vicious little monster!"
As well as being dismissed and outcaste by the New Forrest witches, all was not well within the Golden Dawn. By this time Crowley had moved out of Trinity Collage without earning his degree, and taken a flat in Chancery Lane, London. There he renamed himself 'Count Vladimir' and began to pursue his occult studies on a full-time basis. Crowley had a natural aptitude for magic and advanced quickly through the ranks of the Golden Dawn, but the London lodge leaders considered him unsuitable for advancement into the second order. Crowley went to Paris in 1899 to see 'S.L. MacGregor Mathers', the then head of the Order and insisted that he be initiated into the second Order. Mathers at the time was experiencing growing dissension to his absolute rule from London, and sensed in Crowley an ally. To the consternation of the London lodge he readily agreed to Crowley's request and initiated him into the second order.
However their allegiance was an uneasy one, for Mathers like Crowley was a powerful magician and both were intensely competitive. Mathers taught Crowley 'Abra-Melin' magic but neither attained any of the grades of the A\A\. They quarreled constantly and allegedly engaged in magical warfare. Mathers is said to have sent an astral vampire to attack Crowley who responded with an army of demons led by Beelzebub. In April 1900, Mathers due to problems within the London lodge, dispatched Crowley back to England as his 'Special Envoy' where he made an abortive attempt to regain control. Shortly thereafter both Mathers and Crowley were expelled from the order.
Crowley began to travel, mostly in the East studying Eastern Occult systems and 'Tantric Yoga'; he also studied 'Buddhism' and the 'I Ching'. Then for a time he lived in an isolated setting near to Loch Ness in Scotland. In 1903 he met and then married Rose Kelly, sister of the well-known artist Sir Gerald Kelly. She bore him one child. While they where on holiday in Egypt the following year, April 1904, he and Rose took part in a magical ritual during which he alleges to have received a message from the God's. As a result of this communication he wrote down the first three chapters of his most famous book "Liber Legis, the Book of Law". This book contains his oft-quoted dictum: "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Love is the Law, Love under Will", upon which Crowley based the rest of his life and teachings.
In 1909 Crowley began to explore levels of the astral plane with his assistant, a poet called "Victor Neuberg"; they used 'Enochian' magic. Crowley believed he crossed the Abyss and united his consciousness with the universal consciousness. He describes the astral journeys in "The Vision and the Voice", which was first published in his periodical "The Equinox" and then posthumously in 1949.
Never far from controversy in 1909 through to 1913, Crowley serialized the secret rituals of the Golden Dawn in his magazine 'the Equinox', which he also used as vehicle for his poetry. Mathers who had written most of the rituals and who was still his greatest antagonist, tried but failed to get a legal injunction to stop him. His action only served to gained Crowley more press publicity and notoriety.
By now Crowley was fast becoming infamous as a Black magician and Satanist, he openly identified himself with the number 666, the biblical number for the antichrist. He also kept with him a series of 'Scarlet Women'; the best known of these was Leah Hirsig, the so-called "Ape of Thoth". Together they would indulge in drinking sessions, drugs and sexual magic. It is believed that Crowley made several attempts with several of these women to beget a 'Magical child', none of which worked and instead he fictionalized his attempts in a book called "Moonchild", published in 1929.
In 1912 Crowley became involved with the British section of the O.T.O. (the Ordo Temple Orientis or Order of the Temple of the East), a German occult order practicing magic. He then moved and lived in America from 1915 to 1919, moving again in 1920 to Sicily where he established the notorious Abbey of Thelema at Cefalu.
In Sicily he proceeded to involve himself in Italian occultism and in 1922 became the head of the 'Ordo Temple Orientis'. However (as he routinely did) he began to attract more bad publicity. The press denounced him as "The Wickedest Man in the World" because of the alleged satanic goings on in the Abbey. It has now come to light that many of the allegations were false and were no more than press sensationalism. However their effect had serious repercussions for Crowley. In 1923 Mussolini the then ruler of Italy stepped in and expelled him from Sicily.
Crowley wondered around for a while visiting such places as Tunisia and Germany before settling for a time in France. While in France he engaged as his secretary the services of another aspiring magician 'Israel Regardie'. Regardie would later become famous himself and played a prominent role in exposing the complete rituals of the 'Golden Dawn' to the public (see Israel Regardie). Crowley continued to travel around Europe during which time he picked up a growing heroin addiction, a habit he would suffer from for the rest of his life. Back in England in 1929 he met and married his second wife 'Maria Ferrari de Miramar'. The marriage took place in Leipzig, Germany.
In 1932 Crowley met with 'Sybil Leek' another famous witch and became a frequent visitor to her home. Sybil a hereditary witch was only nine years old at the time and later wrote in her autobiography "Diary of a Witch" - (New York: Signet, 1969), that Crowley talked to her about witchcraft. He taught her the words of power and instructed her on the use of certain words for their vibratory qualities when working with magick (see Sybil Leek).
Already notorious and well known to the press, Crowley then became involved in a famous and sensational libel case. In 1934 before Mr. Justice Swift, he sued Nina Hamnett a prominent sculptress. Nina had published a book "Laughing Torso" (Constable and Co., London, 1932) in which Crowley alleged she had libeled him by saying he that the practiced black magic. As the case proceeded the other side produced such evidence of Crowley's bizarre life-style and scandalous writings (as they were considered at that time), that the justice was horrified. Crowley lost the case and was forced into bankruptcy, much to the delight of the popular press who again had a field day.
In his penultimate year 1946, a mutual friend 'Arnold Crowther' introduced Crowley to 'Gerald B. Gardner'. His meetings with Gardner would later lead to controversy over the authenticity of Gardner's original 'Book of Shadows'. It was alleged that Gardner paid Crowley to write it for him? But this has now been discounted. While it did contain some of Crowley's writings, this was the result of Gardner and Crowley comparing notes on rituals used in 'Old George Pickingill's' covens in the New Forrest area. Doreen Valiente in her book "Witchcraft for Tomorrow" does much to shed light on this controversy.
At the time of his meetings with Gerald Gardner, Crowley was a feeble old man living in retirement at a private hotel in Hastings, barely kept alive by the use of drugs. It was here that he passed from this world into the next on the 1st December 1947. Unrepentant and unbowed he left this world with a final snub at the society that had so misunderstood him, he left instructions that he was to be cremated and instead of the usual religious service, his 'Hymn to Pan' and other extracts from his writings was to be proclaimed from the pulpit. Finally his ashes were to be sent to his disciples in America.
In many ways Aleister Crowley was not a well-liked man, but he influenced and had an effect on the build up to the new era of modern witchcraft. His knowledge of witchcraft and magick was profound and without question, and he has passed on that knowledge through his books. In today's more liberal society more and more of Crowley's books are being reprinted as we begin to appreciate his strange genius. Indeed some of his books have now gained classical status. These include: Gnostic Mass and The Book of Law (New York: Samuel Weiser, 1977) from which portions of the well known "Charge of the Goddess" were written by Doreen Valiente. Other books include: Magick in Theory and Practice, 777 And Other Qabalistic Writing and The Book of Thoth to mention just a few.
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