This is in no way a condemnation of the many Wiccans throughout the world who are excellent people and sincere in their beliefs.   Some of these priests and priestesses of "The Craft", as they term it,  I have known personally and I count as friends.

What is at issue is 'the system' which was presented as genuinely British and diffused by two figures, each in the public eye for some time during the latter part of his lifetime.  This 'system' was accepted as ethnically authentic by all who became initiates.   Why should they have doubted or questioned the source of the material or indeed the motives of these two founts of origin?   All were only too pleased to have found that which they considered to be a sterling and meaningful religious alternative.   With all credit to the thousands of initiates, in the final analysis it was these initiates and they alone who made Wicca meaningful by their sincerity and devotion.

Having swallowed the mixture, however, at a time when established religion was beginning to wane and when many thirsted for entry into some branch of The Mysteries, Wicca became a facet of the British Mystery scene - eventually being exported to former colonial lands.

Here, then, we attempt to compare the Religion of The Kelt and Gael with modern ‘Wicca’, ‘Witchcraft’, ‘Craft of The Wise’ - call it what you will.

Most ‘witches of the revival’, as they are termed, appear to stem from the initiates of the late Gerald Gardner or follow a system similar to that of Gardner.   These favour the basic working tools of a witch - the athame, scourge, cords, white handled knife, censer etc. and work naked within a magic circle.

The names of their Deities are Aradia & Cernunnos (or Karnayna), although others such as Artemis, Aphrodite & Diana are used in various rituals.   The meetings are the Sabbats and Esbats at which the coven gathers with many a greeting of "Blessed Be".   Power is raised by dancing round within the circle.

On questioning whether there is anything British, Keltic or Gaelic in this
system, the answer must be nothing other than the odd reference to the "Cauldron of Kerridwen", the Goddesses "Dana, Arianrhod and Bride" in the Charge and the "merciful Son of Cerridwen" at the Vernal Equinox - all adopted as a scant recognition of the fact that certain rites were being performed in The British Isles!

ITS ORIGINS AND IMPORTATION INTO BRITAIN

What is the origin of these practices?

In "The Sufis" by Idries Shah (1964) the author refers to the Arabic sources used by Arkon Daraul which describe the ‘dance of the two-horned’ and which hint at the meaning of some of the words used by modern day witches.

He informs us that the Athame or black handled knife is derived from adhdhame which means ‘blood-letter’ and that 'Athame' approximates the pronunciation of adhdhame.

‘Sabbat' appears to have its origin in an Arabic text concerning the Spanish 'two-horned cult'.   The word is azzabat - a ‘forceful occasion’.

The members of an ancient Hespano-Semitic cult wore a type of shroud which was placed over their heads at rituals.   This garment was called the Kafan and later referred to the actual gathering of the cult members - hence the witch word 'coven'.

The greeting "Blessed Be" appears to stem from the Sufi custom of calling down a blessing as a salutation.   The expression in this instance was Mabaruk bashad  (‘May a blessing rest upon you’)

As Arkon Daraul was mentioned by Shah, let us examine his work "Secret Societies" (1961).

Daraul informs us that the earliest references to witches' sabbats are in the 11th century.   They appear to contain details of an amalgam of the cult of Diana and the worship of a 'Black Man'.   At this period the idea of potions, spells, ointments, and gatherings at cross roads appear.   At the very same time, he says, a strange cult had appeared in Morocco - a cult known as 'the double-horned'.   It was linked with magic and contained methods akin to witch practices.

The members of this cult met on Thursday nights.   They had to submit to a form of initiation during which a wound was made somewhere on the body.   One of their beliefs was that power could be raised by a circle dance.

The dagger used in the above ceremony was that described above but this time spelt aldhamme  (still a 'blood-letter').   He describes the account of such a ritual given by one member when the brotherhood (Kafan) gathered by night at a crossroads in a meeting called the Zabbat.

When describing the Berber sect of the 'horned-ones' in North Africa, Daraul reports that they had a supreme leader called Dhulqarnen ('two-horned lord').   The last two syllables sound similar to 'Karneyna' and show some loose philological connection with the name Cernunnos.

A copy of a letter of November 1974 is to hand which at last clarifies the problem.   The letter was written by a member of an East Anglian hereditary group which is one of the 'Nine Covens' stemming from George Pickingill, the last 'cunning man' of Canewdon.  Gardner's parent coven was also one of the 'nine'.   From the letter we learn that the Pickingills of East Anglia stem from Saxon times - from Julia Pickingill, the Wicce of Brandon who died in 1071.   The Pickingills evidently gave total commitment to the Horned God and had many practices that were DISSIMILAR to anything else in England.

These nine covens possessed a mixture of Scandinavian and French Craft techniques.  We are further informed of the Danish settlements in East Anglia and of the French and Flemish weavers who settled there bringing with them portions of the Cathar Faith and the so-called Old Religion as it was known in France during the Middle Ages.

These facts are corroborated by W.E. Liddell in his 1994 book "The Pickingill Papers".
 

COMPARISON AT THIS POINT

Now the medieval witch cult was an obvious importation of Hispano-Semitic ideas with the Saracenic Horned God as the central Deity.   This was handed down in various families in Anglo-Saxon England, fragments of the system eventually being bequeathed to Gerald Gardner.

Nevertheless, this cult is entirely a foreign importation to the shores of Britain and  bears NO RESEMBLANCE to Keltic Religion, either in mythology, beliefs or practices.

In Pentagram magazine of December 1965 one Taliesin, a member of a hereditary group who had much contact with Wicca, wrote that the medieval witch cult bore little resemblance to the Old Religion of Britain and was decidedly of Saracenic origin.
 

SARACEN INFLUENCES

The Arabs, whose incursions into Europe resulted in their domination of the greater part of Spain and indeed southern France, were most likely instrumental in importing Saracenic ideology and practicalities into this continent.   The Basques and the Cathars were influenced by the Berber Mystery Schools which were renowned in nearby Aragon.   The witches of Navarre assimilated a great deal which was Saracenic.   It has been suggested by those who stem from the Pickingill heritage that these latter brought Saracen philosophy to England when they arrived with Berengaria of Navarre, the wife of Richard 1.

Liddel in his "The Pickingill Papers" avers that the Saracen 'masters' were adepts of both Arab and Jewish Qabalah and had introduced concepts which "had no relevance to English witchcraft."   Rollo Ahmed has also stated: "Another effect of the Crusades was the mingling of Eastern and Western beliefs, men who were prisoners of the Saracens in particular bringing back the theories and practices of oriental magic upon which much of the current witchcraft came to be based."

The practices of the Saracens included using cords in magic, sex magic and the Five-fold Kiss.   The latter was also known as the Saracen Kiss.   These Arab magicians awakened the chakras by breathing on these regions of the physical body in a particular manner.

They breathed over the feet, which represented the subliminal gnosis, to exorcise Karmic negativity and to sensitise the feet for the enhanced reception of earth energy (geodetic force).   The breath to the phallus was intended to awaken solar energy. (The region between phallus and the throat was symbolic of the  conscious  mind.)   The head chakras were awakened by breathing on the mouth.

This technique, the symbolism of which the witches were quite unaware, became simplified into the Five-fold Kiss with their own attempts at explanation. ("Blessed be thy feet" etc.)

One other centre which was activated in this way by the Arab adepts was the anus, which is the physical approximation of the seat of the Kundalini, in order to awaken psychic ability.   This technique, when an imitation was adopted in mediaeval times by some witches who knew not the purpose, became debased as the 'osculum infame' (the kiss to the Devil's backside).

Certain Arab magicians, similar to the dugpas in India, also used sodomy to hasten clairvoyance and psychic power - a technique favoured today by certain black magicians but, I must hasten to add, not Wiccans .   (This was also the reason for Crowley's predilection for being the passive partner in acts of buggery.   We shall examine the Crowley input shortly.)

Keltic religion has none of the ‘working tools’ of the modern witch, NO nudity, magic circles, foreign Deities, foreign greetings, foreign terminology for meetings or anything else.   As power is present in varying degrees at all strata within The Absolute, we do not resort to  grinding it out of the human body via the circle dance.

Unlike the modern witchcraft revivalist, members of Keltic families never have called themselves 'witches'.

This was a foreign term foist upon those who followed the Keltic Religion and upon those of other heretical leanings by the alien Anglo-Saxon invaders who stole the greater portion of our country.   This was as much a derogatory term as the insulting word 'dago' is today to describe one of Hispanic descent or ‘frog’ to describe a Frenchman.

Remember too that very little of British origin is found within modern witchcraft.   I recall one Sunday afternoon in 1972 when two of Gerald Gardner's first initiates sat talking with me and a number of my friends.   We were astounded when one was heard to say: "Of course we know nothing of the Keltic legends and heritage!"

Before me is a letter from this gentleman dated 25:1:73 in which he wrote: "I think you are right about the names of the Goddess - names that were used in these islands."    He was becoming aware at that time of the existence of British traditions which should be heeded and to which one should become attuned.

The British pantheons, of which our tradition holds fast to one only, are far more complex structures than the two basic Deities of modern Witchcraft.   In "The Witches Speak" by Patricia and Arnold Crowther we are told that The Craft has two deities only - a god of Hunting and Death, and a goddess of Fertility and Rebirth.

Gardner, of course, grafted the Goddess to the Horned God traditions of the medieval Saracenic-based cult.   This bi-polar effect is not unique to either the Gardnerian cult or the Keltic tradition - the Hindu 'purusha' & 'prakriti' with the male & female Deities implicit in these, the Oriental concepts of Yin & Yang, the Elohim of the ancient Hebrews and even the attempted balance in the Roman Church by Mary Queen of Heaven is sufficient to demonstrate the universal need for equilibration.

Certainly modern witchcraft uses the Solstices and Equinoxes - they are natural observable facts.   The Old British festivals are also used simply because they exist  and have always been part of the British social scene.   These latter are also used strangely enough by a) British Satanists and b) Holy Mother Church.   Plagiarism is not a modern phenomenon!

For some considerable time, however, modern witchcraft has used the Irish Gaelic names of the major festivals.   Obviously they have not yet discovered or have not taken the trouble to ascertain the Keltic names of the festivals or the Gaelic names of the minor festivals.
 

FURTHER DERIVATIONS

To return to the stock-in-trade of the 'modernists', the markings on the Athame are from the grimoire 'The Clavicule of Solomon', as are the forms of consecration of water, salt, sword & wand.  (This, as most know, is of Jewish origin.)

The formation of the circle is common to Crowley, The Golden Dawn et al., complete with the Lesser Ritual of The Pentagram.   Certain prayers are from "The Golden Ass" and novels by Dion Fortune.   The Charge is taken partly from "The Gospel of The Witches" by Leland which is a description of Italian witchcraft and to which three portions of Crowley's "Liber al vel Legis" are liberally added.

The fragmentary  format of certain festivals is padded out with various poems, e.g. Kipling's works, while other rites are by Aleister Crowley.   The Third Degree contains one large portion of Crowley's "Gnostic Mass" part of which also forms the last two lines of the Candlemas invocation.   May Eve includes part of a Kipling poem while the Summer Solstice invocation includes a call to Michael, presumably The Archangel.   In the Autumnal Equinox rite we actually find one line from the first chapter of the Gospel of St. John!

The initiation ceremony is based upon the Masonic initiation - i.e. hoodwink, cable-tow, sword to the breast, password, oath, circumambulation of the lodge by the initiate and sponsor, a charge and presentation of the 'working tools'.   Like Freemasonic raising, there are three basic 'degrees' - the second of which is based upon Mediterranean legends, the third of which is furnished from Crowley's Gnostic Mass and The Liber al vel Legis.   There is even an invocation of 'The Devil' taken from a French play by Ruteboeuf in the First Degree Initiation!   (vide "An ABC  of  Witchcraft" by Doreen Valiente - 1973.)

No doubt many have discovered in the course of time that the anointing patterns of the three degrees are Qabalistic.   The First Degree inverted triangle represents a lunar initiation - Yesod, Hod and Netsach.

The Second Degree is the inverted pentagram represented by all the sephiroth of the Microprosopus (the Son of Aatik Yomin) - Yesod, Geburah, Netsach, Hod and Chesed in that order.   Touched in this order, the pentagram is that used to invoke fire as the initiation is solar - all these sephiroth having Tiphareth (the sun sphere and root of fire) as the central point.

The Third Degree 'crowned pentacle' is the triangle Kether, Binah and Chokmah suspended over the upright pentagram of Daath, Hod, Chesed, Geburah and Netsach.

The three degrees, therefore, pass the candidate upwards via the middle pillar of the Otz Chiim from Malkuth through Yesod, Tiphareth to Daath whence one may cross The Abyss.

All these examples and comments refer to the basic Book of Shadows common to both Gardnerian and Alexandrian systems.

If we examine the entry on Gardner in the "ABC of Witchcraft" by Valiente, we are informed that Gardner was a  pioneer nudist and that his version of The Craft reflected his own ideas and the fact that those who initiated him were also co-masons.

Gardner met Crowley, she continues, the year before the latter's death and his use of  Crowley's work in the rites demonstrates his admitted high regard for the writings.   He confided in Valiente that the material given to him by his initiating coven was fragmentary and that he supplemented this with Crowley's writings as he felt it produced  the correct atmosphere.

Another point which is overlooked is the fact that Idris Shah was employed by Gardner as secretary in the 1950s by which time Gardner was based on the Isle of Man.

By now we can see some of the avenues by which Gardner was able to cobble together this counterfeit system.

If, however, he had forged valid spiritual contacts, the words and texts he sought would have been given to him through the hard work of meditation and the sequella of inspiration.   Obviously he was incapable of this.

There is some mention made of Gardner in Francis King's book "The Magical World of Aleister Crowley".   He says that, as Gardner had a predilection for not only occultism but flagellation, he incorporated the elements of flagellation, nudism and copulation into his concept of 'Witchcraft'.   It is also reported that Gardner paid Crowley a considerable sum to compose ritual material for him, as he himself lacked the necessary creative ability.

In his book "The Secrets of Aleister Crowley", Crowley's own SON relates in fine detail the meeting between his father and Gardner when the latter commissioned the former to compose the rituals of 'The Craft' and even discloses the price for the exercise.

As for the mysterious Old Dorothy Clutterbuck who was supposed to be Gardner's initiator into the Witch Cult, this name was derived from 'Old Mother Clutterbuck', a pseudonym adopted by Crowley on one occasion for a special purpose.   Crowley's son who confirms this had met Gardner at that time and was actually present at the negotiations.

Why, then, was Gardner compelled to go to such lengths in an attempt to formulate his spurious patchwork system?

He had been initiated into this mediaeval branch of The Mysteries by a group in the New Forest and some aver that he had never received any higher degrees.   Not only was the material of this group fragmentary but of that he received very little as, when hearing his views on nudity and possible publicity etc., they swiftly parted company with him.   This is why many other established traditional groups thereafter recognised the Gardnerian initiates as 'inferior products', as Gardner had not obtained the necessary degree and, therefore, the authority to initiate others.

A letter from the late head of a traditional family who knew the New Forest Group is before me and is dated 19th September 1974.  I quote: "Daffo would have had a fit if she had really initiated him and thought he was going to start up a big thing with her stuff. He and Bracelin wrote the 'Laws' etc........."
 

GERALD GARDNER - THE MAN

Was Gardner the type of person to present something as genuine because it suited his purpose when he knew full well to the contrary?  The following should provide a clear answer.

Further material is to be found in "Modern Witchcraft" by Frank Smyth where chapter 3 is devoted to Gerald B. Gardner.   Smyth reports that Gardner welcomed the notoriety which membership of The Craft had brought as the publicity was evidently beneficial to the flourishing of his Museum of Witchcraft on the Isle of Man.

Indeed it is unnecessary to tell anyone, let alone the world at large, what one’s religious beliefs are unless such an exercise suits one's purpose.

(How many people know whether their next door neighbour is a Baptist, Methodist, or even an agnostic?!   One usually keeps one's religious and political affiliations to oneself as they are a very private matter.   At least this is the case in Britain.  My neighbours simply know me as the retired old man next door - even getting my first name wrong at times on the annual Christmas card!)

Certain revealing facts emerge about Gardner in this chapter:-

 1. Gardner's travels in the Canary Islands and North Africa with his Irish nannie.   Gardner's hobbies were collecting daggers and knives.

 2. His teaching himself to read from the age of 7 - 16 with the aid of Strand Magazine.

 3. When his nannie married he sailed with the pair to settle in Colombo.

 4. He  functioned as a rubber planter, customs officer and amateur archaeologist in various countries - Ceylon, Malaya & Borneo until his retiral in 1963 to England.

 5. In 1939 he became a nudist and a witch and joined the Folk Lore Society.   He was also co-founder of a nudist colony at St. Alban's.

 6. He suddenly appears as an M.A. and Ph.D. in 1950.

 7. In 1963 the 'Author's Who's Who' attributes to him the degrees of Ph.D. & D.Litt. and states he was educated privately.

 8. He had admitted to Bracelin, a fellow nudist, that he had taught himself to read.   No record exists of his having attended any school whatsoever.

 9. The degrees were not honorary so one would expect that he had obtained these externally from some unknown university and had hidden the fact with great modesty.

10. Gardner, however, was not known to be a modest man and one co-witch brands him as a "tremendous snob".

11. Gardner delivered a learned paper at the Congress on Maritime Folklore & Ethnology at Naples in 1954 on Manx fishing craft.   Stewart Sanderson, Director of the Institute of Dialect & Folk Life Studies at Leeds University, revealed that Gardner gave no references and that the work was largely taken from existing researches and publications, augmented with a leavening of folk lore.

Sanderson actually identifies the  works and authors - "The Development of the Manx Fishing Craft" in proceedings of the Isle of Man Natural History and Antiquarian Society (1952) by Eleanor & Basil Mewgaw and an article in "Mariner's Mirror" (April 1941).   There had been no original work by Gardner, the paper being simply a 'scissors and paste' job.

12. Miss Christina Hole remembers when, at a meeting to decide the council of the Folk Lore  Society the coming year, Gardner's presence on the council and his reflection upon it were seriously questioned.

The above points certainly qualify the integrity of Gardner in quite a negative light to say the least.
 

Now let us continue with the further development of 'Wicca' in the late 1960s and 1970s by Oswald Alexander Sanders.
 

Sanders claimed to be a 'hereditary witch' initiated by his Welsh grandmother in 1933 when he was 7 years of age.   This would make his birth year 1926.   As his custom was always to subtract 10 years from his age, his birth year was in fact 1916 or 1917.   Media reports of his death confirm this.

According to June Johns' biography of Sanders his grandmother was 59 years his senior - i.e. having been born c. 1858.   She must have been functioning, therefore, allegedly as a witch by at least 1898 (aged 40) with a 'Book of Shadows' IDENTICAL to the Gardnerian book which had not yet been written!

Bearing in mind she came from Bethesda in North Wales (according to "The King of The Witches" by June Johns - 1969), not one word of Welsh appears in Sanders' copy of the grandmother's book or indeed any reference to the Keltic Gods (apart from the 3 passing mentions of Kerridwen and 1 of Arianrhod, as does the Gardnerian texts).

One wonders how she came into possession of a book, the fragmentary portions of which originated in the New Forest coven - especially at the end of an era where a journey of over 1OO miles from one's home was the event of a lifetime!   Any reputable sociological work will confirm this latter fact as will any map that the round trip from Bethesda to the New Forest and back is some 600 miles.

Furthermore the book she was supposed to have  used perhaps c. 1898 included the words of the Third Degree Rite containing  part of Crowley's Book of The Law - written by Crowley on 8th, 9th & 1Oth of April 19O4!!   (vide The Confessions of Aleister Crowley, chapter 49.)

With a little thought, these glib lies of Sanders fall open  to public gaze very swiftly.

It is interesting to note that, although the Alexandrian 'book' is identical to the Gardnerian, many of the ritual movements and the general working are totally wrong.  This one would expect if the book had been covertly copied WITHOUT either initiation or instruction at the hands of a competent Gardnerian worker.

A letter is to hand from a southern group leader and dated 9:11:7O.   She writes:-

"We have excellent reasons for doubting the claims made by Sanders, some of us having come across him over 12 years ago when he was trying to persuade various groups in London & the North to accept him for initiation.   We also know how he came by the Gardnerian material he uses, which is a far from pretty tale."

The details of this are also known to the writer, as is the fact that a Yorkshire High Priestess at that time refused him initiation.   Indeed, many maintain vehemently that he had never been initiated in his life!   This observation is reinforced by the fact that, although being in possession of the Gardnerian book, the Alexandrians working of the rituals contains many mistakes which come of never having seen the movements performed properly.

Nevertheless, much conjecture is now made on his initiation into the Gardnerian Craft by some who claim to know his initiator or friends of his initiator.  If he had been initiated by his grandmother as he claimed why did he seek further initiations - unless he was researching a different form of The Craft?   Did he feel the first was insufficiently valid?

Sanders had met in Manchester a Gardnerian witch who had been initiated by Monique Wilson at the Witches' Mill in Castletown, Isle of Man - a certain Geof. B.

This male witch had brought back to Manchester a copy of the Gardnerian Book of Shadows which belonged to a farmer in the Isle of Man who was another initiate.   He intended making his own manuscript at leisure rather than perform the task piecemeal during various visits to the island.   Sanders, however, was to lay hands on this borrowed book and make his own copy.   Soon after this he appeared on the Mysteries' scene with all the publicity he craved, eventually proclaiming that he was "King of the Witches".

In a letter of 31st October 197O, Scotty  Wilson of The Witches Mill, Isle of Man states:-

"We know that about seven years ago he (Sanders) was using rituals which were not of the Wicca, practising a sort of bastard Egyptian ritual."     (Where was his grandmother's original material then?)

As a direct illustration of Sanders' pitiful attempts to impress, I recount one of my own memories of the man.

I had visited Sanders on a number of occasions and had had a great deal of contact with him by telephone.   This had been a fact finding mission to probe in considerable depth the authenticity of the cult.   Nevertheless, he was totally unaware of my own background in The Mysteries at that time.   Another leader of a Welsh group, an actress by profession, had made similar visits dressed as a 'maiden aunt' who appeared to hang on every word.   She too concealed her hereditary background.

Seated one evening in Sanders' flat in either 1969 or 197O, I watched as he lectured to his minions on how he had obtained from the 'inner planes' the glyph and attributes of Aschmunadai, an intelligence of the zone girdling the earth.   (What this had to do with Gardnerian witchcraft is still a mystery.)   As all his chelas were feverishly copying the diagram, he wandered round the room and came up to me.

On being asked if I didn't wish to copy the glyph, I replied that I too had Franz Bardon's "The Practice of Magical Evocation" which illustrated the glyph amid countless others.   He looked at me sheepishly, eventually grinning and said, "Shut up, you bastard" in his soft Manchester accent.    He later offered the lie that Franz Bardon was his pen name and that he was indeed the  writer - despite Bardon's PHOTOGRAPH appearing in "Initiation Into Hermetics" and "The Key To The True Quabbalah!"

Sanders was to surface with these ludicrous claims in the late 196Os, eventually revealing the 'secrets of the craft' in a number of low-budget sensational films.   His disciples have written a number of books committing to print the entire Gardnerian & Alexandrian systems, despite having taken the oath NOT to reveal the "secrets of The Art."

When one inspects the Alexandrian system, not only is the Gardnerian basis there in its entirety but also the top-coat of Qabalistic symbolism - Sephiroth, magical evocation, plus techniques from The Magus by Barrett and much more.

Having made these comments on Sanders, I can add this paradoxical observation.  When talking with him alone one was very much aware of the Gemini traits in the man - a decidedly bifurcated personality.  On the one hand he was the showman, eagre for publicity and unafraid of controversy.  On the other, when all the masks were down, he was one of the most sincere devotees of the Goddess I have ever known.   His breadth of knowledge in the realm of comparative mythology, especially Egyptian and Classical, was indeed vast.   I am glad to be able to reveal these things.  Explain to me, if you will, the enigma that was Sanders.
 

COMPARISON UPDATE

We have examined at some length a spurious amalgam which  may have had its fragmented roots in a Hispano-Semitic importation of medieval times and  to which was grafted pseudo-Masonic, nudist, sado-masochistic, Greco-Roman and contemporary poetic features by a glib opportunist - the late Gerald B. Gardner.   In the 196Os this bastardized patchwork was subjected to further mutation with Egypto-Qabalistic elements added by a second opportunist and attention-seeker - the late Alex Sanders.

Our tradition, and indeed most other hereditary traditions I have encountered, has none, I repeat none of the above except the British festival dates which are our birthright!

Only the second part of the Gardnerian 'charge' bears any resemblance to the British spiritual core, both on account of the style and fervour of language and the mention of Cerridwen the Goddess.   This small portion of all the writings is obviously one of the few imported fragments relating to Keltdom possessed by his initiator and handed out to Gardner.

Has all this anything whatsoever to do with the British Isles and the Keltic or Gaelic peoples?

If any foreign import is to be considered valid in British spiritual systems, as modern witchcraft obviously suggests, are we to include, in our present era, Hindu Deities, the Islamic Allah, all the West Indian Voodoo Gods and perhaps the Star of David as a secret sign?!    A line must be drawn and be seen to be drawn to prevent the spiritual nausea which such cross-fertilised spurious conglomerations provoke.

SUCH IS THE GROTESQUE ABERRATION KNOWN AS 'WICCA' OR 'WITCHCRAFT'.

Unfortunately in Britain we have been conditioned by the centuries' acceptance of a state religion which is founded upon a Semitic base, giving us a conditioned reflex which generates the belief that Choral Evensong is actually part of the British institution!  Thus any foreign concepts are now usually received with little question.

We should be well advised to remember the words of Lewis Spence who, in his "Magical Arts in Celtic Britain", said: "What, indeed, have we Britons not lost in our quest for alien Magics and the neglect of our own native traditions!"

(Indeed we could substitute 'Canadians', 'Americans', 'Australians', 'New Zealanders' etc. for "Britons" in the last sentence and thus purge the impertinent Anglo-Saxon colonialism yet prevalent in these countries.  Rather than accept the new homeland in its entirety with all the rich parochial culture to be explored, how many times do we see the perpetuation of Welsh, Caledonian and Burns Societies together with 'Ye Olde English Wicca' in former colonies to the neglect of, for example, the Amerindian, Maori and Aboriginal cultural treasure houses.  Having robbed the indigenous peoples of their lands by ethnic cleansing, do they now now seek to purge these lands of their spiritual driving-forces?  We applaud those who take a more enlightened approach as "Letter from Australia" demonstrates.

We are all too aware in the UK of the anachronistic tentacles of colonialism as we remain ensnared in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland by the Anglo-Saxon variety.   Yes, it never fails to amuse each time we hear the lie sung: "Britons never, never, never shall be slaves."  Since 55 b.c., Britons have been the slaves of Rome, the Angles, Jutes & Saxons and the Norman, Dutch and Hanoverian dynasties which lorded over our islands.  The latter continues to do so from an alien Anglo-Saxon power-base in London!

If the descendants of the colonial settlers wish to hold fast to the culture of the former homeland, one must ask why they do not return to the land of their heart and why their ancestors turned their backs on the British shores in the first instance.   Of course it was much easier to escape from social and economic injustices, fleeing to another continent, than to remain and fight for an improvement in such adverse conditions from within as did the majority of Britons.)
 

THE KELTIC HERITAGE

Here I can but quote from my own tradition, although many other families, both Keltic and Gaelic, have considerable similarities and are equally valid and in complete harmony with these Islands.  (I do not include here the various groups which purport to be Welsh, Keltic, Irish or Gaelic while appending the term "Wicca" or "coven", calling themselves "witches", celebrating "Esbats" and "Sabbats" with pentagrams everywhere!  Oh yes, occasionally we find a group which asserts its British origins pointing out that their "coven" is ruled by the "Magister."  The pertinent question here is: "What place has a second declension Latin noun in British religion?")

 1. Deities (a pantheon of the family-tree variety) - entirely Keltic.

 2. The weapons of The Gods (e.g. Yr Yscwyd, Y Gwayw etc.) and the implements of man (e.g. Y Garreg Yr Allor & Y Bual).

 3. The maleable and complex symbolism of The Keltic Cross and The Runes (with not a pentagram in sight).

 4. The functional symbolism of The Castles and the convergent spirals which fire the psycho-dynamics of all workings.  (Vide "The Taxonomy")

 5. Considerable emphasis on the trees of the months/seasons, herbal lore, natural energies, and much more.  And the trees are infinitely more than decorative elements as are corn dollies - but one form of the string doll which is an enchantment binder, created from the pleated skeins of Arglwyd Tyghet (The Lord of Fate) in their material form.   (The Gwe Corryn or Spider's Web is a typical practical example.)

 6. The use of Y Gaer (Castle or Tower) as a telesmatic base.

 7. The importance of Y Plant or Teulu (Warband) as a group mind.

 8. Adoption into Y Teulu for outsiders.   (NO initiation, oaths  etc. - anyone who could not keep her/his council could not earn the trust of others and would not be acceptable.)  Acceptance into Y Teulu for those who have allied themselves to us in times of war/trouble - those who are of part of The Family "by Brother Right."

 9. Natural growth within Y Teulu.   (No degrees of the Masonic variety.)

10. All festivals based upon family Keltic legends - some of which appear in the Red Book of Hergest, the White Book of Rhrydderch and the Black Book of Caermarthen, and some which are unwritten.

11. The usual social necessities of presentation of the newborn, coming of age, marriage, recognition of parenthood and burial ceremonies etc..

12. All work is within the framework of Nature's laws with the intensified specificity of these.  (e.g. recognition of the validity of the instinct of self preservation which enables one to respond 'in kind' when attacked, unlike the Wiccan fear that any aggressive response will rebound on the practitioner three-fold.   We do not 'turn the other cheek' as do the Christians nor do we accept the Eastern concept of Karma as it is usually defined.  The family law is quite explicit on this - "Yet anger, if righteous, may not be denied and the hosting of The Warband is ever just.")   One of our people described himself recently as "a pagan with teeth!"

13. Great attention to the psycho-dynamics of the system and their effects upon individual/group equilibration.  (e.g. One law avers: "Perhaps thou wearest the strong raiment of Kaer Aranrot.  Or in Kaer Wydyr thy cloak was fashioned at finer looms..........   Yet be thou ever mindful of the unseen Spinner of Kaer Fandwy whence all proceed.")

14. All consider themselves as a "plentyn Teulu Y Mamau" - i.e. a "child of The Family of The Mothers", NOT as a 'witch' or by any other nonsensical name.   (Remember that the word 'witch' was a neologism coined by the Anglo-Saxon lawgivers.)

15. Words, phrases and texts handed down are in Welsh - mostly in Middle Welsh.

16. The wording of ceremonies is not copied from elsewhere - not even from my writings by others.   If a couple or family move to another area and will therefore continue to operate independently, each must compose her/his own ceremonies based upon the common spiritual thread and what they have learned through experience.

Initially such compositions may be rudimentary, but eventually what is produced may be infinitely SUPERIOR to anything I could hope to create.   The important point is that it will be 'right' for the individual, earned by each and given to them via spiritual inspiration, not by me.    This ensures the hallmark of Divinity on all proceedings not the stamp of one individual which would merely perpetuate yet another personalized cult.

What now becomes apparent is the total non-existence of valid spiritual contacts, to say nothing of integrity etc., in Gardner, Sanders and those of similar ilk.   Their lack of creativity ensured enslavement to the Book of Shadows, each daring not to change one word.   (Quite a compliment to 'To Mega Therion' really.)

They enjoyed their reward - the notoriety, publicity and the money which such exercises attract.    The great reward of contributing to Divinity one's efforts and talents completely eluded them.   Such is the sorry epitaph of these revivalist 'witches' (as they styled  themselves).

Fortunately, by the late 1990s, Gardner is being ignored by the modern 'Wiccans' and Sanders is still to some extent persona non grata.

Alexandrians per se are marginally represented in British Wiccan/Pagan organisations.   Such as were initiated perhaps in the main have outgrown their brief foray into Mystery working.  Most others together with third generation Gardnerians have developed a more open minded and free thinking approach to their personal development - their healthy quest breaking down the  barriers erected by Gardner to rediscover the local Deities of Britain.

There also appears to be a spreading amalgam of the two traditions, e.g. those initiated into the Alexandrian system who obtain a raising in the Gardnerian or those who have 'been raised' in one system eventually joining a group and even heading a group of the other persuasion.

Much of genuine inspiration is now permeating the creative writings of Wiccans of the present era and no doubt the stereotyped material of the original Book of Shadows will be superceded eventually by rituals and ceremonies of sterling value which will stand as monoliths of worth in the annals of pagan composition and which will prove beyond all doubt that modern Wiccans have forged valid spiritual contacts, not via the Book of Shadows, but by their own merit and devotion.   I applaud their tenacity, devotion and labour and fervently long to see this development flourish.  They may eventually even purge the entire 'system' of all foreign imports - who knows?

In time we may see this patchwork monster of nearly five decades, the brainchild of two contemporary Frankensteins, relegated to oblivion.