The Secret History of Modern Witchcraft, Witchcraft and Wicca

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THE SECRET HISTORY OF MODERN WITCHCRAFT
Copyrght¨ 1997 byT Aen Greened Alrghs reserved.
ByAen H. Greened,Bshop n he Gnoss
The Legend ofWchcratand he Orgn ofWcca
"The acts hathe nsncs ofgnorantpeope nvarabynd expresson n some orm
ofwchcra. tmaers e whathe meaphyscan or he morastmayncucae;he
anmalscks o hs subconscous deas..."Aeser CroweyThe Conessons
"Gaher ogeher n he covens as ofod,whose number s eeven,hats aso mynumber.
Gaher ogeher n pubc,n songand dance and esva. Gaher ogeher n secre,be
naked and shameess and reoce n myname."
Lber 49,The Book ofBabaon,Jack Parsons,1946
"fyou are on he Pah,and see he Buddha wakngowards you,klhm."Zen sayng,
paraphrased sghy
"PrevousyInever houghtofdoubnghathere were manywches n he word;now,
however,when Iexamne he pubc record,Ind mysefbeevnghathere are hardy
any..."Faher Fredrch von Spee,S.J. ,Cauo Crmnas,1631
[Ths monograph has a onghsory. The earestpubshed dratappeared n a sma,
ndependentradcalournaldurngmysoourn n Forda n he mdde 1980s. Iwas at
hatme coseyassocaed wh he OTO,butwas nothen an nae member. Ihad
been n cose conactwh Wccan and oher Neopagan groups athatme or over a
decade. Ihad been a wecome guestn manyNeopagan crces,and was wdey,ahough
naccuraey,descrbed as a "Neopagan wrer"(as n MargotAders DrawngDown he
Moon). Iwas requenypubshed n he ournalofhe Church ofAlWords,Green Egg.
Severalyears aer,a revsed and updaed verson appeared n he rstssue ofLAShTAL,
he ournalofEus Lodge OTO,whch byhen Ihad oned. Snce hatme,he essayhas
been repeaedyupdaed and revsed. Aer Iostmybd or ,he copyofYe Book ofYe
Are Magcaln he RpeyCoecon was sod o a prvae coecor wh pro Wccan
sympahes (or so Ihave heard)and has dsappeared rom vew. Butnotbeore Igota
VERY good ook at. The presentrevson ncudes new nsghs no he earycams
concernngGerad Gardner reave o hs saus n he OTO. Severaleers pubshed by
BlHedrck,Treasurer Generalofhe OTO,exchanged beween LadyFreda Harrs and
boh KarlGermer and Frederc Menger mmedaeyaer Aeser Croweys deah add
new nsgh. Br. Hedrck was knd enough o provde me wh copes ofhese eers n
mypreparaons or hs pubcaon. The s aso an mporanteer byGerad Gardner o
Vernon Symmonds,wren durnghe same perod. A copyofhe aer was kndy
provded bySabazus XĒ,he presentU.S. Grand Maser Generalofhe OTO. Ihave aso
had occason o coseyexamne he wrngs ofJohn Whesde Parsons on he subectof
modern wchcra,wren durnghatsame perod. ts ofmore han passngnerest
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hatYe Book ofYe Are Magca,he OTO Charer graned o Gerad Gardner by
Aeser Crowey,he wrngs byParsons on wchcra,he pubcaon ofHgh Magcs
Ad and he pubc emergence ofWcca aldae rom he same perod,crca 1945-1950.]
Havngspenthe daymusngover he orgns ofhe modern wchcra,Ihad a vvd
dream. tseemed o be a cod Januaryaernoon,and Aeser Croweywas havngGerad
Gardner over o ea. twas 1945,and ak ofan earyend o he war was n he ar. An
amosphere ofopmsm prevaed n he ree word ,buthe wheezngod Magus was
havngnone of.
"Nobodys neresed n magck anymore"Croweyeacuaed. "Myrends on he
Connentare dead or n exe,or grown od;he movementn Amerca s n shambes.
ve seen mybestcanddaes urn aganstme....Achad,Regarde -- even hatgeneman out
n Caorna,whas - hs - name,AMORC,he one hatmade alhe money.."
"O,bosh,Crowey"Gardner waved hs hand mpaeny,"alhngs consdered,youve
done preywelor yourse. Why,youve been caed he wckedestman n he word'
and bymore han a ew. And youve no,fyoulpardon he mpernence,done oo
badywh he ades."
Croweycoughed,ugged on hs ppe reecvey. "You know"he nayvenured,"s
ke ve been ryngo elhs boyGran. A resrcve Order s notenough. fIhad tal
o do over agan,Iwoudve buta regon or he unwashed masses nsead ofusta
secretsocey. Why,he opporunes!The women!Poor dmwtkd;he ustdoesntget
he pon. Ibeeve he reads Lovecrator Poe or one ofhose oher unsavoryAmercan
anasss oo much. Butyou,Broher Gardner,you getwhats needed."
Gardner smed. "Precsey. And hats whatIhave come o propose o you. Take your
BOOK OF THE LAW,your GNOSTC MASS. Add a e razze-dazze or he counry
ok. WhyIknow hese occuss who calhemseves wches. Theydance around res
naked,getdrunk,have a good me. Roscrucans,Ihnk. Proper Engsh counrysqures
and dames,mosy. fIcoud persuade you o draw on your ongexperence and aens,
n no me atalwe coud nventa popuar cuthatwoud have beauulades
camorngo etus srp hem naked,e hem up and spank her behnds!,Mr.
Crowey,youlexcuse myexpcness."
For alhs nrmy,Aeser Croweyamostsprango hs ee,a e ofhe od energy
ashnghrough hs ons. "ByGeorge,Gardner,youve gotsomehnghere,Ishoud
hnk!Icoud cense you o nae peope no he O.T.O. oday,and you coud orm he
nuceus ofsuch a group"
He paced n agaon. "Yes,yes"he mused,hafo Gardner,hafo hmse. "The Book.
The Mass. Icoud wre some ruas. An ancentbook'ofmagck. A book ofshadows.
Presesses,naked grs. Yes. ByJove,yes"
Greatsory,butmereya dream ,creaed outofbs and peces ofrumor,hsoryand
magnaon. Dontbe surprsed,hough,fa year or ve years rom now you read tas
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"gospe"(whch s an ronc synonym or ruh)n some new earned exton he abed
hsoryofWcca. Such s he wayalmyhooges come no beng.
Pease dontmsundersand me here;Iuse he word myhoogy'n hs conextn s
aborgnalmeanng,and wh consderabe respec. Hsorys more meaphor han acual
accounngatbes,and here are myhs bywhch we ve and ohers bywhch we de.
Myhs are he dreams and vsons whch paraelobecve hsory.
To arrve atsome perspecve on whathe modern myhos caed,varousy,"Wcca",he
"Od Regon","Wchcra"and "Neopagansm"s,we mustrsymake a rm
dsncon;"wchcra"n he popuar normaydened sense mayhave e o do wh
he modern regon hatgoes byhe same name. thas been argued bydeenders ofand
ormalapoogss or modern Wcca hatts a drectnealdescendentofan ancen,
ndeed,prehsorc wordwde ok regon.
Some proponens hedge her cams,cangWcca a "revva"raher han a connuaon
ofan ancentcu. Oddyenough,here maynever have been anysuch cu!The rstme
Imetsomeone who houghtshe was a wch,she sared gongon aboutbenga "bue of
he coak."Ishoudve been warned rghthen and here.
n ac,as me has passed and he regon has spread,he cams ofnealconnuyhave
ended o be hedged more and more. Thus,we nd Dr. Gardner hmse,n 1954,sang
unambguousyhatsome wches are descendans "... ofa ne ofpress and presesses of
an od and probabySone Age regon,who have been naed n a ceran way
(receved no he crce)and become he recpens ofceran ancentearnng."(Gardner,
WTCHCRAFT TODAY,pp. 33-34.)
Saed n s mostexreme orm,Wcca maybe dened as an ancentpagan regous
sysem ofbees and pracces,wh a orm ofaposoc'successon (hats,wh
knowedge and ordnaon handed on nearyrom generaon o generaon),a more or
ess conssentsetofres and myhs,and even a secrethoybook ofconsderabe
anquy(The Book ofShadows).
More recentwrers,as we have noed,have hedged a good dealon hese cams,
parcuaryhe aer. Thus we nd SewartFarrar n 1971 musngon he purpored
ancentexthusy:"Wheher,hereore,he whoe ofhe Book ofShadows s pos-1897
s anyones guess. Mne s ha,ke he Bbe,ts a pachwork ofperods and sources,and
hatsnce ts coped and re-coped byhand,tncudes amendmens,addons,and
sysc aeratons accordngo he ase ofa successon ofcopers...Pars oftIsense o
be genuneyod;oher pars suggestmodern nerpoaon..."(Farrar,WHAT WTCHES
DO,pp. 34-35)As we shaldscover preseny,here appear o be no genuneyod copes
ofhe Book ofShadows.
S,as o he myhos ,Farrar norms us hathe "wo personcaons ofwchcratare
he Horned God and he Moher Goddess..."(bd.,p 29)and hathe "Horned God s not
he Dev,and never has been. fodaySaans'covens do exs,heyare notwches but
a sck rnge,deayed-reacon vcms ofa cenures-od Church propaganda n whch
even negentChrsans no onger beeve..."(bd.,p 32).
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fone s hen o proes,verywe,some case mghtbe made or he Horned God beng
msaken or he Chrsan Devl(or shoud hatbe he oher wayaround?),butwhat
record,pror o he advent50 years ago ofmodern Wcca va Gerad Gardner,do we have
ofhe survvalofa moher goddess mage rom ancentmes?
Wccan apoogss requenyreer o he (apparenysoaed)enh cenuryChurch
documentwhch saes hat"some wcked women,pervered byhe Dev,seduced by
he usons and phanasms ofdemons,beeve and proess hemseves n he hours ofhe
nghto rde upon ceran beass wh Dana,he goddess ofpagans,or wh Herodas,and
an nnumerabe muude ofwomen,and n he sence ofhe dead ofnghto raverse
greatspaces ofearh,and o obeyher commands as ofher msress,and o be summoned
o her servce on ceran nghs."(Quoed n Vaene,WTCHCRAFT FOR
TOMORROW,Hae,1978,p 32. and byKramer and Sprenger n he Monague Summers'
ransaon ofTHE HAMMER OF WTCHES )Ths documentdaes rom earypos-
Roman Europe. Some orm ofnactquasipagan ok bees dd survve hrough hs
perod;even as ae as he Hgh Mdde Ages tsurvved amonghe Vkngs ofNorhern
Europe. Human Sacrce was pracced atOd Upsaa welno he Hgh Mdde Ages.
There has,however,never been anyevdence ofa nk o modern Wcca,oher han a
eraryone.
Farrar,or hs par,expans he ack ofreerences o a goddess n he esmonyathe
namous wch ras byassernghat"he udges gnored he Goddess,bengpreoccuped
wh he Saan-mage ofthe God.."(WHAT WTCHES DO,p 33). Butts he evdence
ofhatregn oferror whch ased rom roughy1484 o 1692 whch brngs he whoe dea
ofa survvngregous cutno queson. Auhores such as Dr. MargaretMurrayo he
conrary,he convenonalwsdom on he wch burnngmana whch sweptke a pague
over much ofEurope durnghe ranson rom medevalword o modern s hattwas
JUST ha;a mana,a deuson n he mnds ofChrsan cergymen and sae auhores;
hats,here were no wches,onyhe nnocentvcms ofhe wch hun. Furher,hs
humanstargumentgoes,he wchcra'ofSaanc worshp,broomsck rdng,ofSabas
and Dev-marks,was a raher ae nvenon,borrowngbute rom remanng
memores ofacualpre Chrsan pagansm. We have seen hathe namous nqusors
Kramer and Sprnger knew ulwelhe earyaccountmenoned above,and casscal
pagansm as a eraryknowedge has never been orgoen. We have seen a resurrecon of
hs mana n he 1980s urryover Saanc sacrca'cus,wh as e evdence. The
soryslges reod n he 90s on occason,n resh orm.
"The conceptofhe heresyofwchcratwas rankyregarded as a new nvenon,boh by
he heoogans and byhe pubc"wres Dr. RosselHope Robbns n THE
ENCYCLOPEDA OF WTCHCRAFT & DEMONOLOGY,(Crown,1959,p.9)"Havng
o hurde an earychurch aw,he Canon Epscop,whch sad n eecthatbeefn
wchcratwas supersous and hereca,he nqusors caved byargunghathe
wchcratofhe Canon Epscopiand he wchcratofhe nquson were deren..."
The evdence exraced under he mostgruesome and repeaed orures resembe he
Wccan regon ofodayn onyhe mostcursoryashon. Though Wcca mayhave been
ramed wh he "conessons"exraced byvcms ofhe nqusors n mnd,hose
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"conessons"--- whch are more han suspec,o begn wh,bespeak a cutofdevl
worshpers dedcaed o ev.
One need onyread a ew ofhe accouns ofhe me o reaze ha,had here been athe
me a regon ofhe Goddess and God,ofseasonalcrces and The Book ofShadows,
such woud keyhave been bured outbyhe vcms,and more han once. The agones
ofhe accused were,amosteray,beyond he magnaon ofhose ofus who have
been orunae enough o escape hem.
The wch mana wentperhaps unequaed n he annas ofcrmes agansthumanyen
masse unlhe Heran bruayofour own cenury. Bu,no such conessons were
orhcomng,hough he wreches accused,beore he orure was done,woud aso be
compeed o condemn her own parens,spouses,oved ones,even chdren. They
conessed,and o anyhnghe nqusors wshed,anyhngo sop or reduce he pan.
A Pres,probabyatrsk o hs own e,recorded esmonyn he 1600s hatreeced
he reayunderynghe orced "conessons"of"wches". Rev. MchaelStaprus
records,or exampe,hs commentrom one "conessed wch":"Inever dreamed hatby
means ofhe orure a person coud be broughto he pontofengsuch es as Ihave
od. Iam nota wch,and Ihave never seen he dev,and slIhad o pead guy
mysefand denounce ohers...."Albutone copyofFaher Saprus'book were desroyed,
and e wonder.
A eer smugged rom a German burgomaser,Johannes Junus,o hs daugher n 1628,
s as engas ts panuleven o read. Hs hands had been vruaydesroyed n he
orure,and he wroe onywh greatagonyand no hope. "When atasthe execuoner
ed me back o he ce,he sad o me,Sr,Ibegyou,or Gods sake,coness somehng,
wheher tbe rue or no. nventsomehng,or you cannotendure he orure whch you
wlbe puto;and,even fyou bear ta,yetyou wlnotescape,noteven fyou were an
ear,butone orure wloow anoher unlyou sayyou are a wch. Notbeore ha'
he sad,wlheyetyou go,as you maysee byalher ras,or one s ustke
anoher...'"(bd.,pp. 12-13)
For he graspers atsraws,we maynd an occasonalne n a "conesson"whch s
nrgung,as n he noaons on he "conesson"ofone woman rom Germanydaed n
ae 1637. Aer days ofunspeakabe ormen,wheren he woman conesses under pan,
recans when he pan s removed,onyo be moved bymore pan o coness agan,she s
asked:"How dd she nuence he weaher?She does notknow whato sayand can ony
whsper,Oh,HeavenyQueen,proectme"
Was he vcm cangupon "he Goddess"?Or,as seems more key,upon hat
aoremenoned ransguraon ofalancentgoddesses n Chrsan myhoogy,he Vrgn
Mary. One more quoe rom Dr. Robbns,and Iwlcease o parade ae medevalhsory
beore you.
tcomes rom yetanoher pres,Faher Corneus Loos,who observed,n 1592 hat
"Wreched creaures are compeed byhe severyofhe orure o coness hngs hey
have never done,and so bycruelbucherynnocentves are aken....."(bd.,p 16). The
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The Secret History of Modern Witchcraft, Witchcraft and Wicca

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