Valiente - An ABC of Witchcraft Past and Present

An ABC of

WITCHCRAFT

Doreen Valiente was one of the founders of modern Wicca and was initiated into four different branches of the Old Religion in Great Britain. She is the author of Natural Magic, Witchcraft for Tomorrow, The Rebirth of Witchcraft and Witchcraft: A Tradition Renewed (with Evan John Jones). She studied the occult for more than thirty years and was one of witchcrafts most widely known figures. Over the years, she made many television and radio appearances, discussing witchcraft and folklore and displaying items from her collection of witchcraft objects. Doreen Valiente died in 1999.

By the same author

Where Witchcraft Lives
Natural Magic
Witchcraft for Tomorrow
The Rebirth of Witchcraft
Witchcraft: A Tradition Renewed (with E.J. Jones)

An ABC of

WITCHCRAFT

PAST AND PRESENT

Doreen Valiente

ROBERT HALE

First published in 1973

This edition published in 1994 by Robert Hale, an imprint of

The Crowood Press Ltd, Ramsbury, Marlborough Wiltshire SN8 2HR

www.crowood.com

This e-book first published in 2018

Doreen Valiente 1973

All rights reserved. This e-book is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the authors and publishers rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 0 71982 691 7

The right of Doreen Valiente to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

CONTENTS

ILLUSTRATIONS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author wishes to thank the following for the provision of illustrations: Radio Times Hulton Picture Library (page ); and particularly Mr Colin Harris for photographing the remaining items listed above which are in the authors own library and collection.

PREFACE TO THE 1994 EDITION

It is now twenty years since the first edition of this book was published. During that time a good deal has happened on the witchcraft scene, and with regard to paganism generally. The impact of what has come to be known as the New Age, which I foreshadowed in the article in this book entitled Astrology, has been felt world-wide.

The breaking-down of the social order associated with the outgoing Age of Pisces has accelerated at a frightening rate. So has the world unrest associated with it. But at the same time, the green movement has gathered momentum. No longer are people who want to save our woodlands and the plants, animals and birds of our countryside regarded as cranks. The peril to our planet itself is recognized by world governments.

It was not military force which broke down the Berlin Wall, or toppled the great monolith of Soviet Communism, but something more like a revolutionary outburst of the human spirit. The wind of the Age of Aquarius is starting to blow.

The impact of the New Age is beginning to appear in our high streets, with the advent of shops selling books, Tarot cards, crystals and even implements for the rites of witchcraft! What would old Gerald Gardner have said, if he had lived to see this? Like it or not, the marketing of magic is with us. Nor have the efforts of fundamentalist Christians been successful in stopping it. Here in Brighton, Sussex, when one of these shops first opened, the owner found her premises picketed by a vociferous group of such opponents trying to prevent people going in. Nothing daunted, she simply sent for the police, who moved the protestors on. They have not come back. Indeed, since this confrontation several other similar shops have opened.

However, in other parts of Britain and the USA matters have taken a more sinister turn. We have read in the newspapers of arson attacks upon shops of this kind, allegedly carried out by fundamentalist Christians. Lectures on psychic matters have been cancelled, after the owners of premises where they were due to be held received telephone threats of fire-bombing. The same thing happened to a psychic fair, when threats of fire-bombing were made to the hotel where it was taking place. There are still people around who think they have a religious duty to burn witches literally!

The new phenomenon of the psychic fair (or fayre as it is often spelt in mock old English) has become highly popular, in spite of all the efforts of Christian extremists. Moreover, leading witches have often been invited to give lectures at such gatherings, so that the concept of the Old Religion has become much more publicly acceptable than it was before.

The word Wicca as a term for the Old Religion is finding its way into the English language, in spite of the fact that it does not mean witchcraft at all. Its actual meaning is a male witch. The feminine equivalent was wicce; but Gerald Gardner mistakenly believed wicca to be a synonym for witchcraft and his mistake has been copied ever since. However, it has proved to be a useful term for the beliefs of modern witches, as it serves to distinguish them from associations with Satanism. Gerald Gardners Witchcraft Museum at Castletown, Isle of Man, was sold by his heirs and the collection dispersed something British witches have never forgiven. But what he started lives on, and all followers of Wicca today are indebted to him.

When this book first appeared, the rituals of modern witchcraft, as contained in Gerald Gardners Book of Shadows, had never been published in any authentic form. Stolen and distorted versions of them were, however, in circulation. Therefore, when I met Stewart and Janet Farrar, I decided that the time had come to give out the genuine version of old Geralds Book of Shadows. This has now been done, in Stewart and Janet Farrars books, Eight Sabbats for Witches (Robert Hale, London, 1981) and The Witches Way: Principles, Rituals and Beliefs of Modern Witchcraft (Robert Hale, London, 1984). A good deal of indignation was aroused in some quarters by the publication of these books. Still more followed the publication of my book The Rebirth of Witchcraft (Robert Hale, London, 1989), in which I told for the first time the real story behind the modern witchcraft revival and Gerald Gardners part in it. I have lost some friends over my writings, and have been criticized and abused; but I regret nothing.

There is no doubt that witchcraft has evolved considerably since Gerald Gardners time. Few covens now insist upon ritual nudity, or practise the more controversial rites involving sex or flagellation. In my opinion, this is all to the good, though of course others may disagree; but I feel that what witchcraft is really all about is the hidden powers of the human mind. The paraphernalia of ritual is simply to create the atmosphere in which those powers can manifest.

Today, many people question the necessity of the old coven structure at all. Do we really need a group sworn to secrecy and dominated by a High Priestess or a Magister, before we can follow the Old Religion? There is no doubt that it was this coven structure which enabled the Old Religion to survive the years of persecution that witches call the Burning Times. Nor is there any doubt that some extremists would like to relight those fires of persecution today. In the present day, however, other means of self-defence are available. There is a legal right to freedom of religion, which was non-existent before. There are associations in Britain and the USA to fight defamation spread by fundamentalist bigots. Paganism and