Trevor Greenfield - Witchcraft Today--60 Years On

Witchcraft Today, by Gerald Gardner, was published in 1954 making it sixty years to date and bearing in mind that the witchcraft laws had not long been repealed it was quite an achievement. Reading his original book gives us a glorious peek through the looking glass to see how the Craft was back then.

My particular favourite part of his original book is the opening paragraph which states:

I have been told by witches in England: Write and tell people we are not perverts. We are decent people, we only want to be left alone, but there are certain secrets that you mustnt give away. So after some argument as to exactly what I must not reveal, I am permitted to tell much that has never before been made public concerning their beliefs, their rituals and their reasons for what they do; also to emphasise that neither their present beliefs, rituals nor practices are harmful.

Unfortunately, we still see those beliefs in some people today that dont understand or have any idea about witches. Sadly, persecution of those following the Craft still happens. However the secret side of the Craft has been blown wide open not only with the amount of books now available but with the invention of the internet, I dont believe there are any secrets left! I wonder if Gardner ever expected the Craft to be so open and wide spread.

When I first came to the Craft most of the information available was on Wicca and a huge amount of that stemmed from Gardner and whether you like and respect his work or not you have to admit he was a pioneer for modern witchcraft, he brought it to the attention of the masses and made it accessible to the public, sixty years on and his books are still selling and can be found on the shelf of your local library. In fact Gardner makes the solid point in his book that Witchcraft is available to all people, quite a bold statement then but a very true one. By that he meant that we all have the power and inner energy to work with magic and witchcraft but I think the statement also mirrors how the art and knowledge of witchcraft is now so freely available to everyone.

Obviously, he wasnt the very first witch but he took the knowledge and experience he gained from working with witches and formalised it, bringing the information together and, of course, adding a large amount of his own thoughts and ideas to it and giving it a structure. He set the wheels in motion for what has turned out to be a huge revolution.

My original training was in Wicca, I have worked through the three Wiccan degrees and even my title of High Priestess originates, even if only in part, from Gardner. Although now my pathway has twisted and turned and branched away from Wicca and along the less formal and ceremonial lines of Kitchen and Hedge Witchcraft my Wiccan training gave me a good grounding in the basics and structure of the Craft.

Now we have a vast array of different pagan pathways and a lot of them are covered in this new Witchcraft Today book, but within most of them you will see at least some remnants of Gardners teachings right through to almost word for word followings of them.

This new book not only gives a perspective on witchcraft as we know it today but also how each pathway evolved and where it came from. Each author that has written for this book shares their own personal experiences from their individual journeys with the Craft and it is easy to see how Gardner affected the pathways that they are on, it is a fascinating read.

From Gardner you have, of course, Gardnerian Witchcraft but from that you have Alexandrian then this book also takes you on a journey through Seax, Eclectic Wicca, Dianic, Hekatean, Egyptian and all the various traditional Old Ways such as Hedge Witchcraft and Solitary Witchcraft, Witchcraft from a male point of view and even how Witchcraft may possibly evolve in the future, so many different views in one book but all interestingly with common themes running through them.