Author: A Solitary Pagan
CROWLEY, ALEISTER: An Opinion from Doreen Valiente
Aleister Crowley earns a place in witchcraft, not because he was a witch, but because he was not ! This, of course, does not stop Crowley’s name being dragged into every Sunday newspaper’s latest “Exposure of Witchcraft and Black Magic” (they seldom know the difference). But perhaps if a brief sketch of Crowley’s life is given here, it may help to a better understanding of what this very remarkabl...
Alex Sanders. A Magic Childhood
Left to himself, Alex might have ended his foray into witchcraft there and then, but family circumstances forced him into contact with his grandmother almost daily and before long he found himself becoming interested and then totally absorbed in the secret teachings. A quick learner-he had been able to read at the age of three-he was never fully extended by his school work and had no difficulty ma...
Margaret Murray (1863 – 1963) Part Two
Murray, drawing connections to her Egyptology background, began examining documents, and in 1917 she released “Organizations of Witches in Great Britain” in the Folklore Journal. That seemingly mundane paper evolved into her book, The Witch-Cult in Western Europe, sparking a line of research that would dramatically alter the perception of witchcraft. At that period, academic literature on witches ...
Doctor John (19th century Witch)
Renowned American witch doctor, Doctor John, also known as Bayou John and Jean Montaigne, was a free black man who owned slaves in pre-Civil War New Orleans. A towering figure, Doctor John claimed to be a prince from Senegal, captured by Spaniards and taken to Cuba. In Cuba, he became a skilled cook and persuaded his master to grant him freedom. He then worked as a sailor, return...
Alex Sanders- The Haunted Hill
In 1939 David was born, the sixth and last of Alex’s brothers and sisters, and soon afterward war broke out. Alex, with most of the other children in Manchester, was evacuated to the country to escape air raids. It was a wrench leaving his parents, and his sisters and brothers, who were sent to separate foster homes, but most of all he hated leaving his grandmother. ‘Remember your vows,’ she told ...
Margaret Murray (1863 – 1963) Part One
Margaret Murray was a pioneering Egyptologist, archaeologist, anthropologist, folklorist, and a trailblazing first-wave feminist. She gained lasting fame for her influential books on witchcraft, which played a crucial role in shaping modern Wicca. While some of her theories have been debunked, her impact on both academia and modern paganism remains significant. So how did Margaret Murr...
Hohman, John George (d. ca. 1845)
John George Hohman, a German immigrant to America, authored the well-known magical text, The Long Lost Friend. Details about Hohman’s life are scarce. In 1802, he, his wife Anna Catherine, and their son Philip (or Caspar, according to some sources) departed from Hamburg and arrived in Philadelphia on October 12th. They were penniless and became indentured servants, leading to the separation ...
Alex Sanders – Calling Down the Spirits
When Alex was seventeen he met a girl who was a keen spiritualist. Learning of his interest in the occult she invited him to a meeting. He was curious to see if it had anything in common with witchcraft and went along with her. During the evening a medium in a trance singled him out. ‘I see horns on your head,’ she murmured. There was a ripple of laughter; horns could mean he was a cuckold. But Al...
Duncan, Helen (1898–1956)
Duncan, Helen (1898–1956) was a British Spiritualist whose controversial conviction on dubious witchcraft charges led to the repeal of Britain’s Witchcraft Act of 1736, paving the way for the public practice of Witchcraft. Helen Duncan, a Scotswoman, gained fame for her natural mediumistic talents by the 1920s. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, she traveled across Britain conducting seances. Attende...
Bury St. Edmonds Witches
Bury St. Edmonds Witches Of the various witch trials of Suffolk, England, conducted in Bury St. Edmonds during the 17th century, two episodes stand out. In 1645, 68 witches went to their deaths on the gallows, victims of the witch-hunting zeal of Matthew Hopkins and John Stearne. Seventeen years later, in 1662, Sir Matthew Hale presided over trials that led to the condemnation and execution of two...
Alex Sanders – The Young Initiate
There was nothing about the day to suggest it would change the course of his life and influence him until the day he died. It was grey and cheerless, like many other days in Manchester, and Alex was an undersized seven-year-old passing through mean back streets on his way from St George’s Primary School in Hulme to the home of his grandmother. The Sanders family had recently moved to a semi-detach...
Biddy Early (1798–1874)
Irish seer and healer often described as a witch. Most of what is known about Biddy Early has been collected from oral tradition, and many of the stories about her have numerous variations. Nonetheless, Biddy seemed to have possessed real powers, and many people from all over Ireland and even England came to her for cures. She was widely believed to be “of the fairies.” She was born Biddy O’Connor...