Witches
Gardner, Gerald B(rousseau) (1884–1964) Part 1
Gerald Gardner (1884–1964) English Witch and founder of contemporary Witchcraft as a religion. Hereditary Witches and practitioners of family tradition witchcraft object to Gardner being credited as t...
Gardner, Gerald B(rousseau) (1884–1964) Part 2
The Gardners resided in the New Forest area, where Gardner became active with the Fellowship of Crotona, an occult group linked to Co-Masons, a Masonic order founded by Mrs. Besant Scott, daughter of ...
Gerald Brousseau Gardner, (1884–1964) Part 3
Crowley appointed Gardner as an honorary member of the Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO), a Tantric sex magic order once led by Crowley, and gave Gardner permission to run an OTO lodge. Gardner had to keep h...
Gardner, Gerald B(rousseau) (1884–1964) Part 4
In 1960, he was honored with an invitation to a garden party at Buckingham Palace, recognizing his exceptional civil service in the Far East. That same year, his wife, who had never been involved in t...
Swamp Witch
You might be wondering—what exactly is a Swamp Witch? The answer is pretty straightforward: a Swamp Witch is someone who feels most alive and connected when working with the magic of swamps, bogs, and...
New Witches Guide
Becoming a witch is a deeply personal journey, and more often than not, a solitary one. Despite what you may hear from others, there is no single way to become a witch. It’s important to learn at your...
Slavic Witch
To be a Slavic witch, one possess the ability to astral travel and fall easily in and out of trance states. Furthermore, Slavic witches observe three major taboos during ritual; nudity, silence, and n...
Rosaleen Norton
Rosaleen Norton, an Australian artist and occultist, rose to fame in the 1950s due to her daring and provocative art. Born in 1917 in Dunedin, New Zealand, she relocated to Sydney, Australia with her ...
Malin Matsdotter
Malin Matsdotter, a notable figure from 17th-century Sweden, gained infamy through her involvement in a sensational witchcraft trial. Born in 1626 in the quaint village of Västerås, she was the younge...
The Witch of Endor
The Witch of Endor, a mysterious figure from the Old Testament, is renowned for her role in summoning the spirit of the deceased prophet Samuel for King Saul. This intriguing tale is found in the Fir...
Robert Cochrane Witch
Robert Cochrane played a pivotal role in the resurgence of witchcraft in Britain during the 1950s and 60s. Born in 1931 and raised in London, Cochrane practiced traditional witchcraft, which he believ...
Patricia Crowther: A Brief Biography
Patricia Crowther is a prominent figure in the realm of Wicca and witchcraft. Born in Sheffield, England, in 1927, she began her journey into witchcraft in the late 1950s. She joined the Sheffield Cov...
Clutterbuck, Old Dorothy (1880–1951)
Dorothy Clutterbuck remains an enigmatic character in the annals of Wicca and witchcraft. She was born in Bengal on January 19, 1880, and later relocated to England, where she enjoyed a prosperous lif...
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 “E...
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 bec...
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 mundan...
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...
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...
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, whic...
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 ...
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 witchcra...
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 p...
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 a...
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. Nonetheles...
Crowley, Aleister (1875–1947)
The most controversial and perhaps least understood magician and occultist of his time, Aleister Crowley has been both vilified and idolized. He was a man of both low excesses and high brilliance. He ...
Abramelin the Mage (1362–1460)
A Jew from Würzburg, Germany, Abraham, or Abramelin, created a body of magical works that for centuries influenced magicians, including Aleister Crowley. An expert on the Kabbalah, Abramelin said he l...
Fortune, Dion (1891–1946)
The magical name of Violet Mary Firth, British occultist and author whose books continue to have an impact on modern witchcraft and Paganism. Considered one of the leading occultists of her time, Dion...
Cornelius Agrippa
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim, 1486-1535, German mystic and alchemist. Agrippa of Nettesheim was born of a once-noble family near Cologne and studied both medicine and law there, apparentl...
Eleanor Bone
English Witch, one of the original high priestesses initiated by Gerald B. Gardner. Eleanor “Ray” Bone followed Gardner’s footsteps in the media attention and was sometimes called the Matriarch of Bri...