Rebirth of Witchcraft

Rating:
Summary: Eyewitness History of the Birth of the Modern Craft
Review: An account of the birth (at least in the public mind) of the modern craft. Lady Doreen was there for key moments--without her finesse, the Charge of the Goddess would likely be an obscure and arcane document, used only by Gardnerian & related Wiccan traditions. She took much of Gardner's material and transformed it from awkward, ponderous prose, to liturgical poetry.

She reminds us that the last witchcraft trial in England took place in 1944, at the Old Bailey. One Helen Duncan, a spiritualist medium, was found guilty under the Witchcraft Act of 1735 and sentenced to 9 months in jail. It was not until June of 1951 that this law was abolished. That July, a newspaper carried a frontpage story, CALLING ALL COVENS, describing a forthcoming witches' gathering, opened by Gerald B. Gardner.

She traces the forerunners of the Craft: Charles Godfrey Leland, Margaret Murray, Robert Graves, Dion Fortune, and Aleister Crowley. From this she moves on to Gerald Gardner, and how he came to publicize the Craft. This is followed by a chapter about what it was like working with Old Gerald and one regarding what the intense publicity Gerald generated was like. She writes chapters about John Brakespeare, Robert Cochrane, and Alex Sanders and their traditions.

She points out that during this time period, witchcraft was male dominated, certainly not feminist. Women were allowed to hold fancy titles, like Witch Queen, but stil expected to obey the high priest. Her chapter on Feminist Witchcraft tells of Starhawk meeting up with Zuzanna Budapest, considers women's moon mysteries, and the place of homosexuality in the Craft.

She concludes the book by observing that the emergence of the Craft in modern times must be fulfilling a deep need.

Lady Doreen is a good writer and the material is interesting. Many of the founders of traditions the "inherited" were real characters, and she sprinkles a generous number of anecdotes throughout the book.

The book has a reasonably good bibliography for anybody who wishes to do further research. Serious research into the history of the Craft would also include reading Aidan Kelly's Crafting the Art of Magic, a critical exploration of Gardner's Witchcraft.

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Rating:
Summary: Highly sought after
Review: I have never read this book (it is out of print and exceedingly hard to find). I have been told it is excellent-- a very good history lesson.

I principally wrote to clarify a minor error in another review by Elderwolf. Ms. Valiente would not have been referred to as "Lady Doreen." The British do not call their priests and priestesses "Lady" and "Lord". This is a peculiarly American thing, which started with people involved with the Society for Creative Anachronism. In England, where you have real Lords and Ladies, it is considered extremely "dodgy". That being said, I fully agree with Elderwol'fs assessment of her immense and invaluable contribution to modern Witchraft.

Rating:
Summary: The absolute guide to history at the beginning of wicca!
Review: This book gives a realistic view on all the fuss going on in England at 1950. Valiente writes about the situation with Scire (Gerald Gardner)and Dafoe. Also she mentions Robert Cochrane, Sybil Leek, Alex Sanders and gives a great perspective on how insiders and outsiders behave at the beginning of what has become: the rebirth of La Vecchia Religione, The Old Religion. An important fact is that Tradtional Witchcraft, is not the same as Wicca! Traditionals don't have a hierarchy.