We received the latest copy of Michael Howard’s Cauldron Magazine in the post this morning and after reading half of it we turned to the back to discover that there was quite a lovely review in the book review section of Sorita and David’s “Wicca Magickal Beginnings” which we thought we would share with those who are interested in such things:
“WICCA: Magickal Beginnings … . This is a very interesting study of the possible historical origins of the ritual and practices in modern neo-pagan witchcraft or Wicca. The authors begin by examining the word “Wicca”, the various attempts pre-Gerald Gardner to revive witchcraft by occultists such as Aleister Crowley and his American disciple Jack Parsons, and the influence on the modern revival of the seminal works of Jules Michelet, Charles Godfrey Leland, Sir James Frazer, Dr Margaret Murray and Dion Fortune. They then go on to postulate the origins for the Book of Shadows, scourging, the three-degree initiation, the Wiccan Rede, skyclad rituals, the athame, the magickal circle, Drawing Down the Moon, the Charge of the Goddess, the Great Rite, Sabbats, the pentagram, the Mighty Ones, Cakes and Wine, the four quarters, Cernnunos as the Wiccan name for the witch god, chants, the elements and the Theban magickal alphabet, and their possible historical antecedents. From their extensive research they conclude that Wicca is a continuation of the medieval tradition of grimoire magic, supplemented with material from the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and the OTO either by persons unknown before Gardner’s initiation into the New Forest Coven in 1939 or later by Gardner and his associates. They claim that when the GD and Crowley material is removed from modern Wiccan rituals what is actually left is ‘ a bedrock of grimoire materials with fragments of folk practices which would fit in with the idea of the continuation of a genuine tradition…’ This claim is of course, based on the assumption that the New Forest coven, which some die-hard skeptics refuse to believe ever existed, was not a figment of Gardner’s imagination and that he did not just cobble together the rites of Wicca from books. Personally, I would go along with d’Este and Rankine. Highly recommended”
(Michael Howard, Cauldron Magazine, #129, August 2008)
Of course, having given you more or less the full review here, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go and buy the magazine! Subscription details can be found at:
http://www.the-cauldron.org.uk/
This issue also contains articles such as: An Interview with Daniel Schulke (Magister of the Cultus Sabbati), the Gogmagog Giants, The Sussex workings of Alex Sanders, The Guardians, Wica or Wicca, A New look at an ‘old’ stang, Circles and Circling, Polarity Magic, The Witch God, Cora Anderson (1915-2008) and lots of other book reviews too.
ps. For those of you who have not yet purchased a copy of Wicca Magickal Beginnings by Sorita d’Este and David Rankine, it is available through Amazon and all the usual outlets or directly from http://www.avaloniabooks.co.uk
