Witchcraft Today

Author: Gerald Brosseau Gardner. (1954)

Out of the recesses of the archives at my local library (Kingston) was obtained the book that started it all off.

The smell of the book was strong as the pages of this historical work was opened. This was no reprint it was one of the originals. Quite a rarity for a public library.

There is a sense of history that can only come with a book and the past borrowers over a 20 year period was presented on the front. However for all the history and the fact that the number of pagans, and witches in particular, increasing that the book had not been taken out more. This is not surprising as many contemporary writers on the Craft have come, and gone, and gave much more on the workings on the craft than this book ever did.

This book was, unarguably, the first non-fiction book on witchcraft authored by a witch. This presented a unique perspective upon the Craft at the time of the witchcraft repeals in the UK in the 1950's. "High Magicks Aide" was the only  precursor to this book, again by Gardner. This, however, was published before the repeal of the witchcraft laws in 1951 and therefore the principles and practices had to be cloaked in a work of fiction.

The book begins by addressing the many misconceptions about witchcraft, surprisingly by giving a semantic examination of the word witch, not as many people believe by laying into the Christians.

"Witches are as often men as women, but in English a witch is always called she".

This was intriguing to me as the usage of the word witch generally follows that to whom it was referring to, therefore a male would have "he". The concept is not to difficult to understand, however, as women are given the predominant role in the workings of the coven.

The use of "Warlock" and derivatives, thereof, was never used in the book, so the terminology of the word witch to describe both male and female have stuck. In fact the word Warlock has not been described to my satisfaction, but the commonly held belief is that Warlock is a Gaelic¹(?) word for oath breaker.

The book mentions the shyness in people coming forward for more "scientific" analysis due to the prevailing intolerance of the time. It is interesting to note that the period, in which the book was written, was described as the pinnacle of tolerance!!! Even at this time certain sections of the populations which were deviant to the norm had to contend with significant prejudice

Pagans, since this publication, should be applauded as their actions and their sacrifices paved the way for the increase in tolerance that witches (and pagans) enjoy today.

Gardner talks about how magic is accessible to all indicating, via metaphor, how it is just a matter of tapping or ordering the subconscious will to effect magical acts.

Another notable comment was the comment of being naked in rituals. Although this has obvious overtones, such as celebrating the joy of nature as nature intended you (naked), not to mention that magic would not be generated with clothing.

Another side of the coin is that witches reject the literal meaning of this as if magic is stopped by simple clothing than the magic is almost doomed to failure due to its fragility. These days many traditions (apart from the purists) allow for the use of clothing, mainly for the purpose of comfort and self confidence as both of these are more influential factors than the mechanism and path the magic takes.

Gardner does concede that magic is a product of the mind, so if you think that the magic will be impeded, it will be impeded.

A contentious claim, by Gardner, is that nine million people were killed in the Burning Times, which he graphically depicts, which does not appear to be accurate. There is no evidence for such a large number, and most historians would agree that this number would be under two million.

Two million is, for the period, an substantial chunk of the population that were killed, as the population only significantly grew at the industrial revolution, which is to be expected as there were an urbanisation of the country into large populations, whereby affording anonymity, and more worrisome activities!

The torture of witches, during the Burning Times are quite graphically described, so it is not for the weak of heart (if one has a vivid imagination), people of the past did know how to inflict a massive amount of pain to an individual! 

Gardner gives enticing glimpses of the rituals involved but he does not fully reveal them. It has a feel of an analysis of witchcraft looking from the outside-in. Even though it is deficient in the information on exactly what witches do, he does adequately weave an interpretation of how witches came to be, from the stone age man, through to "modern day", via the roots of Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and Celtic paths, through the middle ages, and then refers to those that used the teaching of the various traditions of the ancient civilisations, giving examples of similarity.

All in all it is a good book to own in your library if you are a pagan (specifically a witch) but expect a disparity between what you  might have been taught and what is written. The religion/way of life has evolved from its humble roots and many things have changed. If you like plenty of lore then this book is for you, if you want to know what witches do, there are better books available.