, W3J cn:Qt~

~flll m:J13ClC 3RJl

~Qf~~JlJJ @l\JJClC1tm:JJ~
Being A Radical Revisionist History of the Origins of the
Modern Witch Cult and The

'1t has been alleged that a Book of Shadovvs in CroV\rley's hand,,'rriting 'W9..S formerlv exhibited in Gerald's Museurn of Witch~t on the 1$1eof Man, I can only sav I never savv this on either of the tv v o ~ions V\rhen I stayed ""ith Gerald and Donna Gardner on the island. The large, handvvritten book depicted in Witchcraft Today is not in Cr-owley's hand""'t'"iting, but

Gerald's....
Doreen Valiente in Wit.chcraft fo.:-

Tomor-r-ow, 1978

,,

Book of Shadows.
<:

By Dr. Allen H. Greenfield, 0.0: Bishop, Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica

"Aidan Kelly labels the entire vViccan revival Garo'nerian vVitclu:t"aft'. TIl<' reasoning and speculation in Aidan's book are intricate. Bt-iefiy, his Q1,ain argunlet'l1: depends on his discovery of one of Gardner!s ""orking notebooks, Y e Book of Ye Art Magical, vvhich is in possession of Ripley International. Ltd." Margot 'Adler in Dravving Down the 1I.100flt 1979

'1t ,vas one of the secret doctrines of paganism that the Sun 'W'as the source, not only of light, but of life. The invasion of classical beliefs by the religions of Syria and Egypt 'W'mch 'W'ere principally solar, gradually affected the conception of Apollo, and there is a certain later identification of him 'With the .suffering God of Christianity, Free - masonry and sinillar cults_" Ateister Cf"O'W'ley Astrology, 1974 in "..if GBG and Crovvlev onlv krievv each other for a short year or tvvo; do you think that vvould be long enough f<K"them to become such good friends that gifts of ~ mal value vvould be exchanged several times, and that GOO vvould have been able to aquire the vast majority of Crovvley's effects after his death?" Merlin the Enchanter, persona1letter, 1986 "_On the floor before the alter, he remembers a svvord vvith a flat cruciform brass hilt, and a vveU-vvONl anuscript book m of rituals - the hereditary Book of Shado'W'S, which he vviU have to copy out for hUnself ,in the days to CORle_" Stevvart Farrar in What Witches Do, 1971 "_the Gardnerian Book of Shadovvs is one of the key factors in vvhat has become a far . bigger and more significant movement than Gardner can have envisagedj so historical , interest alone vvould be enough reason for defining it vvhile first-h~d evidence is still available." ~ Janet and Stevvart Farrar in The Witches' Way, 1984
W

An intr-oductton for the readers of LASHTAL

The essay you are reading has an interesting history in and of itself. My' 10flg sea.rch f<K" the <K"iginal oly book of 'Vices. b had matiy W'atershed nlOfilents, and "lay yet hold some surprizes. At each st.age of the game I have chosen to publish my' conclusions to date. ?vly first effot"t. in thi~ direction came in th; fOND of "Wicca, Witches, Crovvley and Gardner," first published in my oV\'O fonner joUNlai FOURTH WORLD. Some of the initial speculations that I made there ha"\."'e subsequently proven quite inC01"rect. I 18. tel vvas able, as outlined here, to locate and examine vvhat, I believe may be the 'f'irs-t draft' of the Wiccan holy ~ a decided1y Thelemic document. I ,~as Wl.SUccessful in my eff<K"tsto acquire it, but I vvas able t.o obtain the Charter issued by A.1eiste1Crovvley to Dr. Gardner, authot"izing binl t.t:.' organize an o.T.o. encampment in Bdtain. circa 1945. The Charte-r cun-ently sits above my oV\'Oaltar, and my Will, on file vvith the ~d Secretarv Genef"at of the Order, specifies that it is U; be turned o~rer to the OTO after my death. Detailed photographs of the d~wnent by Sist.e1' Susan Greenfield have been fOC"'",,-arded 1:.0 the CaliQh, "who termed them "very

historic.
I am much indebted to Ms, Dor-een Valiente, vvho has supplied me ,,,rjth detailed

41

style' museum (it 1 a..nd candid infonnation ff"OOl an insider's featured a man with a candle in his head, a standpoint on the esoterica of the early tantric scull drinking cup and freak sho'W' 'I "Viccs.n movemeert, The pt-esent essay appeared in radically stuff like that, but, I mean, "Witchcraft is die:rent form in FOURTH WORLD #3, sacrilegious, as ."ve all knOW'. So, I 'W'asa bit surprised, but I shouldn't have been, ."vhen I issued in Novem.ber of 1986. A subsequent r-ev'ision never before published is slated to discovered sotne of the Gardner stuff including an important historical document, appear as a chapter of my forthcoming book, SHADOWS. The present text, for sale in the gift shop, in a case just alligators that have p:repsred especially for publication in opposite the little "St.Augustine, Florida - America's Oldest L~A,L. includes material never before City" stickered 00 their plastic bellies for the published anY'vhere.) folks back home to use as a papervveight. The pricetags on the occult stuff, hovvever, PART ONE - WAITING FOR THE vvere way out of my range. ROBERT E. LEE Back again, three years later, and I I vvas, for the third time in four years, decided, vvhat the hell, 50 I asked the cashier ' waiting a bit nervously for the guy ff"Ofll about the stuff still gathering dust in the Cp~ada "rith the original Book O'fShadovvs in glass case, and it vvas like fd pushed SOfDe t!'-./ ra1luhackle office of Ripley's Believe It kind of button. Out comes Mr. Turner, the 0:1' Not Museum in St. Augustine. manager, ."vho vvhisks us off to a store room 'They're at the jail," a smiling vvhich is filled, F1IJ.ED, I ten you, -with parts sec:ret.ary-t~-pe explained, 'out vve've called of the Gardner conection, much of it, i1 not them and they should be back over here to "for sale" as such. at least available for see you in just a fevv ~utes." negotiation. Turner told us about acquiring The jail? All, St. Augustine. "The Old the conection vvhen he vvas manager Gf Jail" the ination's oldest citys' second most Ripley's Blackpool operation, hOW' it had r ast.eless tourist trap, complete - ,vith gone over ."ven in the at first, but had c~ge-type cells and a mock gallo,'VS. For a lost popularity and vvas no'W' ..relegated for rnorrrerrt I allo,ved myself to play in my the most part to storage status. ' head ,vith the vision of Norm Deska, Ripley Visions of sugarplUfD5 danced in my head. Ope:rations Vice President and yuppie par There vvere many treasures here, but the excellence, and John Turner, the ~ biggest ptUfD of all, I thought, ""vas not ~\ranager of Ripley's loca1 operation and the surprisingly, not to be seen. guy 'who'd bought the Gerald Gardner I'd heard aU kinds of ruDlors about the coI1"'!Ct.ion from Gardner's niece, Monique Book of Shadovv!l over the years, anany of \i\-._..J0fl, sitting in the sJatnmer. But no, them conflicting, aU of them intriguing. T'ur-nerapparently had just been shovving RUfDor #1, of course, is that vvhich Do?Ska the town. I straightened my ice cretUn accompanied the birth (or, depending on S'lut. 01:" the fiftieth time, and suppressed the hovv one looked at it, the revival) of modern com.ment. We 'W'ere being straight today; Wicca, the contealporary successor of legit mune, semi-legit titles - vve vvere ancient fertility cultS revolving around talking BIG history here, and big bucks, too. elemental rituals, secret rites of passage and I gulped. The original Book of Shadovvs. a mythos of goddess and god that seemed \ fn.ybe. attractive to me as a psychologically valid It had started }"'etU'S before. One of the alternative to the austere, ,antisexual lOUL people in America to be into carni.,,al moralism of Christianity. The Book of ~idesho,'vs, I W't\5 anxious to take another Shadovvs, in this context, was the 'holy book' \~tunity to go through the almost of Wicca, copied out by hand by new ~etypaJly seedy old home that housed initiates of the cult with a history the o:riginal Ripley's Museum, I had koovvn stretching back at ~east to the era of t ha t Ripley had, in the nineteen seventies, vvitchburnings. , iJcquired the ~ner s;tuff, but as far as I Rumor number #2, which I had tended to kne,v it "vas aU lbcated at their Tennessee credit, had it that Ge..ald Gardner, the c~t museum. I thinlc I'd heard they'd 'father of modern Wicca' had paid A1eister dosed it dovvn by then, the social Crovvley in his final years to vvrite the Book li~ of the early seventies vvas over, of Shadovvs, perhaps vvhGte clot.h. The o....nd W'ltchcnUt and sorcery vvere nO'longer rutnor's chief exponent was the respected
in keeping -with a 'family ~

U.s.

I I I I I I

42

'.'

Ustorian of the occult, Francis King. Rwnor J3, Gardner had ""ritten the Book hUnself, which others had since copied and.!or stolen. I'o the contrary, said rwnor #4, Gardner's ~usewn had contained an old. even ancient :opy of the Book of Shad0-:Ws, proving its tntiquity. In more recent years modern Wiccans lave tended to put some distance bet""een ;hemselves and Gardner, just as Gardner, for *Dplex reasons, tended to distance himself n the early years of Wicca (circa 1944-1954) :rom the blatant sexual magick of Aleister :!rowley, "the 'Wickedest man in the ""orld" ~y some accounts, and fronl Cro""ley's ~tion, the Ordo Templi, Orientis. Why Gardner chose to do this is speculative, but; I've got SOfIle idea. But, fm getting Ul8 _..J of myself. _ \-ille Turner 5hoV\r~ me a blasphemous cross shaped from. the,J body of t""o nude women and a statue of'Beelzebub from the ~ustJ' Garderi:m :u-chhres, a thought ~ to me. .. You know," I suggested, 'if you ever, in all this stuff, happen across a :opy of The Book of Shadovvs in the l81ldwriting of Aleister Crowley, it ~uld )4! of considerable historical value:t- - I IIlderstated ,the case. It ""ould be like iinding The BoOk of Mormon in Joseph ;mith's hand, or finding the original Ten :ommandments written not by God ffimself, but by Moses, pure and simple. 'Bettef" still, eleven ) cotnnlandments, 'With a , margin note, "first draft-tO) I didn't really
!X~

O.T.O.orthodox understandings tha~ at the time the document "vas ""rit~ Gardtlei' could have knoV\rnCro'Wley for only a brief period, and vvas not himself deeply irrvolv-ed in the O.T.O.(The docUftlent is undat.ed. but probably 'Was drawn up &.round 1945.) Furthermore, it is understood. tha t .00 viable chapter of the O.T.O. ''Vas supposed to exist in England at that time; the sole active chapter ",,as in California, and is the direct antecedent of the contempor8.ry authentic Ordo Templi Orient.is. The docwnent also disp1~"ed otht.."1Irregularldes of a revealing nature. Thougb
tho of signatut"O and

-ts

aro

cortain.1v

tho.~<

Crowley, the text is in the d~ti""t2 hand of Gerald Gardner! The ~ple-te t~
reads as f~ Do vvhat t:hou vvilt ~l be the la"". We Baphomet X l)eecee Or-do Te.npli o,.ientis So~ign Grand ~fa.!'l"t.er General of All English speaking countries of the Earth do hereby authorise our :Beloved. Son Scire ~. G.B. Gardn __), Princo ot .Jerusalem to constitute a camp of the Ordo Templi Orientis, in the de:gi ee ~"1in.~--a.i l..ovo is tho I...avv, Lava und_. vvi11. Wi~", .. my hand and seat BaphCNnet X Leaving aside the misquotation from

'nle Hook of the Lavv, which

socno .nonths

got by rrie for

anything

t:o CORle of it, and

in the

and probably got by Cro~v1oy when it 'WaS pt-esented to hUn for sif;natun'2, the d'lXnUnent is probablyauthenuc. It hunt foe- CORUJ tltnO in Gsu-dnor's nU1C8u.n, poos:sih.1::,lvln, rise, as ~ shall see, to the runlor t.hs. i... Crovvley 'YV'rOte the Book 01. Shado'w's f.or Gardner. According t:o Dot een Valiente, and to CoL La.""rence as ""eU, the nlU5eUfll's doscriptive pan-aphtot says of thi.c dooumQfl1:'

mon..-s

ahead. ,. it didn't. In the meantime. , I had managed to acquire the interesting :locument I fint mistook for Gerald :7ardner's (loqg ackno""ledged) initiation l:ertificate into Crowleys thelemic magickal )rdo Templi Orientis. To my eventual rurprise, I discovered that, not only ""as this t10t a simple initiation certificate for the \1inerval (probationary-lowest) degree, but, Co the contrary, 'WaS a license for Gardner 1:0 begin his own chapter of the O.T.O. In the document, furthermore, Gardner is referred to as "Prince of Jerusalem," that is, tte is ackno""ledged to be a Fourth Deg1-ee Perfect Initiate in the Order. This, needless to say ""ould usually imply years of :i~ted training. Though Gardner had :laimed Fourth Deg-;:eeO.T.O.status as early as publication of High "Magic'S Aid, (and :laimed even higher status in one edition) this runs some"What contrary to both ._nerally held Wicca.n a~d contemporary
43

TIle collection includes a Chartef' e-ra.nt.e-d by Alei:rter C~ley to OR Gardner (tho:Diroc-t:or of t:.hic Mucau.n) to operat:.o a Lodg~;. of Cro""leys fraternity, the Ordo Tefupti Orientis. (The Director '\vowd like to point

out, ho~ver, that he has never used this Charter and has no intendon of doing so,
althoug-h to tho host 01. his belief ho is t:h", only peI:"5On in Britain possessine such it Ch..-t;eor f~ C~'ley hinrR:lf; C~",l~" VVSLC a parmnal friend 01. hie, and g-SUi"O him, the Charter because he liked twn." Col. Lavvrc:nce \~'Ierli.n the End'lant:~"),

in a lettef' to me dated

6 Decembec,

1986.

adds that this appeat"ed in Gardne1''s booklet. Tho Musoun1 of Magic and Witchcra.t:. T11." explanation for the curious W'Of"dine of the text, taking, lUI Dr. Gardner does, greoat pain.~ to dirta.nco hUncalf frotn Crovvlev and ~ OTO, may be hinted at in that the booklet suggests that this display in the "ne'\'Vupper gallery" (page 24) '\/VaS put out. at s. relad,rely late date 'When. as ,ve shs.11 dicoovor, Gardn__ vvtILS .naking h.inu;", :[ 1 answerable to the detnands of the ne,','

mtc:h

ocult and not

the

lonJrd_d

Cro,"\h=~

OTO. Novv, the "my trlend Atelster" ploy mteht -xplain the ",,,,hote thinit' Perhaps, l'LS Son'le lduding rvls. Valiente believe. Aleister _~-o,vtey ,vas despenl:te In his last years to c hand on '\Vhat he sa"" as his legacy to 501Ueone. He recldessly handed out his H:t,o'll"'Q.rY octca.to, perhaps gav. contradictory nstruction to various of his renlainin2 fe'W" .d~ (e.g. Kenneth Grant:, Grady :-.1c.l\1:u.-t:.ry, .Ksarl ~), sand fnAy have 2,"l'''en Ganfner an "accelerated <:'I.cl"\"'a.Doement" his order.. lVls. Va1ient:e, a in devot.ed Wiccan w-ho is also a dedicated seeker atter the blstorlca.l truth, mentions ;;ili;o tho ola.i.n fnCII.doby tho lata GortaJd lO:f"k-e t.o her that Gardner had paid C rtT\vtey a substantial SUD1 for the clo.cunu.."t..t.. In sa. lattar to me dat:ad 28th Au2'ust. 1.966, Ms. Valiente tells 01 a meetin'lt .." ~ Yorb "-in London fnany: ~ ' ago an.'d mentioned Gerald's 0.T.o. Charter to !Un"1, ,vhereon he told me, Wet1, you knovv, (,~d Ga..-dn ... paid old Cro'lolVl.y Cll.bout ($l5(X)) or so fOf"that'. This mayor may not ~ C01 i lEtt". Money or friendship may xp1sa..in tho Cluu-t:.oro St.iU, ana ~ I rrave a remarkable thelemtc acquaintance .... ,.ho, ha,-ing advanced "\"Y'eU along the path of Kenneth Grant's version of the OTO, 'W'ent back t:.o square one 'W"ith the auUlentic G-rctdy ~'Iclvfurtry OTO and, over a pariod of )~~ of substan.tial effOf"t. made his w-ay to t:h~ fO'Ul"'th degi"" 'plus' status implied by ~s: "Prince of J~" dasignat:ion in the charter. Gardner W'a5 In the habit, dt~ the public CIU"eer of Wicca. etne:t ged in the 1950s. of do""ng-rading any Cro'Wleyite associations out 01 his past, and, as Janet and S+',QVY'Q1"t Farrar reveal in Tho Witchos' WCll.Y (~ p3) there are three distinct versions of th~ Book of S'hadO"VV'S Gerald Gardner', in hsuuh .. vriting 'l.Vhich ~.t)Orsl:t.G tnICOIISSively less material tf'Oftl Cro'Wley's wrltlnes, though the 1l'LS't (ter.ned ''Text. C" and co'Writteo. '\'Vith Dot een Valiente after 1953) Is stJ11 heavUy tnftuenced by Cf'O'\Vtey and tha OTO. Me. VcUionto has rocently uncovered a copy of an old occult maeazj.ne cu:n-t.ernporary 'VVith High Magic's Aid and f l'"OIU tho CSUTUI publltdutr, "",hlch dl.tclCua:.GII IUl andent Indian document called '-rIle Book o.:f Shado'w's" but apparently totally unrelated to the Wiccan book of the same nrune. ValJente ackno'\Vledges that the oo.rtiort text: by Gardner knovvn to her vvcu: untitled, thoueh she refers to it as a l3ook oi ShadO"VVSo" It seenu :suspicious tianinll did ~or coopt the titJa frocn his publich.or's n"laeazine? ~1s. ValIent4! observed to me that the .. ..ee.stern . !look of Shado"", does not seem to have anything to do 'W"ith 'W"itchCt"'S1"t at aU Is this '\Vhere old Gerald 1Jrst fOlincCthe e~siOfl "The Book of Shadovvs" s.nd adopted It as a more poetlca.l nsune tor
. .

u.nd (thon) re1atJ.vely fnorib~d

CII. fnCII.gica.1fntiU'l~ipt th.an, cCll.y Tho Grimoire' or "'I1le Black Book'. I don't profess to knO"VV the ans-vver; but I doubt if this i.:J fn....... coinddanca", The cla.Un is freqUCH1t.ly made by those '\Vho wish to 'salvaee' a pre Gardnarian source of WiCCll.nfnllLteria.1s that there is a 'core' of 'authentic' materials. But. as the Farrars' recentty asserted, the pori:ionc of the Boo&c of Shado'lolVS .... 'IoIVhich chan2'@d least bet""eef1 Texts A. B and C ~ naturally the three iQitiation rituals; bGcsa.usa t.haca, above all, '1IV'OU1d be the traditional eletnents w-hlch 'W'ouid have been carefully preserved, probably for centuriesBut w-hat does one mean by "traditional materlalsf"' The three initiation rites, no"" ~uch-describod. in print, all cftla.clchea.vily of the crypto-ff"eefllasonic ritual of the Hermriic Order of the Golden Da-wn, the
u

OTO, and t.ha V'SU'"ious OtIO'tarie ~

1"Oupsthat abound~ In Britain tf'Oftl about 1885 on, and "YVhich "YVerre,it is md.ely know-fl, the fountainhead of much that is assocla~ 'W"ith Gardner's trlend Cf'O""ley. Th~ Third. Da~r.... rituctJ, perhaps Wicca's u1tunate rite, 15, essentially, a nonsymboUc Gnostic Mass, that beautiful, ~tive and acot:.oric Mtual ""'riti:an' and puhtishad by Cf'O'\Vley In the Equinox, alter attendln'lt a" R~sian Orthodox Ml'LSS in the early pa..rt of this century. The Gnostic' Mass has had tar-reachlng Influence, and It w-ould appear that the Wlcca.n ~ Degc;:ee Is one ot the , fnost blatant oxcunplos of tha~ influonoo. .' Take, for exsunple, this excerpt ff'Oftl ""hat i.:J perhaps the I'I'IOS1:. intimate, I'I'IOS1:. sec;& et sand D'IOCt cublUna RIOOI8nt in t.ha entire repertoire ot Wlcca. rituals, the nonsyrnboUc Great Rite of the Third Degree initiation, l'LS related by Janet and Stew-art Farrar in The Witches' Way (p.34): Tho Priost continUOCl '() Sooret of Secrets. That art bidden in the beine of all lives, Not thee do "YVe adore, For that vvhich s:adorcrth is sa.lco thou. Thou art That, and That sun L [KIss] I sun the t1ame that burns in the heart of every ftI1U1, .And in the core of every star. I sun life, and the giver of life. Yet theretore Is the kno""tedge 01 me the 1cno'lolVledge f deca.th. I CILD'I alone, tho Lord o within ourselves, Whose nsune is Mystery of ., Mysteries.' Let US be unaanblguous as to . t.ha hnportsuu::. in W'U:xs of this MtusaJ; su: the Farran' put It (p.31) ''ThIrd de'ftt'ee initiation eleva~ IlL "W'itch to the highest of . the three grades of the Craft. In a sense, a thlrd-degt-ee 'WItch IS tully Independent, a.nsvvorabto only to tho Gods CII.nd his or her ovvn conscience_" In.short, in a. manner of speaking this h. aU that Wlocca can offer a davot:.c.o. With this In mind, observe the 10tlow1n fl"OD'l AJeister Cro'YVtey's Gnostic Ml'LSs, l~ published in The Equinox about 75 years ~go and r_outlnely per10nned (albeit ,usually 1ft 5YD'IbolicforD'l) by ftUI ..net by enany other

44

and Deacons ~ ~~, liSt. iocatine it at Ripl~y's office in 'Tor-orrt o, ~ the OTO and EA.clesia Gnust.ica (EGC) today. ',He said he didn't think they 'w'Quld sell it 't'h. follovving i.. axcarptad frona Genu; Frona an individuai itAHn,but. he rva 0'1Q tJu:, CJ,SI..OU' ~be Equinox, po 372, but is 'WIdely avaUable of a top offlclal In the Ripley oreanizatiOt Ul published fON'Dl "W'ho I pc"OCDptiy contacted. I e,-en.tuetii:,' 'The Priest. 0 seCret of secrets that art made a substantial offef" for the book. si~h, hidden In the being of aU that llves, not unseen, tlgw-Ing thet"e vva..s (at. the 1~) ",' Thee do ""e adore, for that '\IVhichadoreth is 1i1c4II1ihood rd be abi. to turn tho rloc-y into also TIlOu. Thou ari That, and That 81D L I book and eet my money back out of it, t.c. am the ft-..ne that burns in ~ heart of say nothing of the historical hnport. But, man, and in the CDt"8 of ""'18rY dar. I sun I ~ the fTlAt.tar, I" bacanua ,rU)_f"'" ute, and t.he elvef" of Life; yet. t.het"etore 15 wury, and confused; G~ef"'S t.exu "A" 'T the icnO"W'ledr of n-ae the kno"W'ledr of and "C" aU ~ed ~ be accouni:ed f<'" death. I IU'rl alone; thet"e is no God "Whet"e I Possibly, I began to suspect. this eit,lH~, a.m." a dupUcate of the "deTIlelenl.lzed" post 1~,"" So, then, ""hore, apart frotn tho th.l-ruc version with 5et!fUents 'written by GarcU1' tradition of C~ley and the OTO, is the -and Valiente and copied and n:copi~ (~ -, "traditional naaterial" SOD"Ie Wiccan 'VV'rit.ers '\IVaUSUE dirlartad) fro.n hand 1:0 hand J;:inc C80Rl 1:0 seek 'YVith near c::laspara:t.ion? I sun by Wlocans t.he vvorld over, Ma vbe. not. t.rylne to be sarcastic In t.he least., but. n-aused, Valiente had one copy and ~ even conunonplaoe seU - references used anothef", the latter sold to Ripley ,vith t} a ag Wiocans today, 51lch as '~the-Craft" or CoUection. 01-, perhaps It vva..s the curin. tfu! refMl1n "so mote It. be" are lUted notebook discoVGrOd by Aidan KQlly in th_ straight out of Freemasonry (see, for Ripley fUes called Ye Book of Ye At example, Duncan's Ritual of Freeaaasonry). Magical, the meaning of ","hich ,~...., und~~, .A..nd, SUE Dor ... n Valiente notes in her '.tter Whila ciua.t.t.i.ng 'YVith M... Yu~ youn, to me mentioned before, .. .of COUf"Se old . upwardly mobUe Norm ret.w-ned tronl 1-' G.:ra.ld "VValI abo a lrI'J.eD1ber of the Co:M~ n-aission, "W'e introduced in best stre.ight,,,or;," and an ord.inary F~" SUE ""aU SUE an fashion, and he told me he'd get. the be... : OTO tnenlber. f i' "Whatever It. nllght:. be, troal "the vault .. We n-aust cDsndss ~th ~e resPect the Tho vault! I sat thoro 'th.in1dng g-c>"" assertion, put forth by Margot Adler and knoW' "What. Recently, rd 20tten a call f r-o rr: others, that 'Wlcca no longer adhet"e5 to the Toronto, and it ~ the Ripie-y fotk- !.,' orthodox n-aytlaos of th. Book of Shadovvs," vvantad RUI 1:0 t.sa..1ca a look at; ,,,hat 'd' . Many, if not most of those "Who have been had. I had made a considerable ~tet" ~"'" dra"W'D to Wkx;;a in the last t~ decades at that point I firiured rd had at l~t CSU'nfI 1:0 it; under the .. peU (if I aua.y ..0 t:arn-a nibble. As it 50 happened Norm ,'v-ou1d h ttl ot t.he leeend ot ancient. Wlcca. If t.hat. vlsltlng on a routine inspection vtsft, so l' lernd is false, then "W'bile reforaWrts II.Dd '\IVIUE arrang-od ho ," vvould boring th. revisionist apologists (particularly the manuscript with him. ,Almost fr-om the fY 'illar hybrid spaW'ned In t.he late sixties minute he placed It lti tront of' me, thi:,~ w.......oor tho naftUI "fonUnist Wicoa") n-aay soek began 1:;0 n-aako IiOCDO kind of ~ ClQol;U"l other valid erounds for theu- practices. "We this 'W'as Ye :Book of Ye Art Maeica.L J i.: . at least C7W"e it to those "W'hohave Opel ated a:IJ dearly, it "VValI an unusual pi~ ,vri.He-,<, under a ..u..apprehansion 1:0 axplain tho 1sa.rgely in tho ssuna hand SUE the ~".j.". t.ruth, and let. t.he chips taU 'W'het"et.hey may. Charter - that. Is, the hand of Get-s I believe there is a core of valid ~ienoe Ge.rdner. Of this I beclune certain, ~u.. ..~ falling undef" the Wiccan-n.eopagan heading, had handvvriting samples of Garon I but that that. core Is the SIU'rleessentlai core Valiente and Crovvley In my possession. ~. that lies at tho truths 4IIKpClsod by tho Valiente had been mindful of this ,"vhon ,.1 dreaded boGeYman Aleister C~ley and -wrote me. on Aueust 8th, 1986: ., the "wic;ked' pan:n=xuaJLnn of Ca-cnov'ey'sLa'YV "I have deliberately ch03PC'D 1:;0 "~TIte ..... '<':' of Thalatna. That. IiUCh root... '\IVould be not. in longhand, rather i:ha.n auui Just. uncomfortable, but. lntolet"ab'e to t.he t.ype"W'f"lt.ten reply, 50 that. you hft v'e orthodox t ....ditionalists eunonr; the WiCClllLOS, SOn'lethinr; by "W'hich to judr the ,"'ai.idity , but even more so sunong the hybrid the claim you tell me is being tnade by th feminist. "W'locans" Rlay lndeed be an Ripley organisation to have a copy 01 a ''1)' undorstaton-aent. But if this be truth, l.t of Shadovvs" in Gorald ~.., truth n81De its own price. I 'W'as not sure, hand"Writine and aUne. H this is.. 'Ye )3.;:) .) until Norzn and .John gvt back frvan the Old of Ye Art Magical," _this is ddinikl:,Jail , Gerald Gardner' .. hand'\lVrit.i.ng. Old ~, A couple ot nldnt.hs earUer I had punched hovvever, had several styles of hand.V\:rltit1~Oft fny 1Ul.S"W'Ctrinr; n-aaohine, and there "Wa:IJ I think it is probct.bie that the ,,,,hole 1'. L the unexpected voice of John Turner saying W'8.5 in fact "W'f"itten by Gerald, and flO oth. that he had located 'What seefDed to be the person W'8.5 lnvolved; but of course I olay t oriJina1 Book of Shado~ in an inventory 'YVrOClc-" , 45

Bishops, Priests, Priestesses

;t"L~

I.',

t!l..3

""'BS

,,-ill

A t first e1ance it appeared to be a very .ld bcook, and it. suggested to me 'VVhere t.he n.J.n~ clua.t sa. vary aid. possibly tnadiav..t Book ot Shado'WS had once been on dlsptay In :::a.rd.n~'s ~Iu.seum had e.neil gcd frotn. Any . 'J..SUa.l ontoo.ker might see Ye Book in this Ught, tor the cover ""as Indeed that 01 an otd 'olumo, vvit.h t.hQ oroig-inca1 t.it.tQscrat.chod out. ~.rudely on the side and a ne"" title tooled. in.to t.he leat.her cover. The original 'VVa3 co.mQ mundsa.no voluRUl, but. t.ho Uuid. pages \Rd been reft10V"'f!d. and a ldnd 01 notebook -.in"lost II. jou.rnat - had been substit.uted. As ~r as I could see-. no dates appear .ulv,,",vhe1'e In the book. It Is -wrItten In ,.. ,;,,~.~ difforont. hand~it.ingsty los, althoueh. as noted above. Dot een Valiente :\.~ me t.hat. Gardner 'VVa3 apt. to use ..;;o,~ rlyl __ I hsa.d tho di.ri.inct. u-npression rhls "notebook" had been "WrItten over a 'x:><"1 ten,.b1c pec-iod of tUnc. ~iiaps yCArS, >t""rFuips even decades. It may, indeed. date .r-orri his days in the 19305 ""hen he linked '... ,""rith sa. nOCM'OSicrucuian grouping- t.hat. p .nay have included arnone its members the t dary Dorothy Clut.ter-buck, 'VVhocould 'Ul.'-'""Q t;Qt.~ on tho pAth "",hich lad-to
I

an honest error, but maybe the source ot t.hat lonrtanding accusat.ion. There is even SII. notation in tho Riptoy esa.t.sa.1og at.tributing the manuscript to Cro""ley on SORleOfie's sayso, but. I have no indication Ripley hILS any other such book. Finally, if the notebook Is a sourcebook 01 any religious syst.cHn, it. is not. t.hat. of OlodiQvca1 'IN'it.chcrca.t, but the t-wentieth century madness or :sanity or both of t.he inf~ magus Atoirtor Crowvloy and t.h., t.h.WnW::V g-nostlc creed ot The Book 01 the La-w. As I sat -there I ~d atoud fanilliar quotat.ions or paraphrases frotn published material in the Cro'Wley-tbeleanic canon. ThIs Is not the "ancient. rotig-ion of t.h. Wise" but. t.ho modern sayines of the Beast 666But, does any of t.his U:avalida:te Wicca. as An oxpression of hUft'lSLft spirit.ua.1it.y? It. depends on ""here Ofte Is coa::nJn2 1rom. Certainty, the foundat.ions of fenUnist. "YY"iCCIII. and the modern cult of the goddess are challenged 'WIth the tact that the goddess In question may be Nuit, her manifestation the ~ 'VVhore, Our Lady Babalon, the Scsa.rlot. WOftUUL Trsandornl "",hat. you ,viti shall be the ""hole 01 history, but THIS Olakcs "",hat. Marx did -to Her;et look like slavish devotion. For the rest 01 us, those ""ho neither ~hip nor IU"CII disdca.inful of t.hQ Olan "-Vho made sexuality a eod or. at least, acknO'VVledged it. as such, expel iernce snust be its o"",n tosadutr. If Wicca. is: sa. sort. of errant Mlnerval chapter 01 the OTO, 2Of1e far ast.....y and far afield since the days Cro""ley gave Gardner a charter he "didn't use" but seemed to value, and a ""hole range of rit.uat. and SRlagctry t.hat. assault. t.ho senses at their most literally fund&n1ental l~" if t.his is t.rue or sort of true, (t.he 1at.e Jade Psa.rsons: of OTO fsuno spoke of sa. conUng revival ot witchcraft not very ion2 after Cro-vvley and Gardner's ackncnvtedged introduction), maybe its tUne history be o""ned up to. Mythos has Its ptace and role, but. so, too, dOllSroaJit.y.

.Vlcca.

Thinking on it, ""vhat. e.n_ gcs f.-cM'D Ye ~ioo.k of Ye Art Magical is a developrn~tal (.~-c. o:! ideas. Much 01 It Is straight out 01 ....:: C'Q'wley, but it is clearly the published .~ !--Q'wtey, the otd magus 01 the OTO. ~~"lg,",rhoc-o ca10ng -thQ linQ it. hit. OlO -that. I vas not exactly 100kine at the "orieinal ..ook o Shadtn'V'S" but, perhaps, t.he outline ,'~"i-...rdn~ ~ over sa. long pec-iod of t.Uno, pp:a:rent,ly In secret (since Vat1ente, a datively etU-ly initiate of Gardner'" never .l.le-9 ~ of it nor sa"" it. according to her O'-VO 1.cc-.&:nt, untU recent years, about the time .:....idsa.n KQlty un~od it. in thQ RiplQy .'oliection lone after Gardner's death). Dr. . t<..rd.n~ ~ many odd notebooks and -crsa.pbookc t.hsa.t. pec-hsa.ps vvoutd ....'V1IHIl1 'nuch about his character and motivations "TU1'fi~ sho'VVedme II. Gardner scrapbook in ~qjpleys stof-e f"O()fn ""hich 'W'aS mostly cheesecake magazine photographs and EPn.oGUE JACK PABSONS AND THE ,..,-do105 Q,bout. Q,ct.-t"eSS but. probabJy nonQ ..s), CIGARFI'TE CASE, or Wieca lUI a Minarva1 U"'! ~"O tn"'OCative u Y. Book of Ye Art Chapter ot the Ordo T4HIlpUOrlentls ,\fagica.1, ~ it has been indsnat.ed, "\i.ddQfi snvay in -tho bade of sa piGCllt of The question 01 intent lootns l~ in the ... lU-nitW"e. I have the impression It was background of this inquiry. If I bad -to <.':"":s::sentialty unkno'\lVn in and after Gardner's guess, I ""ould gueSs that GeraJd Gardner did. iifetime, and that even in the Swnmer of in tact, invent wicca more or less 'Whole 1966 :te,"v had seen lnslde It; I me"" ol only cloth 1:0 bo Q, populari2Mld version. of tho ,":;;:,Uy Q.Odmy O~ pcu"ty. PCH"hsa.ptI OOVCH" thQ OTO. Whether Cnnvley. or his successor md been seen by someone alone the line. Karl Genner ('VVho.~tly a1so kne-vv Dr. cc:ou.nting for'>t.he nunor 'of a "~old Book Gsu-dnor, Ms. Vsillonta taUs QUI Gardner ft.n.v -..f. Shado'llVC" in GArdner's MucoURl. U to Anlerlca and met with Gertner) ,vere'ln ,Ofl"leone had seen the charter sIOed by on t.his' or not is II. dilficu.tt. question -to C~''\'lcy ('''BaphORlet.'') but. "YVI"itten by ansvver categoricaUy. Let me dose, ~ld Gardner, and had gotten a look. as ho""ever, by quoting t""o interesting tidbits ""ell, at Ye Book, they might -weU have for your oonsid.rCl:tion. First., :JlcH _n c1udGd. thsa.t. Cro"-V1Qy had vvrit.t.on BOTH, Valiente's observation to me concernine -the .i~

.'

Parsons connecl;ion". I ~uote from her latter abovanutntionad, ana of IEQversa..idUI was kind enou1!'h to send fOe in 1986 in conneotion vvith .ny retletU"Ch into this matter, .. .I did knOW' about the existence of . t.he O,T.o. Chapter in California at the tlnle of Cro-rleys d4illlLth, because I believe his ashes 'W'ere sent over to thefDo He 'W'as crenaated. here in Brighton, you knavv, Dluch to 'the ~ of the lo.ca1 authorities, ""ho objected to the 'paean funeral service.' It you are referrinS to the group of """hioh Jack Parsons vvas a fOember (along 'With the egregious Mr. L Ron Hubbard), then there Is anothet" CuMow; little point to ""hich I .nust draw your attention. I have a retnarkable tittle book by .Jack Parsoru called MAGICK, GNOSTICISl\,{ AND THE wrI'CHCRAFr. It Is unfortunately undated, but Parsons died in 1952. ~e !HIC:ftion Oft vvitohcraft is particularly interesting because it looks for -rard to a revival of vvltchcra1t as the Ok__." Religion-", I fin~ this very - thought provokine. Did Parsons 'W'rite this around the tme that Cnnvley vvas ~ting together mth Gardner and perhaps conununicat:ad. with the CaOtornia rOup to teU them about it? We must remember that Ms. Valiente was a close assoclate 01 Gardner and Is a dedioCliLted and active vvioDC3ll.fto of course, She, has her OW'n interpretation of "these matters. I One ot:har ........ tt:ar of nota is the quastion of the lenth of Gardner's association vvlth the OTO and vvith Crovvley personally. My infOf"fDantCoL La'W'rence, tells fOe that he has in his possession a cigarette case 'W'hlch once belonged to Alelster Cro""ley, Inside -is a note in Cro'W'ley's hand that says ~plYl 'gift 01. GBO, 1936, A. Cnnvtey''', (pea 50Uat la r,6 n..c-nhar, 1986) "-the ln5crIptlon could be a tnIstake, It could anetUl 1946, the period of the Charter. But, as Ms. Valiente put it in a letter to me of . 6th Decen1ber, 1966: ''11 your friend Is Maht, then' it would fOean that old Gerald actuaUy 'W'ent through a charade of . pretending to Arnold Cro~het" that Arnold 'W'as'introducine hUn to Cro'W'ley for tlur :lim tina. -.. charade """bleb: Cnnvtey for SORUI rea.son vvas vviUing to go along with. Why? I can't see the point 01 such a pretenC3ef but then OC)C)uttlsts SOftletwes do

are 'W'e to make of and inie:r this business of II. popular Th8~ t"'eligion? WerQ C..m.~.l,py. Pa.rsons, Gardne1" and others tryine: 't.o c:V socnething of note ~th ~ to actu~.,,". the Ne'W' Aeon here "Which 'bears scrutin '\'': Or Is this fOere speculation, and of 11 ~.1~ t sig-nificance for the WOC'ktoday? Hubble, bubble,
And,' "vhat

about

aU

devious thinas-"
Gnortlcl5fO and Wlcca, the subjects 01 Jack Parsons' booSe, ..... the t~ .nost. successful expressions to date of Cro'W'leys dreanI 01. .. popular sular-phaUie religion. Maybe I'.n ~g, but I thin1c Alaistar and Gerald fDRy have CQOked wtoca up. The ..~ for ~ele.qites are, as I see it., two - fold: If Wicca is our prodigal daughter in fact, authorized directly by Crow-ley, hO'W' should "'W'4I t'Mn'V ... l..ta to it?

here

47