The Great Divide in Witchcraft Today

It seems appropriate to begin with a small note:

the term ‘Gardnerian’ was originally used as a derogatory slur by Roy Bowers [colloquially known as ‘Robert Cochrane’] for those Wica following the Craft as it was passed on from Gerald Gardner; a British civil servant and world traveler turned occult pioneer.

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As a Gardnerian High Priest, it’s my charge to ‘live up’ to this backhanded description; one that is shared by all Gardnerians – or at least, those of us who are honest with ourselves as to what it truly means to carry the responsibility of such a stewardship.

Our Craft is split, of course, into [High] Priestesses and [High] Priests – with outsiders respectfully referred to as ‘Seekers.’ Some covens may refer to accepted students as ‘pagans,’ which is a modernism appropriated from the Pagan Way. In this borrowed vernacular, covens are sometimes split also, into ‘inner’ and ‘outer’ courts – the latter welcoming those pagans and other guests who have not yet obliged toward the Work of the Craft; which is carried out across three degrees of Initation and Elevation.

“One cannot blame an organisation that picks up an occasional black sheep, one only takes exception if it retains an accumulation of them.” – Dion Fortune, Psychic Self-Defense, 1930

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We are also split amongst ourselves – as we must be.

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There’s even a push to discriminate against Witches who are heteronormative; for example, Jason Mankey muses on his blog that if all identifying as LGBTQ+ were to be taken away from the Craft, then there ‘wouldn’t be very many Gardnerians left in the world!’

Such an argument exists solely in the echo chamber of liberal Wica and only serves to alienate Witches from within.

Ironically enough; Jason’s blog post is hosted on a for-profit platform, the parent company of which is linked with companies supporting hyper-conservative Christian values. Who is it, then, clinging to ‘outdated and bigoted ideas from the past?’

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Community Gatekeepers and the notion of Witches as ‘Family’ are Modern Scams

…and here’s how they work:

Gardnerian covens are entirely autonomous entities. It’s been this way since the beginning; and reflects the historical need for intense secrecy related to Magical practices (organized or otherwise), especially during the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period. Even in England, the Witchcraft Act was not repealed until 1951!

With the death of WitchVox, the withering out of fractured online forums built on the ‘old Internet’ and various Yahoo! Groups, or other email ‘listservs,’ the online community pivoted to social media, specifically via Facebook and its Facebook Groups feature.

This shift created the vacuum for a new ‘elite’ to emerge; and represent themselves to the public as the de-facto agentur of what is really an inherently decentralized Mystery Tradition.

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“Now each coven is independent…” – Gerald B. Gardner, Witchcraft Today, 1954

Over the years, these individuals have cultivated their ‘family’ into a virtual sandbox of yes-men (and yes-ma’ams) while restricting the ability of numerous bonafide, more Traditional elders to communicate, attend events, and in extreme cases, hinder their inalienable right to engage in the Great Work itself – making the perpetrators de facto ‘black brothers’ in the counter-initiatory sense of Western Magic as a whole.

“The same black poison corrodes them all; the warped lust for power, welling up from fears and repressions in the depths of the unconscious mind. There was no room for this sort of spirit in the witch cult, nor in the mystery religions which were its predecessors in the days of Bronze Age matriarchy, so long as they remained true to their traditions.” – Gerald B. Gardner, The Meaning of Witchcraft, 1959

The ‘family’ uses a Seekers group to tacitly recruit for their brand of Witchcraft, and in turn, creates a new generation of Witches who think and act as they do. Indeed, such phenomena is also a byproduct of the spiritual link forged by Initiation, but here it stems from a funnel which bounces the unwitting non-Initiate into ‘select’ Circles; sometimes at the expense of others – and occasionally, their own…

“Regarding the Craft, it is wise to seek initiation from a genuine coven. This is not as easy as it sounds, as genuine adherents do not seek converts, and therefore do not advertise for members.” – Patricia Crowther, Lid Off the Cauldron: A Handbook for Witches, 1981

Very famously, a similar sort of community bulldozing (albeit for different reasons) was also done to Raymond Buckland, who was the first to bring Gardnerian Craft to America in 1962.

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“But they do it differently in England!”

Maybe so; some even do their math differently when it comes to the conferral of elevations – but to dismiss a Traditional praxis as an American modernism is a red herring argument. Even the Alexandrian Craft (which we Gardnerians have taken to saying is ‘heavier on incense’), with all of its Hermetic bells & whistles does not necessarily indulge political correctness to the extent which is imagined. The resulting ‘freeze in time’ is especially curious, as the Alexandrian movement served to (in some ways) democratize the Craft away from tight-knit, old British money and into the mainstream.

“Alex’s main point of criticism of certain of Gardner’s followers is that they allowed themselves to become ‘cozy’ and middle-aged, and are unwilling or unable to encourage and train young people.” – Stewart Farrar, What Witches Do, 1971

In the present-day, the English also have more of a restrained view toward the concept of the ‘Witch Queen’ as some sort of extra-curricular, outside force to be reckoned with in one’s own immediate line of Initiatory succession. Perhaps the Americans might adopt this ‘British-ism’ as well?

“The inner circle of witchcraft is virtually closed, but the outside perimeter attracts its share of the psychologically disturbed, the lunatic fringe who see in the practice of witchcraft a short-cut to their heart’s desire and the possible attainment of power…” – Lois Bourne, Witch Amongst Us, 1979

Lastly—and I speak from experience here; American Witches are occasionally reminded to adopt an old-school British silence in public regarding Craft matters; but even the so-called Bricket Wood Coven¹ now has a website and a social media presence… in fact, it was Gardner himself who was initially ‘reprimanded’ within the Craft itself for being too loud!

_{1-Witch Wars are alive and well – in early 2021, this group’s claim to the name ‘Bricket Wood’ was disputed almost concurrently with their first public emergence in some several decades. Compelling arguments were made by the challenging Magister. Having no horse in the race; this author’s opinion on the issue remains neutral.}

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What Now?

Perhaps the answer lies in the elegant simplicity of coven autonomy and calling to task the false conception of ‘family’ as a means toward community control – and condemning the fake ideal that Witches owe a blind loyalty to each other and the world-at-large.

Maybe it is time that the backchannel bullying, exclusion, and sense of elitism comes to a halt – and for the love of the gods, let the ‘community’ stop pretending that Witches must be politically correct or even polite.

“…they are all like little painted dolls today, afraid to do anything which aint all that respectable.” – Bowers, Letter VIII to Gray

This issue has been brewing under the surface of ‘Witch culture’ for some time now, and I wrote this post after seeing some wonderfully genuine Witches perplexed and almost distraught at what they perceived as a community ‘gagging’ discussions amongst its own.

Most Witches claim to be averse to the idea of some ‘Grand Council’ (such a thing seems ripped from a bad piece of fiction) but truly, there already is one – a de facto, digital ‘Grand Lodge of the Wica,’ calling the shots from behind the scenes with an almost corporate precision, all while pretending to do no such thing. Ignoring the elephant in the room only makes the problem worse – and after years of witnessing such abuses in Magical authority, one realizes that the attacks are not only at the expense of growing numbers of sincere Initiates, but also the Craft itself.

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All told, it seems appropriate to close here with a quote from the venerable Maxine Sanders, stemming from her interview with David Conway in the Witches’ Almanac [issue #36, Spring 2017] –

“…there’s a growing tendency to believe that initiation into the Craft means acceptance within a ‘community,’ one whose parts are all much of a muchness. Talk like that reminds me of the touchy-feely ecumenism popular among Christian denominations. Let’s all be friends, certainly, but let’s not pretend we’re all one big happy-clappy family.“

As I’ve heard some Witches are fond of saying—so mote it be.