The Founder of Gardnerian Witchcraft

Gerald Brosseau Gardner  (1884-1964)

• Gerald Gardner is often referred to as the 'Father of Modern Witchcraft'. Following the repeal of the last of the Witchcraft Laws in the early 1950's, he published his classic book Witchcraft Today, which really brought the 'Witch Cult', as he often called it, into the public domain.

In 1952, along with his wife Donna, he moved to the Isle of Man to become the 'resident Witch' at Cecil Williamson's Museum of Witchcraft. Ultimately, the museum became Gardner's after he purchased it from Cecil in 1954.

Gerald Gardner launched Wicca shortly after the end of World War II, and went public with his coven following the repeal of England’s Witchcraft Laws in the early 1950s. There is a good deal of debate within the Wiccan community about whether the Gardnerian path is the only “true” Wiccan tradition, but the point remains that it was certainly the first. Gardnerian covens require initiation, and work on a degree system. Much of their information is initiatory and oathbound, which means it can never be shared with those outside the coven.

Gardner was an educated folklorist and occultist, and claimed to have been initiated himself into a coven of New Forest witches by a woman named Dorothy Clutterbuck. When England repealed the last of its witchcraft laws in 1951, Gardner went public with his coven, much to the consternation of many other witches in England. His active courting of publicity led to a rift between him and Valiente, who had been one of his High Priestesses. Gardner formed a series of covens throughout England prior to his death in 1964.

Also known as *The Father of the Gardnerian Path*

Magic in the hand~