Most books published on Wicca which cover the subject of Wiccan history do so from a Gardnerian angle. The main reasons for this are obvious when you read such histories. We, ourselves, have been responsible (with Doreen Valiente) for writing the most indepth examinations of how modern Wicca developed. It is not intended that we should go over the fine points that we have already covered in our other works. We recommend you read Eight Sabbats for Witches, The Witches Way, or The Witches Bible for the complete histories (see our Booklist on the Index Page for details).

Aidan Kelly broke new ground when he published Crafting the Art of Magic (Llewellyn Publications, 1991). It was the first book to critically examine the truth behind Gardnerian Wiccan history. We believe Aidan's conclusion was correct; Gardnerian Wicca was a creation of Gerald Gardner, and his High Priestesses, but more importantly, it was a creation of Doreen Valiente who converted much existing material from literature into poetry for the Rites. A good example of this, of course, is the Charge of the Goddess (Its original form can be found in Leland's Aradia; The Gospel of the Witches.) In fact, most of the material found in Gardnerianism derived from literature - even The Triple Goddess who was a synthesis by Robert Graves in The Witches Goddess of the traditional nine Goddesses of Greek and Roman origin. Generally triple goddesses were found as three maids, three mothers or three crones. But never as maid, mother and crone; that is not to say that such a synthesis is not relevant!

We should point out that although we agree with Aidan Kelly's conclusion, we find his evidence and suggestions of origin unconvincing! There are some important areas he did not cover. What of the influence of Gerald Gardner's wife, Donna? It is interesting that the two major forms of Wicca, Gardnerian and Alexandrian, are attributed to being the work of men rather than women. Strange for a Goddess/feminine orientated tradition, don't you agree! We're pretty sure Donna is one of the missing keys to how and why Gardnerian Wicca developed.

So now for the big question. Did the New Forest Coven exist? There is evidence of the existence of 'Old Dorothy' - Dorothy Clutterbuck. She was in fact far from old compared to Gardner. There was in fact only six months between them in age (Doreen Valiente obtained the birth certificate of Ms D Clutterbuck). It should be remembered that adding 'old' to the beggining of a name in the south of England is a term of endearment. So what else do we know of Ms Clutterbuck? For starters she was friends with Annie Besant's (one of the founders of the Theosophy Movement) daughter. Was Dorothy in fact a Theosophist? Here are several possibilities listed:

There was no Magical Group at all, and Gerald just learn't a few bits of Theosophy from Dorothy Clutterbuck and other members of the Christchurch Rosicrucian Theatre.

There was a Magical Group in the New Forest, but it didn't call itself a coven, but Gerald had notions that it was. In this case, he was probably thrown out for calling it a coven in High Magicks Aid which upset the members who did not want to be associated with the 'W' word.

There was a group calling itself 'The New Forest Coven', but it had very little in the way of written ritual.

The whole thing is a conspiracy by Doreen Valiente and Janet and Stewart Farrar to sell more books! (Sorry, couldn't resist that, snigger!)

We, personally believe the second possibility is the most likely.

But what of other histories? There are many other Witches who are ignored. The best example is the 'other' New Forest Witch, Sybil Leek. She never claimed any lineage back into the past, although she was the founder of 'The Horsa Coven' in the RIngwood/Burley area of the New Forest. She had no 'Book of Shadows', nor fixed written rituals, but she is still accepted by many as a bonafide Witch. Perhaps this tells us that we should not take the Gardnerian history out of perspective, and that there was more than just one modern root, however important we believe the Gardnerian one is.

It is important to remember that 'False Histories' abound on the trail to find out the truth. For many years Alex Sanders claimed that he was initiated by his Grandmother. Again, like Gardner's New Forest Coven an 'untruth'. Lady Sheba published her Book of Shadows (a Gardnerian term) in the '80's. It was, almost entirely a Gardnerian Book of Shadows, while she claimed it was 'handed down by her grandmother' (a common theme in all Wiccan 'untruths).

So why is there this need to concoct a bonafide history for a Wiccan tradition? The fault, unfortunately, lies within the Gardnerian structure which put an emphasis on lineage. Fred Lamond, a Gardnerian of longstanding (initiated by Gerald Gardner and who worked alongside Pat Crowther) points out in a recent article that this 'passing down' is no more than a development of the Christian 'apostolic succession' that can be found in Catholicism. He also points out that there are two types of Wiccan group; those that put emphasis on group identity over everything, which use lineage, and the its history (however dubious) to maintain this; and those that are more concerned with using Witchcraft for its true purpose; a change in conciousness. This is of course a generalization, but we have found that this is certainly true in many cases. We have of course found the two together. A good example is 'Blue Star', a coven based tradition which has successfully combined both (we would like to point out that its history is far from dubious!). Our conclusion is that the history is only prone to becoming corrupt when the Coven history develops into a Traditions history due to hiving off; there is then the danger that an untrue history then becomes a tool of political control for use by the parent coven,

So is Wiccan history really important at all? When it comes to identity, possibly; but when it comes to self growth and the growth of Wicca, certainly!. History is only of any use when it shows what mistakes have been made in the past and how we can avoid them in the future. Unfortunately, false histories hide these mistakes in mysticism and make it impossible for Wicca to grow and develop as it should. Perhaps it is time to encourage students of Wicca to look more candidly at Wiccan history.