About Writing Witchy History

Last updated on: May 2, 2014 at 9:55 pm by Aidan Kelly

About Writing Witchy History 2014-05-02T21:55:20-07:00 Aidan Kelly

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

It ain’t easy. Given that I began saving Green Egg and the other dozen periodicals we got as exchange subscriptions for The Witches Trine, I began gathering materials for A Tapestry of Witches more than 40 years ago. About ten years later, I began compiling entries about covens and other groups that had announced their existence into a database program on my Apple II that Isaac set up for me; some of those entries still exist in the book now. In the early 90s, when I began the actual writing work and wrote to many people for help, in addition to letters, Joe Wilson, John Hansen, and Jim Baker sent me autobiographical/historical essays to use for just such a history. Lately, emails and historical information posted on Witchvox have helped. But the real problem was how to organize all this data into a readable story.

Writing the history of an incorporated church or other organization with an “official” existence is a piece of cake compared to trying to describe the Craft, which obviously is almost totally decentralized. The American Gardnerian Tradition does have a structure of its own, mainly owing to Lady Theos’ organizational genius, but even that is lacking for the vast majority of the movement. “Traditions” are not the long-term, stable structural elements of the Craft movement—not when they bifurcate, mutate, merge, and are newly invented all the time.

Another problem was the sheer amount of data I had accumulated. It was almost overwhelming. I finally realized that if I broke the project into three volumes, each one would be far more manageable—although I’m still not sure about Vol. III. Also, there were watershed events that coincided about 1975 and about 1984 that provided fairly obvious dividing points in the story.

One peculiarity of the data was that at least half of all the Craft activity in the country was centered in or tied directly to California during most of the 1970s. That needed some explaining. Another is the dozen or so Witches and covens I’ve identified going back into the 1890s, and the first attempts at Pagan Reconstructionism that began in the 1950s. Ray Buckland’s bringing Gardnerian Wicca to Long Island was a watershed event in 1963, but despite their huge influence, the Gardnerians were never at any time a majority in the movement. Also, perhaps just to confuse you more, not all Witches are Pagans.

I did finally realize that there are three dimensions to the information: Timewise evolution of the branches of the family tree; the regional linkages of Witches and Pagans into groups for specific purposes; and then the network of friendships among the people who have been doing the work for decades. As Michael York pointed out, it’s that network that provides something like long-term continuity. However, the history also cannot be told as the Lives of the Big Named Pagans. As Marx emphasized, real history is the history of the people, not the rulers. So as much as possible I’ve tried to give credit to people who have done the hard work but never won any acclaim for it. Like John Patrick McClimans. Or Jane Harper. Or Judy Carasone.

I did have some good news today. An editor at Library Journal said I can submit the book to see if they want to review it. I’m hoping. If you would like to see the book yourself, you can find it here: http://www.amazon.com/Tapestry-Witches-History-Craft-America/dp/1499192649/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1399092471&sr=1-1&keywords=Aidan+Kelly.

Previous Post

April 24, 2014

A Tapestry of Witches: A History of the Craft in America, Volume I is now available on Amazon

Next Post

May 4, 2014 Blindsided by a Rabbit, Again

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Gnostics Pagan Paganism Poetry Social Justice Theology Uncategorized Witches

Select a Month August 2018 April 2018 February 2018 January 2018 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 November 2015 September 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 September 2014 August 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz