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An American in Britain: Doreen Valiente Pilgrimage

An American in Britain: Doreen Valiente Pilgrimage

Last updated on: September 13, 2016 at 2:28 am by Jason Mankey

An American in Britain: Doreen Valiente Pilgrimage 2016-09-13T02:28:27-06:00 Jason Mankey

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The timing of my wife and I’s current trip to the United Kingdom is related to a number of factors, but two of the most important had to do with the the dates of a few specific exhibitions. The first of those was The Celts, currently being housed at Scotland’s National Museum featuring the Gundestrup Cauldron. The second was Folklore, Magic and Mysteries: Modern Witchcraft and Folk Culture in Britain, or as it’s often called: The Doreen Valiente exhibition.

That’s Gerald’s BoS displayed prominently.

Folkore, Magic, and Mysteries contains several of Doreen Valiente’s ritual tools, statuary, and other assorted odds and ends. It also includes a Book of Shadows that had been in Doreen’s possession written by one Gerald Gardner. This was something I felt I had to see, so see it I did. Ari and I journeyed down to Brighton England with our friend Dodie Graham McKay this past Sunday to see the exhibition, where Doreen lived, and explore the mother of modern Witchcraft’s home base. We were not disappointed.

Painting of John Bellham Payne, who helped put together the exhibition. He passed far too early this past February.

We jokingly called our little trip the “Doreen Valiente Pilgrimage” while quickly adding that Doreen would be spinning in her grave if we were completely serious about that. From every indication Doreen was a modest woman and certainly wouldn’t want religious pilgrims paying her homage. But Doreen had such a huge impact not only on what Ari and I do, but what so many of us do! She was Wicca’s chief liturgist and one of the most extraordinary Witches of the Modern Era.

Our first stop was not the exhibition, but her old apartment building. Doreen lived in a rather unremarkable council house apartment overlooking the English Channel. The building its self is not in the best of shape but it does have a lovely view of the sea. In 2013 Doreen’s legacy was honored with a blue plaque placed on the outside of Tyson Place (the building she lived in) commemorating her influence not just in Great Britain, but world-wide. Seeing the building where Doreen spent much of her life didn’t open any great doors, but I felt like I knew her a little better after leaving.

Ari and I under the blue plaque.

From there we stopped at the beach for a bit and had a pint of cider before heading over to Preston Manor to see the exhibition. Preston Manor is a beautiful old home full of late 19th/early 20th century goodies that was worth a visit in its own right. The staff there was extremely courteous and helpful, and confessed to us that the Doreen Exhibit had been great for business. (So great, that they’ve extended it into November, it was supposed to end this month.)

Folklore, Magic, and Mysteries is a rather small exhibit. There’s some information, a video that plays in the background and a few cases of items belonging to Doreen and others. Most visitors to the house probably spend ten to fifteen minutes looking at it, we were probably in there closer to an hour. The three of us took pictures of everything, and Ari and I had a few discussions on the open BoS pages in the exhibit. (“Why that page? Does that match our ritual? What does this mean?” etc etc.)

Some of Doreen’s tools and altar supplies.

Most of the exhibit is about Witchcraft, but there were also displays dedicated to Heathenry and Druidry. I thought that this was a nice addition and I was happy see other forms of Paganism being shared. The big stars of the exhibit were of course Doreen’s ritual tools, and the magnificent BoS once belonging to Gerald Gardner.

Druid display.

The entrance to Preston Manor also had a lot of “witchy” items for sale, along with books by and about Doreen. I picked up the 2014 edition of Charge of the Goddess (her poetry book), because it contained a few items not in my copy of the first edition. There were also some Doreen postcards for sale that both Dodie and I had to take back to North America with us.

The photos here are just some of the many cool things in the Doreen exhibit. Not pictured are her athame and wand. There were also two other BoS’s on display, though I’m not sure who they belonged to. If you are in the UK I just encourage you to visit this little exhibition. And if you don’t, maybe we can get it into the USA in the next few years.

The cemetery where vampires probably don’t live.

Behind Preston Manor there’s an old graveyard and a 13th Century church. We visited those after our “Doreen Pilgrimage” had ended. We decided that the cemetery was a bit creepy and probably full of vampires (only sort of not joking). The church contained some murals painted just after it was built, 700 year old paintings are always worth a look.

Churches are always interesting.

Our day ended with happy thoughts of Doreen, some shopping, and a lovely dinner before we all headed back to London.

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Doreen Valiente

Doreen Valiente Exhibition

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