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A Very British Witchcraft
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Astralcat
Astralcat
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Edited Aug 25, 2013, 15:37
Re: A Very British Witchcraft
Aug 25, 2013, 15:36
tjj wrote:
tiompan wrote:
Wiggy wrote:

I was very intrigued by the tantalising suggestion that there was indeed some form of indigineous British witchcraft being practised prior to and during the period that he was developing "Wicca". Hutton seemed to brush over this, maybe due to lack of written, verifiable source, which is a shame but understandable I suppose.


It has been suggested , and makes sense , that the New Forest coven may well have been based on the discredited writings of Margaret Murray .


I was little perplexed by the programme in some ways - the suggestion that Wicca was 'invented' by Gerald Gardner in the early part of the 20th century seems to airbrush 'witchcraft' out of history. Whether witchcraft it actually existed or was just the general scapegoating of women who were a bit alternative (shall we say) - the history of witch trials in England and Scotland is well documented. I would have liked Ronald Hutton had made some reference to this in the programme but he didn't.


I think it was more of an editing/time limit problem. In his seminal work 'Triumph Of The Moon' he does make the distinctions between modern Wicca and traditional witchcraft etc. Wicca has its roots in traditional witchcraft, as well as other systems. Gardner would have no doubt studied Israel Regardie's writings re. the Golden Dawn rituals. I don't think it really matters really. Buddhism was a construct borne out of Vedanta. I think Gardner's intentions were entirely genuine, and as for the efficacy of magic ? Ronald Hutton himself is respectful and sympathetic these days as a result of his studies. I'm not getting into another game of semantic one upmanship, but I will say that yet again, the proof or not is down to personal experience.
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