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Fb2 Wiccan Roots: Gerald Gardner and the Modern Witchcraft Revival ePub

by Philip Heselton

Philip Heselton New Age and Spirituality English

Fb2 Wiccan Roots: Gerald Gardner and the Modern Witchcraft Revival ePub

Category:	New Age and Spirituality
Subcategory:	Religious books
Author:	Philip Heselton
ISBN:	1861631103
ISBN13:	978-1861631107
Language:	English
Publisher:	Capall Bann Pub (November 1, 2001)
Pages:	340
Fb2 eBook:	1979 kb
ePub eBook:	1369 kb
Digital formats:	lrf lit rtf mobi

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Philip Heselton (born 1946) is a retired British Conservation Officer, a Wiccan initiate, and a writer .

Philip Heselton (born 1946) is a retired British Conservation Officer, a Wiccan initiate, and a writer on the subjects of Wicca, Paganism and Earth mysteries. He is best known for two books, Wiccan Roots: Gerald Gardner and the Modern Witchcraft Revival and Gerald Gardner and the Cauldron of Inspiration, which gather historical evidence surrounding the New Forest coven and the origins of Gardnerian Wicca

Philip Heselton's book "Wiccan Roots: Gerald Gardner and the Modern .

This book is essential reading for anyone interested in, or practising, Wicca today

This book is essential reading for anyone interested in, or practising, Wicca today dispels many of the myths associated with Gerald Gardner and the development of modern Wicca.

3 people like this topic.

book by Philip Heselton. dispels many of the myths associated with Gerald Gardner and the development of modern Wicca. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in, or practising, Wicca today.

He is best known for two books, Wiccan Roots: Gerald Gardner and the Modern Witchcraft Revival and Gerald .

He is best known for two books, Wiccan Roots: Gerald Gardner and the Modern Witchcraft Revival and Gerald Gardner and the Cauldron of Inspira. Heselton's second tome detailing his investigations was Gerald Gardner and the Cauldron of Inspiration: An Investigation into the Sources of Gardnerian Witchcraft (2003), again published by Capall Bann.

Philip Heselton (born 1946) is a retired British Conservation Officer, a Wiccan initiate, and a writer on the . He is best known for two books, "Wiccan Roots: Gerald Gardner and the Modern Witchcraft Revival" and "Gerald Gardner and the Cauldron of Inspiration", which gather historical evidence surrounding the New Forest coven and the origins of Gardnerian Wicca. He is currently working on a biography of Gerald Gardner.

Heselton, Philip (2000). Wiccan Roots: Gerald Gardner and the Modern Witchcraft Revival. Gerald Gardner and the Cauldron of Inspiration: An Investigation into the Sources of Gardnerian Witchcraft. Chieveley, Berkshire: Capall Bann. Heselton, Philip (2003). Milverton, Somerset: Capall Bann.

Comments to eBook Wiccan Roots: Gerald Gardner and the Modern Witchcraft Revival

Ganthisc

I enjoyed this work very much as well as the sequel. I think it compliments Hutton's work as it follows other paths to get to the core of the foundation of the modern wiccan movement. I think we are getting as much information as we can about an event that is falling farther and farther away and should appreciate the work these authors are doing. No one investigating the origins of this movement, including the readers, were actually participating in the events that were taking place, so it's really futile and arrogant to argue who has the key to the events when you weren't there. Even those few who are still with us and participated many years ago, have their own take and viewpoint based on their own agendas and experiences. It comes down to the fact that Gardner did us a favor by devoting his later years to creating a door for the us to enter into a world that would have been blocked to us unless you were lucky to be born into a magical family, which most of us were not. He brought the craft out in the open, making it accessible and acceptable to a world that had a narrow viewpoint on it.

WinDImmortaL

Philip Heselton's book "Wiccan Roots: Gerald Gardner and the Modern Witchcraft Revival" should be recommended along with Ronald Hutton's "The Triumph of the Moon" as a solid, scholarly examination of the roots of modern Wicca.
Heselton doesn't deal in unsupported claims about Wiccan history as far too many other Wiccan writers do. He sticks to the facts, and presents the results of his research in a clear, easy-to-read manner.
Like any good researcher, Heselton raises many new questions that need addressing while clearing up longstanding misunderstandings. The author doesn't pretend to have the definitive answer about whether Gardner really was just passing on an existing tradition or was instead inspired to put together the religion now known as Wicca.
Hesleton provides compelling evidence for the existence of a group of self-described witches who did in fact perform an initiation on Gardner, thus giving him a formal introduction to witchcraft. What remains to be determined, though, is whether what that group of witches practiced was anything like Gardnerian Wicca, and whether they did in fact have any sort of established pagan "tradition" which they passed on to him, rather than just a mishmash of occult and pagan lore.
Heselton has done the Wiccan community a great service. His book should be an excellent starting point, along with Ronald Hutton's "The Triumph of the Moon," into further scholarly research about our pagan past

digytal soul

This book, along with Hutton's _Triumph of the Moon_, is essential reading for anyone interested in an accurate history of Wicca. Heselton provides solid evidence of the people and places behind Gardner's discovery / invention of Wicca, offers his well-measured conjectures, and fills some of the gaps Hutton alludes to in his work. For those of us interested in the history of the Craft, a very, VERY important little book.

Iphonedivorced

This book focuses on Gerald Gardner and his web of contacts woven in its entirety.
Compiled by perhaps the most authoritative researcher on Gardner to date Philip Heselton, the text is bound with wonderful illustration from the personal journals of Gardner's associates, including extracts and photos from the previously unseen Boscastle archives, providing the most compelling evidence of Gardner's connections with 'Old Dorothy', his High Priestess 'Dafo', and involvement with the New Forest Coven in repelling the threatened WWII Nazi invasion of the United Kingdom.
It is immediately apparent the author has not only researched current knowledge to its furthest conclusion but has also taken the brave step of educated speculation on other associations, which is sure to provide further researchers with useful data.
One for any student into the roots of modern Paganism and the Wiccan religion - Excellent.

Marinara

I purchased this work based on the glowing conclusions found on this page. I was somewhat crestfallen once I read the book to find that although Mr. Heselton appears to be a fine researcher, he lacks any scholarly or logical discernment on how do use that research. Annoyed for wasting my time and sure that someone other than myself must share this view, I searched the web to find this fine review by Brock, a Wiccan High Priest:

"Heselton has a bad habit of suggesting in one chapter that the available evidence may indicate that such-and-such is true, and then beginning his reasoning in the next chapter as if the such-and-such mentioned in the previous chapter was an established fact. One sees this all too often in the popular press, (Holy Blood, Holy Grail being but one horrible example of this sort of reasoning,) but it is disturbing to find it in a work intended to be a piece of serious scholarship. Heselton also makes what I view to be a serious error in his interpretations of the various entries in Dorothy Fordham's "diaries." He clearly views her allusions to a number of common images from classical mythology in those diary entries as evidence that Dorothy was pagan. In doing so, he, ignores the fact that Dorothy, who was born in 1880, received the sort of private, classical education traditional for a young woman of Britain's upper classes during the late Victorian and early Edwardian periods. Flowery allusions to classical themes were common features in formal writing (particularly of poetry), in the society in which Dorothy was raised, without being accorded any special meaning beyond being decorative. Such things were, in essence, evidence that the author had been properly educated. The inclusion of such things in a piece of verse would only be considered significant of something else when viewed from the context of a society where such ornate forms of writing have fallen wholly out of favor."

My thanks to Brock for this analysis, since I've wasted quite enough time on this book.

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