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41 A Collection of Sacred Magick | The Esoteric Library | www.sacred-magick.com From Man to Witch, Gerald Gardner 1946-1949 www.geraldgardner.com 1949: High Magic's Aid Sometime in 1946, Gardner began work on the novel High Magic's Aid. His initial goal was, supposedly, to publish the rites of the witch cult, but, he states, some members of the Southern Coven probably Edith Woodford-Grimes among them were vehemently opposed to the idea. He reached a compromise by agreeing to hide the rituals in the form of a fictional story, and the witches retained veto power. In the end, Gardner was able to publish some material while much of the story had to be supplemented by adapting rites from ceremonial magic such as The Greater Key of Solomon. Gardner later wrote: I enclose a Copy of my book, High Magics Aid, A.C. [Crowley] Read part of the M.S. & highly approved, he wanted me to put the Witch part in full. But I was only given permission to publish things as fiction & they [Southern Coven] could cut out what they liked, I wrote the third degree of the Witch Cult, but they went up in steam, & cut it out entirely, & of course things have been changed a little in the ritual, but I've got it nearyl asthay do it, to the great scare of the publishers, but no one has objected in the lsightest so far. The witchcraft parts are chap xIv Dearlep, & XVII the Witch Cult. You understand, its remnants of and Old Stone age religion, & entirely different to High Magic, which is really old Jewish Magic hashed up. But which needs a medium, to make it work, which is best obtained from Witches.106 In another letter, Gardner discusses the book, Actually, I wanted to write about a witch & what she'd told me, & she wouldn't let me tell anything about Witchcraft, but I said why not let me write ---- to --- ---- the Witch's point of view. You are always persecuted & abused & ---- -----. So she said I might if I didn't give any Witch's magic, & it must only be as fiction. So, as I had to give some magic, I simply copied it from Jewish Ritual Magic, chiefly "The Key of Salomon the King". 106 Gardner to Symonds, 7 December 1950. I have not preserved line breaks, and Gardner has made all spelling and grammar errors. Version 1.1 42 From Man to Witch, Gerald Gardner 1946-1949 www.geraldgardner.com It was thought that King Salomon could command the spirits and make them work for him. & if you knew these words & sigils you could do the same. This Key is usuly in Latin or Hebrew, but there is an English translation by MacGregor Mathers. But personaly I don't believe that it works. It's all very dificult & complicated. & the Witch... [line missing]107 There is also a note in Gerald Yorke's copy of High Magic's Aid which says: . He takes his magic from a MS Clavicula which I gave him and his witchcraft from a secret society dealing with witchcraft of which he is a member [& ].108 With the presence of such outside ritual material, it is difficult to separate what Gardner considered legitimate witch ritual and what was simply added as creative filler or an attempt to approximate the style of the liturgy using outside sources. It is also possible that Gardner made these concessions only in hindsight, and that, at the time he wrote the book, the rituals of the witch cult were still being revised with High Magic's Aid representing a genuine early form of Wicca. This argument, proposed most notably by Aidan Kelly and Ronald Hutton, describes Wiccan ritual as evolving during the latter half of the 1940's in Gardner's notebook Ye Bok of Ye Art Magical. Indeed, the rituals in High Magic's Aid appear to be more polished versions of some of those that appear in the notebook, but the notebook's exact purpose remains unclear. The argument surrounding Ye Bok is difficult to assess, and either supporting or denying it is beyond the scope of this essay. The plot of High Magic's Aid surrounds two young disenfranchised men, named Jan and Olaf, seeking to restore their family's fortune and name with the help of esoteric 107 Transcription of a letter from Gardner to an unidentified recipient given in: Frew, Hudson Morgann . Crafting The Art of Magic: A Critical Review . (Unpublished essay). This letter is also paraphrased in Patricia Crowther's introduction to the Pentacle Enterprise's reprint of High Magic's Aid. Hutton identifies the letter as being in the Warburg, but I was not able to locate it in that collection. Hutton, 448. 108 Gardner, High Magic's Aid, (Warburg Institute Library, Gerald Yorke Collection). Version 1.1 43 A Collection of Sacred Magick | The Esoteric Library | www.sacred-magick.com From Man to Witch, Gerald Gardner 1946-1949 www.geraldgardner.com powers. These powers are introduced by the two predominate characters an older, educated man, named Thur, who acts as a wise father-figure and is a ceremonial magician, and a younger witch named Morven. Together, this group of four evades the persecution of a grotesquely caricaturized Catholic Church while fighting magical battles in an England of the middle ages. The book's magic comes from Thur and Morven, alternating between ritual magic derived from The Key of Solomon and descriptions of witch's rites that bear a large resemblance to the writings of Margaret Murray. For instance, the book is devoid of a goddess figure except where the moon is occasionally referred to in passing as female, and the god figure is described as having a human body, the head of a goat, and a lighted torch between his horns. Also like Murray's God of the Witches', this god is named Janicot.109 In the end, Jan and Olaf become initiates of the witch religion, and their initiation rituals are what Gardner referred to in his letter to Symonds above. Other than that, it is hard to tell which parts of the novel are Gardner's filler and which he considered genuine witch beliefs and practices. High Magic's Aid was published in the spring of 1949 by Michael Houghton, who owned the Atlantis Bookshop and was an acquaintance of Gardner's. Gardner largely funded the small press run himself, but Houghton and the circle of occultist surrounding the bookshop helped him. For instance, Dolores North, also known as Madeline Montalban, proofread and typed the final draft, as Gardner wrote: It s very funny. Mrs North is Delorres . She used to work at the Atlantis Book Shop & she typed & put the spelling right in High Magic s Aid. She makes a living at Astrology & Love 109 Gardner, Gerald, High Magic's Aid, (London: IHO, 1999), 27-28; Murray, Margaret A., "The Initiation to Witchcraft," The Necromancers, Ed. Peter Haining, (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1971), 96- 104; Hutton, 224-226. Version 1.1 44 From Man to Witch, Gerald Gardner 1946-1949 www.geraldgardner.com Philtres on the quiet. I know she claimed to be a witch, but got everything wrong. But she knows High Magics Aid & has a lively imagination.110 With the book's publication and Gardner's subsequent acquaintance with Cecil Williamson, Wicca slowly began to emerge into the public sphere with Gardner working . hard as its ardent supporter. 110 Gardner to Williamson, May 1952. Line breaks have been preserved. Aidan Kelly conjectures that North may have been a member of the original Southern Coven, but I doubt this. If she was involved in anything, then it may have been the Northern Coven. Kelly, 28. Version 1.1 45 A Collection of Sacred Magick | The Esoteric Library | www.sacred-magick.com From Man to Witch, Gerald Gardner 1946-1949 www.geraldgardner.com Conclusion: 1949 and Beyond In the middle of 1949, this obscure but important portion of Gardner's life ends. The decisions he made throughout the previous three years had put him on a track that [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |
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