Gardnerian Wicca/Witchcraft

Who Was Gerald Gardner?

Gerald Brousseau Gardner (1884–1964) was born in Lancashire, England. As a teen, he moved to Ceylon, and shortly prior to World War I, relocated to Malaya, where he worked as a civil servant. During his travels, he formed an interest in native cultures, and became a bit of an amateur folklorist. In particular, he was interested in indigenous magic and ritual practices.

After several decades abroad, Gardner returned to England in the 1930s, and settled near the New Forest.

It was here that he discovered European occultism and beliefs, and – according to his biography, claimed that he was initiated into the New Forest coven. Gardner believed that the witchcraft being practiced by this group was a holdover from an early, pre-Christian witch cult, much like the ones described in the writings of Margaret Murray.

Gardner took many of the practices and beliefs of the New Forest coven, combined them with ceremonial magic, kabbalah, and the writings of Aleister Crowley, as well as other sources. Together, this package of beliefs and practices became the Gardnerian tradition of Wicca. Gardner initiated a number of high priestesses into his coven, who in turn initiated new members of their own. In this manner, Wicca spread throughout the UK.

In 1964, on his way back from a trip to Lebanon, Gardner suffered a fatal heart attack at breakfast on the ship on which he traveled.

At the next port of call, in Tunisia, his body was removed from the ship and buried. Legend has it that only the ship’s captain was in attendance. In 2007, he was re-interred in a different cemetery, where a plaque on his headstone reads, “Father of Modern Wicca. Beloved of the Great Goddess.”
Origins of the Gardnerian Path

Gerald Gardner launched Wicca shortly after the end of World War II, and went public with his coven following the repeal of England’s Witchcraft Laws in the early 1950s.

There is a good deal of debate within the Wiccan community about whether the Gardnerian path is the only “true” Wiccan tradition, but the point remains that it was certainly the first. Gardnerian covens require initiation, and work on a degree system. Much of their information is initiatory and oathbound, which means it can never be shared with those outside the coven.

The Book of Shadows

The Gardnerian Book of Shadows was created by Gerald Gardner with some assistance and editing from Doreen Valiente, and drew heavily on works by Charles Leland, Aleister Crowley, and SJ MacGregor Mathers. Within a Gardnerian group, each member copies the coven BOS and then adds to it with their own information. Gardnerians self-identify by way of their lineage, which is always traced back to Gardner himself and those he initiated.
Gardner’s Ardanes

In the 1950s, when Gardner was writing what eventually become the Gardnerian Book of Shadows, one of the items he included was a list of guidelines called the Ardanes. The word “ardane” is a variant on “ordain”, or law. Gardner claimed that the Ardanes were ancient knowledge that had been passed down to him by way of the New Forest coven of witches. However, it’s entirely possible that Gardner wrote them himself; there was some disagreement in scholarly circles about the language contained within the Ardanes, in that some of the phrasing was archaic while some was more contemporary.

This led a number of people – including Gardner’s High Priestess, Doreen Valiente – to question the authenticity of the Ardanes. Valiente had suggested a set of rules for the coven, which included restrictions on public interviews and speaking with the press. Gardner introduced these Ardanes – or Old Laws – to his coven, in response to the complaints by Valiente.

One of the largest problems with the Ardanes is that there is no concrete evidence of their existence prior to Gardner’s revealing them in 1957. Valiente, and several other coven members, questioned whether or not he had written them himself – after all, much of what is included in the Ardanes appears in Gardner’s book, Witchcraft Today, as well as some of his other writings. Shelley Rabinovitch, author of The Encyclopedia of Modern Witchcraft and Neo-Paganism, says, “After a coven meeting in late 1953, [Valiente] asked him about the Book of Shadows and some of its text.

He had told the coven that the material was ancient text passed down to him, but Doreen had identified passages that were blatantly copied from the ritual magic of Aleister Crowley.”

One of Valiente’s strongest arguments against the Ardanes – in addition to the fairly sexist language and misogyny – was that these writings never appeared in any previous coven documents. In other words, they appeared when Gardner needed them most, and not before.

Cassie Beyer of Wicca: For the Rest of Us says, “The problem is that no one’s sure if the New Forest Coven even existed or, if it did, how old or organized it was. Even Gardner confessed what they taught was fragmentary… It should also be noted that while the Old Laws speaks only of the punishment of burning for witches, England mostly hanged their witches. Scotland, however, did burn them.”

The dispute over the origins of the Ardanes eventually led Valiente and several other members of the group to part ways with Gardner. The Ardanes remain a part of the standard Gardnerian Book of Shadows. However, they are not followed by every Wiccan group, and are rarely used by non-Wiccan Pagan traditions.

There are 161 Ardanes in Gardner’s original work, and that’s a LOT of rules to be followed. Some of the Ardanes read as fragmentary sentences, or as continuations of the line before it. Many of them do not apply in today’s society. For instance, #35 reads, “And if any break these laws, even under torture, the curse of the goddess shall be upon them, so they may never be reborn on earth and may remain where they belong, in the hell of the Christians.” Many Pagans today would argue that it makes no sense at all to use the threat of the Christian hell as punishment for violating a mandate.

However, there are also a number of guidelines that can be helpful and practical advice, such as the suggestion to keep a book of herbal remedies, a recommendation that if there is a dispute within the group it should be fairly evaluated by the High Priestess, and a guideline on keeping one’s Book of Shadows in safe possession at all times.

You can read a complete text of the Ardanes here: Sacred Texts – the Gardnerian Book of Shadows
Gardnerian Wicca in the Public Eye

Gardner was an educated folklorist and occultist, and claimed to have been initiated himself into a coven of New Forest witches by a woman named Dorothy Clutterbuck. When England repealed the last of its witchcraft laws in 1951, Gardner went public with his coven, much to the consternation of many other witches in England. His active courting of publicity led to a rift between him and Valiente, who had been one of his High Priestesses. Gardner formed a series of covens throughout England prior to his death in 1964.

One of Gardner’s best known works, and the one that truly brought modern witchcraft into the public eye was his work Witchcraft Today, originally published in 1954, which has been reprinted several times.

Gardner’s Work Comes to America

In 1963, Gardner initiated Raymond Buckland, who then flew back to his home in the United States and formed the first Gardnerian coven in America. Gardnerian Wiccans in America trace their lineage to Gardner through Buckland.

Because Gardnerian Wicca is a mystery tradition, its members do not generally advertise or actively recruit new members.

In addition, public information about their specific practices and rituals is very difficult to find.

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Gardnerian Wicca/Witchcraft

Gardnerian Wicca, or Gardnerian witchcraft, is a tradition in the neopagan religion of Wicca, whose members can trace initiatory descent from Gerald Gardner. The tradition is itself named after Gardner (1884–1964), a British civil servant and amateur scholar of magic. The term “Gardnerian” was probably coined by the founder of Cochranian Witchcraft, Robert Cochrane in the 1950s or 60s, who himself left that tradition to found his own.

Gardner claimed to have learned the beliefs and practises that would later become known as Gardnerian Wicca from the New Forest coven, who allegedly initiated him into their ranks in 1939. For this reason, Gardnerian Wicca is usually considered to be the earliest created tradition of Wicca, from which most subsequent Wiccan traditions are derived.

From the supposed New Forest coven, Gardner formed his own Bricket Wood coven, and in turn initiated many Witches, including a series of High Priestesses, founding further covens and continuing the initiation of more Wiccans into the tradition. In the UK, Europe and most Commonwealth countries someone self-defined as Wiccan is usually understood to be claiming initiatory descent from Gardner, either through Gardnerian Wicca, or through a derived branch such as Alexandrian Wicca or Algard Wicca. Elsewhere, these original lineaged traditions are termed “British Traditional Wicca”

Beliefs and practices
Covens and initiatory lines

Gardnerian Wiccans organise into covens, that traditionally, though not always, are limited to thirteen members. Covens are led by a High Priestess and the High Priest of her choice, and celebrate both a Goddess and a God.

Gardnerian Wicca and other forms of British Traditional Wicca operate as an initiatory mystery cult; membership is gained only through initiation by a Wiccan High Priestess or High Priest. Any valid line of initiatory descent can be traced all the way back to Gerald Gardner, and through him back to the New Forest coven.

Rituals and coven practices are kept secret from non-initiates, and many Wiccans maintain secrecy regarding their membership in the Religion. Whether any individual Wiccan chooses secrecy or openness often depends on their location, career, and life circumstances. In all cases, Gardnerian Wicca absolutely forbids any member to share the name, personal information, fact of membership, and so on without advanced individual consent of that member for that specific instance of sharing. (In this regard, secrecy is specifically for reasons of safety, in parallel to the LGBT custom of being “in the closet”, the heinousness of the act of “outing” anyone, and the dire possibilities of the consequences to an individual who is “outed”. Wiccans often refer to being in or out of the “broom closet”, to make the exactness of the parallel clear.)

Theology
In Gardnerian Wicca, the two principal deities are the Horned God and the Mother Goddess. Gardnerians use specific names for the God and the Goddess in their rituals. Doreen Valiente, a Gardnerian High Priestess, revealed that there were more than one. She said that Gardner referred to the Goddess as Airdia or Areda, which she believed was derived from Aradia, the deity that Charles Leland claimed was worshipped by Italian witches. She said that the God was called Cernunnos, or Kernunno, which in Celtic meant “The Horned One”. Another name by which Gardnerians called the God was Janicot (pronounced Jan-e-ko), which she believed was Basque in origin.

The Gardnerian tradition teaches a core ethical guideline, often referred to as “The Rede” or “The Wiccan Rede”. In the archaic language often retained in some Gardnerian lore, the Rede states, “An it harm none, do as thou wilt.”

Witches … are inclined to the morality of the legendary Good King Pausol, “Do what you like so long as you harm no one”. But they believe a certain law to be important, “You must not use magic for anything which will cause harm to anyone, and if, to prevent a greater wrong being done, you must discommode someone, you must do it only in a way which will abate the harm.”

Two features stand out about the Rede. The first is that the word rede means “advice” or “counsel”. The Rede is not a commandment but a recommendation, a guideline. The second is that the advice to harm none stands at equal weight with the advice to do as one wills. Thus Gardnerian Wiccan teachings stand firm against coercion and for informed consent; forbid proselytization while requiring anyone seeking to become an initiate of Gardnerian Wicca to ask for teaching, studies, initiation. To expound a little further, the qualifying phrase “an (if) it harm none” includes not only other, but self. Hence, weighing the possible outcomes of an action is a part of the thought given before taking an action; the metaphor of tossing a pebble into a pond and observing the ripples that spread in every direction is sometimes used. The declarative statement “do as thou wilt” expresses a clear statement of what is, philosophically, known as “free will.”

A second ethical guideline is often called the Law of Return, sometimes the Rule of Three, which mirrors the physics concept described in Sir Isaac Newton’s Third Law of Motion: “When one body exerts a force on a second body, the second body simultaneously exerts a force equal in magnitude and opposite in direction on the first body.”This basic law of physics is more usually today stated thus: “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” Like the Rede, this guideline teaches Gardnerians that whatever energy or intention one puts out into the world, whether magical or not, some response of equal effect will return. This teaching underlies the importance of doing no harm—for that would give impetus to a negative reaction centered on oneself or one’s group (such as a coven).

In Gardnerian Wicca, these tradition-specific teachings demand thought before action, especially magical action (spell work). An individual or a coven uses these guidelines to consider beforehand what the possible ramifications may be of any working. Given these two ethical core principles, Gardnerian Wicca hold themselves to a high ethical standard. For example, Gardnerian High Priestess Eleanor Bone was not only a respected elder in the tradition, but also a matron of a nursing home. Moreover, the Bricket Wood coven today is well known for its many members from academic or intellectual backgrounds, who contribute to the preservation of Wiccan knowledge. Gerald Gardner himself actively disseminated educational resources on folklore and the occult to the general public through his Museum of Witchcraft on the Isle of Man. Therefore, Gardnerian Wicca can be said to differ from some modern non-coven Craft practices that often concentrate on the solitary practitioner’s spiritual development.

The religion tends to be non-dogmatic, allowing each initiate to find for him/herself what the ritual experience means by using the basic language of the shared ritual tradition, to be discovered through the Mysteries. The tradition is often characterised as an orthopraxy (correct practice) rather than an orthodoxy (correct thinking), with adherents placing greater emphasis on a shared body of practices as opposed to faith

History
Gardner and the New Forest coven
On retirement from the British Colonial Service, Gardner moved to London but then before World War II moved to Highcliffe, east of Bournemouth and near the New Forest on the south coast of England. After attending a performance staged by the Rosicrucian Order Crotona Fellowship, he reports meeting a group of people who had preserved their historic occult practices. They recognised him as being “one of them” and convinced him to be initiated. It was only halfway through the initiation, he says, that it dawned on him what kind of group it was, and that witchcraft was still being practiced in England.

The group into which Gardner was initiated, known as the New Forest coven, was small and utterly secret as the Witchcraft Act of 1735 made it illegal—a crime—to claim to predict the future, conjure spirits, or cast spells; it likewise made an accusation of witchcraft a criminal offense. Gardner’s enthusiasm over the discovery that witchcraft survived in England led him to wish to document it, but both the witchcraft laws and the coven’s secrecy forbade that, despite his excitement. After World War II, Gardner’s High Priestess and coven leader relented sufficiently to allow a fictional treatment that did not expose them to prosecution, “High Magic’s Aid”.

Anyhow, I soon found myself in the circle and took the usual oaths of secrecy which bound me not to reveal any secrets of the cult. But, as it is a dying cult, I thought it was a pity that all the knowledge should be lost, so in the end I was permitted to write, as fiction, something of what a witch believes in the novel High Magic’s Aid.

After the witchcraft laws were repealed in 1951, and replaced by the Fraudulent Mediums Act, Gerald Gardner went public, publishing his first non-fiction book about Witchcraft, “Witchcraft Today”, in 1954. Gardner continued, as the text often iterates, to respect his oaths and the wishes of his High Priestess in his writing. Fearing, as Gardner stated in the quote above, that witchcraft was literally dying out, he pursued publicity and welcomed new initiates during that last years of his life. Gardner even courted the attentions of the tabloid press, to the consternation of some more conservative members of the tradition. In Gardner’s own words, “Witchcraft doesn’t pay for broken windows!”

Gardner knew many famous occultists. Ross Nichols was a friend and fellow Druid (until 1964 Chairman of the Ancient Order of Druids, when he left to found his own Druidic Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids). Nichols edited Gardner’s “Witchcraft Today” and is mentioned extensively in Gardner’s “The Meaning of Witchcraft”. Near the end of Aleister Crowley’s life, Gardner met with him for the first time on May 1, 1947, and visited him twice more before Crowley’s death that autumn; at some point, Crowley gave Gardner an Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO) charter and the 4th OTO degree—the lowest degree authorizing use of the charter.

Doreen Valiente, one of Gardner’s priestesses, identified the woman who initiated Gardner as Dorothy Clutterbuck, referenced in “A Witches’ Bible” by Janet and Stewart Farrar.Valiente’s identification was based on references Gardner made to a woman he called “Old Dorothy” whom Valiente remembered. Biographer Philip Heselton corrects Valiente, clarifying that Clutterbuck (Dorothy St. Quintin-Fordham, née Clutterbuck), a Pagan-minded woman, owned the Mill House, where the New Forest coven performed Gardner’s initiation ritual. Scholar Ronald Hutton argues in his Triumph of the Moon that Gardner’s tradition was largely the inspiration of members of the Rosicrucian Order Crotona Fellowship and especially that of a woman known by the magical name of “Dafo”. Dr. Leo Ruickbie, in his Witchcraft Out of the Shadows, analysed the documented evidence and concluded that Aleister Crowley played a crucial role in inspiring Gardner to establish a new pagan religion. Ruickbie, Hutton, and others further argue that much of what has been published of Gardnerian Wicca, as Gardner’s practice came to be known, was written by Blake, Yeats, Valiente and Crowley and contains borrowings from other identifiable sources.

The witches Gardner was originally introduced to were originally referred to by him as “the Wica” and he would often use the term “Witch Cult” to describe the religion. Other terms used, included “Witchcraft” or “the Old Religion.” Later publications standardised the spelling to “Wicca” and it came to be used as the term for the Craft, rather than its followers. “Gardnerian” was originally a pejorative term used by Gardner’s contemporary Roy Bowers (also known as Robert Cochrane), a British cunning man, who nonetheless was initiated into Gardnerian Wicca a couple of years following Gardner’s death.

Reconstruction of the Wiccan rituals

Gardner stated that the rituals of the existing group were fragmentary at best, and he set about fleshing them out, drawing on his library and knowledge as an occultist and amateur folklorist. Gardner borrowed and wove together appropriate material from other artists and occultists, most notably Charles Godfrey Leland’s Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches, the Key of Solomon as published by S.L. MacGregor Mathers, Masonic ritual, Crowley, and Rudyard Kipling. Doreen Valiente wrote much of the best-known poetry, including the much-quoted Charge of the Goddess.

Bricket Wood and the North London coven

In 1948-9 Gardner and Dafo were running a coven separate from the original New Forest coven at a naturist club near Bricket Wood to the north of London. By 1952 Dafo’s health had begun to decline, and she was increasingly wary of Gardner’s publicity-seeking. In 1953 Gardner met Doreen Valiente who was to become his High Priestess in succession to Dafo. The question of publicity led to Doreen and others formulating thirteen proposed ‘Rules for the Craft’, which included restrictions on contact with the press. Gardner responded with the sudden production of the Wiccan Laws which led to some of his members, including Valiente, leaving the coven.

Gardner reported that witches were taught that the power of the human body can be released, for use in a coven’s circle, by various means, and released more easily without clothing. A simple method was dancing round the circle singing or chanting; another method was the traditional “binding and scourging.”[26] In addition to raising power, “binding and scourging” can heighten the initiates’ sensitivity and spiritual experience.

Following the time Gardner spent on the Isle of Man, the coven began to experiment with circle dancing as an alternative. It was also about this time that the lesser 4 of the 8 Sabbats were given greater prominence. Brickett Wood coven members liked the Sabbat celebrations so much, they decided that there was no reason to keep them confined to the closest full moon meeting, and made them festivities in their own right. As Gardner had no objection to this change suggested by the Brickett Wood coven, this collective decision resulted in what is now the standard eight festivities in the Wiccan Wheel of the year.

The split with Valiente led to the Bricket Wood coven being led by Jack Bracelin and a new High Priestess, Dayonis. This was the first of a number of disputes between individuals and groups, but the increased publicity only seems to have allowed Gardnerian Wicca to grow much more rapidly. Certain initiates such as Alex Sanders and Raymond Buckland who brought his take on the Gardnerian tradition to the United States in 1964 started off their own major traditions allowing further expansion.

Source:

Patti Wigington, Published on ThoughtCo 
Wikipedia 

Various Paths of Witchcraft – Ceremonial Magick

Ceremonial Magick Definition
Ceremonial Magick: Ceremonial Magick is one of the most complicated systems of spiritual attainment in the world. It is a mixture of Jewish, Christian, and ancient Egyptian philosophy mixed with ancient Indian and Chaldean ideas spiced with a hint of earlier Paganism. This is mixed with the ceremonial aspects of Catholicism and Masonry. It usually heavily involves the study of the Kabbalah, the mysticism of the world put into Jewish and Judeo-Christian terms.

source: Truth About Psychic Powers, Donald Michael Kraig

Ceremonial Magick:
The object of ceremonial magick is to stimulate the senses, to power-up the emotions, and to firmly conceptualize the purpose of the operation—which is to create a transcending experience to unite Personality with the Divine Self. To this end, rituals, symbols, clothing, colors, incenses, sound, dramatic invocations and sacraments are selected in accordance with established “correspondences” of one thing to another to transport the magician towards a mystical reality.

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Ceremonial Magick

Ceremonial magic is generally defined as magic in which the practitioner uses specific rituals and invocations to call upon the spirit world. Also called high magic, ceremonial magic uses as its base a blend of older occult teachings–Thelema, Enochian magic, Kabbalah, and other various occult philosophies are typically incorporated.

Ceremonial vs. Natural Magic

Ceremonial magic differs from natural magic, or low magic.

Natural magic is the practice of magic in accordance with the natural world–herbalism, etc.–while ceremonial magic involves the invoking and control of spirits and other entities. Although there is much more to it than this–ceremonial magic in and of itself being fairly complex–these are the main surface differences. Ultimately, the main purpose of performing high magic is to bring the practitioner closer to the Divine itself, whether that is in the form of a deity or another spiritual being.

Origins of Ceremonial Magic

In the late sixteenth century, a translation of Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa’s De incertitudine et vanitate scientiarum described “ceremoniall magicke” as containing two parts, “Geocie and Theurgie,” or goetia and theurgy. Although this was the first documented use of the term ceremonial magic, the practices involved had been around for at least a century or two, as the rituals have been noted in the grimoires of early Renaissance and medieval-era magical practitioners.

Over the years, numerous European occultists studied and practiced many of the rituals and ceremonies still in use today. Francis Barrett was an Englishman, born in the late eighteenth century, who studied metaphysics, the Kabbalah, natural occult philosophy and alchemy. Long intrigued by the writings of Agrippa, and by other esoteric texts, Barrett wrote a work entitled The Magus, heavily influenced by Agrippa’s works, and purporting to be a magical textbook focusing on herbalism, the use of numerology, the four classical elements and other correspondences.

The French occultist Alphonse Louis Constant, better known by his pseudonym Éliphas Lévi, lived in the 1800s, and was part of a number of radical socialist groups. An avid Bonapartist, Lévi developed an interest in the Kabbalah, and subsequently magic, as part of a group of radicals who believed that magic and the occult were essentially a more advanced form of socialism. He was fairly prolific and wrote a number of works on what we today call ceremonial magic, as well as books on spiritualism (The Science of Spirits) and the secrets of the occult (The Great Secret, or Occultism Unveiled).

Like Barrett and Agrippa, Lévi’s flavor of ceremonial magic was heavily rooted in Judeo-Christian mysticism.

Ceremonial Magic Today

During the Victorian era, spiritualist and occult groups flourished, and perhaps none is as well known as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. This secret society embraced ceremonial magical practices, although it eventually imploded when members couldn’t seem to agree on the actual religious beliefs of the group. Like their predecessors, many Golden Dawn members were Christians, but there was an influx of Pagan beliefs brought in that eventually led to the fragmenting of the Order.

Many of today’s ceremonial magic practitioners trace their roots to the teachings of the Golden Dawn. Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.) is an international organization which was originally modeled on Freemasonry. During the 1900s, under the leadership of occultist Aleister Crowley, O.T.O. began to include elements of Thelema as well. Following Crowley’s death, the organization has seen a number of changes in leadership. Like many ceremonial magic groups, membership includes a series of initiations and rituals.

Builders of the Adytum (B.O.T.A.) is a Los Angeles-based ceremonial magic tradition that carries influence from both the Golden Dawn and the Freemasons. In addition to group ritual work, B.O.T.A. offers correspondence classes on Kabbalah, astrology, divination, and many other aspects of occult studies.

Although information on ceremonial magic often seems to be limited, this is due in part to the need for secrecy within the community. Author Dion Fortune once said of the teachings of ceremonial magic, “Secrecy concerning practical formulae of ceremonial magic is also advisable, for if they are used indiscriminately, the virtue goes out of them.”

Today, there is a great deal of publicly available information on the practice and beliefs of high magic, or ceremonial magic. However, it is said that the information out there is incomplete and that it is only through training and work that a practitioner can unlock all of the secrets of ceremonial magic.

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Ceremonial Magic

Ceremonial magic or ritual magic, also referred to as high magic and as learned magic in some cases, is a broad term used in the context of Hermeticism or Western esotericism to encompass a wide variety of long, elaborate, and complex rituals of magic. It is named as such because the works included are characterized by ceremony and a myriad of necessary accessories to aid the practitioner. It can be seen as an extension of ritual magic, and in most cases synonymous with it. Popularized by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, it draws on such schools of philosophical and occult thought as Hermetic Qabalah, Enochian magic, Thelema, and the magic of various grimoires.

Renaissance magic
The term originates in 16th-century Renaissance magic, referring to practices described in various Medieval and Renaissance grimoires and in collections such as that of Johannes Hartlieb. Georg Pictor uses the term synonymously with goetia.
James Sanford in his 1569 translation of Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa’s 1526 De incertitudine et vanitate scientiarum has “The partes of ceremoniall Magicke be Geocie, and Theurgie”. For Agrippa, ceremonial magic was in opposition to natural magic. While he had his misgivings about natural magic, which included astrology, alchemy, and also what we would today consider fields of natural science, such as botany, he was nevertheless prepared to accept it as “the highest peak of natural philosophy”. Ceremonial magic, on the other hand, which included all sorts of communication with spirits, including necromancy and witchcraft, he denounced in its entirety as impious disobedience towards God.

Revival
Starting with the Romantic movement, in the 19th century, a number of people and groups have effected a revival of ceremonial magic.

Francis Barrett
Among the various sources for ceremonial magic, Francis Barrett’s The Magus embodies deep knowledge of alchemy, astrology, and the Kabbalah, and has been cited by the Golden Dawn, and is seen by some[according to whom?] as a primary source. But according to Aleister Crowley, perhaps the most influential ceremonial magician of the Modern era, much of it was cribbed from Agrippa’s Three Books of Occult Philosophy.

Eliphas Levi
Eliphas Lévi conceived the notion of writing a treatise on magic with his friend Bulwer-Lytton. This appeared in 1855 under the title Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie, and was translated into English by Arthur Edward Waite as Transcendental Magic, its Doctrine and Ritual.

In 1861, he published a sequel, La Clef des Grands Mystères (The Key to the Great Mysteries). Further magical works by Lévi include Fables et Symboles (Stories and Images), 1862, and La Science des Esprits (The Science of Spirits), 1865. In 1868, he wrote Le Grand Arcane, ou l’Occultisme Dévoilé (The Great Secret, or Occultism Unveiled); this, however, was only published posthumously in 1898.

Lévi’s version of magic became a great success, especially after his death. That Spiritualism was popular on both sides of the Atlantic from the 1850s contributed to his success. His magical teachings were free from obvious fanaticisms, even if they remained rather murky; he had nothing to sell, and did not pretend to be the initiate of some ancient or fictitious secret society. He incorporated the Tarot cards into his magical system, and as a result the Tarot has been an important part of the paraphernalia of Western magicians. He had a deep impact on the magic of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and later Aleister Crowley, and it was largely through this impact that Lévi is remembered as one of the key founders of the twentieth century revival of magic.

Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (or, more commonly, the Golden Dawn) was a magical order of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, practicing a form of theurgy and spiritual development. It was probably the single greatest influence on twentieth century Western occultism. Some aspects of magic and ritual that became core elements of many other traditions, including Wicca, Thelema and other forms of magical spirituality popular today, are partly drawn from the Golden Dawn tradition.

Aleister Crowley
English author and occultist Aleister Crowley often introduced new terminology for spiritual and magical practices and theory. For example, he termed theurgy “high magick” and thaumaturgy “low magick”. In The Book of the Law and The Vision and the Voice, the Aramaic magical formula Abracadabra was changed to Abrahadabra, which he called the new formula of the Aeon of Horus. He also famously spelled magic in the archaic manner, as magick, to differentiate “the true science of the Magi from all its counterfeits.”

Magical tools
The practice of ceremonial magic often requires tools made or consecrated specifically for this use, which are required for a particular ritual or series of rituals. They may be a symbolic representation of psychological elements of the magician or of metaphysical concepts.

In Magick (Book 4), Part II (Magick), Aleister Crowley lists the tools required as a circle drawn on the ground and inscribed with the names of god, an altar, a wand, cup, sword, and pentacle, to represent his true will, his understanding, his reason, and the lower parts of his being respectively. On the altar, too, is a phial of oil to represent his aspiration, and for consecrating items to his intent. The magician is surrounded by a scourge, dagger, and chain intended to keep his intent pure. An oil lamp, book of conjurations and bell are required, as is the wearing of a crown, robe, and lamen. The crown affirms his divinity, the robe symbolizes silence, and the lamen declare his work. The book of conjurations is his magical record, his karma. In the East is the magick fire in which all burns up at last.

Grimoires
A grimoire /ɡrɪmˈwɑːr/ is a record of magic. Books of this genre, are records of magical experiments and philosophical musings, giving instructions for invoking angels or demons, performing divination and gaining magical powers, and have circulated throughout Europe since the Middle Ages.

It is common belief that magicians were frequently prosecuted by the Christian church, so their journals were kept hidden to prevent the owner from being burned. But it is also a well-known fact that church and the rabbi keep records of demonic activity and exorcism too in their own magical records which were used for similar record keeping. Some claim that the new age occultism is a sham and borrowed heavily from these old record books by the religious. Such books contain astrological correspondences, lists of angels and demons, directions on casting charms, spells, and exorcism, on mixing medicines, summoning elemental entities, and making talismans. Magical books in almost any context, especially books of magical spells, are also called grimoires.

Enochian magic
Enochian magic is a system of ceremonial magic centered on the evocation and commanding of various spirits that was the magical exploration made by an English occultist Dr. John Dee. It is based on the 16th-century writings of Dr John Dee and Edward Kelley, who claimed that their information was delivered to them directly by various angels. Dee’s journals contained the Enochian script, and the table of correspondences that goes with it. It claims to embrace secrets contained within the apocryphal Book of Enoch. It is a widely held belief that these revelations were personal and specific to Dee’s life and reality and borrowed on imagination heavily.

Organizations
Among the many organizations which practice forms of ceremonial magic aside from the Golden Dawn are the A∴A∴, Ordo Templi Orientis, and the Builders of the Adytum.

References:
The Llewellyn Encyclopedia
Patti Wigington, ThoughtCo.com
Wikipedia 

Eclectic Wicca/Witchcraft

The Merriam Dictionary defines the word ‘eclectic’ as meaning “selecting what appears to be best in various doctrines, methods, or styles .” Eclectic Wiccans (and eclectic Pagans, who are a very similar group) do just that, sometimes on their own and sometimes in informal or formal groups.

Overview of Eclectic Wicca
Eclectic Wicca is an all-purpose term applied to witchcraft traditions, often ​NeoWiccan (meaning modern Wiccan), that doesn’t fit into any specific definitive category.

Many solitary Wiccans follow an eclectic path, but there are also covens that consider themselves eclectic. A coven or individual may use the term ‘eclectic’ for a variety of reasons. For example:

Mixed and matched traditions: A group or solitary may use a blend of beliefs and practices from several different pantheons and traditions.
Modified traditions: A group could be an offshoot of an established tradition of Wicca, such as Gardnerian or Alexandrian, but with modifications to their practice that make them significantly different from that original tradition.
Uniquely individual practices: An individual may be creating his or her own tradition of beliefs and practices, and because this system can’t be defined as something else, it is usually defined as eclectic.
Uninitiated practitioner: A solitary may be practicing what he or she has learned from publicly available sources on Wicca, but not be using oathbound, initiatory material, and so recognizes that his or her practice is eclectic.
Because there is often disagreement about who is Wiccan and who isn’t, there can be confusion regarding existing lineaged Wiccan traditions, and newer eclectic traditions. Some would say that only lineaged covens (based on traditional practices) should be permitted to call themselves Wiccan. By that reasoning, anyone who claims to be eclectic is, by definition, not Wiccan but Neowiccan (‘new’ or nontraditional Wiccan).

Bear in mind that the term Neowiccan simply means someone who practices a newer form of Wicca, and is not meant to be derogatory or insulting.

Church of Universal Eclectic Wicca
One organization that supports practitioners of eclectic Wicca is the Church of Universal Eclectic Wicca. They describe themselves as follows:

Universalism is a religious belief that allows for the existence of truth in a multitude of places. Eclectism is the practice of taking from many places….What we encourage is experimentation and exploration towards those things in your religious life that work and letting go of those things that don’t. UEW defines Wicca as any religion that calls itself Wicca, AND believes in a god/force/power/whatever that is either genderless, both genders or manifests as a male/female polarity that we agree to call “the Lord and Lady.” AND upholds the Five Points of Wiccan Belief.

The Five Points of Wiccan Belief include the Wiccan Rede, the Law of Return, the Ethic of Self-Responsibility, the Ethic of Constant Improvement and the Ethic of Attunement. The Wiccan Rede is written in many ways, but its intent is consistent: “do what you will, so long as it harms none.” The Law of Return states that whatever positive or negative energy a person puts out into the world will be returned to that person three times over.

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Eclectic Witchcraft

The definition of the eclectic witch is one of the hardest magical traditions to pin down if for no other reason than the fact that the term “eclectic” means different things to different witches. Very simply put an eclectic witch is one who follows more than a single tradition and who utilises different paths, cultures and traditions in the work that she does.

The confusion comes in when discussing to what extent different magical systems can be brought together for positive effect. There is a deal of difference between a witch who is conversant in two or three different traditions and blends the parts of each that call to her into a unified whole which is her own path and a witch who just picks up the odd idea here and there and throws them all haphazardly into the random pot without making any effort to understand the culture and history behind each tradition. Without understanding why a magical practise is relevant to a tradition it is futile to absorb that practise into individual workings and a witch who chooses to do so will not reap much benefit from it. It is important however to understand that some paths are very compatible and an eclectic witch who makes use of ideas from paths from a similar field will likely find it helps her move forward in the development of her own path.

To some extent most modern witches display a certain amount of eclecticism and it could be argued that the witch who does not is missing out as it is hard to imagine any tradition that could not be enriched by the ideas and practises of another. The difficulty with being eclectic comes when non harmonious systems are brought together and the lack of understanding behind the ideas from all of the different systems are not adequately understood. This wouldn’t lead to any danger but it would render the workings of such a witch pretty worthless. One of the most important things to learn about magic is that it works if you understand why you are doing something. Using random ingredients because they have value to a witch on another path but mean nothing to you are unlikely to yield great results. There is also the danger of over-diversifying – a witch who wants to study, learn and work with everything is diluting the essence of every tradition she works with. With no cohesion between the magical paths she chooses to work with her own path will eventually become nothing but a pick and mix of meaningless fragments.

The concept of being eclectic can be extended to fit the idea of a tradition changing over time. Even the most rigid family based traditions adapt and evolve as new family members are born and add their input into the path. There is (at least as far as I am aware) no specific term that fits a witch who adheres to one primary tradition but allows her path to evolve and change. In the absence of such a term we refer to these witches as being eclectic. Strictly speaking they do not fit the term but they do echo the idea that witchcraft cannot stand still and that in order not to stagnate every path needs fresh ideas and input to stay alive.

Eclectic Wicca is a different concept to Eclectic Witchcraft although the principle of choosing different elements from different established strands still rings true. An eclectic Wiccan may practise a blend of Alexandrian and Gardnerian or even a blend between one Wiccan tradition and a different magical path. Where Eclectic Wicca cannot be applied as a term is when the practises of an individual do not confirm to the established structure of the Wiccan religion. You cannot for example make any claim to be Wiccan if you do not believe in deity. Wicca, unlike witchcraft is a defined religious path with specific beliefs at its heart. An individual who does not share the core beliefs cannot claim to be a part of the religion.

Source:

Patti Wigington 
Witch Way Forward