[The Pomegranate 13.

2 (2011) 205-224 ISSN 1528-0268 (Print)

doi: 10.1558/pome.vl3i2.205 ISSN 1743-1735 (Online)

Robert Cochiane and the Gardnerian Craft:

Feuds, Secrets, and Mysteries in Contemporary British Witchcraft

Ethan Doyle White

ethan-doyle-white@hotmail.co.uk

Abstract

The English occultist Robert Cochiane (1931-1966) has remained one of

the most enigmatic figures from the burgeoning contemporary British
Witchcraft movement, being the founder of the Cochranian tradition and
a core influence on the "Traditional Craft" current that has blossomed in
the West since the early 1990s. The magister of a coven named the Clan
of Tubal Cain, Cochrane was known for his scathing criticisms of Gerald
Gardner and the Gardnerian tradition of Wicca, but at the same time alle-
gations have emerged in recent decades that Cochrane was himself an ini-
tiate of that very tradition. In this paper, the author explores the complex
relationship between Cochrane and the Gardnerian Craft, examining the
nature of his criticisms and the evidence for his involvement in it, utilising
both a textual examination of his published writings and private letters,
accompanied with information obtained from discussions with some of
his contemporaries and later followers.

Of all the various rivals to Gerald Gardner's dominance within the

British Witchcraft movement of the early 1960s, the man who went by
the pseudonym of Robert Cochrane was without a doubt the most influ-
ential. The magister of a group named the Clan of Tubal Cain, Cochrane
(1931-1966) propagated his own unique tradition —now often known
simply as Cochrane's Craft—íxom the early 1960s until his tmtimely death
in the latter half of that decade. Following his passing, this tradition sur-
vived, being passed down in various forms right through to the present,
when interest in it has exploded, particularly among those involved in
the Traditional Witchcraft current of modem Western esotericism. Yet to
have been investigated in any academic capacity, the Traditional Craft
represents a broad movement of aligned magico-religious groups who
reject any relation to Gardnerianism and the wider Wiccan movement,
claiming older, more "traditional" roots. Although typically united by a
shared aesthetic rooted in European folklore, the Traditional Craft con-

© Equinox Publishing Ltd 2010,1 Chelsea Manor Studios, Flood Street, London SW3 5SR.
206 The Pomegranate 13.2 (2011)

tains within its ranks a rich and varied array of occult groups, from those
who follow a contemporary Pagan path that is suspiciously sin:ùlar to
Wicca to those who adhere to Luciferianism, a philosophy that centres
on the mythological figure of Lucifer and which draws from a variety of
Biblical myths within a folk magical framework.
Britain in the 1950s and 1960s bore witness to the emergence of multiple
forms of contemporary Witchcraft, the majority of which should rightly
be classified as traditions within the wider magico-religious movement
of Pagan Witchcraft. Coming under the umbrella term of "Wicca" in that
latter decade, the Pagan Craft was most prominently propagated by the
English civil servant Gerald Gardner (1884-1964), the founding father
of the Gardnerian tradition. Unsurprisingly, he had rivals, including
the Cardellian tradition, founded by the psychologist and stage conju-
ror Charles Cardell (1892-1977), and the largely derivatíve Alexandrian
tradition, founded by the Gardnerian initiate Alexander Sanders (1926-
1988).^ Whether Cochrane's Craft was a form of this Pagan Witchcraft
movement is a matter of debate. While the written accounts provided by
two of its early followers, Doreen Valiente and Evan John Jones, support
the idea of Cochranianism as a form of contemporary Paganism, one of
Cochrane's successors, the current maid of the Clan of Tubal Cain, Shani
Oates, has argued that the tradition is not—and never was—Pagan in
nature, but that instead it has always been both Luciferian and Gnostic,
holding to a philosophy and theology that is quite distinct from that of
Wicca.^ Such a debate as to the true nature of Cochraruan Witchcraft is
beyond the scope of this work, although it is certainly an area warrant-
ing deeper investigation in future.
In recent decades, Cochrane has piqued the interest of several research-
ers delving into the history of contemporary Witchcraft; first among
these was the prominent English historian Ronald Hutton of Bristol Uni-

1. Ethan Doyle White, "The Meaning of'Wicca': AStudy in Etymology, History and
Pagan Politics," The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies 12:2 (2010):
185-207. Further information on Cardell and his tradition can be found at Melissa
Seims, "The Coven of Atho," Vie Cauldron 126 (2007), while more on Sanders can be
found at Ronald Hutton, The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modem Pagan Witchcraft
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), 319-339; Maxine Sanders, Firechiid: The life
and Magic of Maxine Sanders, 'Witch Queen' (Oxford: Mandrake of Oxford, 2008} and
Jimahl di Fiosa, A Coin for the Ferryman: Vte Death and Life of Alex Sanders (Boston:
Logios, 2010).
2.-Doreen Valiente, Tlie Rebirth of Witchcraft, (London: Robert Hale, 1989), 117-136;
Evan John Jones, Witchcraft: A Tradition Renewed (London: Robert Hale, 1990); Evan
John Jones and Chas S. Clifton, Sacred Mask, Sacred Dance (St. Paul, Minn.: Llewellyn,
1996); Shani Oates, Tubelo's Green Fire: Mythos, Ethos, Female, Male & Priestly Mysteries
of the Clan of Tubal Cain (Oxford: Mandrake, 2010); Shani Oates, personal communica-
tion, 2010; and David V. Barrett, A Brief Guide to Secret Religions: A Complete Guide to
Hermetic, Pagan and Esoteric Beließ (London: Robinson, 2011), 304.

© Equinox Publishing Ltd 2011

 Doyle White Robert Cochrane and the Gardnerian Craft 207

versity, who discussed Cochrane in a chapter of his seminal study of

Wiccan history. The Triumph ofthe Moon: A History ofModern Pagan Witch-
craft (1999).^ Hutton's work, which was largely hased upon the pub-
lished accounts of Doreen Valiente and Evan John Jones, was followed
by the investigations of the noted Sabbatic Witch Michael Howard, who
assembled a brief biography of Cochrane to accompany the magister's
published letters and articles, and who would later include a chapter on
him in his personal history of Traditional Witchcraft, Children of Cain.* In
his overview of witchcraft in Western history, the sociologist Leo Ruick-
bie also dealt briefly with Cochrane (2004), whilst a fourth researcher
to have delved into the world of the clan was Gavin Semple, who pro-
duced a short yet excellently researched study of Cochrane's death and
burial (2004).^ Most recently, John of Morunouth, a practitioner within a
Cochrane-influenced Pagan group known as The Regency, published his
own study of the clan entitled Genuine Witchcraft is Explained, in which
he made use of several newly discovered documents pertaining to the
early development of Cochrane's coven.^ Although over the last decade
the work of independent practitioner-scholars like Howard and John of
Monmouth has added much to the picture of Cochrane originally painted
by Hutton, there has been an unfortunate lack of acadeniic research
and pubhcation in this area since his pioneering study. In essence, this
paper hopes in part to rectify this, delving into one aspect of Cochra-
nian history that has yet to be examined in any detail by exploring the
intricacies of Cochrane's relationship with the Gardnerians. In particu-
lar I look at the hostile attitude held by Cochrane towards Gardner and
his followers, and the reasons why he might have held such aggressive
views on the issue, taking his own writings as evidence. Moving on, I
critically examine the claims that Cochrane was himself an initiate of the
Gardnerian Craft, examining long-standing rumours and scouring his
own writings for potential clues. Ultimately, I paint a nuanced picture
of Cochrane's relationship with the Wiccan mainstream that should be

3. Ronald Hutton, Triumph of the Moon, 309-318.

4. Evan John Jones and Robert Cochrane, The Roebuck in the Thicket: An Anthol-
ogy of the Robert Cochrane Witchcrafl Tradition (MUverton, Somerset: CapaO Barin,
2001); Robert Cochrane and Evan John Jones, The Robert Cochrane Letters: An Insight
into Modem Traditional Witchcrafl (Milverton, Somerset: Capall Bann, 2002); Michael
Howard, Children of Cain: A Study of Modem Traditional Witches (Richmond, Califor-
nia: Three Hands Press, 2011), 41-84.
5. Leo Ruickbie, Witchcraft Out ofthe Shadows: A Complete History (London: Robert
Hale, 2004), 130-134; ,and Gavin Semple, The Poisoned Chalice: The Death of Robert
Cochrane (Reineke Verlag, 2004) n.p..
6. John of Monmouth, Gillian Spraggs, and Shard Oates, Genuine Witchcrafl is
Explained: The Secret History of the Royal Windsor Coven and the Regency (Milverton,
Somerset: Capall Bann, 2011).

© Equinox Publishing Ltd 2011

208 The Pomegranate 13.2 (2011)

of interest to anyone intrigued by the history of contemporary Paganism

and occultism, or with new religious movements more generally.
Unfortunately, constraints of space have meant that I am unable to
go into any depth regarding Cochrane's life and untimely death in this
paper. Naturally, this will disadvantage any reader who is not already
familiar with such biographical information; I would advise anyone
with a deeper interest in this subject to tum to the aforementioned books
by either Hutton, Howard, or John of Monmouth, all of which provide
ample, though in some cases dated, overviews of the subject. Despite
this problem, it is my hope however that a lack of in-depth knowledge
regarding Robert Cochrane or the wider British Witchcraft scene will
not prove too problematic for the purposes of this essay, which sticks to
a rather specific focus.
Bom Roy Bowers in London in 1931, Cochrane emerged onto the
British esoteric scene in the early 1960s as the head of the Clan of Tubal
Cain, which he ran with his wife Jane from their home in Britwell, near
Slough in southem England.^ Claiming to come from a hereditary Witch
family, an assertion that Jane later admitted was fiction, he wrote a series
of articles and letters that were published in the pages of esoteric outlets
like Psychic News, New Dimensions, and Pentagram (the published vehicle
of the Witchcraft Research Association, founded in 1964 to unite the scat-
tered Witches of Britain). Eager to teach, Cochrane corresponded with
several other figures in the 1960s occult scene both at home and in the
United States, including ceremorual magician William G. Gray, solitary
Witch Norman Gills, and American Crafter Joseph Wilson, the last of
whom would use Cochrane's teachings as a partial basis for his 1734
tradition.^ After his wife left him following his affair with a fellow Clan
member, Cochrane undertook a suicidal ritual at Midsummer 1966,
falling into a coma from which he would never recover. The mantle of
clan magister fell to his friend Evan John Jones, who would go on to ini-
tiate an American couple, Ann and Dave Finnin, in 1986, who proceeded
to found a new Clan in their Califomian homeland. Just over a decade
later, in 1998, Jones then initiated an Englishwoman named Shani Oates
into the Clan, and to this day she remains the group's maid in the United
Kingdom.

7. Although initially given the pseudonym of "Jean" in Valiente, Rebirth of Witch-

crafi, 122, Jane Bowers' identity has since been revealed in Semple, Poisoned Chalice
and John of Monmouth, Genuine Witchcraft. Here, I follow their example.
8. These letters are reproduced in Cochrane and Jones, Robert Gochrane letters.
For more on the relationship between Gray and Cochrane see Alan Richardson and
Marcus Claridge, The Old Sod: Vxe Odd Life and Inner Work of William G. Gray (Chel-
tenham, Gloucestershire: Skylight Press, 2011 [2003]), 121-137.

© Equinox Publishing Ltd 20n

 Doyle White Robert Cochrane and the Gardnerian Craft 209

Why Did.Çochrane Despise Gardnerianism ?

Before making an explorafion of the evidence that is currently available
to us, it is certainly worth considering why it was that Cochrane took
such a poor view of Gardner and his tradifion. Here, I present four pos-
sibilifies for why this should be so, taking as evidence his written state-
ments on this issue, which were made between 1963 and 1966. One of the
reasons which he himself gave was that he was fed up with their pub-
licity seeking, with prominent Gardnerians like Gerald Gardner, Patri-
cia Crowther, Eleanor Bone, and Monique Wilson appearing in tabloid
newspapers and television shows in order to present their parficular
tradifion as the face of contemporary Witchcraft in Britain. At one point
Cochrane proclaimed (in specific reference to Doreen Valiente and the
non-Gardnerian Witch Sybil Leek), that
It is not that I object to them as people, or for that matter to their religious
beliefs, but I do object strongly to the habit some of them form of going
into press and making the most ridiculous statements imaginable.^

Similar senfiments were publicly voiced in his first arficle for Pentagram,
enfitled simply "The Craft Today." In this piece, Cochrane lamented over
the spate of interviews given by Witches in the media, claiming that
they were presenfing the Craft as a "simple pagan belief" involving the
attempted control of the forces of nature, something which his tradifion
simply wasn't. In parficular he highlighted one report in which a Witch
claimed that the sxin would not rise the next morning if she did not
perform her rituals, something Cochrane clearly thought ridiculous and
felt damaged the public image of Witchcraft.^" Cochrane's views in this
area were echoed by his friend Tony Melachrino, a Crafter who publicly
went by the pseudonym of Taliesin, when he announced in Pentagram
that he refused to "dance gaily into the light of publicity" as several
prominent Gardnerians had done, facefiously asking "Are we perhaps
to rival Mrs. Crowther by writing arficles for the women's magazines?
Or have cameras at our gatherings to film us prancing rather self-con-
sciously around to the beating of a drum? Or put up a Priestess as the
one and only 'Queen of the Witches"?" I strongly suspect that these were
senfiments which Cochrane would have shared.

9. Robert Cochrane, letter to William Gray, undated. Reproduced in Cochrane and

Jones, Robert Cochrane Letters, 91.
10. Robert Cochrane, "The Craft Today," Pentagram 2 (November 1964), 8.1 have
been unable to identify the original article which he was alluding to.
11. Taliesin, Response to "Taliesin Attacked," Pentagram 5 (December 1965), 18.
TaUesin's identity as Melachrino is repeatedly attested in Doreen Valiente, Note-
books, 8 March 1966 and 8 June 1981.

© Equinox Publishing Ltd 2011

210 The Pomegranate 13.2 (2011)

Another factor in Cochrane's hostiUty was hkely the obvious philo-

sophical differences that existed between the two traditions. Gardner's
tradition was one that largely held to a set ritual liturgy (as contained in
the Book of Shadows), with a set of three degrees and an emphasis on
magical workings. Cochrane's on the other hand was less interested in
formalised workings and in the performance of magic, instead placing a
greater emphasis on mysticism and attaining spiritual gnosis. Whether
this was enough to justify Cochrane's hostility is of course debatable, but
he certainly took issue with the image of the Craft that the Gardnerians
were promoting, believing that it failed to lead searchers on their path to
wisdom, instead focusing on play acting, ritual nudity, and sexual titilla-
tion. In particular, he insisted that Witchcraft was an occult science, and
that it was separate from Paganism, which for him was simply a panthe-
istic understanding of nature; this was in contrast to the Gardnerians, for
whom Witchcraft was intrinsically seen as a Pagan religion, a viewpoint
now echoed throughout the Wiccan movement.^^
A third possibility could have been a sense of rivalry, with Cochrane
being jealous of the spread and increasing popularity of the Gardnerian
tradition, which had undoubtedly become the dominant current in the
British Witchcraft scene by the mid 1960s, following which it would be
challenged and (arguably) usurped by Alexandrianism. This sense of
rivalry is something that has been proposed by Evan John Jones and
Michael Howard," and would explain why Cochrane was so interested
in founding a " magical association" with William Gray that would adver-
tise in New Dimensions, a project that ultimately never came to fruition.^*
It would also explain why he was eager to contact spiritual seekers like
Joseph Wilson, in order to teach them what he believed was the path
to spiritual wisdom. It has to be noted here, however, that even if he
had wanted to spread his Craft, he failed to achieve this to a significant
degree, with his clan remaining small in number, and in a letter to Gray
he even stated his wish to withdraw from coven working in its entirety.^^
Clearly he was, in part at least, conflicted in this respect; he wanted to
spread his own version of Witchcraft to rival and challenge Gardner's,
but ultimately lacked the ability to do so.

12. Robert Cochrane, letter to William Gray, undated. Reproduced in Cochrane

and Jones, Robert Cochrane Letters, 99; Cochrane, "Genuine Witchcraft".
13. Robert Cochrane, letter to William Gray, undated. Reproduced in Cochrane
and Jones, Robert Cochrane Letters, 73.
14. Robert Cochrane, letter to William Gray, undated. Reproduced in Cochrane
and Jones, Robert Cochrane Letters, 77.
15. Robert Cochrane, letter to William Gray, undated. Reproduced in Cochrane
and Jones, Robert Gochrane Letters, 70.

© Equinox Publishing Ltd 2011

 Doyle White Robert Cochrane and the Gardnerian Craft 211

Here, another possibility should also be put on the table, and that is
the idea that Cochrane's aggressive reaction to Gardnerianism was the
result of an earlier experience he had had with the tradition. In this sce-
nario, it is possible that Cochrane had at one time been a Gardnerian ini-
tiate, presumably (though not necessarily) prior to forging the clan, but
had suffered a particularly negative experience, perhaps by becoming
dissatisfied that its rituals offered nothing to his spiritual growth or by
falling out with some of his fellow initiates and/or coven leaders. Paral-
lels could here be drawn with the life of Alexander Sanders, and I turn to
the evidence for this scenario later in this paper. Of course, none of these
four possibilities are mutually exclusive, and one can easily envision a
situation in which a number of these factors inñuenced Cochrane's state
of mind regarding Gardnerianism.

Cochrane's Anti-Gardnerian Rhetoric

The written records left behind by Cochrane and which include both his
public writings and his personal letters, show a man who was staunchly
and vehemently anti-Gardnerian, and who considered Gerald Gardner
to be little more than a con man and a sexual deviant. He recognised the
Gardnerian Craft as a distinct strain within the burgeoning Witchcraft
movement, but was keen to distinguish it from his own tradition, which
he clearly felt had more merit as a spiritual path. Indeed, Cochrane
defined Gardner's tradition by referring to its practitioners as "Gardne-
rians," the earliest usage of the term that this author is aware of, perhaps
indicating that Cochrane himself first developed it, or was at least an
early pioneer in its usage." However, rather than refer to Gardner's tra-
dition as "Gardnerianism" (as it is typically known today), Cochrane
called it "Gardnerism," a term which was apparently peculiar to him
and which has failed to achieve a wider usage since his death. Here I
intend to collect together Cochrane's comments on "Gardnerism," taken
primarily from his letters to Gray, Wilson, and Gills, but with space also
made for Doreen Valiente's account of Cochrane and his relationship
with the Gardnerians.
In his letters to the ceremonial magician WiUiam Gray, Cochrane
brought up the subject of Gerald Gardner and the Gardnerians on
several occasions, illustrating that he was indeed in contact with several
Gardnerian initiates and had a definite knowledge of some of the inti-
mate goings on within their tradition, such as the feud between Gardner

16. Valiente also believed Cochrane had invented the term, see Valiente, Rebirth
of Witchcraft, 122.

© Equinox Publishing Ltd 2011

212 The Pomegranate 13.2 (2011)

and Charles Cardell that had erupted in 1958 and continued right on till
Gardner's death in February 1964. In his second letter to Gray, dating
from not long before November 1964, Cochrane noted that he had had
a telephone conversation with "someone from the St. Alban's mob" (by
this apparently meaning the Gardnerian Bricket Wood coven, which
assembled near to St. Albans in Hertfordshire), in which they discussed
the Cardell situation.^^ Quite which coven member this was remains
enigmatic, although there are several potential candidates whom I will
now proceed to examine.
In an entry in her private notebooks dated to February 1966, Doreen
Valiente noted that Cochrane and his wife had actually been taken to
visit the Bricket Wood coven by a woman known only as Cynthia Swet-
tenham (spelled "Swentenham" elsewhere in the diaries), who was
almost certainly a Gardnerian initiate. Unfortunately however. Valiente
never specified when this actual event occurred, although given the
date of the entry in her notebook, it seems probable that it would have
occurred in late 1965 or early 1966. According to Valiente's account, it
was here that Swettenham introduced Cochrane and Jane to Jack Brace-
lin, the coven's acting high priest and Gerald Gardner's right-hand man.
Bracelin took a liking to Jane but considered Cochrane to be a "weirdie,"
telling Valiente that the letters which the clan magister subsequently
sent to him were "a load of drivel." Ultimately, Bracelin wanted nothing
more to do with him, and so their communication "drifted out."^^ It cer-
tainly seems unlikely that Bracelin would have revealed such intimate
information about Gardner and his feud with Cardell to Cochrane by
telephone, particularly considering the protective attitude which he was
known to take towards his elderly mentor, and so I would tentatively
rule him out as a candidate.
Little is known of the aforementioned Cynthia Swettenham, although
Wiccan researcher Philip Heselton confirmed to me that she was the
spouse of the occultist Dick Swettenham, who would later become the
partner of Marian Green, a prolific writer on Pagan Witchcraft who had
also worked alongside Cochrane's clah.'^ Whatever her connection with
the Gardnerian Craft, Swettenham's relation with Cochrane was perhaps
short-lived, for she would later describe him as "an hysteric" to Brace-
lin, implying that she had lost faith in his leadership.^*' Certainly, there
appears to have been a relatively strong personal connection between

17. Robert Cochrane, letter to William Gray, undated. Reproduced in Cochrane

and Jones, Robert Cochrane Letters, 68.
18. Doreen Valiente, Notebooks, 21 February 1966.
19. Philip Heselton, personal communication, 8 May 2012.
20. Doreen Valiente, Notebooks, 8 March 1966.

© Equinox Publishing Ltd 2011

 Doyle White Robert Cochrane and the Gardnerian Craft 213

Cochrane and Swettenham, enough for her to be willing to take him

along to the Bricket Wood coven, the very heart of the Gardnerian com-
munity. It is not improbable that they would have been in telephone
contact by late 1964, and that it was she who told him of the animosity
between Gardner and Cardell, and she must be considered as one of the
two prime candidates for being responsible here.
The other of these two prime candidates is Lois Bourne, the woman
who took on the role of high priestess at Bricket Wood between c.1959
and 1964. In a March 1966 entry in her private notebooks, Vahente
records that Cochrane and his wife had actually visited Bourne, indicat-
ing a personal connecfion between the two.^^ Certainly, Bourne knew
Ron White and Marian Green, both of whom were acfive in the Clan, and
almost quoted Cochrane word for word in an interview with a reporter
from Saga magazine published in March 1966.^ Following her resigna-
fion from the Bricket Wood coven. Bourne went on to work with a "Tra-
difional Witchcraft" coven operafing in Norfolk, illustrating the fact that
she certainly had an interest in non-Gardnerian forms of Pagan Witch-
craft, making it all the more likely that she would have had a reason to
communicate with Cochrane.^
In February 1966, Valiente also noted that the Gardnerian high priest-
ess Eleanor Bone, a Bricket Wood inifiate who went on to run her own
coven in South London, had Cochrane's telephone number in her
address book, given to her by a figure known only as 'Jack Pilgrim',
whose idenfity remains elusive.^* Several months later, Cochrane would
tell Gray that Bone had actually contacted him,^ although unfortunately
it is unknown whether he ever responded to her inquiries. Their rela-
fionship evidently extended to being nothing more than acquaintances,
and we can therefore rule out Bone as the individual responsible for
informing Cochrane about the situafion between Gardner and Cardell
back in late 1964.
In that same letter to Gray, Cochrane proceeded to discuss Gardner
himself, who had died in February of that year, describing him as "an
out and out fake" and characterising his novel High Magic's Aid (1949) as
"absolute nonsense with a strong flavour of sexual deviafion." He clearly

21. Doreen Valiente, Notebooks, 27 March 1966.

22. Tom Hyman, "Space-Age Witches," Saga (March 1966), 94-95. This fact was
noted in John of Mormiouth, Genuine Witchcrafi, 92.
23. Lois Bourne, Dancing with Witches, (London: Robert Hale, 1998), 48-55,97-103;
Frederic Lamond, Pifty Years of Wicca, (Sutton Mallet: Green Magic, 2004), 34-35.
24. Doreen Valiente, Notebooks, 21 February 1966.
25. Robert Cochrane, letter to William Gray, undated. Reproduced in Cochrane
and Jones, Robert Gochrane Letters, 84.

© Equinox Publishing Ltd 2011

214 The Pomegranate 13.2 (2011)

failed to believe Gardner's account of being initiated into a pre-exist-

ing New Forest coven in 1939, claiming that Gardner had hung around
various occult organisations before the Second World War asking as to
the whereabouts of any Witches. According to Cochrane, Gardner then
re-appeared on the esoteric scene after the war, publishing High Magic's
Aid and other books on the subject, becoming a self-proclaimed "author-
ity" on the Craft, and founding covens up and down the country in order
to propagate his newly invented religion.^^ No surviving evidence indi-
cates that the two figures ever communicated in any way, and as such
there is no reason why Cochrane would have any special knowledge of
Gardner's personal history here. As such, I suspect that the view that he
promulgated here was simply his negative spin on what he had pieced
together from hearsay and perhaps from what Cochrane had read about
the old Witch in îdries Shah's 1960 biography, Gerald Gardner: Witch,
published using Bracelin's name on the cover.^^
It is of note that in the same letter, Cochrane was equally scathing of
Cardell, whom he described as "quite the naughty boy," being "well on
his way to [becoming] the Tarot Fool at its lowest representation." In his
view, both Gardner and Cardell's traditions of Pagan Witchcraft failed
to grasp the true essence of the historical Witch-Cult because they both
"made the fatal mistake of believing that witchcraft was the relics of a
fertility religion," a concept that Cochrane emphatically rejected.^ In this
respect, Cochrane diverged from the image of the Witch-Cult proposed
by the Egyptologist Margaret Murray, viewing it not as the descendent
of the cults of pre-Christian Europe but instead as a late mediaeval devel-
opment that incorporated elements of surviving native religion, Roman
Catholicism, and the philosophical teachings of "emissaries or wander-
ing pilgrims" from Persia who knew the secrets of the Greek mystery
cults but who had fled west following the rise of Islam.^^
In his first letter to the American occult seeker Joseph Wilson, dated
December 1965, Cochrane proclaimed that he was "against the present
form of Gardnerism, and all kindred movements, although... I believe
they could become something far greater," showing a degree of respect
that was somewhat atypical of his views on the issue but perhaps reflect-

26. Robert Cochrane, letter to WilLiam Gray, undated. Reproduced in Cochrane

and Jones, Robert Gochrane Letters, 68-69.
27. J.L. Bracelin, Gerald Gardner: Witch (London: Octagon Press, 1960).
28. Robert Cochrane, letter to William Gray, undated. Reproduced in Cochrane
and Jones, Robert Gochrane Letters, 68-69.
29. Robert CocKrane, letter to William Gray, undated. Reproduced in Cochrane
and Jones, Robert Gochrane Letters, 59; Cochrane, "Genuine Witchcraft".

© Equinox Publishing Ltd 2011

 Doyle White Robert Cochrane and the Gardnerian Craft 215

ing his increasing interaction with practicing Gardnerians.^" In his fol-

lowing letter to Wilson, dated to January 1966, he went on to try and
explain to this yoijng American what the Gardnerian Craft — then barely
established in the United States—was, stating that
Gardnerism is the title given to the work of the late and unlamented
Gerald Gardner—who, driven by a desire to be whipped, and to prance
around naked, devised his own religion, which he called 'Witchcraft." As
you be now have gathered —we [meaning the clan] do nothing like this.
Since the Gardnerians are very publicity conscious —they tend to give us
a very bad name, and wiU one day possibly restart the persecution. Hence,
they are thoroughly d U k d ^ ^

In his fourth letter to Wilson, dated to February 1966, Cochrane

expanded his criticism of his rivals to focus on their actual reUgious
convictions, mocking the "nonsense believed by Gardnerians," and pro-
claiming that they had "contained the active principle of belief and faith
into dogma and ritual —this limits the process of wisdom severely."^^
Similar evidence of Cochrane's view of the Gardnerians can be found in
his third letter to Norman Gills, which is undated but apparently written
aroimd late 1964 or 1965. In it, Cochrane proclaimed that
There are very few genuine cuveens left in Britain, most of the people
who appear on television or in newspapers are fakes, and seem to origi-
nate from a man who lived on the Isle of Man [Gardner], and who made
the whole thing from his own head. I personally have little time for them
since they seem to be more interested in dancing naked than the real Craft,
and as you know these sort of lies do nothing to help the real Craft.^^

Further light can be shone on Cochrane's attitude towards the Gardne-

rians from the accoimt left by the " Mother of Modern Witchcraft," Doreen
Valiente, who had been involved in both Gardnerian and Cochranian
Witchcraft. In her 1989 autobiography The Rebirth of Witchcraft, Valiente
had devoted a chapter to the discussion of her time in Cochrane's clan,
noting that Cochrane talked about the Gardnerians "contemptuously"
and that she got the impression that he "wanted to promote a better form
of the old faith than that which Gerald Gardner had publicised."** She

30. Robert Cochrane, letter to Joseph Wilson, 20 December 1965. Reproduced in

Cochrane and Jones, Robert Cochrane Letters, 17.
31. Robert Cochrane, letter to Joseph Wilson, 6 January 1966. Reproduced in
Cochrane and Jones, Robert Cochrane Letters, 23-24.
32. Robert Cochrane, letter to Joseph Wilson, 16 February 1966. Reproduced in
Cochrane and Jones, Robert Cochrane Letters, 33.
33. Robert Cochrane, letter to Norman Gills, undated. Reproduced in Cochrane
and Jones, Robert Cochrane Letters, 151.
34 Valiente, Rebirth of Witchcraft, 117.

© Equinox Publishing Ltd 2011

216 The Pomegranate 13.2 (2011)

went on to relate that at one point his hatred of the Gardnerians spilled
over into an active wish to cause them harm, calling for a "Night of the
Long Knives of the Gardnerians"; alluding to the event in 1934 when
the Nazi hierarchy used execution squads to purge those members of
the party whom they saw as a political threat. For Valiente, this was the
final straw, and she left the coven in disgust at the "senseless malice" of
his "sick little soul."^^ Valiente's firsthand account illustrates quite how
hateful Cochrane had become towards the Gardnerian Witches by the
mid-1960s, shortly before his death.

Was Cochrane a Gardnerian Initiate ?

Although it is an idea fervently denied by some members of the con-
temporary Traditional Witchcraft movement,^ there is some evidence
that Cochrane himself had been initiated into the tradition of Gardne-
rian Wicca, likely during the latter part of the 1950s or early years of
the 1960s. This had been a rumour that had been circulating around
the Craft community during the latter decades of the twentieth century,
with the Gardnerian high priestess Julia Philips making note of it in a
speech on the subject of Wiccan history given in 1991, during which she
stated that

T have been told that [Cochrane] was initiated into the Gardnerian tradi-
tion by someone 1 must refer to as CS (CS and partner, D, are fated to
remain completely anonymous, and if it were not for the Cochrane con-
nection are unlikely to have been remembered beyond their immediate
il)^^

There must be a strong suspicion here that "CS"and "D" were none
other than Celia Swettenham and her husband Dick, the Gardnerians
who —according to Valiente's notebooks —introduced Cochrane to Jack
Bracelin and the Bricket Wood coven in the mid-1960s. In search of evi-
dence that might shed more light on this rumour, I asked Ann and Dave
Finnin, the leaders of the California Clan of Tubal Cain, if they knew
of it, and they informed me that on a visit to Britain during the 1980s,
they had actually encountered members of the very Gardnerian coven
that Cochrane had been initiated into several decades before. Further-
more, they related that no less than the partner of the high priestess
responsible for initiating Cochrane had actually confirmed to them that

35. Valiente, Rebirth of Witchcraft, 129.

36. Various, personal communication.
37. Julia Phillips, History of Wicca in England: 1939-Present Day, http://www.ecaul-
dron.net/historywicca.php, 1991.

© Equinox Publishing Ltd 2011

 Doyle White Robert Cochrane and the Gardnerian Craft 217

Cochrane had indeed been a member of their group.^ They also told me
that this had been corroborated to them by the respected Wiccan elder
Zach Cox, who had been involved in Gardnerianism since the move-
ment's early years.^' In attempting to confirm this, I contacted Zach and
his wife Jean, but they were surprised hy the Finnins' claims, politely
remarking that they must have been mistaken; Zach himself could not
remember Cochrcine ever having been at the Bricket Wood coven or even
any mention of him amongst the early Gardnerians.'"' Jean informed me
that she had first heard of Cochrane during the 1960s or early 1970s,
when she was visiting one of her coven members at their home. It was
here that she noticed an interesting candlestick decorated with human-
oid faces leering out from it, and after she asked her host about it was
informed that "I can't stand the thing; it was given me by a necroman-
cer named Robert Cochrane. Take it if you want it." Jean subsequently
took it as an interesting curio, although in later years gave it to Michael
Howard, the editor of The Cauldron journal and a prominent ñguie in the
British Craft movement.'*^
Howard himself has provided me with similar statements about
Cochrane's connection to the Gardnerian current. Having "no doubt" that
Cochrane was a Gardnerian initiate, in the past, he had been informed
by two separate sources that Cochrane had been initiated into Gardne-
rian Witchcraft, and although for reasons of privacy he was unable to
pass on who these sources were, it is possible that one of them was a
figure involved in the early Gardnerian coven that had been involved in
Cochrane's initiation (possibly the same individual whom the Finnins
had contacted during the 1980s) ."^ In his 2009 hook Modem Wicca, he
expanded on this, remarking that the couple responsible for giving
Cochrane his second-degree Gardnerian initiation lived in West London
and that they were also responsible for introducing the clan magister to
Jack Bracelin and the Bricket Wood coven; from this we can therefore
deduce with some certainty that the couple whom Howard believed
were responsible for Cochrane's Gardnerian second-degree elevation
were indeed Dick and Celia Swettenham.*^
If we were to accept such information and compose it into a narra-

38. Ann Finnin, personal communication, 16 October 2010, and Ann Finnin, The
Forge of Tubal Cain, (Sunland, Calif: Pendraig, 2008), 53-54.
39. Ann Finnin, personal communication, 16 October 2010.
40. Jean Cox, personal communication, 25 October 2011.
41. Ibid. A photograph of this candlestick can be seen in Howard, Children of Cain,
52.
42 Michael Howard, personal communication, 13 October 2010.
43. Michael Howard, Mode m Wicca: A History flom Gerald Gardner to the Present,
(Woodbury, Minn.: Llewellyn, 2009): 195.

© Equinox Publishing Ltd 20n

218 The Pomegranate 13.2 (2011)

tive whole, it would appear that Cochrane had earned two Gardnerian
degrees, the latter (and perhaps the former) being bestowed onto him
by the high priestess Celia Swettenham and her partner Dick, and that
through them he had also come into contact with members of the Bricket
Wood coven, including its acting high priest. Jack Bracelin, in the mid-
1960s. Of course, while such a scenario is tantalising, the anecdotal evi-
dence behind it is not quite infallible, and the fact that those figures
whoapparently initiated him have kept to their secrecy — and in the case
of Dick Swettenham taken such secrets to the grave — means that obtain-
ing a first hand account of Cochrane's Gardnerian initiation remains
elusive. As a result, I must content myself with stating simply that there
must be a strong suspicion, but not outright proof, that Cochrane had
been initiated into Gardnerianism, probably by Celia Swettenham.
Accepting for a moment the premise that Cochrane was indeed an
initiated Gardnerian, the question then arises as to when this initiation,
and then his second-degree elevation, could have actually taken place.
Here, there are two rough possibilities. The first is that he was initi-
ated during the late 1950s, prior to his creation of the clan; in this sce-
nario, he may have become dissatisfied with the Gardnerian Craft and
so decided to set up his own rival, drawing upon the Gardnerian rituals
to create his own practices, much as Alexander Sanders would later do
in his creation of Alexandrianism. Ronald Hutton noted that the "basic
form of [Cochrane's] rituals," as described in the works of Valiente and
Jones, were similar in many respects to those of Gardnerianism, and that
this was perfectly compatible with a situation in which he had obtained
some rough idea of [Gardnerian] Wicca, and then developed it in accord-
ance with his own ideas and interests before propagating it as an inher-
ited tradition.'"
From this, one could argue that Cochrane had been initiated into
Gardner's Craft in the late 1950s or very early 1960s, prior to found-
ing his own coven circa 1961, and that he had used the little informa-
tion about Gardnerian ritual that he had learned as a basis for many
of the Clan's rites.''^ Problematically for this scenario, there is no clear
evidence for a direct Gardnerian influence on what is publicly known
of Cochrane's practices; whereas Alexandrianism took rituals and litur-
gies wholesale from the Gardnerian Book of Shadows, the rituals of the
Clan of Tubal Cain, while holding to some structural similarities, differ
in most details from Gardnerian Wicca. It is perfectly possible that the

44. Hutton, Triumph of the Moon, 315.

45. This rough foundation year for Cochrane's coven was ascertained by John of
Monmouth, Genuine Witchcrafi is Explained, 12.

© Equinox Publishing Ltd 2011

 Doyle White Robert Cochrane and the Gardnerian Craft 219

similarities arise from the fact that both Gardner and Cochrane drew
from the same pool of ideas that were available at the time. For instance,
John of Monmouth noted that the influence of Charles Leland's 1899
book Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches, was "very evident" in those
early invocations surviving from Cochrane's coven, something that is
also true for Gardnerianism.** Certainly, there is nothing implausible in
the idea of Cochrane becoming a Gardnerian initiate prior to founding
his own coven, but equally there is no clear evidence to support such a
proposition either.
Alternately, it could be that Cochrane was initiated into Gardnerian-
ism and then elevated to the second degree later than this, in the early-
to-mid 1960s, by which time he was active within the clan. This is an
idea supported by Ann Finnin, who suggested to me that his initiation
occurred "probably around 1963."*^ Certainly, in the following three
years, he would begin interacting with Gardnerian initiates like Valiente,
Bourne, Bracelin, and Swettenham, and as a result he would have had
the ability to learn more about the Gardnerian Craft and would have
had ample opportunity for initiafion. To what extent he would have then
become involved in the Gardnerian tradition remains problematic. At
the fime the magister of the Clan of Tubal Cain, Cochrane would have
foimd it difficult to both manage his own coven while attending the rites
and celebrafions of another, parficularly as their Sabbat celebrafions or
lunar rituals would often clash; for this reason I would suggest that even
if Cochrane was inifiated, he did not take an acfive part in the pracfices
of any parficular Gardnerian coven. He would therefore simply have
been a nominal, as opposed to acfive Gardnerian pracfifioner. A third
possible scenario here would unite both of these possibilifies, in sug-
gesting that Cochrane had received his first-degree inifiafion in the late
1950s or 1960, but then only received his second-degree inifiafion later,
in the early or mid 1960s.
Another quesfion worth pondering is why Cochrane would have
wanted to be inifiated in the first place, parficularly considering the
hosfile view of Gardnerianism that he expressed during the early 1960s.
Perhaps he had done so long before such animosity developed, when,
having an interest in the esoteric, he became interested in joining a
Witches' coven, and found a Gardnerian coven that would offer him that
opportunity. Alternately, in a scenario that seems more probable given
the aforemenfioned evidence, he joined the Gardnerians at a fime when
he was already involved in his own Craft, to invesfigate what they were

46. John of Monmouth, Genuine Witchcraft, 30.

47. Ann Finnin, personal communication, 16 October 2010.

© Equinox Publishing Ltd 2011

220 777e Pomegranate 13.2 (2011)

doing and possibly to find evidence to discredit them or to recruit new

members for his Clan; this is the idea suggested to me by Shani Oates,
and it is the one to which I tentatively give my support."^ It is interesting
that Cochrane was not publicly open about having received a Gardne-
rian initiation in the same way as his friend Tony "Taliesin" Melachrino
had been. If he had chosen to announce the fact that he had infiltrated the
Gardnerians in order to leam their secrets, then it would have given him
greater legitimacy and authority with which to criticise their tradition,
something that he would have surely been keen to do. Alternately, it
could be that he decided to keep quiet on the issue, perhaps to protect the
identity of his Gardnerian initiators, whom he may have remained fond
of, or perhaps because he feared being ridiculed as a hypocrite, a man
who publicly reviled Gardnerianism yet accepted initiation. Equally, he
may have feared that if his fellow occultists had learned of his Gardne-
rian initiation, some of them might have suspected that it was through
this that he had gained his knowledge of the Craft, and that his Heredi-
tary Witchcraft story was therefore untrue.
If, as the anecdotal evidence suggests, Cochrane was a second-degree
Gardnerian, then we could perhaps expect to find him expressing inti-
mate knowledge of the tradition's practices which would only be known
to an itutiate, and in search of this evidence we must once more delve
into Cochrane's writings. One potential instance of this was found in a
letter to Gray in which he mocked the Gardnerian use of the chant "Eko
Eko Azarack" by stating that
My cat, when waiting to be fed, dances around Jane widdershins with
tail up and meowing. Jane suggested that she was chanting "Eko, Eko
Azarack... Eko... Eko... Kit-e-Kat.""^

However, by the mid 1960s, this chant had already been publicly
revealed, first appearing in print in the pages of Gardner's novel High
Magic's Aid (1949). The chant was presumably fashioned by Gardner
himsef; historian Ronald Hutton noted that in its original form it had
been created by "cobbling together two equally mysterious (or meaning-
less) chants found in different twentieth-century sources." The first was
from an article published in 1926 by the occultist J.RC. Fuller, whilst the
latter was a thirteenth-century nonsensical invocation featured in a play
about magicians, a fact that was noted in both Grillot de Givry's Witch-
craft. Magic and Alchemy (1931) and Kurt Seligmarm's History of Magic

48. Shani Oates, personal communication, October 2010.

49. Robert Cochrane, letter to William Gray, undated. Reproduced in Cochrane
and Jones, Robert Cochrane letters, 71.

© Equinox Publishing Ltd 2011

 Doyle White Robert Cochrane and the Gardnerian Craft 221

(1948) .50
It must be kept in mind that here, Cochrane is explicitly stating that it
is his wife, and not he himself, who has brought up the term "Eko Eko
Azarack" in a humorous context that he was clearly able to understand.
This would indicate that she too had a knowledge of this area of Gard-
nerianism, perhaps through reading High Magic's Aid. Alternately, it is of
course possible that Cochrane and/or his wife had learned it from being
initiated into the Gardnerian tradition, and considering that they would
work closely as magical partners in the Clan, it would not surprise me
that—if Gardnerian initiates — they would have done the same when
involved in that tradition. It can also be assumed that by writing this
letter to Gray, he is presuming that Gray himself understands the context
of the "Eko Eko Azarack" chant, implying that it was well known to
occultists outside of the Gardnerian tradition anyway, which could fur-
thermore be used as evidence that Cochrane and his wife needn't have
had to be Gardnerian initiates to know of it.
In his second letter to the practicing Witch Norman Gills, Cochrane
signed off with the words "Wise and Blessed Be," the latter term being
a typical Gardnerian parting, once again indicating that Cochrane knew
of Gardnerian terminology to such an extent that he was happy to use
it in commimication with fellow occultists. He used it again in his fifth
letter to William Gray, in which he signed off with "Regards and Bridget
Bardot (I reckon that's a better wish than Blessed Be)," a reference to
the famous actress and sex symbol of the time.^^ The use of the term on
these two occasions should again not necessarily be taken as evidence
to indicate that he was an initiate, however, for the term "Blessed Be"
had become relatively widely publicised by the mid-1960s, being used
by Gardner in his book Witchcraft Today (1954) and by Doreen Valiente
in her "Letter of Welcome" to Pentagram (1964), and it could easily have
been from one of these sources that Cochrane had learned of it. Whilst it
is of course possible that the term "Blessed Be" was adopted by Gardner
and Cochrane from a common source, there is no known evidence for
this, and I suspect that this was not the case; indeed, the esotericist Clive
Harper has suggested the possibility that the term had been adopted
by Gardner from Co-Masonry, where the term "Bb" was possibly used

50. Doreen Valiente, An ABC of Witchcraft Past and Present, (London: Robert Hale,
1973), 206-207; James W. Baker, "White Witches; Historic Fact and Romantic Fantasy"
in Magical Religion and Modern Witchcraft ed. James R. Lewis (Alhany, New York: State
University of New York Press, 1996), 175; Hutton, Triumph of the Moon, 231-232.
51. Rohert Cochrane, letter to William Gray, undated. Reproduced in Cochrane,
Robert Cochrane Letters, 85.

© Equinox Publishing Ltd 2011

222 The Pomegranate 13.2 (2011)

as a shorthand for 'Blessed Brethren."^^ Despite this, it is still unusual

that Cochrane would choose to use "Blessed Be" as a parting in this
letter, as in others he typically used his own unique blessing, "FFF," or
"Flags, Flax and Fodder," which was sometimes expanded to "Flags,
Flax, Fodder and Frig"; Cochrane explained this as a farewell parting
bestowing a person with "A roof over your head, a shirt on your back,
food in your stomach and someone to love.""
Another intriguing piece of evidence that should be looked into here
is Cochrane's assertion that he was a "member of the People of two
admissions."^ In Cochrane's terminology, "the People" was a word
which he and his fellow Witches used to "describe ourselves as," indi-
cating that it was essentially a synonym for "the Craft."^^ His original
statement can therefore be read as meaning that he was a Witch through
two admissions, or two initiations. Unlike Gardnerianism, the Clan of
Tubal Cain only involved one initiation, implying that he would not have
been a member of "two admissions" within the clan structure; could this
second initiation therefore be implying that he had been an initiate into
the Gardnerian tradition ? It remains a possibility, but is again far from
conclusive.

Conclusions
Cochrane's relationship with the Gardnerian movement was clearly
a complex one. On the one hand he openly criticised it in particularly
hostile terms, at one point even actively inciting harm against its fol-
lowers, but at the same time he clearly took an interest in it, communi-
cating with some of its initiates and gaining a basic knowledge of some
of its peculiarities, such as the usage of terms like "Eko Eko Azarack"
and "Blessed Be." In part, it appears clear that he took such an interest
because he was wary of it, believing that it was propagating an incor-
rect image of the Craft, one based more on nudism and dogmatic adher-
ence to magical rituals than to the mystical path of spiritual gnosis, and
for him this was an intolerable situation. There is the possibility that
Cochrane had been a Gardnerian initiate prior to the founding of his own
coven in c.1961, but there is no outright evidence for this, and equally

52. Clive Harper, "Blessed B...", The Cauldron 137 {August 2010), 8.
53. Robert Cochrane, letter to Norman Gills, undated. Reproduced in Cochrane,
Robert Cochrane Letters, 152.
54. Robert Cochrane, letter to Joseph Wilson, 20 December 1965. Reproduced in
Cochrane, Robert Cochrane Letters, 17.
55. Robert Cochrane, letter to Joseph Wilson, 6 January 1966. Reproduced in
Cochrane and Jones, Robert Cochrane Letters, 21.

© Equinox Publishing Ltd 2011

 Doyle White Robert Cochrane and the Gardnerian Craft 223

the absence of evidence where one might expect to find it could indicate
that this was in fact not the case. By the mid 1960s, at which time he had
consolidated his leadership of the Clan of Tubal Cain and made a name
for himself within the Brifish Craft community, he had entered into com-
municafion with a number of senior Gardnerians, and may well have
received a second-degree elevafion from Celia Swettenham, although
there is nothing to suggest that he joined a Gardnerian coven or became
an acfive pracfifioner in the tradifion. Certainly, if this was the case, then
he intenfionaUy kept it quiet, avoiding informing any of those figures
whose correspondences with him sfill survive.
On a final note, it would perhaps be unfair to leave the reader with
such a negafive portrayal of Cochrane as this arficle has inevitably done.
Whilst he clearly had anger issues in his vocal treatment of Gardneri-
anism, this must be seen in the wider context; he was a man devoted
to his Craft, who was devout in his hopes of preserving it, and who
did admit to suffering from anger issues that clouded his judgment at
fimes. Cochrane reamins on of the most fascinafing figures of the eso-
teric movement in twenfieth-century Britain, and further research into
him, his tradifion, and the Tradifional Witchcraft movement he inspired
is clearly needed, and I hope that this paper will act as something of a
platform from which this can continue.

Bibliography
Baker, James W. "White Witches: Historic Fact and Romantic Fantasy." In Magical
Religion and Modem Witchcrafi, edited by James R. Lewis, 171-192. Albany: State
University of New York Press, 1996.
Barrett, David V. A Brief Guide to Secret Religions: A Gomplete Guide to Hermetic, Pagan
and Esoteric Beließ. London: Robinson, 2011.
Bourne, Lois. Danríng with Witches. London: Robert Hale, 1998.
Bracelin, J.L. Gerald Gardner: Witch. London: Octagon Press, 1960.
Cochrane, Robert. "Genuine Witchcraft is Defended." Psychic News, 9 November
1963.
. "The Craft Today." Pentagram 2 (November 1964), 8.
., and Evan John Jones. The Robert Gochrane Letters: An Insight into Modem
Traditional Witchcraft. Milverton, Somerset: CapaU Barin, 2002.
Di Fiosa, Jimahl. A Goin for the Perryman: The Death and Life of Alex Sanders. Boston:
Logios, 2010.
Doyle White, Ethan. "The Meaning of 'Wicca': A Study in Etymology, History and
Pagan Politics." The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pa^an Studies 12,
no. 2 (2010): 185-207.
Finnin, Ann. The Porge of Tubal Gain. Sunland, Caüf.: Pendraig, 2008.
Gardner, Gerald. Witchcrafi Today. London: Rider and Co., 1954.
Harper, Clive. "Blessed B...," The Gauldron 137, August 2010.
Howard, Michael. Modem Wicca: A History fiom Gerald Gardner to the Present. Wood-
bury, Minnesota: Llewellyn, 2009.
. Children of Gain: A Study of Modem Traditional Witches. Richmond, California:

© Equinox Publishing Ltd 2011

224 The Pomegranate 13.2 (2011)

Three Hands Press, 2011.

. "The Robert Cochrane Tradition," http://www.clanoftubalcain.org.uk/
rctrad. 2009.
Hutton, Ronald. The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modem Pagan Witchcraft.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Hyman, Tom. "Space-Age Witches," Saga, March 1966.
John of Monmouth, Gillian Spraggs, and Shani Oates. Genuine Witchcraft is Explained:
The Secret History of the Royal Windsor Goven and the Regency. Milverton, Somer-
set: Capall Barm, 2011.
Jones, Evan John. Witchcraft: A Tradition Renewed. London: Robert Hale, 1989.
Jones, Evan John, and Chas S. Clifton. Sacred Mask, Sacred Dance. St. Paul: Llewellyn,
1996.
Jones, Evan John, and Robert Cochrane. The Roebuck in the Thicket: An Anthology of the
Robert Gochrane Witchcraft Tradition. Milverton, Somerset: Capall Bann, 2001.
Lamond, Frederic. Pifty Years of Wicca. Sutton Mallet: Green Magic, 2004.
Leland, Charles Godfrey. Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches. London: David Nutt,
1899.
Oates, Shani. Tubelo's Green Pire: Mythos, Ethos, Female, Male & Priestly Mysteries of the
Glan ofTubal Gain. Oxford: Mandrake, 2010.
Philips, Julia. "History of Wicca in England: 1939-Present Day," http://www.ecaul-
dron.net/historywicca.php. 1991.
Richardson, Alan, and Marcus Claridge. The Old Sod: The Odd Life and Inner Work of
William G. Gray, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire: Skylight Press, 2011 [20031.
Ruickbie, Leo. Witchcraft Out of the Shadows: A Gomplete History. London: Robert
Hale, 2004.
Sanders, Maxine. Firechild: The Life and Magic ofMaxine Sanders, "Witch Queen. "Oxford :
Mandrake of Oxford, 2008.
Seims, Melissa. "The Coven of Atho," The Gauldron 126, 2007.
Semple, Gavin. The Poisoned Ghalice: The Death of Robert Gochrane. London: Reineke
Verlag, 2004.
Taliesin. Response to "Taliesin Attacked," Pentagram 5, December 1965.
Valiente, Doreen. An ABG of Witchcraft: Past and Present. London: Robert Hale, 1973.
. "Letter of Welcome from Doreen Valiente," Pentagram 1,1964.
. The Rebirth of Witchcraft. London: Robert Hale, 1989.
. Unpublished notebooks, 1959-1989.

© Equinox Publishing Ltd 2011

Copyright of Pomegranate is the property of Equinox Publishing Group and its content may not be copied or
emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission.
However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.