Doreen Valiente
Doreen Valiente ( born January 4, 1922 in Mitcham, Surrey, England; † September 1, 1999 in Brighton, England) was an English occultist and author.
She worked for some time closely with Gerald Brousseau Gardner. In addition to Gardner, it was considered one of those individuals who have contributed substantially to the development of Wicca through the writing of rituals and texts.
Biography
Doreen Valiente was brought up as a Christian and attended a convent school. At 15, she left the convent school and refused this ever visit again. She later worked as a secretary and worked on books about magic and witchcraft by Aleister Crowley, Margaret Murray ( Egyptologist and ethnologist ) and Charles Leland ( folklorist ).
Shortly after the cancellation of Hexereigesetzes 1952 ( England) they learned from an article by Cecile Williamson that there was a working coven, the New Forest Coven. Cecile Williamson, who worked at the Museum of Witchcraft on the Isle of Man, then got a letter from Valiente and directed the letter on to Gerald Gardner. Shortly thereafter, she met Gardner. In 1953 she was initiated into the Coven of Gardner. Shortly thereafter she was his High Priestess of the New Forest Coven.
In 1957 there was a split between Gardner and her. She was afraid that Gardner hazardous due to the increased publicity the Coven. She left with some members of the New Forest Coven and founded a new Ned Grove Coven. Valiente was then introduced into the Clan of Tubal Cain, who was directed by Robert Cochrane. But she left the coven when she noticed that Cochrane is more interested in witches' ointments and contemptuously spoke about gardnerianische witches.
When her husband died in 1972, devoted himself Valiente reinforced the letter, just as the witchcraft, because a member of the British Parliament had tried to enforce a renewed law against witchcraft, which could trigger a modern witch hunt. In 1980, Valiente on the search for Dorothy " Old Dorothy " Clutterbuck, those high priestess, who had allegedly initiated Gardner, in order to prove that this controversial woman exists. However, a study by Ronald Hutton concluded that Gardner used this name to cover the true High Priest. In 1999, Doreen Valiente died of various diseases, including cancer, at the age of 77 years.
Effect
Doreen Valiente is still regarded by many as the mother of modern paganism. She wrote many of the still used and Wiccan rituals. She is so talented that Gardner often came to her and asked her, on the same day a ritual for a specific topic to develop.
Valiente also discovered by Aleister Crowley acquired passages in Gardner's Book of Shadows. Gardner stated that he has received is traditions were only fragmentary and he had tried to fill these gaps; but if they think they could do better, then they should do it. Valiente took him at his word and changed many of Crowley's passages and added some added by Charles Godfrey Leland originating passages. The finally finished the Book of Shadows was then the basis for the Gardnerianische Wicca.
Works
- Where Witchcraft Lives, 1962
- An ABC of Witchcraft, 1973
- Natural Magic, 1975 ( Natural Magic, 2004)
- Witchcraft for Tomorrow, 1978
- The Rebirth of Witchcraft, 1989
- Charge of the Goddess: The Mother of Modern Witchcraft, 2000