Patricia Crowther

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Patricia Crowther (born October 14, 1927 in Sheffield , Yorkshire , England ) has been a predominant advocate of Wicca as a witch and high priestess since the 1960s . She has authored several books about it, lectured and hosted the first radio series on witchcraft. She was introduced to witchcraft by Gerald Brousseau Gardner in order to become his spiritual heir, to “promote the renaissance of the 'Old Religion' and to enlighten mankind”. To this end, she had established thriving Wiccan covens across the UK.

Youth and education

Patricia Dawson was born in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England. Her great-grandmother came from Brittany and was a herbalist and clairvoyant who also foretold the future. Her grandmother Elizabeth (Tizzy) Machon (maiden name) was a very small woman whose family name means "fairy". The Dawson family lived next door to a palmist, Madame Melba, who had predicted that Patricia would acquire great powers of clairvoyance. In her childhood she had symbolic first contacts to the fairy world and magic, because at a children's birthday party she was chosen to play the moon fairy and sit on an illuminated crescent moon (the goddess with a crescent moon is often symbolically the goddess Diana). As a birthday present, she received a golden snake bracelet as a symbol of wisdom, life and rebirth. She also appeared as Robin Hood and played in a revue (legend of the moon goddess).

When she was 30 years old, a hypnotist led Patricia back to her previous life as the witch Polly, 66 years old in 1670. As the witch Polly she revealed that she was in a hut with a cat, a frog, a goat and a goat Hen had lived and wrote spells for strangers, but she didn't like them. Under hypnosis, she recited several spells, all of which rhymed, and gave instructions on how to use them, even though, as Patricia, she herself had no knowledge of such spells. Several experts confirmed the authenticity of the old sayings. With further hypnosis she was led back to another former life, as a priestess of a powerful goddess. Her parents were able to train her to sing, dance and act, and she traveled all over the UK. When she was playing at a theater in Birmingham in 1954, a fortune teller told her that in two years she would meet her future husband named Arnold over the sea, which at the time seemed utterly fantastic and impossible to her. However, it happened in the summer of 1956 that she received an engagement on the Isle of Wight and there met Arnold Crowther (1909-1974), who played as a magician and ventriloquist in the same show. When he discovered her interest in witchcraft, he introduced her to his personal friend Gerald Gardner. A few years earlier, Gardner had prophesied that he would meet a woman with fairy hair who would introduce him to witchcraft.

Connections with Wicca from 1960

After several meetings with Gardner, he introduced her to witchcraft on June 6, 1960. Initiation took place in Gardner's private Magical Room, the top floor of a barn next to his home in Castletown, Isle of Man. Patricia then initiated Arnold. She received ritual tools and jewelry, especially a coral necklace, from Gardner. During the rite, Patricia had a profound and powerful trance experience. She saw herself as a reborn priestess of the lunar mysteries, initiated by howling, naked women who ran through her splayed legs. On November 8, 1960, Patricia and Arnold were married in a private ceremony presided over by Gardner. Everyone stood naked in a circle and held hands. The next day the state wedding took place. After a short time, the press found out about the extraordinary circumstances of the wedding and published extensively about it.

Foundation of Sheffield Covens

The Crowthers settled in Sheffield. On October 11, 1961, both received initiation into the Second Degree and on October 14, Patricia was appointed high priestess. The media eagerly sought contact with Patricia. When asked if she would meet with other people interested in witchcraft, she answered yes. The overzealous reporter's news headline then read, "Witch Seeks Recruits for Coven!", Which generated many inquiries. The Crowthers initiated the first member of their Sheffield Covens in December 1961, with others following over time. Along the way, they continued to learn from Gardner. An old woman named Jean, who had seen Patricia on television, also contacted her and let her in on an allegedly 300-year-old secret of an ancient tradition.

Media work

The Crowthers gave many interviews and encouraged understanding of witchcraft in discussions. They wrote two books, The Witches Speak (1965, 1976) and The Secrets of Ancient Witchcraft (1974). For Radio Sheffield they produced the first UK radio series about witchcraft, A Spell of Witchcraft , which first went on air on January 7, 1971. They wrote ritual sayings, expelling spirits, seasonal rituals, music and poems on the subject of witchcraft. Her articles have appeared in numerous magazines including Prediction , Gnostica , New Dimensions, and The Lamp of Thoth . Patricia also appears frequently as a guest on radio programs and television shows and tries to clear up misunderstandings about the "ancient religion" and modern witchcraft and to consolidate the equality of women. In 1978 she represented the United Kingdom as Wicca representative at an international conference in Barcelona. In addition to her witch activities, she continues to perform professionally as a singer, sorceress and puppeteer.

swell

  • Taken from the English Wikipedia and various English websites and freely translated.

bibliography

  • 1965: The Witches Speak. (with Arnold Crowther) (Athol Publications)
  • 1973: Witchcraft in Yorkshire. (Dalesman), ISBN 0-85206-178-1 .
  • 1974: Witch Blood (The Diary of a Witch High Priestess). (House of Collectibles), ISBN 0-87637-161-6 .
  • 1981: Lid off the Cauldron: A handbook for witches. (Muller), ISBN 0-584-10421-9 .
  • 1992: The Zodiac Experience. (Samuel Weiser Inc), ISBN 0-87728-739-2 .
  • 1992: The Secrets of Ancient Witchcraft With the Witches' Tarot. (Carol Publishing), ISBN 0-8065-1056-0 .
  • 1992: Witches Were for Hanging. (Excalibur Press of London), ISBN 1-85634-049-X .
  • 1998: One Witch's World. (Robert Hale), ISBN 0-7090-6222-2 (published in America under the title High Priestess . Apart from the title, they are the same book) (Phoenix Publishing), ISBN 0-919345-87-5 .
  • 2002: From Stagecraft to Witchcraft: The Early years of a High Priestess (Capall Bann), ISBN 1-86163-163-4 .
  • 2009: Covensense. (Robert Hale), ISBN 978-0-7090-8720-5 .

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