Aidan A. Kelly (born October 22, 1940) is an American academic, poet and influential figure in the Neopagan religion of
Wicca
Wicca () is a modern Pagan religion. Scholars of religion categorise it as both a new religious movement and as part of the occultist stream of Western esotericism. It was developed in England during the first half of the 20th century and w ...
. Having developed his own branch of the faith, the New Reformed Orthodox Order of the Golden Dawn, during the 1960s, he was also initiated into other traditions, including Gardnerianism and Feri, in subsequent decades. Alongside this, he was also an important figure in the creation of the
Covenant of the Goddess
The Covenant of the Goddess (CoG) is a cross-traditional Wiccan group of solitary Wiccan practitioners and over one hundred affiliated covens (or congregations). It was founded in 1975 in order to increase co-operation among witches and to secure ...
, an organisation designed to protect the civil rights of members of the Wiccan community in the United States. He has also published academic work studying the early development of Gardnerian Wiccan liturgy, primarily through his controversial 1991 book ''Crafting the Art of Magic''.
Kelly became an organizer and leader in the Neo-Pagan community while studying for a master's degree in creative writing at
San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different ...
in 1967 and 1968. A friend asked him to write a ritual for a Witch sabbat as part of an art seminar. This project led to the founding in October 1967 of the New Reformed Orthodox Order of the Golden Dawn (NROOGD), which evolved into a
Wiccan
Wicca () is a modern Pagan religion. Scholars of religion categorise it as both a new religious movement and as part of the occultist stream of Western esotericism. It was developed in England during the first half of the 20th century and was ...
coven in 1969. Although humorously named after the famous
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn ( la, Ordo Hermeticus Aurorae Aureae), more commonly the Golden Dawn (), was a secret society devoted to the study and practice of occult Hermeticism and metaphysics during the late 19th and early 20th ...
, Kelly's coven was otherwise unrelated to that group.
The NROOGD tradition co-founded by Kelly in 1969 continues to operate in California and has covens in other states, Canada and the UK.
As one of the co-founders of the
Covenant of the Goddess
The Covenant of the Goddess (CoG) is a cross-traditional Wiccan group of solitary Wiccan practitioners and over one hundred affiliated covens (or congregations). It was founded in 1975 in order to increase co-operation among witches and to secure ...
(CoG), Kelly helped write the organization's charter and bylaws in 1975. The organization's charter was filed with the State of California on October 31, 1975, incorporating CoG as a non-profit religious corporation. From CoG's inception in 1975 until 1977, Kelly served on its national board of directors.
Early life and education
Aidan Kelly was born on October 22, 1940, in Colon, Panama, the first of four children of Marie Cecile Kelly and John Patrick Kelly. Panama was his father's first assignment as a U.S. Army officer after graduating from
West Point
The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...
. John Patrick Kelly's military career took the family to assignments around the world. In 1955 they settled in Mill Valley, California, where Kelly graduated from
Tamalpais High School
Tamalpais High School (often abbreviated as Tam) is a public secondary school located in Mill Valley, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is named after nearby Mount Tamalpais, which rises almost above Mill Valley.
Tamalpais High Scho ...
in 1957. Later Aidan would find out that, from the time of WWII until the 1990s, his father was working as a high-ranking military intelligence officer.
Shortly after moving to Mill Valley, Kelly experienced what he described as a "spontaneous mystical experience," when a vision of the Goddess first appeared to him at the age of 15. Although Kelly was raised as a Roman Catholic, his vision of the Goddess in Mill Valley triggered a lifelong interest in alternative religions.
After graduating from high school, Kelly studied at the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
, then
San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different ...
(San Francisco State College at that time), where he received his bachelor's degree in 1964.
Writing career and professional life
After graduating from San Francisco State in 1964, Kelly worked as an editor for Stanford University Press. He returned to San Francisco State in 1966, where he completed a master's degree in creative writing in 1968. From then, until 1973, Kelly worked for publisher W. H. Freeman and Company. At the end of 1973, he left W. H. Freeman to begin working on a Ph.D. at the Graduate Theological Union (GTU) in Berkeley. He also started his own business as a consulting editor at this time.
While working on his Ph.D. during 1974 and 1975, Kelly was able to study pages from an early
Book of Shadows
A Book of Shadows is a book containing religious text and instructions for magical rituals found within the Neopagan religion of Wicca. Since its conception in the 1970s, it has made its way into many pagan practices and paths. The most famous ...
, purportedly typed by Gerald Gardner as well as a manuscript titled “Ye Bok of ye Art Magical” from Gardner's former
Museum of Witchcraft
The Museum of Witchcraft and Magic, formerly known as the Museum of Witchcraft, is a museum dedicated to European witchcraft and magic located in the village of Boscastle in Cornwall, south-west England. It houses exhibits devoted to folk magi ...
Wiccan Church of Canada
Odyssean Wicca is a Wiccan tradition created in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in the late 1970s. Its principal founders were Tamarra and Richard James. Most of its practitioners today live in Ontario, but it also has members in Eastern Canada and the ...
. He hoped to use these materials to reconstruct a history of how Gardner founded modern
Wicca
Wicca () is a modern Pagan religion. Scholars of religion categorise it as both a new religious movement and as part of the occultist stream of Western esotericism. It was developed in England during the first half of the 20th century and w ...
. The resulting manuscript was used to satisfy his comprehensive examination topic in Sociology of Religion for his doctorate program at GTU. Although Kelly wrote the manuscript under contract to
Llewellyn Publications
Llewellyn Worldwide (formerly Llewellyn Publications) is a New Age publisher based in Woodbury, Minnesota. Llewellyn's mission is to "serve the trade and consumers worldwide with options and tools for exploring new worlds of mind & spirit, thereb ...
, it was declined by Llewellyn as "too difficult and scholarly." He offered the book to other publishers without success.
In 1976, Kelly sought help from Alcoholics Anonymous. He withdrew from participation in the Neo-Pagan community in 1977 and became a practicing Roman Catholic from 1978 until 1987. However, as Kelly explained in a 2006 interview with Lisa Harris of ''Widdershins'', he "never stopped being a witch; I just stopped practicing for a while."
In 1978, Kelly self-published a memoir about the rise of modern American Paganism titled ''Hippie Commie Beatnik Witches: A History of the Craft in California, 1967-77''. The academic scholar Chas S. Clifton has cited this book as an "invaluable source" for the sociological study of the
History of Wicca
The History of Wicca documents the rise of the Neopaganism, Neopagan religion of Wicca and related witchcraft-based Neopagan religions. Wicca originated in the early twentieth century, when it developed amongst secretive covens in England who w ...
, particularly insofar as it describes the innate differences between "the more established Anglo-American witches" who claimed lineage-descent from Gerald Gardner and the West Coast Pagans of the 1960s who were working in "the American tradition of self-creation."Chas C. Clifton (2006), "Her Hidden Children: The Rise of Wicca and Paganism in America", Alta Mira Press.
Kelly received a Ph.D. in Theology from GTU in 1980. For the next eight years, he taught at schools in the San Francisco Bay area, including the
University of San Francisco
The University of San Francisco (USF) is a private Jesuit university in San Francisco, California. The university's main campus is located on a setting between the Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate Park. The main campus is nicknamed "The Hil ...
and Holy Family College. He was active in scholarly professional societies, and from 1987 to 1990 co-chaired the steering committee for the American Academy of Religion's Group on New Religious Movements.
Llewellyn published Kelly's previously rejected research in 1991 as ''Crafting the Art of Magic'' and republished it in a revised 2007 edition titled ''Inventing Witchcraft''.
After moving to Seattle, Washington, in 1997, Kelly worked for several companies related to
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...
. He accepted a teaching position for the Berkeley Learning Center in Lakewood, Washington, in 2001. In 2008, Kelly and his family moved to New Orleans, where he taught for
ITT Technical Institute
ITT Technical Institute (ITT Tech) was a private for-profit technical institute with its headquarters in Carmel, Indiana and many campuses throughout the United States. Founded in 1969 and growing to 130 campuses in 38 states of the United Stat ...
and continued to write.
He moved to Tacoma, Washington, in 2011 with his family. He lives there currently and practices Witchcraft with his wife and close friends. His eldest son, Aidan O'Ryan-Kelly, born in 1990, lives in California and is also a professional practitioner of Witchcraft and folk-magic.
Controversial work
''Inventing Witchcraft'' labels "the Craft" as a ''new religion'', founded by Gerald Gardner "in 1947, give or take a year." (p. 33-34) This theory obviously conflicts with Gardner's own claim to have been initiated in 1939 into one of England's last surviving witch covens. Kelly's book identifies the initiation of Gardner as "the foundational myth" of Modern Witchcraft. (p. 35)
In support of his theory, Kelly explains that "the paper trail stops in 1946. We have no serious historical evidence for the existence of any Gardnerian coven before then." (p. 32)
Academic writers on religion have tended to treat Kelly's conclusions as factual and unbiased, but not surprisingly, ''Inventing Witchcraft'' and the earlier edition of Kelly's work, ''Crafting the Art of Magic'', became a source of controversy among Wiccans, especially in Gardnerian Wicca covens, who trace the origin of their traditions to Gerald Gardner. To accept Kelly's theory that Gardner "invented" a new religion, would mean giving up the belief that Gardnerian Wicca was the revival of an ancient faith previously held in secret by a few survivors. (p. 28)
Kelly's work was criticized for both its overall premise and specific details. Donald H. Frew complained that ''Crafting the Art of Magic'' contained errors in quoting source texts to support Kelly's theory.Frew, Donald H. (1998) "Methodological Flaws in Recent Studies of Historical and Modern Witchcraft", in ''Ethnologies'', vol. 20 no. 1. Canadian Folklore Association. Frew also objected to the accusation of homophobia (''Inventing Witchcraft'', p. 155) that Kelly felt was exhibited by Gardner's writings.
The "new religion" concept in Kelly's work was not entirely unwelcome in the Wiccan community. Other Neo-Pagan historians, such as
Ronald Hutton
Ronald Edmund Hutton (born 19 December 1953) is an English historian who specialises in Early Modern Britain, British folklore, pre-Christian religion and Contemporary Paganism. He is a professor at the University of Bristol, has written 14 b ...
* ''Inventing Witchcraft: A Case Study in the Creation of a New Religion'', Thoth Publications (2008)
* ''Religious Holidays and Calendars: An Encyclopaedic Handbook'', co-authored with Peter D. Dresser and Linda M. Ross. Omnigraphic, Inc. (1993)
* ''Crafting the Art of Magic, Book I: A History of Modern Witchcraft, 1939-1964 (Llewellyn's Modern Witchcraft Series)'', Llewellyn Publications (1991).
* ''New Age Almanac'', co-authored with J. Gordon Melton and Jerome Clark. Visible Ink (1991).
* ''The Evangelical Christian Anti-Cult Movement: Christian Counter-Cult Literature'', Vol. 13 of Garland's ''Cults and New Religions'' series. Garland Pub. (1990).
* ''Cults and the Jewish community: Representatives Works of Jewish Anti-Cult Literature'', Vo. 14 of Garland's ''Cults and New Religions'' series. Garland Pub. (1990).
* ''New Age Encyclopedia: A Guide to the Beliefs, Concepts, Terms, People, and Organizations that Make Up the New Global Movement toward Spiritual Development, Health and Healing, Higher Consciousness, and Related Topics'', co-authored with J. Gordon Melton and Jerome Clark. Gale Research (1990).
* ''Theosophy: I (Cults and New Religions)'' co-authored with James R. Lewis. Garland Publishing Inc. (1990).
* ''Theosophy: II (Cults and New Religions)'' co-authored with James R. Lewis. Garland Publishing Inc.(1990).
* ''Neo-Pagan Witchcraft I (Cults and New Relitions)'', Garland Pub. (1990).
* ''Neo-Pagan Witchcraft II (Cults and New Religions)'', Garland Pub. (1990).
* ''The Wedding Guests: A Comedy'', Graduate Theological Union (1980)
* ''The New Healers: Healing the Whole Person'' co-authored with Larry Geis and Alta Picchi Kelly. Ronin Pub (1980).
* ''Moving Into Space (The Myths and Realities of Extra Terrestrial Life)'' Harper & Row Publishers (1980).
* ''Hippie Commie Beatnik Witches: A History of the Craft in California, 1967-77'' Self-published (1978)
* ''History and Other Explorations: Selected Poems, 1966-1974'', Hierophant Wordsmiths (1974). ASIN: B00072WLGW