''Witchcraft Today'' is a non-fiction book written by

Gerald Gardner Gerald Brosseau Gardner (13 June 1884 – 12 February 1964), also known by the craft name Scire, was an English Wiccan, as well as an author and an amateur anthropology, anthropologist and archaeology, archaeologist. He was instrumental in bri ...

. Published in 1954, ''Witchcraft Today'' recounts Gardner's thoughts on the history and the practices of the witch-cult, and his claim to have met practising witches in 1930s England. It also deals with his theory that the Knights Templar had practised the religion, and that the belief in

faeries A fairy (also fay, fae, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Celtic, Slavic, Germanic, English, and French folklore), a form of spirit, o ...

in ancient, mediaeval and early modern Europe is due to a secretive pygmy race that lived alongside other communities. ''Witchcraft Today'' is one of the foundational texts for the 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 ...

, along with Gardner's second book on the subject, 1959's '' The Meaning of Witchcraft''. Gerald Gardner in the foreword to Witchcraft Today: Whilst by the time of writing, Gardner had been initiated into the religion, and had formed his own coven, he did not state this in the book, instead he "posed as a disinterested anthropologist". page 206 The introduction to the book was written by

Margaret Murray Margaret Alice Murray (13 July 1863 – 13 November 1963) was an Anglo-Indian Egyptologist, archaeologist, anthropologist, historian, and folklorist. The first woman to be appointed as a lecturer in archaeology in the United Kingdom, she work ...

, who had widely supported the

witch-cult hypothesis The witch-cult hypothesis is a discredited theory that states the witch trials of the Early Modern period were an attempt to suppress a pre-Christian, pagan religion that had survived the Christianisation of Europe. According to its proponents, ...

in the 1920s and 1930s through her books ''The Witch-Cult in Western Europe'' and ''The God of the Witches''. In her introduction, she stated that: In the book Gardner also repeats the claim, which had originated with

Matilda Joslyn Gage Matilda Joslyn Gage (March 24, 1826 – March 18, 1898) was an American writer and activist. She is mainly known for her contributions to women's suffrage in the United States (i.e. the right to vote) but she also campaigned for Native Ameri ...

, that 9 million victims were killed in the European

witch-hunt A witch-hunt, or a witch purge, is a search for people who have been labeled witches or a search for evidence of witchcraft. The classical period of witch-hunts in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America took place in the Early Modern per ...

s." Current scholarly estimates of the number of people executed for witchcraft during this time period vary between about 40,000 and 100,000. The book contains seven photographs; one depicting the author, another a magician's circle at the

Museum of Magic and Witchcraft The Museum of Witchcraft and Magic, formerly known as the Museum of Witchcraft, is a museum dedicated to European witchcraft and magic (paranormal), magic located in the village of Boscastle in Cornwall, south-west England. It houses exhibits d ...

, a memorial to those killed in the witch hunts, two further images of rooms in the museum, a statue of a

horned god The Horned God is one of the two primary deities found in Wicca and some related forms of Neopaganism. The term ''Horned God'' itself predates Wicca, and is an early 20th-century syncretic term for a horned or antlered anthropomorphic god partl ...

, and a painting of a male witch."

Publication history

The book was initially published in hardback in November 1954 by Rider and Company, and sold at the price of 15 shillings. It was reprinted in August 1956.

Analysis

In his biography of Gardner, the researcher

Philip Heselton Philip Heselton (born 1946) is a retired British conservation officer, a Wiccan initiate, and a writer on the subjects of Wicca, Paganism, and Earth mysteries. He is best known for two books, ''Wiccan Roots: Gerald Gardner and the Modern Witchc ...

noted that the contents of ''Witchcraft Today'' were essentially a summation of what Gardner had read about witchcraft and other related subjects over a number of years. He remarked that Gardner had probably intended to provide a history of the witch-cult from the Stone Age to the present which made reference to related religious movements, such as those of the druids, Knights Templar and ancient Egyptians. Summing the book up, he described it as "a record of Gardner's phases of enthusiasm". Heselton 2012. p. 499.

Notes and references

{{authority control 1954 non-fiction books Wiccan books Works by Gerald Gardner 1950s in modern paganism