Gerald Gardner
12789
218925597
2008-06-12T20:06:45Z
38.100.227.90
[[WP:UNDO|Undid]] revision 218654313 by [[Special:Contributions/Kitana-Galatea|Kitana-Galatea]] ([[User talk:Kitana-Galatea|talk]]) to remove NPOV edits
{{Infobox Person |
name = Gerald Brousseau Gardner|
image = Gerald Brosseau Gardner 2.PNG|
caption = Father of the [[Wicca]]|
birth_date = [[1884-06-13]] |
birth_place = [[Crosby, Merseyside|Crosby]], [[Lancashire]], [[England]] |
dead = dead |
death_date = [[1964-02-12]] |
death_place = at sea, returning from [[Lebanon]] |
occupation = Tea planter; rubber planter; customs officer; [[Wicca]]n Priest |
spouse = Donna Gardner née Rosedale |
parents = William Robert Gardner; ??? Gardner |
children =
}}
'''Gerald Brosseau Gardner''' ([[June 13]] [[1884]] - [[February 12]] [[1964]]) was an [[England|English]] civil servant, amateur [[anthropology|anthropologist]], [[writer]], and [[occultist]] who published some of the definitive texts for [[Wicca]], which he was instrumental in founding.
== Life ==
Gardner was born at The Glen, The Serpentine, [[Blundellsands]], near [[Liverpool]], [[England]] to a well-off family who had in their service Josephine "Com" McCombie, an Irish nursemaid<ref>[http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/g/gardner_gerald_b.html Themystica.com: ''Gardner, Gerald B.'']</ref>. The family business was Joseph Gardner & Sons, the Empire's oldest and largest importer of hardwood. Gardner had been suffering asthma at the time, bearing the illness from a young age, and his nursemaid had offered to take him to the warmer climates of the Continent. They both eventually settled in Asia, where Gardner stayed for a large portion of his young-adult life.
Beginning in [[1908]] he was a [[rubber]] planter, first in [[Borneo]] and then in [[British Malaya|Malaya]]. After [[1923]] he held civil service posts as a government inspector in [[British Malaya|Malaya]]. In [[1936]], at the age of 52, he retired to [[England]]. He published an authoritative text, ''[[Keris and other Malay Weapons]]'' (1936)<ref>[[Gerald Gardner|Gardner, Gerald]]. ''Keris and other Malay weapons'' (1936) Singapore: Progressive Publishing Company</ref>, based on his field research into southeast [[Asia]]n weapons and [[magic (paranormal)|magical]] practices. Apparently on medical advice, he took up [[nudism|naturism]].
Retiring to England in 1936 he and his wife Donna soon moved from London to [[Highcliffe]], just south of the [[New Forest]], [[Hampshire]].<ref name="HeseltonCauldron">{{cite book |last=Heselton |first=Philip |authorlink=Philip Heselton |year=2003 |title=Gerald Gardner and the Cauldron of Inspiration: An Investigation Into the Sources of Gardnerian Witchcraft |location=Milverton, Somerset |publisher=Capall Bann Publishing |id=ISBN 186163-1642}}</ref> Here he pursued his interests in the [[occult]] and naturism. Those who knew him within the modern witchcraft movement recalled how he was a firm believer in the therapeutic benefits of sunbathing.<ref>Valiente, Doreen (1989). ''Rebirth of Withcraft''. Phoenix Publishing. ISBN 0-919345-39-5</ref>
Gardner became a member of the [[Folklore Society]] in 1939<ref name="HuttonTriumph">{{cite book |last=Hutton |first=Ronald |year=2001 |title=The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft |publisher=Oxford University Press |id=ISBN 0-19-285449-6}}</ref>. His first contribution to its journal 'Folklore', appeared in the June 1939 issue and describes a box of witchcraft relics. Later, in 1946, he became a member of the society's council<ref name="HeseltonRoots">{{cite book |last=Heselton |first=Philip |authorlink=Philip Heselton |year=2000 |title=Wiccan Roots: Gerald Gardner and the Modern Witchcraft Revival |location=Chieveley, Berkshire |publisher=Capall Bann Publishing |id=ISBN 186163-110-3}}</ref>. He seemed to be anxious to achieve academic acceptance, and for a period claimed to have doctoral degrees from the Universities of Singapore and Toulouse. [[Doreen Valiente]] has shown this not to be the case<ref>[[Doreen Valiente|Valiente, Doreen]]. ''The Rebirth of Witchcraft'' (1989) Custer, WA: Phoenix. pp 41-2.</ref>.
While cycling around [[Christchurch]], Gardner discovered the [[Rosicrucian Order Crotona Fellowship]], where he took part in theatre productions. It was at this theatre that Gardner claims he first met members of the [[New Forest coven]], who initiated him into a surviving tradition of English [[witchcraft]]. It has been suggested that Gardner may also have been introduced to [[Co-Freemasonry]] through this theatre; [[Mabel Besant Scott]], the one-time head of the British Federation of Co-Freemasonry, was a prominent member of the theatre, and several of the members that have been proposed as members of the New Forest coven were also very active in [[Co-Freemasonry]]<ref name="HeseltonRoots"/>.
Gardner published two works of fiction, ''[[A Goddess Arrives]]'' (1939) and ''[[High Magic's Aid]]'' ([[1949]]) under the pen name of [[Scire]]. These were followed by two books, ''[[Witchcraft Today]]'' ([[1954]]) which was edited by Ross Nichols and ''[[The Meaning of Witchcraft]]'' ([[1959]]), in which Gardner described the tradition of witchcraft he had been initiated into. He claimed that ''High Magic's Aid'' had been an attempt to portray the tradition under the guise of fiction, without revealing oath-bound material, but that following the repeal of the [[Witchcraft Act]] in 1951 he had received permission from others in the coven to discuss the tradition more openly in the two non-fiction books.
Gardner was married once. His wife Donna remained his loyal companion for 33 years during which she never took part in the craft or his activities within it. Gardner was devastated by her passing and began to suffer once more his childhood affliction of asthma. In [[1964]], after suffering a heart attack, Gardner died at sea on a ship returning from [[Lebanon]]. He was buried on the shore of [[Tunisia]].
== Wicca ==
[[Image:Latimers.jpg|thumb|200px|left|Latimers in Highcliffe, where Gardner was supposedly initiated.]]{{dablink|For further information, see [[History of Wicca]]}}Gardner claimed to have been initiated in 1939 into a tradition of religious witchcraft that he believed to be a continuation of European [[Paganism]]. The group he supposedly joined is known as the [[New Forest coven]]. [[Doreen Valiente]], one of Gardner's priestesses, later identified the woman who initiated Gardner as [[Dorothy Clutterbuck]] based on references Valiente remembered Gardner making to a woman he called "Old Dorothy".<ref>Farrar, Janet & Steward (2002). ''A Witches' Bible''. Robert Hale. ISBN 0-7090-7227-9</ref> Scholar [[Ronald Hutton]] instead argues that Gardner's witchcraft tradition was largely the inspiration of members of the [[Rosicrucian Order Crotona Fellowship]] and especially a woman known by the magical name of "[[Dafo]]".<ref name="HuttonTriumph"/> Her identity is uncertain, but [[Philip Heselton]] believes her to be [[Edith Woodford-Grimes]] <ref>Heselton, ''Wiccan Roots'' pp. 262ff.</ref>. Dr [[Leo Ruickbie]] concluded that [[Aleister Crowley]] played a crucial role in inspiring Gardner to establish a new pagan religion.<ref>[[Leo Ruickbie|Ruickbie, Leo]] (2004). ''Witchcraft out of the Shadows: A Complete History''. Robert Hale Limited. ISBN 0-7090-7567-7</ref> Ruickbie, Hutton, and others further argue that much of what has been published of [[Gardnerian Wicca]], as Gardner's practice came to be known by, was written by [[Doreen Valiente]] and [[Aleister Crowley]] and also contains borrowings from other identifiable sources.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}. Gerald Gardner was an initiate of the [[Ordo Templi Orientis]] (OTO) under Crowley, and sections of Gardner's third degree Wiccan initiation ritual are lifted directly from Crowley's "Gnostic Mass," written for the OTO in 1913. This is consistent with Gardner's claims that the rituals he had received were fragmentary, and that he had incorporated other material to make a coherent system.<ref>[[Gerald Gardner|Gardner, Gerald]]. ''[[Witchcraft Today]]'' (1954) London: Rider</ref>
==Bibliography==
*1936: ''Keris and Other Malay Weapons''
*1939: ''A Goddess Arrives'' (fiction)
*1949: ''High Magic's Aid'' (fiction)
*1954: ''Witchcraft Today''
*1959: ''The Meaning of Witchcraft''
==Notes and references==
<div class="references-small" style="-moz-column-count:2; column-count:2;"><references /></div>
==External links==
*[http://www.geraldgardner.com/ GeraldGardner.com] an online reference resource
*[http://www.thewica.co.uk/Gerald%20Gardner.htm Historical documents and media reports about Gardner.]
*[http://www.controverscial.com/Gerald%20Brosseau%20Gardner.htm Biography at Controverscial.com]
*[http://paganwiccan.about.com/cs/authors/a/aagardner.htm Biography at About.com]
{{WiccaandWitchcraft}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gardner, Gerald}}
[[Category:1884 births]]
[[Category:1964 deaths]]
[[Category:English novelists]]
[[Category:English occult writers]]
[[Category:English religious leaders]]
[[Category:English religious writers]]
[[Category:English Wiccans]]
[[Category:Wiccan priests]]
[[Category:People from Crosby]]
[[Category:Founders of religions]]
[[Category:Ordo Templi Orientis]]
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