The following is the bulk of a posting I made on Dawn Jacksons "Traditional Witchcraft" yahoo list. It was in response to some discussion regarding the co-option and "Dumbing down" of the concept of Traditional Witchcraft.

In the early 1970's, at least here in America, there were three women who publicly identified the Craft Current they followed as Traditional in the Pagan Press/Zines of that era.

Those three were:
Gwen Thompson in Connecticut
Bonnie Sherlock In Wyoming
Kitty Lessing in Florida

Victor Andersons people, wisely chose to eschew that particular "Name Game" and have homegrown their own Feri/Faerie brand which is to their credit.

This can be verified by even a casual investigation of the "Green Egg" which was the paramount journal in circulation here in the States during that decade.

Mikes "The Cauldron" was known about but from my experience was not commonly subscribed to.
Mike: I'd really be interested if you had any figures you could share on how many American subscriptions you had in a typical year circa 1970 to 1990.


Anyway, in the 1970's the Craft groups who followed the paths as set out By Gardner and Sanders never EVER used the term Traditional or Traditionalist. They strictly adhered to the monikers of Gardnerian, Alexandrian, or the sometimes confusing Al-Gard for those who followed a mixed lineage.

The self identified Traditionalists made it clear that they were a different breed of Witch from those groups which derived from Gardners Wica and Sanders Neo-Classical Paganism and I do not recall a single objection to the contrary.
In fact the American Traditionalists were happily singled out as "Not Like Us" by the American Gardnerians Alexandrians and Al-Gards.

The Traditionalists were (and still are) decidedly Old Craft and Luciferian in both Style and Lore, something that the typical 1970's era Witches were desperately trying to deny and live down.


Gwen Thompson and Bonnie Sherlock bonded in a vivid and prolific correspondence relationship, which led to them both sharing their holdings fairly freely.

Kitty Lessing tended to march to the beat of her own drum, and she disappeared from the scene well before the onset of the 1980's decade. (If anyone out there holds a kinship to her, feel free to contact me off list, I have a few personal letters from her which might be valuable assets to your archives)


Bonnie Sherlock suffered from type one diabetes and while I do not recall the exact year of her passing, I'm quite sure it was very early in the 1980's or in the late 1970's.
I know that there were people she trained, but if they have retained a continuing presence I am not aware of it. (I can make the same offer in regard to personal correspondence from Bonnie, along with my recollections of a single visit to meet her circa 1973)

Somewhere around the mid to late 1980's, after all three of these Ladys had exited the scene or passed on, the terms "British Tradtional" started being usurped by The Gardnerian and Alexandrian groups that had previously shunned it as unclean due to its perceived diabolical connections. And thus we have the current disparity in which American Gardnerian and Alexandrian lineage Witches call themselves "British Traditional" while their kin in the UK do no such thing.

In recent years I have noticed, much to my dismay, that the term "Traditional Craft" is becoming similarly co-opted

It has been suggested to me that those who have identified as Traditionalist since the aegis of publicly acknowledged Witchcraft in modern America ought to now abandon that term and "move on" to "Traditional Initiatory Witchcraft" (TIW) to which I boldly reply

BULLSHIT!

My suggestion is that they really ought to roll back to their (one C) Wica and be happy with it. I recommend abandoning their quest to hijack every term that seems to be du jour and thus a suitable target for adoption.

These terms are NOT orphans, they are NOT seeking a new home!


Now all this said, I am well aware that I will probably have bruised the feelings of many Neo Pagan Wic(c)ans whom I've befriended over the years and for that I can only say
"Deal With It"

owen93 wrote:

My suggestion is that they really ought to roll back to their (one C) Wica and be happy with it. I recommend abandoning their quest to hijack every term that seems to be du jour and thus a suitable target for adoption.



Hi Owen
The section of your post i quoted above reminded me of something i saw happen a few years ago. When i was in school i had a duffel coat (i have no idea if they were called something else in the states) There were probably about 3 other people in my school who had them and lets just say, we weren't exactly considered the fashion elite...
A few years ago, suddenly someone decides that the duffel coat is now "In" and it starts to turn up everywhere in nice colours, tailored and the material doesn't resemble a brilo pad anymore and people wear the hoods up to look cool instead of to stop getting wet *shrugs*

Annoyingly, as soon as something else comes along that appears to be more fashionable they will move on and use a different terminology.
Doesn't stop it being bloody annoying though..

Jera
x

Well said Owen!! Thanks for that bit O history. You really should turn your Craft history into book form.

I'll second that book request, Owen.

Hi Owen
I wish there was an emoticon that portrayed a standing ovation on this one.Will this do?

This hijacking has produced some truly heated debates elsewhere!

Sapphire

I should make it clear that I am Not Wicca Bashing, nor am I disparaging the Gardnerian/Alexandrian Traditions. I have many friends of that persuasion. At least I did, time will tell if that continues.

What I am kinda tired of is what I refer to as terminology creep.

I think there are good reasons to modify the publicly held self identification of ones path, but I also think that the polite thing to do is to eschew creating further confusion in doing so.

I'll give a couple of examples.

The Tradition issuing from Victor and Cora Anderson publicly self identified as "Faery/Fairie Trad" back in the era I speak of. That has largely been modified to "Feri" which is IMNSHO an honorable way of distinguishing from the larger popular concept of Faery/Faerie lore.

Andrew Chumbley coined the Term "Sabbatic Craft" as a way of speaking about the specific current which is worked by the Cultus Sabbati.

The confusion surrounding "British Traditional Witchcraft" and "British Traditional Wicca" had it's start quite some time ago so the horse has left the barn on that one. But last year when I was still reading on a specific yahoo list I started to see "Traditional Craft" being used as synonymous with "British Traditional Wicca" and I pretty much had to sit on my hands. It would have been rude to take people to task in that venue so I didn't. But THIS is my venue, so I do not feel so constrained.

My pique was further raised when it was suggested to me that because "British Traditional Witchcraft" and "British Traditional Wicca" shared the BTW initials Traditional Witches might be best served to vacate the BTW label and move to "Traditional Initiatory Witchcraft" (TIW).

THAT is what I'm saying BULLSHIT to!

Now all that said I am perfectly happy to entertain civil discussion here on this topic so if there are people out there who take issue with my thesis my response is "post it".

As Owen noted:
The confusion surrounding "British Traditional Witchcraft" and "British Traditional Wicca" had it's start quite some time ago so the horse has left the barn on that one. But last year when I was still reading on a specific yahoo list I started to see "Traditional Craft" being used as synonymous with "British Traditional Wicca" and I pretty much had to sit on my hands.

While my time on-line is not *quite* as long as Owen's it has really only been the past few years that I have seen TW prefaced with the 'B'.

My primary objection to both versions of BTW involve the "B".

Joe Wilson's 1734 is regarded as Traditional Craft, regardless of it's admixture of origins, as are several other forms of witchcraft.

However, 1734 is decidedly an American invention.

So are we to refer to it and other Americans expressions of Traditional Witchcraft as ATW rather than BTW?

Then there are the chimeras such as Roebuck/Ancient Keltic Church, which having roots in England are more American in their applications of the "Bowers' Current"; into which hole do we pigeon them? (Of ourse this is compounded by Dave Finnin's sometimes contradictory statements that AKC is Wicca, is BTW, etc.)

I'm famliar enough with the origins of the BTW terminology, and why the folks in California felt it necesary. I'm not so clear as to why the TW folk felt a need to add the B to their own description (or even if it was they who added it), but it has happened, and once again, we are left with the after-effects.

Wicca
Traditional Witchcraft
British Traditional Wicca
British Traditional Witchcraft
Traditional Initiatory Witchcraft

(I've even seen that one co-opted by the folk they were attempting to distinguish themselves from as well.)

Oh, Names! What utterly Useless Things! (That's a joke, for those who may be humour-impaired.)