This book by Sorita d’Este and David Rankine of Avalonia became available just around the time that the much loved and missed Avalonia forums were closed. I ordered my copy promptly, but when it arrived I was reading the Women of the Golden Dawn by Mary Greer and put it aside for later. I got distracted along the way and nearly forgot about the book when a friend, who is a Gardnerian High Priest, reminded me about it last week, saying that it was probably the most useful book available on the subject. Naturally I was intrigued.
What is great about Wicca Magickal Beginnings is that both initiates and non-initiates will find it of both of use and interest. This book provides amazing insights into practices which pre-date Gerald Gardner, as well as literature and other recorded sources, which all eventually made their way into Wicca. The way in which the material is presented makes for easy reference, divided into chapters by subject. For example there is a chapter on the origins of the Watchtowers, one on the origins of the Magick Circle and another on the precedents of the Wiccan Rede. All the major parts of the rituals are covered.
This book gave me the feeling of real Witchcraft, the feeling of what it might have been like to be around during the early days of Gardnerian Wicca or with Alex and Maxine Sanders in Nottinghill. There is plenty of material I have not seen before and that does not appear to have been considered by other authors, such as Ronald Hutton, on the subject of Wiccan history. The authors aimed to provide material which side stepped all the debate about lineage and personalities according to their introduction and they succeed in this. The book is non dogmatic and a pleasure to read. There is a cornucopia of material to use and explore toward expanding the current scope of knowledge of the tradition’s practices, both from ceremonial and folk magick, much of which surprised me.
Wicca Magickal Beginnings is a joy, a pleasure and a brave contribution to the debate of the origins of the tradition.
