Was Gerald Gardner a Fraud?

#wicca #witchcraft

This video is a response to a question that frequently shows up in my inbox: was Gardner a fraud? Did he just make it all up? And how do we practice Wicca if he did?

I've got lots of thoughts here, which I share generally (as in all of my videos, off the cuff and totally unscripted). A couple of things I want to clarify, though:

First, when I mention Roland Barthes and "The Death of the Author" in relation to J.K. Rowling's transphobia and Harry Potter, I'm using her to make an if-then statement ("If J.K. Rowling is a transphobic, then we have to reevaluate our relationship with Harry Potter”) and she popped into my brain as low-hanging fruit. Please don't take it as me wondering if Rowling is transphobic---that's established as far as I'm concerned. Transphobia, for the record, is abhorrent and should be condemned where it appears.

Second, this video isn't about the problematic views Gardner and many of his contemporaries held, only the validity of his claim to be practicing something passed down through the ages. I am not disputing that his views were problematic. I am not defending his homophobia, colonialism, sexism, etc. Those things (along with racism and transphobia) absolutely exist within Wiccan spaces and popular Wiccan texts and should be rooted out and addressed by today's practitioners. I believe we as a community are doing those things, and that means being critical of our founders and leaders. Please, absolutely be critical of Gardner. Just don't only be critical of Gardner and not his contemporaries or their successors.

Finally, if you want to learn more about Gardnerians, initiatory Wicca, or covens, I wrote a book for you: https://www.amazon.com/Traditional-Wi...

You can also find me here:
https://www.thornthewitch.com
  / thornthewitch  
  / thornthewitch