Stanislav Panirt

The Origins of Gerald Gardner's Views on Witchcraft

Stanislav Panin - PhD Candidate, Faculty of Philosophy, Lomonosov Moscow State University; Member of the Association for the Study of Esotericism and Mysticism (Russia), stanislav_panin@gmx.com

Wicca is one of the most popular forms of Western esotericism and a fast-growing new religious movement, both in the West and in Russia. This popularity requires the careful study of Wicca's original teachings and practices. In Russia the topic is understudied and sometimes ignored in religious studies. The article's objective is to introduce recent researches on Wicca to Russian academic audience and to critically analyze them. The article includes a general overview of recent studies of the fundamental principles of the Wiccan doctrine. The author summarizes the early history of Wicca, the sources of Gerald Gardner's ideas and his relationships to other esoteric groups.

Keywords: Wicca, neopaganism, Western esotericism, new religious movements, Gardner.

GERALD Gardner (1884-1964) was one of the key figures in the history of esoteric movements and new religious movements of the 20th century. He played an important role in the formation of the teaching called Wicca, which is currently one of the most dynamically developing new religious movements. Wicca is particularly popular in the United States and Great Britain, where it has already gained some public acceptance, becoming a relatively traditional part of the culture. At the same time, Wicca has been actively spreading in other countries in recent decades, including Russia. Wiccans are actively consolidating, forming regional and international associations, and actively participating in social life.

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Wicca certainly deserves close attention from researchers. In this context, it is not surprising that many works devoted to this topic have been published and continue to be published in Europe and the United States. At the same time, unfortunately, it is still poorly covered in the Russian-language literature. Modern Wicca is extremely diverse. Since this movement does not have a centralized leadership or unquestioned authority, the beliefs of specific Wiccans can be very different from each other. However, despite all the diversity of Wiccan trends, most of them are more or less based on the work of two people: J. Gardner and Doreen Valiente. That is why, when researching Wicca in all its aspects, it is important not to lose sight of the work of these key authors. In this article, we will consider the main provisions of Wicca in the form in which they are presented in the works of J. Gardner.

Gardner's views on witchcraft, expressed in his works Witchcraft Today, The Meaning of Witchcraft, and others, are based on his attempt to reconstruct the witchcraft tradition in Europe. At the same time, Gardner himself was sure that he was not creating any new teaching, but only describing the history of the European witch cult and the set of beliefs that, in his opinion, all modern witches share. It was only later, in the 1960s, when it became clear that Gardner had actually created his own teaching, that the word "witchcraft "was changed to a new name," Wicca", in order to separate its adherents from all other people who use any magical practices.

Today, even for followers of Gardner's teaching, it is obvious that the teaching he developed is very far from its historical prototype. R. Hutton in his book "Pagan Religions of the ancient British Isles" examines in detail the question of how reliable the concept (which is of fundamental importance in Gardner's teaching) is, according to which the witch hunt in Europe was a persecution followers of ancient pagan cults. Pointing out that all reliably recorded data on the" surviving pagans "in the Middle Ages are isolated and highly controversial, he concludes:" Either the old religions were practically dead by the middle of the XI century, despite the introduction of new pagan cults by the Vikings, or the Christian elite at this time did not know what to do.-

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I decided to stop attacking them for five hundred years and, satisfied with myself, decided to ignore such trifles as some random spring or tree. The latter option seems highly unlikely, although it is precisely the conclusion of a theory that was considered credible by many authors until the 1960s and has made its way into some of the most popular academic papers."1. However, according to Hutton, recognizing the lack of direct continuity between ancient and modern paganism does not invalidate Gardner's teaching. Factual errors in this case can also lead to productive results, so according to this approach, Wicca should simply be considered as an independent religious movement.

Analyzing the problem of correlation between real and mythological history in the framework of esoteric trends, E. Zorya in the article "Auto-history in Occultism: factual history and mythological history" notes that many esoteric groups are characterized by building their own ritual system based on certain scientific materials. At the same time, it is characteristic that as soon as such a system is constructed, it acquires, as it were, its own, autonomous existence, no longer depending on new scientific discoveries. Scientific data and theories in this case turn out to be only material for constructing one's own mythology and system of magical practice, so their significance is rather instrumental in nature.2
Gardner's teaching should probably be viewed in this way. It was created on the basis of not one, but a whole series of sources. These include European folklore, modern scientific research by Gardner, the magical systems of a number of esoteric organizations, and even elements of Eastern religions. J. Pearson in his work "Wicca and the Christian Heritage" points out the processes within Christianity that served as the basis for the emergence of Wicca. Analyzing the question of the connection between episcopi vagantes ("independent bishops") and various trends in modern Western esotericism,

1. Hutton, R. (1993) The pagan religions of the ancient British Isles. Their nature and legacy, p. 300. Blackwell Publishers.

2. Zorya E. V. Autohistory in occultism: factual and mythological history//Mystiko-esoteric trends in theory and practice. Collection of materials of the Third International Scientific Conference. Edited by S. V. Pakhomov, St. Petersburg: Russian Academy of Arts, 2010, pp. 124-125.

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Pearson notes the unquestionable connection of unorthodox Christianity with a number of important figures in the history of Western esotericism of the XX century, including J. Gardner. 3
Thus, Wicca is not a simple reconstruction, but a complex, syncretic teaching. Of great importance here was the eventful life and complex, ambiguous personality of Gardner himself. For example, Gardner had the opportunity to get acquainted with the Eastern teachings personally, since he lived in the Far East for a long time, where he worked in the civil service from 1923 to 1936. After his retirement, Gardner began to spend most of his time on archaeological expeditions in Europe and Asia Minor; his interests at this time are connected with the Mediterranean. The first book in which you can notice the emerging ideas of the future religion was the novel "The Goddess is Coming"published in 19394. It is a work of fiction set in Cyprus, detailing the cult of the Goddess in the form of Aphrodite, which Gardner believes has existed in this region since ancient times. Gardner later claimed that he had partially included his own memories of past lives in this book; thus, this work is also, in a sense, a religious text.

Although Gardner was interested in the occult throughout his adult life, it was only after his retirement that he began to more actively explore contemporary occult teachings. Before World War II, Gardner lived in the New Forest area, where he was involved in the Rosicrucian Order of Crotona Fellowship, also known as the Crotona Fellowship of Rosicrucians, an occult group close to Freemasons and the Golden Dawn. The members of the Brotherhood seemed to have very diverse interests and rather diverse ideas about the occult. They, in particular, founded the "New Rosicrucian Theater" in Christchurch (Hampshire, England). It was in Christchurch in 1939 that Gerald Gardner, in his own words, met witches who, through this Rosicrucian organization, selected people for initiation into their own witchcraft tradition.

3. Pearson, J. (2007) Wicca and the Christian Heritage, p. 27. London: Routledge.

4. Gardner, G. (1997) A Goddess Arrives. Godolphin House, Hinton WV.

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In the first half of the 20th century, national themes played a very significant role among British esotericists. The situation in the largest British esoteric organization of the time, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which also used Rosicrucian symbolism, is significant in this respect. At least three key members - Masere, Yates, and Crowley-regularly recalled their ancient roots (real or fictional) and were interested in Celtic mythology and religion. Here is what his wife, Moina Masere (1865-1928), writes about Mathers (1854-1919) in the preface to the book Kabbalah Unveiled: "In his spare time, he collected and carefully studied sources on Celtic tradition and symbolism. This love of Celtic symbolism was inherited from his Scottish ancestors"5. Masere's love for Scotland was sometimes expressed in everyday life in rather radical ways:"...he dressed in the Scottish style, performed a sword dance, carried daggers on his boot, and sported a Scottish leather bag trimmed with fur. " 6 Another member of the Golden Dawn, Aleister Crowley (1875-1947), with whom Gardner was well acquainted, was also outrageous. Crowley, like Mathers, assumed roots in the Macgregor family, and for a time wore traditional Scottish clothing. [7] The greatest interest in British history and mythology, however, is found in the poet and member of the Golden Dawn, W. B. Yeats (1865-1939). While Mathers and Crowley were primarily interested in Scotland, Yates ' focus was on Ireland. In his work, we repeatedly find references to this topic. A striking example of this is the book "Celtic Twilight", which includes stories about the" people of the hills", visionaries and Irish warlocks, as well as numerous references to Celtic folklore, indicating a certain knowledge of the author in this area. Yates was not only an author, but also a collector of Irish folklore: under his editorship, the book "Magic and Folk Tales of Irish Peasants" was published. Thus, even in organizations nominally unrelated to the folk traditions of Britain,

5. Hove E. Magi Zolotoy Zari [Magicians of the Golden Dawn], Moscow: Enigma Publ., 2008, P. 101.

6. Booth M. Zhizn maga: Biografiya Aleister Crowley [The Life of a Magician: A Biography of Aleister Crowley]. Yekaterinburg: Ultra. Kul'tura Publ., 2004, p. 125.

7. Ibid., p. 156.

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interest in them existed and was sometimes of great importance to individual members, and literary works such as The Celtic Twilight provided a growing interest in British folklore not only among occultists, but also in general circles. Therefore, it seems likely that by joining one of the esoteric groups focused on Western esotericism, Gardner could have met people there who were trying to reconstruct the beliefs and rituals of European witches.

So, according to Gardner, there was a secret group in the Rosicrucian Order of the Brotherhood of Croton, whose members invited him to attend their meetings. The people in this group called themselves "Wicca" and claimed to be hereditary witches and wizards who had been handed down through the centuries the practice of witchcraft that had not been completely destroyed by the witch hunt. In 1939, Gardner claimed to have been initiated into witchcraft by "old Dorothy Clutterback", a member of this witchcraft community. The story of Gardner's initiation is a problematic issue in Wicca research. Thus, in his 1980 book The History of Witchcraft, J. Russell argued that there was no Dorothy Clutterback at all.8 However, in the early 1980s, D. Valiente conducted her own research on this issue and was able to find in the archives registration records with information about the dates of birth and death of Dorothy Clutterback and her will.9 Thanks to archival records, it was possible to establish the place of residence of Dorothy Clutterback, where J. Gardner received his dedication. Thus it was finally established that "old Dorothy Clutterback" was at least not Gardner's invention. Much of this issue, however, remains unclear. For example, R. Hutton in the book" Triumph of the Moon " points out that Dorothy Clutterback adhered (at least in a visible way) to the Anglican faith and never positioned herself as a witch. On the other hand, Clutterback's surviving diaries pay almost no attention to Christianity and Christian holidays. Instead, their content shows something very similar to the worship of nature. They also contain some hints of pagan holidays.-

8. See: Russell, J. V. (1980) A History of Witchcraft. Thames and Hudson.

9. Guili R. E. Valiente, Dorin / / Guili R. E. Encyclopedia of witches and witchcraft [http://eviko.ru/3/42.php, accessed from 31.07.2012].

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nicknames - for example, on midsummer's day; however, there is no clear indication that their author was a pagan. There is also an alternative view as to who initiated Gardner into the pagan coven in the New Forest. Ф. Heselton believes, in particular, that Clutterback only provided coven members with a home that served as a place of initiation. Gardner's initiator, he calls E. Woodford-Grimes, who later worked with him on the creation of a new religion.

In 1947, Arnold Crowther introduced Gardner to Aleister Crowley, who initiated him into the Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO). According to Francis King 10, Gardner was initiated into the seventh degree of General Relativity, from which (again, according to Fr. The study of sexual magic begins, from which King develops a whole theory about the continuity between the ideas of Crowley and Gardner. Some researchers claim that Gardner learned some information from Crowley about the nature of magical practices and incorporated this material into his own rituals. At the same time, according to Patricia K. Despite the fact that Gardner admired and was influenced by Crowley, there is no reason to assume that Crowley specifically provided him with materials on witchcraft. Interestingly, Patricia Crowther later worked very actively with Gardner on the revival of British witchcraft. In particular, in 1960, she was initiated into Wicca by Gardner, and then initiated into witchcraft and her husband. However, there is a point of view, according to which Crowley and Gardner met much earlier. In one way or another, Gardner was very close to the Thelemites in the 1940s, but the exact date of Crowley and Gardner's acquaintance remains unclear, as well as the circumstances of this acquaintance. All that is known for certain is that Gardner was in fairly close contact with Crowley in the 1940s and received a charter from him to establish his own branch of the General Public. In this charter, Gardner is referred to as the Prince of Jerusalem, which corresponds to the degree of R. I. (intermediate stage between IV and V degrees), so that Francis King's claim to ordain Gardner in the VII degree remains controversial.

10. King F. Modern ritual magic//Electronic Library ModernLib.ru [http://www.modernlib.ru/books/king_frensis/sovremennaya_ritualnaya_ magiya/read, accessed 31.07.2012].

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Some sources claim that Gardner traveled to the United States in the summer of 1947 to meet with American leaders of the UTO. However, when he arrived in California, he met with John Parsons, who by that time had already distanced himself from GR and turned to the subject of "witchcraft". In one of his works, Parsons writes:: "We are witchcraft. We are the oldest organization in the world. When man was first born, we already existed. We sang the first lullaby. We healed the first wound, we soothed the first horror. " 11 The English version of this passage uses the word witchcraft, the same word that will later be widely used in Wicca. It seems likely that such Parsons texts may have had some influence on Gardner, as well as Parsons ' views on witchcraft expressed in them.

Parsons ' attitude toward women is also close to Gardner's beliefs. He writes in his essay "Freedom is a double - edged sword" as follows:: "The woman was and is a Priestess. It contains the Sacrament. She is a mother, thoughtful and gentle, a lover who is both passionate and indifferent, a wife who is revered and loved. She's a witch. She is equal to her husband, who is a leader, hunter, thinker and activist. Female Priestess, guardian of the Sacrament, connecting thread with the unconscious, interpreter of dreams"12. There is no doubt that such ideas would certainly have resonated with Gardner, since they are close to his own views. It is also characteristic that there are currently organizations that are trying to combine the ideas of Parsons and Gardner, for example, the Mountain Temple Center. It is quite possible that it was Parsons who convinced Gardner to move away from GR and devote the rest of his life to studying witchcraft and creating his own magical system.

In the post-war years, Gardner apparently wanted to start openly operating as a carrier of the revived witchcraft tradition, but public sentiment in England and, in particular, the existence of the current law against Witchcraft (Witchcraft Act) did not favor this. So Gardner decided to present his ideas in the form of a novel, called

11. Parsons, J. "We Are The Witchcraft", Mountain Temple Center Order of the Golden Dawn [http://home.earthlink.net/~xristos/GoldenDawn/witchcraft210.htm, accessed on 04.01.2011].

12. Parsons, J. "Freedom is two-edged sword", Biblioteca Pleyades [http://www bibliotecapleyades.net/bb/babalon210.htm, accessed on 04.01.2011].

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"Guide to High Magic" (High Magic's Aid) and published in 1949 under the occult pseudonym Scire. The book included rituals related to the cult of the Horned God, which in Wicca is considered the supreme male deity. It is noteworthy that the Goddess, who later became the most important character in Wiccan mythology, is not mentioned in this novel.

In 1951, Gardner separated from the New Forest community and formed his own. The repeal of the Law against Witchcraft in England this year allowed Gardner to move on to more active actions to develop and popularize his own witchcraft religion. In the same year, he moved to Castletown on the Isle of Man, where Cecil Williamson founded the Museum of Magic and Witchcraft. Gardner became a "resident sorcerer" there, and also added his own collections of ritual tools and artifacts to the exhibition. Shortly thereafter, he acquired the museum, becoming its director, and published the most famous of his books on magic, Witchcraft Today (1954). It is in this book that most of Gardner's ideas, which are the core of Wiccan teaching, are contained.

Gardner's main method was to analyze myths, folk beliefs, fairy tales, and other materials obtained from more or less reliable sources. In addition, Gardner often refers to information he received from "modern witches", with whom Gardner, according to him, communicated at different times. Gardner interpreted the word" witch " very broadly, so it is not always clear whether he is talking about real ethnographic work or just about his communication with people from among the European occultists. In his work, Gardner relied on the popular hypothesis in the middle of the XX century, according to which the witch tradition in Europe is a religion that has come down to our time in almost unchanged form in pre-Christian times. He's writing: "I have always assumed that witches belong to an independent cult dating back to the Stone Age [...]" 13. Margaret Murray, an anthropologist who wrote the introduction to Witchcraft Today, was one of the most prominent proponents of this hypothesis. Appreciating Gardner's work, she writes:: "In this work, Dr. Gardner has demonstrated that so-called 'witchcraft' is a legacy of ancient rituals, having nothing to do with casting spells and other magical techniques.-

13.J. Gardner Witchcraft today. Gardnerian Book of Shadows, Moscow: Ganga Publ., 2010, P. 104.

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It is characteristic that Gardner, in the preface to Witchcraft Today, signed himself as"director of the Museum of Magic and Magic", and that he is" a sincere expression of the same attitude towards God that modern Christianity shows - perhaps more decently, but by no means more sincerely - in its church services ".14 It is characteristic that Gardner, in the preface to Witchcraft Today, signed himself as "director of the Museum of Magic and Magic". witchcraft, Witch's Mill, Castletown, Isle of Man " 15, wishing to emphasize the scholarly nature of his book and the study of witchcraft history undertaken in it.

At the same time, it is important to understand that for Gardner himself, his works were not purely scientific, research work. First of all, Gardner wanted to tell the world what he believed to be the truth about modern witchcraft. At the same time, it is important that Gardner focused on the widest possible audience, which probably explains his desire to write a work in a scientific style rather than a purely religious text when preparing Witchcraft Today. In Witchcraft Today, Gardner is quite specific about his main task: "The witches of England told me:' Write and tell everyone that we are not some perverts. We are decent people, and we only want to be left alone""16. So, Gardner primarily saw the basis of his work in "improving the image" of people engaged in witchcraft.

It is important to keep in mind that, based on his personal observations, Gardner assumed that the witching tradition, which he described mainly on European material, was not a purely European invention after all. Gardner went further and actually assumed that his reconstruction touches on such layers of religiosity that are common to different cultures and can be found in various regions of the planet, since they go back to ancient times. In particular, Gardner puts forward a hypothesis about the influence of the religion of Egypt on European witchcraft. About witches, he writes in this regard as follows:: "They have very vague traditions that the cult came from the East, from the Summer Land, combined with the legend that it has existed since the time of the descent of the Goddess into the land of death"17. In the same chapter, Gardner, referring to Pennethorn Hughes, asserts that " all systems are violations of the usual

14. Ibid., p. 25.

15. Ibid., p. 23. Witches ' Mill-official address of the museum.

16. Ibid., p. 22.

17. Ibid., p. 117.

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the functioning of consciousness practiced by the black population of Africa dates back to ancient Egypt. " 18 Gardner suggests a certain historical relationship between African witchcraft and European witchcraft.

According to Gardner, the basis of the witches ' teachings is the myth of God and Goddess, who are considered the highest deities in Wicca. It should be noted that, in addition to this, in Gardner's works there is also the idea of a single beginning of this pair of opposites, but this single beginning remains nameless and indescribable for him. Although in practice Wicca is often dominated by the cult of the Goddess and the role of the High Priestess of the coven is often key, the main Wiccan myth contains a story in which the relationship between God and Goddess is presented in a rather specific way:

B. has never known love, but was able to solve any mystery, including the mystery of Death, and so went to the other world. The gate guards stopped her. They said," Take off your clothes and put off your ornaments, for you are not allowed to take any of them into our land." And she stripped off her garments and took off her ornaments, and was bound, like all who enter into the kingdom of Death, the mighty lord.

And such was her beauty that self (sic!) Death knelt down before her and kissed her feet, saying, " Blessed be your feet that have brought you on these paths. Live with me, let me put my icy hand on your heart." And she answered, " You don't like me. Why do you make everything I love and enjoy wither and die? "Lady," said Death to her, " it is fate and old age against which I am powerless. Old age wears everything out, but when people die at the end of their term, I give them peace and quiet, and give them strength back so they can come back. But you're so beautiful. Don't come back, stay with me." But she said, " I don't love you." And Death said, " If you do not want to take my hand on your heart, you will have to accept the punishment of Death." "If this is fate, so much the better," she said, and knelt down. And he scourged her with Death, and she cried out: "Oh, I have known the torments of love!" And Death said to her, "Blessed be you!"and gave her a five-fold kiss, saying," Only in this way could you gain joy and knowledge. " 19
18.J. Gardner Witchcraft today. The Gardnerian Book of Shadows.

19. Ibid., pp. 55-56.

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This myth is the basis for several Wiccan ceremonies described by Gardner. First of all, we are talking about the rite of initiation. Flagellation was also used by Gardner and his associates as a method of purification.

Gardner certainly believed in the posthumous existence of the soul. As can be seen from the above myth, the Wiccan concept of the soul's posthumous existence is based on the concept of reincarnation. Death says, " ... when people die at the end of their term, I give them peace and quiet, and give them back strength so that they can return." So, in a first approximation, we can say that, according to Gardner's ideas, the soul of the deceased remains after death in a certain afterlife for a certain time, where it seems to rest from its incarnation, and then Death returns its strength and the soul goes back to earth. However, the posthumous existence and further fate of the soul is not the same for all people. Referring to the words of a modern witch, Gardner writes:: "When we die, we go to the realm of the gods, where we rest for a while in their wondrous land and prepare to be born again on earth. And if we performed our rituals correctly, then by the grace of the Great Mother we will be born among those we loved, and we will remember, recognize, and love them again. " 20 As we can see, the key criterion, in addition to ethics (which turns out to be secondary), in this case is the correct performance of rituals, the correct sacred action, which simultaneously implies the presence of some secret knowledge about the world that is accessible only to some people. Gardner's 1961" Poetic Parting Words "speak even more clearly on behalf of the Goddess:" I will teach you the secret of rebirth. Perform my ordinances with joy, from heart to heart and mouth to mouth."21. At the same time, others who do not possess true knowledge and "do evil" should expect a less pleasant fate, since they will be "severely taught" in the land of the gods and "born among strangers"22.

Wiccan morality is based on the so-called Wiccan Precept: "If it doesn't cause any harm, do whatever you want." This motto was borrowed by Gardner from Aleister Crowley, who in the" Book of the Law " introduced as os-

20. Ibid., p. 172.

21. Ibid., p. 282.

22. Ibid., p. 172.

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A new ethical principle is the slogan: "Do what you want, that's the whole Law"23. Gardner, as you can see, reworked Crowley's principle, adding to it the idea of not causing harm to others, which radically changed the original version, bringing it closer to the Eastern principle of Ahimsa. Modern Wiccans interpret the Wiccan Manual in different ways, but in general their interpretation is reduced to understanding it as a call not to cause senseless harm, to refrain from senseless violence. In this sense, Wiccan Instruction also fits well with the environmental projects of many modern Wiccans. In addition to Wiccan Instruction, an important ethical norm in Gardner's teaching is the Law of Threefold Return (also known as the Law of Threefold Reward), which is understood as follows: everything, good or evil, that you do to others, will return to you three times.

Another important document regarding Wiccan ethics and religious practice is the Ancient Laws, also known as the Ardaines. These laws were first issued by Gardner in 1957. He assumed that these "laws" were of ancient origin, and claimed that they were shared by members of the New Forest coven. The Ardaines, as well as a text based on them called the 161st Law, contain primarily information related to Wiccan ritual practices, coven structure, and governance principles. Wiccans are required to worship the gods in a magic circle, and before entering the circle, they must undergo purification. It is stated that each coven must be governed by a High Priestess and that she must do so "with Justice and love" 24 and with the help of the councils of the coven's elders. Thus, the special role of the priestess in the governance of the Wiccan community is once again emphasized, as opposed to the authority of the elders, which is essentially limited to their right to give advice.

Much of Gardner's work focuses on the actual religious and magical practice of Wiccan. Gardner provides detailed descriptions of various rituals and instructions for the use of magical items, comparing ancient and modern customs. Of all the actual religious actions, a special significance is given to-

23. Crowley A. Kniga Zakona [The Book of Law]. The Book of Lies. Penza: Almaznoye serdtse Publ., 2005, p. 74.

24. Gardner, G. (1957) "The Old Laws or the Ardanes", Wicca: For the Rest of Us [http://wicca.cnbeyer.com/laws/old_laws. shtml, accessed on 31.07.2012].

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Most of them celebrate the annual cycle of agricultural holidays, the so-called "Wheels of the Year". In total, this cycle includes eight holidays:

1. Halloween, October 31.

2. Winter Solstice, December 21.

3. Candlemas, February 2.

4. Spring Equinox, March 21.

5. May Day, May 1.

6. Summer Solstice, June 21.

7. Lammas, August 1.

8. Autumnal Equinox, September 21.

Of these holidays, four are called "big sabbats" ("fire holidays"), and four - "small". The" big sabbaths " include Halloween, Candlemas, May Day, and Lammas. The equinoxes and solstices correspondingly belong to the "small ones". Gardner's correspondence of Christian holidays to pagan ones is not accidental. He got this idea from M. Murray, who believes that the parallels between pagan and Christian holidays mean that the latter are nothing more than the result of the Christianization of ancient pagan rites. As J. R. R. Tolkien notes: Pearson, originally Wiccan festivals did not have a pronounced Celtic character; Celtic aesthetics and corresponding names were added only in the 1980s, at the same time Celtic names spread in the Wiccan environment: Samhain, Iol, Imbolc, Ostara, Beltane, Lita, Lughnasadh, Mabon 25. Descriptions of "big sabbats" were given in Gardner's instructions in 1949,26 while descriptions of" small sabbats " date back to 1957,27 indicating that their celebration was introduced in the Gardner coven later. All festive rituals contain as a mandatory component a cleansing procedure consisting of binding and flagellation. Sexual symbols are widely used in rituals. For example, the description of the Halloween celebration begins as follows: "The Magician leads the High Priestess in a slow step or dance; they carry a phallic-headed wand or broomstick.."28th Summer Solstice Ritual

25. Pearson, J. (2005) "Wicca", in Encyclopedia of Religion. Vol. 14, p. 9731. Thomson Gale.

26.J. Gardner Witchcraft today. Gardnerian Book of Shadows, P. 214.

27. Ibid., p. 251.

28. Ibid., p. 214.

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It contains the following formula: "The magician goes forward in the sun with a kiss, takes the wand, plunges it into the cauldron and raises it again, saying:' Lance to cauldron, spear to Grail, spirit to flesh, man to woman, sun to earth '" 29. It is noteworthy that this formula, among other things, includes the symbolism of the Holy Grail associated with Christianity. This is one of the most significant examples of the influence that the Christian tradition has had on the formation of Wicca, contrary to the claims of some traditional Wiccans that their religion has little in common with Christianity. Initiation rites are fundamental to Gardner's system. Only after passing them can a person be considered a Wiccan in the full sense of the word. In total, there are three degrees of initiation; the initiation rituals in them are known in two versions: 1949 and 1957. However, they have a lot in common. Both versions show fairly clear parallels with Freemasonry. For example, at the beginning of a Wiccan initiation, as in Freemasonry, a sword is held to the candidate's chest. There are also parallels with other areas of Western esotericism. For example, in the text of the Wicca first stage initiation formula in the 1949 version, there is a reference to the Watchtowers of the cardinal directions, which is a parallel with Enochean30 magic. In the text of the same ritual, there are references to such formulas as Azoth and Adonai31, also traditionally associated with Western esotericism. However, of course, the connection with other branches of Western esotericism does not mean that it is identical with them: the Wiccan initiation procedure is quite peculiar and is based on Gardner's idea of what the initiation procedure was like for witches. It should also not be forgotten that, according to Gardner, all the modern trends of Western esotericism contained, to one degree or another, the wisdom of ancient witches. One of the most controversial and at the same time most important aspects of initiation is the procedure of binding and flagellation already mentioned above. It is carried out as follows: "The Magician strikes the bell eleven times, takes the whip from the altar and strikes it on the buttocks of the applicant with the number three, seven, nine and twenty-one" 32. -

29.J. Gardner Witchcraft today. Gardnerian Book of Shadows, P. 252.

30. Ibid., p. 204.

31. Ibid.

32. Ibid., p. 205.

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the ment of initiation is the vows made by initiates during initiation. These oaths are as follows:: "Always stay true to Art"; "Help, protect and protect your Brothers and Sisters in Art"; "Keep an absolute secret".

The last item is expanded as follows:"...I swear that I will forever keep the secrets of Art secret and will never reveal them except to the right person, properly trained, and within the circle."34 A later 1957 version adds an additional oath: "...and that I will never refuse to reveal the secrets to such a [correct] person, if they vouch for me." he has an Art Brother or Sister. " 35
"Reconstructing" the witchcraft tradition, Gardner, of course, paid attention not only to its religious, but also to its magical aspects. Magic in Gardner's version is basically a collective process. More precisely, the minimum unit of magical practice is two people, preferably of different sexes.

The basis of the magical practice of Wicca, as described by Gardner, is the "Eightfold Path", consisting of the following 36 elements: meditation or concentration on the goal; trance states; potions, wine, incense; dances and rituals; chants and incantations; control of blood flow (mainly by binding) and breathing; flagellation The Great Ritual.

Any practice of magic should, according to Gardner, take place exclusively within the "witchcraft circle". This, according to Gardner, is necessary for two reasons: first, to gather and retain the magical power inside during rituals, and second, to avoid various distracting external influences.37 Gardner considered the Great Ritual to be the most important of all magical operations. Its essence consists in the symbolic union of God and Goddess, which is represented either as a sexual act between a priest and a priestess, or as a combination of magical tools that symbolize the masculine and feminine principles (a sword and a cauldron, or a black-handled dagger called an athame, and a bowl).

33. Ibid., p. 206.

34. Ibid.

35. Ibid., p. 260.

36. Ibid., p. 256.

37. Ibid., pp. 63, 223

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An important place in ritual practice is occupied by the use of various objects. Gardner describes the minimum set of magical tools as follows: "... you will have to borrow or buy an athame. Draw a circle and build an altar. Any small table or chest will do. There should be a fire on the altar (a candle will do) and your book.<...> You also need a bowl if you are going to perform the ceremony of cookies and wine, and a dish with ink signs and a pantacle [a round talisman with magic symbols. - p. 77.]. The whip is not difficult to make (note: the whip should have eight tails and five knots on each tail). Also get a white-handled knife and a wand (no sword required). " 38 During the initiation ceremony, the witch is presented with a full set of magical tools. This set is as follows: sword, athame, white-handled knife (bollin), wand, pantacle, incense burner, whip and cord 39.

So, in this article, the main provisions of one of the main ideologists and founders of Wicca, J. Gardner, were considered. These performances are very complex and eclectic. Although Gardner obviously did not plan this initially, his ideas have now served as the basis for the formation of a completely independent religious system, which has become very popular all over the world. The study of Gardner's ideas is important in at least two ways. First, such research can shed light on the basic ideas underlying Wiccan teaching. Second, Gardner's work can be studied as a product of the intellectual environment typical of late 19th - early 20th-century Britain. In this sense, it is important to understand that the ideas developed in Gardner's work did not come from scratch. In the first half of the twentieth century, their premises are already being found in a wide variety of circles: esoteric (as can be seen in the example of Golden Dawn and J. R. R. Tolkien). Parsons), literary (UB. Yates) and academic (M. Murray). In this sense, Gardner turned out to be an exponent of what has long been brewing, in which there is an objective need in society. But Gardner is not only a product of the intellectual environment of his era. What is important is that Gardner's teaching expressed certain trends in the development of Western culture in the second half of the twentieth century, so that his ideas turned out to be very interesting.

38. Gardner J. Witchcraft today. Gardnerian Book of Shadows, p. 242.

39. Ibid., p. 261.

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It is quite consistent with the sentiments that dominated the Western world in the following decades and included elements such as feminism or interest in environmental issues. This is what largely determined the popularity of his ideas, which we can still observe today.

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