Book Review: Dreams of Witches
Go on any pagan or occult forum or social media platform, and at some point, inevitably, someone will assert that contemporary Witchcraft was, more or less, “made up” by Gerald Gardner. This was the conclusion drawn by Ronald Hutton in his 1999 book, Triumph of the Moon. Over the last two decades though, the story has changed, thanks largely to Philip Heselton’s careful investigation of the New Forest Coven in his books, In Search of the New Forest Coven and Witchfather. Thanks to Heselton, many of the members of this bohemian group have been identified, in particular, ‘Dafo’, Gardner’s friend, lover, and magical partner for 15 years.
Christina Oakley Harrington’s Dreams of Witches (xxviii+297pp, Softcover, Black Letter Press 2022) explores the various facets of the first stirrings of the revival of witchcraft, along with a wide selection of textual sources that would have been available to these early pioneers of witchcraft. These range from the classics (Titus Livius), ‘phallic’ religion (Richard Payne Knight, Thomas Wright), the poetry of Tennyson and Yeats, to studies of witchcraft (Ian Ferguson, Theda Kenyon, Montague Summers). These were the sources – the landscape of ideas– from which an eclectic group of free-thinkers in the village of Highcliffe in Dorset, took their inspiration and wove their dreams, taking on the mantle of witches for themselves. This group was in existence for at least a decade before they were introduced to Gerald Gardner.
Dreams of Witches is a fascinating read, demonstrating the rich diversity of sources that spoke of witches and their sabbats, their rites, and revels, that were readily available in the early twentieth century. Anyone with an interest in historical or contemporary witchcraft should grab a copy!
