Glossary - exWitch Australia (formerly 'Born Again Pagan')

BUCKLAND, Raymond & Rosemary

'Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft'

The Wiccans principally active in extending Wicca to the United States.

Ray Buckland was Initiated in England in a Gardnerian line in the early 1960's but then emigrated to North America where he published his Book of Shadows.

This 'going public' earned him the ire of many Craft members who disapproved of this break with Wiccan law. He is the author of 'Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft', which somewhat ironically became a standard text - or a least a standard 'primer' - used by many Covens in their 'Outer Court' teaching sessions in the 1980's and 90's.

His other books include Witchcraft from the Inside (1971); Amazing Secrets of the Psychic World (1975); The Tree: The Complete Book of Saxon Witchcraft (1974); Here Is the Occult (1974); Anatomy of the Occult (1977); The Magic of Chant-O-Matics (1978); and Practical Color Magick (1983).

In addition, Buckland has written numerous magazine and newspaper articles on Wicca.

He has appeared on talk shows and lectured at universities. He also served as technical advisor for Orson Welles' movie, Necromancy, and for a stage production of Macbeth, and worked with William Friedkin, the director of The Exorcist.

He holds a doctorate in anthropology from Brantridge Forest College in Sussex, England.

PLEASE NOTE:
One of the major problems with 'defining' Paganism and/or its beliefs and practices is that it is an 'organic' movement, in that it is undergoing constant change and re-evaluation from within, and as such any 'one-size-fits-all' approach to understanding Paganism will be found wanting.

Due to the very 'organic' nature of Paganism, and the many differing Paths and Traditions within it, in many cases no one definition may be universally accepted by all Pagans. Therefore, where such cases of possible conflicting and/or contradictory meanings of certain terms occur I have endevoured to give not only the generally accepted meaning, but also any major 'variations' in belief and/or practice.

Christians who believe this difference in meaning of certain key terms, beliefs and practices to be unique to Paganism need to remember that such conflicts also arise within the Body of Christ - the Church. Take for instance the differing practices amongst Christians concerning Baptism and the different attitudes towards women in the clergy.

- Jean-Luc