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

CLUTTERBUCK, Dorothy (died 1950)

The daughter of a captain in the Indian Army 14th Sikhs, her married name was Fordham and she is said to have Initiated Gerald Gardner into her New Forest Coven. A teacher of music and elocution, she was also closely involved with the Co-Masonic Rosicrucian Theatre in Christchurch, Hampshire, which she had helped to found and where she and Gardner met.

Her Craft Name was Daffo or Dafo. Little is known of her, although she was a lady of some material means whose upbringing was among the British Raj in India. Doreen Valiente, who met Gerald Gardner for the first time at her house in 1952, describes her as an elegant, graceful lady with dark, wavy hair.

It is claimed that Clutterbuck used the Rosicrucian Theatre and the Rosicrucian Fellowship of Crotona as a cover for the activities of an inner circle devoted to witchcraft and it was into this circle, the Southern Coven of British Witches, that Gardner eventually gained admittance. Gardner referred to her in various publications but, for reasons which are not clear, the story arose that she was wholly fictitious and that Gardner had 'made her up'.

It was Dorothy Clutterbuck's sword, presumably obtained during her time with the Raj, that was donated to the Druids for their ceremonials because it was claimed to fit exactly into the Hele Stone at Stonehenge. It was also the ritual of her Coven that was published, albeit as fiction, in Gardner's book High Magic's Aid.

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

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