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

NEW FOREST COVEN

The allegedly genuine survival of a traditionalist coven, the Southern Coven of British Witches, based in Hampshire, into which Gerald Gardner was initiated in September 1939 prior to the outbreak of World War II.

While the existence of a surviving coven was asserted by Gardner, the claim was also supported by Aleister Crowley's close associate, Louis Wilkinson. The coven was led at the time by Dorothy Clutterbuck and was the same group that allegedly raised a Cone of Power, some time between May and August of 1940, against Adolf Hitler's threatened invasion of England.

According to Wilkinson the coven was made up of middle class people and local villagers, and enshrined a genuine tradition.

The author, Francis King, makes the claim that, on the occasion when the Cone of Power was raised to counter the German invasion threat, that the coven engaged in human sacrifice. In order to add potency to the rite a frail and elderly volunteer offered to leave off his protective 'Flying Ointment' and thus to expire from exposure.

It was, King claims, an extremely cold May night and in total three members of the coven - which practiced skyclad - died of pneumonia in direct consequence of the night's activities.

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