The following is the bulk of a posting I made on Dawn Jacksons "Traditional Witchcraft" yahoo list. It was in response to some discussion regarding the co-option and "Dumbing down" of the concept of Traditional Witchcraft.

In the early 1970's, at least here in America, there were three women who publicly identified the Craft Current they followed as Traditional in the Pagan Press/Zines of that era.

Those three were:
Gwen Thompson in Connecticut
Bonnie Sherlock In Wyoming
Kitty Lessing in Florida

Victor Andersons people, wisely chose to eschew that particular "Name Game" and have homegrown their own Feri/Faerie brand which is to their credit.

This can be verified by even a casual investigation of the "Green Egg" which was the paramount journal in circulation here in the States during that decade.

Mikes "The Cauldron" was known about but from my experience was not commonly subscribed to.
Mike: I'd really be interested if you had any figures you could share on how many American subscriptions you had in a typical year circa 1970 to 1990.


Anyway, in the 1970's the Craft groups who followed the paths as set out By Gardner and Sanders never EVER used the term Traditional or Traditionalist. They strictly adhered to the monikers of Gardnerian, Alexandrian, or the sometimes confusing Al-Gard for those who followed a mixed lineage.

The self identified Traditionalists made it clear that they were a different breed of Witch from those groups which derived from Gardners Wica and Sanders Neo-Classical Paganism and I do not recall a single objection to the contrary.
In fact the American Traditionalists were happily singled out as "Not Like Us" by the American Gardnerians Alexandrians and Al-Gards.

The Traditionalists were (and still are) decidedly Old Craft and Luciferian in both Style and Lore, something that the typical 1970's era Witches were desperately trying to deny and live down.


Gwen Thompson and Bonnie Sherlock bonded in a vivid and prolific correspondence relationship, which led to them both sharing their holdings fairly freely.

Kitty Lessing tended to march to the beat of her own drum, and she disappeared from the scene well before the onset of the 1980's decade. (If anyone out there holds a kinship to her, feel free to contact me off list, I have a few personal letters from her which might be valuable assets to your archives)


Bonnie Sherlock suffered from type one diabetes and while I do not recall the exact year of her passing, I'm quite sure it was very early in the 1980's or in the late 1970's.
I know that there were people she trained, but if they have retained a continuing presence I am not aware of it. (I can make the same offer in regard to personal correspondence from Bonnie, along with my recollections of a single visit to meet her circa 1973)

Somewhere around the mid to late 1980's, after all three of these Ladys had exited the scene or passed on, the terms "British Tradtional" started being usurped by The Gardnerian and Alexandrian groups that had previously shunned it as unclean due to its perceived diabolical connections. And thus we have the current disparity in which American Gardnerian and Alexandrian lineage Witches call themselves "British Traditional" while their kin in the UK do no such thing.

In recent years I have noticed, much to my dismay, that the term "Traditional Craft" is becoming similarly co-opted

It has been suggested to me that those who have identified as Traditionalist since the aegis of publicly acknowledged Witchcraft in modern America ought to now abandon that term and "move on" to "Traditional Initiatory Witchcraft" (TIW) to which I boldly reply

BULLSHIT!

My suggestion is that they really ought to roll back to their (one C) Wica and be happy with it. I recommend abandoning their quest to hijack every term that seems to be du jour and thus a suitable target for adoption.

These terms are NOT orphans, they are NOT seeking a new home!


Now all this said, I am well aware that I will probably have bruised the feelings of many Neo Pagan Wic(c)ans whom I've befriended over the years and for that I can only say
"Deal With It"