Earth Religion News
This is a transcribed copy of a series of letters first published in the 1976 Volume 1, Numbers 1, 2, and 3 issues of Earth Religion News, which was an early periodical that focused on neopaganism and vegetarianism edited by Herman Slater. The first portion of text is one of the letters written by "Lugh" that was later published in a collection called The Pickingill Papers. Lugh was the penname of W. E. Liddell, and this is an example of the many letters he sent to periodicals like The Wiccan and The Cauldron between the mid 1970s and early '90s. Leo Louis Martello responds to it and addresses the author as Doreen Valiente, but this is misleading. These letters are valuable for information about the arguments that were going on in the Wiccan community in the mid 1970s. They are not, however, entirely accurate in their description of Wicca's history. I have not heavily studied stories of George Pickingill, so I cannot really vouch for their truth or falsity. However, many of the claims surrounding Gardner's relationship to Crowley are not supported by other evidance, as Israel Regardie points out in his response. Most of the history relating to Gardner in these correspondences is up for debate, but the personalities and the controversies that took place in the 1970s are important historically on their own.
I am indebted to Tuan Cu Mhara of Coven Hensiarad for this material, and to Sabazius for the helpful correction to my original introduction. Here is a link for those who would like to form their own opinion about Bill Liddell's work.
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This is the back cover. |
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This is the transcription of the letters. |
