By Rick Johnson 
PO Box 40451
Tucson, Az.
85717
RikJohnson@juno.com
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Gardnerians, and other Traditionals for that matter, make a big deal out of Lineage. After
all, having a Valid Lineage is one of the things that separates the Traditional from the
Eclectic Witch.
To be a Gardnerian is more than simply buying a copy of Farrar and performing the
edited rites that they describe. Being a Gardnerian is far more than undergoing the
Initiation ritual described in many of the books by Gardner, Buckland, Farrar at al. And
being a Gardnerian is more than undergoing some vague Initiation Ritual performed by a
Gardnerian. In short, to be a Gardnerian, you must meet a number of criteria which are
accepted to some extent by Gardnerians all over the world.
However, Gardnerianism isn't some monolithic entity that allows for nothing save the 'by- the-book' workings. If you get three Gardnerians together, you will get nine different arguments for the simple reason that Gardnerians are, like all Witches, people.
To understand this, we need to go back to the founding of the Tradition. Gerald B.
Gardner was Initiated into a Heriditary Coven in 1939. Quite honestly, we don't know
what, exactly, he practiced as he claimed to have taken certain oaths of secrecy which he
kept to the grave. He did claim that the rites he was given were fragmentary and he had
to flesh them out with writings from other people, notably Aleister Crowley and Rudyard
Kipling. Then as Gardner left his own Coven and formed one of his own, his desire to
see the Craft survive and grow forced him to experiment and make changes over the
years.
From the 1950's to his death in 1964, Gardner Initiated and trained at least seven and
probably more High Priestesses (the latest estimate is nine to twelve), each of whom also
made their own changes to the Tradition that was rapidly evolving.
It is these Priestesses that give the Tradition its many versions. The Gardnerianism as
practiced by Valiente in the early 1950's is somewhat different from the Gardnerianism
as practiced by Wilson in the mid 1960's. Each Priestess was given slightly different
material at different times and each Prietess interpreted that material in a way that was
uniquely their own. And in the 15 years that Gardner trained his Prietesses, none
remained for more than a few years so none could learn everything that Gardner had
spent spent 13 years learning and experiencing.
At least one example of this is that Valiente was not given what we now call "The
Laws" but Wilson was. Another is that early Priestesses underwent an Initiation Rite that
contained certain phrases and actions that were missing from the later Initiations.
And each suceeding Priestess made their own special interpretations to the
Tradition. For example, those of the Wilson Lineage via Rosemary Buckland and her
sucessor, Judy, added the rule that ONLY a Third Degree High Priestess may perform a
valid Initiation wheras most other Gardnerian Lines allow either Second Degrees or even
a High Priest to Initiate.
This does cause a problem for some people who forget this and attempt to apply the rules
and ways of their own individual coven to every Gardnerian.
I must interject here that not every Initiation done by a Gardnerian is an actual
Gardnerian Initiation. Although only a Gardnerian can Initiate someone into the
Gardnerian Tradition, any Gardnerian can perform a general Traditional or even an
Eclectic Initiation. The purpose of these is to Initiate a person into the Craft but not the
Gardnerian Tradition.
So, before we go any further, let us define our terms. For the sake of argument, please accept the general meaning of these and avoid the required nit-picking at details.
GARDNERIAN- Any person who has undergone an Initiation based on any of the
standard Gardnerian Books of Shadows that was performed by a qualified Gardnerian
AND who performs the Rites as interpreted by Gerald Gardner as written in any of the
standard Gardnerian Books of Shadows.
LINE- My personal definition is to determine the Initiatory Descent from a specific Priest or Priestess. Such as the Wilson Line and within that is the Buckland Line and within that is the Mary Phillips Line.
LINEAGE- The actual fact of 'Who Initiated Who' back to the founder of the Tradition and, preferably, beyond to the ancient past.
VALIDITY- Being Initiated in a proper manner. In Gardnerian Wicca this means by another valid Gardnerian following the Initiation ritual in the Gardnerian Book of Shadows and following all of the rules that we impose on our Downlines.
The obvious problems that occur are these:
*1) Exactly what can be dropped or changed from the Gardnerian Initiation and the
other rites and still be considered to be Gardnerian? If George underwent an Initiation
that contained ***** and Julia underwent an Initiation that contained ####, which is
valid?
*2) What can you add to the Book of Shadows and still remain Gardnerian? And
how can we be certain what exactly is contained in a valid book of Shadows? I have
Books of Shadows from a number of lineages: Wilson, Bone and Valiente and even a
photocopy of two of Gardner's personal Books of Shadows and each have material that
overlaps but each also has material not contained in the others. I even have a number of
differing Books of Shadows from the Buckland Lines so what is authentic?
*3) How do you determine if a Gardnerian Lineage is Valid? Who keeps the
records and how can you be certain if those records are complete? Valiente herself stated
that we do not know how many Priestesses Gardner Initiated. How can we deal with a
Coven that Initiated a new person every month and published each name as compared to
a coven that Initiated only five people in 20 years but never advertised any of them?
These are questions that are still being argued by Gardnerians around the world.
So then, why is it important to know or even have a Lineage?
For one reason, we can determine honesty. If you claim to be derived from Valiente
and your Book of Shadows contains "The Laws", then we know that you are a fraud
because the Valiente Lineage never had that material and once Valiente left Gardner in
the early 1950's, she ceased to practice Gardnerian witchcraft.
For another, if the High Priestess who founded your lineage was trained for only six
weeks, then it may be presumed that you may know somewhat less than a Lineage
derived from a Priestess who was trained for five years.
And, if your Lineage allows only Third Degree Priestesses to Initiate, you will have
different methods of training from a Lineage that allows Second Degree Priests to
Initiate. Those who allow only Priestess to rule a coven will attract fewer strong men
than a Lineage that allows Priests to rule.
Knowing a Lineage will tell a lot about how you were trained, what you know and how you work. Despite all the arguments that still occur, all we can say with any authority is that within the Gardnerian Tradition, Lineage IS and remains Important.
To contact me or to request topics to be covered, send to RikJohnson@juno.com
by: Rick Johnson
PO Box 40451
Tucson, Az.
85717
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Return to the Gardnerian page.
