Merry we meet.     Merry we meet.     Merry we meet.     Merry we meet.

Controverscial.Com

Welcome

Carl “Llewellyn” Weschcke (1930 - ).

Written and compiled by George Knowles.

Carl Weschcke is president of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd, one of the largest publishers of occult and New Age books in the world.  He is also a Magician, a Tantric practitioner, a Pagan and a former Wiccan High Priest who played a leading role in the rise and spread of Wicca and Neo-Paganism in America during the 1960’s and 70’s.

Weschcke was born into a Roman Catholic family on the 10th of September 1930 in St Paul, Minnesota.  Early in his life his paternal grandfather (who at the time was vice-president of the American Theosophical Society), exposed him to metaphysics and the occult, and for his 12th birthday presented young Weschcke with his own astrological chart.  Under his grandfathers influence Weschcke soon became fascinated with astronomy, religion, the occult and reincarnation.  His parents were vegetarian naturalists who practiced mind reading techniques which they often discussed with him, even one of the houses they lived in had strange and mysterious thumps and bangs in the night attributed to the ghosts of the deceased former owners.  Such were the influences that shaped young Weschcke’s life and future path.

Weschcke was educated at the St Paul Academy and graduated in 1948, he then when on to study at the Babson Business Institute in Massachusetts from where he graduated in 1951 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration.  After graduating he went to work in the family’s Pharmaceutical business but found the work unfulfilling.  Weschcke had a dream of becoming a publisher and this led him back to school studying for a doctorate in Philosophy at the University of Minnesota.  However his longing to become involved with publishing caused him to leave the university before completing his course, when in 1960 he purchased the little known 'Llewellyn Publishing Co.'

The Llewellyn Publishing Co. was based in Los Angeles and was but a small mainly mail-order business.  It specialized with a limited focus on selling three astrology books and calendars.  The Welsh astrologer 'Llewellyn George' had founded the business in Portland, Oregon during 1901.  He later moved it to Los Angeles were he died in 1954.  When Weschcke purchased the business in 1960 he moved it to St Paul and began to re-build it.  Quickly he expanded the business to include a complete line of books on astrology and the occult.  Within a decade he was publishing some thirty to fifty titles a year, he included audio and video tapes, and launched a series of magazines including: New Dimension, Gnostica, Astrology Now, New Times and New World.

During the late 1950’s early 60’s Weschcke became actively involved with the civil rights and liberties movements.  He held office in the St Paul’s branch of 'NAACP' (The National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People) and also the 'ACLU' (Minnesota’s Civil Liberties Union).  He played a major role in bringing about fair-housing legislation in St Paul.

In 1964 Weschcke bought a large stone mansion on Summit Avenue in St Paul and used it as both home and place of business.  The house reputedly was haunted and Weschcke had numerous odd experiences there.  He was often awakened at night by cold drafts coming in from open windows, windows he knew he had closed before going to sleep.  He also heard strange noises and footsteps in the dead of night and saw apparitions of a man and woman.  These he believed were not true ghosts but the vibrations of former occupants that had been recorded in the woodwork of the building.  A newspaper article about the hauntings created an avalanche of public attention and paved the way for his media prominence in the emerging Wicca and Paganism movements.

In 1970 Weschcke opened the Gnostica Bookstore in Minneapolis together with the Gnostica School for Self-Development.  It quickly became a popular gathering place for Pagans and others interested in the occult and alternative religions, and established the Twin Cities as a major centre for New Age resources.  A year later in 1971 a local convention centre manager suggested that Minneapolis could benefit from a Woodstock style annual festival.  Weschcke thought it a good idea and took the opportunity to host it.  The first of several festivals was staged later that year, they called it the "First American Aquarian Festival of Astrology and the Occult Sciences".  The festival attracted many of the best-known Witches, Wiccans, Magicians and Neo-Pagans from all around the world.  Witchcraft rituals were conducted and Weschcke led meditations for peace and the healing of the earth.  Later festivals were re-named and became known as 'Gnosticon'.

The following year in 1972 Weschcke himself was initiated into the American Celtic Tradition of Witchcraft by Lady Sheba the traditions founder.  Holding coven meeting in his Summit Avenue home, Weschcke rose to High Priest and is now an Elder in that tradition.  The same year he met 'Sandra Heggum' a High Priestess in the same tradition.  They later married in a heavily publicized handfasting ceremony conducted under a full moon.  Their vows they wrote themselves taken from old Witchcraft rituals and guests drank from a large cauldron filled with fruit, wine and flowers.

Lady Sheba

In 1973 Weschcke helped to form and organize the 'Council of American Witches' and then became its chairman.  For the council he drafted 'The Thirteen Principals of Belief' statement which he considers his proudest accomplishment for the craft (See - 'The Thirteen Principals of Belief').  The statement was later incorporated into the U.S. Army’s handbook for chaplains.  That same year his wife gave birth to their son who they named Gabriel.

By the mid-1970’s Weschcke began to wind down his public activities.  His publishing business was starting to stagnate and Weschcke believed his constant media publicity and it's resulting attention was the cause of it.  He resolved to do something about it. Selling the haunted mansion on Summit Avenue he moved the family to the country where he could spend and devote more time to them.  He restructured the business by closing the bookstore and dropping the festivals, increased the number of book titles they were publishing and included computer software to his range of audio and video-tapes.

The Weschckes continue to support the Wiccan and Pagan communities primarily through their publishing, and many of their authors are sent to organized conferences and activities.  Today, most of their time is taken up by the demands of their business, which by the mid 1990’s had grown into a medium sized publishing house issuing about 100 new titles a year spanning the general spirituality and New Age markets.  Gabriel their son, now holds a master’s degree in publishing science from Pace University, New York and also works for the business as its regional sales manger.

Weschcke holds two honorary doctorates, one in magick, and was for a time the Grandmaster of Aurum Solis, an international magickal order originally founded in England 1897, but now based in St Paul.  He withdrew from the order in 1991 and is currently not affiliated with any group.  His media prominence during the 1960's and 70's did much to bring Wicca and Paganism into the light of acceptability in a sceptical American society.  

Sources 

  The Encyclopedia of Witches &Witchcraft  - by Rosemary Ellen Guiley. 

Encyclopedia of Wicca & Witchcraft  - By Raven Grimassi.

First published on the 18th November 2001, 15:03:12 © George Knowles

Best wishes and Blessed Be