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Margaret Alice Murray  (1863-1963) 

Written and compiled by George Knowles.    

Margaret Murray was an eminent and respected Anthropologist, Archaeologist and Egyptologist.  In the 1920's she began writing about her theories on the origins and organization of witchcraft predating Christianity.  At the time many of her colleagues ridiculed her work, yet today some of her books have gained classical status.  These include:  Witchcraft, The Witch-Cult in Western Europe - published in 1921, The God of the Witches  - published in 1933 and the Divine King in England – published 1954. 

Margaret Murray was born in Calcutta on the 13^th July 1863.  She was educated at University Collage in London and later named a fellow of the same collage.  In her early days at college she studied anthropology and was a pioneer “Suffragette” speaking out on women’s rights.  She took part in many archaeological excavations working with the likes of Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie, the renowned Egyptologist.  They worked together in such places as Egypt, South Palestine and England.  Under his guidance she later specialised in Egyptology and was made a junior lecturer of the college. 

Rumour has it that Margaret’s interest in witchcraft began around 1915 after she became ill while working an excavation in Egypt.  Returning home to England she convalesced at Glastonbury.  Her autobiography My First Hundred Years (William Kimber, London, 1963) states:  “I chose to convalesce in Glastonbury, and one cannot stay in Glastonbury without becoming interested in “Joseph of Arimathea and the Holy Grail”.  As soon as I got back to London, I did some careful research.  This led to a paper on: Egyptian elements in the Grail Romance.” 

Her interest ignited Margaret began a serious study of witchcraft.  She started working from contemporary records of witches and witchcraft trials, then moved on to researching medieval and renaissance documents, including those related to the trails of Joan of Arc and Gilles de Rias.  At the same time she conducted field studies throughout Europe.  Her findings led to the publication of her first book: Witchcraft: The Witch Cult in Western Europe, (London: Oxford University Press, 1921.).  Her theories concluded that witchcraft was widespread and rooted in European Pagan fertility cults that extended back to the Palaeolithic era.  This caused a deal of controversy among her peers and her opinions were ridiculed. 

Undaunted Margaret continued to study witchcraft as a sideline to her main career.  She was a shrewd and critical scholar and her work in Archaeology and Egyptology did not go unrecognised.  The University Collage in London made her Assistant Professor of Egyptology in 1924, a post she held until her retirement in 1935. 

Her second book: The God of the Witches, (First published by Sampson Low, Marston and Co., Ltd., 1931.), concerned the Horned God of Witchcraft and her theories on how this figure dated back to Palaeolithic times as a fertility god.  The book was almost totally ignored until after the Second World War and the repeal of the Witchcraft Laws in 1951.  The following year in 1952 the book was jointly reissued by the Oxford University Press in New York and Faber and Faber Ltd in London, after which it soon became a classic best seller.

After her retirement from University College in 1935, Margaret continued to study witchcraft and travelled about the country giving lectures on her theories.  Then in 1945 a mysterious murder incident occurred in the Cotswolds.  It had all the indications of being a witchcraft ritual slaying.  On the 14^th February 1945, an old man called Charles Walton of Lower Quinton was found dead under a tree on Meon Hill, a ritual meeting place for witches (see "Murder by Witchcraft").  His body had been pinned to the ground with a pitchfork and his throat and chest slashed with a scythe in the form of a cross.  (February 14^th was also Candlemas by the Old Calendar and one of the Great Sabbats of the witches).

The police investigating the murder came up against a wall of silence, and no arrest was ever made.  Margaret disguised herself as a visiting artist and spent a week in the area with a sketchbook in hand.  She was actually conducting her own investigation.  Later she publicly stated that she believed the murder victim had been killed because of local fear and belief in witchcraft.  Charles Walton had been slain because someone feared his powers as a witch. 

In 1953-1955, Margaret was made President of the Folklore Society, another distinguished accolade and an incredible achievement at the age of 90.  She followed this in 1954 with her third and perhaps most controversial book: The Divine King in England (Faber and Faber, London.).  In this book she advanced the theory that many early English sovereigns, those dating back from William the Conqueror in the 11^th century through to James 1 in the early 17^th century had died by ritual murder.  This in keeping with the ancient sacrificial themes of the “Slain God” and “Divine King’s” of old pagan religions.  It caused a storm of protest from her colleagues who moved to dismiss all her writings on the topic of witchcraft.

Today many scholars and historians still ridicule and dismiss her books as nonsense.  Yet Margaret Murray’s books, like the books of Sir James Frazer and Charles G. Leland, were the guiding inspiration used by Gerald B. Gardner and others when shaping the reformation of the modern day Wicca/Witchcraft movement.

Margaret Murray died peacefully in 1963 after completing her final achievement.  At the age of one hundred years she wrote and had published her own autobiography.  This she entitled: My First Hundred Years (William Kimber, London, 1963.).  In it she records her belief in reincarnation, her faith in the human soul and the soul’s survival after bodily death.  She was without doubt one of the most remarkable and outstanding women of her generation.

Sources

Books

Encyclopedia of Wicca &Witchcraft  - by Raven Grimassi.

An ABC of Witchcraft Past and Present  - by Doreen Valiente.   

Websites

 http://www.avalonia.co.uk

First published on the 25th May 2001, 13:11:38 © George Knowles

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