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Patricia Crowther (1927 -)
Written and compiled by George Knowles.
One
of the last remaining High Priestesses initiated by "Gerald
B. Gardner". Since her
initiation by Gardner in 1960, Patricia Crowley has worked steadfastly to
promote the Old Religion through her books, media interviews, and lecture
appearances. She is considered by
many to be Gardner’s spiritual heir, and has formed many flourishing covens
throughout the United Kingdom. Patricia
Crowther was born Patricia Dawson on the 27 October 1927, in Sheffield, England.
The Dawson’s lived next door to palmist “Madame Melba”, who
predicted that Patricia would later develop great clairvoyancy powers and follow
in the foot steps of her great-grand mother, who had been a herbalist,
clairvoyant, and fortuneteller. From
an early age Patricia often identified herself with fairies and the craft,
dressing up as a fairy for fancy-dress parties and playing the role in school
activities. At an early birthday party she was presented with a gold
snake bangle, symbolic of wisdom, life, and death. Patricia was keenly interested in acting, singing
and dancing, and as she progressed through school, she performed in pantomimes
as Robin Hood, and was chosen to be the leading lady in a special revue, which
featured a tableau entitled “The Legend
of the Moon Goddess”. After
leaving school she took up a career in Cabaret and toured all over the United
Kingdom, singing and dancing, and acting on stage. While performing at one venue in her late twenties,
Patricia went to see a hypnotist who regressed her back to previous lives,
including one as a witch called “Polly”.
The year was approximately 1670 and Polly was an old crone of about 66
years old. She lived in a little hut with
a cat, a frog, a goat and hen, and worked spells for the local people most of whom
she held in contempt. During the
regression, Polly recited a number of spells in rhyme with instructions on how
to use them. Patricia at the time
had no knowledge of any such spells, which experts later determined to be
authentic. After her experience
with the hypnotist, Patricia had a number of clairvoyant visions from another
past life, one in which she served as a priestess of a Goddess who had great
power. She identified much more
strongly with this spiritual priestess than she did with the old crone. In 1954 while playing at a theater in Birmingham, Patricia went to see a fortuneteller who predicted that she would meet her future husband, two years later over water, and his name would be Arnold. Patricia thought no more of it, but two years later in 1956 she accepted a summer job to appear in a show on the Isle of White. While on a flight crossing the Solent (a channel between the coast of Hampshire, England and the Isle of White) she met a stage magician and ventriloquist called “Arnold Crowther”. He was appearing in the same show as she and soon romance blossomed between them. Discovering her interest in witchcraft, Crowther offered to introduce her to “Gerald B. Gardner”, a personal friend since 1939. Gardner incidentally had predicted some years earlier, that Crowther would eventually meet “a fair haired women who would initiate him into the craft”.
After
several meetings with him, Gardner initiated Patricia into the craft on the 6th
of June 1960. The ceremony took
place in his private temple on the top floor of the barn at his home in
Castletown on the Isle of Man. During
the initiation rite, Patricia had a profound and powerful trance experience.
She saw herself being reborn and initiated as a priestess of a Moon
Goddess, whose initiation rite consisted of a line of howling naked women who
passed her gauntlet-style through their spread legs.
Gardner explained it, that she, while in trance, had reverted back to a
past life and relived an ancient initiation.
After the rite, Patricia in turn initiated Arnold Crowther, fulfilling
the predication Gardner had made years earlier.
Gardner then presented them with a gift of ritual tools and jewelry,
including a coral necklace for Patricia. Later
that year on the 8th November 1960, Arnold Crowther and Patricia
Dawson were married in a private handfasting ceremony officiated by Gerald
Gardner. The ceremony was performed
skyclad (nude) inside a circle strewn with flowers were they danced, sang and
jumped the broom in accordance with tradition.
The following day they were remarried in a civil ceremony, which was
publicized in the national tabloids. After
the wedding the Crowthers returned to Sheffield were they established their
home. Both took their second-degree
initiation on the 11th October 1961, and on the 27th her
birthday, Patricia became high priestess. The
media ever looking for interviews often turned to the Crowthers for comments, as
minor celebrities connected with the entertainment world, they quickly became
known as authoritative spokespersons for the craft. By December 1961 they had started to build their own coven in
Sheffield, while continuing their instruction in the craft with Gardner.
Patricia had also started a correspondence with an old woman called Jean
in Inverness, she had seen Patricia giving an interview on television and had
written to her. She told Patricia that she thought her worthy of inheriting
secret knowledge, and over the course of two years via correspondence, taught
Patricia the secrets of an old inner tradition. The
Crowthers were a popular couple and media exposure generated more and more
requests for interviews and speaking engagements.
Together they authored two books, “The
Witches Speak” (1965 and 1976) and “The
Secrets of Ancient Witchcraft” (1974).
In 1971, for BBC Radio Sheffield, they produced “A spell of Witchcraft”, the first Radio series in Britain on
Witchcraft. While performing
numerous craft services for those who would ask for help, including spell
casting and exorcising ghosts and spirits, they also wrote seasonal rituals and
introduced new music and poetry into the craft. After
the death of her husband on the 1st May 1974, Patricia Crowther
unstintingly continued to work for the betterment of the craft.
She is a frequent guest on radio talk shows, appears regularly on
television, and gives lectures up and down the country.
She works hard at dispelling the many misconceptions surrounding the
Craft and the Old Religion, and with her cool self-assurance and sense of humour,
she is unhesitant when answering religious bigots and critics.
In 1978 she represented the United Kingdom at an international conference
on the occult, held in Barcelona. After
her 70th birthday while meditating in a circle, Patricia received
clairaudient guidance that she should call herself a “Grand-Mother of the
Craft of the Wise”. She
emphasizes that the craft concerns the evolution of the soul, and that it’s
inner teachings should be transmitted orally.
“I am sure that the Craft/Paganism will have a big part to play in the
centuries to come,” she say’s. “We
must not forget that in the new age, the ruler of Aquarius is none other than
the Star Goddess, whose white hand even now beckons the Children of the Earth,
to become Children of the Stars”.
Patricia’s
non-fiction books include Witchcraft in
Yorkshire (1973), her autobiography Witch
Blood (1974), Lid off the Cauldron
(1981, 1985, 1989, 1992,1998), The Zodiac
Experience (1992, 1995), and One
Witches World (1998). She also
wrote a novel Witches were for Hanging
(1992) that was reprinted in 1999. In
addition to books, she has written numerous articles for such periodicals as Prediction,
Gnostica, New Dimensions, Zodiac, and The
Lamp of Thoth. As well as
writing poetry, she has designed three of the tarot cards (The Sun, Karma, and
The World.) used for the Tarot of the Old
Path (1990).
Sources
Plus many websites to many to mention.
First published on the 20th July 2001, 14:35:50 © George Knowles
Best wishes and Blessed Be
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