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

Controverscial.Com

Welcome

Vivianne Crowley

Written and compiled by George Knowles

Vivianne Crowley is a prominent High Priestess and teacher of the Wiccan way.  She is a successful best-selling author, University lecturer, Psychologist and Therapist whose work is dedicated to building bridges between Wicca/Paganism and the mainstream religions of society.

Vivianne was born of Irish descent but was raised in the New Forrest region of Hampshire, an area steeped in witchcraft history and folklore and one of the oldest forests in England.  Indeed she was raised in the same area that Gerald Gardner began his exploration into witchcraft and that of another famous witch, Sybil Leek. 

Her mother had strong psychic abilities which included precognitive dreams, she helped to make Vivianne aware from an early age that there was more to the world than the five senses could detect.  She was educated in local Catholic and Protestant schools, which gave her an understanding of the different religions and spiritual traditions that made up the community.

As a child, Vivianne spent much of her time playing in the New Forrest attuning herself to the ways of nature.  She felt the energy of the trees and the spirits of the earth, and watched and learned from the turning of the seasons, her whole world seemed to be a magical place.  Occasionally she would come across old circles formed by witches long past gone and wondered about the rites they had held there.  By the time she was eight, she was practicing and testing her own abilities with practical magic.  On one occasion with friends from school she cast a rainmaking spell, which allegedly "did produce rain".  She also began to teach herself the tarot cards and started to give readings to other students on the school bus. 

By the time she was 11, about the same time Gerald Gardner (founder of the Gardnerian tradition) and Alex Sanders (founder of the Alexandrian tradition) were gaining prominence in the news, Vivianne learned all she would from the media stories and all she could read about witchcraft and covens.  At her all-girls school she gathered together some friends and formed her own coven.  She improvised and designed her own initiation rite based on the photos and stories she had read about in the media.  Representing the Goddess, she would stand with her legs apart and have the initiates pass through them, a symbolic enactment of being reborn.  However her coven activities were soon curtailed as the school authorities closed her down, but not because of any religious bigotry (witchcraft was never even mentioned), merely because nearby residents had complained about the noise they were making.

Vivianne was sure of her destiny and was only 14 when she decided that she wanted to take a formal initiation as a witch.  Until this time she had mainly looked at witchcraft as a practical craft, a means of helping people with herbs and healing.  Now with all the publicity surrounding Alex Sanders and his wife Maxine, she began to see that witchcraft had a spiritual side, one in which women could play a prominent role.  She applied to the Sanders’ coven in London for initiation but they turned her down informing her she had to be 18 to be initiated.

Undeterred, Vivianne waited and studied all the resources she could lay her hands on.  She left the New Forrest and entered the University of London where she eventually earned a bachelor’s degree and Ph.D. in Psychology.  Upon turning 18 she reapplied to the Sanders’ coven in London and was accepted and initiated.  The Sanders’ whom she greatly admired suffered marital difficulties and separated in 1973, after which the London coven underwent major changes.  Not happy with of these changes Vivianne left and joined a Gardnerian coven.

A few years later she meet her future husband Chris who at the time had no interest in Wicca, this soon changed however as he was quickly taught and initiated by Vivianne.  They were married in 1979 and established their own coven which they still maintain to this day.  Over the years many covens have hived off their original and the Crowley’s have helped many individuals all across Britain, Continental Europe and the United States to start up their own.

Today Vivianne is a professional psychologist who lectures on the psychology of religion at King’s Collage, University of London.  She is also the adjunct professor at the Union Institute in Cincinnati, Ohio.  As well as academic work, she works in business as a management consultant and does some private counselling.  She describes herself as Jungian oriented but with an eclectic approach including transpersonal psychology.

In 1988 due to the lack of venues for the public teaching of witchcraft and as a means of introducing interested people into the craft, the Crowley’s formed the Wicca Study Group in London.  Vivianne also began teaching in Germany following up on the work done there by Alex Sanders.   The success of the Wicca Study Group led the Crowley’s to expand their teaching to other countries including North America.

Also in 1988, the Crowley’s became involved with the Pagan Federation, Vivianne as the secretary and Chris as the treasurer then president.  Vivianne also took on the role of the federation’s interfaith coordinator and served as the U.K. coordinator of the Pagan Chaplainry Services for H.M. Prisons.  Both Chris and Vivianne helped to develop the federation’s system of democratic elections and have served on its committees since 1991.

Vivianne published her first book “Wicca: The Old Religion in the New Age” in 1989 and it soon became a best seller.  It was revised and updated in 1996 as “Wicca: The Old Religion in the New Millennium”. In it she provides a clear and well-written introduction to Wicca as a spiritual tradition that facilitates personal growth, creativity and integration.  Her other books include: Phoenix from the Flame and Pagan Spirituality in the Western World (1994), Principles of Paganism (1996), Principles of Wicca (1997), Principles of Jungian Spirituality (1998) and Celtic Wisdom: Seasonal Festivals and Rituals (1998).

Vivienne’s contributions to Wicca and Paganism have in many ways been outstanding if not inspirational.  She was instrumental in the establishment of networking, and has led peer group support for Wiccans and Pagans in Britain and Europe.  She uses her many abilities to try and bridge our tradition into other area’s, such as: other religions, academia, psychology and popular culture.  By doing so she has established a common multicultural and spiritual ground on which Wicca and Paganism can grow.  Due to her efforts Wicca and Paganism are now recognized as serious subjects of academic and interfaith studies.

It is the task of Paganism today to give to those who seek its ways the inner knowledge, light, energy and peace with which to live our lives in harmony with one another and with all living creation and to answer the eternal questions of humankind:  "Who am I?  What must I do to to live well and honourably?  What is the meaning of the mystery of live and of the Divine?" 

Sources

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

Plus Numerous Websites Resources

  First published on the 18th August 2001, 17:16:12 © George Knowles

Best wishes and Blessed Be

Gods and Goddesses (Greek Mythology) /  Esbats & Full Moons /  Links to Personal Friends & Resources /  Wicca/Witchcraft Resources /  What's a spell? /  Circle Casting and Sacred Space /  Pentagram - Pentacle /  Marks of a Witch /  The Witches Power /  The Witches Hat /  An esoteric guide to visiting London /  Satanism /  Pow-wow /  The Unitarian Universalist Association /  Numerology:  Part 1  /  Part 2  /  Part 3 /  A history of the Malleus Maleficarum:  includes:  Pope Innocent VIII  /  The papal Bull  /   The Malleus Maleficarum  /  An extract from the Malleus Maleficarum  /  The letter of approbation  /  Johann Nider’s Formicarius  /  Jacob Sprenger  /  Heinrich Kramer  /  Stefano Infessura  /  Montague Summers  /  The Waldenses  /  The Albigenses  /  The Hussites /  The Sun Dance /  Shielding (Occult and Psychic Protection) /  The History of Thanksgiving /

Articles and Stories about Witchcraft:

Murder by Witchcraft /  The Fairy Witch of Clonmel /  A Battleship, U-boat, and a Witch /  The Troll-Tear (A story for Children) /  Goody Hawkins - The Wise Goodwife /  The Story of Jack-O-Lantern /  The Murder of the Hammersmith Ghost /  Josephine Gray (The Infamous Black Widow) /  The Two Brothers - Light and Dark

Abramelin the Mage /  Agrippa /  Aidan A. Kelly /  Albertus Magnus “Albert the Great” /  Aleister Crowley “The Great Beast” /  Alex Sanders "the King of the Witches” /  Alison Harlow /  Amber K /  Anna Franklin /  Anodea Judith /  Anton Szandor LaVey  / Arnold Crowther /  Arthur Edward Waite /  Austin Osman Spare /  Biddy Early /  Bridget Cleary /  Carl Llewellyn Weschcke /  Cecil Hugh Williamson /  Charles Godfrey Leland /  Charles Walton /  Christina Oakley Harrington /  Damh the Bard (Dave Smith) /   Dion Fortune /  Dolores Aschroft-Nowicki /  Dorothy Morrison /  Doreen Valiente /  Edward Fitch /  Eleanor Ray Bone “Matriarch of British Witchcraft” /  Dr. John Dee and Edward Kelly /  Dr. Leo Louis Martello /  Eliphas Levi /  Ernest Thompson Seton /  Ernest Westlake and the Order of Woodcraft Chivalry /  Fiona Horne /  Friedrich von Spee /  Francis Barrett /  Gerald B. Gardner /  Gavin and Yvonne Frost and the School and Church of Wicca /  Gwydion Pendderwen /  Hans Holzer /  Helen Duncan /  Herman Slater "Horrible Herman" /  Israel Regardie /  James "Cunning" Murrell /  Janet Farrar & Gavin Bone /  Jessie Wicker Bell “Lady Sheba” / John Belham-Payne /  John George Hohman /  John Gerard / John Gordon Hargrave (the White Fox) /  John Michael Greer /  John Score /  Johannes Junius the Burgomaster of Bamberg /  Karl von Eckartshausen /  Laurie Cabot "the Official Witch of Salem" /  Lewis Spence /  Margaret Alice Murray /  Margot Adler /  Marie Laveau the " Voodoo Queen of New Orleans" /  Marion Weinstein /  Matthew Hopkins “The Witch-Finder General” /  Max Ehrmann and the Desiderata /  Monique Wilson the “Queen of the Witches” /  Montague Summers /  Nicholas Culpeper /  Nicholas Remy /  M. R. Sellers /  Mrs. Grieve "A Modern Herbal" /  Oberon and Morning Glory Zell-Ravenheart /  Old Dorothy Clutterbuck /  Old George Pickingill /   Paddy Slade /  Pamela Colman-Smith /  Paracelsus /  Patricia Crowther /  Patricia Monaghan /  Patricia “Trish” Telesco /  Philip Emmons Isaac Bonewits /  Philip Heselton /  Raymond Buckland /  Reginald Scot /  Robert Cochrane /  Robert ‘von Ranke’ Graves and "The White Goddess" /  Rudolf Steiner /  Rosaleen Norton “The Witch of Kings Cross” /  Ross Nichols and The Order of Bards, Ovates & Druids /  Sabrina - The Ink Witch /  Scott Cunningham /  Selena Fox /  Silver Ravenwolf /  Sir Francis Dashwood /  Sir James George Frazer /  S.L. MacGregor Mathers and the “Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn” /  Starhawk /  Stewart Farrar /  Sybil Leek /  Ted Andrews /  The Mather Family - includes: Richard Mather, Increase Mather, Cotton Mather /  Thomas Ady /  Vera Chapman /  Victor Henry Anderson /  Vivianne Crowley /  Walter Brown Gibson /  William Butler Yeats /  Zsuzsanna Budapest

Many of the above biographies are brief and far from complete.  If you know about any of these individuals and can help with aditional information, please cantact me privately at my email address below.  Many thanks for reading  :-)

"FAIR USE NOTICE"

While I have taken due care and dilligence to credit all sources where possible, this website may contain copyrighted material which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner.  My use of making such material available here is done so in my efforts to advance our understanding of religious discrimination, the environmental and social justice issues etc.  I believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.  In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the information for research and educational purposes.  For more information about 'fair use' see: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml.  If you wish to use copyrighted material from this wedsite for purposes of your own that goes beyond this 'fair use' statement, you must obtain permission from the relevant copyright owner yourself.