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Crafting The Art Of Magic:
A Critical Review

By D. Hudson Frew (Morgann)

Revised Version


Copyright 1991 by D. Hudson Frew.
Used by permission of the author.

Due to the extreme length of this document, I have broken it into several pages, based on the subsections of the original document.

— The Webmistress

  1. Introduction
  2. Gardner's "dyslexia", his "conspirators", & the reliability of Kelly's texts
  3. Independent evidence of an earlier group
  4. Pre-1939 Witch groups & Kelly's research
    The antiquity of other, non-Gardnerian Craft traditions
    Mysterious & unsupported statements of "fact"
  5. Kelly's apparent ignorance of folk magic
    Ye Bok of ye Art Magical
  6. West Country Wicca
    Kelly's not-so-puzzling ignorance of Book of Shadows construction
  7. Gardner's texts & "sources"
  8. Folk tradition in the Gardnerian circle
  9. The Eightfold Path
  10. Charles Cardell & the Weschcke documents: reliable sources?
  11. The Craft Laws
    Misdirection
  12. Kelly's hidden agendas
  13. Conclusions
  14. Post scriptum & acknowledgements
  15. Bibliography of referenced works
  16. Updates:
    1. Richard Smoley of Gnosis Magazine said that he assumed that the "English educational system" mentioned by Kelly on page 47 above encompassed the full range of educational opportunities in England at the time, including private tutors...
    2. Gus di Zerega and Anna Korn pointed out that it was incredibly facile, not to mention insulting, for Kelly to assert, on page 27, that Gardner's supposed sexual addiction to flagellation...
    3. On page 81, Kelly presents the well-known "Amalthean horn" prayer.
    4. Paul Suliin asked me if it was true that all of the Gardnerian material was in published sources....
    5. Leah Samul takes exception to Kelly's statement on page x where he says: "I call all Neopagan Witches Gardnerian Witches..."
    6. Carl Weschcke, owner of Llewellyn Publications, responded to my review...
    7. Chas Clifton, a contributor to Gnosis Magazine, responded by asking: "... as long as we're dealing with hidden agendas, shouldn't you simply say up front that while Kelly has abandoned the idea of a pre-1939 coven, you have not?"
    8. I sent a copy of my review to Aidan Kelly himself, who called me and left the following message...
    9. Victor Anderson says that virtually everything reported by Kelly about the Faery Tradition is inaccurate...
    10. "Robert", a British Witch who was initiated in Gardner's presence and worked in his coven, and who is often quoted in Kelly's book...
    11. Allyn Wolfe of the New Wiccan Church points out that on page 53, Kelly reproduces what he says is the earliest version of The Charge...
    12. Kelly recently sent an "open group letter" (dated 2/1/92) to several Elders of the Gardnerian community...
    13. Kathy Fleck of the OTO recently reviewed Kelly's book in January 1992 issue of the Thelema Lodge OTO Newsletter.

 


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