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Jessie Bell or “Lady Sheba” as she is better known, was the founder of the “American Celtic
Wicca Tradition” and the “American Order of the Brotherhood of the Wicca”, through which she
attempted to bring differing covens, groups and traditions together working for the same aims,
to bring back the respectability and acceptance of the Craft and a renewed belief in the Old
Religions. Controversially she was also the first person to publish a complete “Book of
Shadows” and make it available to the general public. Jessie came upon the practice of
witchcraft around the same time as Gerald Gardner and used the the term 'wicca' in her
practice, bearing in mind she was in America and Gerald was in England, wicca was the buzz
word for such practice at the time. Since then there are groups which have evolved to achieve
the same goals but because they seem to have disputable lineage or they practice in a slightly
different way, they are dismissed by some members of the Facebook group. These people
believe that as soon as anyone detracts from Gerald Gardeners teachings and methods and
have not been initiated by someone with validated lineage, they cannot be called wiccan. but
they do accept Alexandrian wicca as valid. Alex Sanders with his wife Maxine broke away from
Gardnerian wicca and formed their own practice of witchcraft which was loosely based on
Gardnerian but with differing practices, so are not strictly Gardnerian but is still an accepted
'valid' wiccan path.
My argument in the discussion was that if you follow the Gardnerian path, it is Gardnerian
wicca, If you follow the Alexandrian path, it is Alexandrian wicca.. Agreed, but why should it
stop at Alexandrian? Surely anyone who bases their practices on Gardnerian wicca and
perhaps add their own bits as indeed Alex Sanders did can call it wicca? Many parallels were
used in the discussion but my answer to another discussion thread later, was slightly
(apologetically) sarcastic but quite amusing. The question and my answer was copied to Abus
Coritani Facebook page which led to an equally amusing thread... I have copied the entire
thread below for entertainment purposes only. It is not intended to reflect the beliefs and
practices of any of the members of Abus Coritani or indeed those who contributed to the
thread nor is it intended to demean anyone.
Question: Do you have a broomstick?........
PG
I have a broomstick but tend to use a Dyson now, though in the UK particularly, it is
known as Hoovering...
Hoover became so well known that the term to 'Hoover' became synonymous with vacuum
cleaning.
The Dysonians used a similar concept to the Hooverians Essentially the object was to clean
carpets efficiently. but Dyson took the idea and ran with it. Dysonian methods were slightly
different but acheive a similar result. that is to get rid of the crap and improve your qualitiy of
life.
Some Hooverians don't consider the Dysonians to be the real deal as James Dyson didn't
actually work for Hoover at any point in his career.. but for me, Dyson is a better experience
using the same actions to acheive similar results.however it is still called 'Hoovering' by the
majority of people. I'm quite happy with calling it 'Hoovering' although it should really be called
'Dysoning'. Also, Hooverians end up with a bag of crap where as Dysonians don't have bags of
any description.. That's progress!
LH Brilliant! Good old PG
EH I am assuming this was spawned from the Bell/Gardner/Alexandrian lineage debate. Good
for PG, I thought there were some rather rude and self-opinionated comments on that
particular post. Makes me glad we have Abus Coritani, a group of likeminded people who
respect each others differences and beliefs. x
JDH indeed!
DEW oh that is just brilliant! I really ought to join that group, seems as if I am missing out on
the fun! lol