Alex Sanders (Wiccan)
Encyclopedia
Alex Sanders born Orrell Alexander Carter, was an English
occult
ist and High Priest in the Neopagan
religion of Wicca
, responsible for founding the tradition of Alexandrian Wicca
during the 1960s. He was a figure who often appeared in tabloid newspapers. Being raised in a working class
family, he was introduced to esoteric ideas by his mother and grandmother from a young age, and as a young man began working as a medium in the local Spiritualist Church
es before going on to study and practice ceremonial magic
. In 1963, he was initiated into Gardnerian Wicca
before founding his own coven, through which he merged many aspects of ceremonial magic into Gardnerianism, falsely then trying to pass off this tradition, Alexandrianism, as a hereditary tradition that had been handed down to him by his grandmother. Throughout the 1960s, he would court publicity in the press, appearing in a number of documentaries, marrying the far younger Maxine Sanders
, and being declared to be the "King of the Witches" by his followers, something that led to other prominent Gardnerian Witches, such as Patricia Crowther
and Eleanor Bone
, attacking him in the press. In the late 1970s and 1980s, he went on to work with a ceremonial magical group known as the Ordine Della Luna, prior to his death.
, he was the oldest of six children. His father, Albert E Carter, was a dance-hall entertainer and suffered from alcoholism
who married Margaret Bibby in Wigan in 1920. Later the family moved to Grape St, Manchester
and unofficially changed their name to Sanders; Alex was unaware of his official surname until he applied for a passport later in life, and only changed his name by deed poll in the 1960s.
He was the eldest of six siblings: he and his sisters Joan (born 1928) and Elizabeth (1929) - were registered under the name Carter in Birkenhead, then sister Patricia (1933), John R (1934), and David (1937) - the last three registered as Sanders in Barton, Liverpool.
Alex had tuberculosis as a child and regularly visited his grandmother, Mary Bibby, in Wales for the fresh air. According to Sanders this was the beginning of his magical education:
Regaining her composure, she told Alex to step into the circle, take off his clothes, and put his head between his thighs. As he did so, she took a sickle-knife and nicked his scrotum, saying, "You are one of us now." (This was later revealed to be false and Sanders was merely furthering his publicity) It was then that Alex realised she was a witch
. His Grandmother was a hereditary witch
, a descendant of the Welsh chieftain Owain Glyndŵr
, the last man (according to Sanders) to have called himself "King of the Witches"; supposedly his grandmother let him copy her Book of Shadows
when he was nine and taught him the rites
and magic
of Witches. He was taught clairvoyance
first by scrying
in inky water, then in his grandmother's crystal. Alex claimed that following the Blitz
, and a few months before her death at age 74, Mrs Bibby conferred upon him second- and third-grade initiations, involving ritual sex
.
Gardnerian
High Priestess Patricia Crowther
tells a different story. According to letters she claims she received from him in 1961, he did not then claim to be an initiate, but felt an affinity with the occult and had experienced second sight
. In a 1962 interview Sanders claimed to have been initiated for a year, working in a coven led by a woman from Nottingham. This claim is corroborated by Maxine Sanders
, Alex's future wife and High Priestess. (See Wicca below)
Maxine also maintains that although Alex was later initiated into Wicca, he was indeed taught a form of witchcraft by his grandmother when he was young. She describes Mrs Bibby as an austere lady, wise in folklore, who taught her grandson magic with his mother's knowledge and permission; all of Alex's brothers were also psychic, she says:
When Alex publicly revealed himself as a witch, however, Mrs. Sanders feigned shock and threatened a nervous breakdown.
According to Maxine, Alex also worked for a while as a healer in Spiritualist Church
es under the pseudonym Paul Dallas; a famous medium called Edwards discovered him and his brothers and wanted them to do a stage show, however they refused, believing their clairvoyance, healing and mediumship to be divine gifts not to be misused.
. He married a co-worker, nineteen-year-old Doreen Stretton, in 1948 when he was 22, using the name Alexander O Sanders. They had two children, Paul and Janice. Alex wanted more children but Doreen didn't; she also disapproved of the supernatural. The marriage quickly deteriorated and Doreen took the children and left Sanders when he was 26. According to Maxine, Alex was grief-stricken and cursed Doreen with fertility; she re-married and had three sets of twins.
It was also while working in a pharmaceutical company that he became friends with Maxine's mother, however they lost contact for a while, probably due to the "intense dislike" that Maxine's atheist
father had for him.
One of Alex's mistresses who he was particularly fond of committed suicide; his sister Joan was injured in an accidental shooting and shortly after diagnosed with terminal cancer. Alex, blaming himself, resolved to stop using his magic for selfish reasons and instead teach it to others.
During this period he also studied the works of Abramelin. Apparently angel
s told him to seek employment in 1963 as a porter, book-duster and odd-job man in the John Rylands Library, Manchester, where he could access an original copy of the Key of Solomon
. According to his own admission he dismantled this book and borrowed it a few pages at a time for copying; discovery of this nearly led to Sanders' prosecution but the librarians allowed him an amnesty on condition that the materials were safely returned, after which he was dismissed without charges being brought against him.
was in the early 1960s, through correspondence and meetings with Patricia Crowther
. In September 1962, he succeeded in convincing the Manchester Evening News
to run a front-page article on Wicca. This publicity had several unfortunate side-effects for Sanders, including the loss of his job at the library and estrangement from the Crowthers, who considered him a troublesome upstart and refused to initiate him.
He was eventually initiated by a priestess who had been a member of the Crowthers' coven, and with whom Maxine Sanders later worked for several years. It was rumoured that Alex copied the Wiccan Book of Shadows
in a Gardnerian's
garage while a party was going on in the house, however according to Maxine he copied his book from his initiator's book in the normal manner.
Soon afterwards, he joined a Gardnerian
coven
led by Pat Kopanski, which dissolved just over a year later. Sanders worked with several coven
s, including one led by a priestess called Sylvia. Eventually she and several others left the group amicably, leaving Alex to continue as High Priest. During this period the coven worked at Alex's home at 24 Egerton Road North, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester. Sanders continued to attract media attention which brought him more followers. By 1965 he claimed 1,623 initiates in 100 covens, who apparently elected him to the title of King of the Witches.
Among his alleged magical feats is the creation of a "spiritual baby," who became one of his familiars. The birth is to have resulted from a sacred act of masturbation
which occurred between Sanders and a male assistant. Shortly following its creation the spirit Michael disappeared to grow up, but reappeared later to take Sanders over in his channeling
. Supposedly Michael forcibly made Sanders carry on at wild parties, insult people and otherwise act abominably. But as Michael matured he became a valuable spirit familiar in channeling and healing matters.
Sanders channeled with another familiar too, Nick Demdike, who claimed to have been persecuted as a witch at the Lancaster Pendle witch trials of the 17th century, and although the name Demdike does appear in the trial records, there was no Nick Demdike. A 16th century warlock named Nicholas Demdike does however appear in the gothic novel The Lancashire Witches (1854) by William Harrison Ainsworth.
Sanders apparently joined other esoteric and chivalric orders beginning in 1968, which numbered 16 in 1974, and possibly more before his death. These included the Knights Templars, the Order of Saint Michael
, the Order of Saint George and the Ordine Della Luna (aka the Order of the Romaic Crescent).
by laying his hands on her head and willing the affliction away. He is claimed to have cured a woman of cancer by sitting with her in a hospital for three days and nights, while holding her feet and pouring healing energy
into her.
He also healed by pointing to troubled spots on people’s bodies and concentrating. He claimed pointing never failed. He performed aborting
by pointing and then commanding the pregnancy to end. Some women he helped by also sending them to certain physicians for the procedure. But others could not afford the physician’s fees. Once it is recorded he ended a pregnancy by returning the soul to the Divine
.
One of Sanders’ most famous alleged cures involved his daughter Janice, who was born in dry labour with her left foot twisted backwards. Physicians had said nothing could be done for the foot until the girl reached her teens. An "impression" from Michael instructed Sanders to anoint the foot with warm olive oil. Having done this, Sanders turned his daughter’s foot straight. The foot stayed corrected. Janice walked normally except for a slight limp in cold, damp weather.
and made his high priestess. In 1965 they handfasted
, and in 1968 they married in a civil ceremony
and moved into a basement flat near Notting Hill Gate
in London
, where they ran their coven and taught classes on Witchcraft. Many followers came to them. Earlier that year their daughter Maya Alexandria was born.
The projection of Sanders into the national public spotlight resulted from a sensational newspaper article in 1969 which led to the romanticized biography, King of the Witches, by June Johns in 1969, and the film Legend of the Witches. These led to greater publicity, guest appearances on talk-shows, and public speaking engagements. It seemed to other Witches that Sanders was exploiting the Craft and dragging it through the gutter press.
According to Maxine, Alex never courted publicity, but was simply unable to avoid it. She describes how Alex's initial rise to fame came through an attempt to distract media attention away from other witches. The couple running a coven that Alex belonged to were practising Christians
, and the local press had become curious about their activities. Had they been exposed it would have been disastrous for them. Alex offered the Press an alternative story, proposing to hold a ritual at a magical site at Alderley Edge
, where he would raise a man from the dead. A bandaged up figure lying on a stone altar was examined by one of Alex's colleagues posing as a G.P., who certified it was indeed a corpse.
Sanders frequently appeared in ritual photos as robed wearing only a loincloth
while Witches surrounding him were naked. His explanation for this was that "Witch law" required that the elder of a coven to be apart from the others and easily identifiable.
Sanders met Stewart Farrar
at the preview of “Legend of the Witches.” Farrar was a feature writer for the weekly Reveille
working on a story concerning modern Witchcraft. He was interested in Sanders, and at some point during the evening Sanders invited him to an initiation at his coven. Farrar was later initiated by Maxine Sanders into that same coven, where he also met his future wife, Janet Owen
.
In 1979 Alex announced to the witchcraft community that he wished "to make amends for some of the past hurts that I have given and many public stupidities I created for others of the Craft", and expressed his desire that the Wicca should some day put aside their differences and "unite in brotherly love before the face of the Lady and the Lord", allowing them to become great again and respected in the outside world.
From 1979 Sanders began working in magical partnership with Derek Taylor, a psychic
and trance medium. Together they developed the magical work of Sanders' Order, the Ordine Della Luna in Constantinople which he was chartered to operate as Grand Prior for England and Wales by a Greek contact in London in 1967 who claimed to be a descendant of the Byzantine Palaeologos dynasty. The pair were reportedly working with celestial intelligences, disembodied spirits and the demiurge
itself. They recorded several journals of channeled notes, including warning of an apocalyptic World War III.
Another obscure group which Sanders operated in London during the 1960s was the Order of Deucalion, a focus for Atlantean magical research and inner contacts, as Sanders taught that Merlin was an important leader of the last Atlantean migratory wave into Western Europe.. The Order of Deucalion existed as an inner cell of the Ordine Della Luna.
Sanders continued to train a small number of personal students during the 1980s.
Sanders died on Walpurgis Night
, 1988-04-30, after suffering from lung cancer
. Even at his death Sanders seemed to arouse controversy. A tape recording was played at his funeral in which Sanders declared Victor was to succeed him as King of the Witches. According to his mother, Maxine, Victor did not want to do so, and had moved to the United States. He would have led the "Witchcraft Council of Elders," which claimed an incredible 100,000 members. Other witches said the council was a "fabrication" of the followers of Sanders, since it seemed highly unlikely that there would be over 100,000 witches in Britain, let alone this number of elders.
The Alexandrian tradition now exists in several other countries beside Britain. In the United States it never gained the popularity of the Gardnerian tradition; Alexandrian covens have done better in Canada. Many, including Stewart Farrar, felt Sanders made major contributions to the Craft.
1998, ten years after his death, a New England
Wiccan coven claimed to have contacted Sanders in spirit. They had several brief bursts of communication leading up to 2000, in which year he apparently expected to reincarnate
as a boy on May Eve
in the United States
; however these communications continued until 2003, Sanders apparently still managing to make contact while his new "self" slept.
The channeled messages, addressed to all Wiccans, urge love for the Goddess and strength and unity within Wicca. Endorsed by several who knew Sanders, including his ex-wife Maxine, as convincingly authentic, the channeling sessions are documented in A Voice in the Forest by Jimahl diFiosa.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
occult
Occult
The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
ist and High Priest in the Neopagan
Neopaganism
Neopaganism is an umbrella term used to identify a wide variety of modern religious movements, particularly those influenced by or claiming to be derived from the various pagan beliefs of pre-modern Europe...
religion of Wicca
Wicca
Wicca , is a modern Pagan religious movement. Developing in England in the first half of the 20th century, Wicca was popularised in the 1950s and early 1960s by a Wiccan High Priest named Gerald Gardner, who at the time called it the "witch cult" and "witchcraft," and its adherents "the Wica."...
, responsible for founding the tradition of Alexandrian Wicca
Alexandrian Wicca
Alexandrian Wicca is a tradition of the Neopagan religion of Wicca, founded by Alex Sanders who, with his wife Maxine Sanders, established the tradition in the United Kingdom in the 1960s...
during the 1960s. He was a figure who often appeared in tabloid newspapers. Being raised in a working class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
family, he was introduced to esoteric ideas by his mother and grandmother from a young age, and as a young man began working as a medium in the local Spiritualist Church
Spiritualist Church
A Spiritualist church is a church affiliated with the informal Spiritualist movement which began in the United States of America in the 1840s. Spiritualist churches are now found around the world, but are most common in English-speaking countries, while in Latin America, where a form of...
es before going on to study and practice ceremonial magic
Ceremonial magic
Ceremonial magic, also referred to as high magic and as learned magic, is a broad term used in the context of Hermeticism or Western esotericism to encompass a wide variety of long, elaborate, and complex rituals of magic. It is named as such because the works included are characterized by...
. In 1963, he was initiated into Gardnerian Wicca
Gardnerian Wicca
Gardnerian Wicca, or Gardnerian Witchcraft, is a mystery cult tradition or denomination in the neopagan religion of Wicca, whose members can trace initiatory descent from Gerald Gardner. The tradition is itself named after Gardner , a British civil servant and scholar of magic...
before founding his own coven, through which he merged many aspects of ceremonial magic into Gardnerianism, falsely then trying to pass off this tradition, Alexandrianism, as a hereditary tradition that had been handed down to him by his grandmother. Throughout the 1960s, he would court publicity in the press, appearing in a number of documentaries, marrying the far younger Maxine Sanders
Maxine Sanders
Maxine Sanders is a prominent member of the Wiccan faith and a co-founder with her late husband, Alex Sanders, of Alexandrian Wicca....
, and being declared to be the "King of the Witches" by his followers, something that led to other prominent Gardnerian Witches, such as Patricia Crowther
Patricia Crowther (Wiccan)
Patricia Crowther is considered influential in the early promotion of the Wicca religion. She was born in Sheffield as Patricia Dawson....
and Eleanor Bone
Eleanor Bone
Eleanor "Ray" Bone was an influential figure in the neopagan religion of Wicca. She claimed to have been initiated in 1941 by a couple of hereditary witches in Cumbria. She later met and became friends with Gerald Gardner, and was initiated into Wicca, becoming the High Priestess in one of his...
, attacking him in the press. In the late 1970s and 1980s, he went on to work with a ceremonial magical group known as the Ordine Della Luna, prior to his death.
Early life
Born Orrell Alexander Carter, on 6 June, 1926, in a house on Moon St, Birkenhead, LiverpoolLiverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, he was the oldest of six children. His father, Albert E Carter, was a dance-hall entertainer and suffered from alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
who married Margaret Bibby in Wigan in 1920. Later the family moved to Grape St, Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
and unofficially changed their name to Sanders; Alex was unaware of his official surname until he applied for a passport later in life, and only changed his name by deed poll in the 1960s.
He was the eldest of six siblings: he and his sisters Joan (born 1928) and Elizabeth (1929) - were registered under the name Carter in Birkenhead, then sister Patricia (1933), John R (1934), and David (1937) - the last three registered as Sanders in Barton, Liverpool.
Initiation into witchcraft
Several contradictory accounts have been given of Sanders' initiation into witchcraft, and even his own accounts are inconsistent. The most famous version is that given in his biography, King of the Witches, by June Johns:Alex had tuberculosis as a child and regularly visited his grandmother, Mary Bibby, in Wales for the fresh air. According to Sanders this was the beginning of his magical education:
- "One evening in 1933, when I was seven, I was sent round to my grandmother's house for tea. For some reason I didn't knock at the door as I went in, and was confronted by my grandmother, naked, with her grey hair hanging down to her waist, standing in a circle drawn on the kitchen floor."
Regaining her composure, she told Alex to step into the circle, take off his clothes, and put his head between his thighs. As he did so, she took a sickle-knife and nicked his scrotum, saying, "You are one of us now." (This was later revealed to be false and Sanders was merely furthering his publicity) It was then that Alex realised she was a witch
Witchcraft
Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...
. His Grandmother was a hereditary witch
Hereditary witch
A hereditary witch is one who is born into a tradition of esoteric origin. These traditions are often not recorded, except maybe in grimoires which are also passed down, but rely primarily on oral and physical tradition....
, a descendant of the Welsh chieftain Owain Glyndŵr
Owain Glyndwr
Owain Glyndŵr , or Owain Glyn Dŵr, anglicised by William Shakespeare as Owen Glendower , was a Welsh ruler and the last native Welshman to hold the title Prince of Wales...
, the last man (according to Sanders) to have called himself "King of the Witches"; supposedly his grandmother let him copy her Book of Shadows
Book of Shadows
A Book of Shadows is a book containing religious texts and instructions for magical rituals found within the Neopagan religion of Wicca. Originating within the Gardnerian tradition of the Craft, the first Book of Shadows was created by the pioneering Wiccan Gerald Gardner sometime in the late 1940s...
when he was nine and taught him the rites
Ritual
A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. It may be prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. The term usually excludes actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers....
and magic
Magic (paranormal)
Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...
of Witches. He was taught clairvoyance
Clairvoyance
The term clairvoyance is used to refer to the ability to gain information about an object, person, location or physical event through means other than the known human senses, a form of extra-sensory perception...
first by scrying
Scrying
Scrying is a magic practice that involves seeing things psychically in a medium, usually for purposes of obtaining spiritual visions and less often for purposes of divination or fortune-telling. The most common media used are reflective, translucent, or luminescent substances such as crystals,...
in inky water, then in his grandmother's crystal. Alex claimed that following the Blitz
The Blitz
The Blitz was the sustained strategic bombing of Britain by Nazi Germany between 7 September 1940 and 10 May 1941, during the Second World War. The city of London was bombed by the Luftwaffe for 76 consecutive nights and many towns and cities across the country followed...
, and a few months before her death at age 74, Mrs Bibby conferred upon him second- and third-grade initiations, involving ritual sex
Great Rite
In Wicca, the Great Rite is a form of sex magic that includes either ritual sexual intercourse or else a ritual symbolic representation of sexual intercourse....
.
Gardnerian
Gardnerian Wicca
Gardnerian Wicca, or Gardnerian Witchcraft, is a mystery cult tradition or denomination in the neopagan religion of Wicca, whose members can trace initiatory descent from Gerald Gardner. The tradition is itself named after Gardner , a British civil servant and scholar of magic...
High Priestess Patricia Crowther
Patricia Crowther (Wiccan)
Patricia Crowther is considered influential in the early promotion of the Wicca religion. She was born in Sheffield as Patricia Dawson....
tells a different story. According to letters she claims she received from him in 1961, he did not then claim to be an initiate, but felt an affinity with the occult and had experienced second sight
Second sight
Second sight is a form of extrasensory perception, the supposed power to perceive things that are not present to the senses, whereby a person perceives information, in the form of a vision, about future events before they happen , or about things or events at remote locations...
. In a 1962 interview Sanders claimed to have been initiated for a year, working in a coven led by a woman from Nottingham. This claim is corroborated by Maxine Sanders
Maxine Sanders
Maxine Sanders is a prominent member of the Wiccan faith and a co-founder with her late husband, Alex Sanders, of Alexandrian Wicca....
, Alex's future wife and High Priestess. (See Wicca below)
Maxine also maintains that although Alex was later initiated into Wicca, he was indeed taught a form of witchcraft by his grandmother when he was young. She describes Mrs Bibby as an austere lady, wise in folklore, who taught her grandson magic with his mother's knowledge and permission; all of Alex's brothers were also psychic, she says:
- "It wasn't unusual to walk into the Sanders' kitchen in broad daylight to find a full materialisation séance in progress. Mrs. Sanders would be carrying on with the chores regardless of the apparitions in attendance."
When Alex publicly revealed himself as a witch, however, Mrs. Sanders feigned shock and threatened a nervous breakdown.
According to Maxine, Alex also worked for a while as a healer in Spiritualist Church
Spiritualist Church
A Spiritualist church is a church affiliated with the informal Spiritualist movement which began in the United States of America in the 1840s. Spiritualist churches are now found around the world, but are most common in English-speaking countries, while in Latin America, where a form of...
es under the pseudonym Paul Dallas; a famous medium called Edwards discovered him and his brothers and wanted them to do a stage show, however they refused, believing their clairvoyance, healing and mediumship to be divine gifts not to be misused.
First marriage
Towards the end of the war he began working for a manufacturing chemist's laboratory in ManchesterManchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
. He married a co-worker, nineteen-year-old Doreen Stretton, in 1948 when he was 22, using the name Alexander O Sanders. They had two children, Paul and Janice. Alex wanted more children but Doreen didn't; she also disapproved of the supernatural. The marriage quickly deteriorated and Doreen took the children and left Sanders when he was 26. According to Maxine, Alex was grief-stricken and cursed Doreen with fertility; she re-married and had three sets of twins.
It was also while working in a pharmaceutical company that he became friends with Maxine's mother, however they lost contact for a while, probably due to the "intense dislike" that Maxine's atheist
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
father had for him.
The left hand path
After the Second World War and his separation from Doreen and the children, Sanders felt isolated by his occult knowledge, and decided to live a life of the "left hand path" after having drifted from one low-level job to another and had sexual affairs with both men and women.- "I made a dreadful mistake in using black magicBlack magicBlack magic is the type of magic that draws on assumed malevolent powers or is used with the intention to kill, steal, injure, cause misfortune or destruction, or for personal gain without regard to harmful consequences. As a term, "black magic" is normally used by those that do not approve of its...
in an attempt to bring myself money and sexual success. It worked all right — I was walking through Manchester and I was accosted by a middle-aged couple who told me that I was the exact double of their only son, who had died some years previously. They took me into their home, fed and clothed me, and treated me as one of the family. They were extremely wealthy, and in 1952, when I asked them for a house of my own, with an allowance to run it on, they were quite happy to grant my wishes. I held parties, I bought expensive clothes, I was sexually promiscuous; but it was only after a time that I realised I had a fearful debt to pay."
One of Alex's mistresses who he was particularly fond of committed suicide; his sister Joan was injured in an accidental shooting and shortly after diagnosed with terminal cancer. Alex, blaming himself, resolved to stop using his magic for selfish reasons and instead teach it to others.
During this period he also studied the works of Abramelin. Apparently angel
Angel
Angels are mythical beings often depicted as messengers of God in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles along with the Quran. The English word angel is derived from the Greek ἄγγελος, a translation of in the Hebrew Bible ; a similar term, ملائكة , is used in the Qur'an...
s told him to seek employment in 1963 as a porter, book-duster and odd-job man in the John Rylands Library, Manchester, where he could access an original copy of the Key of Solomon
Key of Solomon
The Key of Solomon , is a grimoire, or book on magic incorrectly attributed to King Solomon. It probably dates back to the 14th or 15th century Italian Renaissance...
. According to his own admission he dismantled this book and borrowed it a few pages at a time for copying; discovery of this nearly led to Sanders' prosecution but the librarians allowed him an amnesty on condition that the materials were safely returned, after which he was dismissed without charges being brought against him.
Wicca
Sanders' first contact with WiccaWicca
Wicca , is a modern Pagan religious movement. Developing in England in the first half of the 20th century, Wicca was popularised in the 1950s and early 1960s by a Wiccan High Priest named Gerald Gardner, who at the time called it the "witch cult" and "witchcraft," and its adherents "the Wica."...
was in the early 1960s, through correspondence and meetings with Patricia Crowther
Patricia Crowther (Wiccan)
Patricia Crowther is considered influential in the early promotion of the Wicca religion. She was born in Sheffield as Patricia Dawson....
. In September 1962, he succeeded in convincing the Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
The Manchester Evening News is a regional daily newspaper covering Greater Manchester in the United Kingdom. It is published every day except Sunday and is owned by Trinity Mirror plc following its sale by Guardian Media Group in early 2010. It has an average daily circulation of 90,973 copies...
to run a front-page article on Wicca. This publicity had several unfortunate side-effects for Sanders, including the loss of his job at the library and estrangement from the Crowthers, who considered him a troublesome upstart and refused to initiate him.
He was eventually initiated by a priestess who had been a member of the Crowthers' coven, and with whom Maxine Sanders later worked for several years. It was rumoured that Alex copied the Wiccan Book of Shadows
Book of Shadows
A Book of Shadows is a book containing religious texts and instructions for magical rituals found within the Neopagan religion of Wicca. Originating within the Gardnerian tradition of the Craft, the first Book of Shadows was created by the pioneering Wiccan Gerald Gardner sometime in the late 1940s...
in a Gardnerian's
Gardnerian Wicca
Gardnerian Wicca, or Gardnerian Witchcraft, is a mystery cult tradition or denomination in the neopagan religion of Wicca, whose members can trace initiatory descent from Gerald Gardner. The tradition is itself named after Gardner , a British civil servant and scholar of magic...
garage while a party was going on in the house, however according to Maxine he copied his book from his initiator's book in the normal manner.
Soon afterwards, he joined a Gardnerian
Gardnerian Wicca
Gardnerian Wicca, or Gardnerian Witchcraft, is a mystery cult tradition or denomination in the neopagan religion of Wicca, whose members can trace initiatory descent from Gerald Gardner. The tradition is itself named after Gardner , a British civil servant and scholar of magic...
coven
Coven
A coven or covan is a name used to describe a gathering of witches or in some cases vampires. Due to the word's association with witches, a gathering of Wiccans, followers of the witchcraft-based neopagan religion of Wicca, is also described as a coven....
led by Pat Kopanski, which dissolved just over a year later. Sanders worked with several coven
Coven
A coven or covan is a name used to describe a gathering of witches or in some cases vampires. Due to the word's association with witches, a gathering of Wiccans, followers of the witchcraft-based neopagan religion of Wicca, is also described as a coven....
s, including one led by a priestess called Sylvia. Eventually she and several others left the group amicably, leaving Alex to continue as High Priest. During this period the coven worked at Alex's home at 24 Egerton Road North, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester. Sanders continued to attract media attention which brought him more followers. By 1965 he claimed 1,623 initiates in 100 covens, who apparently elected him to the title of King of the Witches.
Among his alleged magical feats is the creation of a "spiritual baby," who became one of his familiars. The birth is to have resulted from a sacred act of masturbation
Masturbation
Masturbation refers to sexual stimulation of a person's own genitals, usually to the point of orgasm. The stimulation can be performed manually, by use of objects or tools, or by some combination of these methods. Masturbation is a common form of autoeroticism...
which occurred between Sanders and a male assistant. Shortly following its creation the spirit Michael disappeared to grow up, but reappeared later to take Sanders over in his channeling
Channelling (mediumistic)
In spirituality, channelling or channeling is the belief that communication of information occurs by or through a person , from a deity, spirit or other paranormal entity outside the mind of the channel...
. Supposedly Michael forcibly made Sanders carry on at wild parties, insult people and otherwise act abominably. But as Michael matured he became a valuable spirit familiar in channeling and healing matters.
Sanders channeled with another familiar too, Nick Demdike, who claimed to have been persecuted as a witch at the Lancaster Pendle witch trials of the 17th century, and although the name Demdike does appear in the trial records, there was no Nick Demdike. A 16th century warlock named Nicholas Demdike does however appear in the gothic novel The Lancashire Witches (1854) by William Harrison Ainsworth.
Sanders apparently joined other esoteric and chivalric orders beginning in 1968, which numbered 16 in 1974, and possibly more before his death. These included the Knights Templars, the Order of Saint Michael
Order of Saint Michael
The Order of Saint Michael was a French chivalric order, founded by Louis XI of France in 1469, in competitive response to the Burgundian Order of the Golden Fleece founded by Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy, Louis' chief competitor for the allegiance of the great houses of France, the Dukes of...
, the Order of Saint George and the Ordine Della Luna (aka the Order of the Romaic Crescent).
Healing feats
His healing feats include getting rid of warts by wishing them on someone else,"Someone who’s already ugly with boil marks, I can fill up with warts." He said he cured a man of heroin addiction and a woman of cystitisCystitis
Cystitis is a term that refers to urinary bladder inflammation that results from any one of a number of distinct syndromes. It is most commonly caused by a bacterial infection in which case it is referred to as a urinary tract infection.-Signs and symptoms:...
by laying his hands on her head and willing the affliction away. He is claimed to have cured a woman of cancer by sitting with her in a hospital for three days and nights, while holding her feet and pouring healing energy
Energy (healing or psychic or spiritual)
The term energy has been widely used by writers and practitioners of various esoteric forms of spirituality and alternative medicine to refer to a variety of phenomena. Such "energy" is often seen as a continuum that unites body and mind...
into her.
He also healed by pointing to troubled spots on people’s bodies and concentrating. He claimed pointing never failed. He performed aborting
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
by pointing and then commanding the pregnancy to end. Some women he helped by also sending them to certain physicians for the procedure. But others could not afford the physician’s fees. Once it is recorded he ended a pregnancy by returning the soul to the Divine
Divinity
Divinity and divine are broadly applied but loosely defined terms, used variously within different faiths and belief systems — and even by different individuals within a given faith — to refer to some transcendent or transcendental power or deity, or its attributes or manifestations in...
.
One of Sanders’ most famous alleged cures involved his daughter Janice, who was born in dry labour with her left foot twisted backwards. Physicians had said nothing could be done for the foot until the girl reached her teens. An "impression" from Michael instructed Sanders to anoint the foot with warm olive oil. Having done this, Sanders turned his daughter’s foot straight. The foot stayed corrected. Janice walked normally except for a slight limp in cold, damp weather.
Births, relationships and the media
During the 1960s Sanders met Arline Maxine Morris, 20 years his junior, whom he initiated into the CraftWitchcraft
Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...
and made his high priestess. In 1965 they handfasted
Handfasting
Handfasting is a traditional European ceremony of betrothal or wedding. It usually involved the tying or binding of the right hands of the bride and groom with a cord or ribbon for the duration of the wedding ceremony.-Etymology:...
, and in 1968 they married in a civil ceremony
Civil ceremony
A civil registrar ceremony is a non-religious legal marriage ceremony performed by a government official or functionary. In the UK, this person is normally called a registrar...
and moved into a basement flat near Notting Hill Gate
Notting Hill Gate
Notting Hill Gate is one of the main thoroughfares of Notting Hill, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically the street was a location for toll gates, from which it derives its modern name.- Location :...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, where they ran their coven and taught classes on Witchcraft. Many followers came to them. Earlier that year their daughter Maya Alexandria was born.
The projection of Sanders into the national public spotlight resulted from a sensational newspaper article in 1969 which led to the romanticized biography, King of the Witches, by June Johns in 1969, and the film Legend of the Witches. These led to greater publicity, guest appearances on talk-shows, and public speaking engagements. It seemed to other Witches that Sanders was exploiting the Craft and dragging it through the gutter press.
According to Maxine, Alex never courted publicity, but was simply unable to avoid it. She describes how Alex's initial rise to fame came through an attempt to distract media attention away from other witches. The couple running a coven that Alex belonged to were practising Christians
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
, and the local press had become curious about their activities. Had they been exposed it would have been disastrous for them. Alex offered the Press an alternative story, proposing to hold a ritual at a magical site at Alderley Edge
Alderley Edge
Alderley Edge is a village and civil parish within the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 4,409....
, where he would raise a man from the dead. A bandaged up figure lying on a stone altar was examined by one of Alex's colleagues posing as a G.P., who certified it was indeed a corpse.
- "Alex promised the reporter and photographer that he would bring the corpse back to life. It would respond to an ancient and strange invocation, which was in reality a Swiss roll recipe read backwards. After much mumbo jumbo Alex dramatically intoned the invocation slowly and with great deliberation, the corpse couldn't help but respond to such power. It sounds ridiculous today that anyone could fall for it, but the pressmen ran away with their story, which made the headlines. These were the days of innocence, but the Christians were safe and Alex was on his way to a life of self-imposed notoriety."
Sanders frequently appeared in ritual photos as robed wearing only a loincloth
Loincloth
A loincloth is a one-piece male garment, sometimes kept in place by a belt, which covers the genitals and, at least partially, the buttocks.-History and types:Loincloths are being and have been worn:*in societies where no other clothing is needed or wanted...
while Witches surrounding him were naked. His explanation for this was that "Witch law" required that the elder of a coven to be apart from the others and easily identifiable.
Sanders met Stewart Farrar
Stewart Farrar
Frank Stewart Farrar , who always went by the name of Stewart Farrar, was an English screenwriter, novelist and prominent figure in the Neopagan religion of Wicca, which he devoted much of his later life to propagating with the aid of his seventh wife, Janet Farrar, and then his friend Gavin Bone...
at the preview of “Legend of the Witches.” Farrar was a feature writer for the weekly Reveille
Reveille newspaper
Reveille was a popular British weekly tabloid newspaper during the Second World WarUnion Jack, A Scrapbook, British Forces' Newspapers 1939-45 HMSO & Imperial War Museum, 1993 and the post-war years....
working on a story concerning modern Witchcraft. He was interested in Sanders, and at some point during the evening Sanders invited him to an initiation at his coven. Farrar was later initiated by Maxine Sanders into that same coven, where he also met his future wife, Janet Owen
Janet Farrar
Janet Farrar is a British teacher and author of books on Wicca and Neopaganism. Along with her two husbands, Stewart Farrar and Gavin Bone, Farrar has published "some of the most influential books on modern Witchcraft to date." According to George Knowles, "some seventy five percent of Wiccans...
.
Later years
The Sanders separated in 1971, Alex moved to Sussex while Maxine remained in the London flat where she continued running the coven and teaching the Craft. A son, Victor Mikhael, was born in 1972. Alex and Maxine's strong relationship continued, "although it varied in intensity, from a fierce sense of loyalty, blasting curses, to declarations of love until his death in 1988".In 1979 Alex announced to the witchcraft community that he wished "to make amends for some of the past hurts that I have given and many public stupidities I created for others of the Craft", and expressed his desire that the Wicca should some day put aside their differences and "unite in brotherly love before the face of the Lady and the Lord", allowing them to become great again and respected in the outside world.
From 1979 Sanders began working in magical partnership with Derek Taylor, a psychic
Psychic
A psychic is a person who professes an ability to perceive information hidden from the normal senses through extrasensory perception , or is said by others to have such abilities. It is also used to describe theatrical performers who use techniques such as prestidigitation, cold reading, and hot...
and trance medium. Together they developed the magical work of Sanders' Order, the Ordine Della Luna in Constantinople which he was chartered to operate as Grand Prior for England and Wales by a Greek contact in London in 1967 who claimed to be a descendant of the Byzantine Palaeologos dynasty. The pair were reportedly working with celestial intelligences, disembodied spirits and the demiurge
Demiurge
The demiurge is a concept from the Platonic, Neopythagorean, Middle Platonic, and Neoplatonic schools of philosophy for an artisan-like figure responsible for the fashioning and maintenance of the physical universe. The term was subsequently adopted by the Gnostics...
itself. They recorded several journals of channeled notes, including warning of an apocalyptic World War III.
Another obscure group which Sanders operated in London during the 1960s was the Order of Deucalion, a focus for Atlantean magical research and inner contacts, as Sanders taught that Merlin was an important leader of the last Atlantean migratory wave into Western Europe.. The Order of Deucalion existed as an inner cell of the Ordine Della Luna.
Sanders continued to train a small number of personal students during the 1980s.
Sanders died on Walpurgis Night
Walpurgis Night
Walpurgis Night is a traditional spring festival on 30 April or 1 May in large parts of Central and Northern Europe. It is often celebrated with dancing and with bonfires. It is exactly six months from All Hallows' Eve.-Name:...
, 1988-04-30, after suffering from lung cancer
Lung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...
. Even at his death Sanders seemed to arouse controversy. A tape recording was played at his funeral in which Sanders declared Victor was to succeed him as King of the Witches. According to his mother, Maxine, Victor did not want to do so, and had moved to the United States. He would have led the "Witchcraft Council of Elders," which claimed an incredible 100,000 members. Other witches said the council was a "fabrication" of the followers of Sanders, since it seemed highly unlikely that there would be over 100,000 witches in Britain, let alone this number of elders.
The Alexandrian tradition now exists in several other countries beside Britain. In the United States it never gained the popularity of the Gardnerian tradition; Alexandrian covens have done better in Canada. Many, including Stewart Farrar, felt Sanders made major contributions to the Craft.
After-death communications
At LammasLammas
In some English-speaking countries in the Northern Hemisphere, August 1 is Lammas Day , the festival of the wheat harvest, and is the first harvest festival of the year. On this day it was customary to bring to church a loaf made from the new crop...
1998, ten years after his death, a New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
Wiccan coven claimed to have contacted Sanders in spirit. They had several brief bursts of communication leading up to 2000, in which year he apparently expected to reincarnate
Reincarnation
Reincarnation best describes the concept where the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, is believed to return to live in a new human body, or, in some traditions, either as a human being, animal or plant...
as a boy on May Eve
Beltane
Beltane or Beltaine is the anglicised spelling of Old Irish Beltaine or Beltine , the Gaelic name for either the month of May or the festival that takes place on the first day of May.Bealtaine was historically a Gaelic festival celebrated in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man.Bealtaine...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
; however these communications continued until 2003, Sanders apparently still managing to make contact while his new "self" slept.
The channeled messages, addressed to all Wiccans, urge love for the Goddess and strength and unity within Wicca. Endorsed by several who knew Sanders, including his ex-wife Maxine, as convincingly authentic, the channeling sessions are documented in A Voice in the Forest by Jimahl diFiosa.