Charles Cardell
Encyclopedia
Charles Cardell was an English
Wicca
n who propagated his own tradition of the Craft, which was distinct from that of Gerald Gardner
. Cardell's tradition of Wicca was based around a form of the Horned God
known as Atho, and worked with a coven
that met in the grounds of his estate in Surrey
. His tradition of Wicca was continued through Raymond Howard
's Coven of Atho. Indeed it was Cardell who coined the term "Wicca", and referred to its followers as "Wiccens".
, as Charles Maynard. He went on to join the British army
, serving in India
where he became a major. After this, he went on to become a stage conjurer (using the stage name Cardi) and also a professional psychologist, dealing especially in people's bad experiences with the occult
, during the 1950s and 1960s.
, Surrey
, from where they ran Dumblecott Magick Productions, which sold various potions and charms.
and his Bricket Wood coven
. Cardell fell out with Gardner in 1958, citing Gardner's excessive publicity seeking as the reason. Shortly after Gardner's death in 1964 he published a pamphlet under the pseudonym of Rex Nemorensis
, entitled "Witch", in which he insulted both Gardner and Doreen Valiente
, and included sections from the Gardnerian Book of Shadows
, which he may been given by Gardner when the two had been friendly, or may have come to him through a woman he had introduced into Gardner's circle.
In 1958 he published an article entitled "The Craft of the Wiccens" in Light magazine, in which he advertised for all genuine practitioners of the religion to get in touch. One such person to respond was Doreen Valiente
, and she got in touch with the Cardell couple. They claimed that their mother had been a witch, and that she had left them her athame
and her witches' bracelet. Valiente believed that the bracelet was similar to those used in Gardnerian Wicca
, and she informed Dafo
that "they are not the same as ours, but bear sufficient resemblance to be worthy of our attention". Valiente later met them in his London consulting rooms, and she said that:
, who went on to propagate the Coven of Atho. Howard later took Cardell to court, claiming that he had sent him an effigy, pierced by a needle and a mirror.
In March 1961, an article entitled "Witchcraft in the Woods" by William Hall was published in the London Evening News. In it, Hall claimed to have witnessed a ritual by twelve witches in the woods, involving Mary Cardell, playing the part of a Witch Maiden and dressed in a red cloak, sitting in a five-pronged tree with Charles Cardell, dressed in a black cloak adorned with a pentagram, casting a circle with a sword, blowing a horn and shooting a longbow. A shrunken head
was one of the items on the altar, and acts of levitation were performed.
The Cardells brought about a libel case against the newspaper, but did allow other newspaper journalists to come along and view the scene of the ritual. Only one took up his offer, the County Post reporter W. J. Locke. Locke photographed the scene, which comprised a circle in sand, a stone altar with two fake spiders on either side, a shrunken head along with the name 'Ramoh' (the craft name of Raymond Howard), a bone, a bowl of water and a crystal ball.
In 1967 the libel case against the London Evening News came to a head in court. Doreen Valiente attended the hearing, interested as to what the results would be. The Cardells claimed that their company, Dumblecott Magick Productions, was merely a front to get witches interested in them, so that they could study and expose the witch religion of Gerald Gardner
, and that the ritual which they performed and was witnessed by Hall was merely a part of their front. The Cardells' story did not hold up, and they lost the court case.
In 1968, Cardell was found guilty of spreading defamatory remarks about the solicitors company who had supported the London Evening News. Around the same time, William Hall received a package containing a wooden fish with its tail broken off, accompanied by a note that said "to William Hall, almost a reporter". The court proceedings had left the Cardells bankrupt, and they were forced to sell some of their land and live in caravans in one of their fields. Charles Cardell died in 1977, and was survived by Mary.
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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...
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."...
n who propagated his own tradition of the Craft, which was distinct from that of Gerald Gardner
Gerald Gardner
Gerald Brousseau Gardner , who sometimes used the craft name Scire, was an influential English Wiccan, as well as an amateur anthropologist and archaeologist, writer, weaponry expert and occultist. He was instrumental in bringing the Neopagan religion of Wicca to public attention in Britain and...
. Cardell's tradition of Wicca was based around a form of the Horned God
Horned God
The Horned God is one of the two primary deities found in some European pagan religions. He is often given various names and epithets, and represents the male part of the religion's duotheistic theological system, the other part being the female Triple Goddess. In common Wiccan belief, he is...
known as Atho, and worked with a 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....
that met in the grounds of his estate in Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
. His tradition of Wicca was continued through Raymond Howard
Raymond Howard
Raymond Howard was an English Witch and an early figure in the history of the neopagan religion of Wicca. Howard propagated the tradition focused around the Horned God known as Atho, which had originated with Charles Cardell....
's Coven of Atho. Indeed it was Cardell who coined the term "Wicca", and referred to its followers as "Wiccens".
Early life
Cardell was born in 1892, in East SussexEast Sussex
East Sussex is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent, Surrey and West Sussex, and to the south by the English Channel.-History:...
, as Charles Maynard. He went on to join the British army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
, serving in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
where he became a major. After this, he went on to become a stage conjurer (using the stage name Cardi) and also a professional psychologist, dealing especially in people's bad experiences with the 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...
, during the 1950s and 1960s.
Witchcraft
When he changed his name to Cardell, he was joined by a woman known as Mary Edwards, and the two from then on claimed to be siblings. They lived together on a large estate, Dumbledene, in CharlwoodCharlwood
Charlwood is a village and civil parish in the Mole Valley district of Surrey, England. It is immediately northwest of London Gatwick Airport in West Sussex, close west of Horley and north of Crawley. The historic county boundary between Surrey and Sussex ran to the south of Gatwick Airport...
, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, from where they ran Dumblecott Magick Productions, which sold various potions and charms.
Encounters with other Witches
Cardell was initially friendly with Gerald GardnerGerald Gardner
Gerald Brousseau Gardner , who sometimes used the craft name Scire, was an influential English Wiccan, as well as an amateur anthropologist and archaeologist, writer, weaponry expert and occultist. He was instrumental in bringing the Neopagan religion of Wicca to public attention in Britain and...
and his Bricket Wood coven
Bricket Wood coven
The Bricket Wood coven, or Hertfordshire coven was a coven of Gardnerian Witches founded in the 1940s by Gerald Gardner. It was notable for being the first coven in the Gardnerian line, though having its supposed origins in the pre-Gardnerian New Forest coven...
. Cardell fell out with Gardner in 1958, citing Gardner's excessive publicity seeking as the reason. Shortly after Gardner's death in 1964 he published a pamphlet under the pseudonym of Rex Nemorensis
Rex Nemorensis
The rex Nemorensis was a priest of the goddess Diana at Aricia in Italy, by the shores of Lake Nemi, where she was known as Diana Nemorensis. The priesthood played a major role in the mythography of J.G...
, entitled "Witch", in which he insulted both Gardner and Doreen Valiente
Doreen Valiente
Doreen Edith Dominy Valiente , who also went under the craft name Ameth, was an influential English Wiccan who was involved in a number of different early traditions, including Gardnerianism, Cochrane's Craft and the Coven of Atho...
, and included sections from the Gardnerian 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...
, which he may been given by Gardner when the two had been friendly, or may have come to him through a woman he had introduced into Gardner's circle.
In 1958 he published an article entitled "The Craft of the Wiccens" in Light magazine, in which he advertised for all genuine practitioners of the religion to get in touch. One such person to respond was Doreen Valiente
Doreen Valiente
Doreen Edith Dominy Valiente , who also went under the craft name Ameth, was an influential English Wiccan who was involved in a number of different early traditions, including Gardnerianism, Cochrane's Craft and the Coven of Atho...
, and she got in touch with the Cardell couple. They claimed that their mother had been a witch, and that she had left them her athame
Athame
An Athame or Athamé is a ceremonial dagger, with a double-edged blade and usually a black handle. It is the main ritual implement or magical tool among several used in the religion of Wicca, and is also used in various other neopagan witchcraft traditions. It is variously pronounced or...
and her witches' bracelet. Valiente believed that the bracelet was similar to those used in 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...
, and she informed Dafo
Dafo
Edith Rose Woodford-Grimes was an English Wiccan who achieved notoriety as one of the faith's earliest known adherents. She had been a member of the New Forest coven which met during the late 1930s and early 1940s, and through this became a friend and working partner of Gerald Gardner, who would...
that "they are not the same as ours, but bear sufficient resemblance to be worthy of our attention". Valiente later met them in his London consulting rooms, and she said that:
Cardell's Coven
In the early 1960s, the Cardells fell out with a friend of theirs, Raymond HowardRaymond Howard
Raymond Howard was an English Witch and an early figure in the history of the neopagan religion of Wicca. Howard propagated the tradition focused around the Horned God known as Atho, which had originated with Charles Cardell....
, who went on to propagate the Coven of Atho. Howard later took Cardell to court, claiming that he had sent him an effigy, pierced by a needle and a mirror.
In March 1961, an article entitled "Witchcraft in the Woods" by William Hall was published in the London Evening News. In it, Hall claimed to have witnessed a ritual by twelve witches in the woods, involving Mary Cardell, playing the part of a Witch Maiden and dressed in a red cloak, sitting in a five-pronged tree with Charles Cardell, dressed in a black cloak adorned with a pentagram, casting a circle with a sword, blowing a horn and shooting a longbow. A shrunken head
Shrunken head
A shrunken head is a severed and specially prepared human head that is used for trophy, ritual, or trade purposes.Headhunting occurred in many regions of the world. But the practice of headshrinking has only ever been recorded in the northwestern region of the Amazon rain forest...
was one of the items on the altar, and acts of levitation were performed.
The Cardells brought about a libel case against the newspaper, but did allow other newspaper journalists to come along and view the scene of the ritual. Only one took up his offer, the County Post reporter W. J. Locke. Locke photographed the scene, which comprised a circle in sand, a stone altar with two fake spiders on either side, a shrunken head along with the name 'Ramoh' (the craft name of Raymond Howard), a bone, a bowl of water and a crystal ball.
In 1967 the libel case against the London Evening News came to a head in court. Doreen Valiente attended the hearing, interested as to what the results would be. The Cardells claimed that their company, Dumblecott Magick Productions, was merely a front to get witches interested in them, so that they could study and expose the witch religion of Gerald Gardner
Gerald Gardner
Gerald Brousseau Gardner , who sometimes used the craft name Scire, was an influential English Wiccan, as well as an amateur anthropologist and archaeologist, writer, weaponry expert and occultist. He was instrumental in bringing the Neopagan religion of Wicca to public attention in Britain and...
, and that the ritual which they performed and was witnessed by Hall was merely a part of their front. The Cardells' story did not hold up, and they lost the court case.
In 1968, Cardell was found guilty of spreading defamatory remarks about the solicitors company who had supported the London Evening News. Around the same time, William Hall received a package containing a wooden fish with its tail broken off, accompanied by a note that said "to William Hall, almost a reporter". The court proceedings had left the Cardells bankrupt, and they were forced to sell some of their land and live in caravans in one of their fields. Charles Cardell died in 1977, and was survived by Mary.
External links
- Article from The Cauldron
- Mini bio on Cardell
- Article on Atho a Horned God worshiped by Charles Cardell
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