Patricia Crowther (Wiccan)
Encyclopedia
Patricia Crowther is considered influential in the early promotion of the Wicca
religion. She was born in Sheffield
as Patricia Dawson.
She was initiated into Wicca by Gerald Gardner
in 1960 and is considered one of the "early mothers" of this religion, like Doreen Valiente
, Lois Bourne
, and Eleanor Bone
.
Patricia and her then-husband, Arnold Crowther
(1909-1974) became the High Priestess and High Priest of the Sheffield Coven which they founded in 1961.
Patricia Crowther has promoted Wicca through several media; besides several book publications she has contributed to occult magazines and journals and been interviewed by local and national newspapers. She has also appeared several times on television. In 1971 Patricia and Arnold Crowther wrote and presented A Spell of Witchcraft, which was produced and broadcast by BBC Radio Sheffield in six twenty-minute programs. The radio program, the first of its kind in relation to the Wiccan religion, explored history and folklore regarding witchcraft and presented elements of a local coven's activities and practices to a local community.
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."...
religion. She was born in Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
as Patricia Dawson.
She was initiated into Wicca by 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...
in 1960 and is considered one of the "early mothers" of this religion, like 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...
, Lois Bourne
Lois Bourne
Lois Bourne is an influential figure in the Neopagan religion of Wicca, having been involved in it from the early 1960s, and has written a number of books on the subject...
, 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...
.
Patricia and her then-husband, Arnold Crowther
Arnold Crowther
Arnold Crowther was a skilled stage magician, ventriloquist, and puppeteer, and was married to Patricia Crowther. He was born as one of a pair of fraternal twins...
(1909-1974) became the High Priestess and High Priest of the Sheffield Coven which they founded in 1961.
Patricia Crowther has promoted Wicca through several media; besides several book publications she has contributed to occult magazines and journals and been interviewed by local and national newspapers. She has also appeared several times on television. In 1971 Patricia and Arnold Crowther wrote and presented A Spell of Witchcraft, which was produced and broadcast by BBC Radio Sheffield in six twenty-minute programs. The radio program, the first of its kind in relation to the Wiccan religion, explored history and folklore regarding witchcraft and presented elements of a local coven's activities and practices to a local community.
Books
- 1965 - The Witches Speak (with Arnold Crowther)(Athol Publications)
- 1973 - Witchcraft in Yorkshire (Dalesman) ISBN 0-85206-178-1
- 1974 - Witch Blood (The Diary of a Witch High Priestess) (House of Collectibles) ISBN 0-87637-161-6
- 1981 - Lid off the Cauldron: A handbook for witches (Muller) ISBN 0-584-10421-9
- 1992 - The Zodiac Experience (Samuel Weiser Inc) ISBN 0-87728-739-2
- 1992 - The Secrets of Ancient Witchcraft With the Witches' Tarot (Carol Publishing) ISBN 0-8065-1056-0
- 1992 - Witches Were for Hanging (Excalibur Press of London) ISBN 1-85634-049
- 1998 - One Witch's World (Robert Hale) ISBN 0-7090-6222-2 (published in America under the title High Priestess. Apart from the title, they are the same book) (Phoenix Publishing) ISBN 0-919345-87-5
- 2002 - From Stagecraft to Witchcraft: The Early years of a High Priestess(Capall Bann) ISBN 1-86163-163-4
- 2009 - "Covensense" (Robert Hale)ISBN 9780709087205