WITCH MUSEUM CELEBRATES 50 YEARS

This year the Museum of Witchcraft at Boscastle in north Cornwall celebrates the 50th anniversary of its original foundation. It was in 1951 that Cecil Williamson, an ex-film producer, tobacco farmer and wartime secret agent, opened the museum at the Witches Mill in Arbory Street, Castletown, Isle of Man. Williamson subsequently sold the building to Gerald Gardner and moved his collection to new premises in Windsor Street. Unfortunately he was asked to move on by representatives of the royal family who did not the idea of a witch museum on 'their patch'. In 1955 he moved the museum to Bourton-on-the-Water in the Cotswolds. Local opposition, including an arson attack, eventually forced him to move to the Witches House on Boscastle harbour in 1960. In 1996 Williamson retired and sold the building and collection to the present owner Graham King. Three years later Williamson passed to spirit, but thankfully the museum is in very safe hands for the future.

In December 2000 the Friends of the Museum held their annual winter moot in Boscastle. It was introduced by Graham King who reported on the number of visitors during the summer and the state of the museum's finances. He also told the Friends about the acquisition of some rare magical artefacts and drawings from a source in Holland. Some of this material originated from a Crowleyian group earlier in the last century and will be on display this summer. Graham's update was followed by a talk on the Green Man by Ron Miller, an author and screenwriter who has written on military matters, Robin Hood and film scripts for the movies Deliverance and Jean de Florette. Miller speculated that the image of the Green Man may have its roots in ancient Greece or Egypt. He also suggested that their popularity in English churches dated from the 14th century CE when bad weather, plague and famine may have caused a revival of older beliefs then Christianity.

Mary Rand then followed this with a talk describing her thirty years of experience in both Wicca and the Old Craft. She recollected the very different scene in the late 1960s and 1970s when there were few moots, magazines or occult shops around. Oh halcyon days! She also described her initiation into Alexandrian Wicca and her experiences with Maxine and Alex Sanders. Rand compared the situation then and now and said what was missing today was the family-type environment of covens. After the talks a ritual was held on the harbour side and the oddly participants remarked on the feelings of 'family' it engendered.

Everyone agree that it had been a good weekend and looked forward to this year's event. Unfortunately due to floods and the rail crisis your editor could not make the moot. Therefore he would like to thank Liz Crowe, Steve Patterson and Maia for sending him notes on the talks for inclusion in this article.