Yes, please, do elucidate. On this side of the pond, we're told to
look to the mythos of Proserpine and the descent of Inanna. We're
pointed to the frescoes of the Villa of the Mysteries at Pompeii and to
Mystery cults of antiquity. So, yes, decidedly un-Brit. But, some
look to the ballad of Sir John Barleycorn. Is the latter, written by
Robbie Burns, of Scottish descent, not Brit enough and was his work
unknown to Gardner? Seems to me, the first three degrees of
Freemasonry, as reported by Richard Carlile, bear a striking
resemblance to the Ballad of John Barleycorn as do the Gard degrees as
published by the infamous Aidan Kelly. Robbie Burns was purported to
be Scottish Rite and Aleister Crowley was inducted through the Blue
Lodge Masonic degrees. Lots of Brit in all of that though not of great
antiquity and certainly influenced by Greco-Roman cultures.
Thanks,
Felicia S-Heidrick
On Jan 31, 2008, at 1:25 AM, Mandrake wrote:
> Ken et al
>
> really - I'd assumed that Wicca (in the sense of the Gardner's
> reconstruced witchcraft cult) was originally a British
> phenomenon - although Gardner was supposedly inspired by Jack Parsons??
> Any chance of a quick summary
>
> BB/93
>
> mogg
>
>>
>> and, a most unfortunate thing for Ronald to say in my opinion -
>> given the distinctly _un-_British nature of the Wiccan corpus!
>> Ken R.
>>
>> *//*
>>
>
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