Aloha,
Kenneth Rees wrote:
> I always have understood that it was well known that if a content
> analysis be made in terms of derivation, inspiration and practice then
> much of the BoS could not usefully be described as `British’ however
> defined.
The *British* part of the early founders' Witchcraft appears to have
more to do with where they resided than with any thoroughgoing
reconstruction or revival of this or that tribal religion involving the
British Isles (pick your favorite historical period). Gardner favored
Anglo-Saxon vocabulary, but did not, for example, require everybody to
do rituals speaking Anglo-Saxon.
I've long thought that many borrowed terms were used in order to add
antique and mysterious qualities to a body of liturgy mostly assembled
from modern sources.
> But two areas worth re-visiting briefly are Tantra and Masonry.
Influences from Masonry on the founders seems fairly clear.
Influences of Tantra on the founders strike me as less clear. Or maybe
as less likely to show up in the Craft Revival in an organized fashion.
I suppose that I'm wondering who would have learned about Tantra and
where. Gardner might have learned something about Tantra in Malaya.
Other founders might have learned about Tantra in the UK. (Did any of
them travel to South Asia? Have gurus?)
Not that there may not be influences of Tantra on Neo-Pagan Craft. But
that it may well have started later, when the movement was growing and
assimilating material from a range of historical cultural sources. Not
early on, among the founders.
Musing Modern Movements In Ancient Costumes! Rose,
Pitch
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