The Craft of the Wise: The Pagan Witch Tradition
From the Foreword:
It was 40 years ago. 1979.I am really happy this is the book that will celebrate the anniversary of my Complete Netbook of Witches & Warlocks.
The 70s were ending and I was excited for the coming of the new decade of the 80s. It promised to be a great decade of home computers, new music and for me, looking forward to Junior High and High School.
It was also a watershed year for my involvement in D&D and witches.
1979 was the year I was introduced to D&D. I have told the story before; I learned from a poorly Xeroxed copy of Holmes Basic and an AD&D Monster Manual. That formed what became my D&D incubator. I would later move on to the Moldvay Basic rules. What *IS* D&D to me was formulated at this time.
1979 was also the year that two books that would become central to what people considered witches to be were released. Drawing Down the Moon by Margot Adler and The Spiral Dance by Starhawk. Both books were released on October 31, 1979, and became best sellers. Both authors were very influenced by the works of Margaret Murray (The Witch-Cult in Western Europe) and Gerald Gardner (Witchcraft Today). While the archeological and historical scholarship of Murray and Gardner has been rightfully dismissed, the mythology of all these works is captivating.
The witches I started playing back then, Luna, Cara, Marissa and soon Larina, were based on these and other sources. I gathered notes, began my own classes; The Witch became the front runner and my favorite.
October 31, 1999. 20 years after my start and the publication of Adler’s and Starhawk’s books I released the Complete Netbook of Witches & Warlocks. My very first book on witches for the D&D (then AD&D 2nd ed) game. In the grand occult publishing tradition, I went under the pseudonym “Web Warlock”. I clicked “OK” on the upload while sitting in the hospital three days after my first son was born.
October 31, 2019. Twenty years later again I present you this book. It is something of a milestone for me. It is the penultimate release of my “Back to Basics” series of Old-School Witch books. It is also the one that cleaves the closest to how I was playing in those long lost days. And as a special treat; my son who was only three days old when I released my first book is now 20 and contributed some spells to this book.
I am looking forward to seeing where I go in the next 20 years.
Out on October 31st 2019, Halloween.
Here are the Back to Basics series books so far.
