Book of Shadows

"The Book of Shadows was essentially invented by Gerald Gardner, who is the founder of Wicca. He was a civil servant before the Second World War, very interested in the occult and in the writings of the Golden Dawn. In the 1940s he invented the modern religion of Wicca. He claimed that he had discovered a secret tradition of ancient fertility magic which had been maintained over the centuries by witches who had been persecuted by the authorities. So much so, that by the 20th century there was maybe only one coven left, and he said he got hold of their secret from a coven in the New Forest. Yes, with programmes like Charmed , the three sisters actually have the Book of Shadows and, of course, it’s there in Buffy the Vampire Slayer . So there are all these attractive young women who have their own grimoires. There was this sudden boom of interest among teenagers. And I think that’s because as teenagers there is always a fascination with the idea that you can have some sort of control over your life or others. Yes and you’re exploring possibilities and belief systems. The interesting thing is that the authorities have always tried to suppress all the books I’ve been talking about, but here we are in the third millennium and they are still thriving. TV companies are producing programmes in which magic is presented as a reality in modern settings. It’s still a vibrant tradition."