FAMILY TRADITIONS IN WITCHCRAFT

Many families carry out a form of witchcraft passed down from generation to generation. Some of these families first got involved in witchcraft as long ago as the 1950s and have been practising for three generations. On certain housing sink estates this may be four generations.

Other families' womenfolk kept folk remedies alive and joked that they were witches, most of these folk remedies being collected from women's magazines in the 19th century. No-one seriously called themselves witches until the second half of the 20th century except in Somerset, where fortune tellers first started calling themselves "White Witches" after a trend originated by 19th century folklore researchers.

Most claimed family traditions are inventions of the 1960s - 1980s, but many people "adopted" into these traditions have been completely fooled by them, and apply their own sincerity to the traditions and get good results that further convince them that they are genuinely old. These come from three main sources:

1) Gardnerian/Alexandrian initiates who swiftly invented a family pseudo-history after arguing with their High Priestess.

2) Cochrane "Traditional" witchcraft such as the Roebuck and 1734 groups.

3) Cunning Craft and Horse-Whisperer families who have adapted what they inherited to imitate Gardnerian Craft. Note that there were no real supernatural elements to Horse-Whispering and that Cunning Men and Women acted as witchfinders.

One other source is from the group that produced the faked "Pickingill Papers", whose contents have now been entirely disproved on all checkable points but which still fools a few newbies.

No-one who claims family tradition should be dismissed out of hand, but it doesn't hurt much if you do. Particularly, anyone who claims that their ancient tradition makes them better than anyone else in the Pagan/Wiccan/Witchcraft field, entitled to insult others and pontificate, should be avoided like the plague. PLEASE NOTE THAT SOME FAMILY-TRADITION GROUPS HAVE USED THEIR "GENUINENESS" TO INSIST ON SEXUAL INITIATION. Tread carefully!