The Meaning of Witchcraft

The Meaning of Witchcraft was Gardner’s final book and functioned as a sequel to Witchcraft Today (1954). Where Witchcraft Today introduced the idea of a surviving witch religion to a broad public, The Meaning of Witchcraft is more expansive and defensive: Gardner explained what witchcraft means from the standpoint of someone presenting himself as a practicing witch, while also arguing for its antiquity, symbolism, ritual logic, and religious legitimacy.

The book covers subjects including the witch cult in Britain, witches’ beliefs, alleged Stone Age origins, early British religion, Druidism, Roman and Saxon witchcraft, “magic thinking,” symbols, the Black Mass, and Gardner’s rebuttal of hostile claims about witchcraft. It ends with material on the future of the religion and appendices.

Gardner’s core historical theory—that modern witchcraft represented a direct survival of an ancient pagan fertility religion—was heavily influenced by Margaret Murray and is no longer accepted by most historians. But even where the historical claims fail, the book remains a primary source for the self-understanding and public presentation of early Gardnerian Wicca. This first edition is in very good condition.