GERALD GARDNER, The Man, the Myth & the Magick

[icymist]

Part One

It is over thirty years since Gerald Gardner (1884-1964) departed to the spirit world yet his influence still dominates the Craft. Gardner was on a Mediterranean cruise on the S.S. Scottish Prince when he collapsed at the breakfast table and died from a heart attack. He was nearly 80 years old.

Since his death Gardner has been both praised and vilified in the most extreme terms. He has been hailed as the father of the modem pagan revival, the messiah of a religion for the New Age and as a 'kindly, gentle old man'. In contrast he has also been vilified as a sado-masochistic voyeur, a homophobe, misogynist, 'dirty old man', 'a potty old Englishman', a manipulative old rascal', and 'a kinky old goat' ! His contribution to the increasing public awareness of the Craft in the second half of the 20th century has been both lauded and condemned. In the words of an (anonymous) correspondent in The Bridge magazine (Lugnasadh 1995): ' I feel that the Craft would not be in the mess it is in today if Gardner had kept his mouth shut, and practised the rule of silence. He dragged the Craft from the sacred darkness into the profane light'.

Writing shortly after Gardner's death, Justine Glass (1965) summed up this contradiction about him when she said: 'Opinions about Dr Gardner (sic) are so divergent that it seems the truth must lie somewhere between the extremes. He has been described to me as a brilliant scholar, and a man with a veneer of learning; as a loveable, delightful character, and a 'messy old man'. Some say he was a master of witchcraft, others that he had no real knowledge at all, and that he did more harm to the Craft then the persecutions.' The truth, as Glass suggests, must lie somewhere between the extremes, but it is not our purpose here to find it, even if that was possible. In fact, with the passing of the years, it seems very unlikely that the real truth about this controversial figure will ever be known.
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