Ed Fitch

According to my handy dandy Witches Datebook, yesterday was the birthday of Ed Fitch. I couldn't find any information to support this, but I thought I'd blog about him anyway. For some reason, it appears Ed Fitch is little known among today's Witches, but he's one of the most important figures in American Paganism.

My understanding is that Fitch was initiated into the Gardnerian tradition by Raymond and Rosemary Buckland in 1967. While serving in the Air Force, Fitch wrote two books -- The Grimoire of the Shadows and The Outer Court Book of Shadows -- that were not immediately published but that circulated in the Pagan underground. Because these books supposedly contained outer court training material, they spawned new covens, traditions, and rituals.

It's believed that Fitch was among the Gardnerian New Yorkers who added much to the Gardnerian Book of Shadows. Judy Kneitel and her husband, Tom, eventually took the Bucklands' places as High Priest and High Priestess, but after the Bucklands separated, they became less active with their original New York coven and it wasn't long before the Kneitels realized Rosemary would not always be around to answer questions. Gardner's original Book of Shadows was less than a hundred pages, but it was here that Rosemary was sort of debriefed. Everything she knew and could remember was written down and the final papers were signed by the Gardnerian Elders of the time, including the Bucklands, the Kneitels, and Ed Fitch, and added to the BoS.

Others say that what was written down was small bits of information meant to jog the memory, but in any case, it has become part of the authoritative text which American Gardnerians faithfully observe (and which the English Gardnerians have usually never heard of).

Of course, this is just what's commonly believed. The history of Wicca is a wild ride and I don't know any of these folks so I can't ask them what's true and what's not. But back to Ed Fitch.

Fitch helped to create the Pagan Way in 1970 as a response to the rapidly rising interest in Paganism. It was apparently a form of Gardnerian withcraft in all but a few oath-bound details and was to serve as a sort of middle ground between a non-initiate form and the rigorous Gardnerian Wicca. With the rise of other organizations as well as the do-it-yourself mentality, the Pagan Way fell apart in 1980.

Fitch also co-created a journal, The Crystal Well. Later, many of its rituals and essays were collected and published as a book called Magical Rites from the Crystal Well. This book, filled with beautiful pen and ink illustrations by John Goodier, is still much beloved by Wiccans. With its seasonal rites, magickal workings, and rites of passage, it's an excellent resource for beginners and the more experienced. He also authored Rites of Odin.

Edit: Thanks to Chas Clifton, who read this (cool!) and made an important correction.