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The Author's Corner |
Visit Jonathan's website AMETH: |
AMETH TWPT: Tell me about
yourself and the spiritual path that
you are following at this juncture of your life? JT: I was student of the Mexican Mystic the late John
Flores who mentored Burt Sharpe. Much of his influences centered on the 4th Way
teachings of an Englishman residing in Mexico City called Rodney Collin. I have
great respect for all teachings that promote evolution, understanding and
mastery of one self and connection with the world about us. TWPT: Was this path an
evolutionary journey in your life from earlier beliefs to where you are now? JT: I am a believer in fate and destiny. One can set
course on a teaching or idea and veer off at a tangent, meander down dead-ends,
vanity and deceit and so on but if there
is a strong enough feeling within you to realign yourself, you will return to the path that is
right for you. TWPT: How have you
been involved in your spiritual community at large and what is it about this involvement that
draws you to it? JT: I said to philosopher Colin Wilson that my life kept
returning to unfinished business with magic and the occult. He described
himself as 'psychically thick' having no intuition or Faculty X. I admitted to
Colin that I drew magic to me like a magnet attracts iron filings: I could not
escape from its influences. Today I simply try to evolve. I am not interested
in teachings per se but the truth.
TWPT: Now that many decades
have passed since the beginnings of this new revival of Wicca and Witchcraft that started with
Gardner why is it important that we set
down this history in printed form? JT: The book 'AMETH' is my attempt to stitch together
all the loose threads, after all I interviewed people who knew the New Forest
coven, Gardner and other characters of their time. I think it is important for
Wicca to have records of its recent history if only to provide supporting
evidence of its legitimacy on the interfaith map. However, there may be other
more important reasons for writing about Wiccan history right now while it is
fresh in living memories so that the history cannot be distorted in years to come.
TWPT: When did you decide to write the book AMETH and what were some of the initial goals you
set for yourself in regards to what you
wanted to communicate to others about Doreen's life and times? JT: I sat down to type out a new book on heavens knows
what subject and a stream of consciousness overtook me. I wrote the book in
four or five sittings. I have no idea why.
It just came out of me. After all I did archive her collection and am
possibly the only person in the world to have gone through all of her
possessions, writings, BOS etc. If I had
not done this it is quite possible that vital parts of her life story might
have been lost forever. When it came to editing I made up my mind that I wanted
to create a jigsaw connecting her to all of the other interesting characters in
that Wiccan and magical community of that era, like a Who’s Who of the
occult. TWPT: How did you approach a biography of someone that is so important to the foundation of
modern Witchcraft? Did you have any
worries about your work being misunderstood or some negative reactions from those who might read it? JT: I have been warned off the project several times due
to ‘Cult of Doreen’. People may not always agree with my conclusions and I am
open to discussion and critique. Someone had to write the book I suppose and I
was the man who archived her collection shortly after her passing in 1999. I
also produced a collection of poems in a book called 'Charge of the Goddess' on
behalf of the Centre For Pagan Studies in 2000. I take full responsibility for
being the first to try and reach out to others to show Doreen as a human, a
Witch, a feminist and a poet. If there are detractors out there hostile to 'AMETH' then I quote Gardner who said to
Valiente when the pair clashed “Can you do any better?” I hope someone rises to
the challenge and hopefully someone will.
JT: I hadn't fully understood the real connection
between Pagan worship and the environment. It may sound a bit slow of me but as
I realised what man is doing to the planet, it dawned on me why someone should
honor nature. Recently, I passed a group
of housing developers ripping down trees from a wooded site without a thought,
it reminded me of Doreen, and her companion from the States, Starhawk, who is a committed
environmentalist. I made that green connection as I wrote 'AMETH' and took it
into my emotional understanding of what being a Wiccan really means, an
affinity with nature and the planet. I suppose I saw the Greenman. TWPT: During your interviews for this book what was a common recollection of what Doreen
meant to those who knew and worked with
her? JT: Doreen Valiente was a modest, retiring soul, a very generous
person in spirit but she didn't suffer fools gladly. If you displeased Doreen you
soon knew about it. On the whole people liked Doreen and respected her. TWPT: Do you think that the public and those who have read her books over the years know her
as well as they think they do or will AMETH come as a pleasant surprise to them?
JT: Putting my author's hat on I would like readers to
enjoy 'AMETH' and leave with a favorable view of Doreen Valiente and the other characters
within the book. Because of the politics of the Craft there may be one or two
controversial aspects which I did not shy away from airing in public. I did not
want to airbrush out spikey views, it is a history not a eulogy. I think what
will be a pleasant surprise to the reader is that Doreen, as private as she
was, now reveals herself. She kept everything in her collection from shopping
lists to every letter she had written or received - we can finally see her life
warts and all. TWPT: What is it that you want those who read this book to walk away understanding that they didn't understand previously about
Doreen? JT: You don't get anywhere in life without putting
effort in. Nothing spiritual is spoon-fed we have to earn it. Doreen never
rested in her search for enlightenment, never. Her sheer determination is not
always felt in her rather laid-back style of writing but I would like to leave
that understanding about her. She was a very formidable woman. TWPT: In the greater scheme of things what place will Doreen hold in the
eyes of the community as those of us in
this generation begin to fade away and
the next generations of followers begin their own journey along this path? JT: It is hard to say where the people in the future
will invest their values. My own suspicions are that Doreen Valiente will be recognised as
one of their first Green Witches, an environmentalist rather than just a
ritualist. This may give her credence in the future as we face those new
challenges. She too was, a great
champion of feminine rights and Gay rights. She was very much a vanguard of
change before people had those types of views. In her last talk, Doreen spoke about
the need to usher in Aquarian values and keep innovating Wicca, it would be
nice to think that people took that aspect into their hearts. TWPT: What other thoughts about the research and the writing of this project would you like
to share with the community? JT: During the writing of this book 'AMETH' I came
across a wonderful Pagan resource library run by Tamarra and Richard James of Canada. They
hold the oldest known Gerald Gardner BOS and gave me every help in accessing it for this
work. In fact ‘AMETH’ has photos taken by them especially for the book of the
oldest BOS. Thanks to them, 'AMETH' has unique photos of the 'Charge ' written
in Gerald Gardner's handwriting. Their aim is to host the largest occult library and research
centre in North America. I shall certainly be sending material there in the future
and urge others to help them build a great resource. TWPT: What did you
think of the blue plaque that was placed at the home of Doreen Valiente in June 2013 and the upcoming
placement of a blue plaque at the home of Gerald Gardner in
June 2014? What significance does this have for the
Witchcraft community and future
generations? JT: Outwardly the blue plaque is important because it
gives respectability to Wicca on the interfaith map. That alone means that
persecution, misunderstanding, slander and anti-Pagan newspaper articles are
unlikely to occur when the Mayor of a City formally condones Wicca and actually
enshrines a High Priestess as leading good citizen. I was there it was a nice
day but I did have suspicions that the reclusive Doreen might have been too shy or
embarrassed to attend. She hated anyone making a fuss about her. Without wishing to sound like an Oscar nominee. Lastly I
would like to thank my publisher Avalonia for making all this happen and artist
Rowan Wulfe, for leaving us with a wonderful new portrait of Doreen TWPT: I would like to thank you for taking the time to answer my questions about your new book AMETH and about Doreen. I am glad that there are those like you out there who see the value in preserving the past so that some day future generations might look back and see how it all began. |