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Raymond Buckland came to the United States from England in 1962. He had written television comedy scripts for ITV’s The Army Game and a pilot, Sly Digs, for BBC-TV. He was also personal scriptwriter for the British comedian Ted Lune. In the past thirty-two years he has had over thirty books published - fiction and non-fiction - with over a million copies in print. Titles have been translated into thirteen foreign languages. His publishers have included Ace Books, Warner Books, Prentice Hall/Parker, Samuel Weiser, Inner Traditions International, Galde Press, Visible Ink Press, Citadel, and Llewellyn Worldwide, Ltd. He has also written newspaper and magazine articles and five screenplays. Two of his books are each in their thirtieth printing; each with over 360,000 copies in print. One of his titles was a Book of the Month Club selection and another won the 1999 Visionary Award for non-fiction books.
Considered an authority on the occult and the supernatural, Raymond Buckland has served as Technical Advisor for the Orson Welles movie Necromancy, and has also worked as an advisor for a stage production of Macbeth with William Friedkin, director of The Exorcist, etc. Raymond is of Romany (Gypsy) descent and, as such, is an authority on the Gypsies, four of his books being on that particular subject. He has lectured at colleges and universities across North America, including Penn. State University, University of Western Illinois, University of North Dakota, University of New Orleans, New York State University, Ohio’s Cincinnati University, and San Diego City College. He has been written up in such newspapers and magazines as The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, New York Daily (and Sunday) News, National Observer, Look Magazine, Cosmopolitan, True, and many others.
Raymond Buckland has appeared on numerous radio and television talk programs, including: The Dick Cavett Show, Tom Snyder’s Tomorrow Show, Not For Women Only (with Barbara Walters), The Virginia Graham Show, The Dennis Wholey Show, and the Sally Jessy Raphael Show. He has been seen on BBC-TV England, RAI-TV Italy, and CBC-TV Canada. He has appeared extensively on stage in England and played small character parts in movies in America.
Raymond has taught courses at New York State University, Hofstra University, New Hampshire Technical College and for Hampton (Virginia) City Council. He is listed in a number of reference works including Contemporary Authors, Who’s Who in America, Men of Achievement, and International Authors and Writers Who’s Who.The Gardnerian version of Wicca was brought to the United States from Britain by Raymond and Rosemary Buckland. The Buckland's were both students of Gerald Gardner. Ray, who has a PHD in anthropology, worked in Britain as a scriptwriter and consultant. His father was an author and playwright. Buckland is a royal Gypsy name, and Ray has made a study of Gypsy culture.
Ray had been studying the occult for many years when he first read Gardner's Witchcraft Today in the late 1950s. Ray recognized how important the Gardnerian movement was going to be. He began corresponding with Gardner around 1960, receiving in effect a correspondence course on the Craft. Late in 1963 , he and Rosemary journeyed to Perth, Scotland, where, as Gerald had arranged, they underwent a brief, intense training by Lady Olwen (Monique Wilson) and were initiated. They then brought the Gardnerian Book of Shadows and secret names back to Bay Shore on Long Island, New York where he and Rosemary Ray (Robat and Rowen) started a coven, and opened the Buckland Museum of Folklore, Magick and the Supernatural.
Immediately after the coven was formed, Wicca began to spread over the United States leaving no city unaware that it was there. People attracted to the God and Goddess faith began to create variations, and these variations are now referred to as neo-pagan Wicca. Some neopagan groups differ primarily from Wicca groups because of their rejection of the designation 'witch'.
It is reported that the Bucklands, did their best to screen people carefully and train them thoroughly according to the principles and procedures in the Gardnerian Book. Over the years, however, more and more people came banging on the door, demanding to learn the Craft, and threatening to dire things if they weren't let in. In order to prevent such a tendency from growing wild, Ray Buckland and Lady Rowen gradually relented: letting people in sooner, training them less rigorously, elevating them to the higher degrees sooner. Still, there were fewer than 20 women raised to the Third Degree during the nine years of their leadership of the New York Coven.
In 1972, Lady Rowen decided that she was tired of being High Priestess, and retired, turning the coven over to Theos and Phoenix (Judy and Tom Kneitel). At first the Bucklands remained as Elders in the coven, but then they parted ways with each other and started becoming less active in the coven. When Theos and Phoenix realized that Rowen would no longer be available to answer questions, they picked her brain about everything and anything she could remember about oral traditions and about how the coven actually operated, thus creating the longest single document in the current Gardnerian Book of Shadows, the "Notes and Guidelines," which was at first intended to be mere guidelines, but over the years has solidified into rigid rules and regulations. Most of the controversies in the American Gardnerian movement for the last 30 years have resulted from text in this document, which never existed in England.
At this point, needing a High Priestess to form a new coven, Ray raised Deirdre to Third Degree by himself, as had in fact been allowed under the procedural rules in effect at the time. However, one of the new "guidelines" Theos had learned from Rowen stated that valid initiations could be carried out only by a Third-Degree High Priestess; so Theos and Phoenix for some years refused to recognize Deirdre's elevation as being valid, and this created the "Kentucky" line when Deirdre moved to Louisville. However, Theos later persuaded Deirdre to accept a "re-initiation" by the procedures of the New York coven, thus healing the schism. Louisville later became a new center of Gardnerian orthodoxy.
Ray soon became aware that there were many flaws that he had come to perceive in the Gardnerian tradition. He felt that he should design a version of the Craft that did not suffer from those flaws. He soon founded Seax-Wica as a Craft tradition that recognized self-initiation, allowed democratic governance of the coven, and encouraged creativity, among its other advantages, and soon thereafter moved to New Hampshire. He commented that "Samhain 1973 was to be the first actual Seax-Wica Sabbat held.The `original material' that was handed down by Gardner was just the bare bones . In fact, there were fewer than 100 pages in the Book of Shadows in 1972.
Although Lady Theos & Phoenix studied with Rowen & Robat for only a brief period, it was a very intensive one. They wrote down the teachings they received, because they knew they would not always be able to call on their Queen for advice & counsel . They then studied the materials they had been given and the teachings they had written down. Then they researched various mystery traditions, in an attempt to create a more cohesive and complete book of shadows.
In 1973, Lady Rowen, Ray Buckland, Lady Theos, Phoenix, Ed Fitch, and one other person, as the actual Elders of the Gardnerian movement in America, signed the materials they were adding to the first-degree Book of Shadows, thus certifying it as authentic and authoritative.
The rules and procedures thus created, observed faithfully by American Gardnerians, are the ones that the English Gardnerians have never heard of, and to which their response is usually more or less on the order of, "What? Surely you jest!"
There are only three fully recognized Gardnerian lineages in the United States: The Long Island Line (from Raymond and Rosemary Buckland), The Kentucky Line and the Donna Cole Line. A fourth line, the emerging California Line, is an offshoot of the Long Island Line. Gardnerians in the United States tend to be highly attentive to lineage and its traceability. Some American Gardnerian Witches will not recognize the initiation of another if the initiation was through a male.
GO TO .... HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT To see a brief history of British Witchcraft in the UK.Below are the majority of Ray Bucklands books. Browse through them and buy several for your library.
Bucklands Complete Book of Witchcraft
As
the title says, this is a complete book of Witchcraft, and will give the neophyte an
excellent basis for which to begin their search for truth. Everything from rituals,
to magick to contacts and more. We require our students to read this book, if they
have not previously had any craft training or have done little reading. Ray is to
be commended for creating an excellent Introductory Craft book. Buy
several for your students, friends and family! Buckland's
Complete Book of Witchcraft ~
This is a sequel
to Ray's "Practical Candleburning Rituals" and is actually better than the
first. An excellent beginning Magick or Witchcraft primer with more advanced and detailed
(hence the title) rituals/spells, and it contains many different ones that weren't covered
in the first book. There is also an extensive correspondence table section in the back
which covers many different aspects, from colors, gemstones, days, astrological signs,
substitutions for herbs that can be used, etc. There is a section on where to obtain
the tools, herbs, and lists the color of candle to use on each particular spell.
Once again Raymond Buckland has produced a book on magickal practice that is easy to read,
contains step by step instructions and stays true to positive magickal principles.
"Advanced Candle Magick" is a wonderful resorurce for introductory work in
candle magick. For the serious occult student, new practicioner of Wicca, or the curious,
this is the book that explains just how candle magick works, why it works and how it can
improve the practitioners and others live. This is definitely a worthwhile book to
have if you want to do any sort of candle magick or spells, plus it's not complicated or
difficult to understand. It even goes into preparing for the spells, with timing and such.
Overall one of the best candle magick books out there . I dont reccomend such a book for
the unexperienced. try the 1st candle magic book first. Amazingly, every spell I've tried
so far in this book has worked. Even the ones not listed in the previous title. Buy it for
yourself or a learning freind. This is a must read for those who are interested in
making candle magick a part of daily life.
Gypsies
have long held a place in romantic fantasy. Even the name they commonly use to refer to
themselves, the Romany, sounds like romance. However, romantic images of Gypsy life have
fallen
prey to harsh depictions of Gypsies as criminals living in the poorest of conditions.
Buckland dispels
some of the contemporary misinformation and revitalizes the romance of the past that,
despite
societal pressures and constraints, still can be found in Romany culture today. Buckland's
collection
of photographs of early-20th-century Gypsies--their ornately carved vardos (the colorful
wagons
that served as both home and transportation) and their close-knit family lives--elicit a
sigh of longing
for the freedom of life on the road. Gypsy Witchcraft & Magic certainly lives up to
its title,
revealing spells, talismans and methods of divination that have become an inherent part of
Gypsy culture, but Buckland's real achievement is his preservation of part of a culture
that is slowly dissolving in the social mainstream. Ray offers a glimpse into the hidden
side of Gypsy life, seeking to capture the romance and charm of this culture's mystical
past and present. .
Buckland's book,
Practical Candle Burning Rituals, is great for doing most types of rituals. It also is two
sided...given you a Christian version for non-Witches and a Pagan side for
Witches/Wiccans/Pagans to use.The directions are easy to follow and if you follow the
directions that he has set for timing, moon phases, and use the appropriate colors your
spell should work for you.I refer back to his book many times when I am teaching my
students...especially when they want to know the appropriate colors and altar layouts for
candle spells.The way Buckland has written this book is what works for him..there is no
law that says you can not improvise your own words into the rituals he has written to make
them work for you.Excellent book...easy rituals and great results! Practical
Candleburning Rituals ~
Scottish Witchcraft
This is an OK book
on Scottish Witchcraft. Not Great, but somewhat informative. There is some
controversy surrounding this book, but there will always be people who make it a lifes
work to put down the work of others. This is another intro type book, but this time
with a Pictish theme. There are many pretenders out there who claim to know a great
deal about the Craft. Most of these are young kids who know what they have read in a
few books. Ray Buckland was teaching a coven in New York when some of these so
called "Family Trad Pagans" were either just a gleam in their mother eye, or
still wetting their pants! Scottish
Witchcraft : The History and Magick of the Picts (Llewellyn's Modern Witchcraft Series)
~
The Book of
African Divination : Interpreting the Forces of Destiny With Techniques from the Venda,
Zulu, and Yoruba/Book and Card Set ~ 
The Magick
Cauldron, Paperback (May 1995) Glade Press, Inc.; ISBN: 1880090139
The Committee
(Llewellyn's Psi-Fi Novel) ~
Witchcraft the Religion, Museum handbook series 1,
Booklet printed by the Buckland Museum of Witchcraft & Magick in New York
Doors to Other
Worlds : A Practical Guide to Communicating With Spirits ~
Esp, Witches,
and Ufos (Fate Presents) Vol 2 ~ 
Ghosts,
Hauntings and Possessions : The Best of Hans Holzer, Book 1 (Fate Presents) Vol 1 ~
The Magick of
Chant-O-Matics ~
Practical
Color Magick (Llewellyn's Practical Magick Series) ~
Secrets of
Gypsy Fortunetelling ~
Secrets of
Gypsy Love Magick (Llewellyn's New Age Series) ~
Tree the
Complete Book of Saxon Witchcraft ~
Cardinal's Sin
: Psychic Defenders Uncover Evil in the Vatican 
Rituales
Practicos Con Velas, Spanish ed. 
Amazing
Secrets of the Psychic World 
The anatomy of
the occult
Ray Buckland | Intermediate | Advanced | Reference
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