Janet Farrar
Encyclopedia
Janet Farrar is a British
teacher and author of books on Wicca
and Neopaganism. Along with her two husbands, Stewart Farrar
and Gavin Bone
, Farrar has published "some of the most influential books on modern Witchcraft
to date." According to George Knowles, "some seventy five percent of Wicca
ns both in the Republic
and Northern Ireland
can trace their roots back to the Farrar's [sic]."
Farrar has been one of the most public faces of Wicca, having appeared as a model for book covers and illustrations in several of the best-read books on the subject. Farrar is a frequent guest lecturer on the subjects of Wicca, Neopaganism
and witchcraft in North America and Europe.
in 1950. Her family, of mixed English
, Irish
and Welsh
descent, were members of the Church of England
. Farrar attended the Leyton Manor School, and the Royal Wanstead High School girls' school. After high school, Farrar worked as a model
and receptionist
.
Farrar was initiated into Alexandrian Wicca
by the tradition's founders, Alex
and Maxine Sanders
. Farrar met the Sanders in 1970 through a friend who had become interested in exploring Wicca. Farrar accompanied her friend in order to keep the friend "out of this weird cult", but Farrar instead joined the Sanders coven
, and would go on to become, in the words of Knowles, one of "England’s most eminent and respected modern day witches." In the coven she met Stewart Farrar
, her future husband and co-author.
Janet Farrar asserts that the couple were both elevated to the second degree "in an unoccupied house in Sydenham
" by the Sanders on 17 October 1970, and that they received the third, and final, degree of initiation in their flat on 24 April 1971, but that these events are disputed by some Alexandrian "revisionists".
The Farrars had begun running their own coven in 1971, before their third degree initiation ceremony, and were handfasted
in 1972 and legally married in 1975. Janet Farrar left the coven in 1972 to explore Kabbala
with a ceremonial magic
lodge, but returned within the same year. In 1976 the Farrars moved to Ireland
to get away from the busy life of London. They lived in County Mayo
and County Wicklow
, finally settling in "Herne Cottage" in Kells, County Meath
. Both husband and wife went on to publish a number of books on the Wiccan religion and on coven practises. Farrar continued to model and appeared in the illustrations to multiple early books about Wicca, including the cover of the paperback version of Margot Adler
's 1979 Drawing Down the Moon
. Farrar also posed for many of the photographs in their 1981 Eight Sabbats for Witches, which included material the authors claimed to be from the Alexandrian tradition's Book of Shadows
. The Farrars, with the support of Doreen Valiente
, argued in the book that even though the publishing of this material broke their oath of secrecy, it was justified by the need to correct misinformation. Janet Farrar indicates that some of the rituals contained in the couple's books were actually written by them, and that they left the Alexandrian tradition after the book's research was complete. The couple co-authored four more books on Wicca. Janet Farrar's post-Alexandrian practice has been referred to as "Reformed Alexandrian".
The Farrars returned to England in 1988, but by 1993 had returned to Ireland. They were joined by Gavin Bone
, with whom they entered into a "polyfidelitous relationship". The three of them would co-author two more books, The Healing Craft and The Pagan Path, an investigation into the many varieties of Neopaganism. Stewart Farrar died in February 2000 after a brief illness.
After Stewart Farrar's death, Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone have continued to author books, and have given a number of lectures on Wicca in the United States, Australia and in Britain. The title of their 2004 book, Progressive Witchcraft, is the description that the couple prefers for their current religious practice.
----
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
teacher and author of books on Wicca
Wicca
Wicca , is a modern Pagan religious movement. Developing in England in the first half of the 20th century, Wicca was popularised in the 1950s and early 1960s by a Wiccan High Priest named Gerald Gardner, who at the time called it the "witch cult" and "witchcraft," and its adherents "the Wica."...
and Neopaganism. Along with her two husbands, Stewart Farrar
Stewart Farrar
Frank Stewart Farrar , who always went by the name of Stewart Farrar, was an English screenwriter, novelist and prominent figure in the Neopagan religion of Wicca, which he devoted much of his later life to propagating with the aid of his seventh wife, Janet Farrar, and then his friend Gavin Bone...
and Gavin Bone
Gavin Bone
Gavin Bone is an author and lecturer in the fields of magic, witchcraft, Wicca and Neo-Paganism, and an organizer in the Neo-Pagan community. He was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire in England, in 1964.-Wicca and Neopaganism:...
, Farrar has published "some of the most influential books on modern Witchcraft
Witchcraft
Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...
to date." According to George Knowles, "some seventy five percent of Wicca
Wicca
Wicca , is a modern Pagan religious movement. Developing in England in the first half of the 20th century, Wicca was popularised in the 1950s and early 1960s by a Wiccan High Priest named Gerald Gardner, who at the time called it the "witch cult" and "witchcraft," and its adherents "the Wica."...
ns both in the Republic
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
and Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
can trace their roots back to the Farrar's [sic]."
Farrar has been one of the most public faces of Wicca, having appeared as a model for book covers and illustrations in several of the best-read books on the subject. Farrar is a frequent guest lecturer on the subjects of Wicca, Neopaganism
Neopaganism
Neopaganism is an umbrella term used to identify a wide variety of modern religious movements, particularly those influenced by or claiming to be derived from the various pagan beliefs of pre-modern Europe...
and witchcraft in North America and Europe.
Biography
Farrar was born in ClaphamClapham
Clapham is a district in south London, England, within the London Borough of Lambeth.Clapham covers the postcodes of SW4 and parts of SW9, SW8 and SW12. Clapham Common is shared with the London Borough of Wandsworth, although Lambeth has responsibility for running the common as a whole. According...
in 1950. Her family, of mixed English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
, Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
and Welsh
Welsh people
The Welsh people are an ethnic group and nation associated with Wales and the Welsh language.John Davies argues that the origin of the "Welsh nation" can be traced to the late 4th and early 5th centuries, following the Roman departure from Britain, although Brythonic Celtic languages seem to have...
descent, were members of the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
. Farrar attended the Leyton Manor School, and the Royal Wanstead High School girls' school. After high school, Farrar worked as a model
Model (person)
A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....
and receptionist
Receptionist
A receptionist is an employee taking an office/administrative support position. The work is usually performed in a waiting area such as a lobby or front office desk of an organization or business...
.
Farrar was initiated into Alexandrian Wicca
Alexandrian Wicca
Alexandrian Wicca is a tradition of the Neopagan religion of Wicca, founded by Alex Sanders who, with his wife Maxine Sanders, established the tradition in the United Kingdom in the 1960s...
by the tradition's founders, Alex
Alex Sanders (Wiccan)
Alex Sanders , born Orrell Alexander Carter, was an English occultist and High Priest in the Neopagan religion of Wicca, responsible for founding the tradition of Alexandrian Wicca during the 1960s. He was a figure who often appeared in tabloid newspapers...
and Maxine Sanders
Maxine Sanders
Maxine Sanders is a prominent member of the Wiccan faith and a co-founder with her late husband, Alex Sanders, of Alexandrian Wicca....
. Farrar met the Sanders in 1970 through a friend who had become interested in exploring Wicca. Farrar accompanied her friend in order to keep the friend "out of this weird cult", but Farrar instead joined the Sanders coven
Coven
A coven or covan is a name used to describe a gathering of witches or in some cases vampires. Due to the word's association with witches, a gathering of Wiccans, followers of the witchcraft-based neopagan religion of Wicca, is also described as a coven....
, and would go on to become, in the words of Knowles, one of "England’s most eminent and respected modern day witches." In the coven she met Stewart Farrar
Stewart Farrar
Frank Stewart Farrar , who always went by the name of Stewart Farrar, was an English screenwriter, novelist and prominent figure in the Neopagan religion of Wicca, which he devoted much of his later life to propagating with the aid of his seventh wife, Janet Farrar, and then his friend Gavin Bone...
, her future husband and co-author.
Janet Farrar asserts that the couple were both elevated to the second degree "in an unoccupied house in Sydenham
Sydenham
Sydenham is an area and electoral ward in the London Borough of Lewisham; although some streets towards Crystal Palace Park, Forest Hill and Penge are outside the ward and in the London Borough of Bromley, and some streets off Sydenham Hill are in the London Borough of Southwark. Sydenham was in...
" by the Sanders on 17 October 1970, and that they received the third, and final, degree of initiation in their flat on 24 April 1971, but that these events are disputed by some Alexandrian "revisionists".
Handfasting
Handfasting is a traditional European ceremony of betrothal or wedding. It usually involved the tying or binding of the right hands of the bride and groom with a cord or ribbon for the duration of the wedding ceremony.-Etymology:...
in 1972 and legally married in 1975. Janet Farrar left the coven in 1972 to explore Kabbala
Kabbala
Kabbala may refer to:*Kabbalah, is a religious philosophical system claiming an insight into divine nature*Sefer ha-Qabbalah by Abraham ibn Daud*Kabbala Denudata , a book from Christian Knorr von Rosenroth, a Christian Hebraist...
with a ceremonial magic
Ceremonial magic
Ceremonial magic, also referred to as high magic and as learned magic, is a broad term used in the context of Hermeticism or Western esotericism to encompass a wide variety of long, elaborate, and complex rituals of magic. It is named as such because the works included are characterized by...
lodge, but returned within the same year. In 1976 the Farrars moved to Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
to get away from the busy life of London. They lived in County Mayo
County Mayo
County Mayo is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the village of Mayo, which is now generally known as Mayo Abbey. Mayo County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county is 130,552...
and County Wicklow
County Wicklow
County Wicklow is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Mid-East Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Wicklow, which derives from the Old Norse name Víkingalág or Wykynlo. Wicklow County Council is the local authority for the county...
, finally settling in "Herne Cottage" in Kells, County Meath
Kells, County Meath
Kells is a town in County Meath, Ireland. The town lies off the M3 motorway, from Navan and from Dublin. In recent years Kells has grown greatly with many Dublin commuters moving to the town....
. Both husband and wife went on to publish a number of books on the Wiccan religion and on coven practises. Farrar continued to model and appeared in the illustrations to multiple early books about Wicca, including the cover of the paperback version of Margot Adler
Margot Adler
Margot Adler is an author, journalist, lecturer, Wiccan priestess and radio journalist and correspondent for National Public Radio .- Early life :Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, Adler grew up mostly in New York City...
's 1979 Drawing Down the Moon
Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America Today
Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America Today is a sociological study of contemporary Paganism in the United States written by the American sociologist, Wiccan and journalist Margot Adler...
. Farrar also posed for many of the photographs in their 1981 Eight Sabbats for Witches, which included material the authors claimed to be from the Alexandrian tradition's Book of Shadows
Book of Shadows
A Book of Shadows is a book containing religious texts and instructions for magical rituals found within the Neopagan religion of Wicca. Originating within the Gardnerian tradition of the Craft, the first Book of Shadows was created by the pioneering Wiccan Gerald Gardner sometime in the late 1940s...
. The Farrars, with the support of Doreen Valiente
Doreen Valiente
Doreen Edith Dominy Valiente , who also went under the craft name Ameth, was an influential English Wiccan who was involved in a number of different early traditions, including Gardnerianism, Cochrane's Craft and the Coven of Atho...
, argued in the book that even though the publishing of this material broke their oath of secrecy, it was justified by the need to correct misinformation. Janet Farrar indicates that some of the rituals contained in the couple's books were actually written by them, and that they left the Alexandrian tradition after the book's research was complete. The couple co-authored four more books on Wicca. Janet Farrar's post-Alexandrian practice has been referred to as "Reformed Alexandrian".
The Farrars returned to England in 1988, but by 1993 had returned to Ireland. They were joined by Gavin Bone
Gavin Bone
Gavin Bone is an author and lecturer in the fields of magic, witchcraft, Wicca and Neo-Paganism, and an organizer in the Neo-Pagan community. He was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire in England, in 1964.-Wicca and Neopaganism:...
, with whom they entered into a "polyfidelitous relationship". The three of them would co-author two more books, The Healing Craft and The Pagan Path, an investigation into the many varieties of Neopaganism. Stewart Farrar died in February 2000 after a brief illness.
After Stewart Farrar's death, Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone have continued to author books, and have given a number of lectures on Wicca in the United States, Australia and in Britain. The title of their 2004 book, Progressive Witchcraft, is the description that the couple prefers for their current religious practice.
With Stewart Farrar
- 1981: Eight Sabbats for Witches
- 1984: The Witches' Way
- 1987: The Witches' Goddess: The Feminine Principle of Divinity
- 1989: The Witches' God: Lord of the Dance
- 1990: Spells and How they Work
- 1996: A Witches' Bible: The Complete Witches' Handbook (re-issue of The Witches' Way and Eight Sabbats for Witches)
With Stewart Farrar and Gavin Bone
- 1995: The Pagan Path
- 1999: The Healing Craft: Healing Practices for Witches and Pagans
- 2001: The Complete Dictionary of European Gods and Goddesses
With Gavin Bone
- 2004: Progressive Witchcraft: Spirituality, Mysteries, and Training in Modern Wicca
External links
- Official website
- Interview with Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone
- Lilitu Babalon Talks to Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone
----