Rebirth of Witchcraft. by Doreen Valiente - 1989.

Custer, WA Phoenix Publishing , 1989. Paperback First Edition Thus (1989), so stated. Fine in Wraps: flawless; the binding is square and secure; the text is clean. Free of underlining, hi-lighting, notations, or marginalia. Free of creased or dog-eared pages in the text. Free of creases to the covers. Free of any ownership names, dates, addresses, notations, inscriptions, stamps, plates, or labels. A handsome like-new copy, structurally sound and tightly bound, free of any discernible flaws. Virtually 'As New'. NOT a Remainder, Book-Club, or Ex-Library. 8vo. (9 x 6 x 0.7 inches). 236 pages. Illustrated with sixteen pages of duotone Photographs, Diagrams, and Drawings. Language: English. Weight: 15 ounces. First Edition Thus (1989), so stated. Trade Paperback. One of witchcraft's most widely known figures, Doreen Valiente was a close friend of the late Gerald Gardner, generally regarded as the founder of modern Wicca. Initiated by him in the 1950s and for a time High Priestess of his coven, Doreen helped him rewrite his seminal Book of Shadows and establish witchcraft's international reputation. In this intriguing exposé, Doreen provides an insider’s account of the birth and evolution of the contemporary Wicca movement. She recalls her spat with Gardner that eventually split his coven, the controversy surrounding Alex Sanders, "King of the Witches," and many other witches whom she has known, including “Dafo,” Robert Cochrane, Leslie Roberts, and Sybil Leek. She also describes the clairvoyant communications she received purporting to come from John Brakespeare, an 18th-century witch. In the mid-1980s, Valiente began writing an autobiography in which she focused on her own place within Wiccan history. It would be published by Hale in 1989 as The Rebirth of Witchcraft. In this work she did not dismiss the Murrayite witch-cult theory, but she did undermine the belief that Wicca was the survival of it by highlighting the various false claims made by Gardner, Cochrane, and Sanders, instead emphasising what she perceived as the religion's value for the modern era.