The British Druid Order ( BDO ) is an international druid order, founded in 1979 as a religious and educational organisation. Its constitution defines it as a not-for-profit unincorporated association. It is commonly regarded as being one of the first, if not the first, explicitly neo-pagan Druid Orders. The order draws on medieval Welsh texts such as the Mabinogion and other early British/Celtic texts for inspiration and to re-connect with the pre-Christian, indigenous religious and spiritual practices of Britain which it believes to be shamanic in nature.
51-709: Founded in 1979 with the creation of the original Mother Grove, The Grove of the Badger, in Hastings, Sussex, England, by Philip Shallcrass , the current Chief of the Order. By 1992, the BDO was publishing and disseminating pagan literature focused on the shamanic traditions of the Islands of Britain. The Gorsedd of Bards of Caer Abiri was co-founded at Avebury in 1993 by the BDO with ritual designed by Shallcrass In 1995, Shallcrass
102-808: A psychic and trance medium. Together, they developed the magical work of Sanders' Order, the Ordine Della Luna in Constantinople, which he was chartered to operate as Grand Prior for England and Wales by a contact in London in 1967 who claimed to be a descendant of the Byzantine Palaeologos dynasty, but who was actually an eccentric Englishman of Newport on the Isle of Man called Peter Francis Mills. The pair were reportedly working with celestial intelligences, disembodied spirits, and
153-417: A Druid group he decided that he was running a religious house as a response to Margaret Thatcher and the poll tax, providing proof of this to the relevant authorities which would propel him further along the course of Druidry. Meetings with Philip Carr Gomm and his wife Stephanie led to Shallcrass joining The Council of British Druid Orders and running a stall at a Pagan Federation national conference. During
204-545: A bisexual man, also had a number of relationships with men during his relationship with Maxine. The projection of Sanders into the national public spotlight resulted from a sensational newspaper article in 1969, which led to the romanticised biography, King of the Witches , by June Johns in 1969, and the film Legend of the Witches (1970). These led to greater publicity, guest appearances on talk-shows, and public speaking engagements. It seemed to other witches that Sanders
255-445: A different story. According to letters she claims she received from him in 1961, he did not at that time claim to be an initiate, but felt an affinity with the occult and had experienced second sight . In a 1962 interview, Sanders claimed to have been initiated for a year, working in a coven led by a woman from Nottingham. This claim is corroborated by Maxine Sanders , Sanders' future wife and High Priestess. In his book, A Coin for
306-441: A dreadful mistake in using black magic in an attempt to bring myself money and sexual success. It worked all right – I was walking through Manchester and I was accosted by a middle-aged couple who told me that I was the exact double of their only son, who had died some years previously. They took me into their home, fed and clothed me, and treated me as one of the family. They were extremely wealthy, and in 1952, when I asked them for
357-648: A form as a spiritual system answering to the needs of the 21st century where possible and to reconnect with the spirit of them where not, a process referred to by the BDO as 'rekindling the sacred fire.' Practically, the British Druid Order seeks to understand and work with the spirit of inspiration and creativity known in the British Druid tradition as ' awen ' through study, ritual, folklore, healing and many other practices to facilitate connections to sources of knowledge, inspiration and wisdom beyond
408-445: A house of my own, with an allowance to run it on, they were quite happy to grant my wishes. I held parties, I bought expensive clothes, I was sexually promiscuous; but it was only after a time that I realised I had a fearful debt to pay. Sanders' sister, Joan, was injured in an accidental shooting and shortly after diagnosed with terminal cancer at a very young age. Sanders blamed his sister's ill-health on himself for his involvement in
459-472: A passport later in life, and only changed his name by deed poll in the 1960s. Around the mid 1940s, he began working for a manufacturing chemist's laboratory in Manchester . He married a co-worker, nineteen-year-old Doreen Stretton, in 1948 when he was 22, using the name Alexander O. Sanders. They had two children, Paul and Janice. Sanders wanted more children but Doreen didn't; she also disapproved of
510-688: A series of monthly booklets. The course comes with recommendations from prominent figures including Professor Ronald Hutton and Robin Williamson. The closing ceremony of the 2012 Paralympics included text from a 1997 Gorsedd ritual written by Philip Shallcrass and Emma Restall Orr . Shallcrass has been active in areas of ancient technology such as roundhouse building at the Wildways retreat centre in Shropshire. He has also created numerous songs and chants, and worked with instruments including
561-400: A spiritual practice in the modern world. The British Druid Order follows the contemporary tradition of neo-druidry with its threefold division of the Order membership into Bards, Ovates and Druids. BDO Druidry The order believes that the pre-Christian, indigenous religious and spiritual practices of the original Druids were shamanic in nature, and works to reconstruct such practices in
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#1732787817612612-460: A sweat lodge at an OBOD camp in 1994, Shallcrass made contact with a wolf spirit who would become his spiritual guide and guardian. In 1978, Shallcrass joined an Alexandrian Wiccan coven, being initiated a High Priest the following year. During the course of that year, he had been writing seasonal festival rites for the coven. These were heavily influenced by his studies in Druidry. By the time
663-599: Is Chief of the British Druid Order . He is an English artist, writer, poet, musician and singer-songwriter who pioneered a "shamanic" Druidism. Philip Shallcrass was born in Sussex , England in 1953. His first visit to Avebury occurred in the 1970s. In 1974 he discovered Druidry through reading Robert Graves' The White Goddess . In the same year, Shallcrass read Mircea Eliade's Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy . Eliade's book contained descriptions of
714-568: The Key of Solomon . Not long thereafter, Sanders' employment was terminated for dismantling the late 19th century edition of the Mathers ' translation of the Key of Solomon . As well as influence from Goetia , which Sanders incorporated into his version of Wicca, Sanders was greatly influenced by the teachings of Eliphas Levi . During the 1960s, Sanders met Arline Maxine Morris ( Maxine Sanders ). Morris
765-692: The Manchester Evening News to run a front-page article on Wicca. This publicity had several unfortunate side-effects for Sanders, including the loss of his job at the library and estrangement from the Crowthers, who considered him a troublesome upstart and refused to initiate him. Sanders was eventually initiated by a Priestess, Pat Kopinski, who had been a member of the Crowthers' coven, and with whom Maxine Sanders later worked for several years. According to Maxine Sanders, Sanders copied his Book of Shadows from his initiator's, Pat, Book in
816-660: The Order of Saint George . According to Maxine Sanders, Sanders also founded a number of Orders, including Order of the Romaic Crescent and its offshoot, Ordine Della Luna. After the Second World War and his separation from Doreen and his children, Sanders felt isolated by his occult knowledge, and decided to live a life of the " left-hand path ", after having drifted from one low-level job to another, including having sexual affairs with both men and women. I made
867-471: The craft name Verbius , was an English occultist and High Priest in the modern Pagan religion of Wicca , responsible for founding, and later developing with Maxine Sanders , the tradition of Alexandrian Wicca , also called Alexandrian Witchcraft, during the 1960s. Raised in a working-class family, Alex, as a young man, began working as a medium in the local Spiritualist Churches before going on to study and practise ceremonial magic . In 1963, he
918-447: The demiurge itself. They recorded several journals of channelled notes, including warning of an apocalyptic World War III. Another group which Sanders operated in London during the 1960s was the Order of Deucalion , a focus for Atlantean magical research and inner contacts, as Sanders taught that Merlin was an important leader of the last Atlantean migratory wave into Western Europe. The Order of Deucalion existed as an inner cell of
969-629: The "central event" of the New Druidry, initiating many people into the Bardic grade. A detailed account of the first event was published in The Gorsedd of Bards of Caer Abiri Newsletter No. 1, where Shallcrass took the role of Chief Druid (equivalent to Master of Ceremonies) with the assistance of Philip Carr Gomm of the Order of Bards Ovates and Druids. Another detailed account of the Gorsedd
1020-778: The "intense dislike" that Maxine's father had for him (being convinced Alex was homosexual). Sanders and Arline M. Morris (Maxine) married in June in 1968 in Kensington . After his divorce from Maxine, Sanders married for a third and final time to Gillian Sicka in December in 1982 in Hastings and Rother . Several contradictory accounts exist of Sanders' initiation into Gardnerian Witchcraft , and even his own accounts are inconsistent. One account, given in Sanders' biography, King of
1071-555: The BDO Circle of Elders was formed. By 2010, the BDO had completed construction of an Iron Age style roundhouse which has since been the focus of training, workshops and ritual for the order. 2011 saw the launch of the BDO's Bardic training, with its first Bards graduating in 2013. 2013 also saw the launch of the Druid Hedge Schools initiative, a loose network of pagan Druid trainings intended to promote Druidry as
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#17327878176121122-480: The BDO to wider attention. He married Eleanor Kilpatrick, an Occupational Therapist with the NHS, in 1985. In the early 1990s, Kilpatrick and Shallcrass met and began a continuing friendship with Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm, chiefs of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids . Philip Shallcrass began to lecture on Druidry at a series of conferences on New Religious Movements. In 1992, he became editor of The Druids' Voice:
1173-679: The Christian church; later, he would be inspired by the Welsh medieval text The Mabinogion and its stories. Shallcrass went on to run an occult bookshop in St. Leonards before being asked to join Alex Sander's coven, an offer which he would turn down. After working on Wicca with a different group Shallcrass went on to form the Grove of the Badger, a group based on Druidic principles. As a result of running
1224-830: The Ferryman: The Death and Life of Alex Sanders , Jimahl di Fiosa (2010) also writes, "Medea later meets Alex Sanders and makes a decision to initiate him on March 9, 1962." The exact identity of 'Medea' is still a debated topic within the Alexandrian Witchcraft and larger witchcraft community. Having said that, it is most likely that Sanders was initiated by a woman named Pat Kopinski, who then let Sanders copy her Book of Shadows . Di Fiosa (2010) notes that there are three spellings of Pat's surname: Kopinski, as used by Pat herself; Kopanski; and Kasprzynski. Maxine also claims that all of Sanders' brothers were also psychic, saying: It wasn't unusual to walk into
1275-419: The London flat, where she continued running the coven and teaching the Alexandrian Witchcraft. A son, Victor Mikhael, was born in 1972. Alex and Maxine's strong relationship continued, "although it varied in intensity, from a fierce sense of loyalty, blasting curses, to declarations of love until his death in 1988". In 1979, Sanders announced to the witchcraft community that he wished "to make amends for some of
1326-596: The Magazine of Contemporary Druidry . In 1993, at the invitation of Tim Sebastion , founder of the Secular Order of Druids , Shallcrass composed a ritual to be performed at a multi-faith conference Tim had organised among the old stone circles of Avebury in Wiltshire. This resulted in the formation of the Gorsedd of Bards of Caer Abiri, which grew over the next few years to become what Ronald Hutton described as
1377-485: The Press an alternative story, proposing to hold a ritual at a magical site at Alderley Edge , where he would raise a man from the dead. A bandaged up figure lying on a stone altar was examined by one of Sanders' colleagues posing as a G.P., who certified it was indeed a corpse. Alex promised the reporter and photographer that he would bring the corpse back to life. It would respond to an ancient and strange invocation, which
1428-481: The Sanders' kitchen in broad daylight to find a full materialisation séance in progress. Mrs. Sanders would be carrying on with the chores regardless of the apparitions in attendance. When Sanders publicly revealed himself as a witch, however, Mrs. Sanders feigned shock and threatened a nervous breakdown. Sanders' first contact with Wicca was in the early 1960s, through correspondence and meetings with Patricia Crowther . In September 1962, he succeeded in convincing
1479-702: The UK and elsewhere. The "shamanic" form of Druidry pioneered by Shallcrass with the British Druid Order resulted in bringing the shamanic vision of the World Drum Project to ceremonies at Dragon Hill, below the Uffington White Horse hill figure in Oxfordshire, and at Avebury in Wiltshire. Shallcrass has created a series of distance learning courses on Druidry for the British Druid Order covering all three grades of Bard, Ovate and Druid as
1530-421: The Witches by June Johns, tells that Alex, visiting his Welsh grandmother unannounced, stumbled upon her performing a ritual. Unhappy that Sanders had not knocked to make his presence known, Bibby told Sanders to take off his clothes, and that she was going to "make sure that you don't tell another living soul what you have seen this day," adding 'if you do ... I'll kill you." However, this assertion that Sanders
1581-574: The Witches. Farrar was a feature writer for the weekly Reveille and was working on a story concerning modern Witchcraft. He was interested in Sanders, and at some point during the evening Sanders invited him to an initiation at his coven. Farrar was later initiated by Maxine Sanders into that same coven, where he also met his future wife, Janet Owen ; Farrar and Owen formed their own magical partnership and their own coven in 1970 and wrote many books on witchcraft together. Alex and Maxine separated in 1971, with Alex moving to Sussex and Maxine remaining in
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1632-401: The confines of the human psyche and rooted in the natural world. It also sees political and practical activism, in the areas of ecology, as a spiritual obligation. The following is a list of publications that the BDO have produced. Tooth and Claw is still published on an occasional basis. Philip Shallcrass Philip Shallcrass (born 1953), often known by his Druid name, Greywolf,
1683-596: The drum, the chrotta and the tiompan. Some of these performances draw upon Shallcrass's knowledge of the Medieval period and its poetry and literature including metrical dinsenchas, while also being inspired by classical poems such as The Song of Amergin from the Mabinogion and The Battle of Cad Goddeu. Publications by Philip Shallcrass include: Alex Sanders (Wiccan) Alex Sanders (6 June 1926 – 30 April 1988), born Orrell Alexander Carter , who went under
1734-501: The festival cycle was complete, the coven's celebrations had become so Druidic in flavour that the members agreed to stop calling themselves a coven and become instead a Grove; the Grove of the Badger. This is now seen as the Mother Grove of the British Druid Order (BDO). Over the years that followed, the material written for the Grove of the Badger was revised and added to. At the end of the 1980s it began to be published and bring
1785-539: The left hand path, and resolved to stop using his magic for selfish reasons and instead teach it to others. In 1963, Sanders began to study the works of Abramelin the Mage . It was around this time, Di Fiosa (2004) notes, that Sanders believed that angels told him to seek employment as a porter, book-duster, and odd-job man in the John Rylands Library , Manchester, where he could access an original copy of
1836-751: The normal manner. Eventually, coven members with whom Sanders was practising left the coven amicably, leaving Sanders to continue as the High Priest and Sylvia Tatham as the High Priestess. Di Fiosa estimates that by the end of 1963, Sanders and Tatham had initiated over 100 witches in England. During this period, Sanders' coven worked at his home at 24 Egerton Road North, Chorlton-cum-Hardy , Manchester. Sanders continued to attract media attention which brought him more followers, and by 1965, Sanders claimed to have initiated 1,623 people in 100 covens. He
1887-616: The past hurts that I have given and many public stupidities I created for others of the Craft", and expressed his desire that the Wica should some day put aside their differences and "unite in brotherly love before the face of the Lady and the Lord", allowing them to become great again and respected in the outside world. From 1979 onwards, Sanders began working in magical partnership with Derek Taylor ,
1938-463: The press, appearing in a number of documentaries, marrying the 20 years younger Maxine Sanders , and was elected as "King of the [Alexandrian] Witches" in 1965 as he "[was] directly descended from witches, and equipped with knowledge that outstrips [his witches]...[we formally acknowledge you] as the foremost authority on witchcraft," something that led to other prominent Gardnerian Witches, such as Patricia Crowther and Eleanor Bone , attacking him in
1989-530: The press. In the late 1970s and 1980s and prior to his death, he went on to found and work with a ceremonial magical group known as the Ordine Della Luna. Sanders died on 30 April 1988 at St. Mary's Hospital at Hastings of cancer of the bronchus with bone metastasis . Born to unmarried Hannah Jane Bibby and Orrell 'Harold' Alexander Carter, Sanders was born as Orrell Alexander Carter on 6 June 1926 at 56 Church Road, Tranmere , Birkenhead , and
2040-415: The supernatural. The marriage quickly deteriorated and Doreen took the children and left Sanders when he was 26. According to Maxine Sanders, Sanders was grief-stricken and cursed Doreen with fertility; she remarried and had three sets of twins. Whilst working in a pharmaceutical company, Sanders became friends with Maxine Sanders' (née Morris) mother, however, they lost contact for a while, probably due to
2091-459: The visionary experiences of shamans that mirrored events in Shallcrass's own life. Further studies convinced him that Druidry was the earliest recorded form of native European shamanism. Philip Shallcrass has provided an account of his life, beliefs and inspirations for the BDO's YouTube channel, including Stuart Piggott 's work on the history of Druidry. As a child Shallcrass was familiar with
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2142-415: Was 20 years his junior and was initiated into Sanders' coven in 1964 and went on to become his High Priestess . In 1965, they handfasted , and in 1968, they married in a civil ceremony and moved into a basement flat near Notting Hill Gate in London, where they ran their coven and taught classes on Witchcraft. Earlier that year, their daughter, Maya Alexandria, was born. According to Maxine, Sanders, as
2193-512: Was exploiting the Craft and dragging it through the gutter press. According to Maxine Sanders, Sanders never courted publicity, but was simply unable to avoid it. She describes how Sanders' initial rise to fame came through an attempt to distract media attention away from other witches. The couple running a coven that Sanders belonged to were practising Christians, and the local press had become curious about their activities. Had they been exposed it would have been disastrous for them. Sanders offered
2244-461: Was in reality a Swiss roll recipe read backwards. After much mumbo jumbo Alex dramatically intoned the invocation slowly and with great deliberation, the corpse couldn't help but respond to such power. It sounds ridiculous today that anyone could fall for it, but the pressmen ran away with their story, which made the headlines. These were the days of innocence, but the Christians were safe and Alex
2295-884: Was initiated by his grandmother in any fashion has been discredited, as Wibberley (2018) states: These documents, prepared in 2018 and recently made publicly available through the Alexandrian Witchcraft Timeline & Archive, show beyond a doubt that the story of Alex’s childhood initiation at the hands of his maternal grandmother Mary Bibby (née Roberts) is not credible as an accurate historical account of events. Records show Mary passing away in 1907, when Alex’s own mother would have been only four years old. The report puts it succinctly: “Mary could have had no direct influence on Alex as she did not live long enough to raise her own children so that [Alex’s claims to have had interaction with her] are demonstrably false.” Gardnerian High Priestess Patricia Crowther tells
2346-404: Was initiated into Gardnerian Wicca before founding his own coven, through which he merged many aspects of ceremonial magic into Wicca. He claimed to have been initiated by his Welsh-speaking grandmother, Mary Bibby (née Roberts), as a child, though recent research has disproven this, with Bibby dying in 1907, some 19 years before Sanders' birth. Throughout the 1960s, he would court publicity in
2397-494: Was joined by Emma Restall Orr as joint chief of the order. The first US Gorsedd, Caer Pugetia, was founded in Seattle during a visit to America by the joint chiefs of the Order in 1997 and the Gorsedd of Bards of Cor Gawr founded at Stonehenge as part of the BDO's work to extend ritual access to the site. In 2002, Restall Orr stepped down as joint chief of the order in order to set up The Druid Network , following which in 2003
2448-522: Was later provided in the Pagan Federation's journal Pagan Dawn. In 1994, following what he described as a powerful vision in a sweat lodge, Shallcrass adopted the Druid name, Greywolf. In 1995, he began to work regularly with Emma Restall Orr, who became joint chief of the BDO. Together, they lectured, hosted workshops and rituals, wrote new material for the Order, and appeared on TV and Radio in
2499-408: Was on his way to a life of self-imposed notoriety. Sanders frequently appeared in ritual photos as robed or wearing only a loincloth , while the other witches that surrounded him were skyclad, or naked. His explanation for this was that "Witch law" required that the elder of a coven to be apart from the others and easily identifiable. In 1970, Sanders met Stewart Farrar at the preview of Legend of
2550-443: Was the eldest of six surviving children. Sanders' father was a general labourer while his mother was a domestic servant. Later, the family, who had been living at the home of Sanders' paternal grandmother, Elizabeth Carter (née Gandy), at 1 Moon St. Birkenhead, moved to Cornbrook Street, Old Trafford, Manchester , and unofficially changed their name to Sanders. Sanders was unaware of his official surname of 'Carter' until he applied for
2601-470: Was then proclaimed "King of the [Alexandrian] Witches". Sanders' alleged magical feats included creating familiars and healing warts, illnesses, and physical deformities. Sanders apparently joined other esoteric and chivalric orders in the early part of 1968, which numbered 16 in 1974, and possibly more before his death. These included the Knights Templar , the Order of Saint Michael , and
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