Modern Wicca by Michael Howard

Author:Michael Howard [Howard, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Religion, magic, gerald gardner, earth-based spirituality, aleister crowley, pagan, spring0410, History, paganism, spirituality, witchcraft, doreen valiente, wicca
ISBN: 9780738722887
Publisher: Llewellyn Worldwide, LTD.
Published: 2010-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Pretenders and Rivals

Every winter Gerald Gardner usually went on vacation to a warmer climate to escape the cold and damp British weather. In early February 1964, Gardner departed on a Mediterranean cruise on the SS Scottish Prince to visit Lebanon, where he wanted to explore medieval sites associated with the Knights Templar. Lois Bourne saw him last at a coven meeting in January. He looked pale and drawn, and told her he felt exhausted. Gardner said he had decided to go on the cruise to get some sunshine in the hope his health would improve (Bourne 1998: 92).

On the way back to England, when the ship was off the North African coast, Gardner had a fatal heart attack during breakfast. He was buried in a cemetery in Tunis, with only the ship’s captain in attendance. In the late 1960s, there were plans for the cemetery to be redeveloped and transformed into a park. By coincidence Eleanor Bone learned about the plan while she was on holiday in Tunisia. She managed to raise enough money from fellow Wiccans to have Gardner’s remains reburied in another cemetery nearby on the site of the ancient city of Carthage (Rabinovitch and Lewis 2002: 112).

While he was staying in Lebanon, Gardner suddenly decided to visit the British Vice-Consul in Beirut and change his will. Some members of his family were not pleased about this decision or the changes he made. They attempted a legal challenge against the new will, but without success. When the will was published in March 1964, Gardner had left his house at 77 Malew Street, Castletown, “together with all household furniture, silver [and] silver plate linen china pictures books machinery plant works papers articles and manuscripts relating [to] magic and all equipment used in connection therewith … to Monique Marie Mauricette Wilson.” The actual Witches’ Mill building was left to the museum’s elderly caretaker and manager, William Worrall. This was on the understanding he would continue to exhibit all the “antique furniture engravings plate silver magical objects and other objets d’ art situate[d] therein at the date of my death.”

The will stated that if, within five years of Gardner’s death, Worrall himself died or ceased to occupy the Mill or was in breach of the conditions of the will, its ownership would automatically pass to Monique Wilson. The actual contents of the museum were left separately to Monique Wilson, with the provision she continued to exhibit them to the public. If she had died before Gardner the museum collection would have passed to Patricia Crowther. In fact, it turned out that William Worrall did not want the responsibility of the Mill, as he was getting old. Under the provisions laid out in the will, he decided to hand it over to Monique Wilson, so she then owned both the building and its contents.

In addition, Gardner left the sum of £1,000 to Jack Bracelin, £1,500 to Mrs. Edith Woodford Grimes, £1,500 to Monique Wilson, £200 to Doreen Valiente, £3,000 to “Mrs. Arnold Crowther,” and similar amounts to his housekeeper and sister-in-law.

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