British Witchcraft

The Museum Of Witchcraft – Boscastle in the late 1960’s

Black & White footage of the Museum Of Witchcraft in Boscastle in the late 1960`s whilst it was under the ownership of Cecil Williamson. (This video is actually a short excerpt from “Legend of the Witches” 1969, shown below.)

Legend Of The Witches, rare British documentary film, 1969

Malcolm Leigh’s 1969 documentary film on British Witchcraft, featuring extensive contributions from Alex Sanders and his coven with extremely controversial footage of him performing animal sacrifice and divination by entrails as well as a rather elaborate and unusual ‘Black Mass’. Truly the enfant terrible of modern British Witchcraft or ‘Wicca’. We also see some nice footage from the Museum of Witchcraft as owned by Cecil Williamson. Originally rated X thanks to the now-tame ritual nudity, the film was only screened in various seedy theatres in London such as the Scala – one 60s Witch I know recalled having to visit a porno-theatre in Soho in order to see it. An interesting relic of its time. (from Youtube page which is no longer available)

Click here to watch “Legend of the Witches”

The Power Of The Witch – British Witchcraft Documentary, 1971

An extremely rare documentary about Witchcraft aired once in the UK in 1971. Featuring contributions from Eleanor Bone, Cecil Williamson, Alex & Maxine Sanders, Doreen Valiente et al. Very much of its time and with some very rare footage, also includes reference to the famously unsolved murder of Charles Walton on Meon Hill.

The Real Witch Project (2005)

Witchcraft is steadily infiltrating British society. With high street stores selling spell books and potions, are we  becoming a nation of witches? If so, will our lives be any better for it? The Real Witch Project is a genuine  experiment into the powers of witchcraft and magic, following a group of  ordinary women as they form a coven and live as witches for one lunar cycle. (From Cicada Productions)

The documentary has been uploaded to YouTube in 4 parts…

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In Search Of The Great Beast 666 (2007)

Aleister Crowley “The Wickedest Man in the World.” Featuring the Voice of Joss Ackland and Music Score by Rick Wakeman. (C) Classic Media Group 2007.

The Museum of Witchcraft, Boscastle in 2010

Film made by Tom Chick & Florence Kennard with Tom Bailey, Music from ‘Chanting’ and ‘Chanting II’ from the Museum of Witchcraft aditional chanting by Patricia Crowther and music by Neil Smith.

Britain’s Wicca Man (2012)

Produced by Matchlight, (C) Matchlight 2012

BRITAIN’S WICCA MAN (1×60) tells the extraordinary story of Britain’s fastest growing religious group – Wicca – and of its creator, an eccentric Englishman called Gerald Gardner. Historian and leading expert in Pagan studies, Professor Ronald Hutton, explores the unlikely origins of modern pagan witchcraft and experiences first hand its growing influence throughout Britain today. Gardner’s story and the story of Wicca itself is a bizarre one. Born of a nudist colony in 1930s Dorset, Wicca rapidly grew from a small new forest coven to a worldwide religion in the space of just 70 years. Its a journey that takes in tales of naked witches casting spells to ward off Hitler, tabloid hysteria about human sacrifices and Gerald Gardner himself appearing on Panorama. The film tells of a peculiar man who saw that the world was ready for a new religion based on magic, sex nature and ritual – and gave it to us. In doing so, he created in Wicca, the UK’s first religion, one that has taken on a life of its own and is today counted amongst one of the fastest growing faith groups in the world. Through interviews and encounters with Wicca followers, experts and these who knew Gardner, Professor Hutton delves into this unusual world and the story of how its eccentric founder created a religion that is today increasingly seen as a valid alternative to the more orthodox faith groups.