Raymond Buckland

Raymond Buckland was born 31st August 1934.

Although English by birth, he and his wife emigrated to the USA in 1962. It was after this time that he became interested in Witchcraft and contacted Gerald Gardner to discuss the subject. The two men became friends and Gardner attended Buckland's initiation by Monique Wilson, probably around 1964, as Gardner died not long afterwards.

Back in the USA with a copy of Gardner's Book of Shadows, Buckland formed the Long Island Coven in New York. This was the start of American Witchcraft and virtually all fully initiated American Witches can trace their lineage back to this one coven.

Soon Buckland began to write books, his first published in 1969 was A Pocket Guide to the Supernatural, shortly followed by Practical Candleburning Rituals. Later on he wrote The Tree: A Complete Book of Saxon Witchcraft which detailed the basis of his own Tradition founded in 1973 and based on Anglo Saxon paganism, known as Seax Wicca.

However perhaps his most famous book, sometimes known as Big Blue from the colour of its cover,  is Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft. Designed as a course in Witchcraft with seasonal rituals, magical exercises and spells this certainly gives anyone the basics of what Witchcraft is about and has been in continuous publication since 1986.