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Frederic Lamond | |
|---|---|
| Born | 5 July 1931 |
| Died | 24 May 2020 (aged 88) |
| Occupation(s) | Computer technician; writer;Wiccan priest |
| Spouse(s) | Gillian, later Hildegard |
Frederic Lamond (5 July 1931 – 24 May 2020) (also known by thecraft nameRobert) was a prominent EnglishWiccan.[1] He was an early member of theGardnerian tradition having been initiated into theBricket Wood coven in 1957. He became involved in a number ofPagan organisations, including theFellowship of Isis, and participated in theinterfaith movement. He wrote a number of books on the subject ofWiccan theology andhistory.[2][3]
Lamond was born an only child and when he was only two years old his parents divorced, leaving him to live with his maternal grandparents. After the start ofWorld War II, his grandmother, who was ofJewish ethnicity, took him to live inSwitzerland, which was then one of the only neutral countries in Europe.
Lamond was raised in a relatively free religious environment and was not forced to follow any religion. His grandmother had repeated on numerous occasions that "all religious dogmas are lies!". However, she still sent him toProtestantcatechism to learnBiblical history when he was thirteen. She believed it necessary for any educated European.[4] He would later remark that whilst he admiredJesus Christ, he did not think him any more holy than any other good men in history – and he disliked the God that was presented in theOld Testament. Nonetheless, he received his Christianconfirmation at fifteen and spent his next two years at an Anglican boarding school, in England. It was there he realised his beliefs did not agree with those of Christianity and ceased identifying as a Christian.[4]
From here, Lamond went toCambridge University, where he became involved in the cause forEuropean federalism and joined theProgressive League. In 1954, he first partook ofsexual intercourse with a local girl, Mary, with whom he had fallen in love, an experience that he said allowed him to encounter the goddessAphrodite, who he felt as a presence near to him. The two planned to be married, but the engagement was ended after opposition from Mary's parents.[5]
After his experience with Aphrodite, and his lifetime belief inpantheism, Lamond became further interested inpaganism, and it was through this that he readGerald Gardner's bookWitchcraft Today (1954). Lamond wrote to Gardner, who invited him to meet him at his flat inHolland Park, London. The two became friends, and Lamond was introduced to other members of theBricket Wood coven. They invited him to join them, and he was initiated, alongside another new figure, who has remained nameless, at the Sabbat ofImbolc.[6]
In 1959, Lamond met his future wife, Gillian, and they moved into a flat together in September of that year. In August 1960 they married, and a party was held by coven memberJack Bracelin at Fiveacresnudist club, where the marriage was blessed byLois Bourne, the coven's High Priestess.[7] The historianRonald Hutton remarked that this was the first known example of a Wiccan marriage ceremony.[8] From October 1961 to August 1964, the Lamonds lived inGreater Manchester, where Frederic worked for a computer company, and they only circled with the Bricket Wood coven on occasional visits back to London.[7] In October 1965, Fred was posted to work inPrague to lead a technical support group, and whilst Gillian at first went with him, she returned to England in 1966 to care for their daughter, who had been diagnosed as being deaf. In April 1967 Lamond too returned home.[9]
In 1981, Lamond met with the controversial American WiccanAidan Kelly in California, and seven years later Lamond once again visited Kelly, taking part in a ritual with Kelly's coven.[10] In July 1986, Lamond's first wife, Gillian, died.[9] After this, Lamond joined two different occultic groups, theCompanions of the Rainbow Bridge, and theFellowship of Isis. In winter 1993, Lamond and his new wife Hildegard visited Lamond's father inAustria. In August 1994 they moved to Austria permanently. Lamond met very few neopagans in the country, but in 2000 he started meeting a few at a monthly pub moot, and in 2003 initiated three Austrian women into the craft.[11]
Lamond published three books about Wicca and Neopaganism :
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