Philip Heselton | |
|---|---|
 Heselton in 2005 | |
| Born | 1946 |
| Occupation | Retired planning officer, author |
| Nationality | British |
| Period | 1980s onwards |
| Genre | Factual/historical works |
| Subject | Earth mysteries, Wicca |
Philip Heselton (born 1946) is a retired British conservation officer, aWiccan initiate, and a writer on the subjects of Wicca,Paganism, andEarth mysteries. He is best known for two books,Wiccan Roots: Gerald Gardner and the Modern Witchcraft Revival andGerald Gardner and the Cauldron of Inspiration, which gather historical evidence surrounding theNew Forest coven and the origins ofGardnerian Wicca.
In his non-literary life his interest in landscape led to a degree in Geography and a career inTown and Country Planning; eventually he became aConservation Officer forHull City Council before his retirement in 1997.[1]
Heselton has been described by Allen Watkins, son ofAlfred Watkins, as the person who "...led the post-war revival of academic and practical interest inLeys".[2] In 1962, Heselton and others collaborated to form the Ley Hunters' Club, a revival of Alfred Watkins' Straight Track Club. The Ley Hunters worked on a hypothesis that Ley lines were not just prehistoric trackways, but were in some way connected withUFOs.[3] Heselton edited the first issues of the club's journal,The Ley HunterArchived 12 November 2007 at theWayback Machine, in 1965–66 and frequently contributed articles to the journal when it reappeared between 1969 and 1976.
Since 2000, Heselton's publications have all centred on the origins of Wicca and its populariser (or inventor)Gerald Gardner. His first publication in this area wasWiccan Roots.
Heselton's second tome detailing his investigations wasGerald Gardner and the Cauldron of Inspiration: An Investigation into the Sources of Gardnerian Witchcraft (2003), again published by Capall Bann.[4] The book was reviewed by Pagan studies scholarChas S. Clifton inThe Pomegranate academic journal, in which he praised Heselton as "an outstanding researcher", who had "dug deeper than anyone before him" into Gardner's life. Clifton however criticised Heselton's interpretation of his data, remarking that he was handicapped by his desire to vindicate Gardner's account of events. Clifton then proposed an alternative account to Heselton's, in which Gardner founded Wicca in the early 1950s and invented the story of the New Forest coven to post-date it.[5]Reviewers in the Pagan press were enthusiastic about the book, treating it as a vindication of traditional accounts of Wiccan origins,[6][7] although one described it as speculative.[8] A more critical account of the origins of Wicca was previously provided byRonald Hutton[9] but the relationship between the two appears warm: Hutton has written in the foreword toGerald Gardner and the Cauldron of Inspiration: "Philip Heselton is the most interesting, valuable and enjoyable author who has yet written on what is becoming one of the greatest riddles in the history of modern religion: the origins of pagan witchcraft".[10]
In 2012 Heselton's biography of Gardner,Witchfather, was published in two volumes by Thoth Publications. This is the first posthumous biography of Gardner, and only the second afterGerald Gardner, Witch, published in 1960 and attributed to Gardner's initiateJack Bracelin, but in fact written byIdries Shah.[11][12]InThe Pomegranate, the biography was reviewed by Pagan studies scholar Ethan Doyle White, who commented that it was "more exhaustive with greater detail" than Heselton's prior tomes and was "excellent in most respects".[13] He nevertheless expressed a sceptical opinion of Heselton's "uncritical" use ofPatricia Crowther's testimony regardingAlex Sanders, the omission of any mention of Anton Miles, and the lack of biographical depth on the individuals who surrounded Gardner.[14] He was very critical of Thoth's decision to divide the book into two volumes, believing that it was done to increase revenues and was detrimental to Heselton's text.[15] Overall he was positive about the biography, describing it as "the definitive biography of this fascinating pioneer" and argued that it crowned Heselton as "the foremost and greatest independent researcher" active in the field of Pagan studies.[16]
John Belham-Payne (The last High Priest of Doreen Valiente) initially considered writing a biography ofDoreen Valiente, but feeling that he was incapable of doing so (due to ill health and time constraints), he commissioned Heselton to do so, publishing the result asDoreen Valiente: Witch through the[17] in 2016.[18] It held its launch party at the esoteric-themed bookstore,Treadwell's, in central London, in February 2016, shortly after Belham-Payne's death on 15 February 2016.[18] It was again reviewed inThe Pomegranate by Doyle White, who described it as "an easily accessible read", adding "there can be little dispute that once again, Heselton has done a great service to the study of Wiccan history."[19]
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