As a leading figure in modern witchcraft Patricia Crowther was often sought out by journalists for stories that appeared under headlines such as “Eerie today, ghoul tomorrow”. When one reporter asked if she wanted to meet other people interested in witchcraft she answered yes and the subsequent story, “Witch seeks recruits for coven”, prompted several inquiries and the establishment of a coven at her home in Sheffield in 1961.
Known in the craft as Thelma or the “high priestess of the Moon Goddess”, Crowther was considered the spiritual heir to Gerald Gardner, the founding father of modern Wicca, and made it her mission to dispel myths about witches and their practices. “Witchcraft simply means the craft of the wise people, nothing sensational or horrific in that,” she said.
Outside her coven she gave talks, made radio appearances and published books, including Lid off the Cauldron: A Handbook for Witches (1981) and Covensense (2009). She also introduced new music and poetry into the craft, as well as designing three of the Tarot cards (The Sun, Karma and The World) used for the Tarot of the Old Path set, published in 1990.
Some found this tall, slim and blonde witch’s presence disturbing. After giving a talk to the Tewkesbury Evening Townswomen’s Guild she was accused by Leslie Webber, the town’s furious mayor, of “tampering with the powers of darkness”. Meanwhile, Halloween was a red-letter day in her diary and in 1966 she planned to spend it with her 13-strong coven. “We dance in the nude as a symbol of purity,” she said, adding that they had ways to fend off the autumnal chill. “We have oil furnaces, fires on the altar and at the four compass points. Electric heat inhibits magic forces so I turn it off.”
