Wicca-Trad: Alexandrian Wicca

[Demophon]

This tradition has been of interest to me recently, maybe because it's the summer and I start feeling nostalgic for the days when my spiritual practice was more oriented towards pagan witchcraft (which I guess happens at various times of year, in different ways), and Stewart Farrar's books on Wicca were some of my favourites back then. His book, The Witches' Bible, with his wife, Janet, was very important for me, along with What Witches Do. I felt that if I ever joined an organized coven, either the Alexandrian or Feri traditions would have been the ones I would have wanted to join.

I guess the Alexandrian tradition shares a great deal in common with the Gardnerian tradition, though Vivianne Crowley describes Gardnerian Wicca as being more "low church" and Alexandrian Wicca as being more "high church" when it comes to the ceremonial practiced within the traditions. Alexandrian Wicca borrows a lot from ceremonial magic and that kind of "high" ritualism than Gardnerian Wicca does, as I understand.

I have read that some Gardnerians have spoken out against Alex Sanders, calling his initiation invalid, along with the rest of his tradition. In a way it's kind of similar to the Roman Catholic Church regarding the Church of England as invalid, and their claims to apostolic succession as null. Still, Gardnerian and Alexandrian Wicca both generally fall under the category of "British Traditional Wicca", so maybe there is a better relationship between them now.

I would be curious to hear about other people's experiences with, or in relation to, Alexandrian Wicca.