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”’Patricia Crowther”’ (née ”’Dawson”’; 14 October 1927 – 24 September 2025), who also went by the [[craft name]] ”’Thelema”’, was a British [[occultist]] considered influential in the early promotion of the [[Wicca]]n religion.<ref>[http://www.thewica.co.uk/Elders.htm Elders of the Wica] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141228090501/http://www.thewica.co.uk/Elders.htm |date=28 December 2014 }}. Retrieved 5 February 2007.</ref> |
”’Patricia Crowther”’ (née ”’Dawson”’; 14 October 1927 – 24 September 2025), who also went by the [[craft name]] ”’Thelema”’, was a British [[occultist]] considered influential in the early promotion of the [[Wicca]]n religion.<ref>[http://www.thewica.co.uk/Elders.htm Elders of the Wica] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141228090501/http://www.thewica.co.uk/Elders.htm |date=28 December 2014 }}. Retrieved 5 February 2007.</ref> |
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Revision as of 16:39, 26 September 2025
British occultist and Wiccan (1927–2025)
Patricia Crowther (née Dawson; 14 October 1927 – 24 September 2025), who also went by the craft name Thelema, was a British occultist considered influential in the early promotion of the Wiccan religion.[1]
Background
Crowther was born in Sheffield, England, on 14 October 1927, then as Patricia Dawson. She was initiated into Witchcraft by fellow well-known Wiccan Gerald Gardner.[2] Her handfasting to husband Arnold Crowther (1909–1974)[3] took place in 1960.[4]
Career
Along with Doreen Valiente, Lois Bourne, and Eleanor Bone, Crowther is considered[5] to be one of the “early mothers” of modern Wicca. Patricia and her then-husband, Arnold Crowther, founded the Sheffield Coven in 1961, of which they were High Priestess and High Priest.[3] Crowther promoted Witchcraft through a number of book publications, contributions to occult magazines and journals, and through a number of interviews with local and national newspapers. She also appeared several times on television.
In 1971, both Patricia and her then-husband Arnold wrote and presented A Spell of Witchcraft, a radio programme produced and broadcast by BBC Radio Sheffield in six 20-minute parts. The radio programme, the first of its kind in relation to modern Witchcraft as a religion, explored the history and folklore of Witchcraft and presented elements of a local coven’s activities and practices within the community.[6]
Crowther died on 24 September 2025, at the age of 97.[7]
Books
- 1965 – The Witches Speak (with Arnold Crowther)(Athol Publications)
- 1973 – Witchcraft in Yorkshire (Dalesman) ISBN 0-85206-178-1
- 1974 – Witch Blood (The Diary of a Witch High Priestess) (House of Collectibles) ISBN 0-87637-161-6
- 1981 – Lid off the Cauldron: A handbook for witches (Muller) ISBN 0-584-10421-9
- 1992 – The Zodiac Experience (Samuel Weiser Inc) ISBN 0-87728-739-2
- 1992 – The Secrets of Ancient Witchcraft With the Witches’ Tarot (Carol Publishing) ISBN 0-8065-1056-0
- 1992 – Witches Were for Hanging (Excalibur Press of London) ISBN 1-85634-049-X
- 1998 – One Witch’s World (Robert Hale) ISBN 0-7090-6222-2 (published in America under the title High Priestess. Apart from the title, they are the same book) (Phoenix Publishing) ISBN 0-919345-87-5
- 2001 – High Priestess: The Life & Times of Patricia Crowther (Phoenix Publishing Inc.) ISBN 978-0919345874
- 2002 – From Stagecraft to Witchcraft: The Early years of a High Priestess (Capall Bann) ISBN 1-86163-163-4
- 2009 – Covensense (Robert Hale) ISBN 9780709087205
