Dorothy Clutterbuck (January 19, 1880–January 12, 1951), also known as "Old Dorothy," was a well-to-do woman who lived near Christchurch, England, whom Gerald Gardner claimed had initiated him into witchcraft. January 19 is the 19th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1880 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... January 12 is the 12th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1951 (MCMLI) was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ... Location within the British Isles Christchurch is a town in the county of Dorset in southern England on the English Channel coast. ... Wikimedia Commons has media related to: England Travel guide to England from Wikitravel English language English law English (people) List of monarchs of England – Kings of England family tree List of English people Angeln (region in northern Germany, presumably the origin of the Angles for whom England is named) UK... The cover of Witchcraft Today, in which Gardner made the disputed claim to have encountered religious witchcraft survivals in England. ...

Clutterbuck was born in India, the daughter of an army captain. After his retirement, she appears to have moved back to England with her father and lived with him in the Christchurch area of the New Forest. After his death she continued to live in the same house alone, but at the age of 55 she married Rupert Fordham. To all outward appearance Mrs Fordham was respectable and conservative member of the local community. Bucklers Hard on the Beaulieu River The New Forest is an area of Hampshire in England which includes the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and old-growth forest in the heavily-populated south east of England. ...

After her death in 1951 she was identified by Gardner as his initiator into witchcraft in 1939, and thus as one of the founders of the neo-pagan movement that became "Wicca". He claimed she was head of a New Forest coven until her death. Some, such as historian Jeffrey Russell, opined that she was invented by Gardner to support his claim that such people still existed and to link his work with established ancient beliefs. However, Doreen Valiente, a friend of Gardner, reported in Witchcraft for Tomorrow in 1982 to have found Clutterbuck's birth certificate, marriage certificate, and death certificate. Neopaganism (sometimes Neo-Paganism) describes a heterogeneous group of new religious movements, particularly those influenced by ancient, mainly pre-Christian and sometimes pre-Judaic religions. ... A Neo-Pagan pentacle (circumscribed): a symbol used by many Wiccans. ... Doreen Valiente (1922 - 1999) was a co-creator of Wicca, together with Gerald Gardner. ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Both Ronald Hutton (1999) and most recently Dr Leo Ruickbie (2004) have examined the historical data on Dorothy Clutterbuck, and concluded that she is unlikely to have been involved with Gardner's Craft activities. Hutton also suggests that Gardner may have used Clutterbuck to distract attention from "Dafo", his first priestess. Ronald Hutton is Professor of History at the University of Bristol and is an occasional commentator on British television and radio in areas not always of his expertise. ... Dafo is the magical name (an occultists pseudonym) for an otherwise anonymous woman that researchers such as Ronald Hutton and Philip Heselton have come to view as an important contributer to the development of Gardnerian Witchcraft, and therefore Wicca. ...

Philip Heselton (2000) also investigated Dorothy Clutterbuck, giving information on the community she lived in, and her involvement in the community including many indications that she was at the very least involved in or aware of alternative spiritual traditions such as theosophy, Rosicrucianism, and offshoots of freemasonry. Seal of the Theosophical Society Theosophy is a body of ideas which holds that all religions are attempts by man to ascertain the Divine, and as such each religion has a portion of the truth. ... The Temple of the Rosy Cross, Teophilus Schweighardt Constantiens, 1618 The Rosicrucians are a legendary and secretive order dating from the 15th or 17th century, generally associated with the symbol of the Rose Cross, which is also used in certain rituals of the Freemasons. ... the Square and Compasses Freemasonry is a worldwide fraternal organisation. ...

Interest in such ideas was common at this time, since the growth of Theosophy in the late nineteenth century. Nationalist and romantic interest in English rural traditions was also common, as is evidenced by foundation of societies for the collection folk-songs and other aspects of threatened folk-culture. The conservative emphasis on Deep England lay behind many of these movements, which became associated with Margaret Murray's ideas about pre-Christian survivals in English rural culture. It is possible that Clutterbuck combined an interest in pagan and occult ideas with an aspiration to preserve local folk beliefs, believed to have survived from ancient pagan faiths. From this Gardner could have developed the myth of an unbroken witchcraft tradition dating back to the pre-Christian old religion. The term Merry England, or in more jocular, half-timbered spelling Merrie England, refers to a semi-mythological, idyllic, and pastoral way of life that the lucky inhabitants of England allegedly enjoyed at some poorly-defined point between the Middle Ages and the completion of the Industrial Revolution. ... The tone of this article is inappropriate for an encyclopedia. ... Paganism (from Latin paganus) and Heathenry are catch-all terms which have come to connote a broad set of spiritual/religious beliefs and practices of a natural religion, as opposed to the Abrahamic religions. ... The word occult comes from Latin occultus (hidden), referring to the knowledge of the secret or knowledge of the hidden and often meaning knowledge of the supernatural, as opposed to knowledge of the visible or knowledge of the measurable, usually referred to as science. ...

However, the extent to which Clutterbuck was involved in witchcraft – if at all – still remains unclear. The endearment "Old" used by Gardner with reference to Dorothy Clutterbuck has been widely adopted, although this is viewed by some as precious and pretentious.

Bibliography

Heselton, Philip, Wiccan Roots: Gerald Gardner and the Modern Witchcraft Revival. Capal Bann, 2000.

Hutton, Ronald, The Triumph of the Moon. 1999.

Ruickbie, Leo, Witchcraft Out of the Shadows. Robert Hale, 2004. ISBN 0709075677.

Valiente, Doreen, Witchcraft for Tomorrow. 1982.