Margaret A. Murray

I am an eminent and respected Anthropologist, Archaeologist and Egyptologist. In the 1920's I began writing about my theories on the origins and organization of witchcraft predating Christianity. At the time many of my colleagues ridiculed my work, yet today some of my books have gained classical status. These include: Witchcraft, The Witch-Cult in Western Europe - published in 1921, The God of the Witches - published in 1933 and the Divine King in England – published 1954. I was born in Calcutta on the 13th July 1863. I was educated at University Collage in London and later named a fellow of the same collage. In my early days at college I studied anthropology and was a pioneer “Suffragette” speaking out on women’s rights. I took part in many archaeological excavations working with the likes of Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie, the renowned Egyptologist. We worked together in such places as Egypt, South Palestine and England. Under his guidance I later specialised in Egyptology and was made a junior lecturer of the college.My interest in witchcraft began around 1915 after I became ill while working an excavation in Egypt. Returning home to England I convalesced at Glastonbury. My autobiography My First Hundred Years states: “I chose to convalesce in Glastonbury, and one cannot stay in Glastonbury without becoming interested in “Joseph of Arimathea and the Holy Grail”. As soon as I got back to London, I did some careful research. This led to a paper on: “Egyptian elements in the Grail Romance.” My interest ignited and I began a serious study of witchcraft. I started working from contemporary records of witches and witchcraft trials, then moved on to researching medieval and renaissance documents, including those related to the trails of Joan of Arc and Gilles de Rias. At the same time I conducted field studies throughout Europe. My findings led to the publication of my first book: Witchcraft: The Witch Cult in Western Europe. My theories concluded that witchcraft was widespread and rooted in European Pagan fertility cults that extended back to the Palaeolithic era.This caused a deal of controversy among my peers and my opinions were ridiculed. Undaunted I continued to study witchcraft as a sideline to my main career. I was a shrewd and critical scholar and my work in Archaeology and Egyptology did not go unrecognised. The University Collage in London made me Assistant Professor of Egyptology in 1924, a post I held until my retirement in 1935. My second book: The God of the Witches, concerned the Horned God of Witchcraft and my theories on how this figure dated back to Palaeolithic times as a fertility god.The book was almost totally ignored until after the Second World War and the repeal of the Witchcraft Laws in 1951. The following year in 1952 the book was jointly reissued by the Oxford University Press in New York and Faber and Faber Ltd in London, after which it soon became a classic best seller. After my retirement from University College in 1935, I continued to study witchcraft and travelled about the country giving lectures on my theories. Then in 1945 a mysterious murder incident occurred in the Cotswolds. It had all the indications of being a witchcraft ritual slaying. On the 14th February 1945, an old man called Charles Walton of Lower Quinton was found dead under a tree on Meon Hill, a ritual meeting place for witches. His body had been pinned to the ground with a pitchfork and his throat and chest slashed with a scythe in the form of a cross. (February 14th was also Candlemas -or Imbolc- by the Old Calendar and one of the Great Sabbats of the witches).The police investigating the murder came up against a wall of silence, and no arrest was ever made. I disguised myself as a visiting artist and spent a week in the area with a sketchbook in hand. I was actually conducting my own investigation. Later I publicly stated that I believed the murder victim had been killed because of local fear and belief in witchcraft. Charles Walton had been slain because someone feared his powers as a witch. In 1953-1955, I was made President of the Folklore Society, another distinguished accolade and an incredible achievement at the age of 90. I followed this in 1954 with my third and perhaps most controversial book: The Divine King in England. In this book I advanced the theory that many early English sovereigns, those dating back from William the Conqueror in the 11th century through to James 1 in the early 17th century had died by ritual murder. This in keeping with the ancient sacrificial themes of the “Slain God” and “Divine King’s” of old pagan religions. It caused a storm of protest from my colleagues who moved to dismiss all my writings on the topic of witchcraft. Today many scholars and historians still ridicule and dismiss my books as nonsense. Yet my books, like the books of Sir James Frazer and Charles G. Leland, were the guiding inspiration used by Gerald B. Gardner and others when shaping the reformation of the modern day Wicca/Witchcraft movement. I died peacefully in 1963 after completing my final achievement. At the age of one hundred years I wrote and published my own autobiography. This I entitled: My First Hundred Years. In it I records my belief in reincarnation, my faith in the human soul and the soul’s survival after bodily death. I am, without doubt, one of the most remarkable and outstanding women of my generation.