Janet Farrar
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Janet Farrar (born Janet Owen on June 24, 1950) is a British teacher and author of books on Wicca and Neopaganism. Along with her two husbands, Stewart Farrar and Gavin Bone, Farrar has published "some of the most influential books on modern Witchcraft to date." According to George Knowles, "some seventy five percent of Wiccans both in the Republic and North of Ireland can trace their roots back to the Farrar's [sic]." Farrar has been one of the most public faces of Wicca, having appeared as a model for book covers and illustrations in several of the best-read books on the subject. Farrar is a frequent guest lecturer on the subjects of Wicca, Neopaganism and witchcraft in North America and Europe.
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[edit] Life
Farrar was born in Clapham in 1950. Her family, of mixed English, Irish and Welsh descent, were members of the Church of England. Farrar attended the Leyton Manor School, and the Royal Wanstead High School girls' school. After high school, Farrar worked as a model and receptionist.
Farrar was initiated into Alexandrian Wicca by the tradition's founders, Alex and Maxine Sanders. Farrar met the Sanders in 1970 through a friend who had become interested in exploring Wicca. Farrar accompanied her friend in order to keep the friend "out of this weird cult", but Farrar instead joined the Sanders coven, and would go on to become, in the words of Knowles, one of "England’s most eminent and respected modern day witches". In the coven she met Stewart Farrar, her future husband and co-author.
Janet Farrar asserts that the couple were both elevated to the second degree "in an unoccupied house in Sydenham" by the Sanders on October 17, 1970, and that they received the third, and final, degree of initiation in their flat April 24, 1971, but that these events are disputed by some Alexandrian "revisionists"[4].
The Farrars had begun running their own coven in 1971, before their third degree initiation ceremony, and were handfasted in 1972 and legally married in 1975[4]. Janet Farrar left the coven in 1972 to explore Kabbala with a ceremonial magic lodge, but returned within the same year[4]. In 1976 the Farrars moved to Ireland to get away from the busy life of London[2]. They lived in County Mayo and County Wicklow, finally settling in "Herne Cottage" in Kells, County Meath. Both husband and wife went on to publish a number of books on the Wiccan religion and on coven practises. Farrar continued to model and appeared in the illustrations to multiple early books about Wicca, including the cover of the paperback version of Margot Adler's 1979 Drawing Down the Moon. Farrar also posed for many of the photographs in their 1981 Eight Sabbats for Witches, which included material the authors claimed to be from the Alexandrian tradition's Book of Shadows. The Farrars, with the support of Doreen Valiente, argued in the book that even though the publishing of this material broke their oath of secrecy, it was justified by the need to correct misinformation[7]. Janet Farrar indicates that some of the rituals contained in the couple's books were actually written by them, and that they left the Alexandrian tradition after the book's research was complete[4]. The couple co-authored four more books on Wicca. Janet Farrar's post-Alexandrian practice has been referred to as "Reformed Alexandrian".
The Farrars returned to England in 1988, but by 1993 had returned to Ireland. They were joined by Gavin Bone, with whom they entered into a "polyfidelitous relationship". The three of them would co-author two more books, The Pagan Path, an investigation into the many varieties of Neopaganism, and The Healing Craft, and appear together at the Starwood Festival in 1995. Stewart Farrar died in February 2000 after a brief illness.
After Stewart Farrar's death, Janet Farrar and Bone have continued to author books, and have given a number of lectures on Wicca in the United States and in Britain. The title of their 2004 book, Progressive Witchcraft, is the description that the couple prefers for their current religious practice[9].
[edit] Bibliography
Farrar has co-authored a number of books about Wicca and Neopaganism.
[edit] With Stewart Farrar
- 1981: Eight Sabbats for Witches
- 1984: The Witches' Way
- 1987: The Witches' Goddess: The Feminine Principle of Divinity
- 1989: The Witches' God: Lord of the Dance
- 1990: Spells and How they Work
- 1996: A Witches' Bible: The Complete Witches' Handbook (re-issue of The Witches' Way and Eight Sabbats for Witches)
[edit] With Stewart Farrar and Gavin Bone
- 1995: The Pagan Path
- 1999: The Healing Craft: Healing Practices for Witches and Pagans
- 2001: The Complete Dictionary of European Gods and Goddesses
[edit] With Virginia Russell
- 1999: The Magical History of the Horse
[edit] With Gavin Bone
- 2004: Progressive Witchcraft: Spirituality, Mysteries, and Training in Modern Wicca
[edit] Notes and references
- ↑ Rabinovitch, Shelley and Lewis, James R. (2004). The Encyclopedia of Modern Witchcraft and Neo-Paganism. Citadel Press, 95-96. ISBN 0-8065-2407-3.
- ↑ a George Knowles. Stewart Farrar (1916-2000). Controverscial.Com. Retrieved on December 11, 2005.
- ↑ Farrar, Janet (1950-) and Stewart (1916-2000). www.themystica.com. Retrieved on December 11, 2005.
- ↑ a b c d Bone, Gavin and Farrar, Janet. Our Wiccan Origins. Wicca na hErin. Retrieved on December 10, 2005.
- ↑ George Knowles. Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone. Controverscial.Com. Retrieved on December 11, 2005.
- ↑ Drawing Down the Moon: TWPT talks with Margot Adler. The Wiccan/Pagan Times. Retrieved on December 11, 2005.
- ↑ a Farrar, Janet and Stewart (1988). Eight Sabbats for Witches, revised edition. Phoenix Publishing. ISBN 0-919345-26-3.
- ↑ Dunwich, Gerina (1995). The Wicca Book of Days. Citadel Press, 78. ISBN 0-8065-1685-2.
- ↑ a Bone, Gavin and Farrar, Janet. Our Views. Wicca na hErin. Retrieved on December 10, 2005.
- ↑ Farrar, Janet and Stewart, Bone, Gavin (1995). The Pagan Path. Phoenix Publishing. ISBN 0-919345-40-9.
