Ed Fitch

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Edward "Ed" Fitch (born April 29th, 1937 in Roxboro, North Carolina) is an occult author and a Wiccan High Priest of the Gardnerian tradition, and was a leading figure in the rise of contemporary Wicca and Neo-Paganism in America. He was a graduate of Virginia Military Institute, and a United States Air Force commissioned officer, eventually retiring with the rank of Captain. He holds a master’s degree in Systems Management from the University of Southern California. His military service took him to Japan, Viet Nam, Thailand, and several posts in the United States. After completing his three year term of service, he returned to the US as a civilian, and took employment as a technical writer and electronics engineer in Washington D.C.

Fitch, who has also gone under the name "Ea", was initiated by Raymond Buckland in 1967, while stationed in Hanscom Air Force Base in Massachusetts. He is one of the creators (along with Joseph B. Wilson and Thomas Giles) of "The Pagan Way", a non-initiatory Wiccan tradition. He was one of the editors of “The Waxing Moon”, a magazine founded by Joseph B. Wilson in 1964, and the first magazine devoted to Witchcraft in America (later re-named "The Crystal Well"). In the mid 1970’s Fitch also helped to organize and chaired two Pagan Ecumenical Councils to establish the “Covenant of the Goddess” (COG) as an international umbrella organization representing Pagans. Through the 1980’s Fitch continued to perform as a Gardnerian High Priest, but his researches also led him to initiation in a number of other traditions and orders, including: Faery, Mosian, the Order of Osiris, the Order of the Temple of Astarte and Norse, and Ceremonial Magick.

Besides being the author of several books on magic and Neo-Pagan topics, his employment over the years has included being a technical writer and electronics engineer in Washington D.C., working as a private detective, as a shopkeeper at Disneyland, California, as an editor for a small publishing house, and as a trouble-shooter for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in Washington DC, before returning to the aerospace industry in California in 1997. He presently lives in Orange County, California.

[edit] Bibliography

• Castle of Deception: A Novel of Sorcery and Swords and Other-Worldly Matters, With Seven Short Essays on the Reality of Matters Supernatural (1983) Llewellyn Publications ISBN 0875422314, ISBN 978-0875422312
• A Grimoire of Shadows: Witchcraft, Paganism, & Magick (2002) Llewellyn Publications ISBN 1567186599, ISBN 978-1567186598
• Magical Rites from the Crystal Well (1971) Llewellyn Publications ISBN 0875422306, ISBN 978-0875422305
• The Outer Court Book of Shadows
• Rites of Odin (2002) Llewellyn Publications ISBN 0875422241, ISBN 978-0875422244
• The Rituals of the Pagan Way: A Book of Pagan Rituals (with Joseph B. Wilson and Thomas Giles)

[edit] References

• Roberts, Susan (1971) Witches, U.S.A. Dell
• Adler, Margot (1979) Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America Today. Beacon Press, 1979; revised and updated 1997. Penguin (Non-Classics) ISBN 014019536X, ISBN 978-0140195361
• Grimassi, Raven (2000) Encyclopedia of Wicca & Witchcraft. Llewellyn Publications ISBN 1567182577, ISBN 978-1567182576
• Guiley, Rosemary Ellen (1989) The Encyclopedia of Witches & Witchcraft Facts on File ISBN 081601793X, ISBN 978-0816017935
• Lewis, James & Shelley Rabinovitch (2003) The Encyclopedia of Modern Witchcraft & Neo-Paganism. Citadel Press ISBN 0806524065, ISBN 978-0806524061
• http://www.controverscial.com/Edward%20Fitch.htm
• Ed Fitch: Revealing the Craft by Sylvana SilverWitch
• Ed Fitch
• http://www.oldways.org/paganway.htm
• http://www.toteg.org/Joseph/Warts.html