Wicca is at once a very old and a very recent religious tradition. Celtic practices did survive the onslaught of the Romans and the institutionalization of Christianity. Earlier in this century Oxford's Margaret Murray attempted to establish that a worship of the Goddess and the Horned God had persisted through the Middle Ages and was the basis for the witchhunts that marked the uneasy transition from a medieval to a modern world. Whatever the truth of this, half a century ago Gerald Gardner, who claimed contact with survivors of the old cult described by Murray, began a modernized tradition of witchcraft that soon spread from Britain to America. Still other groups emerged, quite frequently linking some version of Celtic mythology with Native American beliefs and practices. With the strengthening feminist movement Wicca often came to be seen as an earth religion stressing feminine values, especially the importance of sexuality, in contrast to the supposedly more masculine and patriarchal outlook of Judaism and Christianity. Today it comprises a vibrant display of traditions, all of which sharply distinguish themselves from any so-called Satanism. More Witches (the term applies to both women and men and properly should be capitalized) have been very public in their communities, pushing to be accepted on an equal footing with the ministers of other religions. Far from being a novelty, Wicca is proving that it is very much a religion for the new millennium.
Pale Horse functioned briefly in the Los Angeles area in the late 1980's. It was linked with the author David Farren, who had written several books about the occult for Simon and Schuster, which was then attempting to cash in on the popularity of Carlos Castaneda. Farren himself was brought to the attention of Michael Korda, then Castaneda's editor, by Castaneda's own agent, and his best-known book, Living with Magic, features a cover by the same artist who illustrated Journey to Ixtlan. At the time this book came out Farren was working with several individuals representing distinct British traditions, then later began mixing in elements from Native American and Asian practices. Pale Horse did not survive as a working coven, but the Blue Lake Doctrine--its core teaching--remains available for others who might wish to accept it. Whether the coven itself is revived depends on the interest of individuals who read about it.
below: the cover of the softcover edition of Sex and Magic, published by Harper and Row
The Blue Lake Doctrine is the teaching that sought to explain what lay behind the specific practices of the Pale Horse Coven. The reference is to the sacred lake of the Taos Indians of New Mexico and to the experiences of one of the persons Farren had interviewed while preparing his study of the occult. The essence of this teaching will be presented on other pages on this website.
