BIZARRE as it may seem to us, Gardner would appear to have been genuine in his belief that the Cone of Power would save Britain from invasion by the the Germans.
In his own writing about how they countered the danger, he wrote: "That was done which may not be done except in great emergency. Mighty forces were used of which I may not speak. Now, to do this means using one's life-force."
Another writer on witchcraft noted: "The witches felt that it was essential that he (Hitler) should be deterred from invasion plans by a powerful ritual, the central point of which was to be the death of a volunteer sacrificial victim. The oldest and frailest member volunteered for sacrifice and left off his protective grease so that he might die of the effects of exposure."
Much of Gardner's life is given in two books by the Hull-based author Philip Heselton, Wiccan Roots and the newly published Gerald Gardner and the Cauldron of Inspiration.
"Gerald Gardner was absolutely vital in the development of modern witchcraft," says Heselton, 57, a father-of-two and a witch initiated into the Gardnerian tradition.
"A lot of people who wouldn't describe themselves as Gardnerian owe quite a lot to him," he says. "He was the one who publicised that witches still existed. The growth of witchcraft and paganism generally has come through from Gardner's writings (there are now estimated to be about 40,000 followers of Wicca in this country).
"People were very much interested in reincarnation and believed they had been witches in a previous lifetime, dating back hundreds of years. They began to think they were witches in this lifetime.
"In my view it would have been surprising if they hadn't tried to repel the threatened German invasion. They were all getting on and wanted to help. They felt, rightly or wrongly, they had certain magical powers - raising psychic energy which they believed was a real thing which could be sent off to achieve its purposes."
* WICCAN Roots and Gerald Gardner and the Cauldron of Inspiration are published by Cappall Bann Books.
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