Eleanor "Ray" Bone (15 December 1911 – 21 September 2001) who also went under the

craft name A craft name, also referred to as a magical name, is a secondary religious name often adopted by practitioners of Wicca and other forms of Neopagan witchcraft or magic. Craft names may be adopted as a means of protecting one's privacy (especially ...

Artemis, was an influential figure in the

neopagan Modern paganism, also known as contemporary paganism and neopaganism, is a term for a religion or family of religions influenced by the various historical pre-Christian beliefs of pre-modern peoples in Europe and adjacent areas of North Afric ...

religion of

Wicca Wicca () is a modern Pagan religion. Scholars of religion categorise it as both a new religious movement and as part of the occultist stream of Western esotericism. It was developed in England during the first half of the 20th century and w ...

. She claimed to have been initiated in 1941 by a couple of hereditary witches in

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. ...

. She later met and became friends with

Gerald Gardner Gerald Brosseau Gardner (13 June 1884 – 12 February 1964), also known by the craft name Scire, was an English Wiccan, as well as an author and an amateur anthropology, anthropologist and archaeology, archaeologist. He was instrumental in bri ...

, and was initiated into

, becoming the High Priestess in one of his covens. She was a friend of several important figures in Wicca during the modern Witchcraft revival, including " Dafo",

Jack Bracelin Jack Leon Bracelin (2 June 1926 – 28 July 1981) was an English high priest of Gardnerian Wicca. He was an influential figure in the early history of Neopagan religion, having been initiated into the craft by Doreen Valiente in 1956. He was a me ...

, Patricia Crowther,

Doreen Valiente Doreen Edith Dominy Valiente (4 January 1922 – 1 September 1999) was an English Wiccan who was responsible for writing much of the early religious liturgy within the tradition of Gardnerian Wicca. An author and poet, she also published five b ...

and Idries Shah. Bone was a close confidant of Gardner's initiator Dafo, and she reported that the

New Forest coven The New Forest coven were an alleged group of witches who met around the area of the New Forest in southern England during the early 20th century. According to his own claims, in September 1939, a British occultist named Gerald Gardner was init ...

was a hereditary coven that followed the old ways of the

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

region, and that they traced their origins to the time of the death of King

William Rufus William II ( xno, Williame; – 2 August 1100) was King of England from 26 September 1087 until his death in 1100, with powers over Normandy and influence in Scotland. He was less successful in extending control into Wales. The third so ...

in the Norman era.Eleanor Bone obituary
from hexArchive.com. Retrieved 2007-02-19
from hexArchive.com. Retrieved 2007-02-19 Bone was regarded by some as the "Matriarch of British Witchcraft". She founded many covens, among them there were two which were particularly successful: the one in south London in the early 1960s and the one in

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

. Among her initiatory down-line in London are Madge and Arthur Worthington, who went on to found the well-known Whitecroft line of

Gardnerian Wicca Gardnerian Wicca, or Gardnerian witchcraft, is a tradition in the neopagan religion of Wicca, whose members can trace initiatory descent from Gerald Gardner. The tradition is itself named after Gardner (1884–1964), a British civil servant ...

. In May 1966 Bone and Patricia Crowther combined to denounce Alex Sanders, whom they accused of having an invalid initiation. According to

Ronald Hutton Ronald Edmund Hutton (born 19 December 1953) is an English historian who specialises in Early Modern Britain, British folklore, pre-Christian religion and Contemporary Paganism. He is a professor at the University of Bristol, has written 14 ...

, his response was to claim an entirely independent, traditional line of descent, leading ultimately to the appearance of

Alexandrian Wicca Alexandrian Wicca or Alexandrian Witchcraft is a tradition of the Neopagan religion of Wicca, founded by Alex Sanders (also known as "King of the Witches") who, with his wife Maxine Sanders, established the tradition in the United Kingdom in ...

as an entity separate from

. There is some confusion over the spelling of Ray Bone's preferred first name: many modern authors and websites give it as 'Rae', possibly in confusion with Rae Beth. A 1964 article and photograph from the UK magazine 'Tit-Bits' gives the authoritative spelling as well as an article in the Life Magazine.
“Real Witches at Work”, LIFE magazine, November 13, 1964.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bone, Eleanor English Wiccans 1911 births 2001 deaths B