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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
." 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.
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".
Stewart Farrar at home, 1999.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. Janet Farrar left the coven in 1972 to explore Kabbala with a ceremonial magic lodge, but returned within the same
year. In 1976 the Farrars moved to Ireland to get away from the busy life of
London. 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. 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. 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 Healing Craft and The Pagan Path, an investigation into the many varieties of
Neopaganism. Stewart Farrar died in February 2000 after a brief illness.
After Stewart Farrar's death, Janet Farrar and Gavin 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.
Bibliography
Farrar has co-authored a number of books about Wicca and Neopaganism.
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)
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
With Gavin Bone
2004: Progressive Witchcraft: Spirituality, Mysteries, and Training in Modern Wicca
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