Alex Sanders Wiccan: Encyclopedia - Alex Sanders Wiccan

Alex Sanders (Wiccan)

Alex Sanders (June 6, 1926 - April 30, 1988), born Orrell Alexander Carter, was the founder of the Alexandrian tradition of Wicca.

Sanders' first contact with Gardenerian Wicca was in the early 1960s, through correspondence and meetings with with Patricia Crowther. In September 1962, he succeeded in convincing the Manchester Evening News to run a front-page article on Wicca. This publicity had several unfortunate side-effects for Sanders, including the loss of his job (due to evidence provided in the article that he had violated the policy of the library at which he was employed) and estrangement from the Crowthers. Soon afterwards, he joined a Gardnerian coven led by Pat Kopanski, which dissolved just over a year later.

By 1965, Sanders had formed his own coven with fellow Mancunians Paul King and Maxine Morris. Sanders married Morris in December of that year, in one of the earliest examples of what would become the common Wiccan ceremony of handfasting. The ceremony received extensive press coverage. (This marriage would later dissolve between 1972 and 1973.)

In June of 1967, Alex and Maxine Sanders moved to London, where they became well-known in the city's alternative scene, providing introductory talks on witchcraft on a weekly basis.

In 1969, June Johns published a biography of Sanders entitled King of the Witches, based on Sanders' own testimony. Sanders also provided much of the material for the book What Witches Do, published later that same year by Stewart Farrar. Stewart and his wife Janet were members of Sanders' coven and two of his most enthusiastic followers. It was Stewart who came up with the popular name of "Alexandrian" for the tradition of Wicca founded by Sanders.

Sanders is notable for creating a form of Wicca that is more welcoming to homosexual and bisexual individuals than Gardnerian Wicca, which has a heavy emphasis on gender polarity. His claim to have been initiated into Wicca by his grandmother and his assumption of the title "King of the Witches" remain controversial.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Alex Sanders Wiccan", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki