Dafo? |
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Dafo is the "magical name" (an occultist's pseudonym) for an otherwise anonymous woman that researchers such as Ronald Hutton and Philip Heselton have come to view as an important contributer to the development of Gardnerian Witchcraft, and therefore Wicca. She has been variously identified as Gerald Gardner's "magical working partner", "High Priestess", and teacher. While it is not clear to what extent she was involved in occultism before meeting Gardner, or even what her precise relationship to Gardner or the first coven he was involved with was, Gardner repeatedly cited her as an authority on witchcraft to those that he intoduced to the religion.
Gardner, discussing the publication of his two books on witchcraft, mentions that he felt obliged to have the permission of the witches he knew to do so. It is now widely assumed that this was a reference to 'Dafo', who appears to have been a great deal more publicity-shy than Gardner was. 'Dafo' was still involved with Gardner's group by the time that Doreen Valiente met Gardner, as Valiente reports meeting her. 'Dafo' eventually broke with Gardner over the issue of publicity, after Gardner began discussing his coven freely and inviting the media to witchcraft rituals.
In spite of a great deal of speculation on the identity of 'Dafo' (sometimes conflating her with Dorothy Clutterbuck), and the claims of some to have identified her, or to have always known her identity, there remains reasonable doubt as to who 'Dafo' might have been. Perhaps the most convincing, and certainly the most detailed, argument was put forth by Philip Heselton in his Wiccan Roots (Capall Bann, 2000), asserting that she was a woman named h Woodford-Grimes.
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