The son of a bank official and schoolteacher, StewartFarrar was born on the 28 June 1916, at 239
Winchester Road, Highams Park, Walthamstow, in what isnow the London borough of Waltham
Forest.

Stewart Farrar's interest in the occult field came verymuch as a late vocation, having had little
more than a passing interest in many other philosophiesincluding communism and Marxism. By
the time he met Alex and Maxine Sanders, the well knownLondon witches, in late 1969 he was,
in his own words, an "interested agnostic". In the processof writing his first non-fiction book,
What Witches Do, having warmed to its themes and philosophy,he was initiated into the Craft on
cheap hotels in Stavanger21 February 1970. What Witches Do proved to be a milestonefor the Craft for many reasons. It
was perhaps the first book written from the inside asit were, with a sense of sobriety and
intelligence, which many of its cloak and dagger, garbledpredecessors lacked. In Stewarts own
words, it filled a gap. It combined an overall surveyof the basic beliefs and practices of a modern
witch with a new witch's reactions to the process oflearning those beliefs and practices. It is still
recommended reading for serious minded students of theCraft today.

Stewart with his wife Janet, moved to Ferns, County Wexford,Ireland, in the spring of 1976 and it
was here that they began to produce the first of theirown independent writings. Here, immersing
themselves in rural Irish tradition and culture, theyformed a coven nucleus and worked out ritual
drama for their Eight Sabbats for Witches published in1981. They spent a short time in the west
of Ireland before moving to a rural backwater in Swordsclose to Dublin City where they began
working on another milestone The Witches Way (1984).From here they moved to Beltichburne
near Drogheda and then on to Kells, County Meath wherethey produced The Witches Goddess
(1987); The Life and Times of a Modern Witch (1987);The Witches God (1989) and Spells
and How They Work (1990). Stewart and Janet co-authoredwith Gavin Bone, a qualified nurse,
The Pagan Path (1995) and The Healing Craft (1999).

Stewart also wrote seven witchcraft novels of which Omegawas perhaps the most outstanding
and idealistic. It depicts a world ravaged by man's corruption,his rape of the planet and the final
coming to terms with a New World through the philosophyof Wicca.
I think it is fair to say that Stewart Farrar did morethan any Craft writer on this side of theAtlantic
to expound the spirit of Wicca in its 'purest' form sinceGerald Gardner. Certainly, he has few, if
any contemporaries that can rival him for sheer volumealone. His rational, intelligent and easy to
read style of writing has proved immensely popular andhas given witchcraft the 'respectable'
image it needed for so long. Farrar was not without hiscritics who were quick to dwell on his
occasional misdemeanours in the field as sometime spokesmanfor the Craft movement. These
however, with the passage of time, along with the critics,will be seen as inconsequential storms
in a tea cup.

Suffice to say that Farrar was, is and may remain themost prolific writer on the subject of
contemporary witchcraft that perhaps the world has everknown. He more than anybody else has put his shoulder to the wheel of theWestern Mystery Tradition to make Wicca a viable and
workable path for many to tread.

Poland HotelsPeter J. Doyle -Dun Laoghaire, County Dublin. Ireland.7th February 2000