Doreen Valiente (1922–1999) was an influential English Wiccan priestess and author, often called the “Mother of Modern Witchcraft.” Born Doreen Edith Dominy in Surrey, she explored magic from her teens and worked at Bletchley Park during WWII.
After the war, she immersed herself in ceremonial magic. In 1953, she was initiated by Gerald Gardner into Gardnerian Wicca and became the High Priestess of his Bricket Wood coven. Notably, she rewrote and refined Wiccan liturgy—such as The Witches’ Rune and especially the Charge of the Goddess—removing heavy Crowleyan influences and creating a more authentic spiritual tone.
In 1957, she parted ways with Gardner during the first major Wiccan schism. Over the following years, she explored other Wiccan traditions, including Charles Cardell’s Coven of Atho and Robert Cochrane’s Clan of Tubal Cain, though these relationships were temporary.
Throughout the 1960s and ’70s, Valiente promoted Wicca publicly—presiding over the Witchcraft Research Association, co-founding the Pagan Front, and writing articles and several influential books: Where Witchcraft Lives (1962), An ABC of Witchcraft (1973), Natural Magic (1975), Witchcraft for Tomorrow (1978), and The Rebirth of Witchcraft (1989). She was instrumental in disseminating Wiccan ideas and encouraging self-initiation and scholarly investigation into its origins.
Later in life, Valiente continued her activism, served as patron of the Sussex-based Centre for Pagan Studies, and bequeathed her magical artifacts and archives to her last High Priest, eventually preserved by the Doreen Valiente Foundation.
She passed away from pancreatic cancer in Brighton in September 1999.
The Damsonmoon Coven 