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{{Short description|Tradition of Wicca founded by Alex Sanders}}
'''Alexandrian Wicca''' or '''Alexandrian Witchcraft''' is a tradition of the [[Neopaganism|Neopagan]] [[religion]] of [[Wicca]], founded by [[Alex Sanders (Wiccan)|Alex Sanders]] (also known as "King of the Witches"<ref>{{cite book | author=Johns, June | title=King of the witches: The world of Alex Sanders | publisher=P. Davies | year=1969|isbn=0-432-07675-1}}</ref>) who, with his wife [[Maxine Sanders]], established the tradition in the [[United Kingdom]] in the 1960s. Alexandrian Wicca is similar in many ways to [[Gardnerian Wicca]], and receives regular mention in books on Wicca as one of the religion's most widely recognized traditions.<ref>See {{cite book | author=Adler, Margot | authorlink=Margot Adler | title=Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America Today | publisher=Viking | year=1979 | isbn=0-670-28342-8 }}, and {{cite book |authors=Farrar, Janet, Stewart, Bone, Gavin |lastauthoramp=yes | title=The Pagan Path | publisher=Phoenix Publishing | year=1995 | isbn=0-919345-40-9}}, amongst others.</ref>▼
{{Infobox religion
| name = Alexandrian Wicca
| image =
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| abbreviation = AW
| type = [[Wicca]]
| main_classification = [[British Traditional Wicca]]
| orientation = [[Gardnerian Wicca]]
| scripture =
| theology =
| polity =
| governance = Priesthood
| structure =
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| fellowships_type =
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| associations =
| area = [[Australia]], [[United Kingdom]], [[Brazil]], [[South Africa]], [[Canada]] and [[United States]]
| headquarters =
| founder = [[Alex Sanders (Wiccan)|Alex Sanders]] and [[Maxine Sanders]]
| founded_date = 1960s
| founded_place = United Kingdom
| separated_from =
| parent =
| merger =
| absorbed =
| separations = [[Chthonioi Alexandrian Wicca]] (1974)
| merged_into =
| defunct =
| congregations_type = Coven
| congregations =
| members = Over 1,000 {{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}
| ministers_type = Priest/Priestess
| ministers =
| missionaries =
| temples =
| hospitals =
| nursing_homes =
| aid =
| primary_schools =
| secondary_schools =
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| other_names = Alexandrian Witchcraft
| publications =
| website =
| footnotes =
}}
▲'''Alexandrian Wicca''' or '''Alexandrian Witchcraft''' is a tradition of the [[Neopaganism|Neopagan]] [[religion]] of [[Wicca]], founded by [[Alex Sanders (Wiccan)|Alex Sanders]] (also known as "King of the Witches")<ref>{{cite book | author=Johns, June | title=King of the witches: The world of Alex Sanders | publisher=P. Davies | year=1969|isbn=0-432-07675-1}}</ref>
==Origins and history==
The tradition is based largely upon [[Gardnerian Wicca]], in which Sanders was trained,<ref name="Rabinovitch">{{cite book |author1=Rabinovitch, Shelley |author2=Lewis, James R. | title=The Encyclopedia of Modern Witchcraft and Neo-Paganism | pages=5–6 | publisher=Citadel Press | year=2004 | isbn=0-8065-2407-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?
Alexandrian Wicca is
==Practices==
Alexandrian Wicca, in similarity with other traditional Wiccan practices,
As compared to Gardnerian Wicca, Alexandrian Wicca is "somewhat more eclectic", according to ''The Encyclopedia of Modern Witchcraft and Neo-Paganism''.<ref name="Rabinovitch"/> Maxine Sanders notes that Alexandrians take the attitude "If it works use it".<ref name="twptMaxine"/> Tool use and deity and [[elemental]] names also differ from the Gardnerian tradition.<ref name="Rabinovitch"/> [[Skyclad (Neopaganism)|Skyclad]] practice, or ritual nudity, is
Alexandrian covens meet on [[new
==Ranks and degrees==
Alexandrian Wicca shares with other traditional Wicca systems the belief that "only a witch can make another witch".<ref name="introAlexWicca">{{cite web | title=An Introduction to Alexandrian Wicca | work=Gay Pagans, Gay Witches...? | url=http://www.thewellhead.org.uk/tradition/an-introduction-to-alexandr.html |access-date=30 October 2011}}</ref> The process through which an individual is made a witch is called "[[initiation]]". As in [[Gardnerian Wicca]], there are three levels, or "degrees", of initiation, commonly referred to as "first", "second", and "third" degree. Only a second or third degree witch can initiate another into witchcraft, and only a third degree witch can initiate another to third degree. A third degree initiate is referred to as a "High Priestess" or "High Priest".<ref name="introAlexWicca"/> The Farrars published the rituals for the three ceremonies of initiation in ''Eight Sabbats for Witches''.<ref name="eightSabbats">{{cite book |
Some Alexandrians have instituted a preliminary rank called "neophyte" or "dedicant." In these Alexandrian covens, a neophyte is not bound by the oaths taken by initiates, and thus has an opportunity to examine the tradition before committing to it.<ref name="introAlexWicca"/> Neophytes are not, however, considered to have actually joined the tradition until they do take first degree. As such they would not experience certain aspects of rituals that were considered oathbound.
==Relationship to other traditions==
Historian [[Ronald Hutton]] records comments from British practitioners of Gardnerian and Alexandrian Wicca that distinctions between the two traditions have blurred in the last couple of decades, and some initiates of both traditions have recognized initiation within one as qualification for the other.<ref>{{cite book | first=Ronald | last=Hutton |
Janet and Stewart Farrar, both of whom were initiated into the Alexandrian tradition by the Sanderses, describe themselves as having left the tradition after the release of ''Eight Sabbats for Witches''.<ref name="ourWiccanOrigins">{{cite web|title=Our Wiccan Origins |work=Wicca na hErin |author1=Bone, Gavin |author2=Farrar, Janet |url=http://www.wicca.utvinternet.com/origins.htm |
The High Magical and Qabalistic strands of the Alexandrian tradition also informed the ''Ordine Della Luna in Constantinople'' which, from 1967 onwards, Sanders operated as a 'side-degree' or ancillary rite to Alexandrian Wicca, most notably in collaboration with [[Derek Taylor (Wiccan)|Derek Taylor]] in the 1980s.<ref>{{cite book |last=Strachan |first=Francoise |year=1970 |title=The Aquarian Guide to Occult, Mystical, Religious, Magical, London and Around |location=London |publisher=Aquarian Press |isbn=0-85030-074-6}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.geocities.com/triple-moon/alexandderek.html |title=The Ordine Della Luna/Nova: The Work of Alex Sanders and Derek Taylor |
==See also==
*[[Great Rite]]
*[[Neopaganism]]
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