alexAlex Sanders(Photo courtesy of John Hooper)

Alex Sanders, an English Witch who developed his own unique brand of Witchcraft known asAlexandrianWicca, was hailed in his lifetime as The King of the Witches. His background (he claimed) stemmed from an early initiation into the Craft by his Grandmother. Later he studied all the Occult arts including Ritual and Ceremonial Magic.

Although Sanders was born into a wealthy family (his father was a successful Timber Merchant), he gradually used his magical skills for personal gain amassing a great personal fortune. However after a sudden tragedy, he reflected on his path, vowing to return to the Right Hand Path of his original initiation and began cultivating a benevolent system of Wicca.

His contribution and influence cannot be underestimated in this field and certainly lead to the furtherance of Wicca in the modern world. Never afraid to court publicity, Sanders welcomed documentary makers, journalists, photographers and potential recruits becoming the religions most ardent publicist. Many now feel that this open unguarded attitude has lead in part to the current tolerance towards White Witchcraft in society today.

By the end of the sixties he headed well over a hundred covens and began to work closely with a gifted psychic and trance medium - Derek Taylor. The pair worked together connecting, we are told, with celestial intelligences, disembodied spirits, and the demiurge itself. Their work superseded the average Wiccan coven activity and went way and beyond what was acceptable to the Witches of the time. Each time they invoked the various forces and dredged the astral realms, Taylor kept carefully scribed notes of the trance dictates of Alex Sanders, who allowed himself to be used as a channel for these forces.

During the nineteen-eighties - a decade obsessed with material advancement, social status and power, very few gave any credence to the writings of a pair of Witches living in virtual obscurity. Eschewed by their own community, denounced and ignored, the two seers continued in isolation producing their magical diaries believing that the communications received were vitally important to the well being of humanity. Indeed they began to read into the scribed notes a pattern, a prophetic catalogue of events to come, including the Apocalypse (World War III).

Alex Sanders died in 1988 and although in death he was given a popular send off (having been recognised as an innovative leader who had carved a solid niche in the history of Witchcraft) his final tracts were still an embarrassing egress. Printed and bound, the many trances, prophesies, predictions and visions of the King of the Witches were left to gather dust in a basement in Hastings, East Sussex.

derek Derek Taylor(Photo courtesy of John Hooper)

12 Years Later It wiped the jacket cover with a cloth and looked over to a tall, lank elegant man in his fifties. The room was surrounded in Indian wall coverings, exotic prints and one or two oil paintings. Three incense sticks burnt slowly in a corner sending up a monotonous coil of smoke perfuming the abode. Gazing down at the pamphlet the archivist began to read the title, "Apocalypse Earth" 1987 - 2012. Extraterrestrial Messages". Here was the work of the man called by some as the "King of the Witches."

Inside the spartan publication a grim set of warnings began to unfold regarding the end of the World, given by extraterrestrial spirits. Other works inspected included:

The Children of the Stars Opening up another volume of work, "The Children of the Stars", this particular document quoted livingry instructions although it continually referred to the Exodus, the Apocalypse and warnings against the current levels of pollution affecting the world. The Appendices reveal a remarkable interpretation of the Kabbalah in the form of Talismanic Sigils.

The Southern Quarter Speaks Leafing through these forgotten texts engrossed and unaware of his surroundings the tall man lit a hand rolled cigarette and inhaled a long pull on the tobacco as if savouring the moment. "If that interests you there are more....here", he passed over yet another paper.

The title on this one "The Southern Quarter Speaks - Set & Sekmet The", the text may allude to the coming of new bio technologies such as Cloning & GM foodstuffs not to mention a whole host of other futuristic scenarios.

Ritual of the Kabbalistic Cross The last morsel to tantalize the taste buds was the "Ritual of the Kabbalistic Cross" adapted by Sanders with photographs of him demonstrating his own modifications to the rite.

rose crossThe Kabbalistic Rose Cross

The Teachings of the Ordine Della NovaDerek Taylor then sat down lit a cigarette let out a thin stream of smoke and began to explain the particular slant on Witchcraft taken by both he and Alex towards the mid eighties. He maintained that most so called Witches and Pagans, even the ones of note who had taken to writing on the subject had all made one major error in their thinking. They had all without exception only focused on Wicca and the worship on Earth, either concentrating on the Earth Mother aspect or on Pan God of the Woodlands, the Green Man and so on. This he continued had lead to the omission or denial of the cosmic or celestial aspects of the teaching. Taylor shook his head and spoke thoughtfully and added as if in afterthought that raising elementals, wood spirits or God forms here on Earth only reached the parts of ourselves we already knew or could get to know, the work he was engaged in with Alex Sanders and continuing alone was building a line of communication way and beyond terra firma to the stars. Reaching the divine Mother in us and spiritual intelligences in deep space that had existed since time began. If there was any truth in the old adage "As Above So Below", then man is surely a mirror of the Cosmos, each man a Star, so it followed that the demiurgic forces of deep space and communion with them were also our birthright.

It would be accurate to say that Mr Taylor has received vehement resistance inside the Wiccan community, these ideas were far from fashionable in the late seventies and less so into the eighties. Many of the old guard in Wicca dismissed Taylor as a crank eschewing all contact with him and advising others to do the same, . In 1989 he finally turned his back on the pagan community and worked alone in the trance mediumship, following what he describes as "The Great Work". Bones of Contention Whether one agrees with Derek's position on the Craft or not, no-one can deny that his stance is both challenging and thought provoking. His ideas on subjects such as initiation tend to raise hackles with many traditionalist witches. He insists that initiation was not a question of taking certain oaths or having a sword pointed at ones breast, nor was it true that a person was a Witch after having spent ten years committing spells, rituals etc to memory. No, he continued initiation, true initiation was only imparted in a deep, moving emotional experience that transcended everyday consciousness and left an indelible impression on the psyche of the individual concerned, most of Wicca he said was populated by large egos, pomposity and delusion.

Disclaimer : The Hexagon Archive has consulted Maxine Sanders on the unpublished material mentioned above. She would like it known that whilst some of the writings may well be genuine, in her opinion other tracts are possibly written when Alex Sanders was ill and under the influence if medication.