Speculum Lunae

COVEN DE WICCA GARDNERIANA

Biographical information

  • Civil name: Rosemary Buckland
  • Craft name: Rowen
  • Born: Possibly 1936 (Konold, 2020)
  • Gardnerian initiation: 7 December 1963, by Raymond Buckland on Long Island; degrees confirmed by Monique Wilson in July 1964
  • Died: Possibly 2013 (Konold, 2020)

Historical photograph to be selected.

Rosemary Moss and the move to America

Rosemary Moss met Raymond Buckland in early 1954, when both were employed by the British engineering firm Rendel, Palmer & Tritton. They shared a love of jazz and theatre; she played guitar for a time in Raymond’s band and appeared in amateur productions. They married on 19 November 1955 and had two sons. In England they took part in Spiritualist gatherings, and in 1962 the family moved to Long Island, New York, when Raymond took a position at the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC).

Although histories of Wicca have often described Rosemary chiefly in relation to her husband, her own religious development emerges more clearly from the correspondence preserved by Raymond and examined by Jason Mankey in High Priest (2025). She asked questions of her own, pursued her reading and helped plan an American religious community.

Civil information about Rosemary is less accessible than information about Raymond. A 2020 academic study identifies her as Rosemary Moss Buckland (1936–2013), but the dates still require comparison with independent civil or biographical records. They are therefore given here as tentative, with the secondary source identified.

Initiation and Craft name

Letters from 1963 show Rosemary becoming interested in the Craft gradually. Early that year she had reservations, though she supported Raymond’s enthusiasm. After reading works by Gardner and Margaret Murray, she began corresponding directly with Monique Wilson (Olwen), high priestess in Perth, Scotland. Her questions concerned marriage, rites for the dying, religious education for children and the practical organization of a coven. She was seeking a religious community as well as magical instruction.

By July 1963 Monique envisioned Rosemary establishing the Craft on the American East Coast. Monique also suggested the Craft name Rowen. In October she agreed that Raymond could travel alone to Scotland for initiation and then initiate Rosemary in America. Their letters demonstrate that both future leaders participated in planning the American group before either had been initiated.

Raymond returned from Scotland on 1 December 1963. According to his unpublished memoir examined by Mankey, he initiated Rosemary on Long Island on 7 December. She received the second degree on 9 December and attained the third later that month. Some later accounts place Rosemary’s first initiation in Scotland, but the letters and memoir provide a more precise reconstruction of ceremonies first conducted in the United States.

In July 1964 Rosemary visited Monique and Campbell Wilson on the Isle of Man. Monique ceremonially confirmed her initiation and elevations; Raymond recorded 13 July as Rosemary’s coronation as a Witch Queen. This occasion did not mark the beginning of her Gardnerian work: she had already directed the coven and participated in initiations earlier in 1964. The implications of this later confirmation for the validity of the initial ceremonies remain debated; Mankey notes that earlier initiates were not required to repeat their rites.

High priestess of the Long Island coven

Rosemary and Raymond had already hosted people interested in witchcraft in October 1963, before Raymond’s Scottish initiation. From December Rosemary served as high priestess of the New York Coven, conducting rites, supporting prospective members and transmitting the Craft. Their first additional initiates arrived early in 1964. Over approximately eight years of Gardnerian coven leadership, the couple initiated about thirty-five individuals, some of whom subsequently established new covens.

In 1964 the community moved to a house in Brentwood, Long Island, with a permanent ritual space in the basement. Rosemary’s priestly and organizational work was crucial to the expansion of the American tradition, even as Raymond became better known through books, lectures and the museum.

Rosemary also participated in the coven’s emerging public profile. In October 1965, Long Island newspapers reported on the new religious community. The 30 October issue of Newsday interviewed the couple and included statements by Rowen on the existence of further covens and the difficulty of training new high priestesses. The Long Island Press published another account the following day. Jason Mankey discusses these records in High Priest (chapter 4), showing Rosemary’s role in explaining the Craft publicly while the family also tried to protect its private life.

The succession of 1972 can be dated more precisely using High Priest. Judith Kneitel, later Theos, was initiated by Rosemary and Raymond on 10 April; Thomas Kneitel, Phoenix, followed on 1 May. As the Bucklands’ marriage ended, Rosemary helped prepare the couple and elevate Theos to third degree. On 17 November 1972 Theos and Phoenix took over leadership of the Brentwood coven, subsequently moving it to Commack. The resulting line of initiatory succession became known as the Long Island Line.

Rosemary withdrew from regular leadership but did not necessarily lose contact with the coven. According to a later statement by Thomas Kneitel cited by Mankey, she remained an Elder and adviser to the group until 1985. This testimony extends the known period of her contribution to its continuity.

Remembering a founder

Rosemary did not pursue a publishing career comparable with Raymond’s and appears in fewer interviews and historical studies. This disparity has made it easier for the first American coven’s history to be credited almost exclusively to her husband. Yet the 1963 correspondence shows a priestess asking her own questions, negotiating with Monique Wilson and preparing for religious leadership. She also played a decisive role in training successors.

Rosemary’s work belongs to the initiatory ancestry of numerous Gardnerian communities in the United States and elsewhere. Raymond’s later disagreements with the Kneitels, including disputes over initiatory documentation, appear in Mankey’s book as conflicting testimony and should not automatically be attributed to Rosemary. The available record now makes her historical role clearer, although her life after 1985 and the civil dates attributed to her still require independent investigation.

References and documentary sources