'King Of English Witches Tells What It's All About', The Standard, 29 November 1969

The Standard, Saturday 29 November 1969, page 22. A short book review of June Johns's King of the Witches, listed here as a Heinemann edition at $7.50, on a books page whose other reviews (Mennonite and Amish life in Kitchener-Waterloo, McClelland and Stewart editions) point to a Canadian paper. The reviewer sets the book beside Sybil Leek's Diary of a Witch and notes that neither witch mentions the other, though Leek claims a heritage back to 1134 and Sanders says he is one of only six hereditary witches in England. The verdict: colourful and fascinating, 'full of naked people dancing in the moonlight, albeit very seriously', but light on meaning and history. How to cite: 'King Of English Witches Tells What It's All About', The Standard, 29 November 1969, p. 22. Alexandrian Witchcraft Timeline & Archive.

King Of English Witches Tells What It’s All About KING OF THE WITCHES by the book, by June Johns, Heinemann ($7.50). In an interview with Alex Sanders set down at the end of the book, Mr. Sanders says he is one of only six hereditary witches in England. Knowing that, and reading of his intense feeling for witchcraft and everyone and everything associated with it, I find it appear in a book written last year by yet another “well-known and famous witch.” In Sybil Leek’s Diary of a Witch, there is no mention of Alex Sanders, who is living at the same time and is here proclaimed as the elected “King of the Witches.” Mrs. Leek talks continuously of Aleister Crowley, her hero and later a Black Witch. But not a word of Sanders. Neither does Sanders mention Sybil Leek's name, yet she claims in her book a heritage going back to 1134 - regarded as the oldest heritage of a witch in history. Sanders, in King of the Witches, also described rituals of witchcraft and Sabbats which are somewhat different to those in Diary of a Witch, but, as he also explains, rituals often differ within the different covens, or groups. Perhaps this accounts for it. Those interested in the rituals of witchcraft rather than in the religion will probably thoroughly enjoy the world of Alex Sanders. It’s colorful and fascinating, full of naked people dancing in the moonlight, albeit very seriously. It talks of blood and knives and ceremonial swords and of tortures now toned down for modern witches. You’ll read of Black Magic and how Alex Sanders joined this section of witches and lived in utter corruption for years. It's all here - to a point. The author has set down much of the ritual for us to read, but she has not delved too deeply into its meaning or into its heritage. There is much left out of the world of Alex Sanders in these pages. But, together with Sybil Leek's book, with the Hammer of Witchcraft which gives detailed background and methods of witchcraft and, perhaps, with a book on old herbal remedies and cures, you’ll get a very good idea of just what witchcraft is really all about.