'Witchcraft Considered A Religion', The San Bernardino County Sun, 19 April 1970

The San Bernardino County Sun (San Bernardino, California), Sunday 19 April 1970, page 50. A review of June Johns's King of the Witches signed "Vee Bee" (the piece misprints the author once as "June Sanders"). The reviewer takes the book as a factual account and is struck by how much work it describes: the memorising, the ritual, the tools, the regular meetings. She retells two of Alex's own cautionary stories, the wealth he "magicked-up" and lost, and the "familiar" he and a fellow witch created that got out of hand. "It certainly doesn't make a witch's life sound easy!" Cropped to the review, with the full page alongside. How to cite: 'Witchcraft Considered A Religion', The San Bernardino County Sun, 19 April 1970, p. 50. Alexandrian Witchcraft Timeline & Archive.

Witchcraft Considered A Religion "King of the Witches,” by June Johns, Coward-McCann Inc., New York, $5. Alex Sanders, King of the Witches, gave his story of his own life of inherited witchcraft to author June Sanders [sic]. It is a factual account of his experiences from the time he discovered that his grandmother was a practicing witch (although her own family knew nothing of it and his discovery was accidental. The art of “White” Witchcraft, although now legalized in England, is extremely secretive. It is certainly not used for entertainment, and those who exploit their powers, are severely punished if found out, by others of their coven. According to the account, White Witchcraft is considered by witches to be a religion and they serve God. It may not be used for self-promotion or advantage, or it becomes “Black Witchcraft” and where would that leave our nice Samantha and her mama of tv?). Sanders says that witchcraft had only two purposes: Fertility and the helping of others to cure troubles or disease. The instructions go back as far as ancient Egypt and the tremendous amount of memorizing and ritual don’t leave a lot of time for overworking the fertility rites. No one is invited to be a witch until they have proved themselves capable of good hard work. People, once joined, must work even harder to advance and they must be congenial and loyal to their group. Pairs once formed are considered married and there is no trading around. The weakness of witchery seems to be that a first-stage initiate is often carried away with a sense of power and gets into mischief. Twice, even the King of the Witches himself confessed that he misused his powers when he was young and paid for it dearly. Once he magicked-up affluence and then landed back poorer than before on the streets. Another time he and a witch-brother decided to create a “familiar” (like the black cat or raven who “help” a witch). This creature got out of hand and caused quite a lot of damage before he was exorcised. The book is well-written and appeals to everyone's childish interest in things magical. But it certainly doesn’t make a witch’s life sound easy! You have to work hard, spend quite a bit on an armory of tools, and attend meetings often and regularly. But since it depends on supplication to God for power, it makes Judo-Christianity seem simple by comparison. Who needs to spend two years saving up to buy equipment to join a prayer group when you can just go to the church of your choice and pray? - VEE BEE