Bracelin, Jack L.

Bracelin, Jack L.

Gerald Gardner's biographer, author of the book Gerald Gardner: Witch, published by The Octagon Press in 1960. Bracelin served some years with the Palestine Police Force. He was a Priest of Wicca, having been initiated into the Craft after meeting Gardner, in 1955.

In Aidan A. Kelly's book Crafting the Art of Magic, Book One (Llewellyn, 1991) it is claimed that Idries Shah actually wrote the Gardner biography but, for various reasons, decided that he did not want his name on the book and therefore allowed it to be published in Bracelin's name.

In October of 1957, despite the protests of other coven members, Bracelin and a girlfriend, along with another couple, presented a pseudo-Wiccan ceremony to some journalists, hoping to promote a positive response to Wicca. They were surprised when a newspaper story was published damning modern Witchcraft as "a repulsive pagan sect," concluding that "the pagan cult of witchcraft is a fact that Christians in Britain have to reckon with."

Bracelin continued to urge publicity-seeking for the Craft, despite the warnings of other Wiccans.