Happy Birthday to ​Alex Sanders

Happy birthday to the (self-proclaimed) King of the Witches,
​Alex Sanders.

Alex Sanders was born Orrell Alexander Carter on June 6th 1926 in England. His parents were Orrell Alexander Carter, Sr. and Hanna Jane Bibby. Sanders was the eldest of six children.

​He claims he was initiated into witchcraft by his grandmother when he was 7 years old.
​At age 9, she let him copy from her Book of Shadows,taught him clairvoyance, and the rituals & magic of witchcraft. Before her death, she initiated him into the second and third degree. However, there are several contradictory accounts of his initiations, even by Alex Sanders himself.

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In 1948, he was working in a chemist’s lab where he met and married his coworker Doreen Stretton. They had two children and were married for four years. However, Doreen became increasingly uncomfortable with his dealings in the supernatural, so the two were divorced.

In 1963, while working in a library in Manchester, he delved deeper into ceremonial magic by accessing the library’s copy of The Key of Solomon. By his own admittance, he defaced the book by tearing sheets out so he could copy them. No charges were brought against him because he returned all the original pages back to the library. Through this study of ceremonial magic, he was able to incorporate it into his Wiccan teachings. In 1962, he convinced the Manchester Evening News to run an article on Wicca, thus beginning the publicity he is so well-known for.

During the 60’s he met Maxine Morris who would eventually become his wife. By 1965, he was High Priest of his own coven with his wife Maxine as High Priestess, and claimed to have initiated 1,623 people. One of these people was Stewart Farrar who was interviewing Sanders for an article on modern witchcraft. The two became friends and Stewart was eventually initiated into Sanders’ coven where he met his future wife Janet Owen. The Farrars would go on to write many books about witchcraft, including ICS’s favorite book The Witches Bible.

In 1979, Sanders wished "to make amends for some of the past hurts that I have given and many public stupidities I created for others of the Craft", and expressed his desire that “the Wicca should someday put aside their differences and unite in brotherly love before the face of the Lady and the Lord" - Sanders, O. Alexander (1979). "The Many Paths of Wicca" in The Cauldron issue 15, Lammas 1979

Sources
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Sanders_(Wiccan)
https://www.witchcraftandwitches.com/witches_sanders.html
Pics from http://www.controverscial.com/Alex%20Sanders.html

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