Hans Holzer Loved By Witches Everywhere!

As a Wiccan and Witch myself I had seen Prof. Holzer's work even before I knew his name through my studies in Ghost Hunting and Investigation techniques. When I was a lot younger and taking up my first studies in "The Craft" Prof. Holzer's voice made itself known to me loud and clear through his gifts he had already given and continued to give to the Wiccan/Witch community. The authors of this article are one and the same that published a "must have always" book and tool that were a constant companion to me as a Wiccan and Witch as it was for all others like me. After all, what would a Witch's day, week, month or year be like without The Witches' Almanac?! We'd fall off our broomsticks not knowing what planetary hour it is, what the moon's phase is, what kind (or name) of moon we are under ...... All of those things essential to Witches everywhere was just a glance away in this book! After all, even in this age of technology and the Internet it still isn't as easy and it may seem to find out which way to fly. That book is like a Wiccan Broomstick GPS system. Why stir our cauldrons widdershins and have it blow up in our face when the moon said go deosil? Or what if we stirred in our desires deosil when the planetary hour and spell called for widdershins? I'm proud to share this article I found from one of our main resources to magical working on Dr. Hans Holzer. Know there was more to his work than often met the eye and he had a hand in many pies. Let the spell be spoken in rhyme to manifest your desire every time!

I had an inkling of what I was getting myself into when I presented this idea of my blogging about Dr. Holzer's work to his daughter, Alexandra Holzer, about two years ago to honor his life and work and also to bring it back into the view of the modern day paranormal researchers but I had almost forgotten one thing: The work to honor him must be as deeply researched as he, himself, researched his own work. Dr. Holzer was a very thorough man and rarely missed a detail to make it very precise what he was saying and not saying and what his evidence had shown. I vow here to do the same in honor of him and plead that more researchers of today take that kind of care with their own research, presentations, and words to better the understanding of the community as a whole and help the people of the world who need us.

Blessed Be, Dr. Hans Holzer!

Source Link: The Witches' Almanac: Hans Holzer

Hans Holzer
January 26, 1920 – April 26, 2009

I was privileged to enjoy the friendship of Hans Holzer for fifteen years and will miss his company. I visited him from time to time at his home in New York and loved our time together. Hans made himself comfortable on his easy chair, his cat Isis on his lap.

"You need to touch your animals," he would say. "That'’s why they’re called pets."

The room was filled with artifacts collected from his travels and from local flea markets over the years. We rarely shared meals. Hans was a lifelong vegan and his diets were difficult to follow.

My friend enjoyed talking about his busy, event-filled life. I would bring my latest finds for him to sign – any of his out-of-print books I had discovered in used-book stores. Hans wrote an amazing number of books, around one hundred forty or so, maybe three or four a year, and an incredible number of articles and scenarios.

He may be most famous for his ghost-hunting TV series and for the Amityville Horror books and films. But for "Old Religion" witchcraft and newer Wicca communities, Hans Holzer's work had special significance. He provided information about the Craft when publishers didn't have much taste for the subject and interest was surfacing. The Witches’ Almanac, first published in 1971, was one of the few available sources.

One of the author's books most important to the Craft is Witches: True Encounters with Wicca, Wizards, Covens, Cults and Magick. The huge book has terrific basic information, with chapters including material on what witchcraft is, the place of the Old Religion in the modern world, how to become a witch. There are interviews with key practitioners. Hans asked me to contribute photos and discussions of my own practices.

My friend enjoyed a matter-of-fact, demystifying attitude about pagan beliefs. According to Hans, "To people untrained in such practices, favorable results sometimes seem 'miraculous,' although they are merely natural. There is, after all, nothing in this universe that is supernatural – only natural laws not fully understood."

We have been very lucky to have had Hans Holzer's ideas within the Almanac’s pages in recent years. In the 2007/2008 issue, check out "Wicca and Christianity: A Personal Perspective." In the 2009/2010 issue you'll read an insightful biographical interview by Robin Antoni.

Andrew Theitic
April 2009