Remembering Patricia Crowther

Patricia Crowther (née Dawson; 14 October 1927 – 24 September 2025), Craft name Thelema.

Patricia Crowther was an excellent advocate for Wicca, being gracious, kind, witty, intelligent, and down-to-earth.

“Our religion is ageless and timeless,” she told the Sheffield Star in 1965. She described witchcraft as “a positive religion with strong moral standards”. She also called witches “pioneers of women’s liberation”, having been introduced to the idea of female divinity by reading The White Goddess by Robert Graves.

~ Patrick Kidd in The Observer

She was born in Sheffield at 12:30 am on 14 October 1927, during a thunderstorm. Her parents were Clare and Alfred Dawson.

Her Breton great-grandmother was a herbalist and a clairvoyant, who also told fortunes. Her grandmother Elizabeth “Tizzy” Machon (her maiden name) was a very small woman whose last name means ‘fairy.’

The Dawson family lived next door to a palmist called Madame Melba, who predicted that Patricia would possess great clairvoyant powers. In her childhood, she experienced many connections with fairies and the Craft: at a children’s birthday party she was chosen to be Fairy on the Moon, and she was whirled around seated on an illuminated crescent moon. As a birthday present she received a gold snake bangle, the symbol of wisdom, life, and rebirth. She performed as Robin Hood in pantomime, and performed in a revue entitled The Legend of the Moon Goddess.

When Patricia was 30 years old, a hypnotist regressed her to previous lives including one as a witch. The witch’s name was Polly, who was aged about 66 in the year 1670. Polly said that she lived in a hut with a cat, frog, goat and hen, and worked spells for people, most of whom she disliked. She recited several spells, all of which rhymed, and gave instructions for using them. Patricia had known nothing about the spells, which experts said were authentic. The regression confirmed that she had been a witch in a past life, and suggested that she would become a witch in this incarnation. Since that regression, Patricia recalled another past life in which she served as a powerful priestess of the Goddess.

She was initiated into witchcraft by Gerald Gardner. The initiation took place in Gardner’s private Magic Room, the top floor of a barn, at his home in Castletown on the Isle of Man. Patricia then initiated Arnold. Gardner presented them with ritual tools and jewellery, including a coral necklace for Patricia. Her handfasting to Arnold Crowther (1909–1974) took place on November 8, 1960, a few weeks after the initiation.

Patricia and Arnold Crowther with Gardner

In 1961, the Crowthers formed the Sheffield Coven. They met for rituals and celebrations in their attic. This was the beginning of what would become the Sheffield line of what is now recognised as Gardnerian Wicca.

Her articles appeared in numerous periodicals including Prediction, Gnostica, New Dimensions, and The Lamp of Thoth. She appeared on may radio and television shows attempting to dispel misconceptions concerning the Old Religion and modern Witchcraft. She endeavoured to bring back consciousness of the Great Goddess to humanity, hoping to promote a greater harmony on spiritual levels of thought, and to further the equality and prominence of women. In 1978, she represented Wicca at an international conference in Barcelona.

Crowther has been a central figure in Wicca for nearly seven decades and a pioneer in the early development of modern Witchcraft. She was among the most influential voices in the promotion and preservation of Wicca.

~ The Wild Hunt Pagan News

She also continued to work professionally as a singer, magician and puppeteer. During the war, she sang and played the accordion as part of a group which entertained the troops. She started dancing as a child and never stopped until mobility issues prevented her from doing so.

She loved the theatre. That was the best part of her life, she just loved it.

~ Ian Lilleyman, BBC obituary

Ian Lilleyman, her partner of more than 40 years, met Patricia at a vegetarian society meeting, where she had been a speaker, and he was a member of the audience.

She was a strong feminist and advocate of women’s rights.

“I wanted the Goddess to be recognised again because we had this patriarchal religion for such a long time. From this came women’s liberation, equality for women and feminism, all that sort of thing. But the Goddess had to be recognised first.”

~ Patricia Crowther, in The Guardian, 1999

I had the pleasure of meeting her twice – once at Arbor Low stone circle in 1999, and again a few years later at a Pagan conference in Derby, where we were both giving talks. She remembered me too!

In 2014, the Centre for Pagan Studies hosted an event, “A Day for Patricia Crowther,” to honour her contributions to Wicca. At the celebration, Ashley Mortimer said that the organizers expected Patricia to take the stage briefly to accept accolades, but she took the microphone and spent 25 minutes reading poetry. “She had everyone in stitches,” he said.

Patricia passed away peacefully at home on 24 September 2025. Her husband Ian was with her.

Yvonne Aburrow

Patricia Crowther in June 2004.
Photo: Andrew Partridge, Sheffield Newspapers

Obituaries

Patricia’s books

Articles

It’s a Night For the Witches – Sheffield Star, 30 October 1965
The Eye of the Witch Goddess – an article by Justine Glass about Arnold Crowther’s painting. Prediction, June 1966
An article about Midsummer from the Weekend Telegraph, June 17 1966, featuring Patricia.
Article about Patricia from Weekend, June 17-23, 1981, Part 1 Part 2
Far Out wrote an article about Patricia in the 1990s.
Patricia C. Crowther – The Mystica
A young Patricia Crowther singing ‘Lord Of The Dance’ – YouTube
Page about Patricia Crowther in French

Videos

Facebook group