Editing Gerald Gardner (section)

===Bricket Wood and the Origins of Gardnerianism: 1945–1950===
{{main article|Bricket Wood coven}}

Throughout his time in the New Forest, Gardner had regularly travelled to London, keeping his flat at Buckingham Palace Mansions until mid-1939 and regularly visiting the [[Spielplatz]] nudist club there.{{Sfn|Heselton|2012b|pp=293–294}} At Spielplatz he befriended [[Ross Nichols]], whom he would later introduce to the Pagan religion of [[Neo-druidism|Druidry]]; Nichols would become enamoured with this faith, eventually founding the [[Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids]].{{Sfn|Heselton|2012b|pp=295–296}} However, following the war, Gardner decided to return to London, moving into 47 Ridgemount Gardens, [[Bloomsbury]] in late 1944 or early 1945.{{sfn|Heselton|2012b|p=298}}

Continuing his interest in nudism, in 1945 he purchased a plot of land in Fouracres, a nudist colony near to the village of [[Bricket Wood]] in [[Hertfordshire]] that would soon be renamed Five Acres. As a result, he would become one of the major shareholders at the club, exercising a significant level of power over any administrative decisions and was involved in a recruitment drive to obtain more members.{{Sfn|Heselton|2012b|pp=299–309}}

[[File:The Witches' Cottage.JPG|thumb|right|upright|The Witches' Cottage, where Gardner and his Bricket Wood coven performed their rituals]]
[[File:Witches Hut 2006 side view.JPG|thumb|The Witches' Cottage in 2006]]

Between 1936 and 1939, Gardner befriended the Christian mystic [[John Sebastian Marlowe Ward|J.S.M. Ward]], proprietor of the Abbey Folk Park, Britain's oldest open-air museum. One of the exhibits was a 16th-century cottage that Ward had found near to [[Ledbury]], [[Herefordshire]] and had transported to his park, where he exhibited it as a "witch's cottage". Gardner made a deal with Ward exchanging the cottage for Gardner's piece of land near to Famagusta in Cyprus.

The cottage was dismantled, and the parts transported to Bricket Wood, where they were reassembled on Gardner's land at Five Acres. In Midsummer 1947 he held a ceremony in the cottage as a form of housewarming, which Heselton speculated was probably based upon the ceremonial magic rites featured in ''[[The Key of Solomon]]'' grimoire.{{sfnm|Valiente|2007|1p=56|Heselton|2012b|2pp=315–324}}

Furthering his interest in esoteric Christianity, in August 1946 Gardner was ordained as a priest in the [[Ancient British Church]], a fellowship open to anyone who considered themselves a [[monotheism|monotheist]]. Gardner also took an interest in Druidry, joining the [[The Druid Order|Ancient Druid Order]] (ADO) and attending its annual Midsummer rituals at [[Stonehenge]].{{sfn|Heselton|2012b|pp=327–332}}

He also joined the [[Folk-Lore Society]], being elected to their council in 1946, and that same year giving a talk on "Art Magic and Talismans". Nevertheless, many fellows – including [[Katharine Mary Briggs|Katherine Briggs]] – were dismissive of Gardner's ideas and his fraudulent academic credentials.{{sfn|Heselton|2012b|pp=332–338}} In 1946 he also joined the [[Society for Psychical Research]].{{sfn|Heselton|2012b|p=339}}

On May Day 1947, Gardner's friend [[Arnold Crowther]] introduced him to [[Aleister Crowley]], the ceremonial magician who had founded the religion of [[Thelema]] in 1904. Shortly before his death, Crowley elevated Gardner to the IV° of [[Ordo Templi Orientis]] (O.T.O.) and issued a charter decreeing that Gardner could admit people into its Minerval degree. The charter itself was written in Gardner's handwriting and only signed by Crowley.{{sfnm|Bracelin|1960|1p=171|Valiente|2007|2p=57|Heselton|2012b|3pp=341–362}}

From November 1947 to March 1948, Gardner and his wife toured the United States visiting relatives in [[Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis]], also visiting [[New Orleans]], where Gardner hoped to learn about [[Louisiana Voodoo|Voodoo]].{{sfn|Heselton|2012b|pp=363–366}} During his voyage, Crowley had died, and as a result Gardner considered himself the head of the O.T.O. in Europe, (a position accepted by [[Lady Frieda Harris]]). He met Crowley's successor, [[Karl Germer]], in New York though Gardner would soon lose interest in leading the O.T.O., and in 1951 he was replaced by [[Frederic Mellinger]] as the O.T.O.'s European representative.{{sfn|Heselton|2012b|pp=366–371}}

Gardner hoped to spread Wicca and described some of its practices in a fictional form as ''High Magic's Aid''. Set in the twelfth-century, Gardner included scenes of ceremonial magic based on ''The Key of Solomon''. Published by the [[Atlantis Bookshop]] in July 1949, Gardner's manuscript had been edited into a publishable form by astrologer [[Madeline Montalban]].{{sfn|Heselton|2012b|pp=373–374, 377–399}}

Privately, he had also begun work on a scrapbook known as "Ye Bok of Ye Art Magical", in which he wrote down a number of Wiccan rituals and spells. This would prove to be the prototype for what he later termed a [[Book of Shadows]].{{sfn|Heselton|2012b|pp=375–377}} He also gained some of his first initiates, Barbara and Gilbert Vickers, who were initiated at some point between autumn 1949 and autumn 1950.{{sfn|Heselton|2012b|pp=403–409}}