Editing Book of Shadows (section)

===Valiente's rewriting===
In 1953, [[Doreen Valiente]] joined Gardner's [[Bricket Wood coven]], and soon rose to become its High Priestess. She noticed how much of the material in his Book of Shadows was taken not from ancient sources as Gardner had initially claimed, but from the works of the occultist [[Aleister Crowley]], from ''[[Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches]]'', from the ''[[Key of Solomon]]'' and also from the rituals of [[Freemasonry]].<ref>''The Rebirth of Witchcraft'', Doreen Valiente, page 54-55</ref> She confronted Gardner with this, who admitted that the text he had received from the [[New Forest coven]] had been fragmentary and he had had to fill much of it using various sources. He also stated that "well, if you think you can do any better, go ahead",<ref name="Witchcraft, Doreen Valiente page 61">''The Rebirth of Witchcraft'', Doreen Valiente, page 61</ref> and Valiente thought that she could, later stating that:

{{quotation|I accepted the challenge and set out to rewrite the Book of Shadows, cutting out the Crowleyanity as much as I could and trying to bring it back to what I felt was, if not so elaborate as Crowley's phraseology, at least our own and in our own words.<ref name="Witchcraft, Doreen Valiente page 61" />}}

Valiente rewrote much of it, cutting out a lot of sections that had come from Crowley (whose negative reputation she feared), though retaining parts that originated with ''[[Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches]]'', which she felt was genuine witchcraft practice. Valiente dramatically rewrote sections such as the ''[[Charge of the Goddess]]'' and also wrote several poems for the book, such as ''The Witches Rune''. She also helped to create a poem to include the [[Wiccan Rede]] within it.<ref>[[Rosemary Ellen Guiley|Guiley, Rosemary Ellen]] (1999) ''The Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft''. p348.</ref>

Valiente also noticed that a chant in one ritual in the book was based upon the poem "A Tree Song" from ''[[Puck of Pook's Hill]]'' by [[Rudyard Kipling]], which she had enjoyed as a child.<ref>''The Rebirth of Witchcraft'', Doreen Valiente, page 54</ref> The chant in question stated that:
:Oh, do not tell the priest our plight,
:Or he would call it sin;
:But - we have been in the woods all night,
:A-conjuring summer in !
:And we bring you news by word of mouth -
:Good news for cattle and corn -
:Now is the Sun come up from the South,
:With Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!<ref>''The Rebirth of Witchcraft'', Doreen Valiente, page 55</ref>

(These eight lines are exactly the final stanza of [https://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/poem/poems_treesong.htm "A Tree Song"].)

This version of the ritual, written by both Gardner and Valiente, but containing sections adopted from various sources, such as [[Aleister Crowley]], ''[[Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches]]'', and even [[Rudyard Kipling]], went on to become the traditional text for [[Gardnerian Wicca]].