The Witch Ball and Other Short Stories

Born on 4th January 1922 in Colliers Wood, South London, she was aware from her youngest years that there were other dimensions of reality, telling of an "indescribably mystical experience" which she had one twilight aged nine. A rather rebellious time at school led on to wartime employment at the code-breaking establishment of Bletchley Park. Marrying Casimiro Valiente in 1944, Doreen moved to Bournemouth, where she began to tap into the considerable local interest in all aspects of the occult, including a well-stocked local library and Spiritualist and Theosophical groups. The fortuitous acquisition of some notebooks from the Order of the Golden Dawn set her on the path to magical practice, leading eventually to a meeting with prominent witch, Gerald Gardner. Gardner had been initiated into a witch coven in the nearby New Forest and ran a museum of witchcraft. Doreen was impressed and was initiated by Gardner in 1953. She co-operated with him on several ventures and was an active member of his coven. Disagreements over publicity caused her to leave the coven in 1957, by which time she was living in Brighton, her home for the rest of her life. Doreen wrote her first book, Where Witchcraft Lives, about witchcraft in Sussex, in 1962. As she developed her own distinctive approach, Doreen wrote a further four books, including her 'magnum opus', Witchcraft for Tomorrow. These books have influenced many over the years, being sensible, inspiring and well-written. The publication of The Charge of the Goddess, a book of her poetry, in 2014, together with the present volume, are testament to her considerable writing skills. Doreen died in 1999 at the age of 77.