Description
Gerald B. Gardner
Orchid Press, 2009. Paperback. 144 pages. As New/Fine.
A keris (or kris) is a unique knife or sword that has been constructed for magical as well as practical purpose. Its creation is a long and complicated ritual in which magical ingredients are blended with the metal and a powerful jinn (‘genie’) spirit is invoked into the blade. After the keris has been created, the spirit is continually fed, so it gradually grows more powerful. They are often passed down from generation to generation: the oldest examples go back to the 8th century, and are considered extremely potent. A new edition of a classic on Malay weaponry and war originally published in 1936, and now virtually impossible to find. In this work, Gardner illustrates (photos & drawings), describes and catalogues the entire corpus of Malay weaponry. He pays close attention to the origins of the Kris and its close association with the Occult in Malaya – an interest that was to have a huge affect upon him later in life. On return to England, he focussed all his energies on the study of Western witchcraft and the occult, and is considered by many to be the Father of the modern Wicca movement.
Gerald Brousseau Gardner (1884-1964) was born in England, but travelled widely from childhood in the care of his nurse to alleviate his asthma: firstly to Europe, later to Ceylon after nurse married an expatriate. As a young man, Gardner worked on tea and rubber plantations in Ceylon and later Borneo and Malaya. From 1923 to 1936, Gardner entered the Civil Service as a customs official and inspector of rubber and opium production. Gardner’s time in the Far East facilitated his study of his twin fascinations of native spiritual beliefs and archaeology; it was during this period that he amassed a large collection of Malay weapons, including the keris (now more commonly kris) that led to the publication of this authoritative volume. He also nurtured a keen interest in and knowledge of Malay religion and magic which, on return to England, he diverted to the study of European witchcraft. His subsequent books on witchcraft remain seminal texts on the subject and he is remembered today among many occultists as ‘the father of the Wicca movement’.
