Scott Douglas Cunningham

1956 - 1993
S
cott Douglas Cunningham was a Wiccan and

popular author of more than thirty books on

both fiction and non-fiction topics. More than

fifteen of his books were written on Wicca and

its related subjects, he also wrote scripts for occult videos.

Scott was a key player in the opening up of Wicca to

solitary practice, and by making a great deal of

information available to the public, he helped influence

many newcomers entering the craft.

Scott was born on the 27th June 1956 at the William

Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan, USA. His

parents Chester Grant Cunningham and Rose Marie

Wilhoit Cunningham had two other children, an older

brother Greg and a younger sister Christine. In 1959 due to

his mothers recurring health problems, the family moved

to San Diego, California, were the doctors declared the

mild climate would be more beneficial for her. Aside from

his many trips to Hawaii, Scott continued to live in San

Diego until his death in 1993.

His introduction to the craft came through a book he read

in 1971, one purchased by his mother (The Supernatural, by

Douglas Hill and Pat Williams). Scott had always

shown an interest in plants, minerals and other natural

earth products, and this book furthered his interest. It

also showed diagrams of Italian hand gestures used to

ward of the evil eye, and these particularly fascinated him.

Later in high school he used these gestures to attract the

attention of a female classmate he knew to be involved

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with the occult and a working coven. She introduced

Scott into Wicca, which further intensified his interest in

the powers of nature. Over the next few years he took

initiation into several covens of varying traditions gaining

experience, but really he preferred to practice as a solitary

practitioner.

In 1974 he enrolled at San Diego State University were he

studied creative writing, inspired to do so by his father.

His father was a professional writer who had authored

some 170 non-fiction and fiction books. Scott started

writing truck and automobile articles for trade

publications, he also wrote advertising copy on a freelance

basis. His roommate during this period was the author

Donald Michael Kraig, he also made the acquaintance of

Raymond Buckland, who was living in San Diego at the

time. After only two years of his University course, Scott

had collected more published credits than most of his

professors, and so decided to drop out from the rest of the

course and began to write full-time. The first book he had

published was an Egyptian romance novel, Shadow of

Scotts writing style was easy to understand being simple

and direct, his teachings focused on encouraging people to

employ whatever works for them in their religious,

spiritual, and magickal endeavors. He was a fine herbalist

and produced several books dealing with herbs,

including Magickal Herbalism (Llewellyn Publications,

1982), and Cunninghams Encyclopedia of Magickal

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Herbs (Llewellyn Publications, 1985). His books on Wicca

led to a steady rise in its popularity, and he soon became

one of the best-read Wiccan authors of his time. Sales of

his most popular book Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary

Practitioner(Llewellyn, 1988), reached over 400,000 copies by

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His prominence was instrumental in influencing the

changes that took place in the Wicca movement during

the eighties. Due to his influence, the Wiccan religion

shifted primarily from the hands of initiates into the

public arena, and many eclectic traditions were formed as

a result. While essentially a self-styled Wiccan and a

solitary practitioner, he was initiated into several

established Craft Traditions. In 1980 he entered into the

Aridian Tradition, where he undertook a course of study on

Witchcraft and Magick from Raven Grimassi. Then in 1981

he entered the Reorganized Traditional Gwyddonic Order

of Wicca, and the Ancient Pictish Gaelic Tradition.

Additionally, he was the developer of American

Traditionalist Wicca.

Scott traveled around the country giving lectures and

occasionally making media appearances on behalf of the

craft. He viewed the craft as a modern religion created in

the 20th century, and thought that Wicca, while

containing pagan folk magic derived of ancient times,

should be stripped of its quasi-historical and mythological

trappings and represented to the public as a modern

religion utilizing ancient concepts. He also believed that

Wicca, which had been a closed and secretive tradition

since the 1950s, should become more open to newcomers.

A sudden onset of health issues began to affect his public

appearances, then later his writing. In 1983 he was

diagnosed with Lymphoma, a form of cancer. To make

matters worse in 1990, he also contracted Cryptococcal

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Meningitis. His health continued to decline as he suffered

opportunistic infections related to his primary disease.

Finally on the 28th March 1993, he succumbed, and Scott

passed from this world and into the next. As an

ambassador of the pagan way of life, his books today

continue to influence us all.

Source - controversial.com