Sybil's Leeking Ego

Book: Diary of a Witch

Author: Sybil Leek

Publisher: Prentice Hall

Review:
I remember reading Diary of a Witch when I was around 10 or 11 years old. I checked it out of the Louisville Free Public Library, and when I got it home, I was transfixed by the story of a woman who has been called “Britain's most famous witch.”

Since Diary of a Witch is the book that ended up in my profile icon, and since I recently found a lovely hard backed copy of it in a used book shop, I thought that it was time to revisit it to see if it could withstand both the test of time and a more critical approach. Before I go any further, I need to tell you that I was really hoping it would withstand a critical read. This is not only he book that introduced me to Sybil Leek, but it was probably the second book I had ever read that mentioned Alister Crowley. It presented Crowley in a way that has colored my perception of him for the past 22 years.

To begin with, you don't have to fear any false modesty from Ms. Leek. She begins her book with a dedication to her two sons and in this dedication, she calls herself a legend. Now, arguably, this is true. Sybil Leek is indeed a legend in various occult circles, particularly for those of the Horsa tradition. And, it is apparent from the text of her biography that she worked really hard to be a legend. She forgot the key element of writing: show, not tell. Any time anyone calls themselves a legend, I start to get annoyed.

And the rest:

Before writing this review, I discussed it with my beloved friend and bastion of occult knowledge, Ivan. He wanted my early thoughts on the book, and I grumpily listed several facts that Ms. Leek states and that I found either patently untrue or completely beyond the ability for anyone to prove. And these aren't even claims about her occult powers (though I do find it difficult to believe that Ms. Leek's grandmother sacrificed a beloved pet owl in order to cure Sybil of diphtheria). Rather, these are claims about some of the basic facts of her life.

It's startling to realize after you've read an autobiography that you aren't really sure of the full name of either of the writer's husbands, or the name of the school she claimed to attend. The entire book is very vague, and the sketchy autobiographical details serve only to link together several apologist mini-essays on such topics as ghost hunting, psychic healing, astrology, life among the New Forest gypsies, and various other topics near and dear to her heart. Her summation of each topic is woefully predictable, with no real insight into any of them.

Ms. Leek tells us that ghost hunting is difficult yet rewarding, psychic healing is exhausting and requires the target's cooperation for best results, astrology is accurate, and that life among the New Forest gypsies is more pure and peaceful than our modern ways of materialism. And, though these may have been startling revelations in the 1960's, they seem hackneyed and worn out today. One would hope that a life-long witch would have something more insightful to say.

And, what of witchcraft? This is after all a Diary of a Witch, so when it's all said and done, we should have learned something about witchcraft, no? Well, no. Though Ms. Leek professes her love of the “Old Religion,” and states over and over again that witchcraft is more than just casting spells and making potions, she never really tells us anything about her religious beliefs. “I believe in a Supreme Being” she tells us, but then neglects to tell us anything at all about it. I found this to be the most puzzling part of the book, a gaping void that is confusing and disappointing.

And sadly, her behavior doesn't reinforce the positive image of witches that modern practitioners like to espouse. Ms. Leek delights in her gypsy friends stealing both stud services for their horses and vegetables for their dinner, insinuating that doing so was okay, since the Gypsies never took more than they could use. She gleefully recounts horse selling scams that worked like charms. She confides to us in her piece about astrology that, “mostly people's lives are dull.” She tells us about finding a human thigh bone on a ghost hunt, and bringing it home for her son as a souvenir, since he has “a school boy's avid interest in collecting such oddities.” In a sudden reversal, she rails against New York psychics for charging for services, yet her earlier description of New Forest Gypsies who “built up a regular clientele,” traveling the countryside to tell fortunes held no criticism of the practice. In her astrology section, she tells us how “sexual aberrations...can be pinpointed” in order to identify homosexual tendencies. All in all, Ms. Leek doesn't seem to be the nicest person to know.

What of Mr. Crowley? Sybil makes several claims about him throughout the book. She states she knew him early in her childhood, and that he proclaimed her his successor. She even states she was with him near the end of his life. Crowley scholars have made it quite plain that not only is there no record of their meetings in any of Crowley's notes, but that the two were not even in the same country at the times of their supposed meetings.

Upon reflection, I have no idea if Ms. Leek was blatantly lying or had slipped into believing her own razzle-dazzle when she tells us things such as, “every Black Magick group had invited me to their 'festivities' offering to make me their 'Queen of Darkness'” or when she calls receiving six month's notice of the end of her lease and her landlord's refusal of renewal “persecution.” All I do know is that the book is not only a poor reflection of modern Witchcraft in any of its forms, but a telling picture of someone who seemed to be more interested in notoriety than the truth.