OWC summery

Boy Scout's Twin Brother or Ernest goes to Camp 
I'm writing this mainly, or partly for Holly of 4 Quarters Spiral Scouts. We had talked about this a couple times and I had wanted to find the information to back up my story. It is from page 161 in Triumph of the Moon by Ronald Hutton. Anyone who is interested in the cultural history of Paganism should read this book. Okay, here is the story of the Boy Scout's twin borther. 

Scene 1 (Year 1900- place the United States) 
Ernest Thompson was a Canadian who lived in the U.S. He didn't like the fact that so many kids were turning into juvenile deliquents. He believed that kids would turn out better if they were involved in self government, creative play, and were given rewards for positive behavior. In 1900 he started a camp that focused on these things and a love for nature and Indian lore. He lectured across the country on his ideas. He even went to England where in 1902 he met a war hero named Robert Baden-Powell. Powell liked a lot of Ernest's ideas and incorporated them into something he called the Boy Scouts. He acknowledged Ernest's roll as godfather of the movement and Ernest stayed involved for a number of years (1907-1915). 
Curtains close. 

Scene 2 (Place England, Year 1915) 
World War I has broken out. The Boy Scouts become increasingly patriotic, nationalistic and war like. Ernest, a pacifist, doesn't like this direction and breaks with Powell. He nevertheless stays in England. In 1916 a seond organization is formed. Ernest is on the Board. The founder is another Ernest, Ernest Westlake. The organization is called Order of Woodcraft Chivalry. It is a Pagan organization. Curtains close. 

Scene 3 (Flashback Tasmania 1909) 
Although Ernest Westlake was a Christian Quaker, during his tour of Tasmania his ideas begin to change. He begins to explore the old Gods. He especially is interested in Dionysus. When he returns to England he is a changed man. Curtain closes. End to flashback. 

Scene 4 (England 1920 New Forest) 
Westlake buys a mansion with a lot of land in the New Forest area called Sandy Balls. (I'm not making this up). He creates a camp out of it for his Order of Woodcraft Chivalry. He even creates an organization for adult camps that practice naturalism. Pan, Artemis, and Dionysus are the reigning trinity of Deity in both groups. Westlake even takes the title Jack in the Green for his nickname. (Cool nickname). Then one evening in 1922, , he is driving in a fairly new piece of technology, the car, and he crashes. He is killed. Curtain closes. 

Scene 5 (Sandy Balls, New Forest, England, the year 1923) 
Harry Bingham takes over the Woodcraft movement. He is even more a promotor of naturalism, ritual, and the old gods. Many Quakers join the movement because they feel Boy Scouts are too militaristic. This Christian influence creates conflict that goes on for ten years. There is a creative tension betwween Pagan ideas and more Christian ones. Yet the Pagan ideas remain.A journal called the Pine Cone is created, full of Pagan ideas. The symbol is Pan's staff called a thrysos. The gatherings at New Forest are called folkmoots. William Blake is read rather than the bible. Victor Neuberg, a friend of Crowley gets involved with the movement. A high point of Pagan culture within Woodcraft was the year 1928. People were being married in a new way called trothplighting, and being buried near where Westlake was buried in a barrow in the woods at Sandy Balls. Yet the Christian tension continues. Finally, Harry Byngam, who had changed his name to Dion in honor of Dionysus, resigns. The year is 1931. Close curtain. 

Final Scene (New Forest) 
Aubrey, Westlakes son takes over the camp and runs it for the next few years. In 1934 the Christian pressure becomes too great. He sells the mansion and land in New Forest. He moves on to less radical ideas. The Woodcraft organization dwindles in a much more restrained orthodoxy. In the meantime, the Boy Scouts continues to grow and in America takes on a much more Christian persona. Curtain closes. 

Postscript: 
What if Westlake had not been driving a bit too fast in his new car? What if he had lived? Would the folkmoot of New Forest be going still? His creation was the brother of the Boy Scouts and in many ways he is the grandfather of Spiral Scouts today. 

Postscript 2: It is interesting that all this took place in New Forest, long before Gardner did his thing. I wonder what Westlake and Woodcraft's influence on Mr. Gardner was? Could the godfather of the Boy Scouts also be the godfather of Modern Witchcraft?

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