Leek, Sybil

Sybil Leek: Britain’s Number One Witch

Sybil Leek (1923–1983) was an English witch and astrologer who moved to America in the 1960s and gained fame by publicising the renaissance of witchcraft in the Western world. Her trademarks were a dramatic cape, loose gowns, and a jackdaw named Mr. Hotfoot Jackson, who famously perched on her shoulder. She always wore a crystal necklace, which she said had been passed down to her by her psychic Russian grandmother.

Leek claimed to be a hereditary witch and also said that she had been trained by Aleister Crowley. It is likely that much of her witch biography was embellished, partly to create publicity and strengthen her public image. Even so, she became one of the most recognisable figures in modern witchcraft and helped bring the Craft into public conversation at a time when it was still deeply misunderstood.

Hereditary Witchcraft and Family Claims

Leek was born in the Midlands in England. According to her own account, her family came from a long line of hereditary witches. On her mother’s side, she claimed that her roots in the Old Religion could be traced back to 1134 in southern Ireland. On her father’s side, she said her family descended from occultists close to the royalty of Tsarist Russia.

Leek also said that psychic ability ran through all members of her family. Her mother had red-gold hair, a colour traditionally associated in folklore with witches. Her most famous ancestor, according to Leek, was an English witch named Molly Leigh, who died in 1663.

Leek said that Molly Leigh had been buried at the very edge of the local church graveyard. Some time after her death, the vicar and others allegedly went to open Leigh’s cottage and were shocked to see Leigh, or her apparition, sitting in a chair with her jackdaw perched on her shoulder. According to the story, the vicar and his company reopened her grave, drove a stake through her heart, threw the living jackdaw into the coffin, and reburied it.

Childhood, Education and Aleister Crowley

Leek, who claimed an IQ of 164, said she was taught at home by her grandmother until local officials required her to attend school at the age of 12. She stayed in school for four years and left at 16.

She was nine years old when she said she first met Aleister Crowley, who was supposedly a frequent visitor to her household. Leek claimed that Crowley would take her out climbing among the rocks and recite his poetry to her, encouraging her to write poetry of her own. She also said that he gave her instruction in the importance of words of power and the power of sound.

According to Leek, Crowley told her grandmother that the young Sybil would one day pick up where he would leave off in occultism. The last time she claimed to have seen him was in 1947, shortly before his death. However, Crowley left no records indicating that he was acquainted with Leek or her family.

Marriage, Initiation and the Craft

When Leek was 15, she met a well-known pianist-conductor who was 24 years older than she was. She fell in love, and they married shortly after her 16th birthday. Together they travelled throughout England and Europe. He died when Leek was 18, and she returned home.

Leek said she was initiated into the Craft in southern France, in the Gorge du Loup, in the hills above Nice, an area once populated by Cathars during the Middle Ages. According to Leek, her initiation was intended to replace an elderly Russian aunt who had been high priestess of a coven and had died.

After returning to England, Leek went to live in Burley, a village in the heart of the New Forest. She lived among Gypsies and joined the Horsa coven, which claimed to have existed for 700 years. Leek eventually became its high priestess. She also successfully ran three antique shops.

At some point, she married a man named Brian and had two sons, Stephen and Julian, who, she said, inherited the family’s psychic gifts.

The Vision in the New Forest

In the 1950s, Leek experienced a mystical vision while walking alone in the New Forest one spring day. She said she became enveloped in a bright blue light that filled her with an extraordinary sense of peace. In that moment, she realised that her purpose in life was to become an evangelist for the Old Religion.

It was not until 1962 that Leek began to promote herself publicly as a hereditary witch and coven leader. By 1963, the press had begun to pay attention.

Rise to Fame in Britain

The death of Gerald B. Gardner in February 1964 created a vacuum for prominent witchcraft personalities. Gardner had loved the media limelight, and after his death Leek stepped forward. She announced the founding of the Witchcraft Research Association, or WRA, with herself as president.

Leek received further media attention in 1964 when she challenged the academic Russell Hope Robbins, who had written an encyclopedia on witchcraft and was lecturing against Margaret Murray’s claims that witchcraft was an ancient religion passed down through generations. Leek attended at least one of Robbins’ lectures and verbally sparred with him, while her jackdaw gave hoots from her shoulder.

The media loved it and dubbed Sybil Leek “Britain’s Number One Witch.”

Publicity, Controversy and Leaving the New Forest

The publicity brought tourists and more media attention to Leek’s village. However, it also brought problems. Business at her antique shop declined as autograph seekers appeared, and her landlord refused to renew her lease unless she publicly denounced witchcraft. Leek refused, closed the shop, and left the New Forest. Her career as a public witch in Britain effectively came to an end in 1964.

During 1963 and 1964, several churches in Britain were victims of ritualised vandalism, including a Sussex church not far from Leek’s home. Leek claimed that the symbols defacing the church were directed at her and that the attack had been led by a black magician whom she had once healed of illness. Although she condemned the vandalism, the association she made between herself, witchcraft, and black magic cost her supporters.

In July 1964, she was forced to resign from the Witchcraft Research Association.

Life in America

Leek moved to the United States. She first lived in New York, but found the city depressing and especially gloomy during the winter. She later moved to Los Angeles, where she became acquainted with Israel Regardie, Aleister Crowley’s former secretary.

In her later years, Leek divided her time between Houston and Florida. She worked as an astrologer and became editor and publisher of her own astrological journal.

Diary of a Witch and Public Recognition

In 1968, Leek’s first book, Diary of a Witch, was published. The book described what it was like to be a “modern woman” practising witchcraft, and it created an enormous public response. Leek began making frequent appearances on the media circuit.

Her success was mixed. Some interviewers expected her to reinforce the old stereotypes of witches as evil hags, and Leek said one of her greatest trials was learning patience and tolerance when dealing with such situations.

In total, Sybil Leek wrote more than 60 books, as well as an internationally syndicated column. She liked to say that she never “preached” witchcraft, but sought only to explain the holistic philosophy of the religion and show how it differed from Satanism.

She did not approve of nudity in rituals, known as skyclad practice, nor did she approve of drugs. She did, however, believe in cursing, which set her apart from many other witches.

Reincarnation and Helena Blavatsky

Leek wrote and spoke extensively about reincarnation. She said she was guided by the spirit of Madame Helena P. Blavatsky, co-founder of the Theosophical Society.

One night, while standing at a lectern to give a talk on psychic phenomena to an audience of the Theosophical Society in St. Louis, Leek said she was overcome by a shining light. In that light, she saw the face of an elderly woman. The light seemed to penetrate into her. She began her talk, but it was no longer the speech she had prepared. Instead, she spoke on reincarnation.

Leek later said she had no awareness of what she was saying. Afterwards, she saw a photograph of Blavatsky and recognised her as the woman in her vision. For the rest of her life, Leek believed that Blavatsky had become part of her, using her as an instrument to finish her own work and educate others about reincarnation.

Animals, Later Years and Death

Sybil Leek had a particular fondness for snakes and birds. Her jackdaw, Mr. Hotfoot Jackson, accompanied her to all coven meetings until his death in 1969. She also kept a pet boa constrictor named Miss Sashima.

Leek suffered from illness in her final years and died in Melbourne, Florida, in 1983.

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