Skelton, Robin
Robin Skelton (1925–1997) was a Poet, author, professor and prominent Pagan in British Columbia, Canada. Robin Skelton also was known for his ghost investigations.
Skelton was born in 1925 in Easington, Yorkshire, England. His father, Cyril Skelton, was the headmaster of the village school. robin was educated at Leeds University and Cambridge University. During World War II, he served in the royal Air Force in India and Ceylon. Upon his return to England, he took a teaching position at Manchester University. There he founded the Peterloo group of artists and the Manchester Institute of Contemporary Arts.
In 1963, he emigrated to British Columbia and joined the English department of the University of Victoria. He was appointed professor in 1966. He founded and directed a creative writing program that became popular with poets. In 1967, he founded, with John Peter, The Malahat Review, now one of Canada’s major literary journals.
Skelton was drawn to Paganism and used Pagan imagery in his own writing and poetry. He sometimes wrote under the pseudonym of a “French poet” Georges Zuk.
His involvement as an elder in Paganism earned him the title “Canada’s merlin.” He died in 1997.
Skelton wrote more than 100 books during his career, among them books on Paganism, Magic, spells, Witchcraft and ghosts. Some of his titles are The Practice of Witchcraft Today: An Introduction to Beliefs and Rituals of the Old Religion (d.n.); A Gathering of Ghosts: Haunting and Exorcisms from the Personal Casebook of Robin Skelton and Jean Kozocari (1989); The Practice of Witchcraft (1990); Earth, Air, Fire, Water: Pre-Christian and Pagan Elements in British Songs, Rhymes and Ballads (1991); The Magical Practice of Talismans (1993); Spellcraft: A Handbook of Invocations, Blessings, Protections, Healing Spells (1995); and The Practice of Witchcraft Today: An Introduction to Beliefs and Rituals (1995).
SOURCE:
The Encyclopedia of Witches, Witchcraft and Wicca – written by Rosemary Ellen Guiley – Copyright © 1989, 1999, 2008 by Visionary Living, Inc.
