Museum Feature: Buckland Museum of Witchcraft and Magick
Hello again, friends. Greetings as we return to another week of The Occult Library blog. We wish an auspicious day to all today, as many of our readers will no doubt fall within the path of the total solar eclipse which will arrive shortly after the publication of this post.
Recently, we detailed a few aspects of our Museums page within the Community section. In that blog post, we expressed hope that this page will prompt both locals and travelers to consider visiting these museums in person to explore and engage their offerings.
These spaces – great halls of heritage for the occult community – offer so much more than mere collections. They resist fossilization and, in fact, serve both as living links to both the historical past and the potentials of the present and future expressions of the community.
With this in mind, we felt that it would be wonderful to feature one of these museums, and take a journey through some of its artifacts courtesy of an Occult Library staff member who was lucky to visit this past year.
We are speaking of the Buckland Museum of Witchcraft & Magic in Cleveland, Ohio, United States.
One of the many unique designs of the Buckland Museum.
The Buckland Museum is a unique space within the entire United States: it represents perhaps the most earnest and serious witchcraft collection in the country. The museum’s history and provenance are fascinating, and the namesake of the organization will no doubt be familiar to many.
The museum was founder by Wicca pioneer Raymond Buckland in 1966. The Buckland Museum notes that Raymond Buckland’s museum & collections work was inspired by a personal visitation to Wicca forefather Gerald Gardener on the Isle of Man during the 1960s.
The museum subsequently found a home with Buckland in Long Island, New York. Yet, according to the Buckland Museum:
”…Raymond’s witchcraft collection rapidly grew to well over 500 artifacts, ranging from Ancient Egyptian ushabtis to documented artifacts from the Salem Witch trials. This was the first museum of its kind in the United States with an anthropological approach to the world of folklore and the supernatural.”
As such, the museum later relocated to New Hampshire, Virginia, and New Orleans, before its current establishment in Cleveland.
With the provenance of the collection in mind, it is no surprise that a large number of Gardnerian, Wiccan, and British artifacts are contained within. However, this collection belies the breadth and diversity of contemporary art, rotating collections, adjacent materials, and permanent fixtures which the museum contains.
The museum also publishes a quarterly zine for its members entitled The Circlet. Within the museum gift shop, a small book sale offers works from folks like Scarlet Imprint, Three Hands Press, Fiddler’s Green Zine, Hellebore, and many others.
In August 2023, one of The Occult Library’s own staff librarians travelled to Cleveland for a trip to the Buckland Museum. We are excited to feature some photos from that trip, images which highlight the special nature of this collection.
One exhibit, entitled Six-Six-Sixties, features imagery and materials detailing with magickal aspects of the counterculture of the 1960’s. On the wall above the exhibit, a large goat’s head bears a neon sign which reads “Live Deliciously” — a nod to the Robert Eggers 2015 A24 film The VVitch.
Buckland Museum Six-Six-Sixties collection/exhibit. Numerous countercultural posters, art, games, and icons can be found.
In another space in the building, a formidable & permanent collection of historical pagan & witchcraft zines & publications. Older — and often highly sought after — editions like Mythos, Circle, and Earth Religion News find a home in a case which can be seen below.
Historical pagan & witchcraft zines and independent publications on display at the Buckland.
Contemporary artists working and creating within the occult community are also found at the museum.
Folks like Rik Garrett and Johnny Decker Miller both have contemporary pieces on display. An original Rik Garret print from his 2014, Fulgur Press-published work Earth Magic can be discovered. Not to mention, a mystical vision of afro-futurist jazz musician Sun Ra created for Johnny Decker Miller’s 2020 Black Mystics & Occultists series.
An original Rik Garret print from his 2014, Fulgur Press-published work Earth Magic .
Sun Ra, created for Johnny Decker Miller’s 2020 Black Mystics & Occultists series.
Visitors to the museum will also be delighted to take a photo within the Circle of Arte itself, particularly in the guise of a magic circle on the floor of the museum. The circle was created by New York based artist, author, New York University professor, and scholar Jesse Bransford.
Jesse Bransford’s magic circle adorning the floor of the Buckland Museum.
Still, one of the most potent pieces in the collection can be found in the guise of a 5-subject, spiral bound notebook. It is the original, notated and drafted manuscript for Raymond Buckland’s work, Buckland’s Complete Book of Witchcraft — a seminal work on magic & witchcraft know colloquially to many as the “Big Blue Book.”
The original, 5 subject, spiral-bound notebook which later emerged as Buckland’s Complete Book of Witchcraft.
The manuscript represents the authenticity and inspired roots of the Buckland museum, and helps to signify how magickal projects often begin in small, highly personal ways — much like the early development of the museum collection itself.
In all, the Buckland Museum is an eminently unique space in which traditions and cultures of magick and witchcraft, particularly those of the 20th Century, commingle and tell a cohesive story. The museum reflects a serious approach to witchcraft, one which is situated in an connective trajectory — ever-conscious of its roots.
Prospective visitors to the Buckland Museum of Witchcraft & Magick can find information at the link below:
The Occult Library is grateful for the role museums play in the occult community, and we hope this value emerges for you also — particularly in the guise of a visit to your nearerst institution.
Happy explorations and best wishes,
— The Occult Library staff