MW Margaret Murray: What Science Calls Nature and Religion Calls God

An archeologist before there were any. The point of origin for the idea that witches gather in covens. The mother of all subsequent covens, in a way. The first woman to unwrap a mummy. Author of ''The Witch-Cult in Western Europe''. Criticized for her cognitive leaps, discredited for the way she pieced through sources choosing what resonated, and for the way that, over time, the ellipses in some of her quotes go missing. A Feminist who marched for the vote and ardently supported women scholars and archeologists out in the field. A witch who cursed a peer in front of witnesses and became president of the Folklore Society when she was in her 90s. A person of fierce connection to the past, who sketched into mainstream modern thought the idea that pre-christians had a system of worship and practice that was joyful, tied to a goddess, and deeply invested in the earth and animals...

This episode is dedicated to that smart as a whip, fairy godmother witch, tomb-whisperer and wildly prolific and problematic author, Margaret Alice Murray.

The Life of Margaret Alice Murray: A Woman's Work in Archaeology. Kathleen Sheppard, Lexington Books, Toronto, 2013.

The Witch Cult in Western Europe: A Study in Anthropology. Margaret Alice Murray, 1921.

Murray, M A (1963). The Genesis of Religion. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

https://www.britannica.com/place/Abydos-ancient-city-Egypt#ref83857

Palgrave Advances in Witchcraft Historiography

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/egypt/abydos/attractions/osireion/a/poi-sig/1574759/1330439

https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=KWYSAAAAQBAJ&pg=GBS.PA196

https://www.ancient-origins.net/history-famous-people/margaret-murray-mother-egyptology-grandmother-wicca-or-fairy-godmother-007832

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Murray#cite_note-FOOTNOTEWinick2015565-237

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/xye9yk/the-forgotten-egyptologist-and-first-wave-feminist-who-invented-wicca

https://www.ai-journal.com/articles/10.5334/ai.1608/

The Mistake of Dismissing Margaret Murray and the Origins of Wicca

http://www.ancient-wisdom.com/egyptabydoss.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mishnah

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gematria

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osiris#:~:text=The%20ritual%20reenactment%20of%20Osiris's,been%20drowned%20in%20the%20Nile

https://www.gaia.com/article/ancient-egypt-and-freemasonry

https://www.ai-journal.com/articles/10.5334/ai.1608/

https://english.alarabiya.net/en/features/2017/04/11/How-Egypt-was-Christian-before-the-birth-of-Christ

Word Made Number Made Building

https://muse.jhu.edu/article/591897

Missing Witches is a feminist history of magic podcast exploring the meeting place of spirituality, activism, and art practice. Join us for deeply researched, scripted histories and meditations on historical figures, uncovering what their stories teach us about modern witchcraft today. We feature interviews with real practitioners across diverse magical, pagan, occult, and spiritual traditions—digging into tarot, astrology, divination, herbalism, and our relationships with plant medicine and the more-than-human world.

Whether you are a science-loving feminist witch or someone longing for the re-enchantment of the world, you’ve found your people.

• Join our International Online Coven: Connect with an intentional community of modern witches at missingwitches.com.

• Subscribe & Support: Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify to help other seekers find us!

The Missing Witches coven is trans-inclusive, anti-racist, feminist, pro-science, anti-ableist, and full of AWE and LOVE.