“Modern Era” for these purposes includes witch and occult figures from the 19th and early 20th Century, including the early influences on modern Wicca: Joan

Merlin is best known as the wizard or warlock of Arthurian legend, who served as King Arthur’s adviser, prophet and magician. There are so many

The Medieval, Renaissance and Early Modern periods are perhaps the periods most immediately associated with witchcraft and witches, mainly due to the well-documented witch trials

Medea is a witch in Greek mythology, who figured prominently in the myth of Jason and the Argonauts and several other stories from the period.

Simon Magus (also known as Simon the Sorcerer and Simon of Gitta) is the name used by early Christian writers to refer to a Biblical

Eliphas Lévi was a 19th Century French occult author and magician. His writing on magic inspired many later occultists, and Lévi is remembered as one

Charles Godfrey Leland was an American writer, traveller and folklorist, who, in 1899, produced the book “Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches”, which was

Sybil Leek was an English witch, astrologer, psychic and occult author who wrote more than 60 books on occult and esoteric subjects. Dubbed “Britain’s most

Anton Szandor LaVey was the American founder and High Priest of the Church of Satan, which espoused a religious philosophy championing Satan as the symbol

Marie Laveau was a Louisiana Creole practitioner of Voudou (or Voodoo) in New Orleans. Shrouded in mystery, she has become over time the archetypal image

The case of Dame Alice Kyteler was one of the first European witchcraft trials and the first recorded claim of a witch having intercourse with

Edward Kelley (or Kelly, also known as Edward Talbot) was a convicted criminal and self-declared spirit medium in Renaissance England, who worked with John Dee

Janet Farrar is a British Wicca priestess and teacher, and co-author (with her two husbands, Stewart Farrar and Gavin Bone) of several influential books on

In Germanic and Scandinavian folklore, Frau Holda (or Holde or Holle or Hulda or Huldra) is the supernatural matron of spinning, childbirth and domestic animals,

Originally a goddess of the wilderness and childbirth among early Greek and Egyptian civilizations, Hecate (or Hekate or Hekat) achieved her connotations as a goddess

Walpurga Hausmännin was an Austrian midwife executed for witchcraft, vampirism and child murder in 1587. The graphic and sensational confession she made under torture exemplifies

Raven Grimassi is the Italian-American author of over a dozen books on Neopaganism and witchcraft. He is perhaps best known for his popularization of Stregheria,

Isobel Gowdie, the renowned “Queen of Scottish Witches”, was a young Scottish housewife who was tried for witchcraft in 1662. Her detailed confession, apparently achieved

Gavin Bone is an author and lecturer in the fields of magic, witchcraft, Wicca and Neopaganism, and an organizer in the Neopagan community. He has

Gerald Brousseau Gardner was an English civil servant, amateur anthropologist, writer and occultist. He was instrumental in founding Wicca and Neopaganism, published some of its

Dion Fortune was a British psychiatrist, occultist and author. She developed her own magical and hermetic tradition, which she approached from the psychological perspectives of

The Witch of Endor (also known as the Medium of Endor) was a woman, as reported in Samuel I of the Old Testament of the

Eleanor “Ray” Bone, sometimes known as the “Matriarch of British Witchcraft”, was an influential figure in modern witchcraft, and played an important part in the

Moll Dyer was a legendary 17th Century resident of Leonardtown in St. Mary’s County, Maryland, who was accused of witchcraft and chased out of her

John Dee was a noted English mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, occultist and consultant to Queen Elizabeth I. Although not a witch as such, he devoted