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This particular Mesopagan Wicca tradition
was founded by a charismatic man called Barney Taylor, also known
as "Fr. Eli" and "Grandmaster Eli," back
in the 1970s, by mixing Mormonism, Naturopathy, UFOlogy, Wicca,
Rosicrucianism, Scientology, and possibly a bit of Mesopagan
Druidry (as a reading of his awful Book of Wisdom makes
clear). He was fond of discussing the Order of Melchesidek, a
phrase taken from the Bible. Both the Catholic Church and the
Mormons use this phrase for their priesthoods, implying continuity
with the original Jewish priesthood of that name. However, he
might have gotten it from [Iolo Morganwyg's] Barddas,
which explains a reference in Pliny's writings to Gaulish druids
doing a sacrifice that involved bread and wine thusly:
This seems to have come down from Patriarchal
times--from Melchizedec, who "brought forth bread and wine,"
type of the Blessed Eucharist, that "pure offering"
which was to take place under the Gospel; and though nothing
is positively said of such a rite as existing in the Bardism
of the Cymry [Welsh], it is likely enough that it was practiced.
Or maybe Pliny was just referring to a common
custom of Mediterranean Paleopagans, that the Gauls might have
easily picked up from the Greek colonies on their coastline.
As I mentioned, Rev. Williams [iolo] was anxious to prove that
the ancient Welsh druids had been patriarchal monotheists.
Taylor has been described by some former students
as engaging in extreme exploitation of them. Like Janette
Copeland, he was also investigated by local police in connection
with the mysterious death of a child belonging to a member. Regardless
of his character or lack of it (and he certainly was a character
by all accounts), thirty years later his followers are just another
Wiccan tradition, probably no better or worse than many others.
Their scholarship isn't very good, still being influenced by
Fr. Eli's vivid imagination. They are, in any event, unlike any
kind of druid that we have seen in this book so far. There is
a website for at least some of his followers at www.thedcw.org,
which will provide you more information if you are curious.
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