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The Anderson Craft Tradition is an initiatory
form of Witchcraft.
This means that initiation is required for
full participation in the tradition. Furthermore, initiation
and training are available only through existing initiates.
The tradition is sometimes referred to as
"Anderson Feri":
In the 1970s the Andersons wrote of their Craft as a "Fairy"
or Pictish Tradition. At some point in the
1990s, they began using the spelling "Feri" to differentiate
their tradition from unrelated groups using similar terms
(Faery Wicca, Radical Faeries, R. J. Stewart, et cetera).
The Andersons also taught that "fe"
means "to be psychic and the science of doing magic,"
and "ri" means "a specialist." Thus, "Feri"
denotes someone who specializes in psychic skills and doing
magic.
The Andersons often referred to their tradition
simply as "the Craft." Mandorla has stopped using
the term Feri in order to avoid confusion with other groups.
The modern roots of the Anderson Craft Tradition stretch
back to several sources.
These include a coven of pre-Gardnerian Witches active in
southern Oregon in the 1930s, a group of Haitian migrant workers
practicing Vodou in southern Oregon around the same time,
and a form of hereditary Southern folk magic dating back to
the late 1800s. Elements of Hawaiian and Native American lore
were also present at an early date. Other material has been
added to this matrix over time, but there remains a core unique
to Feri.
Although Victor and Cora Anderson are acknowledged as the
modern founders of their tradition, they considered it a survival
of Stone Age religion.
Victor drew no distinction between his tradition and the
earliest forms of human magic. According to him, Witchcraft
was born when humans stepped past the neighborhood of the
known into the world of the unknown. This ability to step
into the unknown is a birthright all humans possess but few
attempt to use.
The Anderson Craft Tradition is universalist in nature.
Victor Anderson considered Witchcraft a universal religion
arising out of the very nature of humanity and the cosmos.
He had a very clear idea of the underlying structure that
his teachings speak to. This was sometimes confusing to people,
as when Victor pointed out the book Kali: the Feminine
Force as being about Feri. Because Victor saw the Craft
as universal, he saw it popping up everywhere—from other
religions to quantum physics. The Andersons' Craft
is both very simple and utterly vast in scope.
More information on the Anderson Craft Tradition is available
in Cora Anderson's book, Fifty
Years in the Feri Tradition.
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