Eddie Buczynski

Edmund "Eddie" Buczynski was born on January 28, 1947 and died on March 16, 1989.

He was an American Wiccan and archaeologist. He founded two distinct traditions of Wicca:

The Welsh Traditionalist Witchcraft and the Minoan Brotherhood.

He developed the New-York Wica Tradition which is an offshoot of Gardnerian Wicca, of the Old Kentchuky lineage.

Born into a working class family in New York City, Buczynski originally planned to become a Catholic priest before giving up when he discovered he was gay and moved to Greenwich Village.

Becoming friends with Leo Martello, Leo introduced him to Wiccan spirituality and introduced him to Herman Slater, with whom he had a romantic relationship.

Together they opened an esoteric store, "The Warlock Shop". Initially started in Gwen Thompson's New Haven coven, which was an offshoot of the New England Covens of Traditionalist Witches (NECTW).

He had attained the rank of High Priest before leaving that coven to found his own tradition, Welsh Traditional Witchcraft in 1972.

Although the tradition was successful and spread quite quickly, Buczynski decided to be initiated into the original Gardnerian Wicca, where he was launched in 1973.

In 1977, he founded the Minoan Brotherhood, a witch tradition for gay and bisexual men based on ancient Minoan practices.

Academically, he studied to become an archaeologist. He received his Bachelor's degree from Hunter College, followed by a Master's degree from Bryn Mawr College from 1985 to 1988.

Buczynski was diagnosed with HIV (AIDS) in 1988 and died of an infection the following year.