As to the title The Old Sod...

It was partly because he really could be, in the British vernacular, an old sod. That is to say, an extremely awkward character; a bit of a bastard. However it is a term that can be used with admiration and very deep affection also, akin to Americans calling someone an old fart. Second, it also refers to sod as a clump of earth, and has allusions to the pioneering Earth Magic which underlay a lot of his inner work. Bill was aware of both of these usages and grudgingly accepted them. But it never seemed to enter his head that it also referred to his role as the founder of the Sangreal Sodality -the latter word meaning a confraternity of like- minded souls. And beneath these there is perhaps a fourth reason: by calling him this, we could keep him at a slight distance, and not get sucked into the sort of fawning that so often mars the art of biography. We owe the man and his magic a huge debt, and want to repay this as fully and honestly as we can, but we were not totally blinded by his light.

Did Bill have any dark secrets? Well he certainly looked into and possibly explored many dark and secret areas of the psyche, but that is the path of anyone hell-bent on the getting of wisdom. William G. Gray could be and was a mighty magician, but he was also human, with many of the prejudices of this class, age and locale. He lived in Cheltenham for gods sake! and that alone explains much.

Next, to get the current (and tedious) spiritual and political correctness out of the way, Was he sexist, homophobic or racist?

Sexist? No. Not at all. Although hardly what you might call a Ladies' Man, he could get on extremely well with women, and some -younger ones in particular -often found him immensely charming and loveable. Whatever his faults, none of the younger generation of women ever took him to task for being sexist, although his contemporaries might disagree.

Homophobic? No. We knew a number of gay people in common, who were involved in magical activities, and he never once took issue with their sexuality. In fact he didn't really understand gay issues much, and the only weak part of this classic Ladder of Lights is when he gives some absurd advice to gay men and lesbian women as to how they might 'get straight'.

Racist? Well, yes. No denying it. His use of the term 'Nigerian ' as a euphemism for the obvious became tiresome very quickly. Yes he was a racist -although he modified the term in his later years to 'racialist', and this is something that must be looked at in some detail. But right from the start it is worth bearing in mind that one of his most respectful and meaningful encounters in South Africa was with Credo Mutwa, the famous Zulu medicine man, author of lndaba my Children and My People. They got on famously, expressed mutual admiration, and he spoke of it later with great pride. So the issue is not that simple, and we shouldn't brand and reject him with the bald word 'racist' without looking at the whole issue. For various reasons - legal, moral, literary and magical - we decided that it wouldn't really be advisable to publish Bill's autobiography verbatim and turned the rest of it into a third person biography in which we could use the memories and comments of those who had known and worked with him. But as he wrote to Marcia Pickands, one of the inheritors of his Magic:

For gods sake don't make me out to be any kind of 'Master-Figure' with any kind of 'powers' or faculties other than those of human understanding. I have simply written what I have seen by the Inner Light afforded me. If this helps others well and good, and if it doesn't I'm sorry but it's all I've got. What I've written is for others to make their own way with and do a lot better than I possibly can. The more they can do with it the happier I'll be.

(29th July 1986]

Right then Bill, we won't make you out to be any kind of Master-Figure as you term it. But you did have talents that went a little further than everyday human understanding; you did have an enormous impact on a wide range of people, either directly or indirectly; you weren't quite as modest and self-effacing as the above quote might imply; and you could be so bloody difficult that we, who sort of idolised you, will let you have your say in all the important things relating to Magic, but also take this chance to make you listen. Just for once. Blast us to buggery if you want, but be aware that we've written according to the inner light that you sparked within us. We are determined to make that light grow. If readers can use it to find their own Holy Grails through the inspiration of your work and example, then we will be more than happy.

Alan Richardson © 2002