Please note that the paragraphs below were written several years ago, and much has happened since this was written. For an update, please go to http://www.angelfire.com/wa/georgian, or write to Moondancer at moondancer_wa@hotmail.com.
The Georgian Tradition was founded in Bakersfield, CA on December 26, 1971 by George E. "Pat" Patterson III (deceased) and two others, known craftwise as Lady Persephone and Tanith. These three were the HP, HPS and Maiden of the original coven (the Persephone Coven). The Georgians drew on published Gardnerian, Alexandrian and other traditional material, including input from "the Sylvestrians" in England, The New York/Brooklyn branch of the Welsh Tradition (Ed Buczynski & Herman Slater, both deceased) and Gwen Thompson of the "New England Covens of Traditionalist Witches." Gwen often stated that she had given the tradition it's name, citing the Gardnerian and Alexandrian lines as precedent, though others also make that claim.
Patterson expanded the core training material derived from Ed Fitch's "Grimoire of the Shadows" with material contributed by others as well as his own original writings. While the core sabbat and initiatory material remained close to that of the published Gardnerian & Alexandrian traditions, there was a vast influx of material written for the tradition by its members, which took on a more than slight eclecticism. One of Pat's main sayings was "If it works, it's valid: use it. If it doesn't work, get rid of it and find something that does." Much of the early training material had to do with "un-brainwashing" yourself; getting rid of the mental tapes that play which tell you that there isn't any such thing as magick, that it's all bunk, etc. Another large part of it was learning to take responsibility for your actions, which is actually what those "Eight Words" of "the Rede" are all about. That having been said, most Georgians would probably fell at home in an Alexandrian circle, nonetheless.
By 1973, there were Georgian covens throughout California, mostly in the Southern California area, Texas, Oklahoma, New York, Florida, and elsewhere in the United States. In order to keep up with the far-flung tradition, a newsletter was begun in 1974. This chatty and informative newsletter only missed one issue during the time that Pat was in charge of it, in spite of his 24-hour on-call job, and later in spite of the cancer which ultimately claimed his life. Following Pat's death in 1984, the main branch of the tradition was led by dean & Lady Fauna; they attempted to continue the newsletter, but it ultimately ceased publication as a monthly, and went first to an annual, then infrequent publication. As of 1997, I'm not sure if it is still being published in any form.
The "Georgian Mountain Meet" was one of the first Pagan festivals in the country, it started in 1974 as a weekend campout, and at the height of its popularity, there were upwards of 100 people attending. It still continues, though on a much reduced scale, having missed only 2 years in its history, and both of them due to fire hazard.
Dean died some years ago, and Lady Fauna largely withdrew from any public activity prior to that.
There is a strong Georgian-oriented community still in the Bakersfield area; email contact can be made to that community by writing to terrycheez@juno.com or to moondancer_wa@hotmail.com. There is also still a Georgian presence in other areas, such as Oklahoma, Colorado and Florida, though much of the networking between the various groups ended with the cessation of the newsletter.
While I myself no longer work in the Georgian line, I still remember with fondness a lot of the people I met through it.
Bright blessings,
Herb