Scott Douglas Cunningham (June 27, 1956 – March 28, 1993) was an American writer. Cunningham is the author of several books on Wicca and various other alternative religious subjects.
His work Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner, is one of the most successful books on Wicca ever published;[1] he was a friend of notable occultists and Wiccans such as Raymond Buckland, and was a member of the Serpent Stone Family, and received his Third Degree Initiation as a member of that coven.[citation needed]
Scott Cunningham was born at the William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan, USA, the second son of prolific author Chester Grant "Chet" Cunningham[2] and Rose Marie Wilhoit Cunningham.[3] The family moved to San Diego, California in the fall of 1959 due to Rose Marie's health problems. The doctors in Royal Oak declared the mild climate in San Diego ideal for her. Outside of many trips to Hawaii, Cunningham lived in San Diego all his life.
Cunningham had one older brother, Greg, and a younger sister, Christine. Scott was openly gay for much of his life.
He studied creative writing at San Diego State University, where he enrolled in 1978. After two years in the program, however, he had more published works than several of his professors and dropped out of the university to write full-time. In the early 1980s Cunningham wrote "more than a dozen novels in various genres from adventure to horror",[4] using pseudonyms, such as "Cathy Cunningham" or "Dirk Fletcher", for his novels.[5] During this period he had as a roommate, magical writer Donald Michael Kraig and often socialized with Neopagan witchcraft writer Raymond Buckland, who was also living in San Diego at the time.
In 1980, Cunningham began initiate training under Raven Grimassi and remained as a first-degree initiate until 1982 when he left the tradition to pursue a solo practice of witchcraft.[6]
In 1983, Scott Cunningham was diagnosed with lymphoma, which he successfully overcame. In 1990, while on a speaking tour in Massachusetts, he suddenly fell ill and was diagnosed with AIDS-related[7]cryptococcal meningitis. He suffered from several infections and died in March 1993. He was 36.[3]
1999 – Dreaming the Divine: Techniques for Sacred Sleep (ISBN1-56718-192-9)
2009 – Cunningham's Book of Shadows: The Path of An American Traditionalist (ISBN0-73871-914-5) – A rediscovered manuscript written by Cunningham in the late 1970s or early 1980s.
1982 — "Dirk Fletcher", High Plains Temptress [SPUR #1] (ISBN0-8439-1123-9) [p. 4: "Copyright 1982 by Scott Cunningham"][8]
1987 — "Dirk Fletcher", San Diego Sirens [SPUR #23] (ISBN0-8439-2519-1) [p. 5: "Special thanks to Scott Cunningham for his contribution to this book"][9]
1990 — "Dirk Fletcher", The Miner's Moll [SPUR #32] (ISBN0-8439-2992-8) [p. 4: "Special thanks to Scott Cunningham for his contribution to this book"; "Copyright 1990 by Chet Cunningham"][10]
Several of Scott's books include black and white drawings and (in some editions) cover art by the Wiccan artist Robin Wood. Among these books are Magical Herbalism, Earth Power, and Earth, Air, Fire, Water.
Never Say Macbeth, a 2007 film, is based around a group of actors who battle the curse of Macbeth by using Scott's book, Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner. This film was released on DVD by Vanguard Cinema in August 2008.[11]
^"His books on Wicca led to a steady rise in his popularity, and he soon became one of the best-read Wiccan writers of his time. Sales of his most popular book, Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner (Llewellyn, 1988), reached over 400,000 copies by the year 2000" http://www.controverscial.com/Scott%20Cunningham.htm
^ abHarrington, David; Regula, DeTraci (1996). Whispers of the moon : the life and work of Scott Cunningham, philosopher-magician, modern-day Pagan. St. Paul, Minn., U.S.A.: Llewellyn Publications. ISBN1567185592. OCLC33439826.
^J. Gordon Melton, ed., Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology, 5th ed (Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2002), vol. 1, p. 369.
^Donald Michael Kraig, The Magical Life of Scott Cunningham (Llewellyn Worldwide, 2012) [ebook].
