Chas S. Clifton

Chas S. Clifton (born 1951) is an American academic, author and historian who specialises in the fields of English studies and Pagan studies. Clifton currently holds a teaching position in English at Colorado State University-Pueblo, prior to which he taught at Pueblo Community College.

A practicing Pagan since the early 1970s, Clifton has written widely on the subject, in both a practical and an academic capacity, with a particular emphasis on the Pagan religion of Wicca. He has become a prominent figure in the field of Pagan studies, editing both the peer-reviewed academic journal The Pomegranate, and the Pagan Studies Series of academic books published by AltaMira Press. He also serves as co-chair of the American Academy of Religion's Pagan Studies Group.

Biography

Early life: 1951–1991 Clifton was born in 1951, and raised in the Anglican denomination of Christianity. The following year he joined a Witches' coven with "loose ties" to the 1734 Tradition alongside his partner Mary, and several years later they underwent a Pagan marriage ceremony. With Jones, he co-wrote a book titled Sacred Mask, Sacred Dance (1997), after which they had planned a sequel, The Castle and the Cave: Further Steps in Traditional Witchcraft,

In 2004, he published Her Hidden Children, making use of the mass of materials he had assembled over the years. It appeared as the first in the "Pagan Studies Series" published by AltaMira Press; first devised by an editor in the late 1990s, the series came to fruition under the co-editorship of Clifton and Wendy Griffin. Clifton took an early retirement when his departmental head left, believing that the future would not be conducive to his research.