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Wicca: Gerald Gardner
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As practised by initiates in the lineage of Gerald Gardner, Wicca is a variety of witchcraft founded on religious and magical concepts. As such it is distinguished not only by its beliefs, but by its practice of magic, its ethical philosophy, initiatory system, organisational structure and secrecy. Some of these beliefs and practices have ... been adopted by others outside of this lineage, often termed Eclectic Wiccans, who generally discard the institutions of initiation, secrecy and hierarchy, and have more widely varying beliefs. Some Eclectic Wiccans neither perform magic nor identify as witches. Within traditional forms of Wicca there are three degrees of initiation. First degree is required to become a witch and gain membership of a coven; those who aspire to teach may eventually undergo second and third degree initiations, conferring the title of "High Priest" or "High Priestess" and allowing them to establish new covens.
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Wicca is a word formed from the writing of Gerald B. Gardner in the late forties when he published his first book. Wicca was the coven that initiated Gardner from which he took lessons and later developed his own methods of witchcraft from. He was English but lived most of his life in Asia. He brought witchcraft into the public eye with his fictional novel on medieval witchcraft followed by announcing that he was a witch in the fifties when he published other books. He later started a museum dedicated to witchcraft and then wrote several other books. His viewpoints are derived from older pagan practices of witchcraft.
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The origin of Wicca is hotly debated. Some believe that author Gerald Gardner invented Wicca. This is a half-truth. Wicca evolved from ancient Shamanism. It traveled through the ages, shaping and changing into classical Paganism. When Christianity gained power, Paganism was perverted into a fairytale of evil witches, imps, and satanic goats.
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Badly imitating an ancient religion of druidic tradition and magic, Wicca traces its roots as far back as 1954, when it was created on a whim by British entrepreneur and beaver-rights extremist Gerald Gardner. Gardner made the principles of the religion based on a commitment to excellence and service of the community; he believed that religion was about giving you what you wanted: friendly service, his secret family virgin sacrifice recipe (with seven spices), and well-kept places of worship.
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While slightly more credible than Scientologists, Wicca was founded by Gerald Gardner in the 1930's or 40's depending on who you ask. Despite Gardner's supposed magical powers he failed to so much as cure his own Asthma. It is ... amusing to note that his own wife never converted to Wicca and continued going to the local Anglican Church her entire life (though she's destined for hell for the crime of being an Anglican and not a Catholic).
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As practised by initiates in the lineage of Gerald Gardner, Wicca is a variety of witchcraft founded on religious and magical concepts. As such it is distinguished not only by its beliefs, but by its practice of magic, its ethical philosophy, initiatory system, organisational structure and secrecy.[6] Some of these beliefs and practices have ... been adopted by others outside of this lineage, often termed Eclectic Wiccans, who generally discard the institutions of initiation, secrecy and hierarchy, and have more widely varying beliefs. Some Eclectic Wiccans neither perform magic nor identify as witches. Within traditional forms of Wicca there are three degrees of initiation. First degree is required to become a witch and gain membership of a coven; those who aspire to teach may eventually undergo second and third degree initiations, conferring the title of "High Priest" or "High Priestess" and allowing them to establish new covens.[6] At initiation, some Wiccans adopt a craft name to symbolise their spiritual "rebirth", to act as a magical alter-ego, or simply to provide anonymity when appearing as a witch in public (see Acceptance of Wiccans below).
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Gerald Gardner