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Wicca: Gerald Gardner
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The history of Wicca is a much debated topic. Gardner claimed that the religion was a survival of matriarchal religions of pre-historic Europe (see Völva), taught to him by a woman named Dorothy Clutterbuck. Many believe he invented it himself, following the thesis of Dr. Margaret Murray and sources such as Aradia: Gospel of the Witches by Charles Godfrey Leland, and the practices of Freemasonry and ceremonial magic; and while Clutterbuck certainly existed, historian Ronald Hutton concluded that she is unlikely to have been involved in Gardner's Craft activities. While the ritual format of Wicca is undeniably styled after late Victorian era occultism, the spiritual content is inspired by older Pagan faiths, with Buddhist and Hindu influences. Whether any historical connection to Pagan religion exists, the aspiration to emulate Pagan religion (as it was understood at the time) certainly does.
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Gardnerian Wicca was an initiatory mystery religion, admission to which was limited to those who were initiated into a pre-existing coven. Wicca was introduced to North America by Raymond Buckland, an expatriate Briton who visited Gardner's Isle of Man coven to gain initiation. Interest in the USA spread quickly, and while many were initiated, many more non-initiates compiled their own rituals based on published sources or their own fancy.[39]
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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 religious beliefs, but by its practise of magic and its ethical philosophy, initiatory system, organisational structure and secrecy.[4] 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, strict secrecy and organisational heirarchy, and tend to have more widely varying beliefs. Some Eclectic Wiccans neither perform magic nor identify as witches. Wiccans generally will not proselytise, and initiatory groups may even deny membership to some individuals, since an initiate is considered to be a priest or priestess and is expected to develop the skills and responsibility that entails.[4]
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Wicca is a religion. It is believed to be based upon pre-Christian traditions of much of the UK, but a lot of it was created in the 1940s by a man named Gerald Gardner. The word "wicca" means "magician" in Old English, and comes from another word meaning "smart."
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It is interesting that in this quote, Gardner spells Wicca with only one "c"; in the earlier "Witchcraft Today" (1954) and "High Magic's Aid" (1949), the word Wicca is not even used. His own derivation for the word, given in "The Meaning of Witchcraft", is as follows:
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Wicca is a Neopagan religion founded by the British civil servant Gerald Gardner in the 1930s. Gardner claimed that the religion was a survival of matriarchal religions of pre-historic Europe, taught to him by an old woman called Dorothy Clutterbuck; many ... believe he invented it himself, drawing on such sources as Aradia, Freemasonry and ceremonial magic.
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Gerald Gardner