Wicca Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Early development, 1936β1959=== It was during the 1930s that the first evidence appears for the practice of a neopagan 'Witchcraft' religion<ref name="WiccanRoots">{{cite book |title=Wiccan Roots: Gerald Gardner and the Modern Witchcraft Revival |first=Philip |last=Heselton |author-link=Philip Heselton |publisher=Capall Bann Pub. |location=Freshfields, Chieveley, [[Berkshire]] |date=November 2001 |isbn=1-86163-110-3 |oclc=46955899}} <br /> {{cite book |chapter=Why Does Aleister Crowley Still Matter? |title=Book of Lies: The Disinformation Guide to Magick and the Occult |publisher=Disinformation Books |location=New York |editor-first=Richard |editor-last=Metzger |first=Nevill |last=Drury |author-link=Nevill Drury |date=2003 |isbn=0-9713942-7-X |oclc=815051948}}</ref> (what would be recognisable now as Wicca) in England. It seems that several groups around the country, in such places as [[Norfolk]],<ref>{{cite book |title=Dancing With Witches |publisher=Robert Hale |location=London |first=Lois |last=Bourne |page=51 |date=1998 |isbn=0-7090-6223-0 |oclc=39117828}}</ref> [[Cheshire]]<ref>{{cite book |title=Gerald Gardner and the Cauldron of Inspiration |publisher=Capall Bann |location=Somerset |first=Philip |last=Heselton |page=254 |date=2003 |isbn=1-86163-164-2 |oclc=182799618}}</ref> and the [[New Forest]] had set themselves up after being inspired by Murray's writings about the "Witch-Cult". The history of Wicca starts with [[Gerald Gardner]] (the "Father of Wicca") in the mid-20th century. Gardner was a retired [[British people|British]] [[civil servant]] and amateur [[anthropologist]], with a broad familiarity in [[paganism]] and [[occultism]]. He claimed to have been [[initiation|initiated]] into a [[New Forest coven|witches' coven]] in [[New Forest District|New Forest]], [[Hampshire]], in the late 1930s. Intent on perpetuating this craft, Gardner founded the [[Bricket Wood coven]] with his wife Donna in the 1940s, after buying the [[Naturist]] Fiveacres Country Club.{{sfn|Hutton|1999|p=289}} Much of the coven's early membership was drawn from the club's members{{sfn|Valiente|1989|p=60}} and its meetings were held within the club grounds.{{sfn|Lamond|2004|pp=30-31}}{{sfn|Valiente|1989|p=56}} Many notable figures of early Wicca were direct initiates of this coven, including [[Edith Woodford-Grimes|Dafo]], [[Doreen Valiente]], [[Jack L. Bracelin|Jack Bracelin]], [[Frederic Lamond (Wiccan)|Frederic Lamond]], [[Dayonis]], [[Eleanor Bone]], and [[Lois Bourne]]. The Witchcraft religion began to grow in 1951, with the repeal of the [[Witchcraft Act 1735]], after which [[Gerald Gardner]] and then others such as [[Charles Cardell]] and [[Cecil Williamson]] began publicising their own versions of the Craft. Gardner and others never used the term "Wicca" as a religious identifier, simply referring to the "witch cult", "witchcraft", and the "Old Religion". However, Gardner did refer to witches as "the Wica".<ref name="WitchcraftToday">{{cite book |last=Gardner |first=Gerald B |author-link=Gerald Gardner |title=Witchcraft Today |publisher=Mercury Publishing |location=Lake Toxaway, NC |year=1999 |orig-year=1954 |oclc=44936549 |isbn=0-8065-2593-2}}</ref> During the 1960s, the name of the religion normalised to "Wicca".{{sfn|Hutton|1999|p=vii}} Gardner's tradition, later termed [[Gardnerian Wicca|Gardnerianism]], soon became the dominant form in [[England]] and spread to other parts of the [[British Isles]]. Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page