Church and School of Wicca
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The Church and School of Wicca was founded by Gavin Frost and Yvonne Frost in 1968. It is well known for its correspondence courses on the Frosts' interpretation of Wicca. Its founders played a heavy role in gaining federal recognition of Witchcraft as a religion in 1972, making it the first federally recognized Church of Wicca in the United States, and winning an appeals court case in 1985 stating that Wicca, as a religion equal to any other, could have churches that did not have to share their expenses with the IRS. Both these cases brought The Church and School of Wicca into the national spotlight. It has also chartered several other churches and groups.
In the early years of the Church, ordination to individuals and sometimes even charters to churches had at times been offered solely on the basis of the Church's correspondence courses. However, due to a few incidences of fraudualent use of Church credentials, misconduct by these individuals, and/or the use of course material to defame the Church and the religion of Wicca, and public controversy about these cases, this practice has been abandoned as of 1976 and, in some cases, charters have been revoked.
The Church and School are located in Hinton, West Virginia. The School's ciricullum includes classes on a variety of subjects associated both with Wicca as a religion and with occult and metaphysical studies and practices in general. These classes begin with an "Essential Witchcraft" course, which lasts "a year and a day". Other topics include: Advanced Celtic Witchcraft and Shamanism, Astral Travel, Astrology, Graphology, Mystical Awareness, a Natural Wicca Survey Course, Practical Sorcery, Prediction, Psychic and Herbal Healing, and Tantric Yoga. Much of the course of study is available to the student on video.
