History of Wicca

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Much uncertainty surrounds the history of Wicca. The religion first came to public notice in 1954 when a retired British civil servant, Gerald Gardner, published a book entitled Witchcraft Today. In this book he described how he had met a group of witches in the south of England just before the Second World War. This group became known as the New Forest Coven. After the war he founded a coven to the north of London, from which his own initiates spread the increasingly popular beliefs and practices of Wicca.

Gardner claimed that Wicca was a fragmentary survival of pre-Christian British paganism along the lines described by Margaret Murray, many aspects of whose theories have since been discredited. It is still a matter of controversy as to whether Gardner discovered a legitimate pre-Christian tradition or a more recent invention or revival, or indeed whether he made the whole thing up himself.

The religion has been popularised by Gardner and other authors since the 1950s, such as Doreen Valiente, Alex Sanders, Fred Lamond and Philip Heselton, and has grown in popularity and spread throughout the English-speaking world, and to many other countries.

Contents 1 Origins 2 Later developments 3 See also 4 Notes 5 Bibliographical and encyclopedic sources 6 Academic studies

[edit] Origins

The history of Wicca is much debated. Gerald Gardner claimed that the religion was a survival of matriarchal Pagan religions of pre-historic Europe, taught to him by a woman known as "Dafo". Doreen Valiente identified her with another member of the New Forest Coven that Gardner had mentioned, Dorothy Clutterbuck,^[1] however modern researcher Philip Heselton has shown that that Dafo and Clutterbuck were two separate individuals.^[2] It has been posited by authors such as Aidan Kelly and Francis X. King that Gardner himself invented it, rewriting the rituals of an older witchcraft tradition according to his own whim,^[3] and incorporating elements from the thesis of Dr. Margaret Murray, sources such as Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches by Charles Godfrey Leland^[4] and practices of ceremonial magic.^[5] While Clutterbuck certainly existed, Ronald Hutton concluded that there was no evidence for her involvement in Gardner's Craft activities, and indeed given her devout Christianity such an involvement was unlikely in the extreme. He suggests that Gardner may have referred to Clutterbuck as a blind to divert attention away from Dafo; and that the thought of this devout Tory lady dancing naked under the moon may have appealed to Gardner's sense of humour^[6] Heselton, by contrast, concludes that she probably was involved, and that while Gardner may have been mistaken about the ancient origins of the religion, his statements about it were largely made in good faith.

Gardner's account is as follows: After retiring from adventuring around the globe, Gardner encountered Clutterbuck and her New Forest coven in the region, and was initiated into the coven in 1939, where he stayed for years until England's witchcraft laws were repealed, and claims of "supernatural" powers were no longer legally considered fraud. At this point, and later claiming to fear that the Craft would die out,^[7] he worked on his book Witchcraft Today, releasing it in 1954, followed by The Meaning of Witchcraft in 1960. It is from these books that much of post-Gardner Wicca is derived.

While the ritual format of Wicca shows the undeniable influence of late Victorian era occultism (even co-founder Doreen Valiente admits seeing influence from Aleister Crowley)^[8], the spiritual content is inspired by older Pagan faiths, with Buddhist and Hindu influences.^{[citation needed]}

There is very little in the Wiccan rites that cannot be shown to have come from earlier extant sources.^[9] The original material is not cohesive and mostly takes the form of substitutions or expansions within unoriginal material. Roger Dearnaley, in An Annotated Chronology and Bibliography of the Early Gardnerian Craft,^[10] describes it as a patchwork. One element that is apparently distinctive is the use of ritual scourging and binding as a method of attaining an ecstatic trance for magical working. Hutton argues strongly that this practice in Wicca does not reflect sado-masochistic sexuality but is simply a practical method of work alternative to drugs or other more strenuous methods.^[11]

Heselton, writing in Wiccan Roots and later in Gerald Gardner and the Cauldron of Inspiration,^[2] argues that Gardner was not the author of the Wiccan rituals but received them in good faith from an unknown source. (Doreen Valiente makes this claim regarding the "basic skeleton of the rituals," as Margot Adler puts it in Drawing Down the Moon.) He notes that all the Crowley material that is found in the Wiccan rituals can be found in a single book, The Equinox vol 3 no. 1 or Blue Equinox. Gardner is not known to have owned or had access to a copy of this book, although it is certain that he met Crowley towards the end of the latter’s life. Gardner admitted "the rituals he received from Old Dorothy's coven were very fragmentary, and in order to make them workable, he had to supplement them with other material."^[12]

Some, such as Isaac Bonewits, have argued that Valiente and Heselton's evidence points to an early 20th century revival predating Gardner, rather than an intact old Pagan religion. The argument points to historical claims of Gardner's that agree with scholarship of a certain time period and contradict later scholarship. Bonewits writes, "Somewhere between 1920 and 1925 in England some folklorists appear to have gotten together with some Golden Dawn Rosicrucians and a few supposed Fam-Trads to produce the first modern covens in England; grabbing eclectically from any source they could find in order to try and reconstruct the shards of their Pagan past." Crowley published the aforementioned Blue Equinox in 1919.

It has been proposed, originally in the Druidic journal Aisling ^[13] that Gardner's New Forest coven was the pagan section of the Order of Woodcraft Chivalry; this order performed rituals in the New Forest in the early 1920s and its pagan section honoured a moon goddess and a horned god, and believed in ritual nakedness. One of Ronald Hutton's informants reports that Gardner was familiar with this order at least by the 1950s. A major difficulty with identifying this group with the New Forest coven is that it does not appear to have met in the New Forest between 1934 and 1945. Gardner records a working by the coven in the New Forest in 1940 against the projected Nazi invasion.^[14]

A theory advanced by Bill Liddell is that the New Forest coven derived from a set of covens created by the nineteenth century cunning man George Pickingill, who lived in the Essex village of Canewdon.^[15] This claim is not widely accepted, although it does focus attention on the well documented and widespread "cunning folk" and their contribution to the history of British witchcraft.^[16]

The idea of primitive matriarchal religions, deriving ultimately from studies by Johann Jakob Bachofen, was popular in Gardner's day, both among academics (e.g., Erich Neumann, Margaret Murray) and amateurs such as Robert Graves. Later academics (e.g. Carl Jung and Marija Gimbutas) continued research in this area, and later still Joseph Campbell, Ashley Montagu and others became fans of Gimbutas' theories of matriarchies in Old Europe. Matriarchal interpretations of the archaeological record and the criticism of such work continue to be matters of academic debate. Some academics carry on research in this area (such as the 2003 World Congress on Matriarchal Studies). Critics argue that such matriarchal societies never actually existed and are an invention of researchers such as Margaret Murray. This is disputed by documentaries such as "Blossoms of Fire" (about contemporary Zapotec society).

The idea of a supreme Mother Goddess was common in Victorian and Edwardian literature: the concept of a Horned God — especially related to the gods Pan or Faunus — was less common, but still significant.^[17] Both of these ideas were widely accepted in academic literature and the popular press at the time.^[18]

[edit] Later developments

Wicca has developed in several directions since it was first publicised by Gerald Gardner. Gardnerian Wicca was an initiatory mystery religion, admission to which was limited to those who were initiated into a pre-existing coven. The Book of Shadows, a workbook that contained the Gardnerian rituals, was kept secret and was only obtainable from a coven of proper lineage. Despite the fact that several versions of the Book of Shadows have now been publicly published, many traditions of Wicca still maintain strict secrecy regarding the book and certain other aspects of the religion.

Raymond Buckland introduced Wicca to America after moving to Long Island. Although Buckland always scrupulously followed the Book of Shadows as he received it from Gardner, when the coven was eventually turned-over to Theos and Phoenix they enlarged the Book of Shadows, adding further degrees of initiation which were required before members could found their own covens. Interest outstripped the ability of the mostly British-based covens to train and propagate members; the beliefs of the religion spread faster by the printed word or word of mouth than the initiatory system was prepared to handle.^[19]

Other non-Wiccan witchcraft traditions appeared that gradually brought more attention and adherents to the extant Neopaganism movement. Some claimed roots as ancient as Gardner's version, and were organised along similar lines. Others were syncretic, incorporating aspects of Kabbalah, romanticised polytheistic Celtic pre-Christian concepts, and ceremonial magic. In 1970 Paul Huson published Mastering Witchcraft^[20] a book purportedly based upon non-Wiccan traditional British witchcraft and indeed the first do-it-yourself manual for the would-be witch, which became one of the basic instruction books for a large number of covens.^[21][22][23][1] In 1971 "Lady Sheba" (self-styled "Queen of the American Witches") published what she claimed was a version of the Gardnerian Book of Shadows, although the authenticity of this book has never been validated. Increasing awareness of Gardner's literary sources and the actual early history of the movement made creativity seem as valuable as Gardnerian tradition.^{[citation needed]}

Another significant development was the creation by feminists of Dianic Wicca, or feminist Dianic Witchcraft. This is a specifically feminist, Goddess-oriented faith that had no interest in the Horned God, and discarded Gardnerian-style hierarchy as irrelevant. Many Dianic Wiccans felt that witchcraft was every woman's right and heritage to claim. This heritage might be best characterised by Monique Wittig's words on the subject: "But remember. Make an effort to remember. Or, failing that, invent." This tradition was comparatively (and unusually for that time) open to solitary witches. Rituals were created for self-initiation to allow people to identify with and join the religion without first contacting an existing coven. This contrasts with the Gardnerian belief that only a witch of opposite gender could initiate another witch.

The publications of Raymond Buckland illustrate these changes. During the early 1970s, in books such as Witchcraft - Ancient and Modern and Witchcraft From the Inside, Buckland maintained the Gardnerian position that only initiates into a Gardnerian or other traditional coven were truly Wiccans. However, in 1974, Buckland broke with the Gardnerians and founded Seax-Wica, revealing its teachings and rituals in the book The Tree: The Complete Book of Saxon Witchcraft. This tradition made no claims to direct descent from ancient Saxons; all of its then-extant rituals were contained in that book, which allowed for self-initiation. In 1986 Buckland published Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft (colloquially known as "Uncle Bucky's Big Blue Book" or simply "The Big Blue Book"), a workbook that sought to train readers in magical and ritual techniques as well as instructing them in Wiccan teachings and rituals. Unfortunately, even after Buckland wrote his revised edition of this book there were still points from his original work that were in contention with some.

The first Wiccan Wedding to be legally recognised in the UK (by the Registrars of Scotland) was performed in 2004.^[24]

[edit] See also

• Wicca
• Magic (paranormal)
• Magick
• New Age
• Witchcraft

[edit] Notes

[edit] Bibliographical and encyclopedic sources

• Raymond Buckland, The Witch Book: The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft, Wicca, and Neo-paganism (Detroit: Visible Ink Press, 2002).
• Anne Carson, Goddesses and Wise Women: The Literature of Feminist Spirituality 1980-1992 An Annotated Bibliography (Freedom, California: Crossing Press, 1992).
• Chas S. Clifton and Graham Harvey, The Paganism Reader, New York and London: Routledge, 2004.
• James R. Lewis, Witchcraft Today: An Encyclopedia of Wiccan and Neopagan Traditions (Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 1999).
• J. Gordon Melton and Isotta Poggi, Magic, Witchcraft, and Paganism in America: A Bibliography, 2nd ed., (New York and London: Garland Publishing, 1992).
• Shelly Rabinovitch and James R. Lewis, eds., The Encyclopedia of Modern Witchcraft and Neo-Paganism (New York: Kensington Publishing, 2002).

[edit] Academic studies

• Nikki Bado-Fralick, Coming to the Edge of the Circle: A Wiccan Initiation Ritual (Oxford University Press, 2005)
• Chas S. Clifton, Her Hidden Children: The Rise of Wicca and Paganism in America (AltaMira Press, 2006)
• Ronald Hutton, The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft (Oxford University Press, 1999)
• Laura Jenkins (Otago University press, 2007)
• Zoe Bourke (Otago University press, 2007)
• Helen A. Berger, A Community of Witches: Contemporary Neo-Paganism and Witchcraft in the United States (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1999).
• Jon P. Bloch, New Spirituality, Self, and Belonging: How New Agers and Neo-Pagans Talk About Themselves (Westport: Praeger, 1998).
• Graham Harvey, Contemporary Paganism: Listening People, Speaking Earth (New York: New York University Press, 1997).
• Lynne Hume, Witchcraft and Paganism in Australia (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1997).
• James R. Lewis, ed., Magical Religion and Modern Witchcraft (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996).
• T. M. Luhrmann, Persuasions of the Witch's Craft: Ritual Magic in Contemporary England (London: Picador, 1994).
• Sabina Magliocco, Witching Culture: Folklore and Neo-Paganism in America (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004)
• Joanne Pearson, Richard H. Roberts and Geoffrey Samuel, eds., Nature Religion Today: Paganism in the Modern World (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1998).
• Sarah M. Pike, Earthly Bodies, Magical Selves: Contemporary Pagans and the Search for Community (Berkeley/Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2001).
• Kathryn Rountree, Embracing the witch and the goddess: Feminist Ritual-Makers in New Zealand (London and New York: Routledge, 2004).
• Jone Salomonsen, Enchanted Feminism: The Reclaiming Witches of San Francisco (London and New York: Routledge, 2002).
• Allen Scarboro, Nancy Campbell, Shirely Stave, Living Witchcraft: A Contemporary American Coven (Praeger Publishers, 1994) [2]

v • d • e Wicca Key concepts Dualism (Horned God · Triple Goddess) · Pantheism and Polytheism · Witchcraft and Magic · Wheel of the Year (Samhain · Yule · Imbolc · Ostara · Beltane · Midsummer · Lughnasadh · Mabon)  · Wiccan morality (Wiccan Rede · Rule of Three) · Coven · History of Wicca Wicca Portal Notable Wiccans Margot Adler · Raymond Buckland · Dorothy Clutterbuck · Scott Cunningham · Dafo · Janet Farrar · Stewart Farrar · Gerald Gardner · Alex Sanders · Maxine Sanders · Starhawk · Doreen Valiente Denominations British Traditional Wicca: Alexandrian Wicca · Algard Tradition · Central Valley Wicca · Gardnerian Wicca · Georgian Wicca · New Forest coven · Other Wiccan traditions: Blue Star Wicca · Celtic Wicca (Witta) · Christian Wicca · Dianic Wicca · Eclectic Wicca · Seax-Wica · Odyssean Wicca · Faery Wicca · Shamanistic Wicca · Rites and Rituals Esbat · Great Rite · Drawing down the Moon · Fivefold kiss · Skyclad · Wiccaning Paraphernalia Book of Shadows · Book of Mirrors · Altar · Magical tools in Wicca (Besom · Cauldron · Athame · Wand · Chalice · Pentacle · Scourge) Other Pentagram · Craft name · Summoner · Watchtower · Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches · Charge of the Goddess · Eko Eko Azarak  · Wiccan Laws  · Homosexuality and Wicca · Museum of Witchcraft Related Paganism · Neopaganism · Stregheria · Crowleyan Thelema