Re: Is Wicca Ancient? By: Brysing Moderator / Adept
Post # 3 Jun 06, 2013
Wicca really is "based" on very old beliefs.
The original problem was the word "witchcraft". Before 1951 witchcraft was illegal in most countries.In England,anyone practising witchcraft could be sent to prison for up to five years!
There were others, long before Gardner, who wanted witchcraft recognised as a religion. Men such as Aleister Crowley, Alex Sanders, Doreen Valiente, and many others.
In 1946,vast numbers of migrants came from all over the world to live and work in the UK. And they brought their religions with them!
The Christian Church was "up in arms" about this. But the government could do nothing to stop these immigrants from worshipping whatever they wished! Mainly because they all believed in God; or at least some sort of Deity. (That had been the Law since Elizabeth I)
So Gardner, and others, started to say, "Well, all the ancients worshipped some sort of God or Goddess. So we will do the same, and thereby claim that our belief is also a religion."
For years Gardner had called his followers The Wica. (Only one C in the early days.)
So, after 1951, the practise of witchcraft became lawful, as Wicca; although the Christians still objected to it!
Gardner then published his book "Witchcraft Today". It became a world wide best seller!
So, you see? What Gardner and others were trying to do was to have witchcraft accepted as a religion, by calling it Wica; and declaring that believers did indeed worship Deity!
Of course, these days, so many books have been written about Wicca, and adding the authors ideas, that Gardner would not recognise his own creation!
Witchcraft itself is as old as time! The "religion of Wicca" however is less than a hundred years old. To show just how "young" Wicca is I can tell you that the widow of one of the very founders of Wicca is still alive and well. She is Maxine Sanders, and lives in Wales.
I beleive wicca evolved from paganism as a result of the salem witch trials if what you say is true about your timeline then i feel it supports my beleif.
" I beleive wicca evolved from paganism as a result of the salem witch trials if what you say is true about your timeline then i feel it supports my beleif "
Um, no. Wicca has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the Salem Witch Trials.
In fact the Salem Witch Trials had very little to do with any form of witchcraft. It was instead about property and money. The women, and the one man (with the possible exception of Tituba" were good Christian folks and didn't practice witchcraft. The charges of witchcraft were simply a way for that community to rid itself of some people that others didn't like.
Wicca is very loosely based on the pre-Christian religions of northern Europe. None of the folks at Salem were Pagans.
Wicca is pretty old, and is closely connected to the Pagan Religion. It stems rather closely to it actually, but to answer your question, Yes it is in a sense.
But only in a very vague sense could it be considered "old".
Wicca is quite loosely based on the concept of European Paganism mostly as described by Margaret Murray...and her writings have been long discredited. The majority of Wicca is drawn from Ceremonial Magic, Masonic rituals, and a bit of folk magic. Very little of it has anything to do with ancient Paganism.
Remember too that "Pagan" is an umbrella term that includes many, many different religions...it is not, now was it ever, a single religion that was practiced universally. So which of the many Pagan religions is Wicca drawn from if it is drawn from any of them. Frankly there is little relationship between Wicca and any of the historical Pagan religions. Certainly there is none between Wicca and the Celtic religion of Britain where Wicca began.
And Wicca itself is not " pretty old ". It was started no longer ago than 1951 to be exact...so less than 100 years old.
wicca is a new religion based on the old pagan "styles"(for lack of a better word) of religion. There is a special religion called pagan, just a classification.
I dont't believe that anytime after the first hundred years of the christian era that there was much of a structured witchcraft anyway and that it has been eclectic for centuries.
Thank you for your post Lark it was very insightful, so far your posts have always been enjoyable and helpful
