A Study of Modern Day Wiccan Tradaition
A Study of Modern Day Wiccan Tradaition
What is Wicca? Where did Wicca derive from? Is Wicca the same thing as Witchcraft? In this paper I will answer these questions and many more. I will admit when I first chose this topic for my term paper I know a lot about it. After I researched the practice of Wicca there is a lot more than meets the eye. I was also quite pleased with my findings, and even though this is supposed to be a term paper I have found this subject to be fascinating.
Gerald B. Gardner is believed to be the founding father of Wicca. Through his writings much of the modern day Wiccan tradition came about. Gardner was born in 1884 and spent most of his life in Malaya. He retired and returned to the U.K. in 1936. Gardner then joined the Folklore society (he had an enormous interest in folklore, magic, and mythology) and in June 1938, also joined the newly opened Rosicrucian Theatre at Christchurch in Britain (Hillsburg. 1998). It is said that at Christchurch he met Old Dorothy Clutterbuck. In 1939, he claims Old Dorothy initiated him into a practicing coven of the Old Religion that met in the New Forest area of Britain. Gardner was fifty-five years old when he was initiated. By the time he published High Magic’s Aid he was sixty-five, and he was seventy-five years old when “The Meaning of Witchcraft” appeared. He died at the age of eighty in 1964 (Hillsburg. 1998).
Many people have been suspicious of Gardner’s claims and have accused him of making the whole thing up. They suggest that the Wicca is no more than the fantasy of an old man colored by a romantic imagination (Oakwood, 1992). As time has passed, the opinion of Wiccan beliefs has gotten worse. The view of the country it seems is that Wicca has something to do with Satanism. The reason for this impression is a general lack of information about Wicca, what it is and what it means. Once people have are introduced to what Wicca is, they usually view it in a positive light. It is necessary to get past the initial misinformation to do that.
In the same way, that brings us to what Wicca...