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The Wicca Religion

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Wicca is generally acknowledged to have been founded by Gerald Gardiner. However, Wicca as a religion has its roots in many different things including pagan worship, witchcraft, alchemy, and 19th century mysticism. All of these things came together to make Wicca a 20th century religion that is one of the fastest growing, especially in the Western world.

Paganism

Pagan worship is the worship of nature. Our ancestors worshipped deities that came to them from their beliefs in the land, the water, the sky, the heavens, and the seasons. Their days were controlled by the sun and the moon and their survival depended upon the seasons. People did not have science so they explained creation, birth, death, love, and other human experiences through their …show more content…

However, it was more than the conversion of one metal into another. Alchemy was the science of man's quest to obtain the ultimate spiritual enlightenment. Alchemists believed that if they could make the philosopher's stone, it would bring them to a higher state of being. Alchemists were the forefathers of modern chemistry. They believed that many things impacted upon their formulas. For example, they used astronomy and astrology. They also developed symbolic notation to represent the various elements, metals, and planets and their interactions.

From the alchemists, Wiccans get their focus upon the elements of Earth, Air, Fire, Water and Spirit. Even the notation of these elements is originally from alchemy. The alchemists’ beliefs in the impact of the planets upon our actions was not new but they gave it strength by combining it with the scientific facts of astronomy. The Alchemists understood man's need to combine our curiosity and logic with our need for spirituality.

19th Century …show more content…

Somewhere around 1936, he claimed to have inducted into the New Forest Coven by someone named Dorothy Clutterbuck. He claimed to be involved with the coven for many years. In 1948, he apparently started his own coven. This would become the first real Wiccan coven although it was not called such at that time. In fact, he only ever used the word “Wica” rather than “Wicca”. Gerald Gardiner is credited with being the founding father of the first Wica coven. In 1953, he met Doreen Valiente and she eventually became a High Priestess in his Coven. Doreen helped Gerald to rewrite his Book of Shadows which would become the backbone of many of current Wiccan practices. A lot of the previous material was thought to have been heavily influenced by such people as Aleister Crowley, a ceremonial magician. It is uncertain how much was still retained in the revised version. In 1954, Gerald wrote Witchcraft Today and it was very popular. It was used to create covens, now referred to as Gardnerian covens all across England.

Subsequently, Alex Sanders founded the Alexandrian tradition in the 1960’s. Wicca spread into the United States and

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