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be primitive and untrustworthy, which is a view that stayed long after the roman sphere of influence receded.

The Middle Ages famously brought about the burning and ducking of witches because they were thought to be the cause for all manner of natural disasters and problems for common people. In many cases it was by far the easier option for the local lords to blame witchcraft for any troubles that befell the people than to accept responsibility themselves, and face criticism or possible uprising.

So often the people who were called witches weren't at all, and the methods of determining guilt in those days lacked accuracy or mercy. Ducking for example was a practise used in Britain and France extensively whereby the accused witch was tied to a chair and thrown into a river. If they floated then they were thought to be guilty and were then burned at the stake. If innocent they sunk, and of course drowned anyway, eliminating the purpose of the test itself.

Several countries of the time also employed the services of witch finders, who were men charged with the responsibility of finding witches to burn. They travelled the country and seemingly accused anyone they took a dislike to, without trial or evidence. Those accused were often then tortured into confessing by the witch finder and were then executed. To make the process worse the witch finders were often paid per witch that they found, so it was in their interest to accuse plenty of women they knew full well weren't guilty.

Before the time of Wicca however there were also other influential individuals and orders that affected the development of witchcraft. People like Alistair Crowley and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn were both very influential at the time also. They tended to be more experimental and hedonistic, rather then traditionalist as much witchcraft is.

Today of course people are free to partake in any religion they want to in most parts of the world, and so Wicca and witchcraft along with it have made a big comeback. The growth of Wicca and other psuedo philosophical religions comes at a time when many Christian ideas and teachings are being disproved by science. As a result causing many people to look in different places for answers, and finding Wicca to be less limiting as many religions.

Modern Wicca was developed from the works of Gerald Gardner (1884-1964), who was introduced to witchcraft by Dorothy Clutterbuck, who referred to her particular sect as the old religion. Over the course of the 1950s Gardner published several books on the subject of witchcraft, and in 1951, when the witchcraft act was repealed in Britain, Wicca began to flourish. Although it is still not socially acceptable in many circles, it is now so widespread that Wicca practitioners don't generally face any persecution or ridicule.

Gerald Gardner's interpretation of modern Wicca is not exactly the same as the form of witchcraft that he and Dorothy Clutterbuck actually practiced however. He is known to have added and removed parts that he deemed as either useful additions or as being a waste of time. During this period he is known to have borrowed and adapted a lot of material from older works detailing occultism and witchcraft. To this end Wicca today is thought to be a mixture of several different belief systems, rather then being a direct descendant of one in particular.

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