by Billy Mitchell

Created on: February 05, 2007   Last Updated: May 11, 2007

So, you want to know more about Wicca. First, and foremost, is how modern Wicca came into existence. Gerald Gardner publicly founded modern Wicca in the early 1950's after a lifetime of studying other religions. Gardner was a civil servant of Great Britain who served most of his career in Southern Asia. He was also an amateur anthropologist, among other things. When the British Parliament abolished the Anti-Witchcraft Law around 1952, Gardner published his first books: Witchcraft Today (1955) and The Meaning of Witchcraft (1959), in which he explains his new version of the Old Religion (pre-Christian).

Many people have been killed for their religious beliefs. In the 29 April 1991 issue of Christianity Today, in an article entitled "Drawing Down the Moon," Dave Bass writes about a fourth century pagan Roman Emperor, Julian the Apostate, who tried to bring about a return to the pagan traditions in the Empire. He failed miserably. His dying words were, supposedly, "You have conquered, Galilean!" (14). There have also been many non-pagans who have died with the label of "witch," which is another name for members of some pagan religions. For example, Joan of Arc was labeled a witch for leading an army into battle in France. This is a prime example of the old saying, "people fear that which they do not understand." It is plain to see that the pagan religions, consisting of Wicca, shamanism, druidism, and many other neo-pagan religions, have suffered much persecution in recent centuries. However, in the past half-century, they have been making a remarkable comeback.

So what, exactly, is all the fuss over? The glossary in Scott Cunningham's book Living Wicca: A Further Guide for the Solitary Practitioner defines the word pagan' as "the Latin paganus, a country-dweller' or villager.' Today it is used as a general term for followers of Wicca or other polytheistic, magic-embracing religions. Pagan's aren't Satanists, dangerous, or evil"(203). Wicca,' in the glossary of Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner, also by Scott Cunningham, is defined as being a humanistic religion which holds nature as sacred. Wiccans believe in "[a] reverence for the Goddess and the God; reincarnation; ritual observances of the Full Moon, astronomical and agricultural phenomena; spheroid temples, created with personal power,' in which rituals occur." (203-204).

Pagans believe in the Goddess and the God, and a Creator that they call the One' or the 'All'. To a pagan, nature is a source of

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