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This article is from the magicK kreEePing
oOze FAQ, by tyagi nagasiva tyagI@houseofAos.abyss.coM with
numerous contributions by others.
13: "Where did Wicca come from? Did Crowley invent it? (etc.)"
Gerald Brousseau Gardner started (or adapted, depending on the version
you believe) a religion he referred to as "Wicca", which is now more
specifically known as the Gardnerian tradition -- because of all the
different spinoffs ALSO called "Wicca".
He claimed that this "Wicca" was the religion of pre-Christian
Europe, and of the people persecuted by the Christian Church as
"witches". Some people believe this. Some (like me) don't.
Raven <JSINGLE@MUSIC.LIB.MATC.EDU>
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Wicca was founded by the English civil servant and amateur anthropologist
Gerald Gardner (1884-1964); he claimed he came into contact with a group
of 'witches' and was initiated into Wicca by someone called "Old Dorothy"
who, according to him, was continuing an unbroken line of pre-Christian
nature religion. He says he just polished up and organized a bit the
original rituals and teachings. The story is without much doubt mostly
(although perhaps not entirely) made up to give legitimacy to his own ideas.
Wicca as Gardner presented it was a mixup of western esoteric traditions
(Golden Dawn, Masonry etc), Celtic and Germanic mythology and reconstructions
of their religions ideas based on ancient written sources, surviving folk-
lore, the theories of the anthropologist Margaret Murray, Charles Leland's
"Aradia", and so forth.
Why he founded it? Probably just to present an alternative to straitjacket
monotheism, may be in part inspired by an urge to break the norms of society
a bit. Also, perhaps to reconstruct a more intimate relation between man and
nature. But since he insisted that he's continuing an unbroken tradition
this is just speculating.
alahelma@cc.helsinki.fi (Antti Lahelma)
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There is no evidence of actual collaboration between Crowley and Gardner
on Wicca. All of the Crowley material in the Gardnerian Wiccan material is
from works that were published before hand. The only link between Crowley
and Gardner is the fact that Crowley sold him a charter to run an OTO
lodge and, by this, gave him, by decree, at least a 4th degree rank in the
OTO. There isn't any actual evidence for anything beyond this and this has
been discussed on at least a DOZEN occasions between myself, Wiccans, and
various informed Thelemites on several computer networks. It always comes
back to what we actually have evidence for. The only source that claims
the two collaborated is Francis King in his "Modern Ritual Magic" and that
book has other factual flaws as well.
I run into people about three or four times a year who claim to be from
FamTrads (Family Traditions). They fall into three catagories:
1) Those that offer no evidence to back up what they say (though they
often say they have proof) and get rather shrill when people don't give
them extra respect because they say they are from a FamTrad and whom
eventually run off in a huff.
2) Those that sincerely believe that the tradition they were trained in
was a FamTrad but have no proof and acknowledge it. Most of these
traditions are fairly obviously derived from some variation of Gardnerian
Wicca.
3) Those people that come from a Family Tradition and can document it.
Invariably, these traditions are nothing like Wicca and are not even
called "Witchcraft." Usually they have a mixture of 18th or 19th century
occult mysticism, masonic practices, and some folk practices. These are
the only traditions I have ever seen verified as having real evidence for
their existance. These traditions also, coincidently, have no relation to
Wicca in any form, merely being what someone was taught in a familial context.
When someone comes up with a Family Tradition of Wicca or something quite
similar to Wicca that can be verified, I will believe Wicca is older than
my Grandparents (who are in their late 60s). Until then, I go with the
evidence, which is that Gardner cribbed his material from published
sources, bad anthropology, and some sound mythic ideals and forces. It
works but it IS NOT ancient.
Al Billings aka Grendel Grettisson (mimir@io.com)
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