6,877
edits
Difference between revisions of "Gardnerian Wicca"
no edit summary
Occultwiki (talk | contribs) (Created page with "450px|thumb|Gerald Gardner in his ritual room '''Gardnerian Wicca''', or '''Gardnerian witchcraft''', is a tradition in the neopagan religion of ...") |
Occultwiki (talk | contribs) |
||
| (2 intermediate revisions by the same user not shown) | |||
| Line 7: | Line 7: | ||
On retirement from the British Colonial Service, Gardner moved to London but then before World War II moved to Highcliffe, east of Bournemouth and near the New Forest on the south coast of England. After attending a performance staged by the [[Rosicrucian]] Order Crotona Fellowship, he reports meeting a group of people who had preserved their historic [[occult]] practices. They recognised him as being "one of them" and convinced him to be initiated. It was only halfway through the initiation, he says, that it dawned on him what kind of group it was, and that [[witchcraft]] was still being practised in England. | On retirement from the British Colonial Service, Gardner moved to London but then before World War II moved to Highcliffe, east of Bournemouth and near the New Forest on the south coast of England. After attending a performance staged by the [[Rosicrucian]] Order Crotona Fellowship, he reports meeting a group of people who had preserved their historic [[occult]] practices. They recognised him as being "one of them" and convinced him to be initiated. It was only halfway through the initiation, he says, that it dawned on him what kind of group it was, and that [[witchcraft]] was still being practised in England. | ||
The group into which Gardner was initiated, known as the New Forest coven, was small and utterly secret as the Witchcraft Act of 1735 made it illegal to claim to predict the future, conjure spirits, or cast | The group into which Gardner was initiated, known as the New Forest coven, was small and utterly secret as the Witchcraft Act of 1735 made it illegal to claim to predict the future, conjure spirits, or cast spells; it likewise made an accusation of witchcraft a criminal offence. Gardner's enthusiasm over the discovery that witchcraft survived in England led him to wish to document it, but both the witchcraft laws and the coven's secrecy forbade that, despite his excitement. | ||
After the witchcraft laws were repealed in 1951, and replaced by the Fraudulent Mediums Act, [[Gerald Gardner]] went public, publishing his first non-fiction book about witchcraft, ''Witchcraft Today'', in 1954. Gardner continued, as the text often iterates, to respect his oaths and the wishes of his High Priestess in his writing. | After the witchcraft laws were repealed in 1951, and replaced by the Fraudulent Mediums Act, [[Gerald Gardner]] went public, publishing his first non-fiction book about witchcraft, ''Witchcraft Today'', in 1954. Gardner continued, as the text often iterates, to respect his oaths and the wishes of his High Priestess in his writing. | ||
| Line 13: | Line 13: | ||
Gardner knew many famous [[occultist]]s. Near the end of [[Aleister Crowley]]'s life, Gardner met with him for the first time on 1 May 1947 and visited him twice more before Crowley's death that autumn; at some point, Crowley gave Gardner an [[Ordo Templi Orientis]] (OTO) charter and the 4th OTO degree—the lowest degree authorising use of the charter. Aleister Crowley played a crucial role in inspiring Gardner to establish a new [[Paganism|pagan religion]]. | Gardner knew many famous [[occultist]]s. Near the end of [[Aleister Crowley]]'s life, Gardner met with him for the first time on 1 May 1947 and visited him twice more before Crowley's death that autumn; at some point, Crowley gave Gardner an [[Ordo Templi Orientis]] (OTO) charter and the 4th OTO degree—the lowest degree authorising use of the charter. Aleister Crowley played a crucial role in inspiring Gardner to establish a new [[Paganism|pagan religion]]. | ||
The [[witch]]es Gardner was originally introduced to were originally referred to by him as "the Wica" and he would often use the term "Witch Cult" to describe the religion. Other terms used, included "Witchcraft" or "the Old Religion." Later publications standardised the spelling to "Wicca" and it came to be used as the term for the Craft, rather than its followers. "Gardnerian" was originally a pejorative term used by Gardner's contemporary Roy Bowers (also known as Robert Cochrane), a British cunning man, who nonetheless was initiated into Gardnerian Wicca a couple of years following Gardner's death. | The [[witch]]es Gardner was originally introduced to were originally referred to by him as "the Wica" and he would often use the term "Witch [[Cult]]" to describe the religion. Other terms used, included "Witchcraft" or "the Old Religion." Later publications standardised the spelling to "Wicca" and it came to be used as the term for [[the Craft]], rather than its followers. "Gardnerian" was originally a pejorative term used by Gardner's contemporary Roy Bowers (also known as Robert Cochrane), a British cunning man, who nonetheless was initiated into Gardnerian Wicca a couple of years following Gardner's death. | ||
==Wiccan rituals== | ==Wiccan rituals== | ||