| In the 1950s, a retired UK government employee | | | | good faith. It seems most likely that Gardner had |
| named Gerald Gardner declared that he had been | | | | actually been initiated into a 1900s revival of the |
| initiated into an ancient nature religion based on the | | | | original witchcraft that Gardner believed he had |
| European paganism that predated the Christian era. | | | | found, and not quite an uncontaminated survival of |
| The devotees of this religion were using the name | | | | an ancient European religious tradition. |
| New Forest Coven. Gardner began his attempts to | | | | Regardless of the fact that he published witchcraft's |
| revitalize and reestablish this witchcraft religion by | | | | beliefs in an attempt to continue the Old Religion for |
| writing and publishing a book entitled "Witchcraft | | | | his contemporaries and their descendants, Gardner |
| Today," where he attempted to reconstruct the | | | | thought of "witchcraft" as a mystery cult that |
| recovered fragments of spiritual philosophy and | | | | needed initiation to be completely assimilated and put |
| practice from the New Forest Coven. | | | | into practice. A British emigrant named Raymond |
| He referred to the spiritual tradition as "witchcraft," | | | | Buckland received an initiation into the new mystery |
| and described its devotees as "the Wica." He | | | | tradition from Gardner's own coven, which he named |
| maintained that the term "Wica" came to him from | | | | the Isle of Man, and later spread the understandings |
| other initiates of the New Forest Coven, and that its | | | | of the Isle of Man back to the United States. The |
| use was what keyed him in on the likelihood that | | | | Wiccan religion acquired respect at a very nice pace |
| "the Old Religion still existed." He asserted, like quite a | | | | in the new world, where a social and religious sea |
| few modern historians, that the name "Wica" | | | | change was taking place. |
| originated from the Olde English word "wicca," which | | | | Since the early 1960s, a number of new permutations |
| is the etymological forerunner of the more modern | | | | of Wiccan religion have circulated widely. A number |
| word "witch." | | | | of them have owed their origin to Gardner's own |
| There has been some argument regarding the | | | | disciples who started their own covens and |
| veracity of Gerald Gardner's idea that he was | | | | performed their own initiations. Some other |
| reestablishing an ancient, original, indigenous European | | | | widespread forms of witchcraft have derived from |
| religion. A few claimants have argued that Gardner | | | | self-initiated mystics and witches who set up their |
| had merely invented the rites and rituals of | | | | own conceptions of Wiccan spirituality based on the |
| witchcraft, compiling elements of a few other ancient | | | | the works of Gardner and those who followed after |
| religious traditions and from contemporary occult | | | | him. Today a variety of such subsets of Gardnerian |
| practices as needed. Nevertheless, the majority of | | | | witchcraft are increasingly popular in a variety of |
| historians accept that Gardner made his claims in | | | | countries and cultures. |