By: Josh Benson

1
Wicca

• By Josh Benson
• Jimmy Rowland
• Jeremy Matozzo
• Derek Dubbs

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Quick Facts Page

• Name of founder Gerald Brosseau Gardner
• Nationality of founder English
• Date Location group was founded 1950s in
  Great Britain
• Number of Adherents Approximately 300,000
  serious adherents. Covens consist of around 3 to
  20 members.
• The groups ultimate concern Eight words the
  Wican Rede fulfill An ye harm none, do what ye
  will. - In other words Do what you like as
  long as you harm no one.

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Wicca Facts

• Approximately 36 religious denominations can be
  found throughout 192 countries around the world
• - Wicca is one of the fastest growing
• Wicca is spiritual and ritualistic in nature,
  emphasizing the unity of nature and divinity of
  human beings
• Founded by the earliest forms of witchcraft and
  Neopaganism
• Worship the mother Goddess, or the birth-giver
  or one who brings into existence all life

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.Wicca Facts Continued

• Reported as the most successful and influential
  religion of the 20th century Neopagan Movement
• Neopaganism is a term used to describe
  polytheistic religous traditions of Europe and
  the Mediterranean
• Very controversial because of its numerous
  different traditions and branches
• Misconstrued by the popular culture as being evil
  and satanic

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History of the Founder

• Gerald Brosseau Gardner The best-known figure
  of modern witchcraft.
• 1884 - Born in Great Crosby on Merseyside in
  northwest England
• Did not attend college
• Worked for the commerical branch of the British
  Civil Service
• 1927 At age 43, marries Donna Rosedale, a
  clergymans daughter
• Served as an overseer of a rubber plantation in
  Malaysia
• Settled in the South of England known as New
  Forest
• 1939 Meets Margaret Murray in the Folklore
  Society

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Gardner Part 2

• Looked to re-create the witch cult of Western
  Europe
• The New Forest Coven was descended from one of
  Nine Covens founded by George Pickingill 40
  years earlier
• Upon his discovery of this Coven, Gardner became
  highly motivated to teach and practice Wicca
• 1947 Him and his wife move to America to live
  with his brother, Douglas
• 1949 published High Magics Aid, a fiction book
  that points out what Gardner is trying to get
  across about the new religion of Wicca
• 1954 Resigns from membership in the Folklore
  Society after his publication of Witchcraft Today

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Gardner Part 3

• Gardnerian Witchcraft became highly recognized in
  America
• 1963 Met Raymond Buckland who later became his
  spokesperson in the United States
• Buckland and his wife did intensive studying in
  Scotland and by doing so were initiated into
  Gardners coven
• The Bucklands brought Gardners famous Book of
  Shadows back to New York where it was founded by
  the New York Coven in Bay Shore, Long Island
• The New York Coven then became the center of the
  Gardnerian and Neopagan movements in America for
  the next 20 years
• 1964 Dies on the SS Scottish Prince off the
  coast of North Africa

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History of Wicca

• Rooted in the period before 500 BC, the start of
  the Iron Age
• Wicca was illegal in Britain for nearly 1000
  years up until 1951. Since its legalization a
  large amount has been published and it is now
  accessible to all
• Origins can be traced back to Paleolithic peoples
  who worshipped a Hunter God and a Fertility
  Goddess
• Perhaps the oldest religion in the world
• Cave paintings were found in France nearly 30,000
  years ago depicting a man with the head of a
  stag, and a woman with a swollen, pregnant belly.
  The two stood in a circle with eleven mortals to
  equal lucky number 13. The archetypes of the
  divine are worshipped by Wiccans to this very day.

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History of Wicca

• After 1951, when the witchcraft laws were
  repealed, Gardner was the first to come to public
  eye and was sought to be the founder of
  Gardnerian Wicca
• He was the first to describe what modern witches
  were practicing, thus becoming the father of his
  own original Wicca
• His information was spread through the traditions
  of a coven or a small group consisting of 3 to 20
  members, but usually are made up of 13 people
• - New Forrest Coven
• - Margaret Murray
• Aleister Crowley
• - Introduced the notion that if people knew
  their true will and followed them, they would
  attune themselves to harmony with the universe
• - Many of Crowleys practices and beliefs can
  be seen in Gardners Book of Shadows

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History Continued

• Wicca can be dated back as far as the 1300s,
  when the first witch trials were being held in
  Europe
• 1692 19 people were tried and hung as witches
  in Massachusetts
• Not hard to argue that Wicca was pieced together
  by ONLY Gardner in 1939 but also from Margaret
  Murray, Charles Leland, Aleister Crowley and many
  more helped define Wicca to what it is today

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Doctrine of the Group

• Deep belief that nature controls the quality and
  circle of life
• Believe in the old saying What goes around,
  comes around.
• Although there are different forms, the usually
  worship two separate deities
• - The Goddess
• - The God or Horn God
• Some forms only worship the Goddess, that is why
  many feminists practice Wicca
• Gardnerian Wiccans practice polytheism or the
  worshipping of more then one deities

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Doctrine Continued

• Wicca Creed
• - Cornerstone for the rest of their beliefs
  and teachings
• - If it harm none, then do what you will
• Belief that reincarnation serves as an orderly
  system of learning
• Law of Attraction
• - What I do to other living creature, I
  will draw to myself

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Membership Initiation

• First level
• - The priest male
• - Great Goddess female
• - Must be stroked 40 times with a scourge and
  take an oath of secrecy
• - Also introduced to working took of the
  Art including a broom, cauldron, Chalice, wand,
  Book of Shadows, Altar cloth, athame (personal
  knife) alters knife, candles, and incense.
• Second level
• - Magus male
• - Queen female
• - Scourged 40 times again, then the candidate
  must scourge their initiator 120 times
• - A play of the legend of Goddess is then
  acted out and the candidate is introduced to the
  powers of the four elements.
• Last Most Powerful level
• - High Priest male
• - High Priestess female
• - Candidate must perform ritual lovemaking
  with the person that is initiating him or her
• - Many do not engage in intercourse but
  rather perform ritualistic dances with each other
  around the consecrated circle

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Wicca The Four Elements

• The four elements of earth, air, fire, and water,
  represent the four points on the pentagram star,
  which is a symbol of their faith.
• The four elements are assigned a direction and a
  color.
• - Air East - Yellow
• - Fire South - Red
• - Water West - Blue
• - Earth North - Green

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Holidays

• Celebrate 8 main holidays or what they refer to
  as Sabbats
• Top Four Sabbats
• - Candlemas February 2
• - May Eve or Beltane April 30
• - Lammas August 1
• - Samhain October 31 or Halloween
• Two less important Sabbats
• - Solstices
• - Equinoxes
• Covens also come together every full and new moon
  to perform rituals and ceremonies

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Analysis

• Many people see Satanism and Witchcraft as the
  same thing
• - Not true
• They do have a few things in common
• - Both use and believe in magic and spiritual
  forces
• - Wicca believes all natural forces of
  this world should be used for good
• - Accept images that are found to be
  dangerous and evil to contemporary society
• - Both use images such as demons and satanic
  symbols
• Wicca does not have a very high potential for
  violence and dos not have an apocalyptic belief
• - Controversy during the 80s when police
  intercepted documents detailing a Wiccan outline
  to take over the worl
• - The documents were later known as Wicca
  Letters

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Final Thoughts

• Wicca is practiced in a wide range of places and
  there is many branches of Wicca, therefore there
  is not one dominating Charismatic leader
• There is usually a leader within the covens but
  they do not have the same manipulating skills as
  a leader from cults we have learned about such as
  Jim Jones or David Koresh
• The truth is that people that follow Wicca have a
  deep respect for nature, the supernatural, and
  are also peaceful