In England, in 1951, the last law against Witchcraft was finally repealed. This cleared the way for the Witches to speak up. In 1954, Dr. Gerald Gardner, born in Blundellsands, England on June 13, 1884 and died in 1964, in his book Witchcraft Today, said, in effect. “Witchcraft was a religion and, in fact, it is still. I know, because I am a Witch myself.” He went on to tell how the Craft was still very much alive, underground. He was the first to give the Witches’ side of the story. At the time of his writing it seemed, to him, that the Craft was rapidly declining and perhaps only hanging on by a thread. He was greatly surprised when, as a result of the circulation of his books, he began to hear from many covens throughout Europe, all still happily practicing their beliefs. Yet these surviving covens had learned their lesson. They did not wish to take the chance of coming out into the open. Who was to say the persecutions could not start again? For a while, Gerald Gardner’s was the single voice speaking for the Craft. He claimed to have been initiated into an English coven, near Christchurch, just before the start of the Second World War. He was excited by what he found. He had spent a lifetime in the study of religio-magick and now was a part of it. He wanted to rush out and tell everyone. But he was not allowed to. Finally though, after much pleading, he was allowed to present some of the true Witch beliefs and practices by weaving them into a novel, High Magic’s Aid, published in 1949. It took five more years for him to persuade the coven to let him do the factual treatment. Complementing Witchcraft Today, his third book was published in 1959, titled The Meaning of Witchcraft. From his lifetime study of religion and magick, Gardner felt that what he found as the remains of Witchcraft was incomplete and, in places, inaccurate. For millennia the Old Religion had been a purely oral tradition. It was not until the persecutions, with the spreading of covens and the resultant loss of intercommunication, that anything was put into writing. At that time, when Witches were having to meet in the shadows, in the woods, the rituals were finally written down in what became known as the Book of Shadows. The book was then copied and recopied as it passed, over the years, from coven leader to coven leader. It was natural that errors would creep in. Gardner took the rituals of the coven to which he belonged—a basically English/Celtic group—and rewrote them as he felt should have been. This then became known as Gardnerian Witchcraft. In recent years there have been many wild and wonderful theories and accusations advanced, from “Gardner made up the whole thing” to “He commissioned Aleister Crowley to write the Book of Shadows for him.” Such charges scarcely bear the dignity of a response, found in Stewart Farrar’s books, What Witches Do and Eight Sabbats for Witches. Whatever one’s feelings about Gardner, however, whatever one’s belief on Wicca’s origins, all present days Witches and would-be Witches owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude for having had the courage to stand up and speak out for Witchcraft. It is because of him that we can enjoy the Craft, in its many forms today.
In 1963, he met Raymond Buckland (the first Witch to stand up and be recognized in America) an Englishman who had moved to America and introduced the Gardnerian tradition to the United States. Buckland eventually founded his own brand of Wicca: Seax-Wicca.
Early Christianity and Paganism
The Early Christians, in an attempt to gain popularity, had tolerated Paganism. When Rome became Christian and finally gave up her Goddesses and Gods in favor of the "Christ savior", the Christian religion adopted some of their pagan festivals and beliefs. One such festival is Christmas. The Romans had held a special feast each year around December 25th known as Saturnalia in honor of the God Saturn. This ancient feast was adopted into the Christian calendar, and renamed Christ's-mass, later shortened to Christmas. As time went by, more pagan beliefs were taken on board and changed to suit the Christian theology. The Council of Nicea adopted the Trinity in the 3rd century, and the Christian church now worshipped father, son and holy Ghost, a direct theft of the Triune Maiden, Mother, Crone trinity.
As Christianity spread across Europe, more pagan festivals and beliefs were taken on board for conversion purposes. All you have to do is take a look at the wheel of the year, and think of the Christian holidays, which are strangely around the same time...
For example:
Yule/ Saturnalia: Christmas
Imbolc: Candlemas
Ostara: Easter {notice the similarity in names? Ever wondered why they give Easter eggs? Take a look at Astarte/ Artemis, in ancient texts we can learn that she was born from an egg, which washed up from the sea....}
Beltane: May Day {and still they have Morris men and Mummers they are pagan traditional dancers etc}
Lammas: Harvest festival {how interesting that they also are thanking the Great Corn Mother for the coming harvest}
Samhain: Halloween {and again, the night the dead may cross over...hence the trick or treating tradition}
Churches were built on sacred spots, sometimes incorporating Standing stones into their walls.
The danger to Pagans and especially Witches did not come till much later. Up until the burning times, witches were local healers, midwives etc. Not harmful to the church at all.
