Wicca

 

Gerald Brousseau Gardner
 

(1884-1964) 

 

"The Gods are real, not as persons, but as vehicles of power…"

 

Gerald Gardner was born into an upper-middle-class family in England. He became a rubber planter, later inspecting rubber plantations. He also worked as a customs official and an inspector of opium establishments. He made a considerable amount of money from planting rubber, and this financed his passions for archeology. He studied esoteric literature and magical practices and later joined the occult. He practiced reverence of nature, magic, and worship of a female deity, the Goddess, along with other deities. He is known for developing modern witchcraft, also known as Wicca. After his retirement, he joined multiple covens where he worked and reworked his material in witchcraft, rituals, and the worship of gods and goddesses. In February, 1964 while traveling home by ship, he suffered a heart attack and died.

 

WICCA: the polytheistic nature religion of modern witchcraft whose central deity is a mother goddess.

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Followers of Wicca: Less than 1% of the world's population (note).

 

Authoritative Text: The Book of Shadows contains:
• Spells and witchcraft originally compiled by Gerald Gardner. 
(*It was later expanded by him and other leaders so it can vary between covens as it contains individual group knowledge and practices.)

 

Authors: Gerald Gardner and other coven leaders