Who Suffers from Wiccan Misinformation?

Question

Gardnerian Witchcraft, the original sect of Wicca, was established in 1939. What are all those solitary Wiccans reading, that they think their religion predates Christianity?

(Note: I am a panendeistic occultist, so please don't interpret this as an attack.)

Thanks, guys :)

Please forgive my bogus question. Contrary to my proflile's start date, I'm new to this site.
Being new, I wanted to see whether or not the alternative religions crowd here was a bunch of new age fluffies.

Conclusion: Non fluffy. I suppose now I have to figure out which answer was the best.

Answer 1

Some scholars believe that Wicca is a new religion brought about by the work of three people: Gerald Gardner (of your Gardnerian Witchcraft), Alex Sanders, and Doreen Valiente. The reasoning is that in addition to recommending old rituals in their writings, they created new rituals, as well as phrases and traditions that are now a part of modern Wicca. Other scholars disagree with this view, stating that most celebrations, ceremonies, and rituals that come from older nature religions. Margaret Murray's "The Witch-Cult in Western Europe" has a lot of sources from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance that support this view. She's an anthropologist.

It's not accurate to say that Wicca was established in 1939. The simple fact of the matter is that Gerald Gardner's claims of an secret witch society that followed the Old Religion (or witch-cult) existing prior to the last repeal of the British Witchcraft Act in 1951 cannot be either proven nor disproved. There is a stronger likelihood of his claim being true rather than false because the laws of the land, as with most European countries, made following the Old Religion a capital offense.

Paganism, or the Old Religion does predate Christianity. The academic debate is whether or not Wicca is a modern form of the Old Religion or if Gardner, Sanders, and Valiente made most of it up by themselves. From what I do know of Wiccan traditions and historical attitudes toward paganism, I'm more inclined to believe the former.

Answer 2

First of all you are right and you are wrong.

It is true that the Wiccan religion as we know it today did start around the time you stated. However the the basis of the Wiccan religion goes back well before any other religion that people really know about today.

That's right the Wiccans roots are older then the Jews, Buddist, Shinto (not sure on the spelling).

See the truth is Wiccan religion was around before Gardnerian, however it was very much underground. Most of there beliefs are rooted from a few other underground religions (that are still around today) that date back well before any religion that we really know about today.

It's kind of like the Christians claiming Moses. Moses was well before the Christian religion started. However he is part of thier religion. See even though the Christian religion is really only about 2006 years old (to some it's only 1406 years old) it has a root in Judism which makes that religion older then 2006 years old. Or you can take that one step further Methodist (a Christian religion) is not that old either. I don't know the exact date it was created; however it is rooted through Christiananity.

You can find the same thing with any main stream religion. Either some things were changed or they rooted themselves off a different religion. I believe the oldest religion that is mainsteam, has never changed, and still is around today is Judism. Most of the other very old religions are either underground, have changed a few times, or are not around today.

Answer 3

It's embarrassing how little people research the origins of their religion. I suppose most people don't find it interesting. I find the history of Wicca to be very interesting even though I do not follow that path. I wish that neo-pagan authors were held to the same high standards regarding historical accuracy as other authors.

An important part of my practice is researching the culture, archeology, and history of the peoples that once worshiped my deities. It is quite different from what is printed in the New Age section and accepted by too many as historical.
--Celtic Recon

Answer 4

Probably Silver Ravenwolf or something equally as flawed in historical accuracy.

But I won't give her all the credit. Margaret Murray once "traced" Wicca back 250,000 years. Robert Graves' "The White Goddess" also presents false historical evidence. Yet, both these books are sort of must reads of sorts and I think many people don't realize that although they are spiritually interesting, they are not necessarily historical accurate.

Nothing is was hilarious than being asked for my Wiccan "lineage". To which I respond, "Catholic schoolgirl K-12, baby".

Answer 5

Many people mistakenly assume that modern-day witches are called "Wiccans." As you pointed out, Wicca is but one path in the overall pagan scheme of things.

Paganism & witchcraft predate Christianity, and while Wicca is based on similar ancient non-Christian beliefs, it's still a neopagan religion.

Answer 6

Writing New Age gobbledygook is a lucrative business. If you can churn out more b.s. about how ancient a religion is, package it in a nonthreating lowest-common-denominator fashion, dress it up with some generic feel-good spiritualism, you can make a whole lot of money and get a bunch of followers.

Answer 7

Wiccan is an ancient religion from England that has a history going back to the bronze age.

Answer 8

A lot of religions predate christianity. You know they were not the first one.

Answer 9

Suffering exists only in the mind. So, I venture that no one suffers from Wiccan misinformation.