I read that wiccan's claim that their religion is ancient, but it is only 50 years old. What is your opinion or argument for/against this?
2006-10-19 10:39:23 · 12 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Those that are trying to claim ancient origins for wicca are attempting to manipulate the facts for their own personal reasons. The main bulk of Wiccans fully acknowledge that Wicca as it is practiced in the modern world is a reconstruction going back, at most 75 to a hundred years having origins in some of the "Old" occult orders from the early part of the 20th century. Even men like Gerald Garnder, Scott Cunningham and Raymond Buckland, three of the most well known practitioners of the art have acknowledged that fact. HOWEVER...the macical and religious practices that they use are based on pre-christian celtic and mediteranian (Greek, Roman, Egyprtian, Babylonian, sumerian, Akkadian, Persian) religious practices.
2006-10-19 10:53:59 · answer #1 · answered by kveldulfgondlir 5 · 3⤊ 2⤋
Wicca don't claim this, quite often people claiming to be Wicca do.
Wicca was founded by Gerald Gardner; he brought together Pagan beliefs that had ancient roots, Eastern philosophy as well as other aspects such as indigenous magic and ceremonial magic. There were claims that it was an older path that Gardner simply re-introduced; however there is no doubt that the things that influence Wicca most are relatively new ideas, such as Freemasonry. There is no specific time for when Wicca was founded, a few reasons, the biggest one I feel is because witchcraft was illegal in England around the time Gardner first went about forming Wicca.
2006-10-19 10:52:03 · answer #2 · answered by Kasha 7 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Most Wiccans don't claim that. The educated ones don't, anyway. I don't believe I've ever heard it from a Wiccan over the age of 18--and there have been many younger who know where their religion came from.
2006-10-19 10:41:42 · answer #3 · answered by angk 6 · 6⤊ 0⤋
Wicca is a type of witchcraft only 50 years old, being based on a book written by Gerald Gardner in the 50s. He wrote it based on his experiences with various covens, and went public with it after the witchcraft act was repealed.
While wicca itself is a fairly modern thing, it is actually a mix of various religions, some of which can be traced back to pre-christian belief systems.
2006-10-19 10:48:09 · answer #4 · answered by Paul 1 · 3⤊ 1⤋
Wicca was founded in the 1940's, but it is a "modern reconstruction" of ancient European Pagan religions that are older than Christianity.
2006-10-19 10:44:14 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
Agreed, modern Neo-paganism is only about 50 years old.
We draw on myths and symbols that are much older but we're still a young religion.
2006-10-19 10:51:58 · answer #6 · answered by Pablito 5 · 3⤊ 0⤋
True. Wicca and NeoPaganism are very young, however, they are rooted in ancient pre-Christian beliefs and religions. Most know this and do not claim that it is ancient.
2006-10-19 10:44:43 · answer #7 · answered by PaganPoetess 5 · 5⤊ 0⤋
Witchcraft was around in Pharoah's time at least....there's nothing new under the sun.
2006-10-19 10:45:44 · answer #8 · answered by lookn2cjc 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
wicca was started about 60 years ago but they claim to be ancient(eronoiouslu) because the guy who started the cult took the best parts ofmany oldpagan religions and mixed them into one cult. Do the wiccans also tell you that the British guy who started their 'religion' also wrote occult books and tracts for the Nazis in the30's and 40's? Do they also tell you that they consider real witches who had been practicing witchcraft for years to be fakes and denied them access to their 'religion'
2006-10-19 10:48:36 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 6⤋
People worshipping nature or multiple gods is not new by any means.
2006-10-19 10:50:53 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋