“Wicca” is a form of neopaganism associated with witchcraft.
Believers variously claim it was handed down, usually through an “ancient lineage”, to Gerald Gardner, an amateur anthropologist, who claimed to have encountered a group of witches calling themselves the “New Forest Coven” in 1936. No evidence exists for the existence of the New Forest Coven outside of Gardner’s own claims, and modern researchers such as Leo Ruickbie and Ronald Hutton, doubt the coven ever existed.
Gardner claims that, during the Second World War, hundreds of witches gathered together, naked no less, in the forest to participate in an event known as “Operation Cone of Power”, with the aim of sending Hitler and his generals' telepathic thoughts to stay out of England... yeah. Again, no historical evidence for this event exists in any form, other than in Gardners own accounts.
A possible influence on Gardner is the works of Margaret Murray, a British Egyptologist, and conspiracy theorist. She is mostly remembered for her “Witch-Cult Hypothesis”, a conspiracy theory stating that many of the people killed during the witch hunts of the early modern period were, in fact, the members of a highly secretive, surviving pagan religion. Her influence, beginning with her book “The Witch-Cult in Western Europe”, has had a huge impact on Wicca, Witchcraft, and fantasy fiction right up to the present day. Once again, no evidence actually exists to support the Witch-Cult Hypothesis, but as it is not entirely impossible and cannot be disproven, believers continue to assert that this pseudohistory is “truth”.
In reality, the Wiccan practice began with the “Bricket Wood Coven”, founded by Gardner himself around 1946. The rituals involved nudity, bondage, and scourging, essentially making it a BDSM club, with magical quackery thrown in the mix. When the Witchcraft Act of 1736 was repealed, Gardner made his coven public, and it grew from there.
When it was suggested the coven have rules to abide by, Gardner, essentially from nowhere, produced the Wiccan Laws, 30 laws by which to live. These rules are full of irony, not only threatening believers with the CHRISTIAN hell for breaking the rules, they were also sexist, “a man loveth a woman by mastering her”. Ironic, as Wiccan asserts that it supports gender equality. Rightly so, most of Gardner’s coven walked out on him, but he still had enough support and fame by this point to survive the ordeal and grow his coven.
Over time, people began to add their own interpretations and form their own offshoots of Wicca, resulting in Alexandrian, Dianic, "Church and School of", Georgian and "Fluffbunny" Wicca. Many identify as "Solitary Wiccans", who have found their way through studying without joining a coven.
Similarly, there are many people identifying as “Witches” without associating with Wicca at all, though they also usually claim to be descended from some ancient sect, witchy ancestor, or arcane lineage, none of which can be backed by evidence and require taking the said person at their word.
These groups may appear less harmful than other religious groups, as they are not generally interested in mass conversion or preaching their doctrine, but by continuing to hold beliefs that are not grounded in reality, involving an abundance of magical thinking, and living according to an incoherent tradition invented by early 20th century fantasists, they are in essence still the enemies of anyone seriously interested in advocating truth and reason.
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