Gerald Gardner set the precedent for the modern Wiccan movement. Sometime during the late 1930's, he was introduced to a heditary Witch named Old Dorothy Cluterbuck, who initiated him into a group called the New Forest Coven.
Prior to this, Gardner had been involved with the Masons, Oriental mysticism and the Golden Dawn System of Ceremonial magic.
It was Gardner's frustration with both Christianity and Ceremonial Magic (which uses psychic skills through rituals, traditions, and the laws of nature), that prompted him to create something different.
He believed that the information handed down in his coven's Book of Shadows was inaccurate and incomplete. To remedy this situation, he did alot of research and rewrote rituals and chants.
His mixing of ceremonial magic with hereditary Witchcraft and Masonic ritual was nothing less than genius.
After the final repeal of the English Witchcraft Act in 1951, he broke the vow of secrecy he held with the New Forest Coven. He published several books and soon the whole world knew that Witchcraft was alive and well and being openly practiced. Through these actions he became the figurehead of Gardenian witchcraft.
Other witches began to come forward. Among them was Raymond Buckland, a student of Gardner's who went on to found the Seax tradition in 1973 and who has written numerous books about the Craft.
From the early 1960's and on, people involved with Whitchcraft, magick and related Pagan ideals began to speak out. More books apeared on the market, covens were started, and Wicca was on its way to becoming a recognizable religion.
Today there are hundreds of Wiccan organizations that support Gardner's ideas.
