Is Wicca the same as the old witch religions? ?
No- The people executed in late medieval and early modern times were NOT Wiccan and they were also not believers in a pagan survival religion. They were Christians, Jews and Gypsys, some of whom may have practiced folk magics but most probably were just “outsiders” who were easy targets for gossip and suspicion. This is a Myth based on completely discredited early 20th Century research. Gardner did however believe there was an “Old religion”. Wicca was developed in the 20th Century from West County folk magic traditions given a framework based on freemasonry and the works of other occult groups and people such as Crowley and the Golden Dawn along with the works of Murray and Graves etc. Later forms (traditions) of Wicca added more accurate pagan belief forms and rituals. I am not anti-Wiccan – in fact I am very fond of it but I am realistic about its origins. BTW- nobody here is suggesting there were not Ancient pagan religions – they are only saying that the “witches” executed in earl
