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Originally posted by Jonsgirl
That's an iteresting article Neo, but I don't know how I feel about it. It feels to me like the authour was fudging the lines just as bad as she claims the Wiccans are. The modren day Wiccan movement did pick up in the 1950's, with a large hand from Alistair Crowley. That's not to say that it didn't exist before then. And even if it is a new faith, does that demean it?
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Actually, Wicca essentially didn't exist until the 1950s, and Aliester Crowley had very little to do with the creation of "Wicca" as it were. The person who invented Wicca, a certain individual named Gerald Gardner who had previously been a member of the occult order known as The Golden Dawn. Aleister Crowley was also a member of said order, and founded a different path known as Thelema, where the entire philosophy can be summed up as "Do what thou Wilt shall be the whole of the Law, Love is the Law, Love under Will." The similiarities essentially end here.
Gardener claims to have been initiated into a sacred cabal (sabbat, whatever those people call it) of witches who practice various magics which all happen to, in some way, involve sadomasochistic sex. Wiccans who don't believe this simply aren't Wiccans, for more information consult Gardener's Book of Shadows and read the typical ritual list.
In my educated opinion, Wicca was started as an excuse for Gardener to get laid. Gardener was, however, a rather prominent occultist, and many seem to have followed the path that was lain by Wicca, so it might very well be something else at this point.