Free Wicca School Blog

Gardnerian Wicca originated in England in the years just prior to World War Two and was created by a man named Gerald Gardner who was a retired English civil servant. It was there that he was initiated into a traditional coven or witches that claimed lineage from Pre Christian times who met regularly in The New Forest located on the southern coast of England.

He began the tradition of Wicca initiation by initiating a series of women who functioned as high priestesses of their own covens and thereby created the “downlines”, or Wicca lineage of England. In England anyone who claims to be a practitioner of Gardnerian Wicca is understood to trace their wiccan lineage to one of these downlines that were created at that time.

In North America the term British Traditional Wicca is understood to mean roughly the same thing as Gardnerian Wicca. Gardnerian Wicca is often recognized to be the most tradition based of the Wiccan practices and for this reason it is not adhered to by many Wiccans and rightly so. For many people who wish to practice Wicca it is simply not feasible to be initiated into a Gardnerian Wicca coven because there simple is not one available to them.

The Originator of Gardnerian Wicca - Gerald Gardner

It was Gerald Gardner who established and disseminated many of the traditions that are recognized to this day as the basic tenets of modern day Wicca that are widely recognized in the Wiccan community as as a whole. When Gerald Gardner was introduced to Wicca it was presented to him in what he determined to be a fragmented form and for this reason he worked to give it the more structured traditions that most Wiccan would recognize today.

It is important to bear in mind that during the time that Gerald Gardner was practicing Wicca in England it was illegal and had been for centuries and for this reason the tradition of secrecy was imperative.