Wicca, while it is a recognized religion, is by no means ancient. Wicca as we now know it was solidified somewhere in the 1950s by Gerald Gardner. Some of its roots date back to earlier in the 20th century, and the ideas and practices were cobbled together from centuries of past accounts.

Paganism and witchcraft have been around for so long that no one truly knows when they originated. However, most of the organized forms of Paganism that we know today came about, relatively speaking, quite recently. It wasn’t until the 19th century when the term “Pagan” came into popular use as a self-identifier. Prior to that, it often just referred to an outsider, or anyone who didn’t practice an Abrahamic religion.

How old any pagan tradition really is, is quite hard to track down. Even today they’re still trying to piece together bits of truth and weed out the myth. However, Wicca is without doubt, not ancient as an organized, self-identifying spiritual path. This doesn’t mean that it’s not a valid spiritual path, or that it has any less value than older traditions. It only means that one should not pride themselves on being part of some ages-old magickal tradition when that simply isn’t true.

*Disclaimer: I no longer practice Paganism, but I’ve left these Pagan Myths articles active because I believe they’re still valuable in helping people to understand Paganism and reduce negative stereotypes.*

Briana Blair

Briana Blair is an author and artisan. She has published more then 30 books and thousands of articles across multiple sites. After practicing Paganism and witchcraft for 25 years, she's now on a journey as an atheist and skeptic. She's eclectic, unpredictable, and always evolving. Facebook - Twitter