Wicca is a modern pagan, syncretic, Earth-focused type of religion. Considered a new religious movement by scholars of religion, the path evolved from Western esotericism, developed in England during
Altar statues of the Horned God and Mother Goddess crafted by Bel Bucca and owned by the "Mother of Wicca", Doreen Valiente
Sculpture of the Horned God of Wicca found in the Museum of Witchcraft in Boscastle, Cornwall
Athame, ritual knife or dagger used in Wiccan practices
Painted Wheel of the Year at the Museum of Witchcraft, Boscastle, Cornwall, displaying all eight of the Sabbats
Gerald Brosseau Gardner, also known by the craft name Scire, was an English Wiccan, author, and amateur anthropologist and archaeologist. He was instrumental in bringing the modern pagan religion of W
Wicca
…the path evolved from Western esotericism, developed in England during the first half of the 20th century, and was introduced to the public in 1954 by Gerald Gardner, a retired British civil servant. Wicca draws upon ancient pagan and 20th-century hermetic motifs for theological and ritual purposes. Doreen Valiente…
Gardner with his Irish nursemaid, Com, during the 1880s
While working in Borneo in 1911, Gardner eschewed the racist attitudes of his colleagues by befriending members of the Dayak indigenous community, fascinated by their magico-religious beliefs, tattoos and displays of weaponry.
A selection of kris knives; Gardner took a great interest in such items, even authoring the definitive text on the subject, Keris and Other Malay Weapons (1936).