8. Origins of Modern Witchcraft
The most widely observed witchcraft-based religion in the western world is the faith system Wicca, which was officially recognized as a religion in the U.S. in the early 90‘s. It was created in the early 1940’s by Gerald Gardner and is largely based on ancient druidism. The word wicce was Anglo-Saxon in origin, and meant “to bend” and evolved into the Middle English wicche, or from masculine Old English wicca, meaning “sorceror”. It is the root of the words “witch” and “wicked.” Wicca was formed as a sort of “spin-off,” if you will, of Druidry, a celtic religion that existed more than a thousand years ago. One problem with this, however, is that the Druidic order was an oral tradition, so nothing about their rituals was written down, meaning most of the modern practices are based largely on guesswork and outsider accounts. SEE ALSO: The 10 most evil and terrifying killer secret cults – Their evil deeds will leave you speechless! (+Photos)
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