History of Wicca "Witches Devil-Worship in London!". He also published a second non-fiction book on the subject, "The Meaning of Witchcraft", in 1959, as well as running the Museum of Magic and Witchcraft on the Isle of Man up until his death in 1964. Gardner referred to members of his tradition as "the Wica", although he called the religion itself "Witchcraft", and never used the term "Wicca" in the sense as it is now known. The ritual format of Wicca shows the influence of late Victorian era occultism (even co-founder Doreen Valiente admitted seeing influence from Aleister Crowley), and there is very little
History of Wicca this was a form of "minority empowerment". For a long time, Wicca was seen as being simply a minor sect, or cult. However, with the rise of solitary practitioners describing themselves as Wiccans, the faith went from becoming simply a mystery cult to becoming a public religion. Groups were formed to represent the Wiccan community, such as the Covenant of the Goddess, which was founded in 1975. Wiccans began to appear on various British television documentaries, including "The Heaven & Earth Show" and "Desperately Seeking Something". In the USA, the court case of Dettmer v. Landon in 1986 established that