Debates Over the History of Wicca...

Merry Meet!

So, I've been Wiccan for quite some time now, and occasionally I hear about "the history of Wicca"...

Actually, quite an interesting topic.. There is, however a lot of debate over such a simple subject.

Some say Gerald Gardner (he wrote the first book on 'Wicca'.. hence "Gardnerian Wicca") made the entire thing up. Others say he merely popularized it, and that it is older that most other religions. And then there are the ones that say it's only been around for about 60 years (hence the "made up" part)...

So many different ideas about it, but which one is true?!

To be honest.. is there really any conclusive evidence on either side to either disprove that Wicca is hundreds of years old?
Vice versa- is there any conclusive evidence to disprove that it is in fact only 60 years old?

Not really.. at least- from my perspective, there seems to be lack of evidence leaking from all over the place. Some say it's because of the witch trials, it caused Wiccans to hide their beliefs, also causing most information and evidence to get lost and never found.
Is that true?
I honestly have no idea.. possibly; it most certainly could be the case indeed!

But what if it's not, and it was just "made up" from all sorts of other religions and mushed into one belief system? That's just as possible too I guess..

To be completely honest, there really isn't much evidence (from what I can tell) to disprove either, it's really only a matter of personal views on the subject.

For me, I had heard from somewhere (possibly a website?) that some person thought this as the history of Wicca: That Gardner got a "skeletal" structure of Wicca, and "added some flesh to it".
That, to me seems very plausible!! Mainly because it kind of balances out the other two ideas.. if Wicca did exist, and most was lost; all Gardner could have gotten was a "skeletal" structure; and adding some "flesh" to it (sorry for the metaphors, it's how it was described, and I thought it was a nifty way of putting it.. easily understandable) could be construed as "making it up" (I, however, don't think he would have made up an entire religion.. who would do that??)

So, that's my opinion.. that Gerald Gardner got a "skeletal" form of Wicca and added "flesh" to it.. just my point of view.. others are free to think what they please :)
Oh, I'm presuming by "skeletal" it means, like the basic beliefs, some rituals, etc; and by "flesh"; all of the other tid bits that may have been "added".

Just on a little side note: Why should the age of a religion matter to begin with?? It's about the spiritual fulfillment and the journey.. everything else seems kind of pointless to ponder over...
I say, the age of a religion, whether it's thousands of years old, or was created yesterday-- should NOT MATTER. It's about your spiritual journey, nothing else other than what the religion does for you, if it makes you happy, go for it.
Even if, many years from now, someone claims to have conclusive evidence that Wicca was entirely made up.. I won't care, nor will I convert to another faith; I like the faith I have already, and all because it didn't exist before some other amount of time doesn't make it any less real than others.
Just my point of view again; your free to think and feel however you wish :)


I hope you enjoyed my little rant-type thing ;)
love and light, Goddess bless!
)O( Amorel )O(