The single most important Tradition
. Brought into public view by Gerald Gardner
through works of fiction
and then non-fiction (Withcraft Today
), Witchcraft or Wicca
(a term coined by Gardner) became the largest and most influential (if not the first) group of the Twentieth Century
's neopagan movement.
Gardnarian Wicca is, strictly speaking, practiced only by covens that can trace their lineage of High Priestesses back to the coven of which Gardner was a member. More generally, it has come to mean any group that uses the same liturgy and rituals. Much of these materials were later published by the Farrars in The Witches Bible.
Many of the elements of Gardnarian Wicca apeal to those interested in Goddess worship and Earth-centered spirituality. These include the matrifocal organization of the covens, the worship of a Goddess and a God, the ecstatic, dionysian form of ritual and the focus on nature. Some elements of the original Gardnarian Wicca bother the politically correct including ritual nudity (see skyclad), ritual sex (see the Great Rite), required heterosexuality and ritual scourging. Milder forms of Gardnarian Wicca have arisen to address these issues.