N the 1950’s Gerald Gardner introduced Wicca to the world as a new revival of Witchcraft. In 1950 the Witchcraft Act of 1735 ¹⁾ was abolished, and Gardner thought the time was right to proclaim Witchcraft still existed and proclaimed to be a witch. By then Wicca became a new religion , with many modern branches.

But not only christianity became furious about the open proclamation of witchcraft out in the open. Witches were always around, in counties like Cornwall, Dartmoor, Exmoor, Essex and Sussex, but remained in the shadows and protected by secrecy and those who still hired them for many a reason.

Cecil Williamson, the founder of the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic (first on the Isle of Man and later in Boscastle in Cornwall, was a a representative of the Old Arte not very pleased with the openness about Witchcraft, as ages of persecution passed and the Arte survived because of secrecy.

Nowadays both Wicca and Traditional Witchcraft gain popularity as the role of the church is waining and people are returning to the Old Ways.

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NOTE

^{1) https://archives.blog.parliament.uk/2020/10/28/which-witchcraft-act-is-which/}