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in New York, and Batman appeared in his first comic book. Meanwhile, a British civil servant named Gerald Gardner was secretly initiated into a surviving coven of Witches hidden in the New Forest of England. He would become known as the father of modern Witchcraft.
    By 1949, Gardner was writing about the Craft, and in one of his later books he revealed himself to be an initiate. His two best-known works were Witchcraft Today (1954) and The Meaning of Witchcraft (1959). There has been dispute ever since as to whether the “New Forest coven” that initiated him really existed, and how much of the Craft that he passed on (the Gardnerian Tradition) was authentic and ancient, and how much was borrowed from ceremonial magick or invented by Gardner himself.
    The 1950s arrived, with big red convertibles and rock ’n’ roll heroes. To the public, Witches were fantasy figures from fairy tales, as unreal as giants and trolls and unicorns. In 1951, one of the last surviving laws against Witches, the Witchcraft Act of 1735, was repealed in Great Britain. And Witchcraft, led by the Gardnerian Tradition, quietly spread throughout Western Europe, North America, Australia, and New Zealand.
    The ancient traditions that inspired Wicca are dimmed by the mists of time, but the modern history is clear: a vital and creative spiritual tradition continues to grow and re-create itself. In the end, it may not matter whether Wicca is a survival, revival, or renaissance of ancient religious paths. Mere age is no good measure of a religion’s value, and to the extent that parts of Wicca are new—well, all religions were new at some time. The real questions are: “Does it work for the people who practice it?” and “Does it serve the communities where it is practiced and the planet we all share?”
    The Craft As Art, Skill,
Knowledge & Practice
    So, what is this “practice” of Witchcraft? In traditional terms, the arts of the Witch include divination, magick or spellcrafting, and healing, which was sometimes indistinguishable from magick to our ancestors. Along the way, many Witches gain skills in planning and leading rituals, teaching, group leadership, creating beautiful art in service to Deity, and more. We will explore these further in chapter 12, because each of these skills can become a spiritual vocation.
    After salem
    Many people have heard of the Salem Witch Trials that disrupted Salem Village and other towns in colonial Massachusetts in 1692 and 1693. Over 150 people were arrested, some after accusations by hysterical girls. Twenty people were hanged or, in one case, crushed with heavy stones.
    No one knows exactly what prompted the whole crazy episode. Some say that economic rivals were using the girls’ nonsense as an excuse to destroy their enemies. Others say that ergot, a natural hallucinogen, got into the food supply and drove the people mad. We may never know.
    Not many people know that within a few years, many of those involved—judges, jurymen, and clergy—began to repent their actions and ask forgiveness. Soon some of the convictions were reversed and monetary damages paid to survivors and relatives. But it was not until October 31, 2001, that the governor of Massachusetts signed a resolution by the House of Representatives declaring all the victims to be innocent.
    Divination is the art of foreseeing trends and discovering hidden knowledge using tools such as tarot cards, runestones, a pendulum, or a scrying mirror. With such tools and sufficient training and practice, we can learn more about ourselves and the future than is apparent on a mundane level. We will discuss this in greater depth in chapter 10.
    Magick itself has many definitions, which will be described in chapter 8. For now, it is enough to say that magick is a powerful tool for changing yourself and the world, and it is usually nothing like the fantasy magick we see on television or in movies.
    Not every Witch considers herself or himself to be a healer,