Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T19:20:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Celso Luiz Terzetti Filho.pdf: 1284343 bytes, checksum: 87a3503abceaa7b50093c806b47c799c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-04-03 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This dissertation examines the history of Wicca, a religious system created by Gerald Gardner in England in the late 40th through three of his works that deal specifically with its conception of witchcraft, " High Magic s Aid" (1949) "Witchcraft Today" (1954) and "The Meaning of Witchcraft" (1959). Within a perspective that takes into account your inspirations for the creation of a system resulting from their original religious movement as a seeker in the occult milieu of his time, we seek to understand Wicca as a religious system through a counter cultural interpretation. Thus this work asks in what sense the works of Gardner is a historical product of their social time. Our hypothesis is that his works are a product of the social history of postwar England to the extent that Gardner, in constructing his conception of witchcraft in his works, appropriated counter-trend to compose a countercultural religious system / Esta dissertação analisa a história da Wicca, um sistema religioso criado por Gerald Gardner na Inglaterra em fins da década de 40, através de três de suas obras que tratam especificamente de sua concepção de bruxaria, Com o auxílio da Alta Magia (1949), A Bruxaria Hoje (1954) e O Significado da Bruxaria (1959). Dentro de uma perspectiva que leva em consideração suas inspirações para a constituição de um sistema religioso original resultante de sua circulação como um seeker dentro do milieu ocultista de sua época, busca-se entender a Wicca como um sistema religioso através de uma interpretação contra cultural. Sendo assim este trabalho questiona em que sentido as obras de Gardner são um produto histórico social de seu tempo. Nossa hipótese é a de que suas obras são um produto histórico social da Inglaterra do pós-guerra na medida em que Gardner, ao construir sua concepção de bruxaria em suas obras, apropriou-se de tendências contraculturais para compor um sistema religioso contracultural

<p>My essay is a description about the religion Wicca; laws, ethics, history, rites, inauguration and how they relate to the gods and the different seasons.It’s also about the wiccan history and how wicca have created their own history by taking old mythic stories and making them their legacy.</p>

My essay is a description about the religion Wicca; laws, ethics, history, rites, inauguration and how they relate to the gods and the different seasons.It’s also about the wiccan history and how wicca have created their own history by taking old mythic stories and making them their legacy.

This thesis is an intensive, multi-layered analysis of an unpublished, English language, handwritten, mid-20th century manuscript. Originally undated, untitled and unsigned, it has now been positively identified as “Text A”, a Wiccan proto-Book of Shadows compiled by Gerald Brosseau Gardner (1884-1964) in the last half of the 1940’s. Different methodologies were applied to the document: transcription using Leiden conventions, handwriting analysis to identify the author, archival research to uncover photographs of the manuscript in use, historical and bibliographical research to situate the manuscript and its author, and finally, an in-depth and exhaustive source analysis to uncover literary and documentary influences on the text. Subsequently, the manuscript was identified as handwritten by Gerald Gardner, from 1940 to 1949, and contains almost no original material other than a handful of pages for a speech or oral presentation. The rest of the document is comprised of extracts from published sources available to Gardner. These include books on Free Masonry, Templars, British Folklore, Kabbalah, Magic – ancient and ceremonial, and books by Aleister Crowley. The document also includes ritual passages and ceremonies, most of which also appear in Gardner’s published novel, High Magic’s Aid. Two theme-lines, “Magic – ancient and ceremonial” and “the writings of Aleiser Crowley”, comprising almost 40% of the total page count, were chosen for thorough analysis. Based on the information revealed by the various methodologies applied to this document, one can assert that Gardner’s claims to have been initiated into an ancient indigenous tradition, Wicca, and to be making available its long secret rituals are not supported by this document.

This thesis is an intensive, multi-layered analysis of an unpublished, English language, handwritten, mid-20th century manuscript. Originally undated, untitled and unsigned, it has now been positively identified as “Text A”, a Wiccan proto-Book of Shadows compiled by Gerald Brosseau Gardner (1884-1964) in the last half of the 1940’s. Different methodologies were applied to the document: transcription using Leiden conventions, handwriting analysis to identify the author, archival research to uncover photographs of the manuscript in use, historical and bibliographical research to situate the manuscript and its author, and finally, an in-depth and exhaustive source analysis to uncover literary and documentary influences on the text. Subsequently, the manuscript was identified as handwritten by Gerald Gardner, from 1940 to 1949, and contains almost no original material other than a handful of pages for a speech or oral presentation. The rest of the document is comprised of extracts from published sources available to Gardner. These include books on Free Masonry, Templars, British Folklore, Kabbalah, Magic – ancient and ceremonial, and books by Aleister Crowley. The document also includes ritual passages and ceremonies, most of which also appear in Gardner’s published novel, High Magic’s Aid. Two theme-lines, “Magic – ancient and ceremonial” and “the writings of Aleiser Crowley”, comprising almost 40% of the total page count, were chosen for thorough analysis. Based on the information revealed by the various methodologies applied to this document, one can assert that Gardner’s claims to have been initiated into an ancient indigenous tradition, Wicca, and to be making available its long secret rituals are not supported by this document.