Bitter Winter recently published a book review by editor Massimon Introvigne of  John Callow’s “Gerald Gardner and the Creation of Wicca,” an in depth biography of Gerald Gardner, one time O.T.O. member and the inaugurator the modern Wicca movement. The reveiw begins:

Gerald Gardner (1884–1964), the man who conjured Wicca into existence and then insisted he hadn’t, finally gets the credit he deserves in the University of Suffolk’s John Callow’s “Gerald Gardner and the Creation of Wicca” (Cambridge Elements, 2025). This slim but potent volume reads like a scholarly séance—summoning Gardner’s ghost from the margins of history and giving him back his wand, robes, and reputation.

Callow opens with a paradox: Gardner is universally acknowledged as the father of Wicca, yet his name is often treated as an embarrassment. Why? Three reasons, Callow argues. First, Gardner insisted Wicca was not his invention but the secret survival of a Paleolithic goddess cult. This allowed him to present himself not as a founder but as a humble messenger. The myth was seductive, but it muddied the historical waters. Second, Wicca was crafted as a female-led, goddess-centered religion. A balding British man claiming to have birthed it felt incongruous. Gardner’s solution was to fade into the mythos and let the goddess take center stage. Third, Charles Cardell (1895–1977), Gardner’s personal enemy, launched a “scurrilous” campaign portraying him as a sex-obsessed, egocentric fraud. Unfortunately, this caricature was picked up by journalists, scholars, and even some Wiccans, casting a long shadow over Gardner’s legacy.

https://bitterwinter.org/a-new-book-on-gerald-gardner-the-wizard-of-odd-who-invented-wicca-sort-of/