History, they say, is written by the victors. This is the primary reason given by any historical revisionist for why their view of history, as opposed to the "traditional" viewpoint, is "accurate". There is no doubt that in many cases they are correct. This being the case, since history is almost always written from a biased viewpoint, how do we know what truly happened and what did not?

There is, sadly, simply no easy answer to that question. The best that we can do is to rely on analysis of the texts that we have in view of current archeological evidence. In the case of periods of prehistory or in cultures where there are no written historical records, we have only whatever oral tradition exists, often in the form of legends and myths, and whatever archeological evidence we can find, to rely upon.

Wicca itself is a modern religion based on paleolithic practices, introduced to the western world by amatuer anthropologist Gerald Gardner in 1951. While pagan beleifs and practices may go back much further than the middle of the twentieth century, Wicca, does not. It is the task of the archeologist, and to a further extent, the anthropologist, to interpret archeological data in the context of known cultural models and to develop a theory for the hows and whys of culture and history. In the past, archeologists and anthropologists were generally male, their cultural models were 'male' aggressor models and therefore they assumed that all cultural models were also 'male' aggressor models. Until recently this was the prevailing viewpoint. In the last few decades however, a new model of thought has evolved, one which theorizes that perhaps the dominator model of society was not the only model.

The definitive start of the modern witchcraft era began with Gerald Gardner (1884-1964). As an archaeologist, Gardner had accumulated an extensive occult background. While in Southeast Asia, he learned the secrets of the Malaysian magical knife and became a Mason and a nudist. In 1939 when he returned to England an avid occultist, he became a member of the Corona Fellowship of Rosicrucians where he met Dorothy Clutterbuck. Clutterbuck initiated Gardner into witchcraft. Gordon wrote two books, one of which he claimed was to record accurately the history and practice of witchcraft, as he felt it was dying out. J. Gordon Melton stated in his review of Gardner's book Witchcraft Today, "Research suggests that Gardner did not discover a pre-existing Witchcraft group". A paper by Gardner published by Ripley's Believe it or Not disclosed that Gardner took the magical resources he acquired in Asia and a selection of Western magical texts and created a new religion centered upon the worship of the Mother-Goddess."

This theory has evolved from the works of several individuals who have re-examined both earlier and new archeological data from a different perspective and by doing so have come to new conclusions. Among these conclusions is the theory that the earliest societies were matriarchal or at least matricentric and matrilineal in nature, and that they revered the Great Goddess, the fertile Earth Mother, as their model of the Divine. The earlier societies, revering the Feminine Divine, were more prone to peaceful, cooperative cultural structures and even possibly to egalitarian existence, or so the theories say. Let me emphasize, though, that these theories are controversial, and critics have many valid arguments to challenge these ideas, especially as a universal theory of the nature of prehistory. However, although the history is an interesting and important part of our inheritance, it is not necessary to be a historian in order to start exploring the beliefs and practices of the Wiccan tradition. What is true is that regardless of where Wicca originated it has been largely practiced as an initiatory tradition for the last 60 plus years. These theories create the foundation on which Neo-Paganism is built. Neo-Paganism is in many ways an attempt to recreate these earliest forms of religion and the ideals with which they have come to be associated. Those who seek out the path of the Neo-Pagan are often attempting to return home to ideals which their subconscious mind still holds as sacred, but which have been displaced by the dominator society in which they live.

Whether or not the earlier models are factual is relevant from a Neo-Pagan viewpoint only in an academic context. What is more important is that they touch something within the heart of the Neo-Pagan, something which feels right and which works. Neo-Pagans recognize that myths have power, so the fact that the history of Neo-Paganism is built on theory and myth does not lessen the impact that our religion has on our hearts or our lives.

A religion based, in part, on ancient, northern European Pagan beliefs in a fertility Goddess and her consort, a horned God. Although the religion is a modern creation, some of its sources pre-date the Christian era by many centuries. Most Wiccans do not believe that their religion is a direct, continuous descendent of this earlier religion. They see it as a modern reconstruction. In the modern sense it is impossible to have a family Wiccan Lineage going back further than 1951.

If your parent was say born between 1920 and 1930 they could have been the first generation, a generation is dated in 20 year cycles so the furthest a person can claim in Fam Trad Generations as an American Wiccan is theoretically Four, because many adults will not very from their current path after marrying or having children. However, it is possible to have family traditions that embrace other pagan elements that go back much further.

Wicca is a commonly beleived to be a much older name for witchcraft. While there is no evidence that the word existed prior to Gerald Gardner, the term witchcraft has been defined in different ways. In the past it has most often referred to the human harnessing of supernatural powers for the malevolent purpose of practicing black magic. For this reason, witchcraft, sorcery, and magic are nearly synonymous.