Traditional Craft (Bellaonline)
Most covens and styles of Paganism and Witchcraft/Wicca like to think they are practising an art directly connected to ancient roots in a time of peace and plenty when their rituals and spells were revered along with their practitioners. This worldview was particularly popular in the 1970’s and 1990’s as part of the rise of the “New Age” movement which itself was a reincarnation of the 1960’s rise in interest in ecology and the spiritual systems connected with honouring nature. These included Shamanism, Druidry, and the various spiritual systems of the Middle and Far East. Witchcraft, which had been publicised by Gerald Gardiner after the replacement of the 1735 Witchcraft act with the Fraudulent Mediums act in 1951 was very much overlooked until the 1970’s when the Feminist Movement ‘discovered’ it and promoted it as an ideal spiritual path for women. The Gardnarian system was particularly popular as it stressed the Priestess role in ritual as the key one and, using Gardener’s works as a base, dozens of covens sprang up to be followed shortly by others using ritual magic, Freemasonry, and mystery school teachings as their guides.
In this sudden mushrooming of different styles, traditional Craft was overlooked. Which, frankly, they preferred. After one or two groups gained unwanted publicity via the newspapers they moved well away from the mainstream and kept the teachings and practices within family groups, or only shared with people who had passed a strict selection test. So strict in fact that many of those selected only knew about it after they had passed and were invited to join the coven! Only when they met their fellow members did a lot of the strange people they had been meeting, and the weird things that had been happening, over the last weeks or months suddenly all make sense.
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art178185.asp