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How did Gardnerian Wicca and Alexandrian Wicca develop?

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Oil painting The Witches' Sabbath by Francisco de Goya shows a group of figures in dark robes gathered around a crouching person, with eerie creatures flying in a moonlit sky. — Witchcraft *El conjuro* or *Las brujas* (“The Conjuring” or “The Witches”), oil on canvas by Francisco Goya, 1797–98; in the Museo Lázaro Galdiano, Madrid.

Development of Gardnerian and Alexandrian Wicca

The origins of Wicca are primarily attributed to Gerald Brosseau Gardner, a retired British civil servant. Following the 1951 repeal of Britain's witchcraft laws, Gardner published Witchcraft Today in 1954. He founded his first coven and, with the assistance of high priestess Doreen Valiente, developed what became known as Gardnerian Wicca. Gardner claimed his teachings originated from a group of witches he discovered near England’s New Forest in 1939, though historians have questioned the existence of this group.12

Alexandrian Wicca was established by the English occultist Alexander Sanders (1926–1988). During the 1950s and 1960s, various occultists drew upon Gardner’s writings and other texts to create their own traditions. Sanders was among the most prominent of these figures, developing his own branch of the religion that became known as Alexandrian Wicca. Like other early Wiccan traditions, these groups typically claimed to be the continuation of a pre-Christian religion, a narrative that was later challenged by historical research.2