June 13: Birthday of Gerald Gardner

On June 13, 1884, Gerald Gardner was born in England. Gardner became a renowned folklorist and collector of occult material, and he claimed to have been initiated into a coven of witches in the New Forest area. Shortly after World War I ended, he started a tradition that would eventually evolve into Gardnerian Wicca. When the last of England's Witchcraft Laws was repealed in 1951, Gardner went public, and formed a number of covens in England before he died in 1964. In the year before his death, Gardner initiated Raymond Buckland, who then brought modern Wicca to America. If you haven't read Gardner's book Witchcraft Today, pick up a copy - it gives good insight as to the ideals behind the modern witchcraft movement.