Wicca, also known as ‘The Craft (of the Wise)’, owes its modern surge in popularity to Lancashire-born Gerald Brosseau Gardner (1884-1964). He retired to Dorset in 1938 and became involved in two local groups ~ the naturists and the secret followers of a mystery tradition. Gardner’s ‘Book of Shadows’ is regarded as the ultimate Wiccan manual and Gardner himself as the father of modern witchcraft, although a Wiccan may or may not be a witch.

Potential Wiccans are expected to request initiation rather than being converted. Some covens then give them a year’s grace period before instruction begins. Only adults are accepted. Their rites and rituals generally take place in woods or parks and involve moving in a circle to help generate spiritual energy. The circle features in the Wiccan symbol, the pentagram or pentacle, where it represents the universe and the five points the elements of fire, air, water, earth and spirit.

Today it is possible to take the first steps towards becoming a Wiccan by online correspondence course. It is one of the fastest-growing religions in the UK and other parts of the world. Its reverence for nature and old pagan ways strikes home with many people seeking a spiritual path.

(Top image of Gardner’s Book of Shadows: Midnightblueowl at Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0)

More of a theological movement than a religion, Unitarianism began in eastern Europe after the Reformation. Its name comes from its assertion that God is not split into three, as in Catholicism’s Trinity of ‘the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost/Spirit’, but is a single, omnipresent divinity. This was adopted in the UK in the 1700s by the non-conformist Protestant factions, keen to take on radical change.

Although Unitarianism was seen as heretical at the time, Theophilus Lindsey set up the first openly Unitarian church in 1774 in London, in what is now the headquarters of ‘The General Assembly of Unitarian & Free Christian Churches’. Unitarianism gained legal status in 1813 and reached its peak of popularity over the next century.

The services  held in each of its 170 churches, chapels and meeting rooms vary in format according to each congregation’s wishes. Some services focus on meditation alone. It has no creed, dogmas or rules. Jesus Christ is regarded as a charismatic human, not the son of God. Indeed, a belief in God is not even required, as the aim is for each person to discuss, ponder and reach their own conclusions on spirituality. It truly is a ‘broad church’.

(Image of Brighton Unitarian Church: Cathy Cox at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)