This is all taken from the book : Gerald Gardner and the Cauldron of Inspiriation. An Investigation into the Sources of Gardnerian Witchcraft by Philip Heselton.

A Book Review

These are my notes and the items I believe to be the most important. For now it's pretty much all from the book, but as I work with it, I shall add references and information from other sources. This is a major work in progress and is to be considered under construction.

What seems clear to me will not be read the same by someone with a different background and inclination. What seems so obvious to me is gibberish to someone else, and what makes sense to another is often totally ridiculous in my eyes. - I am of course filtering reality through my perspective, which can't help but include presumptions and misconceptions of my own.

So, if whether you agree with me, or disagree with me, the answer is the same as in most every other aspect of life, read the book - draw your own conclusions.

Wicca is a living, breathing folk tradion. Thus, like any living, breathing tradition it will use that which best serves the needs of the people, and what gets passed with be that which most touches the hearts and souls of those who are passing it on.

In addition, it will incorporate all that each practitioner experiences and determines to be useful. For modern Wicca, like for the people of the past this includes to a certain extent available published material. (By D. Hudson Frew (Morgann)" especially from the grimoire tradition, which can enter folk magic practice. Prof. Glynn Custred, chronicler of Andean folk magic in Peru, has noted that he was unable to understand the spells of the Andean sorcerers he studied until he familiarized himself with the grimoire tradition of Medieval and Renaissance Spain. Ritual texts and practices from European grimoires had entered and permeated the Andean folk magic tradition, having been brought from Spain by conquistadors (Custred, 1983).
Herbert Leventhal notes that German "magicians" and cunning folk in America in the 18th century regularly used the Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses in their conjurations (Leventhal, 1974, pp. 107-109), while Will-Erich Peuckert has shown that this book was a conglomeration of material from many earlier grimoires (Peuckert, 1957).
Indeed, Peuckert has demonstrated that material from the grimoires permeates the folk magic tradition across all of Europe, from Italy to Sweden (Peuckert, 1954)"

Reading the book, the one thing that kept perculating thru the back of my mind was the search for exactly what was the heart of Wicca. What is it that made this particular cult so very attractive, spoke to the heart and souls of so many people, in so many cultures? Why didn't it just form, collect a few practitioners and then fade out as so many other occult groups have thru the years?

I have come to believe, for now at least, that the heart of the riddle is Katherine Louise Oldmeadow. I believe that her contribution is the core, and that the bits and pieces added to it were, as revealed by other studied folk traditions a way of expressing thru air, thru the use of structure and words, that which our folk core creates within the heart and soul.

The ingrediants that make Wicca special and appealing are the results of the mixing of two individual women and their experiences, beliefs and practices, combined with the finishing touches and polish applied to those practices by Gerald Gardner. Any of the three alone, or in pairs would have been just another little occult group that faded into time. Like so many other groups and organizations from that time period.

This is a simple overview of the main personalities and what they brought into Wicca. Grins, read the book for a fasinating detailed look.

Katherine Louise Oldmeadow
From at least 1913 onwards lived in Highcliffe and brought the following interests to Wicca:
Pagan Nature Reverence
Dancing barefoot
Seasonal Festivals
Seasonal Traditions
Divinations
Candles
Wands
Knives
Herbs

Katherine Oldmeadow had a small circle of friends who met and danced and performed simple traditional Pagan Nature rituals for each season,including Dorothy St. Quintin Fordham (nee Clutterbuck).
Dorothy allowed Chewton Mill House to be used by this group for meetings and rituals even after she moved away from the area. Dorothy shared an interest in Horticulture and BeeKeeping and Greek Paganism.

Katherine Oldmeadow would be considered by modern Witches to be a hedge witch, and a Pagan.

Rosamund Sabine moved to Chewton Glen Farm in Walkford, near HighCliffe in 1923/24. Her friendship with Katherine Oldmeadow is reflected in the changes in attitude toward witches in the childrens books that Katherine Oldmeadow wrote after that period.

Rosamund brought the Ceremonial Magic elements,and was most likely the person who coined the name of group as Wica (read the book).

Basic info on other groups and what they may have contributed
Basic info on other people involved who may have contributed
These are the conclusions drawn by Philip Heselton from his book Gerald Gardner and the Cauldron of Inspiration

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