Although a number of Neopagan groups claim that their rituals and traditions were passed down in an unbroken line from ancient times to the present, there is no realistic basis for believing an ancient tradition of Paganism survived. Historians of the modern Neopagan movement agree that a handful of 20th-century occultists invented the primary principles and rituals of modern Paganism. Well-known historian Jeffrey Burton Russell documents that the two primary “inventors” of modern Neopaganism were occultists Gerald Gardner and Aleister Crowley.
Margot Adler, an author known for her sympathy with Neopaganism and highly regarded in Neopagan circles, has written one of the most comprehensive histories of modern Neopaganism. In her book Drawing Down the Moon, she tells how during the first decades of the modern “witchcraft” movement (1950s-1970s) a “myth of Wicca” took form. This myth was sparked by the 1921 thesis of Egyptologist Margaret Murray, who maintained that the Pagans of pre-Christian Europe survived into the Middle Ages in great numbers. According to her, the Catholic Church in collaboration with secular authority intentionally and systematically sought out and slaughtered millions of those still holding to the “old religion.” In her view, only a few survived the witch-hunts to provide an unbroken link from the founders of modern Neopaganism-Witchcraft to their earliest Stone Age predecessors. Ms. Adler admits that most leaders of the modern Neopagan movement acknowledge there is no historical basis for this myth. (See Drawing Down the Moon, pages 86-87.)
Jeffrey B. Russell offers this observation regarding the Murray thesis:
This scenario . . . is not permitted by the evidence, which Murray misused in violation of the simplest rules of criticism. All historians are agreed on this (see pp. 41-42).
Historian Joseph Klaits also leaves no doubt regarding the lack of an historical basis for the Murray thesis:
Murray’s bold theses have been effectively criticized many times over the years, most recently by Norman Cohn, who shows with great thoroughness that her opinions rest on a tangled tissue of highly selective quotations, mistranslated passages, and out-and-out fabrications. Although the popular reputation of Murray’s works remains remarkably strong, no serious student of the subject accepts her evidence.(Servants of Satan: The Age of the Witch Hunts, pp. 10-11)
