How did wicca come to be? Before, there was just paganism right?

There have been innumerable religions since shortly after mankind came into existence. However, the following information is the accepted origins of Wicca.

It is believed that Wicca started from an ancient religion called Shamanism. The Shamans were medicine people, the power wielders, male and female. They wrought magick and spoke to the spirits of Nature. (You can find all sorts of information about this with the Native Americans.)

From these primitive beginnings arose all magick and religion including Wicca. Though refined and changed, Wicca touches our souls and causes ecstasy and awareness shifts which unite us with Deity. Many of the Wicca teachings are of Shamanic origin.

Modern Wicca began in England in 1939, when Gerald Gardner was initiated into a traditional British coven by Dorothy Clutterbuck (Old Dorothy). He later broke the coven’s seal of secrecy and published books about the beliefs and practices of British Wiccans, because he feared the religion would die out. This began a groundswell of people converting to Wicca.

Debate currently rages over whether Wicca is a new religion or the oldest of all religions. Some say that Wicca has been practiced continuously in Europe since the Ice Age. They cite paleolithic carvings of female figures, such as the Venus of Willendorf, as evidence of Goddess worship having been the origin of all religions. But, other say, Wicca is a neo-pagan faith of the 20th century.