 Gerald Gardner ( 1884 – 1964 ) , the man largely responsible for propagating the Wiccan religion in Britain during the 1950s and 1960s and the founder of the Gardnerian tradition , never used the term Wicca in either sense that it is used today . He referred to the religion as the " cult of witchcraft " or " the witch @-@ cult " , the latter likely being a term borrowed from Margaret Murray , who wrote a book entitled The Witch @-@ <unk> in Western Europe ( 1921 ) . Gardner did use the term Wica , which he always spelled with only one c in his writings , but this did not refer to the religion itself , instead referring to the religion 's practitioners in a plural sense . 
