Witchcraft Today is generally treated by historians of modern paganism as the single most consequential publication in the emergence of Wicca as a public religious movement, since it was the first work to present the practice to a general readership as an organized, coherent religious system rather than as historical curiosity, folklore or fiction. The publicity the book generated brought Gardner numerous inquiries from readers interested in initiation, and the coven structure and ritual material he had been developing quietly for years suddenly had, for the first time, a substantial pool of interested outsiders to draw from.
The book's reliance on Margaret Murray's witch-cult thesis, since discredited as history, means that Witchcraft Today's central historical claim, that it documented a genuinely ancient surviving religion, is not accepted by scholars today, even though the book's practical effect, launching a new religious movement into public existence, is not in question. This gap between the book's claimed and actual historical significance is a recurring theme in modern scholarship on Wicca's origins.
Subsequent decades saw Gardner's ritual material further developed, published in more complete form, and adapted by other practitioners including Alex Sanders, whose Alexandrian tradition drew directly on Gardnerian practice, ensuring that Witchcraft Today's influence extended well beyond the specific coven structure Gardner himself had led.