Skyclad (Neopaganism)

The book claimed to report on the contemporary practice of Pagan religious witchcraft in England, which had supposedly survived as an underground religion for centuries.

Gardner spent several years in India, and may have picked up the concept from the Digambara Jains, a religious sect in which the monks may not wear clothing.

In particular, Gerald Gardner, who first popularized Wicca in England, was a noted folklorist with an interest in Far Eastern culture who spent much of his adult life in Ceylon and Burma, so it's plausible he was familiar with this Jain term.

[4][3] The following speech by Aradia appears at the end of the book's first chapter; And as the sign that ye are truly free, Ye shall be naked in your rites, both men And women also: this shall last until The last of your oppressors shall be dead;[5] Doreen Valiente, one of Gardner's priestesses, recalls Gardner's surprise at Valiente's recognition of material from Aradia in the original version of the "Charge" that she was given.

Chartowich argues that the ritual nudity of Wicca was based upon Leland's mistranslation of these lines by incorporating the clause "in your rites".