Lesson 2 -History of Wicca & Witchcraft
At this point in time, you may or may not have a preconceived idea about Wicca. But what were your sources? TV, radio, movies, etc. Let’s take the two cent tour of Wicca. It may be a bit more informative and a lot less interesting then the movie “Hocus Pocus.” Speaking of movies, there is one good one out there; it is called “Calling down the moon.” It is one of the better representation of the craft put out by Hollywood. Someone did their homework.
Let’s go back before the Roman and Greek empires and their pantheons of deities. Go back even before recorded history. The people honored the spirits of the wind, rain, river, moon, sun, etc. Many small carved figures of females have been found and dated back more than 20,000 years. These figures are known as the Venus figures. These figures had large breasts, round belly and large behind. It is believed that they represented fertility or the life giving power.
Cave painting show people dancing in animal skins. Perhaps it was a ritual to help the animal herds to increase so meat would be plentiful.
Rituals are not confined only to prehistory, many people participate in them today – and they are not even Wiccan. Try these on for size:
1. Grace
2. Wish on a star
3. Wedding, graduation, funeral
As you can see, the reason for ritual may vary, but never-the-less it is ritual. Rituals developed during the prehistoric time. As civilization advanced so did the forms of ritual. Soon only a select class of people was able to perform the rituals: Shamans, Priests and Rabbis to name a few.
Shamanism is the practice of spirit contact through dream work or meditation. It may well be the oldest religion. The shaman follows the spirit path to gain their knowledge about magick. Their rituals may include drumming, dancing, chanting and fire.
About 350 BC the Celts of West and Central Europe developed a priestly class. They were the Druids. The Druids knew the nonphysical world and refined the arts to a point were “specialists” cropped up. There wee specialists for ritual, law and astrology to mention a few. The Druids were also credited with the ability to see the future. Unfortunately, as the Roman Empire increased in size the Druid population decreased. Many trace the origins of Wicca back to the Druids.
In 371 the Roman Empire adopted Christianity as the official state religion. As the Roman legions spread they would kill those that did not want to convert to Christianity. Pope Gregory (540 – 604) had 10,000 people baptized in England.
Survival is a strong instinct in mankind. In order to keep the Church from killing the pagans, they adopted a modified version of Christianity. Outwardly the appeared Christian, but in reality they just renamed their Gods to what was accepted by the Church. The Goddess was renamed “Our Lady.” This worked well until after Pope Gregory’s death. The Church realized that there were just too many flavors of Christianity out in the world. The Church set up a “hit Team” and the inquisition began.
In 1484 Pop Innocent VIII wrote a bull about witches. The inquisition now had a new scapegoat. Any woman with a cat, or wart was a “Witch.” Men did not fare much better. If they showed any knowledge of the Druid religion they were a witch. The Burning Time had begun.
Heinrich Kramer and Jakob Sprenger published Malleus Malleficarum (Witches Hammer). Basically it was anti-witch. It told the people how to fin then, test them and punish them. The logic was impeccably stupid, but so were the people of the times as they accepted it. To test and see if a person is a Witch. Hold person under water for three minutes. If when lifted out of the water they were alive, they were a witch and to be burned at the stake. If they drowned – the were indeed Christian, falsely accused and given a Christian funeral.
King James I added his two cents to the cauldron. He declared witchcraft a crime punishable by hanging. Some how he even managed to misinterpret s rather important phrase in the bible. The original phrase read: “Thou shall not suffer a poisoner to live.” Became: “Thou shall not suffer a witch to live.” This did not help the climate of the day.
While we’re at it, let’s not forget the Salem with trials of 1692. Almost 150 people were arrested as witches, 31 were tried and 19 were hanged. In 2001, those men and women accused of being witches in Salem were declared non-witch. Trouble is, it did not make them any less dead.
Through all that has happened a witch must remember to try not to use this as an anti-Christian argument. The only gripe against other religions is when they claim to be the only true way to God. In order to better ourselves and our future is to look ahead and not dwell on the past.
Through the years, with all that they had going against they, witches have survived and will continue to grow. At this time we are the fastest growing religion in the world. For safety reason we still tend not to be too open and that make accurate counts difficult.
In 1951 the English Parliament repealed its surviving laws against witchcraft. In 1954 Gerald Gardner published his book Witchcraft Today. In 1986 Wicca was recognized as a legal religion.
In Summary
Humankind has worshipped goddesses since before recorded history.
Many, many people were killed during the Burning Times, most of them women. Some of them were witches, and some of them probably were not.
Witchcraft emerged in the 50’s and has been gaining in popularity since then.
In the U. S. A. today, witches have rights. Since 1986, Wicca has been recognized as a legal religion, and the religious freedom of all Wiccans are protected.
Wicca is one of the fastest growing religions in the U. S. A. today.