History of Witchcraft

Approximately 25,000 years ago in Paleolithic times wo/man depended on the hunt to survive. They used their kills for food, clothing, warmth and weapons. They believed in a multitude of Gods. They gave the elements such as wind and lightning a spirit and deified them. Today we call this Animism. They even believed that there was a God of the Hunt and since most of the animals they hunted had horns they believed the God of the Hunt had horns.

Around this time magick began to appear in this early religion. This magick was probably sympathetic in nature. This meant that like attracts like. (Ex. If a life size clay model of a bison was attacked and killed then the hunt of a real bison should end this way.) Religion – magickal ritual was born. When one of the cavemen would throw on a skin and an antlered mask and portray the God of the Hunt he would direct the attack on the clay bison or bear. Drawings of this still exist on cave walls today.

As well as the God of the Hunt there was a Goddess. She represented fertility. If there was to be animals to hunt there needed to be fertility. Also if the tribe was to continue there needed to be fertility of wo/man. Here sympathetic magick played a large part. The cavemen made clay models of the animals mating and during the ritual the members of the tribe would copulate.

Many carved representations of the Goddess have been found. Among these are the Venus of Willendorf, Venus of Laussel, Venus of Sire and the Venus of Lespughe. All of these are similar in their design. They have heavy pendulous breasts, large buttocks, swollen/pregnant bellies and exaggerated genitalia. There is no facial definition suggested. The reason for this is because wo/man was only concerned with fertility.

When agriculture was developed, the Goddess was now elevated to watch over the fertility of the crops as well as the tribe and animals. The year became divided in two. The first half of the year the crops were grown and the Goddess reigned. The second half of the year was a time of hunting and the God reigned. Gradually the other deities fell by the wayside.

As wo/man spread across Europe they took their Gods and Goddesses with them. As different countries the Gods and Goddesses acquired new names. Soon wo/man learned to store food for the winter. Soon hunting became less important and the God of the Hunt became the God of Nature and Death. The Goddess became the Goddess of fertility and rebirth for they began to believe in life after death.

As more rituals developed priesthood evolved. The select few were able to get some results from the rituals. These priests and priestesses became known as the Wicca (wise ones). The Anglo – Saxon kings would not make a move without first consulting the Witan (Council of the Wise). The priestesses were knowledgeable in herbal lore, magick and divination. They were doctors, lawyers, magicians and priests.

Eventually Christianity arose but for the first 1000 years the old religion was still dominant. Pope Gregory the Great decided that in order to convert everyone to Christianity he had churches built on the sites of the older temples where the people of the old religion gathered. He told his bishops to smash idols and to sprinkle the temples with holy water and rededicate them. He was largely successful except the only stonemasons and artisans available were the “pagans”. As they built the temples they incorporated figures of their own deities.

The Christian church began in earnest to convert the pagans. They took the horned God of the Pagans and associated him with the Devil. The church then concluded that the pagans were devil worshipers. This charge is ridiculous because the Devil is a Christian invention. There was no mention of him before the New Testament. Ha – Satan. A translation error between the old Hebrew testament and the New Testament Greek “Diablos” really means opponent or adversary. The old gods were very much like humans.  They had their good and bad sides. The Christians believed that their god was all-loving therefore there had to be evil.

As Christianity grew in strength the old religion was pushed back. Soon it only existed in the outlying country areas. Soon these non-Christians became known as pagans. This word comes from the Latin word “pagani” which means people who live in the country. They were also known as heathens or one who lives on the heath. Neither one of these words bore any connotation of evil at the time.

As the centuries passed the Christian church began to turn everything that the Wiccans did around. They claimed that the magick done to promote fertility and increase crops made women and cattle barren and blighted the crops. No one realized that the witches would only be hurting themselves. One ritual for fertility was for the villagers to go out to the fields in the light of a full moon and dance around the field riding pitchforks, poles and brooms. They would jump into the air to show the crops how high to grow. This sympathetic magick became the work of the Devil and the Wiccans actually flew threw the air according to the Christian church.

Pope Innocent VIII produced the Bull against Witches in 1484. In 1486 two German monks named Heinrich Institoris Kramer and Jakob Sprenger produced the Malleus Maleficarum (The Witch Hammer). This book gave instructions for the prosecution of witches. They couldn’t get the Theological Faculty of the University of Cologne to approve it. They forged the whole faculties’ signatures and it wasn’t discovered until 1898.

The hysteria caused by the Witch Hammer spread quickly across all of Europe. For almost 300 years the hysteria raged. Villagers where one or two people were accused of being witches were all put to death. In 1586 the Archbishop of Treves determined that the local witches had caused the severe winter. After frequent torture a confession was obtained and 120 men and women were burned to death.

An approximate number of people put to death for being a witch is 9 million. Most were probably not followers of the old religion. Many people used this chance to get rid of anyone they had a grudge against. This hysteria reached the new world and caused mayhem in Salem, Massachusetts. Chances are only two of the people were actually practitioners of the old religion. The rest were pillars of the church and community.

So when did Satanism come about? The early church was very harsh and domineering. The church not only governed the peasants’ way of worship but also their lives and loves. Even between married couples. Sex was frowned upon. This was an act of procreation and pleasure from t was not allowed. It was illegal to have intercourse on Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday as well as 40 days prior to Christmas and Easter and 3 days before communion, also from the time of conception to 40 days after paturition. This gave about 2 months in which you and your spouse could have intercourse.

This together with other things caused a clandestine rebellion within the church. They felt that since it wasn’t any better praying to the God they would pray to his nemesis the Devil. Here is where Satanism came into being. The Devil didn’t help the poor either but since he had disdain fro authority he was against the church. Soon the church found out about this and decided that since Satanism was anti-Christian and Witchcraft was anti-Christian then Satanism and Witchcraft were one in the same.

King James I passed the Witchcraft Act in 1604 and repeated in 1736. It was replaced with an act that stated there was no such thing as witchcraft and that anyone claiming to have occult powers would be charged with fraud. In the late 17^th century anyone who was a follower of the craft went underground and for 300 years witchcraft was all but a few dead.

In 1951 England repealed the remaining witchcraft laws. In 1954 Dr. Gerard Brousseeau Gardner wrote in his book title, “Witchcraft Today” that witchcraft was still alive and that he knew because he himself was a witch. Since then many more have come out of the broom closet. More and more people are looking to the old religion for guidance.