WITCHCRAFT (WICCA)


History of Witchcraft

Unlike all other religions, its name Witchcraft has been used to refer to two unrelated and mutually exclusive religions: This roots of this confusion can be traced back to Europe during the Witch burning times of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. Wiccans were accused of worshipping Satan and selling their soul to him. This false belief continues today, and is still being actively promoted by some Christians.

This paper will deal with the former religion of Wicca only. It is totally unrelated to Satanism.

Wicca, is a reconstruction of the Celtic Pagan religion of Northern Europe which pre-dates the Christian era. Its origin can be traced to approximately 750 BCE when the Celts coalesced as a people. By that time, the Goddess worship of the previous Old European culture had combined with the belief systems of the Indo-European invaders to produce the "Old Religion". Celtic society gradually spread across Northern Europe into what is now England, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Scotland etc. They never formed a single political entity, but remained as many tribes who shared a common culture and religion.

Celtic belief and practice had some surprisingly modern features. Men and women were equally respected; there was great concern for the environment and respect for learning.

The first missionary to the Celts was probably St. Paul. His conversion of the Celtic land of Galatia is recorded in his Epistle to the Galatians of the Christian New Testament. Later Missionaries and the Roman army gradually spread Christianity across Europe, easily converting the rulers, but having less success in converting the common folk to the new religion.

Much of Christianity was derived from Wicca and other Pagan sources; this includes the sites of many cathedrals, the lives of many Christian saints (who were really pagan Goddesses and Gods), and many Christian holy days. There are many vestiges of Paganism which remain a part of our culture; e.g. Groundhog Day, Christmas, May Day, Halloween, the names of the days of the weeks and months of the year, common sayings, etc.

In order to gain a complete religious monopoly, the Christian Church decided during the 15th century to hunt down and burn believers in the Old Religion. The Church created an imaginary evil religion, and said that Wiccans were evil Witches who followed that religion, sold their sold to Satan, etc. Hundreds of thousands of suspected witches were exterminated during these "burning times" which lasted into the 1830's in South America. The Roman Catholic church burned witches; the Protestant churches hung them. Witches went underground, and stayed out of sight until the middle of the 20th century.

Wicca emerged from the shadows in England in the late 1940's with the publishing of books by Gerald Gardner. It has expanded at a furious rate in North America and Europe; they total about 200,000 in North America, where they have overtaken such established religions as Buddhism, Unitarianism or the Quakers in North America. The Canadian Census of 1991 recorded 5,530 Neo-Pagans, which would be mostly composed of Wiccans. However, the actual number is believed to be significantly higher, as many Wiccans are known to lie to the census taker rather than expose themselves to physical harm in the event that their faith became known.

Wicca is the only religious group of significant size whose members are persecuted in North America. Many Assaults, arson, economic attacks are reported yearly. There have even been shootings and one public stoning! The perpetrators of this religious hatred are usually very devout, very concerned but terribly misinformed people. They believe the misinformation spread by religious sources about Wiccans.


Wiccan Beliefs

Their beliefs include:

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