Before really getting into what Witchcraft is, perhaps we should take a look back at what it was—the history of it. Witches should be aware of their roots; aware of how and why the persecutions came about, for instance, and where and when the re-emergence took place.
There is a great deal to be learned from the past. It’s true that much of history can seem dry and boring to many of us, but that is far from so with the history of Witchcraft. It is very much alive and filled with excitement. There have been many books written on the history of Witchcraft.
The vast majority have suffered from bias—as will be explained shortly— but a few of the more recently published ones have told the story accurately… or as accurately as we can determine.
The late Dr. Margaret Murray traced back and saw Witchcraft’s origins in Paleolithic times; 25,000 years ago. She saw it as a more or less unbroken line through to the present, and as a fully organized religion throughout Western Europe for centuries before Christianity. Recently scholars have disputed much of what Murray said. She did, however, present some tangible evidence and much thought-provoking material. As a probable development of religious-magick (rather than Witchcraft, per se), her theories are still respected.
Twenty-five thousand years ago Paleolithic Wo/Man depended upon hunting to survive. Only by success in the hunt could there be food to eat, skins for warmth and shelter, bones to fashion into tools and weapons. In those days Wo/Man believed in a multitude of gods. Nature was overwhelming. Out of awe and respect for the gusting wind, the violent lightning, the rushing stream, Wo/Man ascribed to each a spirit; made each a deity… a God. This is what we call Animism. A god controlled that wind. A god controlled the sky. A god controlled the waters. But most of all, a god controlled the all-important hunt… a God of Hunting. Most of the animals hunted were horned so Wo/Man pictured the God of Hunting also as being horned.
It was at this time that magick became mixed in with these first faltering steps of religion. The earliest form of magick was probably of the sympathetic variety. Similar things, it was thought, have similar effects: like attracts like. If a life-size, clay model of a bison was made, then attacked and “killed”… then a hunt of the real bison should also end in a kill.
Religious-magickal ritual was born when one of the cavemen threw on a skin and antlered mask and played the part of the Hunting God, directing the attack. There are, still in existence, cave paintings of such rituals, together with the spear-stabbed clay models of bison and bear. It is interesting to see how this form of sympathetic magick survived right through to relatively modern times.
The Penobscot Indians, for example, less than a hundred years ago, wore deer masks and horns when performing rituals for the same purpose. The Mandan Indians‘ Buf-falo Dance is another example. Along with this God of Hunting there was a Goddess, though which came first (or whether they evolved together) we do not know, and it is immaterial. If there were to be animals to hunt, there had to be fertility of those animals. If the tribe was to continue (and there was a high mortality rate in those days) then there had to be fertility of Wo/Man. Again sympathetic magick played a part. Clay models were made of the animals mating, and in an accompanying ritual the members of the tribe would copulate.
There are many carved and modeled representations of the Fertility Goddess extant. Generally known as “Venus” figurines, the Venus of Willendorf is one of the best known. Other examples include the Venus of Laussel and the Venuses of Sireuil and of Lespugne. All are similar in that the feminine attributes of these figures are greatly over-emphasized. They have heavy, pendulous breasts, large buttocks, an often times swollen belly—as though pregnant—and exaggerated genitalia.
There is invariably complete lack of identity with the rest of the body. The face is not defined and the arms and legs, if there at all, are barely suggested. The reason is that Wo/Man was solely concerned with the fertility aspect. Woman was the bearer and nurser of the young. The Goddess was her representative as the Great Provider and Comforter; Mother Nature or Mother Earth.
With the development of agriculture there was a further elevating of the Goddess. She now watched over the fertility of the crops as well as of tribe and of animal. The year, then, fell naturally into two halves. In the summer food could be grown, and so the Goddess predominated; in the winter Wo/Man had to revert to hunting, and so the God predominated. The other deities (of wind, thunder, lightning, etc.) gradually fell into the background, as of secondary importance.
As Wo/Man developed, so did the religion—for that is what it had become, slowly and naturally. Wo/Man spread across Europe, taking the gods along. As different countries developed, so the God and Goddess acquired different names (though not always totally different; sometimes simply variations on the same name), yet they were essentially the same deities.
This is well illustrated in Britain where, in the south of England, is found Cernunnos (literally “The Horned One”). To the north the same god is known as Cerne; a shortened form. And in still another area the name has become Herne. By now Wo/Man had learned not only to grow food but also to store it for the winter. So hunting became less important. The Horned God came now to be looked upon more as a God of Nature generally, and a God of Death and what lies after. The Goddess was still of Fertility and also of Rebirth, for Wo/Man had developed a belief in a life after death. This is evidenced from the burial customs of the period.
The Gravettians (22,000-18,000 BCE) were innovators here. They would bury their deceased with full clothing and ornaments and would sprinkle them with red ochre (haematite, or iron peroxide), to give back the appearance of life. Frequently family members would be buried beneath the hearth so that they might remain close to the family.
A man would be buried with his weapons; perhaps even his dog—all that he might need in the afterlife. It is not difficult to see how a belief in a life after death came about. At the root of it were dreams.
To quote from Witchcraft From the Inside (Buckland, Llewellyn Publications, 1975): “When Man slept he was, to his family and friends, like one of the dead. True, in sleep he occasionally moved and he breathed, but otherwise he was lifeless. Yet when he awoke he could tell of having been out hunting in the forest. He could tell of having met and talked with friends who really were dead. The others, to whom he spoke, could believe him for they too had experienced/ such dreams. They knew he had not actually set foot outside the cave but at the same time they knew he was not lying. It seemed that the world of sleep was as the material world. There were trees and mountains, animals and people. Even the dead were there, seemingly unchanged many years after death. In this other world, then, Man must need the same things he needed in this world.”
With the development of different rituals—for fertility, for success in the hunt, for seasonal needs—there necessarily developed a priesthood: a ‘Select few more able to bring results when directing the rituals. In some areas of Europe (though probably not as generally widespread as Murray indicated) these ritual leaders, or priests and priestesses, became known as the Wicca*—the “Wise Ones”. In fact by the time of the Anglo-Saxon kings in England, the king would never think of acting on any important matter without consulting the Witan; the Council of Wise Ones. And indeed the Wicca did have to be wise. They not only led the religious rites but also had to have knowledge of herbal lore, magick and divination; they had to be doctor, lawyer, magician, priest.
To the people the Wicca were plenipotentiaries between them and the gods. But, at the great festivals, they almost became like gods themselves. With the coming of Christianity there was not the immediate mass-conversion that is often suggested. Christianity was a man-made religion. It had not evolved gradually and naturally over thousands of years, as we have seen that the Old Religion did.
Whole countries were classed as Christian when in actuality it was only the rulers who had adopted the new religion, and often only superficially at that. Throughout Europe generally the Old Religion, in its many and varied forms, was still prominent for the first thousand years of Christianity.
An attempt at mass conversion was made by Pope Gregory the Great. He thought that one way to get the people to attend the new Christian churches was to have them built on the sites of the older temples, where the people were accustomed to gathering together to worship. He instructed his bishops to smash any “idols” and to sprinkle the temples with holy water and rededicate them.
To a large extent Gregory was successful. Yet the people were not quite as gullible as he thought. When the first Christian churches were being constructed, the only artisans available to build them were from among the pagans themselves. In decorating the churches these stonemasons and woodcarvers very cleverly incorporated figures of their own deities. In this way, even if they were forced to attend the churches the people could still worship their own gods there.
There are many of these figures still in existence today. The Goddess is usually depicted as very much a fertility deity, with legs spread wide and with greatly enlarged genitalia. Such figures are usually referred to as Shiela-na-gigs.
The God is shown as a horned head surrounded by foliage; known as a “foliate mask”, and also sometimes referred to as “Jack of the Green” or “Robin o’ the Woods”. Incidentally, these carvings of the old God should not be confused with gargoyles. The latter are the hideous faces and figures carved on the four corners of church towers to frighten away demons.
In those early days, when Christianity was slowly growing in strength, the Old Religion—the Wiccans and other pagans—was one of its rivals. It is only natural to want to get rid of a rival and the Church pulled no punches to do just that. It has frequently been said that the gods of an old religion become the devils of a new.
This was certainly the case here. The God of the Old Religion was a horned god. So, apparently, was the Christian’s Devil. Obviously then, reasoned the Church, the pagans were Devil worshippers!
This type of reasoning is used by the Church even today. Missionaries were particularly prone to label all primitive tribes upon whom they stumbled as devil-worshippers, just because the tribe worshipped a god or gods other than the Christian one.
It would not matter that the people were good, happy, often morally and Ethically better living than the vast majority of Christians … they had to be converted! The charge of Devil-worship, so often leveled at Witches, is ridiculous.
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Originally posted 2011-06-19 11:44:29. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
Although now days it easier to buy already mix and blended incense it is still a good idea to mix your own for special ritual. Now there is nothing wrong with premixed Incense it does the job, the only issues you may feel is important is that you don’t know what energy the incense picks up. The only way you can be 100% sure that your incense is blended using the correct energy for it purpose.
