As I am trying to put this all together, I hope to bring about an understanding that Witchcraft, like any religion, has undergone it’s changes throughout the centuries. It is my personal feeling, however, that the religion of Witchcraft has undergone far fewer changes than any other in history. As the song sung by Neil Diamond starts: “Where it began, I can’t begin to knowin…” Witchcraft, sorcery, magic, whatever can only begin to find its roots when we go back as far as Mesopotamia. With their deities for all types of disasters, such as Utug – the Dweller of the Desert waiting to take you away if you wandered to far, and Telal – the Bull Demon, Alal – the destroyer, Namtar – Pestilence, Idpa – fever, and Maskim – the snaresetter; the days of superstition were well underway. It was believed that the pharaohs, kings, etc. all imbued some power of the gods, and even the slightest movement they made would cause an action to occur. It was believed that a picture, or statue also carried the spirit of the person. This is one of the reasons that they were carried from place to place, and also explains why you see so many pictures and statues of these persons with their hands straight to their sides. In the Bible, we find reference to “The Tower of Babel” or The Ziggurat in Genesis 11. “Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar
