In an effort to give a clearer history of Wicca we need to look all the way back to cave paintings that were done by Paleolithic man. For it is there that we see the first images of the Wiccan Gods. It is there that the history of Wicca should begin. With paintings of a horned God, the God of Hunt, and a pregnant female with swollen breasts that were laden with milk…

As man moved to the new stone age area or the Neolithic area, the hunt was not as important as farming. Being a nomad was not as important as being a farmer. As the settlements were created it, people began to notice the moon and seasons. The people began to focus more on Earth and agriculture. They have found carved antlers that display the phases of the moon dated back to 7500 B.C. E in Europe. The menstrual cycle of woman had an apparent correlation with the moon. This became associated with the Earth Mother or the Goddess.

If you notice the moon has three phases, waxing, full and waning. The Goddess is also depicted in three phases the Virgin, the Mother and the Crone. Each and every living thing can be associated with these three phases, birth, life and death. As time passed so did the idea of the Gods. As people began to migrate and mix with other cultures, societies beliefs were merged and shared. Gods were married to Goddesses who then had offspring and they were Gods.

Wicca’s influence comes from the Celts. In about 450 B.C.E. the Celts were the dominant race in Europe. While much of what is known of the Celtic culture and religion is written by the Romans, there is a great debate over the how accurate that depiction really is. What we do know for sure is that the Celtic Priesthood used an alphabet, however much of the Celtic traditions were passed down through the generations orally. We also know that four Major Wiccan celebrations are from the Celts. These celebration are Samhain, Imbolic, Beltane and Lughnasadh.

While Wiccan and Pagan religions flourished for many centuries, history tells us that less tolerant religions would do there best to rid people of these beliefs, claiming that they were Satan worshippers. I would like to interject here that anyone who knows anything about Wicca knows that it is as far from Satanism as you can get. The vast majority of people that claim Paganism and Wicca are forms of Satanism say that out of ignorance.

Now we can go through how Christianity tried to convert people, what those that did convert publicly did in the privacy of their own home was another story. It is also said that the Virgin Mary was an attempt to show those that were converting that Christianity also had a female deity.

Jumping to the 13th century witchcraft was officially declared heresy as were all Pagan and any other alternate Christian practice. In 1484 Pope Innocent II issued a Papal that denounced Witchcraft, which was anything none Catholic, as heresy. This led to the persecution of “witches,” the “Witch Finders Bible” that lead to a wave of terror that flooded Europe and then crossed the ocean to America. With Church sanctioned slaughtering of many accused of witch craft, it is believed that this process was encouraged due to the fact that those that were convicted lost all of their belongings, and those belongings were then distributed between the persecutor and the accuser.

Wicca began to re-emerge again in the 15th century and it continued to grow through the Illuminati, Freemansons and Rosicrucians. Theses societies were known as the “Secret Societies.” Then in 1899 the “Ariada” or more commonly known as the “Gospel of Witches” was published by Charles Leland. It was said that this book contained the traditions of Italian witches.

Now modern Wicca was greatly influenced by an antrolpology entitled, “Witch Cult in Western Europe,” written by Margaret Murray. With the claims of both books, it was not until the 1950’s that any public display of the Old Religion was still in practice within certain circles in England.

That then brings us to Gerald Gardner, who in 1939 was initiated in to the craft by Dorothy Clutterbuck. Mr. Gardner’s view were different then those of current wiccans. Wiccans overall still feel tht secrecy is important to the practice, where as Gardner was more for public displays so that the Witchcraft Laws could be repealed. He later wrote “Witchcraft Today” in 1954 and then “The Meaning of Witchcraft” in 1959. Those that follow Gerald Gardner are known as Gardnerian Witches and they are one of the major branches of the Wiccan tree. The other big branch is the Alexandrian Witches, and the members of that group were initiated by Maxine and Alex Sanders.

 

 

History Of Wicca – Wiccan Beliefs – Wiccan Schools