Wiccan History
Wicca is a religion that claims to have origins as far back as 35,000 years,although the prevailing theory puts the beginning of Wicca or (neo-pagnism)in the hands of Gerald Brosseau Gardner,making it at most 60 yrs old. The secrecy that has surrounded the Craft makes it difficult to find solid documentation in our history ,but it has also allowed us to practice the Craft to the present day.
Gerald B. Gardner, an Englishman, was primarily responsible for bringing Wicca into the public eye during the 1950's. It is said that Gardner, being denied the permission to go public with coven practices, by the coven Elders, wrote a fictional piece called "Scire" that was published in 1949. It is said that many of his covens' practices were revealed in that publication. In 1954, Gardner's "Witchcraft Today" was published,and with Craft gaining in popularity through the 1950's, Gardner wrote his second non-fiction work,"The Meaning of Witchcraft" in 1959. A wedge had been placed between the Wiccan community ,and their secrecy about the craft and Gardner ,who was decidedly pro-publicty. Gardner's High Priestess, Doreen Valiente,was the head of the more secretive opposition of the publication of the Craft.
Before Gardners death in 1964,Doreen Valiente, who had operated as High Priestess of the "main coven" almost since she was initiated in 1953 by Gardner himself,had remarked to Gardner that she would like to see some changes in the Book of Shadows. She had noticed similarities to Aleister Crowley's practices (which had influence on earlier works by Gardner)and he agreed to the changes.
It was Valiente that created the Charge of the Goddess,and other pieces that are used in rituals by American Gardnerian Wiccans today,by taking out Crowley's words. Valiente also wrote several matter of fact works,including "the Rebirth of Witchcraft" which was published in 1989,a book that forms the historical data for many Wiccan covens.
There are those that will say that Gerald Gardner actually recieved the religion from those who came before him,still others believe that he created it,we may never know the truth.
Witchcraft has been around for centuries and many books have been published on its history. Thousands of years ago, man depended on hunting to survive, food clothing, tools etc.were all dependent on hunting. They saw the forces of nature as spirits,each spirit or diety ruled or controlled a separate thing.
They hunted many horned animals ,so the God of Hunting ,naturally had horns. The rituals developed for acting out the Hunt consisted of using models of deer etc. and attacking them. If the played out scenerio went well,so would the Hunt. The Goddess of fertility was responsible for replenishing the animals to hunt and causing the plants to grow and keeping the clans growing larger.As people developed, so did the religion,as it had become, slowly and naturally. It spread across Europe, and as each new country was developed, The God and Goddess aquired new names, some variations of the same name, others totally different, depending on the country and the clan, but were essentially the same dieties.
This is well illustrated in Britain where, in the south of England, is found Cernunnos "The Horned One", To the north the same is known as Cerne (a shortened form) and in still another area the name has become Herne. Same God different name.
As time went on and people progressed,The Horned God was seen more as the God of Nature and Death, and the Goddess remained the Goddess of fertility, both were worshipped equally ,as one could not be without the other. Wicca grew slowly over thousands of years,unlike Christianity,which was a man made and adopted religion of the rulers of a country,and often then it was only said to be believed, to keep the peace among the people they ruled over. The old religion remained in many forms, even though Christianity was slowly growing in strength.
Those that chose to to follow the Old Religion performed their rituals, generally,unseen at night in forests and meadows, in fear of being punished for ,what was undoubtedly ridiculous Christian claims that they had killed crops and caused plagues, etc. Thus, The Horned god became the the Christians Devil, and so Wiccans were labled "Devil worshippers"
Witchcraft is a religious systemthat fosters free thought of the individual,encourages learning, knowledge and understanding of the earth and nature, thereby affirming the divinity in all living things. We acknowledge the cycles of nature, the lunar phases and the seasons to celebrate our spirituality and to worship the devine.
Wiccans do not believe in or worship Satan, they generally believe that all evil originates within human kind. We control and are solely responsible for our lives. Our weaknesses and missdeeds are not blamed on some evil diety. Many Wiccans believe in reincarnation,and that humans possess souls as do animals and elements. Wicca is a religion that utilizes magick and magickal rituals. Magick is simply the use of naturally occuring energy to produce a change ,either in one's self or external world. There is nothing supernatural about magick,the strength of the energy put into it, is what you get out of it.
