Wicca & Witchcraft
WITCHCRAFT IN ULSTER
In early 1711 on the island of Magee, seven or eight local women were
arrested as witches. It was probably one of the strangest cases ever to
reach a court room in Ulster. They were accused of causing the death of
widow Haltridge and of making her young daughter and childminder, Mary
Dunbar, have violent fits and pains.
The trial took place in Carrickfergus on March 31st 1711, with the judges
describing the women as being: "laborious, industrious people, and had
frequently been known to pray with their families, both publicly and
privately; most of them could say the Lord's Prayer, which is generally
said they learned in prison, they being everyone Presbyterians".
In court Dr Tinsdall, a Belfast vicar, swore that both girls were able to
vomit feathers, pins and waistcoat buttons. In the event the accused women
were sentenced to a years' imprisonment and were put in the pillory four
times each.
I thought about doing this page on Wicca to try and get rid of some of the negative press that Wicca and Witchcraft get's, I am a second degree High Priest, and I have been into Wicca and Witchcraft for all of my life or as long as I can remember I just did not know that it had a name back then.
I am part of a Coven called the Coven of the Witches Wheel which has been going for two years, we consist of four members but are opening our door's for new Wiccans, out on the path of the old ways.
You would be mistaken if you believed that all of these tales of witches
and ghosts belong to an age long-since past. For only a little more than a
hundred years ago, at the Dungannon Quarter Sessions, witchcraft was very
much still an issue.
It was June 1890 and Sir Francis Brady listened to how local farmers dealt
with the problem of a witch having put the evil eye on their cows.
They recommended taking three lots of hair from the forehead, back and tail
of the cow and then writing down the names of people that they thought
might have bewitched their animal.
They should then take a bundle of thatch from the suspect's roof, cut a sod
of earth then burn the hair, the thatch and the paper. The sod was then put
into the cow's mouth and if the animal licked it then it would live.
There were still tales even after this of farmers shooting hares and
following its tracks only to find an old woman smeared in blood and gasping
for breath. After all, witches had the ability to transform themselves into
any animal they wished.
Until fairly recently, particularly on All Hallow's Eve, October 31, it was
believed that you might see a fleeting glimpse of a gnarled, old hag,
speeding across the Ulster skies, en route to a meeting with her fellow
witches, where she would eat and dance with the Devil.
Locals would lay traps for the witches by leaving knives and agricultural
tools, with their blades pointing to the air, in the hope that a witch who
landed in their field would be impaled. Vast fires would be lit to scare
the witches away and the church bells would be rung as it was believed that
their pealing would cause the witches to tumble from the skies.
If you believe in superstitions, then Hallowe'en provides you with the best
chance of bumping into something from the spirit world, or worse. There is
no guarantee that you will encounter either ghosts or witches, but by
daylight you will be more likely to be able to avoid them until this time
next year.
Wicca is an Earth-based, nature centered religion drawing on the ideas of pantheism, gnosticism, ceremonial magick, witchcraft and the pagan religions of our forefathers. Although the words "Wicca" and "Witchcraft" are often used interchangeably, they are not the same thing. The term "Wicca" is purported to be a modern version of the term of "Witchcraft", though even the etymology of the word Wicca is somewhat circumspect. Nevertheless, what we do know is that Wicca is a modern revivial of the old, Pagan religions, using magick, nature and a female Deity along with Her Consort, the Horned Lord, as its central core.
The term witchcraft literally means the craft of the wise. In its original usage, witchcraft was practiced by those persons, generally female, who had knowledge of herbal lore, the law, psychology and physiology. It is important to note that not all Wiccans consider themselves witches, and not all witches are Wiccans.
Wicca is centered around the use of positive thought, positive action and love of nature to create an atmosphere of positive energies which are then used for our own benfits. Wicca teaches that there is certainly a higher power, namely the Goddess and God, often refered to solely as the Goddess, but that the Goddess is always attainable, for She is everyhwere: in the tree, in the leaf, in the ant, within ourselves. In this sense, Wicca is a pantheistic religion. (Pantheism is the belief that God can be found in all things: "pan" meaning "Everything" , "Theism": having to do with Deity) Wicca teaches that there is much more in our universe than we can see or understand. The central law of Wicca is: " An It Harm None, Do What Ye Will" which means exactly what it says: as long as you don't do anything that will hurt anyone (including yourself) it is allowed. Many people use this rule as it applies strictly to magick, but I believe that the rule applies to every aspect of the Craft and to every aspect of life. This would include doing unto others as you would want done unto you, abstaining from drugs, alcohol to excess and smoking, learning not to hate and learning tolerance. This rule is reinforced by a second major aspect of Wicca: Everything you put out comes back to you Three fold. This means that every good deed you do, every terrible thing you do, every good spell you cast, every harmful spell you cast will come back to you thrice what you put out. Therefore, the punishment for breaking the law of Harm None is a threefold return of whatever you did.
The difference between Witchcraft and Wicca is, for many, a fine line. I think the two are best differentiated by the idea of religion vs. practice. Wicca is a religion which involves communion with the Earth, communion with a God/Goddess (or several of them if you're a polytheist), living in peace with yourself and others, and giving to those that gave to you. (Sounds kind of like Christianity, doesn't it?) Witchcraft, however, is what we practice. Witchcraft is the art of magick, the art of energy manipulation, the art of altered states of consciousness. This is not a religion in and of itself. In fact, not all people who practice witchcraft are Wiccans. Witchcraft may be practiced in many different forms, and admittedly, not all of them are positive. Satanist practices come to mind as an example of negative magick. A Witch in the Wiccan religion is someone who has studied very hard, committed the Pagan ways to memory, and has given his/her life over to the Goddess for protection and guidance. The term Witch for us is a high title--just because you are Wiccan does not make you a Witch. (Sort of in the same sense that being a Christian does not make you a priest) A Witch in other religions is anyone who practices magick. I use the term, however, to mean the former.
And it is important to note: there is NO DEVIL in the Craft.
Because Wiccans believe in a Horned Lord, many people believe that we worship Satan. The truth is that the Horned God represents the animal side of nature, (get it? horns... animals... ahhh it all makes sense now...) and the Horned God has existed long before Christianity--in other words, long before Satan was ever "invented". The flaw of modern times is to think that Paganism and Witchcraft/Wicca are the same things as Satanism. This is entirely untrue. Satanism is a highly egotistical religion, focused around greed, hedonism, social Darwinism, self worship and indulgence. The most important person in the Satanist religion is the individual, and by doctrine their relationship with the most hedonistic character of all religions: Satan.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW "OLD RELIGION"
England in the 1800's saw a change in the people who inhabited the growing cities. As the cities grew in both size and population, the people had a longing for the country life, a connection to the land and all of nature. The earth of the farm had been replaced by the dirt of the city. This hunger for a romantic portrayal of nature started a new interest in the "old way" of life. Writers and artists of this time found a way to recapture the life left behind.
Nature was the theme, and ancient images the vehicle. The Victorian writer's and artist's favorite way to portray nature was to use the Greek and Roman pantheons of gods and goddesses. Pan, a minor Greek god of nature, was brought up from relative obscurity to be a major god of nature in works by Kenneth Grahame and Oscar Wilde, among others.
A group of artists known as the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was formed in 1848. Pre-Rephalelite artists include John Everet Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Holman Hunt, and several woman artists such as Evelyn de Morgan, Elizabeth Siddal, and Marie Spartali-Stillman among others. This group of artists chose the name Pre-Raphaelite because they wanted to return to the style of painting before Raphael. Raphael's work was considered soulless and unimaginative, and colorless. The Pre-Raphaelites painted directly from nature with truthfulness, and many used classical themes. Many of the classical art works on this site are from these Pre-Raphaelite artists.
Gaia, Greek Earth Mother, creator of the universe, became the favorite female symbol of nature and the female spirit of the Earth. She is the personification of the female spirit and is also known as Mother Earth and Mother Nature. She appears in the literature and art of the era, and by the 1900s the domination of the Goddess and Horned God was complete.
Folk rituals and customs were believed to be passed down generation to generation and that they were remnants of an "Old Religion." This was the thinking since the time of the Renaissance. It has been shown in further research that few cases are as old as they are claimed to be and none are from an ancient organized religion.
In the 16th and 17th century it was popular to attribute the folk rituals and customs to the Romans. In the 18th and 19th century the credit went to the Druids. It just depended on the whims of what was popular at the time.
Late in the 19th century, Sir James Frazer published "The Golden Bough." Frazer was influenced by the theory of evolution as put by Charles Darwin. It was the time of the beginning of archaeology. The discovery of fossil remains and the evolution theory all contributed to the book.
Frazer theorized the possibility of folk customs being the remnants of an ancient religion. He said it may be possible to reconstruct this religion by a comparative study of these customs and set out to do so. Scholars of the time never accepted the theory, and it is now known the book has many faults in the theories as written.
The motivation for Frazier's work on the "Golden Bough" was not a love of nature and beauty, but a detesting of all religions, including Christianity. Frazer felt that all religion was backward and wanted a progress to a better and wiser society without a need for "inferior" ritual behavior.
Frazer's work was embraced enthusiastically by collectors of folk customs and many folklore societies. The content of "The Golden Bough" was mixed with the nostalgia of the writers and artists of the time. It all got swept up and stirred together to create an old fertility religion with connections to nature, gods and goddesses, and spirits.
HOW THIS LEADS TO A NEW RELIGION: WICCA
Before the publishing of the Malleus Malifacarum, the "Hammer of the Witches," and the beginning of the Inquisition, there are no records of witches covens, pacts made with the Devil, Sabbats or Esbats. No one seems to want to admit that much of Wicca is based on the texts of the witch hunts and is not an ancient religion that went underground during the time to the Inquisition.
The origins of the "Great Witch Hunt" were hotly debated during the 18th and 19th centuries. Scholars laughed at the idea of the possibility of magick. It was accepted as non-existent and the belief of witches thought laughable. This attitude made a mockery of the traditions of the church. From the church's point of view, this was not allowable.
A German scholar named Karl-Ernst Järcke, suggested that there was a surviving ancient, pre-Christian, German, Pagan religion at the time. He claimed the accused witches were followers of that religion. This argument made the persecutions and deaths justifiable, and according to Järke, the church was correct in what they had done. The church was naturally happy with this explanation.
The 19th century historian, Jules Michelet, began to write in opposition to this. Michelet was against the power of the church and used material from anti-clerical pamphlets that were circulated at the time for his works.
In 1862 Michelet published the work entitled "La Sorcier." The idea behind the book was to show a feminine, pagan, witch religion that was lead by a Priestess. It was described as nature loving, peaceful and democratic. Michelet proposed the Pagans of the Middle Ages knew of a fertility cult that predated Christianity and adapted what they knew of it to fit their needs. The book "La Sorciere" has also been described as the basis for the Satanist's ideology. In the work, the priestess's nude body served as the altar, allowing Michelet to parody the Mass of the Church. The book went on to be a bestseller. No matter how different Wicca and Satanism have become, the roots are quite close, both using the papers from the Inquisition and "La Sorciere" for ideas.
Then we have Charles Godfrey Leland. An American writer and folklorist. In 1899 Leland published a booklet titled "Aradia, or the Gospels of the Witches." He claimed the text was given to him by a woman named Maddalena, who said it was the book of the local witches. Leland said the witches that used the book were still in existence and in the area. The work is said to be directly inspired by Michelet's "La Sorciere" and argues against the nostalgia for the Middle Ages. This form of Italian Witchcraft was more far more feminist than the work of Michelet, and made the main deity a Goddess. "Aradia," along with some of Leland's other works, contain the phrase "la Vecchia Religion," meaning the Old Religion. This may be where Wicca took the reference of being the "Old Religion." Aradia also contains the Charge of the Goddess, still seen
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