Witches and witchcraft

Witch
" Today, the typical witch is generally portrayed as an old hag in a black robe, wearing a pointed black cap and flying on a broomstick across a full moon. Most New Age witches do not worship Satan, however, and are very touchy about the subject. They would rather be associated either with the occult and magick or with attempts to re-establish a kind of nature religion which their members associate with ancient, pagan religions, such as the ancient Greek or the Celtic, especially Druidism. The neo-pagans also refer to both men and women witches as witches. One of the largest and most widespread of these nature religions is Wicca.

Wicca
Wicca is a nature religion based upon beliefs and rites believed to be rooted in ancient pagan practices. Wicca claims a direct connection to the ancient Celtic tradition, which is thought to be more in tune with natural forces than Christianity and other modern religions of the West. However, rather than see Wiccans as members of a religion, it might be more accurate to see them as sharing a spiritual basis in nature and natural phenomena. For Wiccans have no written creed which the orthodox must adhere to. Nor do they build stone temples or churches to worship in. They practice their rituals in the great outdoors: in parks, gardens, forests, yards or hillsides. According to the Wicca FAQ page, "Wicca" is the name of a contemporary Neo-Pagan religion, largely promulgated and popularized by the efforts of a retired British civil servant named Gerald Gardner [late 1940's]. In the last few decades, Wicca has spread in part due to its popularity among feminists and others seeking a more woman-positive, earthbased religion. Like most Neo-Pagan spiritualities, Wicca worships the sacred as immanent in nature, drawing much of its inspiration from the non-Christian and pre-Christian religions of Europe. "Neo-Pagan" simply means "new pagan" (derived from the Latin paganus , "country-dweller") and hearkens back to times before the spread of today's major monotheistic (one god) religions. A good general rule is that most Wiccans are Neo-Pagans but not all Pagans are Wiccans. A good general rule seems to be that there is no single set of beliefs or practices which constitutes Wicca, though one belief seems to recur: An it harm none, do what you will. Also, some rituals seem to recur. Wiccans practice a number of rituals associated with such natural phenomena as the four seasons, the solstices and the equinoxes. Their symbols are based on the connectedness of Nature to human life. For example, they celebrate summer in a fertility rite known as Beltane. Rather than pray to some unnatural god

Witches and witchcraft beyond all experience, Wiccans seem more concerned with self-awakening, with arousing their connectedness to nature and nature gods, female as well as male. Their rituals seem to be metaphors for psychological processes. They sing, they dance, they chant. They burn candles and incense. They use herbs and charms. Often, Wiccans favor herbs to traditional medicines. In group rituals they express their desires to the community. They don't cast spells. They ask for blessings from north, south, east and west. They meditate. They don't cook weird poisonous stews in cauldrons. They don't fly off on brooms. They don't pray for harm to their enemies. Because Wiccans seem to worship nature and nature goddesses and gods, they can be called pantheists. Wiccans do share one thing in common with Christians, however. Both believe that nature is essentially good. For Christians, their god is good, and thus whatever their god creates must be good. For Wiccans, the natural turn of the seasons provides guidance or signs. I, however, see nature as neither good nor bad, but completely indifferent to our well being. Nature is as likely to produce pumiced humans at Pompeii or children swept away in flash floods as it is to produce a swell-smelling flower or a ripe peach. Nature does not care that people are sucked out of their homes by tornadoes and thrown into the Guinness sky of the volcano or that millions bake under an uncaring sun in parched lands. The innocent monsters deformed by uncaring biological laws are just as natural as the beautiful babies that parents swoon over. Those devoured by great cracks in the earth, those drowned in hurricanes, the millions left homeless each year by indifferent forces ravaging an indifferent landscape live in the same world as those living in temperate zones replete with surplus fruits of the land. Only in their mythologies have Wiccan magick or Christian prayer stopped the flood, doused the lightning bolt, stilled the whirlwinds of the tornado and hurricane, calmed the quaking earth, or put to sleep the tsunami. Surely both Wiccans and Christians despise the harm done by nature as much as I do. But the destructiveness of nature is not punishment for bad deeds or failure to appease unseen forces or spirits. It is simply the result of a planet still evolving after more than four billion years, here for no purpose, and destined to die a natural death. The attractiveness of Wicca may be due to its friendliness towards women, its naturalistic view of sex and its promise of power through magick. It is very popular among women, and it is tempting to say that Wicca is women's revenge for the centuries of misogyny and "femicide" or "gynicide" practiced by established religions such as Christianity. Wicca, like the Celtic religion, allows women full participation in the practice. Women are equals, if not superiors, of men. Women in Celtic mythology are unusual, to say the least. They are intelligent, powerful warriors, ruthless, sexually aggressive, and leaders of nations. Finally, it should be noted that Wicca is not related to Satan worship. That practice is related to the persecution of "witches" by Christians, especially during the medieval and Spanish Inquisitions, though not necessarily by the Inquisitors

Witches and witchcraft themselves. (See the Malleus Maleficarum, 1486, which describes "the three necessary concomitants of witchcraft," namely, "the Devil, a witch, and the permission of Almighty God [sic].") The spirit of the witch hunters, however, lives on in the hearts of many devout Christians who continue to persecute Wiccans, among others, as devil worshippers. The modern witch hunters do not demand purgations. Rather, they try to abolish Halloween, school mascots, books which mention witches, and any sign, symbol or number the Christians associate with Satan. (One local pizza house was even hounded for some markings it had on its delivery boxes. Local witch hunters claimed the markings were satanic signs. The pizza house changed it boxes rather than deal with adverse publicity.) On the first day of spring in 1996, our local newspaper ran an article about a local coven of witches. The story portrayed the all-female group as harmless nature worshippers who dance in circles and ask for blessings from the north, south, east, west, etc. The article prompted a long letter to the editor decrying the naivet and ignorance of the author of the story on the local coven. Witches are in cahoots with Satan, said the letter writer, who signed off as "a survivor of satanic ritual abuse." The sincerity of the letter writer seemed as genuine as the sincerity of the women of Salem who confessed to being witches. Are the modern day victims of satanic ritual abuse as deluded as the witches hunted down by pious Christians through the centuries who truly believed that they were as evil as their persecutors said they were? Are the Wiccans of today part of a satanic conspiracy? I doubt it. If there are Christians who are being systematically abused by Satan worshippers, their abusers are not part of an international conspiracy known as Wicca. The word witch derives from the Old English nouns wicca /wtt/ (masc.) "sorcerer, witch (male)" and wicce /wtte/ (fem.) "sorceress, witch (female)". The word's further origins in Proto-Germanic and Proto-Indo-European are unclear.

Germanic etymology
The Old English verb wiccian has a cognate in Middle Low German wicken (attested from the 13th century, besides wichelen "to bewitch"). The further etymology of this word is problematic. It has no clear cognates in Germanic outside of English and Low German, and there are numerous possibilities for the Indo-European root from which it may have been derived.

The OED states that the noun is "apparently" deverbal (derived from wiccian), but for the verb merely states that it is "of obscure origin". Grimm, Deutsches Wrterbuch connects the "Ingvaeonic word" *wikkn with Gothic weihs "sacred" (Proto-Indo European (PIE) *weik- "to separate, to divide", probably via early Germanic practices of cleromancy such as those reported by Tacitus,[1]

Witches and witchcraft

Grimm also considers *weik- "to curve, bend" (which became wicken "hop, dance") and *weg'h- "to move" (in a sense of "to make mysterious gestures"). R. Lhr[2] connects wigol "prophetic, mantic", wglian "to practice divination" (Middle Low German wichelen "bewitch", wicker "soothsayer") and suggests Proto-Germanic *wign, geminated (c.f. Verschrfung) to *wikkn. The basic form would then be the feminine, wicce < *wikk' < *wikkn with palatalization due to the preceding i and the following * < *n in early Ingvaeonic. The palatal -cc- /t/ in wicca would then be analogous to the feminine. o An alternative possibility is to derive the palatal /t/ directly from the verb wiccian < *wikkija.[3] Lhr conversely favours derivation of this verb from the noun. The American Heritage Dictionary connects PIE *weg'- "rouse" (English wake), and offers the Proto-Germanic reconstruction *wikkjaz "one who wakes the dead".[4]

Other suggestions for the underlying root are untenable or widely rejected:

Grimm reject a connection with *wek- "speak", suggested by P. Lessiak (ZfDA 53, 1912). Walter William Skeat[5] derived the word from PIE *weid-, Old English wita "wise man, wizard" and witan "to know", considering it a corruption of an earlier *witga. No Old English spelling with -t- is known, and this etymology is not accepted today. Robert Graves in his 1948 The White Goddess, in discussing the willow which was sacred to the Greek goddess Hecate, connects the word to a root *wei- which connotes bending or pliance[6], by saying: "Its connection with witches is so strong in Northern Europe, that the words 'witch' and 'wicked' are derived from the same ancient word for willow, which also yields 'wicker'." This confounds English and Scandinavian evidence, since the weak root in English has no connection with willows, and Old Norse has no word for "witch" cognate to the English.[7]

Old English
Old English also had hgtesse "witch, fury", whence Modern English hag, of uncertain origin, but cognate to German Hexe, from an Old High German haga-zussa, Common Germanic *haga-tusjon- (OED), perhaps from a *tesvian "to mar, damage", meaning "field-damager" (the suggestion of Grimm). The element hag- originally means "fence, wooden enclosure", and hence also "enclosed fields, cultivated land". Other Old English synonyms of wicca and wicce include gealdricge, scinlce, hellrne.
[citation needed]

The Old English plural form for both the masculine and feminine nouns was wiccan (= "witches") and wiccecrft was "witchcraft". The earliest recorded use of the word is in the Laws of lfred which date to circa 890:[8][9][10]

Witches and witchcraft Tha faemnan, the gewuniath onfon gealdorcraeftigan and scinlaecan and wiccan, ne laet thu tha libban. Women who are accustomed to receiving enchanters and sorceresses and witches, do not let them live! In the homilies of the Old English grammarian lfric, dating to the late tenth century we find: Ne sceal se cristena befrinan tha fulan wiccan be his gesundfulnysse. A Christian should not consult foul witches concerning his prosperity. In both these examples wiccan is the plural noun, not an adjective. The adjective fulan (foul) can mean "physically unclean" as well as "morally or spiritually unclean" or "wicked". In Old English glossaries the words wicce and wicca are used to gloss such Latin terms as hariolus, conjector, and pythonyssa, all of which mean "diviner", "soothsayer", which suggests a possible role of fortune-teller for the witch in Anglo-Saxon times. The word wicca is associated with animistic healing rites in Halitgar's Latin Penitential where it is stated that Some men are so blind that they bring their offering to earth-fast stone and also to trees and to wellsprings, as the witches teach, and are unwilling to understand how stupidly they do or how that dead stone or that dumb tree might help them or give forth health when they themselves are never able to stir from their place. The phrase swa wiccan tca ("as the witches teach") seems to be an addition to Halitgar's original, added by an eleventh century Old English translator.[11]

From Old to Modern English

The Middle English word wicche did not differentiate between feminine and masculine, however the masculine meaning became less common in Standard English, being replaced by words like "wizard" and "warlock". The modern spelling witch with the medial 't' first appears in the 16th century. In current colloquial English "witch" is almost exclusively applied to women, and the OED has "now only dialectal" for the masculine noun. Figurative use to refer to a bewitching young girl begins in the 18th century[12], while wiche as a contemptuous term for an old woman is attested since the 15th century. "A witch of Endor" (alluding to 1 Samuel 28:7) as a fanciful term for a medium appears in 19th century literature. The meaning "an adherent of Wicca" (male or female) is due to Gerald Gardner's purported "Witch Cult", and now appears as a separate meaning of the word also in

Witches and witchcraft mainstream dictionaries. For example, Monier-Williams currently distinguishes four meanings of the noun witch, 1. one that is credited with usually malignant supernatural powers; especially: a woman practicing usually black witchcraft often with the aid of a devil or familiar : sorceress compare warlock 2. an ugly old woman : hag 3. a charming or alluring girl or woman 4. a practitioner of Wicca The Origin of the Witch in Early Modern Europe The Early Modern period (ca.14th-17th c.), as its name implies, was a time in which the new movements then occurring in many cultural arenas hearkened forward to our modern attitudes. Yet also at this time, great numbers of people were involved in the witch-hunts, which from a modern perspective seem to have been based on very superstitious ideas. This apparent contradiction begs the question, how did the concept of witchcraft develop, and how did it come to be so widely accepted? The process of creating the "official picture" of witches and their crimes took centuries of work by theologians, and was driven by many cultural stimuli. Although many of the ideas that were incorporated into the witches' portfolio were derived from popular folklore, the developments were largely the domain of the intellectual elite, and only filtered back to the common people indirectly. There are five primary elements in the collective ideas about witchcraft. The first of these elements, and probably the most important, is the involvement of the Devil and his demons in witchcraft. Since it's start, Christianity has been an embattled faith. Persecution of Christians by the Roman Empire helped to foster an adversarial tone in the religion. This quality was instilled into early theology, and it remains to this day. Throughout the Middle Ages, the Devil was most often called by the biblical name "Satan," which actually means "the adversary," (Levack, 27). Although Satan played little role in the Old Testament, he takes up a prominent role in the New Testament, tempting people and leading them away from Christ. There was seen to exist a great struggle between the Kingdom of Christ and the Kingdom of Satan, each attempting to gain control of men's souls. As the Kingdom of Christ (i.e., Christianity) spread, and other faiths were encountered, competition arose to acquire converts to the "one true faith." Due to this evangelical attitude, other belief systems were seen as denying the word of God, and leading people away from Christ. Therefore, it was an easy step to view other religions, both Jewish and pagan, as belonging to the Kingdom of Satan (Levack, 28). Christianity demonised the gods of other religions, particularly those of converts. In fact, attributes of many pagan deities were used to describe the Devil. The process by which an old local deity was caricatured as evil had been a common result of the combining of cultures since ancient times (Murray, 15). Both Roman and Celtic deities were thus

Witches and witchcraft incorporated into the Christian Devil's identity. Accordingly, people were taught to fear and loathe pagan deities and their remaining adherents. Fertility gods were particularly recognised as demonic, including Pan (Roman) and Cernunnos (Celtic)-who gave the Devil his often goat-like appearance-and Diana (Roman), from whom Satan was sometimes described as having a woman's breasts (Levack, 28). These details were often described in the confessions of accused witches, probably at the prompting of the inquisitor. In order to explain the metaphysical nature of demons, it was postulated, in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, that they must be creatures purely of spirit (Levack, 30). As they were supposed to be fallen angels-and angels were spiritual entities-this followed. Despite earlier controversy, this position remained orthodox throughout the Early Modern period. The visible body of a demon was said to be created as an aerial construct out of vapours from the earth. This power over the air later became an important presupposition for the theory of witches' flight. Since it was believed that only God could cause true miracles, any suggestion that the Devil had true power of creation or control over free will was in itself heretical. Thus, any perceived miraculous transformations were deemed illusory. The Devil's power to create illusions was an extension of his influence on the material world. Since his powers were over only material things, even if a human being was possessed by demons, their will was still, in theory, their own. Ideas about the Devil's influence had to conform to the Christian orthodoxy of free will. Only by tricks and bribery was the Devil supposed to be able to influence a person's choices (Malleus Maleficarum). This is a very important point, in that it maintains the moral responsibility of accused witches, especially where the concept of the pact was concerned. The pact with the Devil is the second of the key elements of widely accepted witchbeliefs. The idea of the pact served to draw together two seemingly separate implications of the term "witch." A witch was both a person who practised harmful magic and a Devilworshipper, but logically one needn't necessarily imply the other. In fact, all heretics could be termed witches by assumption of the latter qualification, while many otherwise orthodox peasants believed they could perform maleficia (harmful spells enacted through malevolent will). The idea of the pact as a link between sorcery and diabolic apostasy was developed over several centuries. The earliest writings on such pacts were by St. Augustine, but the concept did not become widespread until descriptions of them were translated into Latin in the ninth century. By this time, it was an established belief that while not all Devil-worshippers were granted magical powers, all magicians received their powers through pacts with the Devil (Levack, 32-3). According to the ninth-century-circulated accounts, the pact took the form of a legal contract, in which the Devil promised some sort of reward in exchange for the witch's service and custody of their immortal soul. The reward could take the form of a promise (whether kept or not) of wealth, power, sexual indulgence, or guaranteed happiness in the afterlife (Murray, 81). Sometimes, magic was bestowed upon the witch, in exchange for their services. Here we see the basic connection between the

Witches and witchcraft two concepts partly explained, but it is another three centuries before the possibility of good magic is fully reasoned out of existence. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, translations of some Greek and Islamic texts led to an increased practice of magical arts among certain intelligentsia, even in courts of nobility (Levack, 33). Necromancy (literally, "communication with the dead") became popular, wherein demons were supposedly summoned in order to trap them and extort hidden knowledge from them. Increased occurrence of such practices demanded increased condemnation of those practices. Demonologists reasoned that although necromancers may not intend to pay any homage to Satan, even a captive demon wouldn't give something for free (Levack, 33). Therefore, it could be concluded that either by offering bait for the demon, or by other tacit reciprocity, the magician was doing service to the Devil. Thus, the way in which all magic came to be condemned as evil, no matter the intent, is evident. Although magic had been condemned as heresy before, the pact was a significant addition to witch-lore. By the logic of the scholastic demonologists, the condemning label of "witch" could now be applied to unsophisticated peasants who practised maleficia without understanding the implications of their actions-they had made a pact with the Devil, whether intentionally or unwittingly. Additionally, the connection between magic and heresy led to the application of the sort of claims already laid against other heretics to witches. Such accusations included secret, collective worship and perverse, anti-human behaviour (Levack, 34). In this way, witchcraft coalesced into a religious mockery of Christian practice, the ultimate expression of which was the witches' sabbath, discussed below. Before moving on to the next element of the concept of witchcraft, it is interesting to note the shift in focus here, from the usually upper class, academic, male magician to the usually poor, unsophisticated, female witch (Purkiss, 45). There was a corresponding shift in the nature of the pact, from an equal partnership, in which the magician was able to grapple for the upper hand, to a subservient role, wherein the witch voluntarily submitted. King James VI of Scotland pointed this out when he said, "Witches are servants only, and slaves to the Devil; but the Necromancers are his masters and commanders," (as quoted in Levack, 35). The sabbath was a gathering of witches, in which all manner of debasement and horrors were said to take place. Sexual deviance and copulation with demons were common attributes of this concept, as were infanticide and cannibalism. In France, Spain, and Italy, witches were said to engage in a parody of the Catholic Mass. All of these supposed actions were direct reflections of the greatest of Christian fears. Monks may have invented much of this diabolic society concept in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries as propaganda against the heretical Waldensians and Cathars, and then applied by extension to other viewed heretics (Levack, 37). As knowledge grew about the actual practices of heretical groups, these extreme allegations became the sole burden of witches.

Witches and witchcraft Although belief in the sabbath was not universal, it was widespread, and quite important to the scope of the witch-hunts. The assumption that witches gathered to worship the Devil led to the exhaustive searches for the co-conspirators of accused witches, which probably contributed significantly to the actual scale of the hunts. The fourth element of witch-belief was the idea that witches could fly. There were two intellectual versions of this belief. One was that the Devil, using his material control over air, could actually cause witches to fly great distances. The other theory was that by using his powers of illusion, the Devil made them believe that they had flown, and thus also that the sabbaths were illusory (Malleus Maleficarum). Either way, it explained how witches could attend sabbaths, apparently in remote locations, without being missed from home. The origins of the flight concept may be in pagan beliefs that were still held by many credulous peasants. One of these was the notion that women could transform themselves into strigae, or terrible screech owls. The other of these is the Dianic "wild hunt," in which women supposedly rode through the wilderness on various beasts (Levack, 41). The fifth and final element of the Early Modern model of witchcraft was metamorphosis. This was the idea that witches turned themselves or others into animals, particularly wolves. Although this idea was officially relegated to the status of another illusion, it was a commonly held assumption (Malleus Maleficarum). Although these five elements seem irrational and out of sync with humanism and the Renaissance rejection of medieval superstition, they were actually quite well thought-out, and seemed very rational to people of the time. The accepted beliefs in witchcraft were challenged by some, but no one dared deny the central theme that held the entire movement together: the belief that the Devil was real and had malicious influence over mankind. Therefore, the equally malicious witch-hunts continued throughout the Early Modern period, and became permanently ingrained in our collective historic memory.

The origins of Wicca and witchcraft

In Graven Images, Aleister asks Owen, ``Did you know that amongst the [Exeter] cathedral carvings are over fifty statues of the pagan spirits and their God and Goddess?'' ``Really?'' ``And under the Dean's misericord is carved a 'Green Man' - a pagan fertility spirit. Go and have a look next time you're there. It's no secret.''

A Green Man carved into a corbel in Exeter Cathedral Exeter cathedral was built in several phases from 1153-1400. The presence of over 60 pagan symbols carved into the stonework by the masons tells us that (a) paganism, albeit

Witches and witchcraft blended with Christianity, was widespread at that time, and (b) there was then a considerable tolerance of paganism by the Christian church. In fact, according to the official Cathedral website, there are more images of the pagan Green Man in the cathedral than there are images of Jesus Christ! The website goes on to say: Some of our visitors find former pagan symbols in the most sanctified areas of a church both sinister and offensive, although in mediaeval times the image held a significance for Christians that we can only speculate about. Indeed. It is likely that paganism co-existed with Christianity for many centuries, and even now our Christmas tree and Easter eggs can be traced back to pagan rituals. When Christianity arrived in Britain, paganism was presumably strong, and Christianity would have no hope of persuading people to abandon their old religion and adopt the new. Instead, it preferred to merge with the old religion, eventually supplanting it. When Christianity did eventually reject paganism, during the Renaissance in the 15th and 16th centuries, it was marked by the famous witch-burnings. So how old are Wicca and witchcraft, and can their origin really be traced back to Druidism some 2000 years ago, as suggested in Graven Images?

The origins of Wicca

In Graven Images , Aleister says of Druidism after the Roman invasion:: ``Pockets of believers maintained [Druidism] in secret for centuries. By the time Christianity arrived, these believers were called wike, meaning wise people, and this eventually evolved to the modern words 'witch' and 'Wicca'.'' ``So Druidism and witchcraft were the same religion?'' ``Not really. Druidism seems to have been, you know, more of a formal, structured, religion. Like the established churches now. Witchcraft was a loose rural version. A people's religion. Druidism seemed to have emphasised the Sun, and its leaders were mainly male. Witchcraft is more focussed on the Moon, and many of its leaders are women.'' While there is little hard evidence to support Aleister's assertion (and he is wrong on one point - wicca is an Old English word meaning``witch''!), there is a considerable body of circumstantial evidence supporting an ancient origin of Wicca, as follows. Wicca itself was created by Gerald Gardner around 1940, although he claimed to have based it on centuries-old traditions revealed to him by Doris Clutterbuck, a witch in the new forest. In 1939 he appeared to have been initiated into the New Forest coven of traditional witches, although there is no documentary evidence of this coven having existed before about 1900. It appears that Gardner himself believed these traditions to be very old, and claimed that the ideas and traditions of Wicca are based on very old ideas rooted in witchcraft. It is also claimed that, since Gardner's time, many traditional witchcraft ideas and practices

Witches and witchcraft from traditional witchcraft have been infused into Wicca. Certainly there is good evidence (below) that there were covens of witches operating in England in the first half of the twentieth century, overlapping with the time that Gardner was inventing Wicca, and so the question is: was Gardner in contact with them, or was he building Wicca in isolation from them? Given that they existed, and that Gardner claimed that he was in contact with them, and that there is no actual evidence to the contrary, it seems at least plausible that the traditions of Wicca are based on those of traditional witchcraft. A great deal has been written on this question, which will not be reproduced here. Instead, the reader is referred to the Wikipedia articles on Philip Heselton, who argues that Wicca was directly descended from witchcraft, and Ronald Hutton, who argues that it is not. Obviously, the jury is out on this question, but for the moment we will assume a direct link between Wicca and witchcraft, and ask ``How old is witchcraft?''

The origins of witchcraft

Popular accounts of witch-burnings suggest that, as far back as 1600, there existed people whom the community regarded as witches. Contrary to popular belief, there is no evidence that these witches were evil hags in black pointed hats who flew on broomsticks and dabbled in Satanism! It is also unlikely that they were all innocent victims of superstition. We do know (see below) there existed practitioners of a pagan religion which involved worship of spirits associated with Nature, and who created herbal remedies and potions, and in some cases claimed to cast spells. Whether or not these people called themselves witches, their activities and beliefs were certainly the sort of thing that most people, then and now, would associate with witchcraft, and it is likely that many of the witch burnings were of these practitioners of the pagan religion. It is therefore likely that most of the "witches" were these practitioners. So it becomes a semantic point whether or not we call them witches. In the rest of this article I do not distinguish between witchcraft and this pagan religion. The academic literature is very confused on this point because, even in the 21st century, some otherwise reputable scholars still confuse witchcraft (claimed by its adherents to be a pre-Christian religion) with Satanism (a Christian construct), much as sixteenth-century witch-hunters did. Some even use this presumed identification of witchcraft to distinguish between ``true'' (i.e. Satanic) witchcraft and mere paganism! It is important to distinguish between Satanism (a movement based on the Christian concept of Satan, and based on a reaction against Christian values) and the pre-Christian (or so it is claimed by its adherents) religion of witchcraft, which focuses on the worship of Earth-spirits, with the God and Goddess at the helm of nature. The identification of witchcraft with Satanism appears to have started in around 1500. Before that time, paganism or witchcraft seem to have been accepted (e.g. Thurston, 2001) as a complementary view of the world that was not necessarily in conflict with Christianity (hence the many pagan symbols appearing in Christian churches at the time). If we accept that witchcraft and paganism are related and intertwined, although not necessarily synonymous, then witchcraft has been around for a very long time. It is

Witches and witchcraft sometimes asserted by historians that no such cult existed, that the thousands of witch burnings were of innocent Christian people, and that anyone who called themselves a witch was delusional. However, evidence for this is thin on the ground, and Occam's razor suggests that something that walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, is more likely to be a duck than a delusional pigeon. As shown in the chronology below, there is scattered historical evidence of people practising witchcraft, or thought to be practicing witchcraft, from about 1300 to the present day. Reliable accounts of witchcraft, or a perception of witchcraft, are hard to come by, because witches typically only appear in historical records when they are convicted of a crime. Most witches presumably lived their lives trying to escape the notice of the authorities, so perhaps you would not expect evidence of witchcraft even if it did exist. As a result, there is certainly not an unbroken chronology of witchcraft from 1300 to the present day. On the other hand, people calling themselves witches do appear at regular intervals throughout history, leaving us with the following options:

The self-proclaimed witches, and those persecuting them, were all delusional, and there never has been such a thing as witches. But, as an atheist, I'm not sure that there's any real difference between a real witch casting spells, with all the witchcraft paraphernalia, and a person who merely thinks she is casting spells and merely thinks she is a witch, but has all the witchcraft paraphernalia! There were real witches at some point, but they ceased to exist for some reason, and then a different group of people reinvented witchcraft but had no knowledge that could be traced back to the real witches. This is plausible, but there is no actual evidence of this. The people who call themselves witches do indeed have a continuous tradition stretching back to 1300, although those traditions may well have evolved over time. Whilst it is certainly possible that there was a break in tradition at some point, followed by a re-invention of witchcraft, there is no actual evidence of such a break. As a scientist rather than a historian, and with no particular cultural axe to grind, Occam's Razor suggests to me that it is likely that the witchcraft traditions called on by Gardner and modern Wiccans can indeed be traced back to about 1300, although presumably evolving gradually over that period. But again, the jury is out, with opinions divided over whether modern witchcraft has any direct link with the pre-Christian pagan religion. For a good discussion of these issues, with a good presentation of both sides of the argument, see the excellent Wikipedia article on Witch trials in the Early Modern period.

Druidism
As described in Graven Images and on this link , Druidism came to an end in the well-documented massacre of the Druids by the Romans in 60 CE. We know little of their actual religion, although the account by Diodorus suggests they understood the motions of the Moon, possibly including the lunar major standstill (the Reikin). So is there evidence of a link between druidism and witchcraft?

Witches and witchcraft Unfortunately not. Indeed we have scant evidence of any of the culture from postRoman times until after the Norman conquest, hence the name The Dark Ages. We know little of the Druid religion itself. One surviving account by Pliny (77CE) is as follows: The druids - that is what they call their magicians - hold nothing more sacred than the mistletoe and a tree on which it is growing, provided it is Valonia Oak.... Mistletoe is rare and when found it is gathered with great ceremony, and particularly on the sixth day of the moon....Hailing the moon in a native word that means 'healing all things,' they prepare a ritual sacrifice and banquet beneath a tree and bring up two white bulls, whose horns are bound for the first time on this occasion. A priest arrayed in white vestments climbs the tree and, with a golden sickle, cuts down the mistletoe, which is caught in a white cloak. Then finally they kill the victims, praying to a god to render his gift propitious to those on whom he has bestowed it. They believe that mistletoe given in drink will impart fertility to any animal that is barren and that it is an antidote to all poisons The ritual described would be anathema to most modern witches or wiccans because it involves the sacrifice of an animal, but otherwise seems to have all the hallmarks of a medieval witches ceremony. Pomponius Mela is the first author who says that the druids' instruction was secret, and was carried on in caves and forests. Druidic lore consisted of a large number of verses learned by heart, and Caesar (55BCE) remarked that it could take up to twenty years to complete the course of study: Subsidiary to the teachings of this main principle, they hold various lectures and discussions on astronomy, on the extent and geographical distribution of the globe, on the different branches of natural philosophy, and on many problems connected with religion. The druids as a priestly caste were virtually destroyed by the Romans, and then systematically mopped up throughout the Christianization of Britain, which was essentially complete by the 7th century. However, the druidic offices of bard and of ``seer'' (Welsh: dryw) persisted in medieval Wales into the 13th century. For example, the Wikipedia article on Druids tells us that: The best evidence of a druidic tradition in the British Isles is the independent cognate of the Celtic *druwid- in Insular Celtic: The Old Irish drudecht survives in the meaning of "magic", and the Welsh dryw in the meaning of "seer". Freeman (2002) points out that: The fourth century A.D. collection of imperial biographies known as the Historia Augusta contains three short passages involving Gaulish women called ``Dryades'' (``Druidesses''')

Witches and witchcraft and that In all of these, the women may not be direct heirs of the Druids who were supposedly extinguished by the Romans - but in any case they do show that the druidic function of prophesy continued among the natives in Roman Gaul. Druidesses are also mentioned in later Irish mythology, including the legend of Fionn mac Cumhaill, who, according to the 12th century The Boyhood Deeds of Fionn, is raised by the druidess Bodhmall and a wise-woman. (Jones, 2008, and Parkes, 2004). Clearly, it is at least possible that these ``Druidesses'' were the forerunners of the medieval ``witches''. In summary, while the Roman invasion quashed the structure of Druidism, and subsequent Roman Laws made the practice of druidism illegal and punishable by death, there is circumstantial evidence that fragments of Druidism may have survived until the first traces of medieval paganism in 1065 CE (see Chronology below) and may represent the movement that later came to be called witchcraft.

The Bronze Age

Since some of the stone circles built in ~1800 BCE show evidence of knowledge of the lunar major standstill, and perhaps other elements shared with the Druids, it is possible, as Owen suggested in Graven Images, that there was a continuity of knowledge and perhaps tradition stretching from 1800 BCE to the massacre of the Druids in 60 CE. However, all traces of evidence have long since disappeared. We have little knowledge of the culture or religious practices of the Druids, and essentially no knowledge whatsoever of Bronze Age religion. Except, of course, for the stone circles, megalithic monuments, graves, and the mysterious petroglyphs such as cup and ring marks, which may depict some early ceremonial practices. But at the time of writing, no-one has successfully decoded them. We await a real-life Owen!

A chronology of Witchcraft
I compiled this list as a response to the argument that witchcraft may once have existed, but died out in medieval times, and was then re-invented in Victorian times. While this gap in continuity cannot be disproved, there is no actual evidence for it, as there is no extended period when evidence or allegations of witchcraft were absent from Britain. Note that this list is not intended to be complete - thousands more examples can be found, but this small sample serves to illustrate the fact that there is no obvious break in the chronology of British witchcraft.
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1944 CE: medium Helen Duncan was the last woman in Britain to be convicted of witchcraft, under the 1735 Witchcraft Act, as a result of which she served 9 months in prison

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1940 CE: Gerald Gardner invents the modern Wicca religion. It's unclear to what extent he based this on traditional witchcraft. 1841: Mackay, C., Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds. says of witchcraft as used to heal illness: "In the north of England, the superstition lingers to an almost inconceivable extent." 1818: The "Carnmoney Witch": Mary Butters (1807-1839) was tried for murder in March 1818. She was a well known "Wise-woman" in the area and had been hired by a local farmer to lift a "curse" he believed had possessed one of his cows. The day after she had supposedly lifted the spell, the farmer, his wife and his son were found dead in their home. She claimed that she had been knocked unconscious, causing her witch's spell to become toxic. Her case was discharged from the Spring Assizes in Carrickfergus by proclamation. 1616: Publication of A Treatise of Witchcraft, 1616, by Alexander Roberts. Available on Project Gutenberg. 1612: The Pendle Witches: 10 men and women were hanged at Lancaster prison for witchcraft. They were believed to have been responsible for the murder by witchcraft of 17 people in and around the Forest of Pendle. 1590: The North Berwick Witches: Over 100 suspected witches in North Berwick were arrested for witchcraft. Many confessed under torture to having met with the Devil in the church at night, and devoted themselves to doing evil, including poisoning the King and other members of his household, and attempting to sink the King's ship. Several were tortured, condemned and burned to death. 1620-1680: According to Ankarloo et al. (2002), nearly 2,000 witchcraft trials survive in the Scottish archives, the vast majority from the period 1620-1680. 1560-1707: According to Smout (1969), between 3,000 and 4,000 accused witches may have been killed in Scotland in the years 1560-1707. Note the important transition here: before about 1500, paganism was tolerated by the church. After this date, it was not tolerated, and its practitionares were tracked down and executed.

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1300 CE: Pagan carvings in churches such as Exeter cathedral 1150: Geoffrey of Monmouth's Vita Merlini refers to the witch Morgan La Fey, suggesting that at least the concept of a witch was familiar to his readers. 1065 CE: Pagan festivals such as the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance which included the use of a pair of reindeer horns which have been radio-carbon dated to 1065 CE 4th to 13th centuries CE: The druidic offices of bard and of ``seer'' (Welsh: dryw) persisted in medieval Wales into the 13th century. For example, The best evidence of a druidic tradition in the British Isles is the independent cognate of the Celtic *druwid- in Insular Celtic: The Old

Witches and witchcraft Irish drudecht survives in the meaning of "magic", and the Welsh dryw in the meaning of "seer". (from Wikipedia 4th century CE: The fourth century A.D. collection of imperial biographies known as the Historia Augusta contains three short passages involving Gaulish women called ``Dryades'' (``Druidesses''') ... In all of these, the women may not be direct heirs of the Druids who were supposedly extinguished by the Romans - but in any case they do show that the druidic function of prophesy continued among the natives in Roman Gaul. (from Freeman, 2002) 77 CE: description of Druid practices by Pliny 58 CE: Slaughter of the Druids by the Romans at Menai 54 BCE: Description by Julius Caesar of the Druids, including ``lectures and discussions on astronomy''. 60 BCE: Report by Diodorus that the moon, as viewed from this island (probably Britain), appears to be but a little distance from the earth and to have upon it prominences, like those of the earth, which are visible to the eye. The god visits the island every nineteen years. And then an enormous gap...
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1800 BCE: Stone circles built, incorporating knowledge of the Reikin and of the rising and setting positions of the Sun and Moon

She rides around on a broomstick after tossing some eye of newt into a cauldron that turned a mischievous boy into a toad. Her black cat keeps a watchful eye on the young prince she hopes to enchant. Her face is near green and covered with warts. Even though beauty left her long ago, potions, spells and charms allow her to bewitch even the most discerning. And if her magic fails to bring her what she wants it will not fail to punish those who thwarted her. She has already beset several knights and other noble families with such powerful curses that generations hundreds of years from now will feel her wrath and even after death reaches her she has found eternal life in the pain and suffering she inflicts.

How did the storybook witch that haunts us every Halloween come to be? Shamans, Sorcerers, Enchanters and Conjurers The word witch dates back to the 700s CE. It was used to signify a man or woman who could manipulate nature to produce an effect that furthered a goal. In other words, a witch was a person who could work magic: Specifically, a type of magic that involved harvesting elements of the earth and using them to create potions, charms, amulets and other spells.

Witches and witchcraft Although not called witches, stories of persons who could manipulate nature predate recorded history. Tribal shamans were revered in prehistoric times because they maintained such esoteric knowledge. For the priests in ancient Egypt, the successful use of magic was integral to the maintenance of their esteemed position. Magical men were feared and sought after in Ancient Greece. It was accepted that they mastered a skill that involved a peculiar and useful understanding of the world that could aid mankind, much like a doctor.

Respect for magic and the one who can wield it seems endemic to the human race. It can be found in the heritage of every culture on the Earth. To this day those in rural China and Africa seek the help of one who can wield it successfully. Magic was even accepted, if not promoted, for much of the first thousand years of Christianity. In medieval Europe the most common designations for such people were conjurers, sorcerers and enchanters. The word witch was used rarely and was not specific to women. Such practices were not frowned upon until the power of the (Roman Catholic) Church grew strong enough both spiritually and politically to root out unsanctioned religious practices. Indeed, all witch hunts in Western history share the common attribute of attempting to centralize power, or to put it another way harness the hearts and minds of the people against that which is beyond the reaches of authority. In the 800s, bishops began campaigns against conjurers, enchanters and sorcerers after declaring them to be sources of evil. Anyone who attempted to manipulate nature outside of prayer, or Christian miracles must have made a religious compact with Satan. A witch was such an individual, but one who also happened to gather with other witches for midnight worship of evil spirits on a Sabbat. The gatherings on Sabbats to the extent that they existed may have been surviving pre-Christian traditions from Celts in Ireland and Scotland whose celebrations followed the seasons rise and fall closely and since the Celtic day began at sundown, those celebrations were often held in the evening. Regardless, by the High Middle Ages (1100-1400s) it was widely held in Christendom (a reference denoting Roman Catholic political and religious domination over most of Europe) that a pact with Satan was inherent in all magic.

The All-Powerful Witch By the 1300s a distinction in not only practice, but degree of evil arose between the witch (man or woman) and the common sorcerer, enchanter and conjurer. Whereas the latter merely sought aid from evil spirits to produce a desired effect, the former had surrendered their soul entirely to the devil and could devastate individuals with powerful curses.

Witches and witchcraft Witches made appropriate scapegoats for all types of calamities. Throughout Europe when local government power was threatened due to plague or drought, public accusations of societal pariahs who the public had no problem believing to be witches helped reconsolidate power. The trials and executions that often followed focused public anger towards the ever-present scapegoat of Christendom Satan. Sometime in the 1300s the practice of burning the witch alive came to be seen as more humane. Purifying the soul through fire and pain gave it a chance of being accepted into heaven instead of languishing in the eternal fires of Hell. Witchcraft in England In England, however, a tradition of discourse and public representation at all levels kept successive kings and nobles from becoming too sensitive about threats to their power. Witch hunts and witch burnings were not common prior to the 1500s. Instead of being tried in the common law courts, cases of witchcraft were brought to the ecclesiastical courts and sentences were issued, but typically did not involve death. Accusations and the following trials served as means of destroying political opponents and thus were often confined to the upper classes. Such accusations were common against women who exercised unreasonable influence over men. For example, it was said that the Duchess of Bedford bewitched King Edward IV, which accounted for his infatuation with her. Only magic could enable a woman to match a mans wit, after all. Sentences could involve imprisonment, but often just involved humiliation. The Duchess of Gloucester was sentenced to walk barefoot through the streets of London amidst the masses. Yet, English commoners did not hold such prejudices about the use of magic, thus a system of folk magic with possible Celtic roots survived unmolested amongst the lower classes. In the 1400s and 1500s, witchcraft amongst the people was associated with obtaining high position and acquiring wealth. In order to do either, the aid of a witch was recommended. In England, the belief that such a person had made a pact with Satan died out centuries before. If anyone rose far above the financial or political position from which they began their adult lives they were assumed to have employed the expertise of a witch.

Yet, a witch could also be used to work against the success of others. A black witch was one who manipulated nature to harm ones health or fortunes. A white witch helped others through the same practices (often including tracking down and killing a black witch). In folklore, a black witch was depicted as wearing black and a white witch, white. Who was black and who was white always depended on the perspective of who was supposedly helped or hurt. If someone fell ill, the influence of a white witch was sought often with greater frequency than a doctor in order to chase away the bad spirits from the sick and banish the one who conjured them. She or he was known as master of an esoteric skill just as magicians in ancient times.

Witches and witchcraft Wands were used to cast spells (an archaic Celtic practice), herbs used for charms (the more exotic, the better) and cauldrons to make potions. Spells took the form of rhymes, possibly to enhance the idea of their otherworldliness. A spell for wealth has survived in the historical record. My lofe in my lappe, My penny in my purse, You are never the better, I am never the worse Ingredients in potions were obscure and their effects unpredictable. Consumption sometimes resulted in pigment changes, which is why witches were often depicted with different skin colors. Riding a broom, although related to Celtic folklore, was a metaphorical expression for mastering the everyday.

Sorcerers, conjurers and enchanters were considered amateur witches with more limited powers. A conjurer, for example, could only raise spirits, but a witch could control them. Very powerful witches could also place curses on individuals that beaconed evil spirits to haunt them and their family for successive generations. The spirits of many powerful black witches were condemned to wander dark places such as forests since they were not allowed entry into heaven, but were also clever enough to avoid the devil. The Trials of the 1500s The English Crown did not lash out against witches and the practice of magic until after the Reformation. Under Henry VIII, England broke away from the Roman Catholic Church in 1534. After his death in 1547, his son Edward VI attempted to consolidate the new protestant Church of England, but only reigned for six years before his own untimely death in 1553. For the next five years Henrys daughter, Mary, ruled England as Mary I. She did not follow her fathers exit from the Catholic Church and persecuted those who did. Over 3000 Protestants were burned at the stake to purify their souls and she earned the infamous nickname - Bloody Mary. After her death in 1558, Elizabeth I, another of Henrys daughters, ascended the throne and reinstituted the protestant Church of England, which was similar in custom and manner to the Roman Catholic Church, but held the English crown as the ultimate Earthly authority not the pope. Yet, she could not exclude England from the religious revolution spreading throughout Europe. In particular, the strict doctrines of John Calvin would have a significant impact. In England his followers became known as Puritans. Although not yet pivotal players in English politics their presence in England during the last half of the 16th century would have a profound impact on their beliefs in the evils of witchcraft.

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From the moment of her ascension to the throne, Elizabeth was beset by conspiracies against her life. Catholics were suspected of working with conjurers, sorcerers, enchanters and witches to imperil the queen. Whereas prior to the Reformation the use of magic amongst commoners was ignored or considered benign, since the Crown had made itself the center of religious power in the country anything outside that power was considered suspect. Catholics posed the biggest threat. Although it is unlikely Elizabeth believed magic had the potential to disrupt her rule, all reports suggested that Catholics were conspiring with practitioners of the dark arts. Hence in 1563, laws against conjuring, enchanting, sorcery and witchcraft were passed. Trials against those suspected of such activities were organized by the Privy Council throughout the country. Hundreds were found guilty and burned at the stake. Accusations of witchcraft were most common and usually involved testimony where a cat, toad or some other animal was presented that the witness claimed was once a human. Afflicting livestock with pestilence was also a typical charge. What was once only a matter of conscience became a matter of state because the state and conscience was now one. It was easier to persecute practitioners of magic since their skill was peculiar and esoteric purposefully kept hidden from the public. Going after Catholics directly would have encouraged as much resentment towards Elizabeth as Bloody Mary incurred during her reign. Witchcraft in the New World Elizabeth died in 1603, but the laws against witchcraft were enforced vigorously until after the English Civil War. Hence, when the Puritans settled at Plymouth n 1620 and Massachusetts Bay in 1630 they brought with them not only a strict religion that understood all words from the bible in a very literal sense, but also a very real belief in witchcraft and its capacity for evil. Ironically, the Elizabethan witch trial instigators did not share such superstitions, but within the strict Calvinist doctrines that taught followers about the existence of an ever present and pervasive evil, it is not surprising that they believed those whose actions had deviated from their own righteous beliefs had made pacts with the devil. Women, in particular, were prime candidates for accusations as the original woman Eve was seduced by the devil into eating the fruit from the forbidden tree. In other words, the intense Puritan religiosity led to equally intense prejudice which could flourish unencumbered in the New World. By 1690, the art of detecting a witch was believed to be a science, even though it was founded on baseless superstition. All that was left to trigger excessive witch hunts was the occurrence of a malady beyond the knowledge of medicine

The unexplained malady struck in Salem, Massachusetts in the spring of 1692. Two daughters of an upstanding family experienced convulsive fits followed by an aversion to the Bible. The minister Cotton Mather an expert in witch detection - examined the

Witches and witchcraft children and pronounced that they were possessed by demons beset on them by a witch. The town doctors concurred. After the diagnosis other families reported children with similar symptoms both in Salem and the surrounding communities. Driven by the town council and several ministers an investigation began that focused on the most suspect members of society. To start witnesses were brought against two Indian servants and one black one. Both were found guilty and hung. Yet the affliction amongst the children persisted. Several women of the lower classes accused. They were tested by Cotton Mather and others. The test included a full-body examination for peculiar marks of Satan and knowledge of the Bible. All but a few failed and were hung. Over the course of spring and summer accusations mounted and trials became a daily occurrence. Witness testimony to moonlight dances and prayers to Satan sealed the fate of women of good reputation and the upper classes. Husbands who defended their wives were tacitly acknowledging their own guilt and also hung. Not until accusations reached the wives of ministers and members of the town council did demands for trials cease. In total, twenty women were executed as witches and several men as collaborators, including a constable refused to fetch people for execution. The Salem Witch Trials, as they came to be called, was the only major public outcry against witches and witchcraft in (what would be called) the United States. In the end, the history of witches and witchcraft is one of scapegoating, prejudice and ignorance. The stereotypical witch that pops its head out to curse the unfortunate in deep dark woods on propitious days, such as All Hallows Eve, is merely the accumulation of hundreds of years of superstition upon superstition. Most of these superstitions are the product of English exaggerated English Folk magic, but the Calvinists took the idea of the witch to such an extreme that it became synonymous with any woman even suspected of evil. Both the notion of the witch as the magician and as any evil woman survives today in stories and film. But remember this just because our notion of an evil witch is mostly baseless doesnt mean evil witches dont exist.