Questions and Answers

Questions & Answers

Below are the answers to some of the most commonly asked questions concerning witchcraft, Wicca and paganism. It is set up as Myth (misconception) vs. Fact (truth about the topic).

· MYTH: Wicca is the same thing as the historical term witchcraft.

· FACT: The historical term witchcraft has been in use in various countries for centuries. In European countries during the Middle Ages, and in Colonial America, the term was used to describe people (both men and women) who were accused of consorting with Satan or the Devil. The vast majority of people who were accused of practicing witchcraft were good, upstanding Christians. Those accused of witchcraft usually fit into one or more of the following categories:

o Single, older woman (or man) living alone

o Slightly retarded or mentally ill

o Had a fight with a neighbor

o Wealthy, with assets coveted by others

The modern term Wicca describes a ‘modern’ religion, founded by Gerald Gardner, that incorporates aspects of many different nature-based pagan religions. The word witch has gained an alternate meaning in modern times and now refers to those who practice magick. Most (but not all) Wiccans practice magick and are, therefore, also witches. Witches can also be found on a number of other pagan paths, such as Druidry, Asatru, Strega, Voudon, Shamanism, Native, to name but a few. Additionally, there are even Christian witches and those who do not follow any spiritual path.

· MYTH: The wise women and cunning men recorded in the Middle Ages and existing up into the 20^th century are actually witches. They are the remmants of the ancient Goddess religion of witchcraft and practiced this religion in secret during the millennia of Christian persecution until ‘coming out of the broom closet’ in the 1930’s.

· FACT: Wise women and cunning men were, indeed, the holders of various types of wisdom, which was dispensed to their communities, as needed. Some of the types of knowledge they held were: medicinal herb craft, curse removal, horse-whispering, midwifery, astrology, alchemy, folk lore, shamanism. However, there is no consistency in the types of knowledge and/or expertise held by these individuals. Their skill set depended upon the country and often the century in which they lived. For instance, in Siberia, they were shamans and folklorists only. In Medieval Western Europe, they were herbalists and midwives (the women) and horse-whisperers (the men). With the advent of the Age of Reason, the wise women concentrated more on curse removal and herbal spellwork, while the cunning men began to work with astrology and weather-magic, in addition to horse-whispering. There is no evidence of a consistent body of knowledge or religious or spiritual practices held by these individuals. As for being witches, they were the traditional enemy of those accused of witchcraft, as one of their primary functions involved identifying witches for those who felt they had been cursed.

· MYTH: During the Middle Ages, often referred to as the ‘Burning Times’, approximately 9 million witches were tortured and killed for their beliefs.

· FACT: As mentioned above, most of those accused of witchcraft during the Middle Ages were doing nothing of the sort. Secondly, recent scholarship indicates that the number of those tortured and killed during this time is much smaller than 9 million; a more realistic figure is between 50,000 and 100,000.

· MYTH: Wicca (witchcraft) is an ancient religion, the continuous, unchanged, practice of which dates back thousands of years.

· FACT: Wicca is a new religion, which was created out of an amalgam of various nature-based religions and other philosophies. The theory of Wicca as an ancient religion, often referred to as the ‘Wiccan Myth’, was created by a man named Gerald Gardner in the 1950’s. Gardner was a British Civil Servant who was influenced by many Romantic poets, spiritualist writers, cultural anthropologists and ceremonial magicians of the latter half of the 19^th century and the first half of the 20^th. With the repeal of the British anti-witchcraft laws in 1951, Gardner threw himself into publishing and speaking out about what he called witchcraft (but is now referred to as Wicca). In his writings on the subject, Gardner claimed to have been initiated into a Coven in the New Forest in 1939 by a woman named Dorothy Clutterbuck. Gardner claimed that the Coven was a remnant of an ancient religion (historically referred to as witchcraft) that had been practiced uninterrupted for millennia. He claimed the religion had survived thousands of years of persecution by practicing in secret. Gardner went on to write a ‘Book of Shadows’ that he claimed contained all of the beliefs, rituals and practices of this ancient religion, as practiced by his Coven. Modern scholarship has come to the conclusion that Gerald Gardner himself created the modern Wiccan religion, drawing from his readings on various pagan and earth-based religions of the past, and adding a dose of ritual magic, spiritualism and even Native American shamanic traditions.

Some of his sources are as follows:

§ Anthropologist and author Margaret Murray, author of the 1921 book “The Witch Cult of Europe”

§ Much of Gardner’s historical information seems to have originated in Murray’s works. Murray’s theories of witchcraft in the Middle Ages being a continuation of ancient Goddess worship have been debunked by modern scholarship.

§ Aleister Crowley, a noted British occultist and contemporary of Gardner

§ Doreen Valiente, a member of Gardner’s coven who helped Gardner draft and edit some of his writings for The Book of Shadows, maintains that Gardner himself admitted to ‘borrowing’ some of Crowley’s material to fill in gaps in the information he received through the New Forest Coven.

§ Charles Leland, a folklorist and amateur historian

§ Wrote books on various subjects, including folklore, ethnography and language

§ Claimed to have discovered a fifth Celtic tongue (Cant), later disproved

§ In the 1890’s, he published several books about the folklore of northern Italy

§ The source of much of his material for these books was a woman (commonly said to be his mistress) named Maddalena

· The folklore provided to him by Maddalena and other sources contained stereotypical tales of evil witches

· Leland believed in the ‘Myth of the Matriarchy’ and kept pressing his sources for information on the actual practice of witchcraft, which he believed was the remnants of the ancient Goddess-worshipping religion

· Finally, Maddalena provided him with some material, which indicated a group may have existed that based its practices on a combination of Christian theology, Classical Roman deities and Medieval folklore

· He edited this material, and combined it with bits and pieces of the folklore from his previous publications, to support his beliefs, and published it as “Aradia: The Gospel of the Witches”(published in 1899)

§ American Indian sources

§ A group that practiced a type of spiritualism based on American Indian traditions was in operation at the beginning of the 20^th century. It was called ‘The Woodcrafters’. A British branch of this group, called the Order of the Woodcraft Chivalry, was formed in 1916. Gardner was associated with this group.

· MYTH: Since Wicca is a ‘new’ religion; it has no claim to validity. A religion must have stood the test of time, and, preferably, be formed around a holy man or prophet, who claims to speak the words of God, which are then recorded in a Book, which points the way to spiritual enlightenment and/or salvation.

· FACT: The reason that Gerald Gardner’s creation has grown and spread beyond even his wildest expectations is because it works. A religion does not have to be ancient to be valid. Even ancient religions were new at one time. Religion, like culture, evolves over time. The practice of Wicca fulfills a person’s spiritual needs, helps them to grow personally and motivates them to work towards the betterment of society and the preservation of the natural environment.

· MYTH: You have to be initiated into a ‘legitimate’ Coven, preferably of Gardnerian or Alexandrian origin, to be a true Wiccan.

· FACT: This is a view that is becoming less common, although it is still held by some traditional Wiccans (most of whom are members of the aforementioned Covens, naturally). Today, the term ‘Wiccan’ embraces many different types of people who practice variations of the original (Gardnerian) version of Wicca. By far the largest segment of the Wiccan population does not belong to any organized Coven, but practices alone. These Wiccans are called ‘Solitaires’. Some Wiccan Solitaires occasionally attend open rituals or events held by organized groups.

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The Circle of the Sacred Well

An Eclectic Neopagan Circle

Questions & Answers

Myth vs. Fact

To the right are the answers to some of the most commonly asked questions concerning witchcraft, Wicca and paganism.

The information is set up as Myth (misconception) vs. Fact (truth about the topic).

This information is available as part of our Wicca 101 series of classes.

If you would like to learn more about this interesting topic, please e-mail us for details of our next Wicca 101 series.