The late Dr. Margaret Murray traced witchcraft back as far as Paleolithic times,25000 years ago. The women of the tribe during this time depended upon hunting for everything. Nature was overwhelming and out of awe and respect for it the women ascribed to each a spirit. At this time sympthetic magik was also formed. The tribes believed that similar things have similar effect. If a clay model of a bison was made, attacked and killed then the hunt will end in the same way. Religio-magikal ritual was born when one of the cavemen threw on a skin and antlered mask and played the part of the Hunting God, directing the attack.

 

Along with the God of hunting there was a Goddess, she was responsible for fertility. This is where the term Mother Nature came from.

 

Witches believc there is a male and female to everything .

 

As women developed so did the religion. Women spread across Europe taking the gods alone. As different countries developed so the God and Goddess acquired different names.

 

In the years of 22,000-18,000B.C.E. the Gravettians were innovators of After Life. They would bury their dead with things they believed they would need for the next life or After Life.

 

With the development of different rituals became the neccesity for priesthood; a select few that were more able to bring results directing the rituals.  These ritual leaders, priests and priestesses, became known as the Wicca- the Wise Ones. When Anglo Saxon kings emmersed in England the king would often call upon the Witan; the council of the Wise Ones.   The Wica certainly had to be wise; not only did they lead religious rites but they had to have knowledge of herbal lore, magick. and divination. At the great festivals they became like gods themselves.

 

Christianity was a man made religion and there was not a mass conversion. An attempt at mass conversion was brought on by Pope Gregory the Great. He ordered his bishops to destroy the temples and rededicate them in hopes the people will attend his new churches. He was successful for some part however the only artisans available to build the new temples were from among the Pagans themselves. The built the temples and very cleverly incorporated their own deities into the building. In this time the old religion was a rival of christianity and it is only natural to want to get rid of your rival.

 

In 1484 Pope Innocent VIII produced his bull against witches. 2 years later, 2 infamous German monks Heinrich Institoris Kramer and Jakob Sprenger, produced their concoction of anti-witchery, the Malleus Faleficarum ( The Witche's Hammer), this book had instructions on how to prosecute a witch. When the book was produced to the Theological Faculty of the University of Cologne, the appointed censor at that time, refused to have anything to do with it. The 2 men forged the approbation of the entire facult and this was not discovered until 1898.

 

Well I would love to continue on with the history of Wicca here however it would take me pages upon pages to do it here on a web site. If you are interested in Wicca I can tell you my favorite authors are Raymond Buckland and Gerald Gardnier. Both are Priests of the Wicca way.