It is unfortunate that even Pagans sometimes feel that defending their faith requires defending "traditional" teachings even when hard evidence proves them to be questionable regarding actual historical facts or details. I personally consider "blind faith" to be a disease common to the fundamentalist members of some faiths, but unfortunately it appears that some Wiccans cause unnecessary strife and contention among their own faith with the same sort of thing. I fail to see how the Goddess of Love and the God of Light could be offended by anything that is true. The Lord and Lady are above such nonsense and are hardly likely to consider us blasphemous for adjusting our teachings about the past to follow historical accuracy as closely as possible. Of course only a very few lead tablets in Ogham Script have survived to record anything of the times in question from the Druidic point of view and the rest of our data must be derived from the writings of enemies, rivals, minstrels and poets.
Some Wiccan Traditions claim that their teachings have an unbroken lineage for hundreds of generations with little, if any change in the teachings or practices over that time. Much of this is the direct result of a time period in England when only those that made such claims would be taken seriously as a student or practicioner of any form of Wicca, "witchcraft", or occult tradition. This is a very sad, yet realistic appraisal of the "Pagan" and "occult" community at the time that Gerald Gardner made Wiccan Teachings available to the public. For this reason, the need to tell "little white lies" about the antiquity of traditions and practices was considered as acceptable and appropriate as telling polite lies about whether you like someone's new hat is in general society today. What is often forgotten is that every lie (regardless of the magnitude) weakens the very power of your word both in society and magickally, and it weakens your connection to any Gods and Goddesses that abhor lies. For those following a Celtic, Teutonic, or Norse path, that can be a serious matter indeed!
While I try to treat such people in a respectful manner in order to avoid unecesarily offending their sense of loyalty to teachers etc., I have yet to find any tradition that can justify such a claim. I suggest that such nonsense be overcome with compassionate, yet honest statements made as a personal opinion with specific references to respected authors in the Wiccan and anthropological communities.
Some claim that Wicca is directly derived from the oldest forms of religion such a cults to the Willendorf Goddess. Many teachers also claim that societies, such as the Celts, were universally matriarchal until men took over and ruined everything. There is little anthropological or archeological support for these matriarchy arguments or the other claims of extreme antiquity of Wiccan practice, but the basic archetypes and possibly some of the practices of ancient Earth Mother religions were and are a very powerful influence. Celts did have basic archetypal forms of "Earth Mother" and "Sky Father" derived from their Proto-IndoEuropean ancestors; although they appear to have later shifted more to a "Mother Earth" and Father Nature" in many areas. Most sources support the idea that most Celtic tribes gave women more respect, power, authority, and freedom in many ways than most other cultures of their time, but there is no solid evidence of the average woman having more power, or even as much power as the average man in most tribes during any given time period.
Dr. Miranda Green, a respected archeologist and professor of Celtic studies in Wales (yes, she's female if it matters) writes in her book "Celtic Goddesses" that "Some modern feminists have argued that the presence of powerful female figures in a given mythic tradition implies a strong social and political position for the women in that secular society. Such a correlation is basically unsound in two ways: first, there is little evidence that the divine and human worlds are reflections one of the other in terms of gender; second, even if there is evidence for a few powerful female leaders within a particular culture, that need not correlate with the position of women in general. The religious life of Athens in the fifth centuryBC was focused upon the all-important eponymous goddess Athene, yet Athenian women had no societal status beyond the sphere of ritual activity, and did not even enjoy citizenship."
It should also be mentioned that Dr. Green describes the incidence of arranged marriages, where men made all the decisions and required daughters to be virgin for their first marriage, were reported as quite common, though not universal, among many Celtic tribes in different times and places. Even in some places where Celtic women were permitted to have many husbands or even many lovers, she questions whether the woman actually made the decisions about who came to her bed considering the degree of power over life and death that men in many Celtic Tribes held over their wives and children. I do not know the truth of these matters, but I consider Dr. Green's research to be of very high quality and more reliable than many other sources I have encountered. While Dr. Green's view that the sacred marriage may have been entirely mythical is easily debated, and she shows the tendency of many archeologists (and some anthropologists) to recklessly use the term witchcraft to be used a general label for black magic users, her sources and references are clearly documented, and on most topics that I can check, they appear very reliable.
It is essential that I make clear at this point that I do not consider any of this information to be a guide for how we should practice our spirituality today. Wicca is beautiful and powerful in it's very vitality that derives from it's state as a living and changing religion. It grows to meet the needs of it's devotees and practitioners rather than dogmatically requiring us to repeat the mistakes of our predecessors. I believe that unless we can acknowledge the likely truths about the practices of our spiritual ancestors while choosing to make wiser and more enlightened decisions today, we will be endlessly lost in a world of fantasy and find it very difficult to get others to take our faith seriously. It is essential that we learn to treat all levels of masculine and feminine as equally divine and equally important both within ourselves and within our faith. To limit ourselves to less is to restrict ourselves from ever completely growing toward the reality of the universal divine which is beyond any such limitations or sexist delineation.
There is also a huge problem with teachers and individuals confusing, intentionally or otherwise, the terms witchcraft and/or magic, which are very ill defined terms, with all forms of Wicca and the reverse. While I do consider Wicca to be a form of witchcraft, according to some definitions, it is certain that there are a vast number of witchcraft traditions that do not consider the "Wiccan Rede" a binding commitment or even in any way associated with their craft and therefore are decidedly not Wicca. There are many beliefs that are nearly universal in Wicca, such as treating all life, not just humans, as sacred, valuing the wisdom of celebrating the changes of the moon and the seasons, worshipping deity in many forms and both genders, and a belief in karmic return, and the opportunity to learn through multiple lives, the only teaching that is, I believe, by definition universal is the most basic version of the Wiccan Rede: "an it harm none, do as ye will". I teach my students to consider any practice that observes some of the above mentioned concepts and makes a sincere effort to put the Wiccan Rede first in their decisions and practices to be Wiccan if the people choose to use that term. Naturally there are many religions, such as most forms of Hindusim, that would meet the above criteria except that they do not label themselves Wiccan. Their wishes should be respected and they should be referred to by whatever label they prefer.
The point of all this is, that as Dr. Green clearly points out, all of our sources of information about Celtic religion and society are questionable. The stories, songs, poems, and recorded myths were written down by Christian (albeit sympathetic) monks who had limited understanding of the real significance of some points and a need to alter myths to appear to be heroic histories in order to avoid the ill will of their superiors. Songs, poems, and folk tales are difficult to sift through for details, but they are often the best sources of information in spite of the fact that most of them were heavily paraphrased or even directly altered by these Christian monks. The "classical sources" such as Julias Ceasar and Pliny the Elder had obvious problems with cultural ignorance, cultural egocentrism, and often had a specific axe to grind politically. As for indisputable archeological remains, they are limited and most of them are post Roman and/or Christian influence since the Celts rarely made religious objects out of materials that would last many centuries. In addition to that, archeologists are usually guessing as to what something was actually used for or the degree of it's importance.
As a result, we have to look for consistent patterns and sift the truth from among the many contradictory sources. If anyone states that you must believe that the Celts practiced or believed anything for an absolute certainty, I would regard anything they said on any subject with skepticism. While I feel we should try to gently educate people away from such ridiculous falsehoods, direct confrontations, especially in front of their students, are rarely useful. Out of compassion for their genuine ignorance and their feelings, I try to phrase my disagreement as a personal opinion and make a sincere effort to avoid expressing my opinions by anything so abrasive as say - laughing hysterically. (at least until I can get out of the room!)
So what sources do we actually use to create religious rites, rituals, and teachings that help us to connect to the Gods and Goddesses of our ancestors? First let me say that I teach students to study and respect the work of historical scholars including those found in Asatru, Troth, and Drudiactos. We also make use of research by Caitlin and John Matthews, and all the anthropological texts we can find. I find such sources a wealth of information about our Celtic heritage. I realize that works by Asatru and Troth scholars are rarely about specifically Celtic topics, but they often give great insight into the practices and teachings that were common to both cultures. The discussions of Seith Magic and Freya cults are especially of interest as they were a major influence on early Wiccan teachings, rituals, and magickal practices.
I suppose the only real way to know what happened would be if you were standing there and could recall vivid memories from that lifetime. Even in that case, it would only make certain what happened with a single Celtic tribe in a given county, in a given year. While Celtic religious teachers were very strict about memorization and precise ritual repition to attempt preserve mysteries intact, to presume that religious and cultural practices were universal or unchanging over many centuries or unchanged by the blending of cultures with conquered people is preposterous. Regional deities, beliefs, and practices appear to have been absorbed into the culture of a given tribe quite often when they conquered the people of a new region and the Celts were a nomadic people. In the mean time, we will evaluate what information we have in a humble state of prayer and inner reflection to sift for patterns of real significance and wisdom that can carry us from our past into an enlightened future. We also attempt to develop new wisdom and new research to rediscover what has been lost.
We are trying to develop a coherent system of teachings, rites, traditions, and rituals which teach our lesson of deep personal love for the God, the Goddess, and all their creations. This love of all their creations must include the self. We too are marvelous and sacred creations, so we must always remember to treat our minds and bodies, as well as those of others, with dignity and respect. Our religion is a process of combining these teachings in a manner which truly meets the needs of Wiccans and their world. Unless a religion evolves to meet the needs of its worshipers, it is already dead or dying. Wicca is constantly going through the labor pains of giving birth to a new version of itself which is capable of meeting the needs of Wiccans who are more spiritually mature than they were in past incarnations.
Traditions are wonderful tools in that they teach one safe, effective, time tested way of doing something, but they are never the only way or necessarily the best way for people who are constantly growing and changing. We should hope that the precise teachings and rituals which any religion used 20,000 or even 2000 years ago would no longer be sufficient without any addition or modification for our needs today, because that would imply that we had wasted all those lifetimes when we were supposed to be growing and maturing. We really don't know how to label the antiquity of Wicca, because it all depends on how the term is defined. Some aspects of Wicca are based on religious beliefs and practices as old as the first Goddess figures (approx. 30,000 years), but others may be less than 10 minutes old. The important thing is how effectively our rites and rituals serve to build that personal love relationship, and how well they help us to live a rich, full life while we learn and grow.
According to many legends the "mysteries" began in the mythical city of Atlantis. After the fall of Atlantis, the "mysteries" were a jealously guarded secret taught to only a chosen few. When they became more widespread, the orthodox religions of that time (varies which ones depending on the story teller) feared their power to depose tyrants or to alter the very fabric of reality itself, so they were hunted down and slaughtered with little or no justification. Many of these stories, like most legends, are based in truth in one form or another regardless of the exact details.
Today our "Pagan Community" (some prefer the term Earth Based Religions) is educating the ignorant through organizations such as the Pagan Alliance of Central Texas, The Aquarian Tabernacle Church, The United Federation of Pagans, Circle Network News, Covenant of the Goddess, Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagan Studies, Witch's Anti-Defamation League, and the various Pagan groups worldwide. Wiccans and other Pagans/Neo-Pagans face terrible job discrimination and are sometimes attacked verbally, physically, or through unwarranted legal actions. Not all laws against magic and witchcraft have been repealed even in the U. S., and religious persecution is still rampant. Fortunately, most of the laws permitting heavy sentences or execution for practicing unorthodox religions have been repealed in most countries. For the first time, we may be able to show the world who and what we are without fear of prison sentences or execution.
Granted freedom of religion is still only a pretty phrase, but if we can put aside our egos and our pride long enough to work together with even the Pagans we don't like for our mutual benefit, we have the power to change that too! It is said that a true friend doesn't love you because of who you are, but in spite of it. If we can learn to bond together in spite of all our differences for a single purpose, we can alter the very fabric of reality and bring about changes in our world which would allow our children to choose for themselves how best to walk with that being we call the God and Goddess. Think about it. Pray about it. Use all the arcane methods you have at your disposal to see if I speak the truth and when you have finished, let me have your answer.