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| The Basic History of Witchcraft |
| Thousands of years ago people relied on hunting to survive. Nature was just as depended on as hunting however, not as looked upon as hunting. In these days people believed in many Gods. There was a God for everything, including a God for rain, the sun, the wind, etc. But most important was the God of the Hunt because back then people needed the hunt to survive. Since a lot of animals that the people hunted had horns, they just assumed that the Horned God (or the God of the Hunt) would have horns as well. It is believed that at this time magick started and rituals began. A little afterward, we think, came the Goddess. After all, if there were to be animals to hunt, there had to be birth of those animals first. This is where we got the Mother Goddess. So this is the way it is thought to all be started. Of course, these ideas have evolved very much since then and the Goddess and the God evolve around more than just hunting. They are now about birth, death, change, nature, etc. Before we go back to the history of Witchcraft, let me explain that Witchcraft evolved naturally over thousands of years and even came naturally. We also call Witchcraft the Old Religion. When Christians came, they did not come all at once. For at least the first thousand years of Christianity the Old Religion was still very well-known. After all who would want to give up a religion of happiness and positive energy for a religion where you fear your God. It is known that Christianity is truely a man- |
| made religion. It did not come naturally or evolve for thousands of years like the Old Religion did. Later, some people of the Old Religion were forced to take Christianity. As this happened the Christains took our Horned God and made him their devil. This is how they claimed us to be devil worshipers. Christians took over many tribes who worshiped Gods like the Horned God telling them that he is the devil. That is how Witchcraft got its bad name. It isn't that we are evil, we aren't, its that they took our image of the Horned God and made their devil look just like him. This was partly done to make people go to Christianity. This is just a very breif history of Witchcraft. To learn more buy a book on the subject or ask a fellow Wiccan. -Alison Rogers |
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