A little bit of history for everyone, hope you enjoy.. Goddess bless ~ Riversongs The History of Wicca Long before churches, organized religion, or clergy, humankind simply celebrated the bare bones spirituality they instinctively felt and experienced in their daily lives, as they had no other means of knowledge or influence. Before organized religion, people had nothing to tell them whom or how to worship nor what to believe, and so the focus was placed on the many facets of a Creator they saw and felt in nature, wherein we interact with and are a part of divine cycles. The original meaning of the word Pagan is "country dweller", for someone who was not exposed to the campaigns of Christianity. Spellcraft, along with the practice of honoring the cycles of life and nature, are so ancient and widespread that it would be all but impossible to pinpoint any founder or era of origin. The basic concepts of Wicca pervade historically in nearly every culture and time. Prior to any actual written history, cave drawings dating back more than 30,000 years ago depict ceremonies in which cultures honored the God and Goddess, and the cycles of nature. Native American and Ancient Egyptian religions strongly parallel the Craft. Many modern practices have merged from those of the Anglo-Saxons, the ancient Celts, and even the Masonic Order, among countless others. The theology of modern Wicca is generally accepted to have been revived and popularized by two people- Dr. Margaret Murray, and Gerald Gardner. Margaret Murray was an archaeologist/anthropologist who was drawn to study Wicca after many excavations in Egypt, which stirred her interest in the magickal crafts. She published two books in the 1920’s that began to break down the barriers and stigma attached to Wicca. Dr. Murray approached the subject from an entirely scientific point of view, and was determined to depict the Olde Religion in a rational way, based on facts and free from any superstitious notions or baseless discrimination. She was the first to advance the theory that Wicca was simply the survival of the pre-Christian nature religions, which were the widespread dominant beliefs of the general population, prior to be driven underground. Gerald Gardner was a retired British civil servant, writer, and anthropologist. His path began with a deep interest in the customs of the tribes he encountered in his travels to the Orient, and he fervently studied many customs and practices that were, at that time, shrouded in secrecy. Gardner claimed to have been initiated into the New Forest Coven in the 1930’s, and published several books based upon his learning through this group. New Forest Coven was a surviving tradition of English witchcraft, and many of its initiates were also Freemasons. Gardner also claimed that Wicca began in prehistory, as rituals associated with fire, hunting, fertility, crop growth, and the curing of disease. He noted that even these primitive societies recognized a supreme deity or “One” spiritual source, but one in which their degree of evolution did not allow knowledge or intimacy. Instead, they worshiped only “lesser” Gods, those that as individual aspects of the supreme, multifaceted deity, seemed more simple and reachable, with whom communication seemed to be a more attainable aspect of worship. This type of worship is also the basis of all Native American religions. It was the books written by Gerald Gardner that brought the practice of Wicca out of the underground. The time-frame coincided with the retraction of the last surviving Witchcraft Acts, which were punitive laws that banned practice. As society was free to explore Wicca, and with the onset of an abundance of information that was previously so difficult to obtain, there was an explosive growth of Wicca during the 1960’s. Today it is THE fastest growing religious movement. It is estimated that there are about 1 1/2 million Wiccan practitioners worldwide based on census statistics, but due to the largely uninstitutionalized nature of Wicca, and the secrecy associated out of fear of discrimination-it is impossible to determine an accurate number.
Posted on: Thu, 04 Jul 2013 20:42:43 +0000
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