The history of the craft: from the birth of religion to the ancient empires

"In order to appreciate where you are, it's important to know where you've been"
- Maya Angelou

We continue our studies over the next three lessons with a look at the history of
witchcraft from the dawn of history to the present day. To begin, we'll examine the
earliest roots of witchcraft, which to doke extent mirror the birth of western
Civilization.
While wicca has its roots in many different cultures and civilizations, we'll focus
on the influence of people from Britain, Northern Europe, Greece and Rome in these
lessons.

RELIGION IN PALEOLITHIC TIMES

The year is 25,000 BCE.

The last Ice Age is retreating, and humankind-whether Neanderthal or early
Homosapiens-has learned the use of fire, organized hunting, and rudimentary
language.
The wheel is still more than twenty thousand years away. Loose tribes of nomads
roam the plains that will one day be known as Europe, Africa, and Asia. Still at
the mercy of the whims of nature, humans must make sense of this world to survive.
Early humans worked hard to stay alive. They fashioned bone, wood, and stone into
simple tools; they learned the cycle of the seasons, the ways of animals, and the
nature of plants.

Archaeological evidence suggests ancestor worship in which bodies were either

ritualistically buried or cannibalistically consumed. Some believed that to take in
the flesh of another was to gain their strengths, whether the flesh was from a
bear, an ox, or a grandfather. Ancestor veneration led to ancestor worship and the
possibility that the ancestor's spirit was still alive in another world.
Gradually, the idea of a spirit world developed into the presence of beings—whether
human, animal, or hybrid--who could influence life in the physical world or could
be called upon to help in that world. This slowly grew into the concept of divine
beings.
Over the course of thousands of years of the Neolithic, many diverse spiritual
concepts and practices developed. There was never a single, homogeneous faith, but
rather different clans in different regions developed their own spiritual
"language." Toward the north, the focus was more on a kinship with the seasonal
changes and alignment of the stars, whereas farther south, a more dualistic
interpretation developed, focusing on
the roles of male and female. In the area that would become Turkey, small clay
figurines of female figures, usually seen pregnant, were being fashioned. It is
possible that these were created to ensure successful birth or as goddess images,
which suggested a feminine divinity.

By around 10,000 BCE, people in the northern areas of Europe, the remnants of
Neanderthal and the more prominent Homo sapiens, were creating a spiritual
landscape that involved an awareness of the changing seasons and cycles of growth,
an animistic connection with beasts such as the aurochs and the stag, and
veneration of ancestral spirits. They had learned the paths of the sun and the
moon, recognized the patterns of
stars and planets in the sky, and had learned to distinguish and cultivate
different herbs.
They had observed the migratory patterns of birds before seasonal changes and how
animals reacted to changes in the weather before they became apparent. Animals were
thought to hold the key to the spirit world, which is why shamans and others with
spiritual authority sought to connect with the different animals to bridge that
gap.
As clans of people grew and developed, they stopped roaming and remained in
areas where they could prosper. Clans became farming communities, and communities
became the first villages. Regions slowly developed spiritual identities. Stone
circles were erected on the British Isles and in Europe. It is understood that
their positions and orientations were carefully chosen to correspond to solar and
lunar positions. What roles the stone circles played in people's everyday lives is
still largely speculative, but they remained vital to the people of the area for
thousands of years.

<ask for speculation on what the stone circles could have been used for>

THE BIRTH OF THE WICCE

Stone and Iron Age communities around the British Isles and northern Europe were
still dependent on the natural world around them and had a developing awareness of
the spirit world. A hierarchy of sorts gradually emerged. Those with a greater
capacity to
communicate with the spirit world developed into a priesthood, and stratifications
within the community were not unknown. Even Neolithic people expressed a bias of
one gender over another-graves of males often had more ornate grave goods than
those of females (that have been found so far, anyway)-and the more adept warriors
had a greater abundance of grave goods, or things buried with them to take to the
afterlife. People buried with more jewelry and beads often bore tattoos and
scarification that we can assume to have been spiritually significant. This tells
us that Priests were regarded as a separate class within the community, distinct
from the common villagers. These Priests were a select few who were more able to
produce the desired results when directing the rituals and more able to offer sage
advice when needed.

We can speculate that these ritual leaders, or Priests and Priestesses, would
become known as the Wicce (WI-ki), or "Wise Ones." (The problem with relying on
historical or archaeological analysis is that you are frequently trying to work
backward, using what you know to fill in the blanks of what you don't know without
letting any presumed bias taint your research. Do we know for certain that our
Neolithic Priests were actually Wicce? Not at all. But linguistic experts can trace
the origins of words backward as well, and the etymological roots of Wicce/
Wica/Wika are appropriate for the period." We can call our shamans or Priests Wicce
with some reliability that we aren't completely off the mark.)

As time progressed, some of the Wise Ones of old became known by another name:
Druids. What we assume to know of Britain's ancient Druids comes from reports,
ostensibly from Caesar himself, and transcribed by the scholar Diodorus Siculus in
36 BCE and later by the scholar Strabo in 20 CE. He declared that three castes of
people in the Gallic lands were held in honour: the bardoi, the ovateis, and the
druidai. The Druids were a revered caste of priests, both male and female, who
oversaw much of the spiritual and cultural welfare of early Britain. They were held
in such regard to be as important as nobles, and a Druid, it was said, could stop
two warring factions from fighting. The scholar Pliny the Elder gave a more
detailed account of them in around 75 CE. They were poets, scholars, scientists,
mathematicians, and lawgivers. They had the
authority to deny people from attending religious service, to advise on matters of
gov-
ernment, and to perform augury and prediction. Druids recited an oral
tradition―nothing was written down-and Caesar estimated that it could take twenty
years for a young person to memorize everything they needed to know to join the
order. They studied the movement of the stars in the cosmos and the behavior of
birds on the wing. They studied the anatomy of the human body and acted as surgeons
when needed. Whether or not they performed human sacrifice is conjectural. They may
have, but this is not confirmed. If they did, it would not have been any evil act
but a release of the spirit from one body to inhabit another.
The practice of Druidry was actively suppressed by the Romans, and what had been an
elite order of Priests in the first century CE was reduced to maligned fortune
tellers and herbalists by the third. Still, their early prestige is remembered
throughout history in the writing of contemporary scholars, and the Druids were an
integral part of the history of the Celtic civilization. It wasn't until the
eighteenth century that a serious interest in Druidry resurfaced,
thanks to historians like William Stukeley, who fostered a fascination with the
ancient
practice that has flourished in recent decades.
The word Druid, incidentally, has several possible origins. It could have
originated,
as Pliny suggested, from the Greek drui-ides, which means "oak-tree-wise," or from
the early Welsh word drwi, or "wren-wise," which noted their use of the habits of
birds as a
form of augury

VIKINGS, NORSE MYTHOLOGY, AND THE EDDAS

Much of what we know of the Vikings comes from historical record of raids and
pillages
at sites like Lindisfarne in 793 CE and York in 866. But the Norse people are so
much
more than just a bunch of Viking raiders, and it would be a gross injustice to
ignore what
we know of the ancient Norse. Our knowledge of early Norse mythology comes from two
sources, the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda. The Poetic Edda is a series of poems,
written by authors whose names we'll never know, from 800 to 1100 CE that were
transcribed from oral tradition around 1200 C
They recount the philosophy and legends of the Icelandic people. The Prose Edda is
composed mostly of stories, mostly transcribed by Snorri Sturluson around 1220 CE.
Within the Prose Edda, the prologue introduces the Norse gods, and subsequent books
tell of Norse mythology and delve into the importance and format of storytelling.
One portion of the Poetic Edda, the "Hávamál," is dedicated to Odin and offers
advice on living, conduct, and wisdom. It describes some of Odin's exploits,
including how he acquired the knowledge of the runes, and explores old Norse
philosophy. The runes, or futhark, date from the second century CE and are as much
a system of divination as they are a mere alphabet. It is also from the "Hávamál"
that modern Norse scholars introduced the Nine Noble Virtues and the Aesir and the
Vanir, two families, or clans, of gods. The Aesir were gods such as Odin and Thor,
and they were regarded as "principal" gods. The Vanir included gods such as Frey
and Freyja, gods of marriage, childbirth, and fortune telling, and nature spirits.
Magickal practitioners among the Norse were the male gothi (GO-dee) and the
female githya, who served as community religious leaders, and the seidr (SAY-thr),
who
dealt in soothsaying and fortune telling. Seidr was actually the name of both the
practi-
tioner and the practice itself.

THE ANGLO-SAXONS AND THE WYRD

The Roman Empire collapsed around 430 CE, and with it went the Roman occupation
of Britain and northern Europe. This led to a period that was labeled the "Dark
Ages"
under the assumption that there was no learning or advance of civilization from the
Roman Empire to the Renaissance.
To call this period uneducated or uncivilized is a gross injustice to the people
who
lived there. The Romans had left, leaving the Celts to rule in Britain, and the
Norse were
making inroads from the north, bringing gods such as Odin and Thor with them. Brit-
ain became a true melting pot of culture and religion, and by 800 CE the Anglo-
Saxon people were increasing in prominence.
Anglo-Saxon is a hybrid of two cultures. Well, actually three. It is a mix of the
Aengli,
from which we get the word England, the Saxons, who came from the Saxony region of
France and Germany, and the Jutes, a Germanic tribe already occupying what would
become Britain.

These cultures merged to create the Anglo-Saxon, which filled the void left by the
Romans. This allowed the melding of the Celtic people with the Saxons and the
Norse. Gods, as we will learn later, morph, changing names and appearances, as the
people worshipping them evolve. Just as the Greek gods adopted Roman names-Zeus
became Jupiter and Aphrodite became Venus-the Norse gods adopted Anglo-Saxon names.
Odin became Woden, Thor became Thunor, which also gives us the word thun-
der, and Tyr became Tiw. The Pagan Anglo-Saxon pantheon also gives us the days of
the
week. Wednesday is Woden's day and Thursday is Thunor's day.
The Anglo-Saxons saw the amalgamation of the Druids, the Celts, and the Norse, and
the religious and magick systems began to evolve. This syncretic development paved
the way for much of what happened later.
Another vital contribution of Anglo-Saxon spirituality is the concept of wyrd. The
wyrd (pronounced like wear with a d at the end) was seen as the guiding force of
life-
yet not really a controlling force. Think of it this way: The wyrd is like a
rushing river,
the current of life. A person in a small boat can ride the current, going wherever
it takes
them, or the person can row and steer, guiding their own path along the river but
not
fighting it. Sometimes the person must negotiate eddies and swift currents, and
surpassing them makes the individual a better oarsperson for their efforts. If they
try to fight the river, or row against the current, they will exhaust themself,
getting nowhere. The river-the wyrd-affects all who touch it. If a person tries to
dam up or redirect the river, they affect the lives of every plant and animal along
its course. The wyrd feeds, supports, and guides all living things. There also are
two other perceptions of the wyrd. In the first, wyrd is not seen as a linear
progression, like time. Rather, it is all-encompassing. Eternal yet instant.
Chronological perception of the wyrd is not "yesterday, today, and tomorrow" but a
state of constant "now." ("What time is it?" "It is now.")
In the second, the wyrd is a guiding but not controlling force of a person's
destiny. If
a person abandons a well-paying job to fight forest fires because they feel it is
their "call-
ing," that is their wyrd. Likewise, a person who flies to Nepal on a whim is also
following
their wyrd. It is a calling that cannot be denied; to deny it would likely cause
sickness
and depression. (Insert story of trip to brantford)

Modern Witches use the wisdom of the Anglo-Saxon wyrd to better understand the flow
of magick in their lives and recognize their place in the cosmos. Incidentally,
there is an excellent modern interpretation of the wyrd. In George Lucas's Star
Wars Saga Jedi Knights call it the Force.

RELIGION OF OTHER CULTURES

Raising huge monuments along the banks of the Nile, the people of ancient Egypt
lived in the blazing heat of the sun and survived annual floodings, drought, and
famine, and
their pantheon reflected their lifestyle. To be fair, the Egyptian civilization was
more than six thousand years old, and the gods we know-Ra, Isis, Osiris, and
others--were
relatively new in its history. Ra, the sun god, watched over all; Isis, goddess of
life, was
the provider; and Osiris judged one's soul upon death. Bastet and Sekhmet were
goddesses represented by cats. Bastet was a gentle, caring aspect, and Sekhmet was
more
defiant and aggressive.
While the Egyptian culture had no real influence over northern European Wicce of
that period, the spirituality and mysteries have left an impression on people for
cen-
turies. Many mystics and magickal practitioners have studied, emulated, and adopted
aspects of the Egyptian religions. From the latter half of the nineteenth century,
ancient Egypt has awed and inspired people the world over, and many modern Wiccans
have adopted their gods as readily as any other.

The Grecian civilization began in the fields and hills overlooking the Aegean Sea,
and from 3000 to 1000 BCE they grew and prospered in a (mostly) peaceful nature.
They waged war upon neighbours only when negotiation was impossible and to defend
Grecian lands and interests, and the Greek pantheon reflects this. They had many
gods
and goddesses of wisdom, music, wine, motherhood, and so on, but only one, Ares,
was devoted specifically to warfare. Athena, mother of Athens, is known for her
military
strategy and tactics and emphasizes the intellectual aspects of warfare as opposed
to
the brutality of combat. By 500 BCE, Athens was regarded as the center of the
civilized
world, and the Grecian influence spread from Spain to India. While the Greek city-
state
of Sparta became known for its military strength and well-trained soldiers, Athens
and
much of Greece regarded philosophy, reason, and revelry as the order of the day,
and
the Greek pantheon was revered and honoured across the Aegean Sea. Astrology was an
accepted science at this time, and people knew the ways of the world and understood
their place in the cosmos. They developed laws and customs for the betterment of
the people, and both men and women held the title of philosophers, statesmen,
teachers, and so on. The Athenian system of democratic government became the
foundation for most legal systems in the West
On the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, Hebrew scholars began putting together
a magickal system known as the Kabbalah. Essentially a combination of philosophy,
sci-
ence, magick, and mysticism, it has been evolving over the centuries. The Kabbalah,
Hebrew for "doctrines received from tradition," employs secret knowledge and
philosophies not revealed to the masses. According to legend, the framework of the
Kabbalah was taught by Jehovah to a group of angels who then gave it to humans
after their fall from grace. Moses is said to have taught the Kabbalah to seventy
elders during the Exodus, and it was passed down as an oral tradition until the
eighth century when it was finally written down.
The Kabbalah states that God is all things: good, evil, day, night, male, female,
within,
and without. It represents the organized pattern of the universe, which can be
deciphered through the mysteries of letters and numbers. It is a road map, in a
sense, of the path by which God created the universe and the three pillars by which
humans can achieve divinity. The pillars represent masculine, or mercy; spirit, or
gentleness; and feminine, or judgment. Other interconnecting lines exist as well,
and together the seventy-two combinations represent the mysteries of the universe.
Through the Middle Ages, the Kabbalah was studied by alchemists hoping to unlock
the secrets of life and by mystics hoping to reach divinity. Because of its Hebrew
origin
and its use of magick and esoteric philosophies, the medieval church often assumed
it to be evil, and it was thus associated with heathen Jews and Witches. Many
Witches use the Kabbalah and incorporate its patterns into their own studies.
Indeed, the tarot and the Kabbalah complement each other quite nicely.

LESSON 2 HOMEWORK:

RELIGIONS IN PALEOLITHIC TIMES

1. why did early civilizations envision deific forces in nature?
2. What spiritual changes developed as civilization advanced?

THE BIRTH OF THE WICCE

1. What prompted the development of the first Priests, or Wicce?
2. What roles do we think the Wicce played among the people?
3. How do we know the Priests were treated with respect and reverence?
4. Why did the ancient romans want to suppress the Druids' influence in early
celtic society?
5. Briefly explain the possible origin and meanings of the word Druid

VIKINGS, NORSE MYTHOLOGY, AND THE EDDAS

1. What literary sources taught us about early Norse Mythology?
2. What is the difference between the Aesir and the Vanir?
3. Explain the differences between gothi/githya and seidr.

THE ANGLO-SAXONS AND THE WYRD

1. Why are the Anglo-saxons important to the history or witchcraft?
2. Explain the concept of the Wyrd
3. How can the idea of the wyrd be applied to magick?

RELIGIONS OF OTHER CULTURES

1. Explain how environmental changes can affect the evolution of religion.
2. What influence has the ancient Greek civilization had on the modern

Lesson 2 recommended reading

Blood and mistletoe: the history of the Druids in Britain by Ronald Hutton

https://www.amazon.ca/Blood-Mistletoe-History-Druids-Britain/dp/0300267754/
ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=15XG8V26MSG0S&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.BSWTwQ8Z36V0U0dbdOv8I11aI-
laA2DD8a_jd_4xWKRMsCxnccmwhzvxStwN7JTz9VmTdl5OWzeMLXNnOH8nhQ._CWLnuS8snPv461NH5Mh_4
45z0nhtrJXrD8fNd2HRkk&dib_tag=se&keywords=Blood+and+mistletoe
%3A+the+history+of+the+Druids+in+Britain+by+Ronald+Hutton&qid=1713906190&sprefix=bl
ood+and+mistletoe+the+history+of+the+druids+in+britain+by+ronald+hutton%2Caps
%2C148&sr=8-1

The magic history of Britain by Martin wall

https://www.amazon.ca/Magical-History-Britain-Martin-Wall/dp/1445677083/
ref=mp_s_a_1_1?
crid=2OWCJZY2IA0X9&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.lLFKAdJsMHbfWI6MtBI47O8sgyhN0onHTegtJ8xKA1TirpW
ITlQqRw5CDDp9W-2g3GbKGfEjxRTVHN3r1H2LXKRaKa5aM-
qXWPo7AwLaAIjOoMonwcwfTerdXxlC_bKzxUp5DbcRV9F3LXV2zl5oXYnt13iO9w5bpd-
nb0zLWe6cZQKyJRXB4Un57Bgi62yyF0mvkEd2JAnLZuc0F2Zegg.Jxg4ZjB8f7Ve5187u13O75J7TD4MEhH
MqrctJrwVpyA&dib_tag=se&keywords=The+magic+history+of+Britain+by+Martin+wall&qid=17
13906234&sprefix=the+magic+history+of+britain+by+martin+wall%2Caps%2C152&sr=8-1

The magical world of the anglo-saxons by tylluan Penry

https://www.amazon.ca/Magical-World-Anglo-Saxons-Tylluan-Penry-ebook/dp/
B00DL2IRWW/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?
crid=1L7FIGYGRM0Y7&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.6oRMNur7qlglfyH_GTlusU5AL6-
SD6SFEoX0ZLIWy97v3fBGcbQNkvMr5dUwis49-i-_MlTmlH-ErO-
aNPqH1yk2lSMPLjI4uznQLqk6RJUg7ONP15nEFbar_Fegb066qXokclROqgY473bo_adSsjQUKLVzVbdv3-
Us4wphIjlALg6gGuOImoFZT9VES_sUocxEprn0srCnXJBhSivl0Q.FFEhnqtcckiRmHt8vUv6rH1RNQDPFi
RDv9iwLJMabO0&dib_tag=se&keywords=The+magical+world+of+the+anglo-
saxons+by+tylluan+Penry&qid=1713906265&sprefix=the+magical+world+of+the+anglo-
saxons+by+tylluan+penry%2Caps%2C143&sr=8-1