Witchcraft And Wicca

Traditonal witchcraft or Wicca is a pagan religion. It is
thought to be one of the oldest and newest religions. The

Different cultures have other names for the Wicca Horned God

reason they call it the newest is because it is constantly
growing. Like the different denominations of Christianity,

and Mother Earth. In Saxon paganism its Wooden and Freya. In
Celtic paganism they have Cernunnos and the Matres, a triple

Witchcraft has many different covens and ideas how to
practise it. Though the old traditional witchcraft covens

mother goddess. The Horned God is also known as the Green
Man. These different goddess' and gods basically are all

still exist there are now covens that just have all female
or male members. The Temple of Diana is mostly made up of

representations of each other and were worshipped by the
people for the same reason - fertility.

feminist lesbians, though bisexual and heterosexual women
are allowed. Also there is a coven called The Radical

When Christianity came to Europe the old pagan religion was

Faeries that solely comprises of male homosexuals.

almost stamped out. It was almost wiped out because all the
old pagan sites and their sabbats were taken over by the

Mankind throughout the ages has been practising
witchcraft/paganism. Before the rise of the monotheistic

invading Christians. The reason we celebrate Christmas on
25th December is because in the old witchcraft calendar Yule

religions - Zoroastrian, Judo/Christian - etc.- mankind
believed in the nature spirits and the gods. These gods

was celebrated on 21st December and represented festivities,
rejoicing, decorating the house and putting up a tree to

symbolized fertility and the enduring forces of nature.

celebrate the enduring forces of nature.

In Palaeolithic times man was a nomadic hunter. He lived in
caves and relied on his ability to hunt and kill fresh meat

Three years after the Witchcraft Act had been repealed in
1951, Gerald Gardner (1884-1964), an English civil servant

for his daily feast. In winter, when all the fruits and nuts
became scarce, man's skill as a hunter was even more

and amateur anthropologist, wrote a book "Witchcraft Today".
In the book he claims that Wicca is a pre-Christian pagan

important. This is one of the reasons he would dress in
animal skins and pray to the Horned God to make him a

witch cult. Prior to starting his own coven, he had been
initiated into a coven in the New Forest. After "Witchcraft

Today" was published a new interest in witchcraft came about
in England.

Horned God's help in catching fast animals such as elks or
boars.

There are now many followers of traditional witchcraft,

In the Neolithic era mankind changed from being nomadic

especially in America and Britain. One of the reasons people
practise witchcraft is because it is a none restrictive

hunters and started to settle down and farm. Now that they
had started to cultivate crops, it was important for them to

religion. It does not have a heaven or hell nor it does not
thrown on the sexual union of two consenting adults. Witches

ensure a bounteous harvest. So they started to pray to Gaia,
Diana, Mother Earth, etc. for a plentiful harvest.

are also very moral. They believe in looking after their
enviornment and the creatures that inhabit it.