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This article is the first of four pieces that will very briefly discuss the history of European witchcraft from the Paleolithic time period of approximately 400,000 BC to the beginning of the Dark Ages in about 1,000 AD. It is not my intention to discuss only Wicca per se or to define that term alone but to address the more generic definitions of witch and witchcraft, as I will use those terms in the three succeeding articles. Given the inter-relationship with today's general understanding and definition of Wicca, there must inevitably be some interaction between witch and Wicca. It is virtually impossible to define witchcraft or witch without also making an attempt, at least in a general context, to define Wicca.
For the purpose of these articles I am rather narrowly defining witchcraft as the practice of ritual or magick used to bring about change. It is not necessarily a religion unto itself but can also be a specific ritual practice within any of the Pagan nature religions, particularly those indigenous to Western Europe and the British Isles. Those followers of Pagan religions who perform the rituals and magick of witchcraft are rightfully called witches, regardless of the path or tradition of worship they may follow. They need not necessarily be Wiccans, although many claim that affiliation.
We can call upon several reference sources to amplify these statements. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (Houghton Mifflin Company) defines Pagan as, "A practitioner of any of the non-Christian, non-Moslem or non-Jewish religions typically holding a polytheist or pantheist doctrine, philosophy or creed." Additionally, The 1999 World Book Encyclopedia defines witchcraft as, "The use of supposed magical powers to influence people and events, being part of the folklore of many societies for centuries. Since the mid-1900's, Witchcraft has also come to refer to a set of beliefs and practices that some people consider a religion. Its followers sometimes call it Wicca, the Craft, the Wisecraft, or the Old Religion." The World Book goes on to define witch as, "From the Old English word wicca, which is derived from the Germanic root wic, meaning to bend or to turn. By using magic a witch is believed to have the ability to change or bend events. The word can be applied to a man or a woman." The American Heritage Dictionary also defines witch as, "From the Middle English wicche, from Old English wicce (feminine) and wicca (masculine) meaning wizard or sorcerer, a believer or follower of Wicca, a Wiccan." The World Book then defines Wicca as, "The practice of witchcraft where-in most witches call their religion Wicca, from the Anglo-Saxon word meaning wisdom or wise which is the root of such words as witch and wizard."
Thus the words witch and Wicca would seem to be inter-related, meaning a practitioner of the Wiccan religion, a wise one or one who can influence and change events. But does this mean that only Wiccans are witches and only Wiccans can perform witchcraft? Absolutely not, since I have already quoted The 1999 World Book, that a witch can be anyone who performs ritual magick or witchcraft, one who has the ability to bend or influence events. This ability is obviously not limited to Wiccans and anyone, regardless of path or tradition, who ritually invokes a deity in an attempt to bring about change, is therefore a witch who is performing witchcraft.
We understand then, for the purpose of these articles, when I speak of witchcraft I am not speaking only of Wiccans. I am speaking of ritual and magickal workings practiced by those who may occasionally call themselves witches. They are those who accept, cherish and understand their spiritual link to a time long ago, to a time when we practiced by firelight and moonlight, to a time when the gods and goddesses were truly a physical part of our everyday lives. They are those who understand the form of witchcraft we practice today is not new by any means, that its roots are tied to the very earliest dawning of pre-history.
Many of us may choose to call this wonderful religion Wicca for want of a better name but, truthfully speaking, it was already thousands upon thousands of years old before Gerald Gardner, Aleister Crowley and Margaret Murray came on the scene. What speaks to us today, what calls to our very deepest spiritual being, was not called Wicca long ago. There were no Gardnerians or Alexandrians in the Stone Age caves, nor at the building of the great henges. There was only the Craft of the Wise, the rituals and the magick, and it was simply there as part of the everyday lives of our ancestors.
Our religion of God and Goddess worship, our religion of nature veneration, our religion of positive change through magick, was not called Wicca nor even witchcraft a hundred-thousand years ago and the rites and rituals practiced then were surely different from today's counterparts. But the religion we Wiccans
practice at the dawn of the twenty-first century is indeed rooted in the earliest religious observances and magickal practices of our Paleolithic ancestors. It is very much the same religion and magick that was practiced in the great Neolithic stone circles. It is essentially the same ancient religion observing the same nature-driven ritual events, working the same magick and recognizing the eternal cycle of life, death and rebirth. It is the same now as it was then and that religion, by whatever name it is called, has been with us since the emergence of cognitive thought in the human beings of this planet.
For the purpose of these articles, I have chosen - regardless of linguistic protocol - to generically identify this Pagan religion or practice by the umbrella word, witchcraft.
- Gary Cantrell