"The Church, throughout much of its history, has demonstrated a disregard for human freedom, dignity and self-determination. It has attempted to control, contain and confine spirituality."
-The Dark Side of Christian History, by Helen Ellerbe
The origins of the religion of Witchcraft date back about 25,000 years, to the Paleolithic Age, where the God of Hunting and the Goddess of Fertility first appeared. Out of respect for the overwhelming power of Nature grew a belief in beings, gods, who controlled the winds, the seas, the earth and the fires. Success in the hunt and ensuring the continuation of the human species were of great importance in those times, thus practitioners of this early religion felt the need to gain the favor of these gods. Magick was used to direct the hunting and to ensure fertility of the women of the tribes. Woman was the vessel of life, and because she contained life, she contained magic.
Wica was the name originally given to the priesthood of the Old Religion, which by 500 or so BCE (before common era) had began developing set rituals and festivals. The Sabbats celebrated the turning of the Wheel of the year; the movement from birth to death to rebirth. But a time came when masculine ideals and male gods began to rise and challenge the Mother Goddess. Families began to be traced through the male lineage, rather than through the mother, and men took over the chief places of the priesthood. Soon, the old ways of the common people came into conflict with a new religion that started with rulers and upper classes - Christianity.
An attempt at mass conversion was made by Pope Gregory the Great, who thought that one way to get people to go to Christian churches was to build them on sites of the Old Religion's meeting places. In an effort to establish this new religion, many Old Ways were adapted.For example, the Egyptian Trinity of Isis, Osiris, Horus became Mary, God and Jesus. And although biblical evidence shows that Jesus was born in late summer or fall, the Church of Rome in the middle of the fourth century declared Dec. 25 as the date of Jesus' birth. Dec. 25 falls very close to the Old Religion's celebration of the Winter Solstice - the birth of the Sun. (note that the Christians celebrate the birth of the Son)
The Spring Equinox, which Pagans celebrate as the resurrection of the Sun, using fertility symbols such as eggs and the hare, became the Christian's Easter celebration. Fall equinox celebrations were incorporated as Michaelmas, the feast of the archangel who supposedly conquered the Christian's all-evil deity, satan. When the Christians decided that their new ways weren't catching on fast enough, things got a lot rougher for those who were practicing the Old Religion. Christian leaders began asserting that Witches were devil worshippers and savages.
Women, who menstruate and give birth, were identified with sexuality and therefore with evil. Human beings were ranked according to inferior and superior states of being, with women coming in last much of the time. In 1533, for example, Martin Luther wrote "Girls begin to talk and to stand on their feet sooner than boys because weeds always grow up more quickly than good crops." December, 1484 marked the publication of the Bull of Pope Innocent VII, which delegated Heinrich Kramer and Jakob Sprenger as inquisitors. These two men in turn created the Malleus Maleficarum, which details the tortures that could be used to obtain confessions to Witchcraft. It was this sinister work that sparked a hysteria which spread rapidly across Europe. I don't think anybody truly knows how many people were burned, tortured or otherwise killed during that time - although scholarly estimates put the number between 40,000 and 100,000 - but the ironic thing is that the vast majority of them were not Witches.
Most are believed to have been devout Christians who were wrongly accused. Victims were the elderly, the senile, homosexuals and freethinkers. During this time, people were gradually being taught to blame all of their problems on Witches and Witchcraft. Protestants taught that magic was sinful because it implied a belief in Divine assistance in the physical world. Witches soon were blamed for every misfortune - they were thought to have the power to raise the dead, turn water into wine, control the weather and foresee the future. Once denounced, a suspected Witch was arrested and then hideously tortured into a confession. Suspects were subjected to thumbscrews, the rack, boots which broke the bones of the legs; they were deprived of sleep, starved and beaten. At times, hundreds of suspected Witches were killed in a day. Those who did not die during torture were taken to the stake or hanged. Since many of the burnings or hangings took place in public, the victims were prevented from talking to the crowds through the use of wooden gags or having their tongues cut out.
The Craft eventually was forced to move underground in order to survive. Unfortunately, when the persecutions ended in the 18th century, the stereotype of Witches as devil worshippers remained for those who were ignorant of the true nature of the Craft. There are many, many Christians and followers of other religions who today are accepting of faiths other than their own, including Witchcraft. But much of the ignorance remains. However, in this century, Witchcraft has been recognized as a valid religion by the U.S. Supreme Court, Wiccan churches are gaining tax-exempt status just like the Christian churches and we are finally moving to the point where we can reclaim the word Witch as one that means wise one, follower of the Old Ways.