A: It's no mystery where witches come from. Witches are people. We come from regular families and homes like everybody else. But our history, our roots, are another story. Our roots are tangled and hidden. Not everybody knows where they start or where our family tree is growing.
I think that wherever there were people, there were witches. Wherever tribes of people gathered, there were people who understood the need to be connected to nature and the spirit world and to use that connection. to help the tribe. In other cultures, these people are called shamans and medicine people, but in the Middle East, Africa, and Europe they are the ancestors of the witch. I look back to the Stone Age as the start. Evidence of a Goddess-reverent Stone Age culture exists, and many witches look to this time as the start of witchcraft. Many statues of ancient Goddess images survive into our time.
Human culture developed from Stone Age nomadic tribes to agricultural civilizations. Some witches remained on the outskirts of these civilizations, becoming the cunning men and wise women, while others formed groups of priests and priestesses in ancient cultures like Egypt, Sumer, Greece and Rome. They became the Druids of the Celtic people and the seers and rune masters of the Teutonic people.. All of these cultures have influenced the modern revival of witchcraft.Many think of Wicca as only being Celtic, but our roots really reach into many cultures. In each of these lands, the power of magick and service to the community survived, en though these cultures themselves clashed together in the building of empires and the migrating of tribes.
Once we inter the Common Era of history-- referred to by many scholars and most pagans with the abbreviation CE, but others in the world use the initial AD, Anno Domini, Latin for "in the year of our Lord" --the role of the witch changes. The Common Era is marked by the birth of Jesus Christ for many in the Western world. Christianity started as a cult that was persecuted, but eventually it became the official religion and unifying force throughout Europe during the decline of the first Roman Empire, finally paving the way for the Holy Roman Empire.
During the reign of the Holy Roman Empire, we find the strongest evidence of the witch hunts. Modern witches call this period the "Burning Times." The persecution was started by the Roman Catholic Church but continued later by other religious and secular authorities. Some scholars believe the persecutions actually started in the later era of the Roman Empire, as rulers were afraid of being poisoned by those who held knowledge of the plants that healed and harmed, such as the folk witches.
The Catholic Church adopted the persecutions, adding a religious context to it and continuing with a fervor. Many people were persecuted for the crime of witchcraft and were often put to death by horrible methods, even though most had nothing to do with true witchcraft. The victims included Jews, Muslims, heretical Christians, midwives, herbalist, homosexuals, and many other who where simply not considered socially acceptable. Their deaths included pressing, drowning, hanging, and burning. It was Europe's first holocaust.
At these times, we find the worst smear campaigns against witchcraft. In an effort to fit old beliefs into the fairly new Christian mythology, witchcraft was described as Satanism, a perversion of Christianity. In truth, most witches, then and now, do not believe in the Devil. In fact, many modern Satanists do not believe in an entity known as Satan. In witchcraft, our beliefs predate the notion of the Christian Devil, and we look at this supposed force of ultimate evil as a social and political scapegoat for the horrors of the Middle Ages. Even more sadly, the majority of victims had nothing to do with true witchcraft or Satanism. Some were folk healers and medicine women, but most were Christians and were killed due to politics, money, or paranoia.
The persecutions continued for the life of thee Holy Roman Empire and followed the European settlers to America, most famously in the Salem witch trials. The settlers were plagued with the same paranoia and fear that swept through Europe, causing the imprisonment and death of many people in this American settlement. Recent Recent evidence suggests the paranoia was due, at least in part, to ergot poisoning. Ergot, a fungus affecting grain, can induce hallucinations, and ergot seems more prevalent in the areas and time of the witch trials.
Finally, reasonable voices rose to power in Europe and America. We entered into a period of reason and logic. It ended the persecutions, but it did little to keep magick alive. Science and technology began to dissect the physical world, and for some, despite their benefits, they took the magic and mystery out of the unknown world. Things like spellcraft, witches, faeries, and spirits became folklore and make-believe. The only way witchcraft survived was in fragments of magickal books and through family traditions kept in secret.
The Craft of the witch was revived in the twentieth century. The laws banning witchcraft in England were repealed mid-century, because people thought them old and superstitious, but it helped those in their beliefs. An interest in the mystical grew in both Europe and America, starting what we now call the New Age movement. Spiritual seekers studied medieval manuscripts, shamanism, crystals, and herbs with a desire to find a spiritual practice that was holistic and healthy. From England, traditions of witchcraft grew and spread, changing along the way with the changes in culture, time, and people. Soon books were being printed about witchcraft so people could learn about it and find ways to practice it, with or without formal teachers and covens. The witchcraft family tree branched out in many directions. Now there are almost as many traditions and forms of witchcraft as there are witches.
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By: Christopher Penczak
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