Witchcraft Today

Today’s topic is the history of witchcraft. I found a great article right here on Today.com that discusses Neopaganism.  It gives an overview of the history, practices, and structure of modern Neopaganism in general, and talks specifically about Wicca in several places.

Paganism/Neopaganism:

http://religionsreviewed.today.com/2008/09/06/paganism-neo-paganism/

I considered this article to be an objective treatment of modern neopaganism, and thought it was fair and accurate. It is definitely not written from a Neopagan’s point of view, which is what makes it so valuable. However, while reading it, I couldn’t help but comment on certain things.

Neopaganism and Witchcraft
Remember- every Witch is a Neopagan, but not every Neopagan is a Witch.
As a neopagan, I recognize that the lore, teachings, wisdom of our elders has been lost to us.  That’s why neopaganism draws from so many sources that have retained the mystical remnants of their religions.  Shamanism, from all areas of the world, has been revered as a source of mystical knowledge from cultures that haven’t been Westernized.  Deep inside of us is the hope and belief that covens of witches went into hiding centuries ago, and have survived to this day, in secret (which is in all likelihood true, anyway).  Neopagans recognize the spirit of our ancestors, those who practiced Our Ways in the old times, and that spirit is what we seek to emulate.  Neopaganism is eclectic, because we recognize the subjective nature of the religious experience- that each has his own way, her own path.  Even the staunchest Traditionalist Witches know that.

Gardnerian Witchcraft
Gardner himself acknowledged that he invented most of the material presented in Uncle Bucky’s Big Blue Book (The Complete Book of Witchcraft, by Raymond Buckland). He was a real witch, initiated into a real coven, but he swore vows upon entry that he wouldn’t reveal the secrets of his coven.  So he invented Garnderian witchcraft, which was certainly inspired by the practices of his real coven.  It upsets me to hear of elitist witches who say that solitaries aren’t real witches because they haven’t been initiated into a coven, when they practice from the Gardnerian book. Hello!  He made the stuff up!  Your witchcraft is no more legitimate than my witchcraft. We’re both trying to recapture a spirit that was lost to our people long ago.

Witches as Survivors of Genocide
Witches do have a bit of a complex about the Burning Times. Christianity, specifically the Church, pushed paganism aside and eventually stamped it out over a period of centuries.  There is no denying that the Burning Times was one of mankind’s darkest hours, right up there with the Holocaust, and it has since come to symbolize the culmination of rampant fear and hatred of the unknown and the mystical that permeates our society to this day.  Many witches feel marginalized just for being different, and so they identify with the (relatively) few real Witches that died during the Burning Times, those who died just for practicing their own ways.  Just for being Witches.  All religions have their myths, and the Burning Times has become one of ours.  That is why you will see a lot of “Christian-bashing” done by Neopagans- it’s an expression of the outrage that our traditions were taken from us generations ago.