Introduction to Witchcraft

Lesson 1 - History & Beliefs

I. GODDESS RELIGIONS IN THE OLD WORLD

Gravettian-Aurignacian Cultures (25000 BC-15000 BC)

The Upper-Paleolithic period, though most of its sites have been found in Europe, is the conjectural foundation of the religion of the Goddess as it emerged in the later Neolithic Age of the Near East.

There have been numerous studies of Paleolithic cultures, explorations of sites occupied by these
people, and the apparent rites connected with the disposal of their dead.

In these Upper-Paleolithic societies, the concept of the creator of all human life may have been formulated by the clan's image of women, who were their most ancient primal ancestors.  It is believed that the mother was regarded as the sole parent of children in this culture.  Ancestor worship appears to have been the basis of sacred rituals.

The most tangible evidence supporting the theory that these cultures worshipped a Goddess
is the numerous sculptures of women found throughout most of Europe and the Near East. Some of these sculptures date as far back as 25,000 BC.

These small female figurines, made of stone, bone, and clay, most of which are seemingly
pregnant, have been found throughout the widespread Gravettian-Aurignacian sites in areas as far apart as Spain, France, Germany, Austria, and Russia.  These sites and figurines appear to span a period of at least 10,000 years.

 Johannes Maringer, in his book 'The Gods of Prehistoric Man' says- "It appears highly probable
then that the female figurines were idols of a Great Mother cult, practiced by the non-nomadic
Aurignacian mammoth hunters who inhabited the immense Eurasian territories that extended from
Southern France to Lake Baikal in Siberia."

It was from this Lake Baikal area in Siberia that tribes are believed to have migrated across
a great land bridge to North America about this time period, and formed the nucleus of what was
to become the race of American Indians. This tends to support the observation that European witchcraft and American Indian shamanism have similar roots.
 

Legend of the Universal Goddess

The craft is a religion which has an unbroken tradition that dates back to Paleolithic times (approximately 35,000 years).

As the last ice age retreated the tribe of nomadic hunters worshipped the Goddess of the Wild Things and Fertility and the God of the Hunt.  Semi-permanent homes were set up in caves carved out by the glaciers.  Shamans and Shamanka conducted rites within hard to reach portions of the caves, which were painted with scenes of the hunt, magical symbols and the tribes totem animals.

The transition from Hunter-Gatherers to agriculturists was reflected in the change of the 'Lady of the Wild Things and Fertility' to the 'Barley Mother' and the 'God of the Hunt' to the 'Lord of the Grain'.

The importance of the phases of the moon and the sun was reflected in the rituals that evolved around sowing, reaping, and letting out to pasture.

Villages grew into towns and cities and society changed from tribal to communal to urban.

Paintings on the plastered walls of shrines depicted the Goddess giving birth to the Divine Child - Her son, consort and seed.  The Divine Child was expected to take a special interest in the city dwellers, just as His Mother and Father had taken an interest in the people who lived away from the cities.

Mathematics, astronomy, poetry, music, medicine, and the understanding of the workings of the human mind, developed side by side with the lore of the deeper mysteries.

Far to the east, nomadic tribes devoted themselves to the arts of war and conquest.  Wave after wave of invasion swept over Europe from the Bronze Age onward.  Warrior gods drove the Goddess' people out from the fertile lowlands and the fine temples, into the hills and high mountains, where they became known as the Sidhe, the Picts or Pixies, and the Fair Folk or the Fairies.

The mythological cycle of Goddess and Consort, Mother and Child, which had held sway for 30,000 years was changed to conform to the values of the conquering patriarchies.  In Canaan, Yahweh fought a bloody battle to ensure that his followers had "no other gods before me."  The Goddess was given a masculine name and assigned the role of a false god.  Along with the suppression of the Goddess, women lost most of the rights they had previously enjoyed.

In Greece, the Goddess in Her many aspects, was "married" to the new gods resulting in the Olympic Pantheon.  The Titans, who the Olympians displaced were more in touch with the primal aspects of the Goddess.  The victorious Celts in Gaul and the British Isles, adopted many features of the Old Religion and incorporated them into the Druidic Mysteries.

The Faerie, breeding cattle in the stony hills and living in turf-covered round huts preserved the Craft.  They celebrated the eight feasts of the Wheel of the Year with wild processions on horseback, singing and chanting along the way and lighting ritual bonfires on the mountaintops.
It was said that the invaders often joined in the revels and many rural families, along with some royalty, could claim to have Faerie blood.

The College of the Druids and the Poetic Colleges of  Ireland and Wales were said to have preserved many of the old mysteries.

In the late 1400's the Catholic Church attempted to obliterate its competitors, and the followers of the Old Religion were forced to 'go underground.' They broke up into small groups called Covens and, isolated from each other, formed what would later be known as the Family Traditions.  Inevitably, parts of the Craft were forgotten or lost and what survives today is fragmentary.

After nearly five centuries of persecution and terror, came the Age of Disbelief.

Memory of the True Craft had faded as non-members who could remember how they once had met openly died and those who came after never knew of them.  All that was left were the hideous stereotypes which were ludicrous, laughable or just plain tragic.

With the repeal of the last Witchcraft Act in England in 1954, the Craft started to re-emerge as an alternative to a world that viewed the planet as a resource to be exploited.
 

II. ETHICS AND VALUES SHARED BY MOST MEMBERS OF THE CRAFT


The ethics of the Craft are more positive than negative.  Rather than being exhorted with a plethora of "thou shall nots" the Craft is guided by principles more along the lines of "blessed be they who...." 

The Craft is a joyous creed; it is also a socially and ecologically responsible one. Witches delight in the world and their involvement in it on all levels.  They enjoy their minds, their psyches, their bodies, their senses and sensitivities; and they delight in relating, on all these planes, with their fellow creatures and the Earth Herself.  Witches believe in a joyful balance of all human functions.

This outlook is perfectly expressed in the Charge of the Goddess, which is an integral part of most of the rituals of all witches.

"Let My worship be within the heart that rejoices; for behold, all acts of love and pleasure are My rituals, and therefore let there be beauty and strength, power and compassion, honor and humility, mirth and reverence within you."

This provides a model of a balanced ethic which presents eight qualities that are positive and not restrictive. Compassion means empathy, not condescension; humility means a realistic appraisal of your own stage of development; reverence means a sense of wonder. Witches are always conscious that compassion must be partnered with power, humility with honor, and reverence with mirth.

Love of life in all its forms, is the basic ethic of the Craft.  We are bound to honor and respect all living things and to serve the Life Force.  It has been said that we all serve the Goddess, even if only as compost.  Witchcraft recognizes that life feeds on life.  We must kill in order to survive, but life is never taken needlessly, never squandered or wasted.  To ensure the survival of the species, females are not hunted as game, for they share the sacred bond of motherhood with the Goddess.

Serving the Life Force also means working to preserve the diversity of natural life, preventing the poisoning of the environment and the destruction of species.  The World is seen as the manifestation of the Goddess. What happens in the World is important because the Goddess is directly affected.

While the seasons of the year renew the Goddess, She needs the participation of Her creations to keep the cycle going.  This is the real function of the Sabbats. They reinforce the ties between humankind and the Planet that gives us life.  Unlike other gods, that allow humanity to exist at their sufferance, the Goddess needs us just as much as we need Her, and we are partners in the pageant of Life.

Justice is seen as an inner sense that each act brings about consequences that must be faced responsibly.  This is based on the belief that all things are interdependent and interrelated.  Therefore, we are all mutually responsible because an act that harms anyone harms us all.  This is summed up in the form of a law known as Karma, which dictates that all actions bring about changes.  There is a saying in the Craft that illustrates the effects of Karma known as the 'Threefold Law of Return' - 'Whatever is sent out is returned three times over.'  It is a sort of amplified 'Golden Rule'.

Honor is a guiding principle of the Craft.  It is an inner sense of pride and self respect.  Refusing to do anything which would make you ashamed of yourself strengthens your magical will and leads to the self respect that comes from setting your own course, guided by your own inner sense of right or wrong.  This makes you rightfully proud of past accomplishments and encourages you to stay the course.

The Goddess is honored in oneself and in others.  Women are respected and valued for all their human qualities.  The Self, one's individuality and unique way of being, is highly valued.  Like Nature, the Goddess loves diversity.  Oneness is attained not through losing the Self, but through realizing the Self's potential.

Self development and the full realizatin of one's unique yet many aspected potential is a moral duty for a witch.  Life is seen as a gift from the Goddess and it is up to us to push the evolution to mankind.

If suffering exists, it is not our task to reconcile ourselves to it.  We must work for change in all ways at hand.  That which helps this evolution to come about is seen as good and desirable while actions that thwart it are to be avoided because each of us is a factor in the cosmic evolutionary process.
 
 

Activities:

1.   Name five fictional witches, think about how they are represented, are they nasty, silly or       what? For each witch you choose, list two truths and two falsehoods about them.

2.   Draw a day-dream picture - go somewhere quiet and just draw, doesn't matter if you don't draw anything in particular, just let your heart and soul take control - leave your mind out of this excercise!

Please email the answer to Activity 1 prior to next lesson.
Lessons are weekly, so if this is a Tuesday then you have to email your response by next Monday.

Goodluck my children and blessed be.
Lady Phoebe Storme