Pathwalkers herb gardens - Gypsey Website

PathWalkers.Net Interactive :: Helping you along your path
(52 Reads) comments?
General information: Basic Witchcraft History
Posted by: Nyxks on Sunday, March 07, 2004 - 01:53 PM
Paganism, magick and occultism, since the rise of Christianity, have been
inextricably linked. This is a (hopefully) brief summary of the tortuous and
torturous history of European witchcraft and the development of modern
Wicca.
Ancient History
Worship of a mother Goddess has been common to almost all ancient societies. Even the
early Hebrews worshipped a variety of gods and goddesses, and this worship was
outlawed by the Ten Commandments which demanded worship of Yahweh alone.
Babylon, Sumeria, Greece and Rome all had itinerant mystery religions, and people
migrating across Europe from the East (such as the Celts) brought with them to Britain,
their beliefs spread with migration across the world.
Very little is know about the religion of the ancient Britons - there are no written
accounts except those seen through the very biased eyes of the Roman occupiers. We
know something of ancient myths and legends which were recorded in later times, but
there is very little evidence of their rituals and religious practices.
Celtic Britain, Ireland and Gaul were dominated by the Druidic religion - a solar religion
which, according to Roman accounts and archeological evidence, certainly indulged in
sacrifice and other rituals which echoed the Romans' own ceremonies. However there
was also a Moon-cult which complimented the solar religion, and (especially according
to Gardner and Murray) modern Wicca is the inheritor of this tradition.
The "Dark" Ages - Pagan Christianity
http://www.pathwalkers.net/interactive/modules....ame=News&file=index&catid=1&topic=&allstories=1 (222 of 236) [12/25/2005 12:17:44 AM]