I’m calling it a pamphlet because we really don’t have the space for a Wiccan History Primer.  There are some excellent books and websites available for further research into the history of the Craft.  When it comes to learning about modern Wicca (what you’re investigating currently), I tend to recommend the following titles:

• Gerald Gardner’s Witchcraft Today
  
• Stewart Farrar’s What Witches Do
• Doreen Valiente’s The Rebirth of Witchcraft
• Scott Cunninghams’s The Truth About Witchcraft
• Ronald Hutton’s Triumph Of The Moon

But until you can get your hands on these and get through them, let’s give a brief overview to whet your interest (and bring any wild-tales-of-woo-and-wonder you might have heard back to earth).

Wicca, as presented by Gerald Gardner, is only about 60 years old.  Some people give the benefit of the doubt that Gardner didn’t make it up and place it shortly before that (in the early 20th century).  Even so, that makes its currently functioning form rather young on the comparative scale of Religious Age.  Some would like to discredit it based on this fact.  I disagree with them (if you’d like to know why, you can check out my post, Confessions Of An Ex-Reconstructionist).  However, if you want to be an empowered Wiccan and not one wandering in around in a fog of Romantic fact-interpretation, you need to just accept Wicca’s age at face value.  Yes, Wicca has ancient roots, but it is not, in its currently practiced form, an ancient religion.  It is a Neo-pagan faith — a revival of earth- and tribe-centered practices to provide a pagan expression of spirituality for our modern age.  There is no need to feel shame about Wicca being new, though there are those who will try to lay that burden on you for various reasons.  Regardless of the label on your path, your path is yours.  Walk it in awareness, and walk it with pride.

What one might call witchcraft, on the other hand, is quite ancient. Every culture has evidence of those within its society that walked the edge between the seen and unseen worlds.  Depending on the culture, these people were either respected or reviled, honored or feared (you can probably guess how our culture perceives and regards those who practice witchcraft as a general rule).  Also, the individual practices of what modern critics might call witchcraft varied from culture to culture.  For example, divination is a fairly common practice that many associate with witchcraft, but the methods of performing it are quite different.  The Romans read entrails (called extispicy) and observed the flame of the sacrificial fire, Druids were noted to read the flights of birds (called ornithomancy), and there are even references in the Bible to the induction of trance by dance, hallucinogens, and self-flagellation.  These were all still cultural expressions, however, and those cultures embraced those expressions (today, those same practices are often unwelcome in general society).  I point this out because, if you want to deepen your Craft, eventually you will need to become well-acquianted with a culture and a pantheon and its methods.

Witch has not always been considered a ‘positive label’. While some cultural areas have no stigma on the word ‘witch’, history shows common usage of the word ‘witchcraft’ as a label designed to explain misfortunes or bad luck and the word ‘witch’ to denote the person at the root of those unfortunate circumstances.  Sadly, modern reaction to the word ‘witch’ is still fairly negative.  It is changing, however, and that is largely due (I believe) to pronounced efforts of will on the parts of those who wear that label proudly and who are determined to reclaim it for its powerful roots.  Wise, Cunning, Holy, Magick… these are the ideas we bring forward into the future.   That we are a wise people, ever seeking to know through experience.  That we are a cunning people, having many understandings and perceptions that allow us to find a way through difficult times and make life better for us and the world around us.  That we are a holy people, reverent and connected with the Gods, walking a spiritual path.  That we are a magickal people, capable of creating change, discerning potentials, and molding futures.

People have died under the accusations of witchcraft. Many of them, mostly women and other minorities.  Nine million women did not die at the hands of Inquisitors, but the numbers are high enough to rival a good mid-to-large sized city being entirely wiped out.  And for what?  Going against the norm, possessing “powers” that threatened the hierarchy (no matter how mundane and useful those “powers” might have been), or for simply owning a piece of property or valuables that someone else might inherit were the accused found guilty and thus condemned.  People still die under the accusations of witchcraft (the Oceania announced that 50 people in Papau New Guinea were executed for charges of witchcraft in 2008).  Nowadays, you’re more likely to get a look that would kill instead or other forms of persecution.  I personally know people who have had their ability to be parents called into question because they were Craft.  I know another who had his house burned down.  I know still others who believe they lost jobs, some who have had crosses burned in their yards, and still more who have lost friends and family connections.

There are many different kinds of Wicca out there. That’s pretty much where the movement is now.  Originally, only those initiated by Gardner and from a British Traditionalist line (Gardnerian, Alexandrian, and a couple of others) could really claim that name.  Now, the cat’s out of the bag and there’s no getting it back where it started.  Some might argue that, due to Gardner’s publication of Wicca and of subsequent authors’ publishing about their traditions, that Wicca was meant to be given to the masses, that this was a form of “passing power” in the form of information so to establish a new movement.  Others argue that Wicca is a title that can only truly be retained by those in a Gardnerian lineage and the rest are practicing something else, but not Wicca.  Please listen to these arguments kindly and compassionately — all of them.  People are talking about what is important to them.  It’s not too hard to understand why a BTW (British Traditionalist Witch) feels annoyance that a term that historically was theirs has now been absconded with and liberally applied to whomever might want to use it.  It’s also not hard to understand that, with the exponential growth of Neo-paganism that perhaps the Gods had a hand in making sure that more people could access this path.  Someday, I hope we’ll find a way to lay down the grudges and pull down the walls, but the first step in that is actually listening to the grievances on the table and then all parties being willing to give up their ultimatums going forward.  For now, you’re going to find that Wicca comes in as many flavors as ice cream — some of them don’t care about any connection to Gardner at all, others are quite proud of any trace they can find (even if it’s not an accurate one… they’ll still trade on the power they believe lies in the lineage).

What Wicca and Witch mean for future generations is determined by those practicing NOW.  In other words, your current actions and how you live your path are creating the history that will be read by future generations.  Knowing our history is important.  I encourage you to read and learn and try to understand not only the facts but the cultural movements that gave rise to those facts.  Humans evolve about as slowly as anything else… we have a tendency to repeat our mistakes when we don’t learn from our collective past.  Remember that when you take action in the present moment, you have given birth to the past.  Act in a way that you would be proud to read about in a history book about the Wiccan movement and your contributions to that movement.  While many people spend a lot of time trying to research and recreate the past, I offer that we must pay equal attention to meeting the challenges and building the future.  The in-between time — the edge of our circle — lies here in the moment we call Now.  All of us are in ritual together, creating the magick of that moment.  Be careful what you contribute in this sacred space.  It lives forever.

Next entry in New To Wicca? — Being Wiccan Can Be A Challenge

Photo by Eddi 07 (via Flickr).