Some questions we wrote about:

"What does magick mean to you?"

"What is the most magickal memory you have?"

"What in life makes you happy, or gives you peace?"

"What are the first thoughts that come to your mind when you hear the word 'Witchcraft'?".

-A Brief History of Witchcraft

      What is Witchcraft? Put simply it is the art of Transformation. The Roots of the Craft stretch back into pre-history. Primal mankind sought a connection with the world around them. This connection was magick. We have used magick for thousands of years to aid us in our lives. Many of the first magickal acts dealt with our immediate needs, such as fertility rites, hunting ceremonies, and calling rain. Throughout time the practice of magick has evolved, taking on new faces. The face we will examine now is found within pre-christian Europe and its journey to America.

     It is difficult to create a definite and fixed structure of of Pre-Christian Europe as much of the Occult knowledge was handed down between teacher and student through oral tradition. This not only makes some of history innacurate, but leads to a variety of practices as each practicioner added their own individual perspective to the teachings.

 

I have broken down the european influences that most commonly impact modern witchcraft into five regions:

-The Celts (Breton, Gaelic=Ireland;Scotland, Wales, Brittany.)

-The Germanic (Norse, Anglo-Saxon, West Germanic.)

-The Slavic (Belarus, Poland, and Ukraine.)

-The Baltic (Latvia, Lithuania, and Prussia.)

-The Mediterranean (Latin=Umbrian;Rome, Greek.)

    After the rise of Constantine, Christian ideals and missions spread across the greater area of Europe working to convert the masses of Pagan nations to Christianity. The majority of Europe was converted to christianity by the 5th-6th century A.D. continuing up until the 15th for some Germanic tribes. Of these, the Norse only converted for a short while and returned directly to their pagan traditions. The Last nation to fully convert were the Anglo-Saxons. During this mass conversion many were maimed, tortured, or killed for their beliefs and unwillingness to abandon the Old Religion.

   From the years 1480 to 1750, a paranoia broke out across Europe starting the Witch Hunt, or what most witches refer to as the "Burning Times". Speculative numbers report 40,000 to 100,000 executions for supposed witchcraft. During this time two monks, Sprenger and Kramer wrote the text called the Malleus Malefacirum, meaning "the Witches Hammer". This text supplied inquisitors with methods and tests with which they could identify and deal with Witches, such as birth marks or moles.

  It was during this time that we supposedly created the Book Of Shadows. A written record of our magickal practices that could be hidden in the "shadows", in secrecy, in order to safe guard and ensure the survival of our knowledge.

   Until the late 1800s witchcraft survived underground. In 1897, Charles Godfrey Leland publishes Aradia: Gospel of the Witches the general population takes little notice of this work. In 1954 Gerald Gardner publishes Witchcraft Today and in 1962 Margaret Murray publishes  Witch Cults in Western Europe. It was these two literary works that thrust the practice of witchcraft into the public eye once more. Out of this, Gerald Gardner takes the stage and claims to have been initiated by an underground coven in England. Gardner is still attributed to be "father" of modern Wicca.

   In 1963 Raymond Buckland travels to Europe and is initiated into the Gardnerian Tradition and is attributed with bringing modern witchcraft into America.

   In 1968, Gavin and Yvonne Frost form the first Wiccan Church and in 1985 they helped to secure federal recognition of Wicca as a viable religion.

   Although Raymond Buckland is considered to have brought modern witchcraft into America there were already folkloric and traditional magickal practices in the North America. This is clearly seen within the practice of Pennsylvania Dutch Magick.

-Lore of the Craft-

One of the most well known modern works of Witchcraft is the Witches Creed written by Doreen Valiente, a most gifted poet.

The Witches Creed

Hear now the words of the witches,
The secrets we hid in the night,
When dark was our destiny’s pathway,
That now we bring forth into light.

Mysterious water and fire,
The earth and the wide-ranging air,
By hidden quintessence we know them,
And will and keep silent and dare.

The birth and rebirth of all nature,
The passing of winter and spring,
We share with the life universal,
Rejoice in the magical ring.

Four times in the year the Great Sabbat
Returns, and witches are seen
At Lammas, and Candlemas dancing,
On May Eve and old Hallowe’en.

When day-time and night-time are equal,
When the sun is at greatest and least,
The four Lesser Sabbats are summoned,
Again witches gather in feast.

Thirteen silver moons in a year are,
Thirteen is the coven's array.
Thirteen times as Esbat make merry,
For each golden year and a day.

The power was passed down the ages,
Each time between woman and man,
Each century unto the other,
Ere time and the ages began.

When drawn is the magical circle,
By sword or athame or power,
Its compass between the two worlds lie,
In Land of the Shades for that hour.

This world has no right then to know it,
And world beyond will tell naught,
The oldest of Gods are invoked there,
The Great Work of magic is wrought.

For two are the mystical pillars,
That stand  at the gate of the shrine,
And two are the powers of nature,
The forms and the forces divine.

The dark and the light in succession,
The opposites each unto each,
Shown forth as a God and a Goddess,
Of this did our ancestors teach.

By night he’s the wild wind’s rider,
The Horn’d One, the Lord of the shades,
By day he’s the King of the Woodlands,
The dweller in green forest glades.

She is youthful or old as she pleases,

She sails the torn clouds in her barque,

The bright silver lady of midnight,

The crone who weaves spells in the dark.

 

The master and mistress of magic,
They dwell in the deeps of the mind,
Immortal and ever-renewing,
With power to free or to bind.

 

So drink the good wine to the Old Gods,
And dance and make love in their praise,
Til Elphame's fair land shall receive us,
In peace at the end of our days.

 

An Do What You Will be the challenge,
So be it in Love that harms none,
For this is the only commandment,
By Magick of old, be it done.

 

Eight words the Witches’ Creed fulfill: And it harm none, do what you will.

 

An' it Harm none, Do what ye wilt: This line was penned by Gardner though some believe this to originate with Alister Crowley's Law of Thelema which reads "Do what thou wilt shal be the whole of the Law."

 

We spent a short time discussing the implications of the Law of Harm None. What we can realize of this law is that it cannot be taken literally. If we were truly to 'Harm None' we would never get anything done. So we must view this as goal to strive for by seeking solutions to our problems or desires that work for the best of everyone involved. This also forces us to examine our own ability to accept our actions and what we find "appropriate".

 

-The Seeker Mediation-

At the end of the class, we did a short meditation which can be found under the Exercises heading.